Seeing Jesus: Parables and a Great Price

To update you. But we are continuing on working our way through Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

So if you have a Bible, there should be one in front of you underneath the seat.

You can pull it out, or if you've got your own, you can open up to Matthew chapter

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

13, and we're going to be picking up in verse 44.

And what we've been doing for, I think it's been like five or six weeks,

we've been going through actually just this chapter, and we've been taking our

time because as if you're familiar with Matthew 13, you know,

Matthew 13 is mostly parables.

Parables are these just little word pictures that Jesus uses to make his point, to teach.

And it's not really common, I mean, for us to think about parables, but Jesus used it often.

The parable was actually, it was a common style in first century Judaism.

Jesus did not invent parables. Rabbis would teach in parables.

But Jesus really seems to, even beyond the contemporary teachers of his day,

he really leans into this form of parables.

We looked at last week and Matthew tells us that everything he said in public, he said in parables.

Now, I don't know if that's hyperbolic, if he's exaggerating a little bit,

but it certainly seems to be a really important use for him.

And so we have to get used to thinking about parables, right?

Because again, if you were seeking out Jesus back in the day,

going to him, you'd be hearing parables. And I don't think we're super used to it.

I mean, it's not a form that we're comfortable with. We'd prefer something a

little bit more direct, but parables are important.

And parables are good. And I think this is also why we don't like them,

but they're good because they engage our imagination in a lot of ways.

I mean, because we're having to ask the question, the question that disciples

and people coming to Jesus would be asking in his days, like,

what does this mean, right?

Because you can interpret these things different ways.

And so what we're doing is we're pondering these parables and talking about them.

We are trying to get as much clarity as we can. But you know,

in the end, we're coming to Jesus and we're saying, Lord, teach us some things

and he's teaching us and we're taking his word seriously, and it involves our imagination.

And we see actually particularly in Matthew 13 that there's a theme around the

parables that are being presented, and these parables are all pictures of the kingdom of God.

Last week, we looked at three parables, and they all begin with a phrase somewhat

to the effect of, the kingdom of God is like, the kingdom of God is like, or it can be compared to.

And so Jesus is engaging his hearer's imagination to get a picture and describe

what the kingdom of God is like.

And we really need to imagine this, because one thing that becomes clear throughout

Jesus' ministry is that the kingdom of God is not like people expected it to be.

We talked about last week, Luke 17, where his disciples and a few other people

come up to him, the Pharisees among them come up to him, and they're asking

what the kingdom of God is going to be like.

And Jesus answers them and says, the kingdom of God is not coming with something

observable. No one will say, see here or there, for the kingdom of God is in your midst.

So Jesus is saying to all these people are saying, okay, well,

you keep talking about the kingdom and you're proclaiming the kingdom and that's

your message. You're saying, prepare the way for the Lord.

Repent because the kingdom of God is at hand. So like, what does that mean?

Because we're not seeing the things we would normally think about of kingdom.

And Jesus is saying, no, it's not going to be like that.

He's messing with their conception of what the kingdom of God is going to be

like. It's not going to be like armies and thrones and borders in the same way

that you or we would think of kingdoms at that point.

But he's saying, no, it's actually right here, right now. It's something that is in your midst.

It's something that is playing out, not observed in the way that you might think,

but it's playing out all around you.

The kingdom of God, I think Jesus just leans into this and talks about this

so often because it's so important to him. because the kingdom of God is the

reality-changing consequence of Jesus's ministry.

I mean, he leans into this concept. It's so important. And it plays out as God

takes just normal people, people who are existing,

at least at the time of Jesus' time, in their first century context or in our

context in today and the age, he's taking normal people, people who are not

particularly well-qualified,

not necessarily the smartest or the best people, And as the Lord comes into

their life, as they repent,

they have open eyes, they have salvation, they experience the grace of God,

the forgiveness of sins, the filling of the Spirit.

What happens is that God himself fills their lives, which is their normal, everyday lives.

And so they continue to be in their work or be among their family or mountain

biking, and doing the things that they do.

And yet simultaneously, as those observable things are playing out,

they are realizing that God is with them, that he's present and that he's faithful.

And he's at work amongst them. And so it's happening in our midst.

It's happening in their midst.

The kingdom of God is in your midst because God's love and grace and favor are

being poured out as a result of the reconciliation and the forgiveness of sins

that Jesus brought about on the cross and in the resurrection.

By his giving of himself for the forgiveness of sins, he makes it so that we

can have a relationship with God, an ongoing relationship with God.

We talk about that in terms of eternal relationship because it won't end.

But it means that right now, this kind of heavenly quality of life is present in our life right now.

My favorite way to explain this is Dallas Willard's, you know,

I'm a little obsessed for those of you who don't know me. I really like Dallas Willard.

Dallas Willard has this little phrase, he calls it the with God life.

That is to say, okay, so like we have our life and before we knew Jesus and

before we became disciples and before we became sealed by the spirit for eternal

life. Like we had a life without God.

And yet the life in the kingdom of God is the life with him.

And it's different. It's qualitatively different. It can't be compared to the life without him.

See, in the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is a with life God.

And if that's true, then two things are logically true.

The first is that God wants to be with me and with you because if our life is

with God and He's present among us, then He's initiated something and He has an intention.

We are not uninvited guests in His presence.

He, in fact, has gone out and brought about the condition so that we might know Him.

And the second thing that's true is that we are then invited to be with God.

We are invited into this kind of experienced presence with him in our lives.

And I think that as Jesus goes around proclaiming the kingdom,

calling on people to repent, he is both declaring these, by implication,

these two things that God intends to be with us.

And he is stirring our appetite through parables, through imagining what it

might look like to have this kind of life. He's stirring our appetite to be with him.

Disciples are driven by an appetite to be with Jesus.

And so he describes the kingdom this way, doing these two things.

Picking up in verse 44, The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a

field that a man found and he reburied.

And then in his joy, he goes and he sells everything he has and he buys that field.

And again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.

When he found one priceless pearl, he went and he sold everything he had and he bought it.

So the kingdom of heaven is like these two scenarios, very similar scenarios.

Two scenarios where someone gives something that costs them a lot and yet is

nothing compared to what they're gaining.

Where someone willingly puts everything on the line to get something else.

And even though these are short parables, they still can engage our imagination in a lot of ways.

And I think just right off the bat, we start to just put our hands on these

parables and get our heads around them.

I think we can understand that there are two ways of thinking about the focus

here. Two ways of thinking about the focus.

We're just going to go one, two. That's going to be the structure of the sermon.

That's what we're going to spend the rest of the time doing is think about that.

It's really exciting. It's really exciting. I think it's exciting.

The first and most obvious way to understand this passage is to see that God

himself is the man, the merchant, the one who finds the treasure and sells all

that he has to buy the field.

Or he is the merchant who finds this priceless pearl and gives away everything

else so that he might obtain this one thing.

1 Timothy 2.6 says, and this is actually not a full sentence.

This is just a little clause in a sentence, so I apologize to the grammar people.

It says, Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for many,

a testimony in the proper time.

Jesus understood himself, and the apostles in the church and Christians always

have understood that what Jesus does is he is a person who has given himself

away for the sake of saving lost,

broken, distant people.

He, as we hear about in 1 Peter 2, he himself bore our sins in his body on a

tree so that having died to sins, we might live for righteousness.

And by his wounds, you've been healed. For you were like sheep gone astray,

but you've now returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your soul.

The Bible is so clear about who Jesus is and what he was doing.

I mean, he was a great teacher. He was a fulfillment of prophecy,

a Messiah, prophet, priest, king, all these things, all these ways of describing.

But over and over again, we hear this very clear drumbeat is Jesus gave himself

as a ransom for many, as the price for our sin.

He stood in our place so that we would not have to be any more under the weight

and the guilt and the shame.

He has given himself over willingly so that he might ransom us and gain us and

set us free and bring us into his kingdom.

The kingdom is founded always and forever on what Jesus did, his works.

And it holds together by his self-giving love expressed on the cross.

He laid down his very self for your sake and for my sake.

That's like the heart and that's right in the center of the gospel message.

And it all hinges upon his having done this great thing.

And Jesus makes the point this way, I think, to impress upon us how precious

God considers this calling of being a Savior.

Jesus didn't just go to a cross offering himself up as a ransom,

as a sacrifice for sin, just because, oh, I guess I've got nothing to do today. It's a Friday.

I'll just be crucified today. He did it for a purpose. He knew what he was doing.

He did it to gain something greater.

In 1 John 3.16, not John 3.16, 1 John 3.16, it says, This is how we've come to know love.

He laid down his life for us.

So his self-giving act,

going willingly to the cross for the sake of forgiveness,

is an expression of his love for you and for me and for all this people and

all this broken humanity who outside of him, like have no future and no hope.

He says, no, I want to invite these people into my eternal kingdom and I want to restore creation.

And so in my love, I'm laying down my life.

And my work on the cross is an expression of that great love that I have for people.

And so I think it is good for us to stop and understand that this parable,

before it's anything else, is a representation, at the very least,

of the passion and love and intention that God has in giving himself to gain

you and me and your friends and your neighbors and all those who have no hope in this world.

Jesus has laid down his life,

And he is an expression of love. And it is good for us to contemplate that great love.

And I don't do it nearly enough. And I spend a lot of time reading the Bible

and thinking about the Bible and teaching the Bible.

But I just like, the older I get, the more I think, no, I like shy away habitually.

From really contemplating the love of God.

And I would just, I just, I don't have this up here, but I was just thinking

of Ephesians 3, 18, where Paul says, like, he just prays that you would,

along with all the saints.

So Paul says, this is like the thing that all saints comprehend,

the love of God and how vast and how wide and how deep it is.

You can go back and check that out later.

But like, I don't do that nearly enough. And I know you don't either.

I know you don't. And I know I don't. But I do think that sometimes we need

to consider how much God loves us. It's so important for us.

Christopher Watt can hear a little bit more from him later. He's like a writer and theologian.

He says this, and I think it's really true. He says, there's a reluctance about grace.

That is the idea that in his love, Jesus would just wash us clean and set us

free and forgive us our sin.

He says, there's a reluctance about grace, but it's not God's reluctance to lavish it upon us,

but it is our reluctance to contemplate the possibility that something so rich

and so delicious and so lavish as grace could possibly be real.

And aren't we reluctant to think and dwell upon and consider all the things

that God has done to invite us into the kingdom?

Actually, I don't do this often. I'm going to read you a poem.

See, I feel bad about it, but I'm going to do it anyway.

I'm going to do it anyway. You know, and I actually thought it was appropriate

because, I mean, poetry, like parables, it engages the imagination.

It's not direct communication.

I really like and prefer direct communication, really like didactic,

sort of clear, like logical thinking.

But this is not that, right? But I actually think poetry does help us.

And so I just want to slowly read this poem.

This is by George Herbert. George Herbert was alive in like the 1590s.

So he wrote this poem. It's called Love 3.

And he's depicting what love does for the Christian, the love of Jesus does for the Christian.

And he's depicting it as someone invited into a party and he was receiving hospitality.

And he is depicting the reluctance that many of us, I think,

feel about accepting and knowing and contemplating this love that God has for us.

He says this, Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back, guilty of dust and sin,

yet quick-eyed love, observing me grow slack from my first entrance in,

drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning if I lacked anything.

A guest, I answered, worthy to be here. And love said, you shall be here.

I, the unkind, ungrateful, oh, my dear, I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply, who made the eyes but I.

Truth, Lord, but I marred them. Let my shame go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, says love, who bore the blame? Oh, my dear, then I will serve.

You must sit down, says love, and taste my meat. And so I did sit and eat.

I think a lot of us, myself included, maybe we take the invitation of forgiveness,

but we do it with great reluctance.

We think, oh, okay, Jesus loves me. He forgives my sin.

He's paid a great price. He considers me valuable enough to give himself away,

to gain me, to gain my soul, to gain this broken world and sinful people just like me.

And yet we just want to accept that and we don't want to continue and contemplate

it further because it's a weighty thing to think about how much we are loved.

He doesn't say, just come on in and then you can be my servant.

He says, no, sit, eat. I'm going to serve you. I'm going to fill you with my spirit.

I'm going to wash you clean, wash your feet. When Jesus washes the disciples'

feet, they are reluctant. Why are they reluctant?

They're saying, well, because we need to serve you. you're the greater, we're the lesser.

But Jesus says, no, I will express my love for you in coming as a servant,

and you will know my love as I wash you clean.

And so we sit and we eat. We sit in the presence of our God.

This is the nature of the kingdom. It is so fundamental.

We are greatly loved by our Creator.

He gave everything needed so that we might be with Him, and it is fully undeserving.

And I think that we would like to deserve it, wouldn't we? We would like to

deserve it, but we don't.

And so, one way to think about this parable is to understand that it is a picture

of God's act, His work in bringing about the kingdom.

But of course, that's not the only way to understand this parable.

As much as we see very clearly all that Jesus has done to be with us,

that he has laid down his life, that he's made this possible by saving us,

we also, I think, need to understand that a life with God requires us,

it requires our participation.

That's its nature. That's the nature of the task. That's the nature of the kingdom.

It engages me in my whole self, my body, my soul, my spirit,

everything about me, my mind, my heart.

And I think as much as we can see Jesus as the man in this parable giving himself

for us, we also can read the parable and we need to understand that this is our calling as well.

As we've discovered something so great as an invitation to be in the kingdom,

we are to read ourselves into this parable as those who are coming along and

giving up something for the sake of something even greater.

I'm reminded of the words of Jesus in Matthew 16, these, I think,

kind of difficult words sometimes, but they're so kingdom-focused words.

When he says in Matthew 16, 24, Jesus said to his disciples,

if anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever because of me will find it.

I mean, very clearly we can see how this discipleship dynamic is playing out in this parable.

Because of course we have this precious thing, this pearl of great price,

this treasure that is the invitation to come into the kingdom,

be known by God, the invitation to salvation, and it is good, and it is beautiful.

But of course, in order to get this thing, we give up something lesser.

Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

So we find something great in giving ourselves over to this trust and this relationship

and this discipleship to Jesus.

That's this with God life, right? Because the thing is, we can have an invitation

to a with God life, and yet we could really tell God, it's possible,

I think, for Christians would just tell God, well, I'd just rather do it on my own.

I would just rather with Trey life, Trey's life, Trey with Trey,

just self-relationship, self-connection, self-focus, like that would be easier for me.

But to learn and to take up Jesus's invitation into the kingdom is also to know

that, no, I'm actually like, I'm figuring God into the equation now.

And so I am giving up this old life where I was Lord so that I might have this

new life and this new relationship where I am giving myself over to Him.

And I would argue that the point of discipleship, right?

Because there's, you notice how in the Bible we talk about salvation and that's

like something that is affected by the work of Jesus.

When we respond in faith, like we're saved, right?

But then there's the secondary thing we talk about in the Bible called discipleship,

right? And I'm not like trying to mix these two things together.

I think these are two things that go on. I think saved people are called to be disciples.

And I think full-fledged discipleship is this process of giving up my old self

for the sake of my new self.

But I really want to just say something very clearly. I don't think theologically

a failure in discipleship is a failure of salvation, right? These two things are separate.

Like we're saved by the work and grace of Jesus Christ and that we are secure in those things.

But even as we are secure in that love and in his work and in his sacrifice,

We are called to meaningfully give ourselves over as disciples to Jesus.

And it's not because if we don't, then we won't be saved.

It's because if we don't, we really won't enjoy the fullness of the calling that we have.

And the whole discipleship is really important. Disciples are those who are

actively and meaningfully learning to live this life,

the life that we have right now, as the with God life, like the life of trust,

the life of seeing and experiencing God's presence.

And that's this kingdom dynamic we're invited into.

I have a long quote from Dallas Willard, which is the best kind.

You guys, it's three slides, three side quote from Dallas Willard. I mean, you are so lucky.

Okay, so I think he just really lays this out really clearly.

And I think that it'll become clear, the connection here. So I'm just going to read it for you.

It says, are you a disciple of Jesus Christ?

It may be that you've never had this question asked you in that way.

Many who profess to know Christ have not intentionally chosen to be disciples

of Jesus. Do you even want to be a disciple?

Have you consciously chosen not to be a disciple? Some people have.

They may be eager to know they will go to heaven when they die,

but they have chosen not to live a life of discipleship now.

And God in his gentleness will not force this decision on you,

no matter how good it is for you.

To be Jesus' disciple means a learning from him how to lead my life as he would

lead it if he were I, in my vocation, relationships, health, and status.

It is a continuing relationship through which all dimensions of our personality come to love God.

It really is the greatest opportunity life offers.

In becoming a disciple of Jesus, we learn to live as Jesus taught us to live.

We discover how to handle the ordinary events of life, of daily life,

in cooperative action with God.

We grow in learning how to act in God's power.

Discipleship to Jesus is not supposed to be miserable. That's a good takeaway.

Everything he commanded us to do is good for us and brings a good return to us.

Yes, there are things that we have to give up. But remember the other side of

the parable of the pearl of great price.

We benefit immensely from the relationships.

Count the cost doesn't mean we just look at what we pay. We also look at what we gain.

We won't know how much a new car is going to cost us until we also count the cost of not buying it.

We have to evaluate what we get and what we pay, and that's what Jesus is talking

about when he talks about counting the cost.

While Dietrich Bonhoeffer's great book was called The Cost of Discipleship,

I think someone needs to write one called The Cost of Non-Discipleship.

We can never measure the cost of discipleship unless we measure the higher cost

of non-discipleship, which includes the likelihood of spending the rest of our

lives being dominated by hatred, resentment, and other afflictions.

Discipleship allows us to live full of love, joy, hope, peace,

and confidence in God instead.

Now, if I were to see that clearly as the goal, I would gladly give up all of

this stuff, my comfort, my pride.

If I were to know and understand what such a good thing is on the other side

that we have found hidden in the field like this treasure, And then we call it discipleship.

Like Jesus is not, he's not presenting salvation as something that's going to

happen after you die, right? I mean, like, yes, but not exclusively.

Like he calls disciples to follow him in the here and now because this is life in the kingdom.

And it involves holding up and making this distinction between,

okay, the life I had, a life where I was alone, where I was the ruler,

and trading that for a life of discipleship, following after Jesus,

learning to live my life as he would live it, were he in my shoes.

Two ways to think about the parable. I'm wrapping up here.

So actually the worship team can come up because I have this one last question, right?

Okay. Cause this is always, this is always the question we have when we come to the Bible.

Cause we are very, you know, we like, we like the Bible to answer our questions.

So we have this question of the Bible.

What way is the right way to think about it? This parable in particular,

cause I've presented two possible readings, right? Two possible ways of understanding this parable.

Well, again, I think the parables are great because they allow our imaginations

and they allow us to read things both ways.

And I actually think this parable in particular is a really good illustration

of how both of these readings are not only acceptable, but they accompany one another.

I want to explain to you what I mean. Christopher Watkins, same guy I quoted

a little while back, has this concept of n-shaped stories, lowercase n-shaped

stories, versus u-shaped stories.

And what he argues is that the gospel is a u-shaped story and not an n-shaped story.

So by way of illustration, I want to actually go back to the n-shaped one,

thank you, to distinguish between these two things.

So in an n-shaped story, oh gosh, I can't read it. Oh, there it is.

Right? In an n-shaped story dynamic.

This is actually just like what is common in the world of religion.

Like before Jesus Christ came and turned the world upside down and opened up

the kingdom of God, this is the way people thought that they made God happy.

They lived into these N-shaped stories.

And the N-shaped stories begins with me.

I make a sacrifice to God, or I perform some act of worship to God,

or I give something to God.

I do something good and commendable. That's the beginning of an N-shaped story.

And then the end of an N-shaped story is as it comes back down, God gives me what I want.

Now, if I were to take these two readings of discipleship, and one that focuses

on God and his action, and one that focuses on me, and I actually presented

them in the reverse order, then I would have an N-shaped story.

If the story is I become a good disciple, and then Jesus saves me,

that's an N-shaped story.

It's I start something, and I earn something, and I'm owed something.

But the gospel is this U-shaped story. The gospel begins with what Jesus has

done. He did it before you and I were alive.

I mean, the Bible actually says that he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

So before everything was, before Adam and Eve were broken and sinned and deserved

condemnation and the world became futile, right?

And I was totally lost and separated from God because of my sin.

Before all of that, God had a plan to do something that begins with his work,

right? So this U-shaped story, a U-shaped story is God reaches down in unmerited grace.

He gives himself, he initiates the relationship without you earning it or deserving

it. But he's done it because of his love.

And then it follows on with we respond in joyful obedience and thanks.

See, I think this dynamic of the kingdom is presenting both of these readings,

but it's in this proper order, which is to say, yes, Jesus is the man.

He looks at a broken world and he says, it's so hurt and it's so lost and my

love for it is so great that I will leave heaven where I've eternally sat with

the Father and I'm going to come on.

I'm going to take on flesh, fully God, fully man.

I'm going to be perfect, spotless, sinless in the world.

And yet I'm going to come to my people. They're not going to know me.

They're going to reject me. They're going to crucify me.

And then I'm going to die to take away sin.

And I'm going to raise again to demonstrate the transformative work that I've

done and invite all who would hear to come in faith and to have a new kind of

life in response to what I have done to an undeserving world.

So it begins with that story. It has to begin with that story.

And our discipleship is in response to finding a treasure,

a treasure that Jesus Christ has brought down in the gospel and proclaimed so

clearly that he loves you and he loves me and he loves your friends and he loves

your neighbors and he loves you to such a great extent that you could never

even wrap your mind around it.

And so you are not coming into the life of discipleship because you want to prove yourself to God.

You're coming to this life of discipleship because you have stumbled upon the

gospel, which is that Jesus invites you in and he wants to serve you.

And so your life of discipleship is just making much of the gift that he's given.

And I think we just need to have this so fixed. But again, I think just coming

back to the point I was making earlier about love, how do we keep it straight in our heads?

Well, we understand that it starts and it hinges on what he's done.

And so as we just wrap up, I just want to pray for us.

And I actually just like want to ask to pray along with Paul what he says in

Ephesians. Actually, I'm going to pull it up. Ephesians 3.18.

Okay, so let's just enter into prayer for a second and then we're going to go

into worship. but I just want to pray.

Lord God, of all the things we could know, Lord, let us know your grace. Let us know your love.

Lord, if we have that squarely fixed in our hearts and in our minds,

Lord, we will gladly give.

Our lives over to you. Lord, for the joy of finding buried in the midst of our

lives this great treasure that you have put there, that you've placed there.

Lord, you've not concealed it, but you've lifted it up. You want us to know,

you desperately want us to know your love and your grace and your mercy.

Lord Jesus, thank you for it. And God, I just pray for each of us as we're here,

Lord, that you would impress upon us.

Lord, not just a hint of your love and your grace, but the depth and the magnitude of it.

Lord, I just think about Ephesians 3.14. For this reason I kneel before the

Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.

And I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory,

to be strengthened with power in your inner being through the Spirit,

and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love,

may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width and

height and depth of God's love.

And to know Christ's love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled

with all the fullness of God.

And so, Lord, we look to the life of discipleship and we want to understand

that it is just flowing from what you've done, Lord.

Would you fill us with all your fullness, Lord Jesus, as we are filled with

a knowledge of the depth of your love for us.

God, if we are embarrassed by your love, we just confess that before you,

Lord. We don't know how to receive your love.

We don't know how to hold on to it, Lord. We don't know how to quantify it,

Lord, and it makes us uncomfortable.

But Lord, would you remind us and continually pour out.

The truth of your great love for us, God.

Would that love carry us into a life of discipleship, Lord?

Would that carry us into a way of seeing and knowing and being with you in the day-to-day?

Lord Jesus, would you just palpably and measurably let us know that you've done it all, Lord?

Lord, you've loved us on our worst day, Lord. We don't have to clean ourselves

up in order to to earn your affection.

Lord, your affection is beyond measure.

It is lavish grace.

And Lord, if we've known that, Lord, would you remind us of that?

Lord, if we've never known that, would you, by your Spirit, just fill us up

with that love all the more?

And Lord, even as we stand to worship you now, Lord, we don't worship out of

duty. We worship in awe and responsiveness to your gospel.

Lord, we remind ourselves that we can sit here and stand and open your word

and enter into the kingdom because of what you've done, Jesus.

You've forgiven our sins. You've taken them far as the east is from the west.

And beyond that, you've invited us in.

Lord, let us remain and abide in your love, I pray.

Amen. Hey, let's just stand up. We'll worship the Lord together.