He is Good | Jesus the Messiah | Mark 8:27-32

Editor's note we had an issue with Pastor Colton's microphone early on in the service.

So if you hear any artifacts in the audio, you can be pretty sure that it's not your speakers.

We do correct the issue later on with a mic switch so it does not happen for the entire podcast.

Okay, enjoy the message.

We're in a series uh going through the Gospel of Mark titled He is Good because Mark titles his gospel.

This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus.

And um we're actually halfway through literally the book that Mark was trying to get us to halfway through.

We get to this point in this text where the whole time there's been these spaces in Jesus' uh in Mark's gospel about Jesus where people are wondering, who is this?

He can calm the seas, he can drive out demons, he can do all these things.

Who is this?

Who is this?

And finally we get to this point where he asks, Who do you say that I am?

And someone finally gets it right.

They finally understand.

So he's he spent eight chapters trying to build to this crescendo of somebody declaring Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah.

And so that's where we're at in this particular passage.

Um, and so I'm gonna read Mark 8, starting in verse 27.

I'm gonna take it down to 32.

Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked them, Who do people say that I am?

And they replied, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elisha, and still others say one of the prophets.

But what about you?

He asked, Who do you say that I am?

And Peter answered, You are the Messiah.

And Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

And he then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, that he must be killed, and after three days rise again.

He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

This is the word of the Lord.

Last week, I'm working on this.

Last week, the disciples, we saw this, they had the ability to answer correctly.

They had the right words.

We talked about that.

How many loaves did you walk away with?

How many basketfuls did you walk away with?

How many of this?

Twelve, seven.

So they had the right words.

But they their lives didn't display, even though they know the right theology, even though they know the right words, they're still dealing with this idea of not being able to actually live out the words that they are claiming to believe.

And right here, you see the exact same thing happening again.

Peter is announcing with the disciples, here is who you are.

You are the Messiah.

And then, and I think that's in verse 29, you are the Messiah.

Go to the next slide.

And then in verse 32, he then begins, Jesus is like, okay, great, you know that I'm the Messiah.

Here's what I'm what must happen to this Messiah.

And Peter's like, no, no, no.

You're the Messiah, but you're gonna be my Messiah.

Like, I'm gonna make sure you do it my way.

You're you might be Messiah, but you clearly don't understand what Messiah's do.

And so let me help you.

And so he begins rebuking Jesus.

And so you see this idea of like his lips are saying one thing, but his life said something completely different.

Peter's lips are saying one thing, his life is saying something completely different.

I think many of us in the room, especially in the South, I think many of us would say with Peter and the disciples, who's Jesus?

Oh, he's the Messiah.

And you know, I still think, just like him and his friends, as disciples, it's easier to say he's Messiah than it is to live like he's Messiah.

We can say with our lips, Jesus is the Christ, he is the Messiah.

Um, but then you look at our lives, and our lives are saying something completely different.

Because if he is this, then this should be true of our lives.

And it's like, so we say this, but this is true of our lives, and it's like, man, there's your lips are saying one thing, your life is saying something completely different.

And so what I want to do today is really based on that question, like, who do you, not who do you say that Jesus is, but who does your life say that Jesus is?

Like if someone were to look at your life and you were to look inwardly at your life, who would your life say that Jesus actually is?

Is he Messiah by word only?

Just by just like he's Messiah on my lips, but in my life, you know, I'm my own savior.

And so I have three questions that I want to ask us to determine.

If you're like, I don't know, like I say, I say that he is this with my lips.

How do I know if my life would testify to the fact that he's Messiah?

Three questions to help us really kind of lock in and determine are we just saying he's Messiah?

Are we actually living that way?

So three questions we'll go through them one by one.

So the first, the first question to consider, is he Messiah by word only or by our lives, is to consider does he have full authority over your life?

If he is Messiah, does he have full authority over your life?

Because Messiah means that Jesus is, to call him that, that means that he is the long-awaited king.

Go to the next slide.

He is the long-awaited king.

Follow me, Colin.

We're going fast.

He is the long-awaited king from the line of David.

That's what it means that he is the Messiah.

He's the rightful heir to the throne of all kingdoms, of all governments, whose reign will have no end.

That's who he is.

And so to call him is to say, he's the long-awaited king.

He is king.

Isaiah said this of the Messiah, and this is you'll know this verse if you've been in church at Christmas time and all.

But he says, the government will be on his shoulders, all governments, not just like worldly governments, but anything that governs our lives, all governments will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end.

And he will reign on David's throne, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.

And so to call him Messiah is to see him as not just a king, but your king.

If he is your Messiah, he is your king who reigns over all of your life.

He reigns over all of your decisions, he dictates everything that you do, he dictates everything that you don't do.

He's the one.

And so to call him, I call him Messiah and to not allow him full authority over your life is to say one thing but to live a completely different thing.

Because to call him the Messiah is to give him unlimited access and unlimited authority over your life.

And so does he have that type of authority over your life?

And the best way to answer that question is really by asking another question.

To figure out if somebody has authority over your life, you should ask the question like, who wins when y'all disagree?

Like when you disagree with God over how your life should function and how what's right for you and what's wrong for you, whose side do you go with?

Do you go with his side or do you go with your side?

Because the truth is you're going to disagree with him.

Like disagreement with God is inevitable.

You will just he will say, your life will function better if you go this direction.

And you will go, I don't think that's right.

I think it's better if I go this direction.

You will inevitably disagree because when you're dealing with a superior person and someone that's inferior to them, there's inevitably there's gonna be disagreements in that.

For instance, my son, when he was two years old, disagreed with me that putting small objects or bugs in your mouth was either gonna kill you and choke you or it was just disgusting.

Please don't do that.

Like he was, he was like, uh-uh, this is what this is what's best for me.

I'm living my truth.

I'm gonna choke myself.

And like he didn't understand, like, right?

Like he disagreed with the parent who said, like, hey, that could kill you.

And he's like, mm-mm, another Lego.

Like he just couldn't get to that point.

And so there's this idea that like disagreement actually makes sense.

When you're dealing with a superior, when someone's far superior than you, their ideas won't make sense because they're on a different playing field.

They're dealing with something completely different.

And so the idea is with God, we will disagree on the best course of action that we will face in our lives.

I feel like, yeah, I'm a I'm a obviously I'm a Christian.

I believe in all, I believe in the spiritual world.

I believe that there is spiritual warfare.

I believe that there is something here that the Lord has for your heart and in your life that he wants to say to you, that distractions can get in the way of those things.

And as I've been preparing this this week, I told Rainey, I was like, I think he wants to say some things to people in our room.

And so it makes sense that this type of thing would happen.

And I don't, you know, I don't know that Satan's in like the you know Mike business.

Um, but I do think that things can happen.

So, so track, stay with me uh if you can.

We will disagree with him naturally.

And the reason we will dis disagree with him naturally is because his ways are higher than ours, his plans are different than ours because he is greater and we are lesser.

And so there's this space like to figure out who has more authority in your life is to ask, like, when you and God disagree, who wins?

Whose side do you take?

Do you submit to him, or do you really want him to submit to you?

Do you want him to go with your plans?

And so, does he get to decide what is right and wrong for you?

Does he get to decide what you do with your money, or do you get to decide what you do with your money?

Does he get to decide who you forgive and who you choose to stay bitter at?

Does he get to decide the words that you say, the way that you speak, the way that you live, how you spend your time, what you look at, what you don't look at, does he get to decide what is sin in your life, or do you get to say, like, I know you call that sin in your scriptures, but I don't?

And so the answer to either of those things, if you find yourself going like, well, actually, I get to decide all of those things, then what I would say is that you're not, you're treating Jesus less like Messiah and more like your therapist, if you have one.

Um because your therapist realistically is someone that you might depend on, someone you might talk to.

Every now and then you see them, they help you through your problems, and your therapist may even give you some advice, but they do not have authority over how you live.

They're just allowed to give you some good advice.

And then if they're like, I'm gonna enforce this on you, you'll be like, I'm gonna find a new therapist.

Because like that, that's just not what you're what they're able to do.

You know, this is advice that they can give you, they can guide you a little bit, but at the end of the day, I'm my own captain, I get to make the decision for myself.

And so if we treat Jesus like, hey, you have some authority, but not all authority, I dictate the plans of my life, I dictate the things that I do, then you're not treating him as a messiah.

You're calling him Messiah, but you're treating him like a therapist.

And the issue of seeing him more like a therapist than Messiah is if you will not give him full authority, if you decide what you do with your life and you won't let him do it, he will not be able to do all the wonderful, incredible things that he wants to do in your life.

And it's not because he's powerless, it's because you just won't let him and he's not gonna force you to do it.

Everything that he does is that he's he's extending an invitation to you and saying, please follow me in this.

You're gonna, you're I I I swear I'm gonna lead you into something so much better.

And so I'm not gonna force you.

And if you don't give him the authority over your all of your life, when you inevitably disagree with him, you're gonna wind up in this spot where you go, Well, thanks for the advice, but I'm not doing any of that.

And he's going, but I had something on the other end that I was trying to give you, and you refused it because you said no.

He wants to save you.

Jesus wants to lead you as Messiah, he wants to lead you into a life of abundance that you cannot get on your own.

And if you don't give him that authority, you won't follow where he leads.

You you won't have you won't heed his warnings and avoid the pain that you could have avoided in your marriage, in your relationships, and your in your life altogether.

Please don't do this.

I'm not doing this to steal from you, I'm doing this to protect you.

No, I'm not gonna listen to you.

And then you walk into these issues and this conflict that you could have otherwise avoided.

When you disagree with him, which you will, and that makes sense, you will disagree with him.

You will think you know how how to do it better.

But if he doesn't have authority, you will go with your way and not trust him, following him, going, look, I don't understand this, but I'm just gonna continue moving forward because you're king and I'm not your messiah, and I am just subject.

You'll think you'll know better.

And then in that direction, you will miss out on all the things that he wants to give you.

Again, not because he's powerless, but just because he's not gonna force you.

And so is he Messiah by word only?

And the real question is like, does he have full authority over your life or do you?

So that's the first question.

Second, is he Messiah word only?

Uh a question to look at is do you look to him alone for the fullness of life that you long for, that you ache for?

Do you look to him alone for those things?

And so because Messiah means, what it means is that he is the only source that can provide and bring about the life and blessings that you long for.

Calling him Messiah is to set him in this space to go that every blessing I'm looking for, every longing in the deepest desires of my heart, my heart, you are the person, you're the only space where I can go and receive those things.

And to call him that is to set him up above every other thing that exists in the world that could possibly fulfill us, and to go, I if I get none of those other things, but I have you, I could live the most full, abundant, filled life that I possibly that's even available, and I could live like kings and queens, even though I don't look like kings and queens in the world.

To call him Messiah is to do that.

Through the Messiah in Genesis 22, it says, All the nations of the earth will be blessed.

Isaiah 61, the Messiah speaks and he says, Look, the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

The anointed, like the anointed one, that's the word Messiah.

He has Messiah me.

He has made me Messiah.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives, release from the darkness for the prisoners.

He's anointed me to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, to comfort those who mourn, all who mourn, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of the spirit of despair.

Those who come to me will display the Lord's splendor, and all who see them will acknowledge that they are a people that the Lord has blessed.

He's announcing to the world, like, based on who I am, every single possible desire and longing of your heart, all of those, I will absolutely take care of all single all of those things.

You will aim them at lesser things, but I'm the one that can actually fulfill all those things.

And so to call him Messiah means that through him, you can have a fullness of life that our hearts are actually longing for.

And this is why Jesus in John 15 would say, Hey, apart from me, apart from me, you can do nothing.

You can experience nothing.

There's nothing you actually long for and desire that you can experience apart from me.

I am the vine, you are the branches, I promise.

You stick with me, abide in me, and I will fulfill you and supply you with what you're actually longing for.

And so do we look to Jesus alone for the fullness of life that we long for?

Or do we think we need something else to make us happy and to make us full?

I need Jesus plus, like Disney Plus.

I need to be Jesus plus.

I need to bundle some stuff.

A little Hulu, little ESPN, little Disney Plus.

It's not my notes.

Most Christians, most Christians believe, and this is just 20 years of ministry.

Most Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

He is my savior, but he is the Messiah for the afterlife, but not in this life.

He's the Messiah for the afterlife, not in this life.

They believe that Jesus can give them fullness of life after death, but to experience fullness of life now, I'm gonna need some more stuff.

Like he can be the messiah for my for my future life, but in this life, I need more money.

I gotta get married.

I gotta get remarried.

I gotta get divorced.

Like you just run through this game.

I gotta get a new house, I gotta get a new car, I gotta make sure I get a better job, I gotta make sure my career is stable, we need a new president.

Like, if whatever these things are, we need all these different things.

I'm not saying we need I'm not stating my anyways.

I'm just saying that there's things in there.

I was like, Jesus can supply what I need for the afterlife, but in this one, I need something else.

And you can tell you think this, that you need something other than Jesus to make you happy based on how you complete this sentence here.

As soon as I get blank, then I'll have it all.

As soon as I get blank, then I'll be content.

As soon as I get this, then I can finally rest.

As soon as I get this, then I'll finally be happy, and et cetera, and et cetera, and on and on and on.

Whatever the thing is in the gap, whatever the thing you're looking for, like life's pretty good right now, but when this happens, then I'll really start living.

Then I could really experience something great.

So whatever that thing is, you are looking at that thing and depending on that thing like a little messiah.

Really, like an antichrist.

It is not him, it's something other than him.

So you're depending on an antichrist to actually bring about life that the Christ is supposed to bring about, the Messiah is supposed to bring about.

And so anything in that gap is an Antichrist.

And the issue is antichrist can't do what the real Christ can do.

And so the longer you look towards those things, all they're gonna do is make you less and less full and lead you away from actual life and actual fullness because an antichrist didn't rise from the dead, the real one did.

And so when you give your life to him and you start pursuing him and you're seeking him for the things that you long for, the Christ is supposed to do those things.

The anti-ones can't.

They just cannot do what he can deliver on.

A little savior to deliver you from a worse life in this life just doesn't exist.

And if we look for him, we're gonna be miserable.

And 20 again, 20 years of working in churches, to be honest, some of the most miserable people in the world are Christians who get stuck in this idea.

They just get stuck in this thing.

People who believe that their little Messiah will provide for them the life that they ache for.

If I just get this, then I'll finally be full.

And so it starts really small.

It's normally like something like, if I'm just, you know, a part of the crowd, if I just get some friends, if I'm just a part of that thing, they could almost start that in high school.

Like this will make my life full if I have this one thing.

And then it can shift to, well, as long as I get to go to this college, like if I if I go to this college at this space and have these experiences, then my life will be full.

And they move from that and they go, all I need to do now to have a full life is to get married.

Need to get settled.

Need to marry the right person, though, because if I marry a bum, that's no good.

I need to marry the right person.

So I I if I if I can do that, then to my friends and to the people in my life, it will, it will like I've settled something there.

I matter now, because I have this relationship in my life.

Then they thought it was money.

I just need to make a set number of dollars.

Then it's career.

You just make sure I get this career settled up.

Then they thought it was kids.

If I get some kids, then all of a sudden I'll be happy.

Only people who don't have kids experience that.

Then they thought it was where they live, what they drive.

Then they thought it was making sure their kids are successful.

If my kids are successful, that's gonna be the thing.

If I can make sure that they're set off and they're good, then I'll be in a spot where I feel finally happy.

Then it's health, and then it's comfort, and then it's retirement, and on and on and on.

And eventually what people end up settling for is just optics.

Like, look, yo, I'm miserable, but I look good on Instagram.

Like it's fine.

Like, whatever.

I'm not happy, but people think I'm happy.

And that's plenty.

And so they just settle for what it looks like.

That's like, how you doing?

It's like, well, my friends, everybody thinks I have the life that everybody longs for, but internally I still battle this angst.

Like, yeah, I got the house, I got the car, I got the job, I got the spouse, I got this, I got that.

And it's like, how you feeling?

I'm dying inside.

These things can't do it.

There's something in them that I can't squeeze the life that I actually long for out of them.

Somehow I have everything I've ever wanted, and I'm still just as miserable or more empty than I started.

Like, how is it possible that I wish to go back to high school?

How is it possible that I wish to go back to college?

Like, how is it possible that these things, it's like, because you wound up somewhere in your life depending on anti-Messiahs that just cannot do what Jesus can do.

And they're miserable because those things that they're trusting in cannot provide the way that Jesus can provide.

And if we don't look to Jesus for the fullness of life that we long for in all things, we end up treating him less as a messiah, and end up treating them more like your waiter at a restaurant.

Less as a messiah, more like a waiter.

Y'all know this?

You go to any restaurant, the waiter is not who you need.

He's just, she's just, just somebody there.

You need something, but it's in the back, probably, and this person's just the carry-all.

Like they're just like, I don't need you to fulfill me.

I need what you can go grab and bring to me.

I need something other than you.

And you're just the the go-between.

And so to treat Jesus in a way that's like, hey, you aren't what I need.

I need the stuff.

Just could you go get me the stuff?

If I if I believe in you, will you go get me the stuff I actually need to actually make me full?

And to treat him this way is to call him Messiah, but treat him like a waiter.

And it's like, I don't need you, I need the stuff.

And the tragedy with living like that is you will constantly, constantly, constantly, all you will spend your life doing is going from one season to the next season, looking for another thing, and going, okay, I finally, if I have this, then I will be.

Then you get that thing, and it's like, why do I still feel this emptiness?

Why did it not satisfy?

And you'll jump from one Messiah to another Messiah to another Messiah, just constantly looking for a savior, something to save you, something to save you from the worseness that you feel in your life.

And you'll never actually find it.

And Jesus won't be mad at you, he will just weep for you and going like, I was here the entire time.

I was calling to you, beckoning to you to go, like, I'm the actual Messiah.

All these other things will pale in comparison to me.

They cannot give you what I can give you.

And so is he Messiah by word only?

Do you look to him a Alone for the fullness of life that you actually long for?

Do you actually believe that if you never got anything else, but you had him, like the Apostle Paul, like I know how to abound and I know how to deal with little?

I have Jesus.

Everything else is pales in comparison to knowing him.

And so whether I have fullness or emptiness, it does not matter.

Do you look to him alone for the fullness of life that you actually long for?

That's the second question.

Third, is he Messiah in your life or by word only?

Ask the question do you live like he actually died for you?

Not do you say that he died for you, like, yeah, I know he died for me, but like does your life reflect that somewhere in history a man literally hung on a cross and died for you?

Does your life actually look like and reflect the fact that he actually died for you?

Because Messiah means that the Messiah would, out of love for you, choose to be killed in your place to protect you from the punishment of sin and to bring us to God.

Isaiah says of the Messiah, again, I believe it's Isaiah 53, that he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities.

The Messiah, the punishment that brought us peace was on him.

By his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us have turned to our own way.

But the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was cut off from the land of the living.

For the sin of my people, he was punished.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked, though he had done no violence, nor were there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and to cause him to suffer.

And the because the Lord makes his life an offering for sin.

And then after he has suffered, he will see the light of life, and my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore, I will give him a portion among the great because he poured out his life unto death.

Like, do you believe, does your life reflect the fact that Jesus has done literally all that for you?

Is there a space in your life where you're like, yes, I know that he died for me, but like, do you actually, does your life reflect this idea that he actually did all those things for you?

And one of the best ways to tell, one of the best ways to tell if you really believe that Jesus literally died for you, is to look at how you worship and to look at how you praise him.

Because if you've actually experienced this, if you actually believe that Jesus has loved you enough to die for you, that type of kindness would naturally break forth in exaltation and praise and love and affection.

Experiencing that in real time, believing that someone's actually given their life to you, it would naturally erupt praise and gratitude from you.

Um when Teddy was one, like around one year old, um he uh woke us up one night through the baby monitor on the thing, and um he he was he like couldn't breathe.

And so in his in his lungs, like what it sounded like, what woke us up was like and so I shoot up out of bed, I run in there, and uh I grab him, flip on the light, and he's standing up in his little crib going and uh and not able to to get full breaths.

And so like I think I'm like freaking Legos, I knew that like and so I like reach into his throat, I'm like trying to grab whatever is in there, and nothing's in there, nothing's working, and that kind of thing.

And so I'm like, Ray, we gotta go.

So we hop in the car and we drive from East Memphis to Methodist Germantown, and I'm flying, I'm I'm running every red light, it's dangerous.

But I'm like, I don't know.

I mean, he's not breathing great.

I don't know if he can breathe.

And so we're flying all the way there.

Rainy's holding him.

I'm asking her the entire time like, can he breathe?

Can he breathe?

And the whole time he's going, and and so we bust into the parking lot or whatever.

And I I don't last time I was there, he was born, and I didn't go to the emergency room.

I have no idea where the emergency room is.

And so I'm flying through the parking lot looking for the emergency room, and he's going and like I can't find it.

I cannot find it, but I see that there's this nurse clearly on break or something, just walking in the parking lot.

And so I like drive up next to her, rolling out my window, and I was like, ma'am, where is the emergency room?

My kid can't breathe.

And she's like, Oh, it's it's like a hundred yards up there to the left, go that way.

And I was like, you know, and I took off, whatever.

Then I get up to the emergency room and I park underneath the awning, and as I'm getting Teddy from Rainy, and I stand up out of the car, and that woman is standing right there.

She has sprinted after my car.

And she she Teddy's fine, he's nine now, Lord.

Um, but like she she snags Teddy out of my arms, one year snags him out of my arms and has her little thing, and like starts checking his lungs and starts checking to make sure that he can breathe.

And she's like, hey, he can breathe.

He's he's getting enough oxygen, he can, he can breathe.

And so, but we do need to get him in here, he needs to get in here.

And she like ran him in there and got him set up and got him in a thing and got the oxygen on his face, and like he's fine.

And it was just a very severe case of croup or whatever, and like just and his oxygen level was low, and she she fixed it.

But I didn't just see her and go, like, oh, of course.

Like, and then I would just went about life.

Like, no, I like wanted to grovel at her feet and like hold her in high regard and be like, give her a raise.

She deserves everything you could possibly give her.

Like, thank you so much for what you did.

And she didn't even save my kid's life.

She just gave me peace in my heart that he's not gonna die.

And she ran a hundred yards like after a car to go find this thing.

And it was just a special, like, that's what you naturally do with someone who does something like that for you.

You don't go, appreciate it.

See, uh, could you give me a coffee?

Like, you don't do that, like you don't do that.

What you do is you're like, I whatever you I want to pay you money, I want to give you things, I want to like thank you.

What erupts out of you is praise, and you're your natural response to someone who you're standing in front of a car and it's about to hit you, and somebody pushes you out of the way and they take the hit.

Your natural response isn't to get up and go to dinner afterwards.

Like it's to talk, like to be so thankful for the person that pushed you out of the way, that saved your life, that did those things.

That is the gut-level natural thing that happens is gratitude.

It just erupts out of you and it can't stop.

And so you can tell if you really believe that Jesus died for you based on what erupts out of you when you have the chance to worship him, and y'all.

When I meet with new people for our church, right?

They visited here, meet new people from our church, take them to coffee, lunch, whatever.

They normally say two things pretty consistently.

One of them is very encouraging, and one of them is pretty discouraging.

The first one they normally say every time is that's the most welcoming group of people I've ever met.

I've never felt more at home so quickly and so welcomed.

Like I've never felt that.

And y'all, when I hear that, I'm so encouraged, I'm so thrilled, I'm so thankful.

It's like, our people are the best, they're the best, and you are.

The second thing that they pretty consistently say is but the worship was really distracting because of all the people talking in the back and all the people chatting around me, and all the people walking around the aisles doing all these different things.

The worship for me, it was hard to focus on Jesus because of all the stuff that's going on.

What is that?

And I'm like, hey, I love our people.

I'm so glad we're here, so thankful.

They're the best.

But I do say, like, that's a space of unhealth in our church.

Something wrong there.

We talk about it actually as a staff almost monthly.

And the question is normally like, what is it?

Like, is it our worship team?

Like, are they just not any good?

And we're like, no, clearly, they're whole, they're they're incredible.

Like they're they're they're all actual professionals.

Like, they're incredible and they work so hard and they do this for like what like that's not it.

And it's like, oh, okay, well, then are people just trying to dishonor them?

Like, are they trying to be disrespectful by standing up, by not worshiping, by not even focusing on the work that they're are they trying to be rude?

And it's like, no, like that's not, that can't be, like, they wouldn't be doing that either.

They're not trying to be mean to the people on the stage.

Like, are the coffee and donuts just that good?

And it's like, I mean, they are, they're good.

It's good coffee, good donuts, but like, no, that's not it.

And where we wind up is basically like the answer is like Peter, there is still this disconnect in our lives between what we say about Jesus and then what our lives actually say about Jesus.

There's still this that He is Messiah, He has given His life for me.

And yet, there's this disconnect that exists in our church about the worship and how we choose to actually honor someone who literally laid down, who had nails and hands and feet.

There's just a disconnect.

Because if you actually believe that Jesus has loved you enough to die for you, that type of kindness, we know it would erupt from us in gratitude and praise.

And the reason this is important for us is that if Jesus dying for you doesn't lead you to worship and gratitude, what it reveals is that you fully don't understand what he's accomplished for you.

You actually still haven't fully received what he's done for you.

You don't fully understand the greatness of the love that he actually feels for you.

You don't fully understand that he has loved you while you were his enemies, not when you were righteous.

You don't know that he loved you.

When you hated him, he didn't hate you back, he loved you.

You don't fully understand that he has saved you from your sin.

And when those things don't sink in, and this is the tragedy behind it, when those things don't sink into your life, that he has incredible love for you, you will only ever always feel like he is constantly disappointed in you, mad at you, shaming you, angry with you, mad at your sin.

Like if you if you're never affected by the affection that he actually feels for you, then you'll always think he's disappointed in you.

If it doesn't sink in that he died to cover your sins, you will try and cover your sins.

You will run, you will hide, you will try and pay them off.

He's mad at me until I can do some good works to cover up the bad works that I've done.

It's like, no, it's never sunk in that he paid the whole thing.

The price is, it's over.

There's no other price.

He did it.

If you, if it never sinks in that he was punished in your place, you will think that punishment still exists for you in your sin.

You will do something bad and then look around the cosmic world, like when's God gonna slap me with something terrible?

And every bad thing that does happen to you, you'll think, well, that's because I was a I'm I made that sin.

God's getting me back.

And it's like, no, he doesn't operate in karma because karma is how people treat one another, not how God treats people.

He gives us what we don't deserve, he doesn't give us what we do deserve.

And so when that doesn't sink into our lives, we wind up in this space where we don't actually experience the fullness of the beauty of the gospel and what Jesus has accomplished for us.

And so it's like, I say that I know that he died for me, but it's not affecting my worship.

It's like the tragedy is you're gonna live like you are not loved.

And not loved children don't thrive.

People who grow up in unlovable, unloving families, the Lord can redeem it, but there's issues that they're gonna face.

And if you do not fully understand this, you will never fully thrive.

And if you really don't believe that Jesus gave his life for you, you will treat him more like an auditor than like a messiah.

And let's be honest, no one's worshiping their auditor.

No one's like, Let me, I just love you so much.

Thank you for all the nickel and diamond me you did and the receipts that you still don't have that I'm going to jail.

Appreciate that.

No one feels a ton of gratitude for an auditor.

No one feels loved by their auditor.

No one feels like the auditor is there for them and for their good.

No one feels that way.

What you do is you do everything you can to avoid ever being audited because you don't want to see the auditor.

You might even obey rules that you don't want to obey, but it's not because you love the auditor, you obey them to avoid punishment.

And so if we don't actually believe that he gave his life for us, you will treat him as someone to avoid, not someone to embrace.

And so there's this space in us, you'll miss out on who he actually is, the love that he actually has for you.

Brennan Manning says this, it's one of my favorite quotes.

He says, If we continue to picture God as a small-minded bookkeeper, an annoyed customs officer rifling through our moral suitcase, as a policeman with a club who's gonna bat us over the head every time we stumble and fall, or as a capricious and cantankerous thief who delights in reigning on our parade and stealing our joy, then we flatly reject what John writes in his first letter that God is love.

In human beings, love is a quality, it's a highly prized virtue.

But in God, love is his identity.

It is who he is, and it is his his posture and his stance towards us.

Love is his identity.

And so we'll just miss out on that if we don't actually believe, not just with our words, but with our hearts and our lives, that he died for us.

So do you believe that he really did?

Do you live like he actually laid down his life for you?

And worship will help that.

Worship will help that sink down into your soul to close.

Peter and his disciples struggled.

They said the right words, they a lot of the times had the right words, but they did not live those words out.

They had the right words, but their lives revealed something else.

And so for you, who does your life say that he is?

Do you see him, go to the next slide here?

Do you see him as Messiah or more like a therapist?

Someone who might have good advice for you, but he can't tell you how to live?

Do you see him as Messiah or more like a waiter?

He's not someone you need, but it's someone who can get the stuff that you actually need.

And then do you see him as Messiah or more like an auditor?

Someone who's just trying to catch you in your mistakes and punish you?

If you would say that he's Messiah, but live like he's not, and I think, like, honestly, the truth is there's a space in here where all of us lean towards one of these things.

Like we don't have it perfectly together.

The spaces where I've I spent, like when I sin, like I do struggle to see him as an auditor, like like checking, like you're a pastor now, so you gotta make sure, you know, like I do struggle with some of those things.

There are things in my life, like a church building, that I go, like, as soon as we have that, then we'll really be doing like there's still things that I have to go, like, no, that's a fake thing.

If I never get that, like he is still worthy of all the different things, and the life that he has for me isn't based on a building, thank God.

And so there's something else that exists for us that he is able to provide us, but but I still lean and struggle in those directions, and I think all of us will in some form or fashion.

We will struggle with one of these, and we'll lean one of those ways.

And the call then is just to repent.

It's just to go like, I need to change my mind.

Like, I didn't realize I slipped into this way of viewing him, and I need to turn back because turning back to him and who he truly is is the only way to actually move forward.

And so, where we find these things actually taking shape in our lives, we should repent and go, like, I can't believe, yeah, you slipped into waiter mode for me.

I forgot that I don't need anything else but you.

I'm sorry, I'm gonna turn back on that.

Everything that I actually need is found in you.

This is who Jesus is.

Jesus is the Messiah.

And so to close, I'm gonna read a couple of these things.

Jesus is the Messiah, he is the rightful king who has all authority in heaven and on earth.

Yet, he never demands you to follow him based on his title.

Bad leaders do that.

Jesus doesn't do that.

He's not, he's not like follow me, I'm Messiah.

He does not do that.

Rather, Jesus invites you to follow him based on the fact that he has proven his love and care for you on the cross.

You can trust him and you can follow him.

You can follow him because you trust him.

And he's like, he never is like, you better do it because of who I am.

He's like, I'm invite, please do it based on what I've done.

Look at my track record.

You can trust me.

You can trust my authority.

He will never abuse his authority, but he will always use it for your good.

So give him that authority in your life, wherever he's calling you to.

It is somewhere better than you can get on your own, even if you disagree and are confused of why this doesn't make any sense.

He is still always trying to lead you into a space that's better than you even understand.

And it makes sense that you disagree because he's leading you into a space you've never been.

And so that's what he's trying to do.

He is the Messiah, he is everything that you need.

In him and with him, you will find the actual desires of your heart being met.

He will be your refuge, he will be your comfort, he will be your provider, he is the source of the things that actually fill your heart.

And they are found in him and no one else.

And so, if you say, I just need blank, then I'll be happy.

I would encourage you to stop.

Repent.

You don't need that thing to actually be happy.

It may help you a little bit, but it will not fill you in the way that he can.

Jesus is the one where you can experience fullness of life.

And then finally, he is the Messiah.

He loves you so much.

He actually did give his life for you.

And now he lives to make intercession for you so that you experience the blessings that are only available to righteous people because he has made you righteous.

He intercedes for you and says, like, hey, I did work for them.

They're righteous because of me.

And so give them the blessings of the righteous.

And so to me, I would say just ask him to make that more real to you.

Ask him to make his life, death, and resurrection more real to you.

That it's not just a thing you think about at Easter, but it's like, man, he actually did give his life for me.

How should that shape me?

Ask him to make that more real to you.

Lord Jesus, would you help us?

Would you give us this vision of you?

This thing that Mark has been building up to for eight chapters, just trying to get to the point where someone recognizes who you actually are.

And the whole testimony of this book is to communicate He is the Messiah and He is good, and He is for our good.

And so, God, I pray that you would help us by our worship, by your Spirit moving in us, guiding us and directing us.

Lord, would you please lead us in the direction to get want to draw closer to you as Messiah, as King, as provider, as fulfiller.

God, would you please help us in those spaces because we need your work in us to do it?

Give us new hearts and new vision of you in Jesus' name.

Amen.