Who Will I Walk Behind?

So, as I said last Sunday, if you were here or watched from home, next month we are starting something a little bit unprecedented, maybe slightly aggressive.

We're gonna go through the entire story of Scripture this year, starting next month.

We're gonna go through the entire thing, the whole story.

Between next month and Christmas, I've spent the better part of this week figuring out what in the world that's going to look like.

I had no idea when I said I was gonna do it last week.

Um, in fact, part of why I said it was because I I'd been feeling this for a little bit.

This is something we need to do, but if I don't say it out loud, I won't, I'll have it, I'll have it out.

And I said it last week, and then God was really good, and we figured some things out this week.

It's gonna be exciting.

So, you know, if you're someone who's maybe you've lived your whole life and you're like, I know the Bible, well, you know this if that's true.

You know there's always something you haven't seen.

There's always something you haven't noticed, or maybe even something you've forgotten about.

Or maybe you're like a lot of people, and you go, you know what?

I just, I'm kind of intimidated by scripture.

I grab a Bible and I go, where do I start?

What does this mean?

I've tried it before, I get lost, I get stuck.

This year, we're gonna go through the whole thing together.

It's gonna be exciting and really fun.

It will enrich your faith and it will equip you to be able to grab your own Bible, whether that's a book, on your phone, whatever, and just jump into the scriptures and see what God has for you.

So that's gonna start next month.

This month, though, we're starting our year by trying to answer a very important question, and it's just the question, who?

Who.

I had someone say this to me years ago.

Don't worry so much about what, focus on who.

Don't spend so much time worrying about what's going to happen and what you're supposed to do and what this and what that.

Just focus on who.

Because you can go through a really difficult what, but if you have the right who along for the ride, it works.

In fact, I've gotten to see that play out so many different ways over the years.

There's a gentleman at our church, and I didn't ask his permission for this, so Brian, if you're watching, forgive me.

Um, Brian Ellenberger, an amazing, amazing part of our church.

He served on our kids' teams for over a decade.

Brian is, he's like he's just a rock star.

And he was diagnosed with cancer not very long ago, and so he's in the middle of that battle right now, which is why he'd be watching from home, even though he would love to be here.

He's got to be really careful right now.

Brian posted this last week.

And think about this in these words in the context of what he's going through.

He said, It is my faith in my Lord Jesus Christ, my Savior, that truly sustains me.

Worrying about what will happen is a waste of time.

Think about that.

Worrying about what is a waste of time.

I'm so grateful for the life he's given me.

I love my family, and I know what awaits me at the end, whether it is soon or decades from now.

So I give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his love endures forever.

That's the kind of perspective you can have in life, even in the midst of the worst what you can imagine, if you're connected to the right who.

And that who is Jesus.

And so last week we talked about who do we worship?

Who are you going to worship this year?

And we may not think in those terms every single day.

That might seem like an odd question to ask, but we are wired to worship.

Make no mistake, there will be someone or something that you will be most devoted to this year that will occupy your heart, that you will organize your life around.

And be very, very careful and very intentional about who you choose to worship.

Today we're going to talk about who we walk behind.

And I'm using that language on purpose.

Who do we walk behind?

Matthew chapter 4, verses 18 through 22, it says, One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, also called Peter and Andrew, throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living.

Matthew 4:18–22

Jesus called out to them, Come follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people.

And they left their nets at once and they followed him.

A little farther up the shore, he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets.

And he called out to them.

They immediately followed him, leaving their boat and their father behind.

You might be thinking, poor Zebedee.

What a rough day.

We'll talk about that in a minute.

Matthew chapter 9, as Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector's booth.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

Follow me and be my disciple, Jesus said to him.

So Matthew got up and followed him.

Now this may seem sort of odd to us.

That Jesus, early in his ministry, in the first moments where Jesus is stepping into the spotlight, he begins by calling followers.

And apparently he had this habit of just walking up to people in the middle of their work day.

Like while they're on their shift and saying, hey, right now, come follow me.

And they were like, cool.

What an odd experience.

Like, can you imagine that happening to you at work this week?

I actually had this memory.

This is a true story.

Not that I would tell you a false story on stage, hopefully.

I shouldn't have to qualify that, but you know, hey.

But but this happened, and I'm not going to exaggerate any of it for humor.

This is like exactly what happened.

I was in college.

I'll never forget this because it was so odd.

I worked at Chili's.

I waited tables at Chili's and uh just schlocking baby back ribs, you know, whoever wanted him.

And one day I had this guy sitting at one of my tables, and he was by himself.

And it was just a normal, a normal experience, right?

He ordered a drink, I brought him a drink, he ordered some food, I brought him his food.

I made basic chit-chat.

I always tried to be somewhat personal with my with my table.

Not because I wanted to give great customer service, it was selfish.

I wanted them to tip well, and it's better, I want you to tip a person, not a waiter.

So I would always make sure you knew things about my life.

I'm getting married, rings are expensive.

You know, just information you might want to know before you leave that tip, right?

So I'm just doing that.

I'm doing that whole thing, and I did it with all my tables.

About halfway through the meal, and I'm not paraphrasing, he just looks at me and says, Hey, you seem pretty bright, which is, I guess, a compliment, right?

Like, okay?

Not very bright, not incredible, just pretty bright.

He said, You seem pretty bright.

He said, I run the Fudruckers across the street.

Do you guys remember Fudruckers, the Build Your Own Burger Restaurant?

Yeah, Fudruckers.

There used to be one on Barrett Parkway, it's not there anymore.

I looked up online, it is that franchise has had better days.

Okay, so back in the day, if if you guys who are younger, like Fudruckers, what a strange sounding name for a restaurant.

Yes, and it didn't work.

So uh, if you're gonna start a business, find a better name.

But he says, I run the FUDRuckers across the street.

How would you like to be a manager there?

And I'm like, this is the criteria for being like, all that's happened is I correctly brought you the right drink and the food that you ordered, and I've just been generally nice to you.

And you're going, that's management material, right?

And I just I was kind of taken aback, and for a variety of reasons, I politely declined.

I said, No man, I appreciate that.

But no.

And he, this true story, he just went, Yeah, that's probably the right decision.

He said that.

And so it was very clear that he was having a very bad day, and I imagine one of his managers had had a worse day earlier that day, and he was just in a desperate place.

He literally said, Yeah, that's probably the right call.

But can you imagine what would have happened if I would have said yes?

Like, here's this guy at my table.

You know, I'm working for Chili's, I've got my apron on, I've got my little book, my little Chili's book that I write all my orders down in.

And he says, Come, follow me to Fudrucker's.

And I just in that moment say, Yes.

Like what that would have been like.

And I walk up to my manager at Chili's and I just take my apron off and hand them my book, and I say, Hey, look, I know I've got tables that are in the middle of their meal.

I know that it's in the middle of the ship, but I have to go.

And my manager says, why?

And I say one word.

FUDRUES.

And I just walk out the door.

Like, what an incredibly strange experience that would have been.

I could have, I could have done that.

I should have done that, that would have been a better story, but it was not to be.

But in their culture, in their culture, this would have been a very well-understood dynamic.

And as much as possible, I want us to sort of step into their mindset so we can understand what these men and everyone around them would have understood was happening.

So if you were a child, a Jewish child in Jesus' day, at the age of about six, you would have entered something called Betzephyr.

And Betzephyr literally translates house of the book.

And around six years old, you would begin to study the book.

You would begin to study the Torah, which is the first five books of what we call the Old Testament, the part of the Bible before Jesus, if you don't know what that is, it's real simple.

You would have begun to study this and all the writings of the prophets, and this would have been your primary means of education, the education of young Jewish children, completely centered around the scriptures.

And you would have done this, boys and girls, from the time you were six years old until you were about 10, 11.

And if you were someone who showed promise at 10, 11, 12 years old, you would have been in something called Bet Talmud.

And Bet Talmud means it means house of learning.

And you would have now had a rabbi instructing you much more directly.

So now instead of you just memorizing scripture, because that's what they did in Bet Sephira, in fact, by the age of 10 or 11, most Jewish children would have had the Old Testament almost completely memorized.

They could have just quoted it to you by memory.

And you might say to yourself, that's impossible.

But think about how many songs you have memorized.

Like think about how a song can come on a Spotify playlist or the radio or whatever, and you may have not heard that song for a decade, but it's in there, and all of a sudden you're just like, you're singing it pretty accurately.

Like that would have been the experience of these kids.

They would have just been immersed in scripture.

But at Bet Talmud, you're now going deeper.

You have a rabbi instructing you.

You're learning how to not just know the words, but interpret their meaning.

And this would again be for those who showed promise.

We actually get a little window into this in Jesus' life.

At 12 years old, his family traveled to Jerusalem for this big festival and then they lost him there, which might sound crazy, but they were probably traveling with a huge group of people, and Jesus was old enough to be somewhat independent.

Remember, at age 13 in Jewish culture, you have your bar mitzvah, and you're a man.

Like so Jesus is, he's independent pretty much.

And he goes off and they leave and they're like, Where's Jesus?

And they freak out.

And we see this in Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

It says, when they couldn't find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there.

Three days later, they finally discovered him.

Where?

In the temple.

Sitting among the religious teachers, the rabbis, listening to them and asking questions.

And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

So this is Jesus showing that he is a top-tier Bet Talmud student.

He is 12 years old, he is learning the scriptures, and he has this uncanny ability to interpret them, and everyone's amazed.

It's almost like he's special.

Now, beyond that, beyond that, most people in Jewish culture, most young people, would have moved on to learn a craft, a trade.

They would have gone to do whatever their father did, they would have begun to do their job.

But the best and the brightest, like the absolute best and the brightest, they would have been selected for the next level, which was called Bet Midrash.

And that literally translates into house of study.

This is when you begin to seriously study the scriptures, and a rabbi would have taken you under his wing.

And this rabbi is mentoring you, and you are the rabbi's disciple, and you commit yourself to that rabbi.

And this would have been seen as like the highest honor a young man could have in their culture.

In fact, there's a scholar who summed it up this way: rabbis were greatly respected.

And to be a disciple of a famous rabbi was an honor.

Rabbis were expected not only to have a vast knowledge about the Bible, but to show through their exemplary lives how to live by the scriptures.

A disciple's goal was to gain the rabbi's knowledge, but even more importantly, to become like him in character.

It was expected that when the disciple became mature, he would take his rabbi's teaching to the community, add his own understanding, and raise up disciples of his own.

His goal was to become like his rabbi and learn his ways until he internalized it.

And this continued until he became a full-fledged rabbi or scribe at the age of 30.

So at the age of 30, this person would become their own rabbi.

They've studied under their rabbi for so long that they've internalized everything they've said to the point where it's their own words at this point.

They've added some of their own little twists to it, their own understanding, their own applications, and now they go and begin to call disciples of their own.

And Jesus was 30 at the time that he went and called his disciples.

And these disciples would have been young men.

In fact, we we believe, based on all the clues we have in Scripture, that Peter was probably the only one of the disciples who was above the age of 20 years old.

We often picture these as much older men, but they would have likely been 18 years old, maybe a little bit older, but young men.

And this wasn't some unprecedented thing, Jesus just showing up at their job and being like, come follow me.

This is a rabbi in their eyes, this renowned rabbi who's making all of this commotion.

There's all this buzz about Jesus.

He's saying things that have people amazed, he's doing things that have people amazed.

And Jesus walks up to them and he says, You come follow me.

They've been chosen, they've been selected for this high honor, which is why you don't have to feel sorry for Zebedee.

You don't have to worry that Zebedee was like, guys, you've left, I'm in the boat.

Like, what are you doing?

No, Zebedee probably would have been beaming because his boys have been chosen by this renowned rabbi for the highest honor in their culture.

His boys have been chosen, set apart.

I mean, he would have supported that full-fledged.

And understand their expectation, the expectation of these disciples answering this call to follow Jesus.

This rabbi, this teacher.

That's what they called him.

All the time.

Mark chapter 4, verse 38, they're on this boat, and it's it's a huge storm, and Jesus is asleep in the boat, and they're freaking out.

Mark 4:38

And that actually says they wake Jesus up shouting, teacher or rabbi, don't you care that we're going to drown?

They call Jesus teacher.

That's what they they saw their relationship with him as.

Jesus is the rabbi, we've been called to be his disciples, and their expectation would have been that we are going to follow this man everywhere he goes.

Every single day.

This is not something you did on the weekends, this isn't something you did in your spare time.

We are committing our entire lives, we're following this man everywhere he goes for at least 10 years until we're 30.

In fact, there's this phrase, it's a popular phrase, it was, may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.

Meaning, may you walk behind your rabbi so closely that the dust that your rabbi kicks up with his feet covers you.

That's the way they live.

That would have been their expectation.

That's what they're saying yes to.

Jesus is their teacher.

And they're gonna learn from him.

They're gonna learn from him so intensely in such a focused way that everything he says and does becomes what they say and what they do.

May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.

May you walk behind him that closely.

Now, that is not something we necessarily have a parallel for in our culture today.

But I would imagine that if many of you were to step back and think for just a moment about some of the teachers that you've had.

Have you ever had a great teacher?

Like a truly great teacher?

I've had many.

There's many people that I learned from on a regular basis.

Fred, I mention you very often.

Fred's a mentor of mine.

If you don't know who Fred is, he's sitting over there.

He's a guy named Fred.

He's great.

You'll meet Fred if you're new.

Fred's been an amazing teacher.

Steve, who started his hand, Steve and Susan, were both incredible teachers in my life.

I never called them Rabbi.

That may have been strange to walk up and say Rabbi Steve.

You know, it just doesn't.

That actually kind of has a cool ring to it.

I might start doing that.

Actually, I'm gonna change Steve's contact in my phone to Rabbi Steve.

He will love that.

You know, in fact, this whole series that we're in right now, the who, not what, that's something that Steve said to me 20 years ago, 17 years ago, something like that.

And it's stuck with me.

And it's it's proven true.

And I learned that from him.

Susan used to say things all the time like, never make a decision out of fear.

That's something that Susan would say often.

Never make a decision out of fear.

None of us would ever look back at our lives and say the best decisions I ever made were at the moments I was most afraid.

When I was really freaked out, ooh, I made good decisions, good choices.

And there's just there's moments in life where you get worried and stressed and afraid, and Susan would say, never make decisions out of fear.

And I still remember that to this day.

I've had some really great teachers.

In school, I had some teachers.

Well, I had some really bad teachers too.

We'll say that.

You can have bad teachers, but I had some really great teachers.

And I was not the best student.

I'm just gonna go ahead and say that.

I was I took school seriously.

In fact, Greta, I see you back there.

Greta was my English teacher in high school.

Hey, um, by the way, I think you friend requested me on Facebook yesterday.

I will say yes to that, just so you know.

I saw that.

I saw that notification this morning.

And you know what's crazy is I saw that notification this morning, and you were already in my notes.

So I was already gonna talk about you.

Greta was my English teacher.

Greta, I'm sorry.

I have to do this like once every three years.

I apologize.

Greta was such a great teacher, but I was like a junior senior in high school, and I was kind of over it.

You know how you get to that level, you're just sort of over it.

And so Greta loved literature.

And Miss Zeph is what I would have called you.

Mrs.

Zephyr, sorry, sorry, Mrs.

Zeph.

Um I didn't call her Greta, like, hey Greta, you know, that would have been weird.

But in the back of her classroom, she had these giant posters of Mark Twain and William Shakespeare, two of her literary heroes.

And they were, they were such large posters that each one was was like, it was two posters, one on top of the other, that would make up their bodies.

So you had like Mark Twain's legs, Mark Twain's top, William Shakespeare's top, William Shakespeare's legs.

And when when Mrs.

Zephyr wasn't looking, I would very often spin around and just switch parts of their bodies.

Because it was fast.

Like this the way you had it taped was so great, by the way.

It was just like and you know, she wouldn't notice for a while, and then all of a sudden she just sees behind her there's like William Shakespeare with his little puffy collar, and then like these white slacks from Mark Twain.

And there's Mark Twain wearing this white jacket and then these real weird tights on the bottom, and she'd get all mad and she knew it was me.

She always knew it was me.

So I'm sorry.

But you were a great teacher, and I actually learned a lot from you, and I'm really grateful.

So thank you for being my teacher, Mrs.

Zeppel.

I think about my dad.

My dad teaching me how to play sports as a kid, he was really good at that.

I have this memory when I was only five years old, and he was teaching me how to play baseball, and and I couldn't catch the ball, I kept like swatting at it.

Like every time he threw it to me, I'd try to catch it by basically hitting it.

And I remember him sitting me down, I have this such so clear in my mind.

And he said, Son, it's just like you're picking an apple off a tree.

Just pick the apple off the tree.

And I don't think I had ever picked an apple off a tree.

And I actually don't think I ever have picked an apple off of a tree.

But somehow that clicked.

And I just went, oh, okay.

And you kind of let the ball come to you and gently, and all of a sudden I could catch a baseball.

Is that a great teacher?

We we probably all had teachers, we understand that dynamic.

And what would it be like if Jesus was your teacher this year?

You know, it's funny, I've been a Jesus follower since I was 10, and I'm about to be 40, so 30 years I've been following Jesus, which is both exciting to say and also sad because there's just things I thought I would be further along in at this point in time.

But, you know, life is eternal with Jesus, so that's good.

But of all the things I've ever thought about Jesus as in terms of my relationship with him, teacher is not one, for the most part, up until recently.

And I think that's because when when we give our lives to Jesus, I know not all of us have done that, but when we give our lives to Jesus, which I did at 10 years old, I mean, he's so much more than a teacher, right?

Like he's your savior, he's your king, he's God, he's your healer, he's your messiah, he's all these things.

And and think about the worship songs we sing.

I've never I've never sung a worship song, my rabbi, I've never done that.

There's never been a song that I've sung about how great of a teacher you are.

It's usually about how he's our friend, he's so personal, he's our rescuer, he's our king.

And those are all true.

That that's all that's all true.

But it doesn't mean he can't be all of those.

It's not a mutually exclusive list.

He's not either your teacher, your rabbi, or your king.

He's both.

And even when I would read scriptures and I would see people address Jesus as rabbi, I would almost be like offended on his behalf.

Like, you have no idea who you're talking to.

Rabbi.

Rabbi, teacher.

He's God.

And I would almost be like, you guys just don't know yet.

I'm reading it going.

Like, you have no idea calling him a teacher.

That just seems way too low on the totem pole of importance and also not personal enough that I would never just call Jesus my teacher.

But over the last few years that started to change.

And maybe it's because I'm recognizing how desperately I need a teacher.

How many areas of life I still really struggle in, how much growth I have in my own life, how far I have to go, and how I don't know the way.

I don't.

I don't know the way through my own mess half the time.

I make the same mistakes over and over and over again.

Anyone else live that life at all?

You know, I don't understand myself.

Why did I do this again?

I may or may not have gotten a technical foul at a first grade basketball game yesterday.

I had a great streak going.

It's alleged, it's neither been confirmed nor denied.

It just may have happened, and you're gonna have to just don't believe what you hear.

Okay?

It's fine.

I make the same mistakes over and over again.

I need a teacher.

I need a rabbi.

But maybe I've missed something in not looking at Jesus as that person in my life.

Like I'm trying to skip that to get to the bigger things, but I've missed this crucial dynamic that Jesus is my teacher.

And what would it be like for me to follow him with the same mindset that those disciples would have had when he said, Come follow me?

To say, This man is going to teach me, and I'm gonna walk with him.

And I'm gonna walk behind him so closely that the dust that he kicks up is on me.

And I'm gonna spend time with him, and it's his words that I'm gonna internalize, and it's his teachings and his thoughts and his opinions and his interpretations that I'm gonna replay in my head over and over again to the point where one day the way he thinks is the way that I think, the way he sees the world is the way that I see the world.

That I would do in situations the very thing that he would do, not because I'm just trying really hard in my flesh and my own strength to sort of imitate Jesus, but because I've spent so much time being discipled by him that naturally, now, naturally in my spirit, I would just do what he would do.

What would that be like?

To commit to following Jesus like that, to say, this is now my everything, this is my focus.

He's my teacher.

What would it be like to have Jesus as your rabbi for one year?

Oh, I have a few thoughts as we as we wrap up.

Number one, if Jesus was your rabbi this year, if you made that choice, Jesus is my teacher, you would have peace.

Jesus will give you peace.

We don't tend to think about a lot of the people who speak a lot in our culture as teachers.

That's not language that we tend to use.

But that's absolutely the way that it is, right?

Like, we have more teachers available to us now than any group of people have ever had.

Because maybe you have a podcast that you listen to all the time.

Maybe, like, if you're like, I'm a podcast person.

Anyone else just a podcast person?

I just want to see my fellow podcast people.

Like, I don't really listen to music anymore, just podcast.

Okay, a few of us.

And and there's probably people that you just they're you're subscribed to them.

We have that language, right?

I subscribe to their teaching.

I don't say the teaching part, but I subscribe to them.

And you listen to them, and what they say is something you let it pour into your mind all the time.

Their words replay in your mind, and you may even find yourself sometimes saying the very things that they've said as if you're the one who said it first.

Not in some disingenuous way where you're faking it, but because you've done what we're talking about here, you've internalized their opinions to the point where they're your own.

And maybe it's not a podcast, maybe it's a social media influencer, someone on a platform that you're on a lot, and and we even have the language on those platforms.

I'm gonna follow this person.

And we listen to them.

Or maybe it's it's a a television personality.

You know, if you're really into politics, I won't ask for a show of hands on that.

But if you're really into politics, and let's be honest, the last few years have made it really hard not to be really into politics, or maybe they've made it really easy not to be into politics, depending on how you're wired.

But if you're really into politics, there's probably people that you watch, and it's just it's just a guy, or it's just a girl, and they're gonna they're gonna sit on camera and it's just their face talking, talking, talking.

And it's them expressing their opinions, and you probably find yourself, because we usually choose people we agree with, nodding your head, and their thoughts, they're solidifying your thoughts.

It could be an author, anyone, you name it.

They're teachers.

Because when we listen to them, we are sitting underneath their teaching, letting them shape us.

And very often, the result of the teachings that we sit under in our world is the opposite of peace.

It's like outrage.

Because the people that that yell the loudest tend to be the people that get the most attention in our culture.

And the people that are the most angry and upset, they're the ones who people tend to listen to, and so you sit under those people's teachings and you don't walk away with peace, you walk away upset, outraged, offended at the world.

But that's not what it would have been like to sit under Jesus' teachings.

That's not what it's like to be taught by Jesus to have him as your rabbi.

Read the scriptures, read the teachings of Jesus, and try to picture people walking away from those as students.

I'm not talking about the critics who came to critique.

I'm talking about the people who saw themselves as Jesus' student, sitting under his teachings.

You would just never have walked away all frustrated and angry and outraged.

Look at something like Matthew chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Jesus said, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

No one could sit under that and just be like, oh.

How dare you suggest a light burden?

I want the heaviest burden possible.

No, like you, and there's so many others.

We can look at Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

I'm not gonna put it up on screen because this is something that we actually talked about in detail a few weeks back, but you know, Jesus says, famous part of his teaching, don't worry so much about what you're gonna wear, what you're gonna eat, whether you're not gonna have enough food.

In our culture today, we don't tend to worry about not having enough food.

Maybe it's not enough money, not enough in your retirement account, not enough whatever.

Jesus says you can't add an hour to your life by worrying.

Instead, seek first the kingdom of God and he will take care of you.

He will give you these things, he will give you what you need.

That is a teaching that brings peace.

And in a world like ours that has plenty of outrage and anger, it's just like consternation constantly.

We need peace.

And Jesus teaches peace.

If you made Jesus your rabbi this year and saw him that way, I'm not saying you minimize him that that's all that he is, but he is definitely your rabbi, your teacher, you would have peace.

If we make Jesus our rabbi, we we learn to look inward.

This is kind of connected to what we just talked about.

But, you know, think about some of those famous, let's just use politics because it's an easy one, those famous political commentators.

And and this is not, by the way, intended that if you watch these and like these, you're not supposed to do that anymore, but just think about this.

How often is the result of listening to that kind of a teacher, how often is it you focused outward, going, you know what?

They're the problem.

That person is the problem, that president, that politician, that group of people.

They're the ones making everything bad, they're the ones ruining everything, they're the ones with the bad ideas, and you're constantly in this sort of they need to change or go away.

And that might be true.

Just like it might have been true in Jesus' day.

There were lots of days in the days of Jesus.

You had Rome, you had the Emperor.

If you, by the way, if you ever feel like our presidents are bad, and let's be honest, most of them probably are.

I think politics is probably it's probably hard to get to that level in politics without having some pretty major issues.

Um just, if you want to feel better about things today, just go read some histories about the the emperors, and you'll be like, you know what?

It's not that bad.

It's not that bad.

Like, because these guys were nuts.

Like serious, crazy, legit nuts.

And they existed in Jesus' time.

I mean, Jesus is a contemporary of, I mean, the same era of his life.

We're talking about people like Caesar Augustus and Nero, if you know those stories and that history.

And Jesus could have spent all of his time saying, you know what the problem is?

It's it's that guy.

Or it's this political system, or this nation.

Or he could have said, you know what the problem is?

It's the Sadducees, this religious group that were very liberal.

Or you know what, he could have said, it's it's the Pharisees, this right-leaning, conservative group of people.

They're the problem.

Or it's the Gentiles, this group of people that are different than us.

And Jesus never did that.

He would never have sat under the teachings of Rabbi Jesus and gone, you know what?

They're the problem.

Instead, it would have been things like this.

Matthew chapter 7, verses 3 through 5.

Matthew 7:3–5

Why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?

How can you think of saying to your friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye when you can't see past the log in your own eye?

Hypocrite, first get rid of the log in your own eye, and then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.

I call these the teachings of Jesus, where you just go, dang it, I wish you hadn't said that.

Because I, I'll be honest, I like thinking about how they are the problem.

That's so convenient for me.

It is so nice in life when I can live my life just being like they are terrible.

But when Jesus is my rabbi and I sit under his teachings, I go, ooh, what needs to change is it's me.

If Jesus is your teacher this year, you will spend far less time worried about them and far more time dealing with what's going on in here.

And this will be for your good.

Because Jesus seeks to change you.

That's the next thought that when Jesus is your teacher, you change.

You change.

Jesus changed people.

Look at that calling he had on the disciples.

He says, Hey, you guys are fishermen, I'll make you fishers of men.

I'll take what you do on this earth and I'll give it eternal perspective.

There's another famous story of Jesus calling a man to be his disciple.

We don't know his name because he doesn't say yes.

All we know is that he was very wealthy.

And he comes to Jesus, and Jesus says the same words to him that he said to those fishermen.

He says, Come, follow me.

And he said, Sell your treasures on this earth, and I'll give you treasure in heaven.

But because the man was so wealthy and so tied to his wealth, it was really his God.

He couldn't do it.

But it was the same opportunity.

I'll take what you do on this earth and I'll give it eternal perspective.

You'll have treasure in heaven.

Jesus gives our lives this purpose that changes us.

And maybe, you know, maybe you work a job or you have a role in life right now that everyone celebrates.

Maybe you're one of those people that you do something that's so important that everyone's like, yes, wow, that's awesome.

Or maybe, like most of us, what you do is unnoticed most of the time.

It's unnoticed.

What you do is is not celebrated.

People don't go, wow.

Maybe even the people that you work the closest with or the people you work for, even if it's your family, they just don't seem to notice.

God notices.

And it matters to him, which is why we're told in Scripture, do everything you do as if you work directly for the Lord.

And he will use you.

Wherever you are, he will use you to help people see him.

And your life can have this purpose, this meaning.

That's more than just this earth and the things going on right here and now.

You can be a person who can inspire the people around you to know the Lord.

Even just to nudge them in that direction, which is so incredible.

We often seek fulfillment in life.

We want to live fulfilled lives, and the way we tend as Americans to get fulfillment is just to be really busy.

It's like if I have a full schedule, I have a full life, and that's not the same thing.

Jesus doesn't want to fill your schedule, he wants to fill your soul, your life.

And if you sit under his teaching and you listen to what he says and you internalize it, you will begin to change.

You'll begin to see the world differently.

You'll see people differently.

You'll see yourself differently.

You will be different.

Now, that leads us to the last thing, number four.

He will challenge you.

Jesus will challenge you.

Because you know what?

You can't really change if you're not challenged.

You can't change if you're not challenged.

Matthew chapter 18.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

Peter came to him and asked, Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me?

Seven times?

Peter thinks he's being pretty smart here because the tradition was you should forgive three times.

And Peter's like, three times two is six.

And then I'll add another one.

That's seven.

Jesus is going to be like, Peter, you're great.

No! Not seven times, Jesus replied, but seventy times seven.

And Peter's probably sitting there trying to do the math and say, Well, that would be like, just forget it.

Don't even try.

He says, Therefore, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with his servants, who had borrowed money from him.

And in the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.

He couldn't pay.

So his master ordered that he be sold, along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned to pay the debt.

But the man fell down before his master and begged him, Please be patient with me, I'll pay it all.

And his master was filled with pity for him and released him and forgave his debt.

But when the man left the king, he went to follow to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars.

He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little bit more.

Be patient with me, I'll pay it.

He pleaded.

But his creditor wouldn't wait.

He had the man arrested and put in prison until his debt could be paid in full.

When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset.

They went to the king and told him everything that had happened, and the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, You evil servant, I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.

Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?

Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

That is what my heavenly father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.

Yay! What a lovely thought.

You know?

That's challenging.

Anyone you need to forgive right now?

Anyone feel motivated to forgive right now?

Like you're going, who have I not forgiven?

Let's get that wrapped up now.

That's challenging.

Because you know what?

It's so comforting to hold on to resentment.

It feels good.

Like resentment can feel like a warm blanket for a little while at least.

Because you feel justified, you feel right.

And Jesus says, just forgive.

Not once, not twice, not even seven times, but whatever 70 times seven is.

And I didn't think to do the math.

A lot.

Many hundred, twelve hundred something.

That's challenging, that's challenging.

And a lot of Jesus' teachings are like that.

If you really read his teachings, about a third of his parables are warnings.

And they're like intense warnings.

There's things like gnashing of teeth and outer darkness and stuff we don't like to think about.

Jesus is not afraid to challenge you.

Because he loves you.

He accepts you exactly as you are, but he loves you too much.

He has bigger plans for you than for you just to be who you are right now.

And praise God for that, by the way.

That he loves you so much that he's not just like, you're great.

That's often what we want in our culture.

God's like, you're great.

And you are, and he does love you.

But if you were to ask him, Jesus, do you just want me to be who I am?

He would say, Absolutely not.

Because I made you to be so much more.

That's why he's always changing the names of people.

You know, like Simon, he's like, I'm gonna call you Peter, which means rock.

It's a better name.

He gave people identities.

There was so much more.

Even going back as we wrap up to this idea of him calling these disciples, like, guys, no rabbi would have chosen a few fishermen to be his disciples.

These are the boys, these are the guys that didn't get picked for that Bet Midrash experience.

They were not the ones picked.

That's why they're fishermen.

No one, no rabbi would have ever gone near a tax collector.

They were seen as the worst of the worst.

These are the ones glossed over, looked over, no one valued.

And Jesus picks them to be his disciples.

And then he challenges them like crazy.

And he teaches them, and they change, and they become different human beings.

That's what happens when Jesus is your rabbi.

So, as we close, we're gonna take Lord's Supper.

And uh, if you didn't grab it, by the way, no worries.

Tables at the back, cups of bread and juice.

You are never, ever disrupting anything by getting up.

No one's staring at you as you walk, going, You forgot the juice.

That didn't happen.

Okay?

Who is going to be your teacher this year?

Someone will be.

You will listen to someone.

Someone's words will ring the most true in your mind.

Someone's thoughts and opinions will be the ones that shape you and the way you think the most this year.

Who is that going to be?

And is there anyone better than Jesus available?

I mean, let's be honest.

Is there anyone better than Jesus available?

I said this about a year ago.

I got really hooked on this podcast a couple years ago by this very well-known commentator of culture, and he happens to be Jewish.

And I got to the point where I was listening to this guy every day.

And I really liked it because I agreed with a lot of the things that he said, and he had a tendency to kind of like give it to people that I would disagree with.

I just really enjoyed it.

I would drive in my car, I'd be like, yeah, I felt smart, because this guy's smart and he agrees with me.

And one day I'm driving, and it just occurs to me, maybe, maybe, he shouldn't be the Jewish man I spend the most time listening to.

Because there's this other guy named Jesus, and he's just a better rabbi.

And when I listen to him, I get peace.

When I listen to him, I focus inward, and not in this self-deprecating way, like I'm terrible and I'm horrible, and I have all this stuff wrong with me, but like there's there's more within me than I realize, and I have things to work on.

And in fact, I have so much to work on, I don't have a lot of time to worry about what other people have to work on.

And he changes me and makes me into a better person.

More slowly than I would like, to be honest, but he he does.

And he challenges me greatly.

He's not afraid to look me in the eye and tell me like it is, and I need that.

It's like that proverb that says, A wound from a friend is better than flattery from an enemy.

I need that.

So I want to encourage all of us this year to let Jesus be our rabbi.

To walk behind him, to choose him resolutely at the beginning of the year, to choose him and say, This year I follow Jesus.

I walk behind him, may I walk so closely that the dust he kicks up with his feet is all over me.

One of the things that Jesus did was model what love looks like for us.

And he did that in part with this little meal that we take together every single week.

We have a little piece of bread and a little bit of juice.

The bread represents his body, which was broken for us on the cross, and the juice represents his blood that was spilled as a payment for our sin.

Like, what a great teacher.

What a great person to learn from.

Someone who's so willing to give of himself to serve others.

What would it be like this year if we lived by his example?

If we willingly gave of ourselves to serve other people and love other people.

If we didn't worry so much about who had offended us and who had upset us and all the things going wrong in the world, because there's always things that have been going wrong in the world.

There always will be things going wrong in the world.

But instead of that, instead of letting that define everything that we think about, just sitting with Jesus and going, He's the one who did this for us.

He gives everything of himself for us.

He loves us so much.

And this could be how we live to serve and to give and to pour out of ourselves for all those around us.

So let's let's pray and thank him with that in mind.

Father, thank you for this piece of bread, for what it represents for Jesus.

He is our Savior.

Lord, you are our King and our God and our Messiah and our healer and our redeemer.

But you're also our rabbi, our teacher.

And Lord, as we take this piece of bread in, I pray, Lord, that we take it out of obedience to you.

And maybe, Lord, a renewed focus at the start of this year on following you in your footsteps and learning from you every chance we can.

Let's take the bread.

Father, we thank you for this cup of juice.

We thank you, Lord, for what it represents, what it means.

But Lord, we also thank you for what it truly was.

Your blood was actually spilled on our behalf.

You paid a price that none of us could afford.

And as our rabbi, you taught us what love really looks like.

You said that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.

And you consider us friends.

Thank you, Jesus.

We love you.

Let's take this juice.

Pray with me.

Father, thank you for this day.

Thank you for this amazing group of people.

This is such a cool church.

I love being part of this place.

Everyone here is so genuine.

And Lord, we all have so much to work on.

We all have so much growth to do this year, but I'm confident that if you're our teacher, we'll get where we need to get.

If you're our rabbi, we will figure out what we need to figure out, and we will become what we're meant to become.

So help us, Lord.

Help us as we learn from you this year to just be committed to that, committed to you, committed to one another.

We love you so much.

In your name we pray.

Amen.