Luke 22:24-34 – The Grace To Be Great

This morning, as we continue in Luke's gospel, we'll be in Luke chapter 22, and kind of as a way into the passage this morning, I want to share how I was surprised this week.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

I don't know if you're ever surprised by what you read in the Bible.

I hope so.

I hope so.

It's good to be surprised by God's word sometimes.

If not, we're probably not listening very carefully or freshly.

So it's good to be surprised.

And in particular, I was surprised by Jesus' grace.

How gracious He is in our passage.

And so that's kind of a theme for us this morning, the surprising grace of God for us.

And so if it's good to be surprised sometimes by God's word, it's even better, even better to be surprised by God's grace.

Are you ever surprised by God's grace?

If we're not, if we're not, it probably means that we're blind to it or we're taking it for granted.

You see, the most surprising grace is when we don't think we would receive it or we knew we didn't deserve it.

That's the grace that's most powerful and present.

When it's experienced in contrast or even in combination with great need.

And so we can think that we know grace, but then it surprises us and reminds us of its power in our deepest need.

It reminds me this week of the book Surprise by Joy by C.S.

Lewis, and so it's a partial autobiography.

He describes his early life up until his conversion to when he becomes a Christian.

And he describes his journey as an accidental discovery of the search for the phenomenon of joy.

He describes a joy so intense that it's so good and so high that it could not be explained with words.

And so he describes that over time he was struck with stabs of joy.

That throughout his life he was stuck with stabs of joy.

And so he says that true joy is distinct from pleasure in general or even from aesthetic pleasure.

It must have the stab or the pang, an inconsolable longing.

And so he describes in his life how he had these surprises of joy and they worked as signposts to guide him through the woods, as it were, onto the right path.

And he says that once we find the road, once we're passing the signposts of joy every few miles, our desperation for joy becomes less demanding and more of a sign that we're still on the right road.

In a way, I think that's what grace is like for the Christian.

It is right and good that sometimes it surprises us.

It reminds us that we are on the right path.

And in that way, needing grace, needing those signposts for the journey, we are on the right path.

So as we need grace and we are surprised by God's grace for us, it should be a confirmation that we are going in the right direction, that God is actually taking us home.

And so let's look at Luke chapter 22 together and hear this surprising grace that Jesus has for the disciples and for us.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

We're going to read verses 24 through 34.

It's page 1048 if you're using the church Bible.

And so Luke chapter 22, starting in verse 24.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.

And he said to them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors.

But not so with you.

Rather let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.

For who is the greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves?

Is it not the one who reclines at the table?

But I am among you as the one who serves.

You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table and my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Simon Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat.

But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

Peter said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.

And Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you know me.

This is the word of the Lord.

Let's pray as we give our attention to his word.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your patience with us.

We thank you for the way we get to see that and experience it in a special way as we see Jesus' patience with his disciples.

And so would you open our eyes to see surprising grace that you'd have for us this morning?

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, this morning, if you want to follow along, if it's helpful, there's an outline on the back of the program.

Really just two points for us this morning, but we do have an introduction to get us started.

And so a two-point sermon with a sneaky point at the end at the introduction here.

And the introduction is this: that I just want you to notice the shocking gaffe that gets met with a surprising grace.

That our passage, it's the shocking gaff that gets met with a surprising grace.

And perhaps, like me, the first thing that strikes you about the passage is the shocking gaff of the disciples.

And so if you remember back last week, or just look ahead, look back in the passage, Jesus has just transformed the Passover meal into a new covenant meal, representing and even applying his death as a Lamb of God.

And so he used vivid imagery and physical experience.

He broke bread and said, This is like my body broken.

He poured the cup and he said, This is like my blood poured out.

And we didn't talk about this last week, but poured out there, it is a powerful word.

And so it gathers into a single picture, the release of a substance or of life itself from one realm into another.

That's from the Greek lexicon.

So it gathers into a single picture, the release of a substance or a life itself from one realm into another.

And so listen to the examples in the New Testament where this word is used.

The wrath of God being poured out.

God's wrath being poured out from heaven onto earth.

A transfer from one realm into another.

His realm from his body into our realm to give us life.

A powerful picture.

A powerful meal that Jesus is having with his disciples.

And then Jesus ends this supper, starting in verse 21, there, with a prediction that his death will happen through the betrayal of his disciples.

And so they respond in verse 23 with questions about which of them it could be who was going to do this.

And so it seems like an appropriately sober response.

Who could do this?

Who could do such a horrible thing?

But then one verse later, by the start of our passage this morning, verse 24, everything appropriate about the disciples' response is long gone.

You see, apparently they couldn't consider who might be the betrayer without also arguing about which of them would be the greatest.

Think of it this way: Jesus has said, My sacrificial death is coming, blood poured out, I'm going to face judgment for you.

And the disciples' response, I wonder which of us is going to be thought of as greatest when all this is over.

It's a shocking gaff.

You know, it's on par with one of the most social interactions we could see.

And so here's a would you rather?

Would you rather blow out the candles at the birthday party of one of your friend's kids?

So happy birthday, the song's going on, and you jump in and blow out the candles.

Or would you rather give the best man speech at a wedding you haven't been invited to?

The moment comes, who steps up?

It's you.

Which would you rather?

Both terribly socially awkward.

And here with the disciples, we have even worse.

Jesus says, I am dying for you, and one of you will betray me.

And they say, Who's the greatest?

But I want you to notice that this shocking gaff of the disciples, it is met by Jesus with such surprising grace.

Surprisingly, he doesn't condemn them.

Instead, he teaches them.

And even more than that, he treats them like the servant leaders they will become, instead of the selfish discontents they are now.

And then as he turns to Peter, who will soon deny him, Jesus prays for him.

And he treats Peter like the strong rock he will become instead of the cowardly child he currently is.

And so as we get started, you need someone to look at you like Jesus looked at his disciples.

Find someone who looks at you like Jesus looked at his disciples.

And the amazing news is that Jesus does this.

He sees you as you will be.

He wants to give you the grace to grow into the form of greatness that he desires.

And he will treat you now and relate to you now as the person he will make you, even as you stumble and fail your way through.

Alright, so that's where we're going, really to grow, to see ourselves the way Jesus does.

And so as we get into the main points here, we're thinking of God's grace to be great.

God's grace to be great.

And it's really two points.

That greatness is service defined, it's service defining leadership.

Service defining leadership.

And greatness is repentance, preparing for strength.

So first, greatness is service defining leadership.

The point here is that we will grow in greatness as Jesus gives us the grace to have service define our leadership.

And so look back at our passage down in verse 24.

Now the disciples they begin by arguing about who could be the greatest.

And I just want to begin by being a little bit charitable to them, that this could be a sign of faith.

You know, there is some good things happening here, and so they do believe that Jesus is the king.

They believe that his kingdom is coming, although at this point it's kind of a small start.

And so they are believing in him, but Jesus identifies the problem in verse 25 that they still assume that his kingdom would be like all the other kingdoms of this world.

And so as we get started here, I just want to notice that, you know, sometimes seemingly right theology can be applied in wrong ways.

Even seemingly right theology can be applied in wrong ways.

And so, how did they apply what they believed about Jesus?

Notice the word that Luke uses here.

A dispute arose around among them.

And I want to say that this word is a strong word, all right?

It's more like the character trait of eagerness or love of strife.

It's an eagerness or love of strife.

And so the dictionary describes it that the inner impulse that seeks superiority through contention rather than service.

The term is stronger than a mere disagreement.

It highlights an attitude that prizes winning an argument or position of honor at the expense of unity.

This is what the disciples are like.

And so I just want to ask do you ever see correct theology applied in a way that prioritizes winning an argument or gaining a position of power rather than service?

Isn't a problem we still struggle with.

Right theology that can be applied in the wrong way.

And so Jesus has to teach them.

Verse 25, he said to them, the kings of the Gentiles, they exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors.

And so Jesus says that they're still thinking of greatness in terms of worldly terms.

And as he describes greatness, he does it in two ways, really: those who have power and those who have privilege, if we want to talk about it in modern terms, those who have power and those who have privilege.

And so he says greatness in the world is for those who have power.

It's really this idea of exercising lordship.

And so in a Bible, kind of this explanation of lordship, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

But the experience of those under a charge depends greatly on the character of the king.

When somebody is exercising lordship, the experience of under that charge, it greatly depends on the character of the king.

And yet, notice what was the usual way of deciding who was the king?

Not usually by character, but by power.

Even think in the Old Testament of Saul, chosen because he was strong and handsome and powerful, and yet character greatly lacking.

And so this is how the world does it.

The preservation exercises authority.

In a similar way, Jesus says that greatness is often seen in those who have privileges.

And so he describes it as those in authority are called benefactors.

And so this is the authority of one who can provide.

And so in the Roman world, especially in the first century, the benefactor was the Roman financier, the one who receives then the titles and the authority and the influence.

I'm the benefactor.

I have paid or provided for you, either for your city or for your project or for your business.

And so you then owe me the title and the authority and the influence that comes along with my gift.

It's not that far-fetched, it's philanthropy as self-congratulation and flattery.

And so those who were helped under the benefactor were now beholden.

And isn't this how the world works?

Who sets the rules?

The ones with the power.

Who influences the outcome?

The ones with the resources.

And we see how this goes most often.

Most often it goes very poorly, and yet aren't we tempted by the experience?

Everyone thinks that if they just had the power and privilege, things would be better.

If you only redistributed the power and privilege, everything would be better.

But rarely the case.

Look in human history, it's rarely the case.

And so Jesus in verse 26, he lays out a completely different approach.

But not so with you.

Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the one who serves.

And so notice how different Jesus wants his disciples to be.

And so, not so with you, it's emphatic, and so really the Greek is there is no, not with you.

No, no, no.

I remember the old uh Saturday night life during the recession.

It was what do you need to do to fix it?

Number one, fix.

Number two, it.

Number three, fix it.

That's simple.

Jesus is simple with his disciples.

No, no, not with you.

And notice that he's not saying that the way to become great is to be a servant.

As if we're just playing a different game, like, you know, you play the servant for long enough, do some hard work and some brown uh brown nosing, you'll make your way to greatness.

No, he says those who are great play the game in reverse order.

You become as the youngest.

And so what he means there is that the youngest in this time in the first century, the youngest person in a group was the one least worthy of demands.

You can't demand of us.

The youngest of the group was the one most likely to serve everyone else.

And so age and honor was a huge thing.

And so you become like the one least worthy to demand from other people, the most necessary to serve them.

That's who's great.

You see, he says the leaders become as the one who serves.

Notice that the the great and the leaders, they don't need to be different than they are.

And so this isn't done with the leaders.

We just watched a Lion King musical at school, and you know, the old song from when Scar declares that he that he's gonna kill Mufasa, the hyena say, no king, no king.

Scar's like, not so fast.

I'll be king.

So he's not saying there's chaos here, he's not saying there's no leaders.

Instead, he's saying the leaders become like those who serve.

The great and the leader, they see their position, their power, and their privilege as a place and a way to serve.

So one commentary said it this way: leaders are not to be something they are not, but to lead without the pretense of being more than they are.

The apostles, even, were not to exploit their age or position, but continue to serve.

Greatness is found not in the power to take or to exercise control, but in the ability to give and to share.

Jesus, he gives the ultimate example in verse 27.

For who is greater the one who reclines at table or the one who serves?

Is it not the one who reclines at table, but I am among you as the one who serves.

And so notice Jesus he starts with the general illustration.

Who's greater, the server or the dinner guests?

And so yesterday, the Christianity explored group, we had a little day retreat.

We ended with lunch down at uh a Greer Southern table.

And so there we were, a big group at Greer, and ten of us.

And I want to say our server was okay.

But to be honest, I don't remember his name.

I didn't give too much thought about his experience beyond what I could do to kind of make him serving us work well.

You see, the point of the serve is really to make the meal great for the guests, almost to be invisible beyond that point.

That's how simple Jesus is saying.

Which is greater, the one who serves or the one who reclines for the meal.

But then he brings the switch.

Who has been serving the disciples?

Jesus, actually.

Both symbolically in terms of what he does at the table, but then even more than that, metaphorically by what he's doing for them in general.

And so just think of another passage related to the Last Supper here in John's Gospel.

It talks about Jesus washing the disciples' feet, taking off his outer garments, wrapping himself in the clothes of a servant, doing the lowest job.

Okay, I wonder with Luke actually, I wonder whether part of the reason he doesn't share that example is I think Luke being written a little later, I think washing feet as the kind of the lowest form of service has probably fallen on a style of it.

That's why I think it's probably unnecessary for us to wash each other's feet.

And I know some churches practice that, but probably unnecessary.

And yet the lowliest job of service is still necessary.

There are still jobs and ways to serve that might feel beneath us.

And so a couple of applications before we move on.

First, I think it's good to teach ourselves some lessons sometimes.

You know, it's good to teach ourselves some lessons sometimes.

And so maybe some of you go through things like social media fast or kind of seasonal diets and things like that.

Part of what you're doing is you're kind of teaching yourself a lesson.

I don't need to be on this phone all the time.

I'm gonna remind myself of that.

I don't need to eat in excess all the time.

I can be under control.

You know, it's good for you to teach yourself a lesson in regard to service.

To find the job that is underneath you, to find the people that are the most difficult serving, and to do that job for the sake of Jesus, hopefully without anyone seeing.

Teach yourself a lesson.

Teach your body a lesson about what it means to be great.

Think of that show undercover boss.

The point there is for the boss to kind of get to know the people, and then the boss returns to the penthouse.

You know, who is the undercover boss in Jesus' world?

Himself, who continues to serve, not undercover, but openly.

And so look for opportunities to teach yourself.

I want also to give an application here, you know, there's no benefactors in the church.

There's no benefactors in the church.

You know, it's perfectly fine that there can be buildings named after donors in the world around us, but not so within the church.

I was reminded of my own experience, as you as you may know, I've uh been working in ministry for a while now, and especially working in kind of ministry where we're supported from outside givers.

And so I've been kind of fundraising for ministry for 12 years now.

And I want to say that after being 12 years of being dependent on the generosity of God's people for ministry, never once does someone treat their giving as flattery or the right to rule.

Never once has somebody treated their giving as a benefactor.

You see, with these godly and generous Christian servants, Jesus has produced the type of leaders he has desired.

He can do it.

And so look, even in our passage, Jesus is confident that he can produce great servant leaders because he looks past, he looks past the selfishness of the disciples and he sees them as the servants they will become.

Notice where he goes next, verse 28.

You are those who have stayed with me in my trials.

I hear that as so far so good.

But if you read ahead, we know what staying with him is going to be like.

They are not going to stay with him, they were going to abandon him at his worst moment, at the moment of his death.

And yet, what does Jesus look ahead to?

Look where he looks, verse 29.

I assigned to you, as my father assigned to me, a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table.

In my kingdom, and sit on the thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

A sign there, it's covenant language.

It's the relationship, the benefits that come through the relationship.

And so Jesus, he has seen the disciples through the new covenant he just initiated.

And so he has seen them not based on their performance, not based on their privilege or their power, but based on his blood shed for them.

And so he looks past their current selfishness to see the servant leaders they will become.

He even sees them on the thrones in the final kingdom where they will rule with him.

All he needs for them to do is to stay.

He looks at them and he says, You have stayed with me.

The word there is abide.

You've abided with me.

It's like in John's Gospel where Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches.

If you abide with me, you will bear fruit.

If you stay with me, you will bear fruit.

And so here's a surprising grace that Jesus will teach and train his disciples to become the servant leaders he knows he can make them.

And so rather than condemning their failure, he will use this moment to teach and to encourage their success.

Extraordinary.

If you found people arguing about who's greatest, when you're about to do the greatest thing ever, you would put them in their place.

You would tell them, I know what's coming for you.

You'll have a different view in a couple days.

No, he says, you'll have a different view in years and years from now.

When you become the servant leaders, I will make you.

So here's a question.

Will we stay with Jesus?

Allowing him to do the work to make us the servants who are worthy to be served by the servant king?

Will we stay with Jesus and allow him to make us the servants who are worthy of him?

You know, there will be likely times when our selfishness is exposed.

There will likely be times our selfishness is exposed, where serving is too much, too lowly, too costly, too boring, too invisible.

But will we allow Jesus to expose our selfishness so that we can be surprised by his grace?

You know, for that to happen, you probably need to put yourself in a position to be pushed and to be stretched, to be demanded of, to be taken for granted.

You probably need to be put in a position where you're treated like a servant.

You probably need to be in a position where you find inside yourself a little shock.

How dare they?

A little shock, don't they realize what I do?

And in that moment, would you allow staying with Jesus to transform you into a servant leader?

Remember, Jesus calls us to treat him like a servant.

He was the one who served us through his life and death, continues to do so, seeing us as the best versions of ourselves, that he will remake us to be.

Surprising grace.

Second part here.

Surprising grace as greatness is repentance preparing for strength.

We will grow in greatness as Jesus gives us the grace to have repentance prepare our strength.

And so notice that the passage here it goes from this gaff about greatness, and then Jesus moves on to another difficult but surprisingly gracious topic.

Failure.

He moves on to Peter's failure in particular.

And there's so many really interesting details in this small section at the end.

I just want to help us see some of them.

Notice verse 31, Simon Simon.

This is actually the first time that Jesus has called Peter Simon since when he first met him.

You'd have to look back and read Luke's gospel, but basically, when Jesus first meets Simon, he changes his name to Peter, which means rock.

And so perhaps Jesus is referencing back to his old life.

Simon, you still need to grow.

You're not quite the rock yet.

Maybe that's why he uses the intensified double name, Simon Simon.

I see you as you are.

And he says, Satan has demanded to have you.

Interesting that the you here is plural.

Jesus seems to be talking to all his disciples here.

Even though Simon is the one targeted, seemingly all the disciples are in danger.

Satan has demanded to have you.

To do what?

He says to sift you like wheat.

Back to the singular here.

He speaks to Simon about the danger facing all the disciples, but then in particular, Peter is the one he's concerned about.

Simon, Satan wants to have you all, that he would sift you, Simon, like wheat.

Apparently, I think this is what's going on.

I think apparently Simon has been identified as the weak link, so to speak.

The one we know as kind of the pillar, the courageous leader of the early church.

He would name our church buildings after him.

He is singled out by Satan as the one to be sifted.

Sifted like wheat.

It's an agricultural reference, so you would gather up the wheat that you've harvested and you would shake it into the wind, kind of in this basket, shake it hard so that the wheat would separate from the chaff.

The chaff and the kernel would separate out, separate the good from the bad.

And so, kind of in a modern expression, it would be something like picking someone apart.

When your boss picks you apart, separate out the good from the bad.

That's what Satan wants to do to Simon.

That's what Satan sees in Simon.

Someone likely to fail.

Chaff to be shaken and exposed.

But what does Jesus say?

Amazingly gracious.

Verse 32.

But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

Another powerfully and surprisingly gracious response to a difficult situation.

Jesus says, I have prayed for you.

I don't know if you realize it, but often the word for pray in the Bible is the word beg.

That's the one used here.

I have begged on your behalf.

And so it's almost as if just as Satan is accusing Simon, Jesus is advocating.

Maybe you remember the story of Job.

That's the way the story of Job starts.

Satan coming to accuse Job and God defending him.

Do you know what's going on for you?

And notice that Jesus he's advocating beyond the simple kind of hope for the best, beyond rose-colored glasses.

Because once again, Jesus sees beyond the weakness to the work that he will do.

And so Jesus has prayed, he's begged that Peter's faith may not fail.

Fail is literally it's come to the end or cease.

And so it's not be weak.

It's I have begged that your faith will continue.

And so what does Jesus do with Peter's impending denial that he knows will happen, that he predicts will happen, even more fully than Peter knows himself.

Jesus looks beyond the failure to see the strength in repentance.

I see your faith not ending.

And so what does he say?

When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

Failure is coming, but Peter, when you turn again, when you return to me, when you repent, then you will be ready to strengthen everyone else.

Greatness is strength from repentance.

I want you to see what the amazing plan here is that Jesus will use his most failure-prone servant to serve in a position of strength.

Imagine what that must have been like.

You know, we know that almost all the disciples abandoned Jesus.

No one really comes through as a knight in shining armor.

Best case scenario is John, and even then it's kind of only a partial credit.

So why would Peter be especially qualified to strengthen and to minister to the other apostles?

Notice, because he was repenter, number one.

He was returner, number one.

You can almost imagine the testimony.

Guys, like if Jesus would welcome me back, if Jesus would restore me to the ministry, if Jesus would use me to minister to you, what else can the surprising grace of Jesus do?

Who is great in Jesus' kingdom?

The repentant, who God will use to give strength.

I want you to think about what could change in your life if you remember this surprising reality.

You know, the temptations and the failures that the devil would like to bring into your life to sift you, Jesus will be advocating and working to strengthen you.

That is there all throughout the Bible.

But the temptations and failures that the devil would bring into your life to sift you, to make you fail, Jesus will be advocating and working to strengthen you in.

In fact, the only trials and temptations that God will allow into your life, either from nature or nurture or even from the devil himself, the only trials and temptations that God will allow will be those that will allow you to flourish.

Pastor Tim Kelly says it this way.

He says, Our weaknesses and our failures, when thrown into the vat of God's gracious plan, are refined into the finest gold.

Our weaknesses and our failures, when thrown into the vat of God's gracious plan, turn into the finest of gold.

You see, the failures and temptations that the devil would claim to disqualify you, Jesus would see past your failures into the strong servant he would make you to be.

And I just want to say, you know, sometimes we give a lot of attention to maybe the spiritual warfare that we might have around us, or maybe even that we might be called to partake in.

You've probably seen the dramatic videos of people kind of claiming this or that or speaking against this spirit or that spirit in Jesus' name.

I'm not going to make any claims about those things this morning, but can I invite you to at least see something better?

Would you see the surprising grace of Jesus that despite seeing your failure coming, Jesus would take up spiritual warfare for you?

You know, I imagine this morning, some of us, the work we need to do is to believe this.

To believe and trust that what Jesus sees beyond your failure.

You know, some of you, it might be in the past.

You know, some of us might be kind of stuck with overwhelming guilt and regret for what we've done in the past.

We can't see in the future because we're not even stuck back there.

Do you know that Jesus has seen beyond that?

If you are connected to Jesus by faith, he sees you into the image of himself perfected in glory.

You know, others, we might be stuck in the cycle in the downward spiral even now.

You know, often the way that looks is that we're we're stuck kind of in the shame and the hopelessness.

We can't come out.

We can't ask for help because we're stuck.

Would you allow Jesus to see beyond?

You know, I think maybe a third case is that some of us are kind of paralyzed and crushed by the anxiety and worry of how we'll come up lacking in the future.

You know, the nightmare we all have.

You'll be shown lacking.

You'll come up short, you're failed.

Do you know that if that's going to happen in your future, do you know that Jesus sees that?

He's not surprised by that.

He sees beyond it into what he will make you to be.

A surprising grace of Jesus.

On the one hand, he will make you great as he trains you to serve, despite your selfishness.

And maybe in those moments when your selfishness gets exposed, because you're at your wit's end, because the job was hard, because the reasons seemed pointless, maybe that will be the moment when you'll be surprised by God's grace that it is enough to make you great.

Remember what the Apostle Paul said when he was dealing with the thorn in the flesh?

It seems to be something that hindered him in ministry.

And his answer from God was, My grace is sufficient for you.

You know, and I'll make you great as he strengthens you through repentance.

Your failure will not be a shock to him, and neither will your sanctification.

That just means the process of God making us holy.

Your sanctification will not be a shock to him.

He has linked the power of his prayers, the effectiveness of his new covenant.

He has linked that with your status in the new kingdom.

And so even now he has seen past your failures into the strength of faith that he says doesn't fail.

Think back to Lewis's book, Surprise by Joy.

It's actually the title was taken from a poem by William Wordsworth.

What a great name for a poet.

Like if you had to choose the last name for a poet, that's it.

William Wordsworth.

He was a British romantic uh writing about the turn of the 19th century.

Um that's where Lewis got the idea of the pangs of joy, as if pointing to something more real and more full.

What's striking though is that although Wordsworth was officially a Christian, um, I don't know if he really understood the joy that C.S.

Lewis was talking about.

I don't know if the pangs of joy ever enabled him to grow and to trust the coming joy.

Because he had a really difficult life, and in this one poem he describes the challenge, and so he's gonna describe a joyous moment that makes him want to share it with a loved one.

But the loved one has died.

And so now his joy is turned to guilt for forgetting.

And in the end, he has no hope because the worst pangs that sorrow can bear is being hopeless.

And so this is surprise by joy.

Surprise by joy, impatient as the wind.

I turn to share the transport, oh with whom, but thee, deep buried in the silent tomb.

That spot which no visitude can find, love, faithful love, or called thee to my mind.

But how could I forget thee through that through what power, even for the least division of an hour?

Have I been so beguiled as to be blind to my most grievous loss that thoughts return?

What was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore, save one and only one, when I stood forlorn?

Knowing my heart's best treasure was no more, that neither present time nor years unborn could to my sight that heavenly face restore.

I want you to see how Jesus reverses that.

That our experience of being in surprise by joy or even surprise by grace is promised to end very differently.

Because notice Jesus, who is facing the silent tomb, who is facing the pangs of death for us, he didn't despair, he didn't give up hope.

His sight could look to heaven.

And he saw us as we will be.

And so one pastor has said of the final supper here that Jesus sat at the table of joy, but he sipped at the cup of the coming suffering, so that we can sip of the cup of joy, even as we wait at the table of suffering.

Jesus sat at the cup of at the table of joy, but he sipped at the cup of his coming suffering, all the while so that we could sip of his cup of joy, even as we wait at the table of suffering.

That is the experience of being surprised by grace.

Let me end with just one word from the Apostle John.

From 1 John chapter 3, he says it this way.

1 John 3 · chapter mention

He said, Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet appeared.

But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

The journey of faith with the Lord Jesus is an incredibly intimate experience.

That we get to come and be known by him.

He sees us as we truly are, and yet he sees us as we will be.

And so he invites us to then see him as he will be, so we know as him as he truly is now.

Surprisingly gracious to us.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace to us in these ways, that you meet us in our selfishness to empower us to serve, and you meet us in a failure, so that through repentance we could be ministers of your strength.

As we pray that you would meet us where we are this morning, especially those of us who need to grow to see and to believe who we are in your vision.

Would you set us free, Lord, as you would do spiritual warfare on our behalf?

May that be even this morning.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.