Honor & Authority

Well, welcome everyone.

I am Pastor Ryan.

I'm the pastor here at Eagle Hills Church.

And we started a series a few weeks ago called Kingdom Witness, which is one of many of the kingdom series we've been in this year as we looked at what does it mean to be a kingdom church?

And in this series specifically, we've been going through the letter of 1 Peter.

And Peter began his letter not with rebuke, not with, hey, you have to do this, this, and this.

He began with, this is who you are.

This is where your identity has to be.

He gets at the core of us as people and begins to connect us with Jesus, saying, We were chosen by God.

We were born again into a living hope, and we are secure in Christ.

And then last week we got through the first part of chapter two, where Peter moved from identity to witness.

And he talked about how God is building us together into his people and that our lives should be things that make Jesus visible to the things around us.

And I know, right?

Because church can almost feel like a place where you feel like it's fake.

We are so, there's such a high expectation of reflecting Christ that when we walk through those doors, we feel like we have to put on our perfect selves and that we have to pretend like we didn't just yell at each other in the car when we pulled up.

I didn't just have to threaten my kids before we got through the door.

You know, it's like we all of a sudden it's like, no, we're perfect.

Everyone come in.

And for some of us, we're just like, Pastor, don't go long today.

We got football.

It's and yet when we read the words of God, we see that our goal is to make Christ visible, not so we can look good, but so that others can see the goodness of God who's worked in us.

And now today, Peter gets real practical.

He's gonna begin to talk about the things that we experience in our ordinary lives.

And so we're going to dive into some hard things because he's gonna address what happens when life gets messy.

He's gonna talk about when situations are unfair or unjust, and how as Christians do we respond when power demands our worship?

And to all this, Peter's gonna give a remarkably simple answer.

He's gonna say, honor everyone, fear God, and follow Jesus.

Now, before we dive into the word, uh, it doesn't take much to realize that we are once again in the Ides of November, right?

I mean, in the sense that political season is upon us.

All you have to do is drive down the road, and what do you see?

Vote for me, vote for me, vote for this, don't vote for this, yes on this, no on this, do this, make this the gun of Idaho, you know, whatever it is.

There's all kinds of things, right?

And we just we live in it, and it's it's everywhere.

It's not just on signs, it's on our phones, it's on social media, it's on the news.

You can't escape it.

So imagine, if you will, and this could be hypothetical for some and maybe very actual for others, that you have a neighbor who lives across the street from you, and you know them, they're great, you're like, oh, they're a really good person.

We talk about weather, we talk about sports, like, did you see those Broncos crushing it this year?

You know, all of a sudden we're all happy and good, and then the season of October walks around, and then next thing you know, you look over and there's a sign in the yard.

And it represents the exact opposite of how you feel.

And so you're just like, I don't even know that person.

And there's been no argument, no insult, no betrayal, but suddenly every time you look across the street, you see that sign first.

And before long, the neighbor becomes a political category.

They must think this, they probably believe that.

I know what kind of person they are.

And that's one of the dangers, right, that the political climate that we live in causes.

And to be clear, Christians should care about what happens in our communities in our country.

So I don't want you to hear that.

We should vote, we should participate.

Some Christians may even feel called to public service or advocacy or political leadership.

Our convictions, they do matter.

But Peter reminds us that our convictions must never cause us to lose sight of the person behind the position.

Because the person behind that sign is still a neighbor.

Someone with a story, someone with fears, hopes, a family maybe, struggles, all the things, and most importantly, this is still a person who reflects the image of God.

Now, our culture is very good at turning people into labels, right?

Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal, right, left, pro-this, anti-that.

And once we have that label, it becomes easy to believe that that is the whole person.

But Peter writes to Christians living under the Roman Empire, and this is what he says: honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor.

What a remarkable sentence.

Honor everyone, not just the people who agree with you, not just the people who vote like you, everyone.

But then Peter draws the line: fear God.

Human beings receive honor, but God receives ultimate allegiance.

That means Christians can have strong convictions without contempt.

We can participate without making politics our identity.

We can disagree without dehumanizing, we can oppose what is wrong without becoming wrong in the process.

And when we are unsure what this looks like, Peter eventually points us to Jesus.

So today I want us to hold that simple phrase together: honor everyone, fear God, and follow Jesus.

So if you're able this morning, would you please stand as we read together God's word from 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 13 to 25.

1 Peter 2:13–25

Peter says, Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the Emperor as Supreme, or to governors is sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God and honor the emperor.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good ones and gentle, but also to the unjust.

For this is a gracious thing.

When mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?

But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return.

When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but now have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

Amen.

You may be seated.

I just want you to know my sermon was twice as long this morning because there's a lot here.

And I went chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop.

Again, not to say you're not gonna get the fullness of what God wants for you today, but there is a lot here.

We'll never in 30 minutes be able to cover everything that's going to break down every little detail, but we're going to fall and dive into what Peter has brought to us, and we're going to do our best to take it and see how it speaks to our life today.

So we're going to begin with this honor authority without making it ultimate.

So Peter begins in verse 13.

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme.

Now, the phrase we can't miss in that verse is for this for the Lord's sake.

Peter does not say submit because Rome is always right, submit because rulers are always good, or submit because Christians should never disagree.

No, he places the entire conversation under the Lordship of Jesus.

Christians live responsibly within the human structures for the Lord's sake.

That means human authority is real, but it's not ultimate.

Peter specifically mentions, right, the emperor as supreme.

And then he also adds in verse 14, or to the governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

So in Peter's world, the emperor was not simply a political official, like in our modern sense.

He was the supreme leader, right?

What Caesar said went, he was law.

So in Peter's world, this was a real thing where Roman political life and religious life often overlapped.

Imperial honor would sometimes carry those religious dimensions.

So what are believers to do?

How are they supposed to live?

Because they've now just given their life to Jesus as maybe a pagan Gentile.

It could have been easy because Caesar could just be one God among many.

But here, when we say, no, Christ is now your Lord, He is it, Him, Yahweh, the Holy Spirit, they're all one.

And so when you worship Christ, He is your Lord, and you're to worship no one else.

So now, as a new Christian, you're like, well, what do I do?

Because Caesar's demanding my allegiance.

So they had these questions.

And Peter gives them a simple but powerful answer in verse 17.

He says, Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor the emperor.

Now listen to the words that he carefully chooses: honor everyone and honor the emperor.

Interesting, right?

So he he now says, Emperor and all people are on the same level.

Now, that's not how the Romans would have done it.

They said honor emperor above everyone else.

Peter says, You can honor everyone and also honor the emperor.

But here's the distinction: you fear God.

The emperor receives honor, but God receives ultimate reverence.

And he's not talking like a fear, like you're afraid, like you're trembling, like you're scared.

He's talking about that reverent fear when you recognize the authority and greatness of the one who is in front of you.

Now, we as finite people, we can only temporarily, kind of limitedly understand the vastness of an eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing God who is outside of time, the one who spoke all things into creation.

The word gives us the best description it can of who this eternal God is.

And so we try with our mind and with theological terms to construct this image of a mysterious God that we'll never on this side of heaven fully comprehend.

But Peter understands something about who this God is, and he knows that he is greater than any king, any Caesar, any lord, any government.

He is bigger than it all.

And that we as people, that's who we should have our reverence for.

That holy fear that recognizes the vastness and the authority of him.

And so Peter is saying, you can honor these people, but we fear God.

And so he's saying, you can honor the emperor without worshiping the emperor.

The prince, the principle still matters for us today because honor is not agreement or endorsement.

Honor is not pretending wrongdoing is right.

Honor means that we recognize the dignity of another human being and refuse to let that disagreement become contempt.

So notice where Peter begins.

It's wider than the government, right?

He says, honor everyone.

Everyone.

Honor the people who agree with you and disagree with you.

Honor the people who frustrate you, the people with authority, the people who have none, the person uh you respect, the person that's difficult to respect, you you honor them.

Why?

Because Christians' honor is rooted in less in who they represent and more in who we belong to.

So I want to say that again.

When we're showing honor to someone, it's less about what they represent and more about who we belong to.

We can show honor to people we disagree with because we know who we are in Christ.

That if I show honor to this person, it's not elevating their message.

It's it's saying, I see you as Christ sees you, as a beloved child.

So this means there is a limit on human authority.

Even Peter recognizes this and lived it out.

Peter once stood before the authorities who ordered him to stop speaking about Jesus.

And this was Peter's response in Acts 5.29.

We must obey God rather than men.

That's what Peter told the leaders at the time.

Now that's not a contradiction.

For Peter, that's the hierarchy.

Christians respect and uh legitimate authority, but we seek, uh we seek to live out our call to God first.

So no human being gets what belongs to God alone.

So if human authority commands us to do what God forbids or forbids us to do what God commands, the Christian's highest allegiance remains with who?

With Jesus, with God, yes.

So Peter gives us a posture that avoids these two extremes.

He says, We do not demonize authority and we do not deify authority.

And what do you see in our culture today?

Both of those happening.

We've demonized and we've deified.

And Peter says, You cannot.

As believers, that's not where we live.

And he says, so we can honor people, we can honor Caesar, but we fear God.

He is our ultimate authority, he is our king.

And living out that truth changes even the way that we disagree with people.

One of the easiest ways, I think, for Christians to damage our witness is to defend a conviction in a way that contradicts the character of Jesus.

I believe all of us can think of an example where you saw a Christian online just tear someone down, and all the comments are like, typical, yep, just another Christian being a Christian.

And it's heartbreaking.

Because it's not what they said was wrong or untrue.

It's just how they did it destroyed the person.

They diminished their witness because they elevated their conviction over the character of Jesus.

You can be right about an issue and wrong in the way you treat a person.

Peter does not ask us to surrender conviction, by the way.

He asks us to keep our conviction under the lordship of Jesus.

So ask yourself: can I disagree without dishonoring?

Can I challenge something wrong without uh becoming cruel?

Can I hold the conviction without treating the person across from me as an enemy to destroy?

Peter says, honor everyone, fear God.

Brings us to our next point.

Don't let someone else's wrong make you wrong.

Peter continues by speaking into a much harder situation.

Verse 18, he says, Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good but and gentle, but also to the unjust.

Now we've had a number of scriptures in the last couple months that talked about enslaved people who were deeply vulnerable to exploitation, punishment, uh, and every kind of abuse.

And so Peter here is speaking to people who are subject to someone else's authority.

And what Peter is not doing here, by the way, is giving permission to people with authority to mistreat their servants.

And I think that's an important distinction.

The text should never be used as a weapon of oppression.

Peter is speaking to people who often had few options, uh, and he was asking them this question: How can you remain faithful when your life is filled with injustice, trials, and abuses?

Now, what's powerful about this is remember, this is a letter that was shared to the churches throughout the region of Asia Minor, meaning modern-day Turkey, there were all these churches that were about, and so they would carry the letter of Peter and they would read it aloud to the people who would gathered in the church, and that meant households, and if a household came, that meant your slaves came.

So imagine being a slave, a subject to someone else's authority.

You show up to the church, and then all of a sudden, in this letter from an apostle, he addresses you.

That's powerful.

Sometimes people like to point out and say, Oh, the Bible, that's what I'm talking about, so oppressive, it highlights and elevates slavery.

No, it does not, it recognizes what it was in his time, and if anything, the apostles spoke directly to those who were in servitude and said, God sees you.

Now Peter is telling them, he says, Hey, listen, some of you, your situations are horrible.

They're unjust and they're unfair.

But you don't have to let that situation change who you are.

And Peter doesn't pretend every authority figure is good, he knows they're not.

He calls some of them crooked or unjust.

Christian faith does not require us to pretend that evil is good.

But Peter also refuses to let another person's evil determine the Christian's character.

A simpler way of saying it is don't let someone else's wrong make you wrong.

But this is a challenge for us because we live in that fairness.

We want justice.

Right?

I mean, anyone with kids, multiple kids, knows this, right?

Because what happens to one sibling?

The other siblings like, oh, where's the justice?

When I did this, you punished me, and now you show grace.

There's no fairness in this home.

And us, we've all experienced this kind of thing.

Peter continues in verse 20.

He says, For what credit is it when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure.

But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

So Peter says, Listen, if you suffer because you did something wrong, that's not glory, that's not gracious.

He says, Sometimes you're gonna suffer because you've you're enduring the consequences of your choices.

So not every criticism of a Christian is persecution.

Sometimes, church, sometimes we're rude.

Sometimes we make bad decisions, sometimes we complain the complaints against us are legitimate.

Sometimes we're the bad driver.

Sometimes the world gets it right about us because we are imperfect.

We are sinners.

And so we can't take that consequence of our wrong actions and say, oh, I'm being persecuted.

Peter's saying it's not the same.

But he says, but for those who are suffering while doing what is right, he says, when that happens, I want you to know God sees you.

And that is important because when we experience injustice, our instinct is retaliation.

You hurt me, so now I get to hurt you.

You insulted me, so now it's fair game.

I can insult you.

You lied about me, so now I'm justified in destroying your character.

And Peter says, No.

Someone else's sin does not have to shape who you become.

Now, it reminds me of the movie slash book, The Count of Monte Cristo, one of my favorite films of all time.

Uh and there's a number of reasons why I chose that film when people would ask, why is that your favorite film?

And for a long time it was.

And then Pitch Perfect came out and that became my favorite film.

No.

The reason was because here was a man who was striving with everything he was to become something, and it was all taken away from him unjustly, imprisoned unjustly, beaten unjustly, abused unjustly.

And then a gift in the midst of that suffering, a gift of something he had never had before.

Knowledge.

And this man, he he he discipled him, this priest who was also arrested, trying to escape.

And so he's he's doing all this, and they're getting so close to escape, and then all of a sudden, spoilers, okay, but the book is really old, so you should have read it by now or seeing the movies.

And there's like seven variations of it.

So I don't feel bad.

So as the priest is dying, he looks at Dantes and he says, Do not commit the crime for which you now serve the sentence.

God said, Vengeance is mine.

And that stuck with me.

Do not now commit the crime for which you've served the sentence.

You've been imprisoned and beaten for 11 years in the worst imaginable place, unjustly, by the way.

And now you're about to be free and you're about to have massive wealth and power and all the things.

So don't go do the thing that you served the sentence for.

In the same way, Peter is telling us the same thing.

And I love how even a work of fiction can point to God's truth in the world.

And what Peter is saying is not passive, uh, not passivity, by the way.

Enduring wrong without retaliation is not the same thing as refusing safety or refusing lawful protection.

And I just want to make this clear point.

There are evil people in the world.

There are people who will take the truth and word of God and abuse it for their own benefit.

There have been husbands who've used verses like this to oppress their wives.

There have been bosses who have used this to oppress uh someone who they worked under them.

And we have to know that what this verse is not saying is that if you're in that position, that you have to suffer through it.

No, we have the ability to seek justice, right?

I mean, Peter says in the beginning, the reason that the governments exist are for what?

Morally, to protect those who evil's being done to.

So I would say this is not a verse that says if you're in an abusive relationship or home, that God says you must stay.

No, he says the government exists so that they can help you out of that.

So I just want to make that point strongly from up front because unfortunately the enemy is good at weaponizing what God meant for good and turning it to evil.

Uh, but that is not the case here.

And so he's saying those who who need justice can find it.

But ultimately, again, it's not for us to take the revenge, it's up to God.

So ultimately, to summarize Peter's point, he says, do not become unjust in your response to injustice.

But we like taking, we like these movies that, like, we're like, oh, you take my daughter, I'm gonna kill your whole community just to get her back.

Like, we like the revenge scenario because it makes us feel good, because it makes us feel like justice was served.

It's just human nature where we want that.

It's much harder to say, Lord, justice is yours.

As Christians, it's so difficult.

But look at Romans 12, 21.

Paul says this do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

I don't know if there's anything more difficult than to say, wait, I'm supposed to overcome evil, not by destroying this person, but by doing good.

It's so much easier just to mirror people.

If they get louder, I get louder.

If they insult me, I'm gonna insult them.

If they become hostile, I'll become hostile.

They want to fight, I'm gonna fight.

But the kingdom witness leads us to a harder question.

What if my response is determined by Jesus rather than the person standing in front of me?

What if we began to see people as beloved children of God, even those who treat us like enemies?

That's powerful.

Because you can imagine, say you're getting coffee somewhere and you order, and someone behind you is just like, oh, hey, and you're like, hi, nice to meet you, and like, oh, you know, you seem so nice.

Like, oh yeah, I'm part of this church over here.

And they you go to you're a Christian, they spit at you and say, You're an evil human being.

Everything you believe in is what's wrong in the world today.

Would you just be like, oh, hi, friend?

No, instantly you're defensive, you're kind of what you're you're almost ready to go.

You're like, I got hot coffee in my hand.

It is so much harder in those moments to sit back and see through the experience and to see them and go, This is a beloved son and daughter of the king.

This is someone who Jesus loves intimately and deeply.

Because in that moment, we're like enemy.

But the Bible is like, love your enemies.

Jesus' path is not easy.

But church, when we begin to see people as God does, when we see them, not for their political stance or their opinions, but as beloved children of the of God, the image bearers of a holy, holy God that we too represent, it does change.

It doesn't mean you're going to sit there and agree with everything or let them do those things, but it just means that you can have a different posture in your response to them.

And that brings us to the third point today.

Follow the footsteps of Jesus.

Verse 21 says, For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.

Peter finally tells us uh where to look.

And it's not to Caesar, not to the Master, not even to ourselves.

He says, You look to Jesus.

And Peter uses the most perfect Greek word here.

The word translated, for example, is hypogrammos.

And hypogrammos means an underwriting, a writing copy, or a copy for imitation.

So, as I'm sure most of us are familiar, you know the handwriting books where you have to trace letters, all the little dots, right?

And so that's to help you what?

Learn how to write the letters.

That is what Peter is saying here.

When he used that word example, he says, Jesus has left us lines to be traced.

So Jesus is not merely an inspiring person that we're supposed to admire from a distance.

No, his life gives his disciples a pattern to follow.

So following Jesus means putting our feet where Jesus put his.

So Peter says, you want to know how to do this?

You follow the example.

Literally, you just do what Jesus did.

But the only way you're going to be able to do what Jesus did is to know what Jesus did.

That means if you have not read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you're going to have a hard time knowing what did Jesus do.

Because that's what the gospels are there for.

They tell us the life and ministry of Jesus.

And you'll see situations where people persecuted him, where they yelled at him, where they reviled him, where they tried to kill him even.

And you get to see what did Jesus do?

Did he call down legions of angels and have them smited?

No.

Man, he wept over them.

He had compassion on them.

Man, he loved them.

There were times when he left.

He recognized this situation is not good and he withdrew.

He gave us an example.

He showed us how to pray.

He gave us the footsteps.

Verse 22, Peter continues, He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

He suffered unjustly.

Verse 23, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return.

When he was suffered, he did not threaten, but he continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

So they insulted him and he did not become insulting.

They acted unjustly, and Jesus did not become unjust.

Why?

Peter said, because he continued entrusting himself to the one who judges justly.

And that is the secret.

Jesus' refusal to retaliate was not because injustice doesn't matter.

It's because he trusted the Father with the justice.

He did not need to become evil in order for evil to be judged.

One of the strongest lines in the whole passage is this Jesus never let someone else's sin decide who he would become.

And neither should we.

But Peter does something important here.

If he stopped at verse 23, Christianity could become something like, hey, Jesus handled suffering well, so you try to handle suffering well too.

But he doesn't.

He gives us verse 24 and takes it even deeper.

He says, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds, you have been healed.

So Jesus is not only our example, he's our Savior.

And Peter is drawing from Isaiah 53 uh the innocent servant who suffers and he bears the sins of others.

The wandering sheep are brought home, and Peter says, Jesus bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

So Jesus didn't merely die to forgive the old life, he died to give us a new one.

Grace forgives us and then begins transforming us.

I love that.

I think sometimes we get, we want to just get to the justification part.

I just want to know I have fire insurance.

I don't want to burn in hell forever.

So Jesus, be my savior so I can be good, and I'll just live my life.

But that's not where grace stops.

Yes, justification is yours as you are.

You don't have to earn it.

You don't, you don't have to pay for it.

It's just given to you through faith in Christ.

But grace doesn't stop at justification, it continues on into sanctification, the process of making you holy.

It forms us, and that is the gospel.

Jesus bore your sin, brought you home, and now his grace enables you to walk in his steps because you might be thinking, but that's not who I am, that's not how I was raised, that's not the beliefs that I've been given.

But it's not about following in your family's traditions or your family's footsteps or your father's or your mother's.

It's about you following in the footsteps of Jesus, tracing his pattern for your life.

Then Peter ends the passage with a title for Jesus that brings the entire sermon together.

Verse 25 For you were strained like sheep and have now turned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

The word overseer here is episcopus, which means elder or overseer.

But here Peter gives it to Jesus, this title.

Jesus is the episcopal of our souls, the ultimate overseer, the one watching over his people.

So let's take a step back from this passage and get to the 10,000-foot level here.

Peter began with emperor, governors, and masters.

And now he ends with Jesus, the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

Who has the final authority?

Not Caesar, not government, not a master.

Jesus has the final authority.

And look what Jesus does with that authority.

He does not wound the sheep.

Instead, he is wounded for the sheep.

He does not exploit the people behind beneath him, he gives himself for them.

He does not abandon the wandering people, he brings them home.

That is the authority at the center of the Christian life.

And that is why we can honor everyone, we can fear God, and we can follow Jesus.

So where does this leave us today, church?

Peter does not describe a simplistic world where authority is always good and obedience is always easy.

He gives us something much more realistic, doesn't he?

Authority is real, but it's limited.

And justice is real, but it doesn't have to determine our character.

And above every human authority stands Jesus.

So when you are not sure how to respond to the things that are happening in your life, honor everyone.

Refuse contentment, recognize human dignity, fear God, do not give anyone the allegiance that belongs to him alone and follow Jesus.

When you are mistreated, trace his lines.

When you are tempted to retaliate, follow his footsteps.

When authority disappoints you, remember the shepherd and overseer of your soul.

Human authority will fail us.

It will disappoint us and it'll even hurt us.

But human authority will never get the final word.

That is where God is.

It's his word and his alone in the end.

Now, this is good news today because every single one of us has wandered.

I don't want to pop your bubble, but every single one of you are imperfect, myself included.

Bunch of sinners walked into this place today.

And Peter says, You are all string like sheep.

And I don't know about you, but sheep are not the most intelligent animal.

And that's who we are.

That's our condition apart from Jesus.

We have not perfectly honored others, we have not perfectly feared God, we have not perfectly followed Jesus.

We have retaliated and we have misused our freedom.

Some of us have misused authority, some of us have rebelled against God Himself, but Jesus did not stand at a distance and tell wandering sheep, hey, good luck, find your own way home.

No, he came for us, he bore our sins, his body on the cross.

He took the judgment that we deserved.

And then he rose from the dead.

And now he invites wandering people to return to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

So I just want to say: if you're here today and you don't know Jesus, you've never surrendered your life to him as Lord and Savior, the invitation today is not to come become more religious and respectable.

The invitation is come home to the shepherd.

Turn from your sin.

Place your life into the hands of the one who died and rose again for you.

Receive forgiveness.

Submit your life to the only Lord whose authority is perfect and good.

There is no special prayer needed, by the way.

I think sometimes you think, oh, I need to say the special words, and then God's salvation will fall upon me.

That's not how it works.

It is your faith and belief right where you're at.

It's between you and God and no one else.

So if you're here today and you're like, you're feeling the Lord speak to you and move in you, because that's how it was for me.

So I assume that's how it is for others.

Where you're sitting there and you're just trying to blend in, and all of a sudden you're like, what is happening to me inside right now?

That's the Holy Spirit drawing you in, saying, Listen, this is real, I'm real, and I want you to be a part of this.

You need this justification.

And here's what happens when you say yes to Jesus: the righteousness of God wraps around you.

Your life is no longer yours.

That means when we stand before that holy judge who is more powerful than all things, greater than any government, any king, any Caesar, when we stand before that perfect judge, he doesn't look in our life and see, oh, you stupid sheep.

So sinful.

No, he says, I see the righteousness of my son.

That's what you get when you believe in Christ.

His righteousness wrapped around your life, your sins wiped clean.

Not your perfection, his.

So if you're here today, I want to urge you, this is the most important decision you'll ever make.

But it's important that you make it because you're not guaranteed, we don't know what's going to happen ten minutes from now, an hour from now.

Friends, the news is tragic.

And some of you in here, maybe you're thinking, I'm good, I'm a student.

That's stop, stop pressuring me.

I could I'll wait till I'm in college to make that kind of choice.

All you have to do is turn on the news to see that kids are not they're not safe from danger.

Things happen.

It's a tragic, broken world we live in.

And so the reason why I highlight this every Sunday as an opportunity, because I don't want a Sunday to go by where someone doesn't hear the free gift of grace that comes from Jesus and doesn't have an opportunity to receive that.

So, young or old, wherever you're at today, just believe in Jesus and that salvation is yours.

Now for the rest of us, where do you need to trace his footsteps today?

I'm with you.

I like walking my path.

I like the one that I've I've made.

But Jesus says, I want you following my footsteps.

You're my witness.

So where are we allowing another person's sin to determine our response?

Bring those places back under the authority of Jesus.

Honor everyone, fear God, and follow Jesus.

Let us pray.

Lord, thank you.

Thank you for your endless love and grace and mercy.

God, every day your patience with us is a gift.

Father, I pray for those in the room today who maybe they're surrendering for the first time their lives to you, God.

And it says heaven is celebrating at the fact that they've come to a relationship with you and have been made righteous for all eternity because of the sacrifice and death and resurrection of your son, Lord.

And then I pray for us as a church, God, where our witness has been corrupted by our own path.

God, help us to once again follow your steps, Jesus.

Help us to see people as you see them, Lord, to be holy as you've called us to be holy.

And Jesus, I just pray that this would be a place where people find forgiveness, where they find the love of a son who's unending for them, a place where they can be authentically who they are, good and bad and see the redemption that you have for them.

Lord, may we be the witness you've called us and created us to be.

Jesus, it is about your name above every name.

And so, Lord, we pray today as we go out and are distracted by all the fun things, Lord, may we remember who we are first and that it's our life committed to you.

And we pray this in your name.

Amen.