Low is the New High

Let me ask you this morning, how many of you think of yourself as being a competitive person? Show of hands. You're competitive. You can turn anything into a competition. Like, who can carry the most grocery sacks in one trip, right?

Who gets the best parking spot? Who is the first one to reply in a group text. Like, anything can be a competition. Show me the hands again. Everyone else thinks you're annoying.

Just want you to know that I'm kidding. Just a little bit kidding, a little bit truthful, a little bit honest. We've got competitors in our house. Sometimes I don't even know we're in a competition until they told me I've lost. I'm like, I didn't know it was a competition, right?

And I can be a little like that. But I have, like, the quieter version of that where I don't need to tell you that I've won. I just need to know that I won. Right? It's a little sick.

It's a little twisted. And I realized, here's what I've learned about competition. Most of the time, not all the time. Most of the time. Competitiveness travels with comparison, right?

Travels with comparison. Like, how many of you, you thought life was good, things were good until you saw someone else's life. And now suddenly, it's like, I gotta get ahead because they're ahead of me right now. Like, you were happy at work, work was going fine, and then you found out what someone else was making, and suddenly nothing's okay anymore. You been there.

You're happy in your home. I like my home. I'm very content here. But then my neighbor got a remodel, and now my house isn't looking so good. And so I've got some work to do.

I'm gonna take out a loan. Should not do that. I'm gonna take out a loan to do a home remodel. We're not gonna do that. And here's the thing.

How many of you know it's not good for your soul to live that way all of the time? Like, it will eat away at you and it will destroy you because there's something else going on. It's not just comparison and competition, but a lot of times, maybe all the time, there's something else underneath the surface that we're asking, and it's the question, do I matter? Am I significant? And maybe even more base than that, am I okay or not?

And that's what makes this story so relatable in Luke 9. Because the disciples are having a decidedly human moment where they are being distracted in the middle of a bunch of other things that are going on by comparing who is the greatest among us, who's the best at following Jesus among us. And it is distracting them. It's stealing their joy. It's robbing them of the peace and joy of actually just walking with Jesus.

Getting to do that, it is going to threaten their friendship and their community. And if it's left unchecked, it's going to derail the mission that God has for their life and through their life. So Jesus, he gets in the middle of it and he doesn't do it to shame them, he does it to call them up. He doesn't necessarily call them out, but he calls them up and says, I want to challenge the way that you view yourself, the way you perceive other people. I want to challenge the way you think about value as a whole.

And we want to look at that this morning here in Luke chapter 9. Grab your Bible and turn there. Because what we find is, according to the world's status, greatness is measured by value. But Jesus is going to flip it. And Jesus says, look, low is the new high, low is the new high, is what we're gonna talk about today.

So grab your Bible, turn to Luke chapter nine. This is week seven in Luke nine. Who knew, right? And we're not done yet. There's a little more left at the end that we'll clean up next week.

But in Luke chapter nine, if you're taking notes, if you're not a note taker, just go ahead and write this down. First thing I wanna start with today is the need to matter can easily turn in the need to be first. Going to see that in the text. The need to feel like I matter very easily, sometimes imperceptibly, can turn into the need to be first. And the disciples here are chasing value, but what they do is they confuse importance with prominence.

Look at verse 46. An argument started among them as to which one of them might be the greatest at walking with Jesus. Okay? And I think the wildest thing about this isn't simply that they're having the argument, but it's the context in which they're having this argument. If you think about the last couple of weeks, what had happened last week?

We saw the disciples had a public failure. It was a massive failure, right? They were supposed to cast out a demon. Jesus had empowered them to. He had given them authority to do so.

They had been doing so in other places, but this time they hit a wall and they hit something that they Couldn't handle. And it was public. And it caused the mockers of Jesus to have a lot of fun trying to tear them down. It caused a crowd of people together, and it left a boy and his dad distraught. Jesus steps into that chaos and with the Word, flips it all and changes it all and gives freedom and peace.

But the disciples did this publicly. It was a deep embarrassment for them. The very next thing that happens is Jesus begins to talk to them about his death and resurrection. And once you see it in Mark 9, Mark's writing about it, he says, for Jesus was teaching his disciples, and he was telling them, the Son of Man. Again, Jesus would refer to himself this way.

The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him and couldn't be more clear. And when he has been killed, he will rise three days later. But they didn't understand, and they were afraid to ask. They didn't understand, and they were too embarrassed to go, we don't really get it.

We don't understand. You got to tell me more. So they have just experienced a public failure, displaying their weakness. And now they are too insecure, even with Jesus to ask him, please tell us more. We don't understand what you mean.

So in the moment of feeling weak and insecure, they start talking about which one of us is the best. Isn't that interesting? I think it's kind of shining a light on something that I realized this week. A lot of times when we think about pride and humility, they just are kind of like counterparts. I don't think these guys are just being downright arrogant.

I think these guys are feeling weak and insecure. It's a very human thing that all of us do. When we feel unsure and unseen and uncertain, we begin to reach out for things, to try to prop ourselves up and. And to feel like we're more important than we feel because of our weakness and insecurity. Don't we do that?

I was gonna ask you how many of you are prideful people? I didn't feel like that was a fair question. So I thought I'd say how many of you feel like you're an insecure person? Right. I mean, that's every hand right there.

Cause every one of us have insecurities that life will poke at and prod at and will expose in us. And it is a very human thing, a trap that we get caught in the. To try to cover up and mask that feeling of weakness and insecurity with something to make ourselves feel strong. And that's what the disciples are doing here. They're not just arrogant, they're weak and insecure.

They don't understand is what Mark said. They don't understand, and they're too embarrassed to ask. And instead of taking these real human emotions to Jesus, saying, jesus, we just feel so embarrassed and weak. We failed. We embarrassed you.

This is how I feel sometimes. We embarrassed you. We embarrassed your Father in heaven. We embarrassed each other. We embarrassed the name of our ministry going on.

We embarrassed everyone. It was our fault. We did dumb stuff. And then, I'll be honest, I don't know what you're talking about when you're talking. Sometimes I just pretend I do.

Right. Instead of saying that to Jesus and receiving from him his care and his compassion and his power to transform, to do real ministry into their fears, instead of leaning in, they draw back and they begin to puff themselves up. But it's not just pride that's at work. I think it's insecurity and weakness. It's just a very human thing that we do.

I was thinking about my relationship with this this week and how I've been walking with the Lord for a long time. I've been walking with Jesus for about 30 years consistently. And I have led churches, I have given people counsel, I have pointed people to dependence on the Lord. I have preached here, I've preached in other places in the. I have a massive stack of failures where Jesus has stepped in and he has said, let me show you my grace is sufficient in your weakness.

And I've had to fall on him and depend on Him. And yet still I find myself sometimes measuring my ministry against other people's ministries. Right? I've learned the lesson, I've preached the sermon, and yet I still find myself measuring my family against other people's families. How are we doing?

How's my life? How's my influence compared to someone else's influence? I'll tell you. Yesterday I got an email and it was a consulting group. And I clicked on it and I looked at it and I looked at their page of church consultants, and I was like, you're 27 years old.

You don't know anything about leading ministry. Who made you a consultant? I know more immediately, and it scares me. And it frustrates me how fast that we can move into that place to where I go. I'm secure in the Lord.

I'm resting in the Lord. And now I have the need to be known overtaking and overwhelming me in this moment. It's such a human thing that we Do. And we can, I realize, do that here on Sunday mornings. We can walk in with our Bibles open and our hands up, coming to praise Jesus, to bless, O the Lord, oh my soul, praise his holy name.

And yet, without even realizing it, kind of be measuring ourselves against other people in the room. And we're not even content to be with the Lord and be with his people because there's something in us, working in us, that wants to be somebody as much or more than be with somebody. And I want you to hear the counsel of God's word on this. Proverbs 16:18 says, Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Jeremiah 9 says, this is what the Lord says.

Let not the wise boast of their wisdom, nor the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches. There's a reason, James 3 says, for where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you're gonna find disorder and you're gonna find every evil practice. Imagine the disciples are with Jesus. They're with God in the flesh. He has cast out demons.

He has fed thousands of people with just a few bites of food. He has spoken, and the world is turning over. And. And yet all they can think about right now is, is Peter better than me? I wonder if I was going and healing the sick.

Does James do it better than me? Is John kind of feeling like he's the leader of the pack right now? Maybe I need to. This is what their mind and heart is consumed with, even when they are deep in it with Jesus. And I think about, how can this happen so quickly and so easy to us?

I don't think it's simply about, you know, am I being prideful or. Or being humble. I think it's about weakness is exposed in these moments. And it's weakness and insecurity posing as confidence and arrogance. And that need to feel like I matter, that I matter in this world, my life, my story, who I am matters can quickly turn in the need to outdo and outshine and outrank the people around us.

And it happens in our homes, it happens at work, happens at school. It happens in our ministry, even in our church, where that need to feel like I'm somebody, right, turns easily into everyone else, needs to be beneath me. And the Bible says when that happens, you find again, James, disorder and every evil practice. And he says, when that begins to reign in your heart and life, there's gonna be a fall. Right now, the disciples, they're arguing about this.

And I don't know if that's what it looks like in your life. I'm a little too prideful to argue about this out loud because that would make me look small if I just was like, hey, I'm better pastor than this pastor or what? Better dad than this dad. That would make me look small and already take points off of my score, right? So I'm not going to argue about this out loud.

But maybe what it looks like in our lives sometimes is that quiet resentment that we begin to feel when we see someone else recognized or celebrated, and we feel like we're the one who should have been recognized.

Nobody gonna say amen to that. Or it just hurts too deep, right? Maybe it's that quiet resentment where you're going, how come they got ahead? I mean, I work as hard as they do, I've been around longer, and it begins to sting. Maybe that's where it begins to take control.

Or maybe it's this. Maybe it's that at the end of the day, I measure the quality of my day by how productive was or how celebrated I was, how many times someone said, good job, you did good at this. Or someone said, I'm proud of you, or whatever affirmation that I needed from someone else to feel like I'm okay. Or maybe it comes from me feeling like I'm ahead of other people and that's how I measure the quality of my day. Maybe that's how it takes place in our life.

The trap is when we start chasing greatness according to the world's standards, my value and my worth according to the world's standards. And the disciples right now, they are having comparison and competition ruling in their heart. But Jesus is going to rule in the moment because he's going to speak up and he's going to say, let me flip that on its head. I want to show you a different way of thinking about greatness. Here's the second thing I want you to write down.

God is not impressed by by what we're impressed by, okay? Jesus is gonna show them this. God is not impressed by the same things that we are impressed by. And in a way, Jesus is redefining greatness. He's not really redefining it.

He's redefining it contextually for them. But this is always what God has seen as great. That didn't change. But they need to change. In his kingdom, in his economy, low is the new high.

Look at verse 47. But Jesus knowing what they were thinking in their heart. Full pause right there. I love these moments. And you see it scattered throughout the Gospels, where someone hasn't even said something to Jesus, but He already knows what they're thinking.

It reminds us that Jesus is not just a man, but he is God. He knows the words before they ever come out of our mouth, which is simultaneously amazing and exciting because there are needs that I have been too embarrassed or too ashamed or not even aware enough to speak out to him. But he already knows the needs of my life and heart, and he is already addressing those things. But it's also simultaneously sobering because no matter how many times I try to mask what's really going on in here, he knows exactly what's going on inside of my heart. And it says here in verse 47, he knew what they were thinking in their heart, and so he took a child, stood beside him, and he said to them, whoever receives this child in my name receives me.

And whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For the one who is least among all of you, this one is the one who is great. Jesus doesn't blast them for their argument. He doesn't shame them for having their eyes on the wrong things. But what he does is he shows them a better question.

And the whole object lesson of bringing this child up would have, I think, stood out way more to them than it does to us. Because we picture it. We go, aw, Jesus brought in a child. How cute. Such a sweet little moment.

But for them, a child wasn't a sweet, beautiful thing to ride by your side. In fact, just side note, this is like a side sermon. This is not a part of this sermon. We can cut it out and just make it for another week. But in our day and culture, children have risen to such a place that they're not just also cute, but they're little gods in our lives.

Parents, you just need to hear this. They can be wonderful, blessed children in our life and gifts from God, but they make awful gods themselves. And I'm speaking from experience. For them, there was no chance of this child being a God in their life. He wasn't cute.

She wasn't sweet. It wasn't a Hallmark moment. This was a moment of demonstrating. This is one who has no voice, no rank, no place, no power in society. This is almost just a nuisance until it gets old enough to provide something else.

Right now, there is no return on investment. And that's his point. It's a kingdom word picture here. It's a kingdom object lesson. He's saying, if you want to go high in my kingdom, then you need to take your eyes off of what you're going to get.

And you need to start looking down at those who are unseen and unvalued and unloved. Because I see that as great. God sees that as great. And Jesus, the thing that he says is so audacious. Audacious.

Here. If you receive this child, you're receiving me. He's putting this child at the level of receiving Jesus. Whoa, this is revolutionary. No leader would say something like that.

They would be dismissive of a child, get this one out of our way so we can do important things. But he says no. If you go low and you receive those who need, those who are not valued, those who are not saved. Now we're cooking right now. You're starting to move towards the path of hidden greatness.

You're beginning to understand what God values and what God wants from you. You think greatness is about being impressive and I'm telling you it's about being available. You think that greatness is about being seen. I'm telling you it's about seeing those who are unseen is what Jesus says. And Jesus isn't just defining greatness in the abstract.

He's not just giving you a theory to talk about. This is the way that Jesus behaves and lived. He embodied this. Remember Philippians 2, it said Jesus was in the very form of God. Listen to this.

Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourself which was in Jesus. He existed for all time in his nature, in his essence as co equal with God. And yet he didn't hold with white knuckled grip onto his co equalness with God the Father. Instead he opened himself and he emptied himself and he took on the place of his servant, even to the point of death and death on a cross.

He chose to empty himself and come and see the unseen, that he might lift us up. And that's great. Mark 10:45 says, for even the Son of Man does not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. You remember John 13, when Jesus bows and washes his disciples feet. What happens right before that is it says Jesus knowing the Father had placed all things in his hands.

Kevin Translation Jesus being aware that he's the most powerful being in the universe, in complete control and authority, right? The very next thing he does as he bends down and he begins to wash the feet of his disciples. That's great. Luke 22 the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, the leader, like the servant. This isn't motivational fluff, it's what Jesus does.

And it magnifies the greatness that is already in Jesus. It magnifies his greatest this is what God sees as great. He isn't impressed by the things that the world is impressed by. So when we get that insecure feeling on a Tuesday because we've compared to this, or we haven't felt this or someone this, or we didn't understand that, or someone else is moving ahead and we don't feel like we're moving ahead, rather than spend our energy trying to devise a way to pray, press ahead and win, empty ourselves is what Jesus says. And then maybe take that same energy that we would spend into trying to build ourselves up and pour it out into seeing the unseen and serving quietly in the manner of Jesus.

Those who can't return anything back to us, like those children, can't repay as Jesus says, receive them. Maybe it's taking all of that mass amount of energy that we use to concoct away to be seen as a a winner in this world and saying, how can I bless someone else quietly in the deep and abiding joy of Jesus? And maybe this week that we just need to receive some people. And maybe the person you need to receive or I need to receive is a coworker who no one really wants to spend time with. And guess what?

There's probably a reason, they're probably annoying. But guess what? Everyone's annoying. That includes me. And it includes we're all just a little bit annoying.

And maybe because we have grown up and as adults we've become so transactional in our relationships, that person gets left out and doesn't get included and doesn't get spoken to. And maybe what we need to do this week is to receive that co worker who is isolated or that teenager who feels like they're invisible, they're there, but no one would even know it. Maybe it's that family member who, let's be honest, you're never going to get back what you put into the relationship, right? We all have those in our families. But maybe the call for us to receive that child who can't return anything is the call to receive one of these in our life.

Jesus is saying when you welcome them in verse 48, you're welcoming him to reign and rule in your life and the way that you live because the least among you, he says, is actually the greatest. Jesus doesn't just say this, he didn't just teach it, he lives it. He came and he laid down his life for those who could not repay him anything at all. That's the birth of greatness. And that's why this is a gospel call on our life.

Not just a platitude, but it's a gospel calling because Jesus gave his life for those who could not repay him, and he calls us to live in that way. Here's the second thing I want you. Or third thing I want you to write down. I forgot where I'm at. Third thing I want you to write down.

Insecurity. Uh, oh. Can easily hide behind exclusivity. Yeah. Somebody said, mm.

I said, mm. Insecurity can easily hide behind exclusivity. I love this. Because they already have felt weak and embarrassed and ashamed and insecure and argued about which one of us is greatest. And Jesus says, let me correct your thinking.

And the immediate response, John goes, well, I don't think John's understood it at all, right? John goes, master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him from. Cause he doesn't follow with us. And Jesus said to him, do not hinder him, for he who is not against you is for you. Do you see the flow?

It's. I need to be the best in my group, okay? If I can't be the best in my group, we're the best group, right?

Because they don't do things the way we do. Because he's not in our denomination, because he's not in our circle, because he's not practicing the way that we practice, because his leanings are a little different than my leanings. I might not be able to talk about who's the greatest one at following Jesus, but certainly we are the best group. So much so that this guy who. He's going out and doing gospel work, you see that he is setting the captives free, which Jesus said was his business.

And he's doing it not in his name, he's doing it in Jesus name. And John's instinct, it's not doctrinal protection. He's not guiding and guarding the doctrine of Jesus. His instinct is, this guy is not a part of our party. He's not a part of our denomination.

So we tried to shut him down. And it kind of sticks out his chest like, yeah, we did good, didn't we? And Jesus isn't having any of it. He's not gonna let this thing pass. Because here he says, don't stop him.

If he's not against you, he's for you. The heart is. If John was secure in his calling, and he was secure in Jesus presence and nearness. Then John wouldn't be threatened by someone else's fruit. He'd be able to celebrate that God was doing something that he didn't understand through a person he didn't understand.

Maybe he didn't agree with or like, but God was doing gospel work in this world, and instead of criticizing or shutting him down, he might have been celebrating. This kind of thing happens in our day, but it happened all throughout the Bible. I found this. Anyone studying numbers right now?

No? Okay. I could totally make this up then and you wouldn't know because when was the last time you read numbers? I'm not making it up. It's in numbers 11.

Same thing happens. Moses selects 70 people to help him lead God's people in the wilderness. And the plan is that the 70 are going to gather with Moses at the tabernacle and. And God is gonna pour out the Spirit. The Holy Spirit's gonna come upon these 70 and they're gonna begin to prophesy and lead the people in God's way.

But these two guys, Eldad and Medad, they don't go to the tabernacle. They stay in the camp with all the people. And you know what happens to them? The Holy Spirit comes upon them anyways. And so while everyone else is at the tabernacle, and the Bible actually says that they prophesied once and never again, Eldad and Medad are over here in the camp and they're prophesying.

They're pointing people to God's glory, to his sovereignty, and to how to walk in God's will on the earth. And someone in the camp goes, well, this isn't right. These two guys didn't go to the tabernacle. And so they run over to Moses and go, moses, you won't believe what happened. Eldad and Medad, they're in the camp and they're prophesying.

They're pointing people to the glory of God and telling them how to walk in God's will. And Joshua, Moses, right hand man, has the same instincts as John. He goes, moses, we should go and shut them down right now. And I want you to hear what Moses says. There's a great mark of spiritual maturity in numbers 1129.

Moses says, here's what I wish. I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets, every one of them. I wish that the Lord would put his spirit on every one of them so everyone would be pointing at the glory of God and showing each other how to walk in the will of God on this earth, right? And it's a beautiful foreshadowing, too, of the Holy Spirit's place in the life of the believer, isn't it? That when Jesus ascended, he promised the Holy Spirit would come and he'd dwell in the life of every believer, that every one of us would be deeply, intimately connected to the presence and the power and of God, and that we would know him, and we would know His Word, and we would glorify him, and we would know how to walk in his ways, and we would help others to do this.

It's a beautiful foreshadowing. Moses says, don't shut him down. Eldad and Medad. The Holy Spirit has come upon him. And I think about how easy it is for me to look at people that I don't agree with in their secondary or tertiary doctrine or in the way that they practice ministry, or because they are too political and some of them just are, and the way they carry themselves and they mix up their theology and their politics.

And I am so quick to criticize. Well, maybe I should be celebrating and praying. How do I know what God may be doing in and through these people? I'm just me. And I'm lucky that I'm even alive today, that I'm even awake and breathing.

How do I know what the Holy God, who is sovereign, who is omniscient, he knows all, who is perfect in power, who is totally in control, and he knows the end from the beginning, and he is steering everything to its perfect conclusion. How do I know how God is going to use a man or a woman to further his kingdom? It was never about my credit. It was never about my ministry. It was never about my platform.

It was never about my influence. It was never about my denomination or my part or about me being impressive. It was about us being faithful. To be swept into the thing that God is doing by many people to bring about his kingdom on earth, that God's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. Please hear this.

The mission of Jesus doesn't need critics as much as it needs laborers. And I cannot tell you how often I am guilty of being a ministry critic and using up my labor energy, looking at others and saying, that's not how I would have done it, or how dare you act like that when I know that you believe this other weird thing that I think is wrong. How do I know what it is that God may be doing? How many times have I criticized when I could have celebrated, at least God is doing this through their ministry or prayed. God, I'm concerned about this person that I don't even know.

And I probably shouldn't be in some ways as concerned as I am, but I am. So, Lord, what would you have me to do with these feelings? Would you bring transformation in their life or would you bring transformation in mine? Right. And this message is a message I think the church has needed in every age.

But maybe, I mean, this is probably very myopic of us to think this way, but probably never more than an hour day of tribalism and of platform chasing and a world that is so consumed with identity and personal brand. And we are so being formed without even realizing that we're being surrounded by the. It's the air that we breathe. And so we're just taking it in and spitting it out, that we're chasing greatness by personal expression and achievement. And it's just become the air that we breathe of our life.

And we begin to ask that question, even if we're not cognizant of it. We're asking, am I great and do I matter and am I better than them? Are they lesser than me? And it becomes a controlling force in our life and we don't even know it.

This is kingdom recalibration is what this is. Jesus says, the path to greatness, it's not up. It's never been up. It's always been down. Down into humility, down into quiet faithfulness.

To serve like Jesus, to see the unseen, to lift others up, those who can't even repay us for our effort, that is what is great. And it magnifies the greatness of Christ alive in us when we do that. Not to earn identity. How many people went on a mission trip so they could take a picture with some impoverished peoples and put it on their Instagram? Let's be real when we do that.

Not to earn identity, but because we've received identity by grace, through faith, we've been saved and we've now been called children of the living God. I am so secure, I am so near. The Holy Spirit dwells within me. I don't need. I don't need to chase great, great lives.

He lives within me. He has a name. His name is Jesus. So I am free to cast free the bonds of proving myself. He proved everything.

He determined my worth. And now I can live seeing the unseen and lifting them up that they might see him also. I just want to leave you with questions today, and there's gonna be a bunch of them, so you can get your phone out you can take pictures. Don't get on Instagram or Facebook. Golly y' all.

If these proposals are true, if the need to matter can easily turn into the need to be first, I want you to chew on this week. What am I using right now to say that I matter?

What am I using to prop myself up and to prove my worth? Second question. Who am I in competition with? Have I been looking around and said I've got to be better than that person? Because the need to matter can easily turn into the need to be first and we can get lost in it.

If the second one was true, if it's true that God is not impressed by what we're impressed by, and Jesus said it, so it's pretty darn true. God's not impressed by what we're impressed by. Who is someone I've been overlooking that I ought to receive? There's someone there, and who am I willing to welcome that no one else will? That's what God calls great.

Got your pictures. Here's the third one. Because insecurity can easily hide behind exclusivity. That's true. Am I more concerned about credit than God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven?

I'm not gonna ask you to answer it out loud, but my goodness, why not answer it honestly in your own heart? Am I more concerned about credit than God's will being done? And whose ministry have I criticized when I could have celebrated or prayed?

What would it look like? What would it mean if this kind of posture defined the church? That we weren't known for being platform grabbing, but for being people who are giving presents to others that we weren't consumed with. Am I the greatest? Have you seen me?

But we were consumed with seeing the unseen. So it wasn't about who's greatest, but who should I receive. What if that was the marker of the church? That's how we were known? Sounds like, oh yeah, of course.

But on the other hand, has it ever been holistically true?

What would it mean if it was? And maybe today is the day that we are set free from the place of having to grab to prove our worth and identity. But we receive our identity and our worth from Jesus, and it sets us then free to live like this. And the world may never care. I mean, plain and simple.

They may never acknowledge it. They may never say, oh, isn't that church great? But guess what? Jesus says, that's great, and that's what I'm living for, for the day I face him. And maybe I Get to hear the words, well done, good and faithful servant.

Let's chase that kind of great. Can I pray for us?

Jesus, we thank you for your compassion and how you enter into these moments with the disciples. And you didn't shame, you didn't tear them down, you didn't berate them for being consumed with the wrong things. But you challenged them to see with spiritual eyes and to value the way that you value. And it was a pure invitation for them to leave the ground of the earth for a moment and to see the beauty and the wonder of your kingdom. And I pray that we would be caught up in that today.

Holy Spirit, that you would do something beyond the words that I have spoken out loud. But you would work in the minds and hearts of every one of us. That we would be challenged even as we drive home and begin to compete and compare that you would make it our genuine desire to be pleasing to the Lord and not into man.

I pray this morning you would work that in us and beautify us and beautify the church for the glory of Jesus Christ and Jesus. We just praise you. We praise you that you did not consider equality with God something to be held onto with white knuckled grip. But you emptied yourself. We wouldn't have life without it.

So I pray that we would be conformed to your image and you would bring life in and through us to the hurting and the broken and the unseen and the uncertain and the unsure of the world. You would grow your family and you get the glory. In Jesus name, amen.