Dalton First United Methodist Church Podcast
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Dalton First United Methodist Church Podcast
The Outward Facing Kingdom - Blake Fine
Ever find yourself knee-deep in a pool of self-centered wants? It's a familiar territory for us all. Jesus presents us two starkly different kingdoms—the one ruled by power-hungry monarchs, and the Kingdom of God, where greatness is achieved through humility and servitude. Tune in as we dissect Matthew 26:36-39, a passage where Jesus, despite the option to resist, chooses to serve.
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You are listening to the Dalton First United Methodist Church podcast. To learn more about Dalton First United Methodist Church, visit us online at DaltonFUMCcom. So this morning, as we dive into the scriptures and what Jesus has for us this morning, i want to kind of reintroduce myself. If you don't know me. My name is Blake, i'm the student pastor, and so if you're unfamiliar with who I am, i'm Blake, i'm not Stephen. Obviously, i'm filling in for him this morning. He is on vacation and so we hope that he has a great time of rest.
Speaker 1:But this morning I want to begin by asking a question, and I think it's something that I think we can all relate to. Have you ever wanted something really really badly? Have you ever wanted it really really bad? Right For me, a lot of my life I wanted to be taller, so I can, i could do this and be, and that never happened. So that's something that I wanted really really badly. And the second question is to the point that you might give anything to have it. Now there are some points where I would. I would do about anything to be a little taller, right, but it can be a number of different things like it could be maybe a job promotion, or maybe just a different situation than the one that you're living in. Maybe it's school if you've been in school, you want better grades, or you want to be done with school. You're getting tired of it. Or maybe the job that you don't want to be in that job anymore.
Speaker 1:And what's interesting, when we think about the things that we want and what we really desire, this is not always a bad thing, but this is what it's kind of rooted in. This is naturally motivated from a place of selfishness. It's kind of like a harsh word to say right, to say like that's selfish, but it's our natural kind of desire and it's our natural inclination to look after ourselves right Or the things that mattered to us, the things that we care about, the things that we want. We have these things in us and these desires that we want. So the question I ask again is have you ever wanted something really badly? And these questions are some fill in the blanks on the back of the bulletin and the outline that you can use. As we move forward And we all find ourselves, i think, at different places on the spectrum of selfless to selfish Right, there's moments where it's like easy to be really selfless and maybe there are days where you're a lot more selfless than others, and then maybe you're somewhere in the middle and then maybe there are some days where you're feeling really, really selfish And I want you to point at them. But maybe you know someone that you think of them. You think the word selfish, right, so don't point at them, okay. So here's what. Here's what we have. We all have moments of selfishness. We all have moments of selfishness, and I want to speak to some moments of selfishness in my life.
Speaker 1:When I was growing up, i grew up in Cordill, georgia, down in South Georgia. I'm not from this area. I actually visited my parents this last week and I was reminded of how hot it is down there. But I was, i was visiting my parents and when I go home, you know, i sleep in the same bed that I grew up there Not the bed, but the bedroom that I grew up in. They've kind of redone it, because that's what. That's what you do. When your kids get out of the house, you redo rooms, right. So I go in there and I'm staying with my parents, and when you visit your parents, it kind of takes you back to when you're a kid, i feel like And I'm not that old, i'm 27 but I can think back to specific moments in my life where I can look at those moments and recognize I was a jerk, i was selfish, right.
Speaker 1:So when I was around 15, 16 years old, my parents began to go through a separation and it eventually led to a divorce, and during this time period it was really really, really hard on me and the issue with that sometimes is, when you're going through difficult and hard things, i think it's a lot easier to be selfish, because it's like when I got stuff going on, you don't understand what I'm going to have, so don't worry about it, i'm gonna be how I'm gonna be. But as I was kind of visiting and I think back to like the things that my mom was dealing with, the things that my dad was dealing with, and the way that I would oftentimes treat my mother at times was selfish, i was such a jerk. I wouldn't think about the things she was going through or the things that she was dealing with. I was like very disrespectful, i was very argumentative, i was just I'm making things even more difficult than they already were, and when I think about these moments of selfishness I missed out on so much love. I missed out on so much grace. I missed out on so much because I was so focused on me, me, me. There's a country song that talks about that. Right, i want to talk about me, i want to talk about the honor. That country song, right. So that was me. I was so focused on myself and I missed out on so much because of this.
Speaker 1:We all have moments of selfishness, and I would, i would go as far to say that our world, the society that we live in, has shaped us into being people who live with me in mind. First. I mean, think about it. We have a word called a selfie, to take pictures of selfie, right, and it's as simple as like. You get up in the morning some of you do this, some of you, i don't know you look in the mirror, right, right. So you get up and you look in the mirror and you're making sure you look good before you leave the house, and so I want to ask the question of this what happens when you live from a place of selfishness?
Speaker 1:You live a life inward facing, you live a life inward facing And I have this hand held mirror and I want you to imagine like this is what it looks like to live inward facing. How silly would I look if I walked around all day with this in front of me. Right, i would come up to you and I would have a conversation with you. But who am I seeing? Myself, and I would live life and I wouldn't see anyone else because I'm so focused on me, me, me, and so we cannot live this life. That's inward facing. And so what happens to us? There's an impact on us when we live that way, when we live inward facing. There is an impact on us, our lives, our relationships with others and how we like illustrate what it looks like to follow Jesus. Because if we follow Jesus and we say we're followers of Jesus, the inward facing life cannot be what we live. So what happens to us when we live facing inwardly?
Speaker 1:There are three things on the back of your bulletin. You can kind of see these. The first one is this I see nobody else. I just kind of illustrated that with this mirror. I don't see anybody else.
Speaker 1:When I was 16 years old, i really couldn't care less about a lot of the things that other people were dealing with, that other people were wrestling with, because I was so focused on what I wanted, what I had going on, the things I was dealing with, the things I was struggling with. They're not even like a struggle. Maybe you're just so caught up in your busyness and your world and the things that you desire and the things that you want that maybe times you don't see anyone else. You don't see the people that are hurting. You don't see the people that are dealing with things. You don't see the people that maybe they just are lonely and they just need somebody. They need a friend, they need someone to talk to. All right. And so the first thing is like when we live this inward facing life, we see nobody else.
Speaker 1:The second thing is this my empathy and compassion shrinks, my empathy and compassion shrinks. Do any of you struggle with empathy and compassion? Because I do at times, and when we are living inward facing, we're focused on ourselves, we're focused on what we want. It's so much harder to feel for the people that are struggling and to feel for the people that are dealing with things and feel for the people that just need us, and it's not always even that like we need to like be there for people when they're going through hard things, but we need to just be there for people, to enjoy things with them, to live life with them, to celebrate with them, to walk alongside each other in life. And so the second thing is my empathy and my compassion shrinks.
Speaker 1:There's a verse in Galatians 6 that talks about carrying the burdens of others, and this will fulfill the law of Christ. That's what we're called to as followers of Jesus to help carry the burdens of other people, to walk with other people. I look at that as like when you're hurting, i'm hurting. When you're celebrating, i'm celebrating. When things are good, i'm happy. And so the second thing is my empathy and compassion shrinks. And the last one is this And this is very easy, i think, for us to get caught up in this kind of Western way we live.
Speaker 1:I create my own kingdom, i create my own kingdom, and this is just simply your own world, your own life, your own family, your own job. You can easily become so silenced in your life when you're living inwardly that you miss out on so much good stuff because you're so focused on you and you're so focused on what you want And you're so focused on your family and your things. And so we create our own kingdom, so we see nobody else when we're living inwardly. Our empathy and compassion shrinks when we're living inwardly And we create our own kingdoms and our own worlds when we're living inwardly. And this is not the way of Jesus, right? The inward-facing life is opposite of the way of Jesus. The inward-facing life is the opposite of the way of Jesus.
Speaker 1:We look at the life of Jesus, we see someone who was pretty much most of the time, all the time, on the selfless side of the spectrum, that spectrum I mentioned a minute ago. He was selfless in all that he did. And so I want to, this morning, look at a story that deals with the outward-facing life. It deals with some people struggling with the inward-facing life, but it gives us what the outward-facing life is. So I invite you to look at this passage of Scripture in your bulletin in Matthew 20, 20 through 28. And this is one of my favorite stories in the Scriptures, really because of one question in the story that I struggle with and I wrestle with. And so in Matthew 20, verse 20,.
Speaker 1:Then the mother of Zebedee's son came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. And this is how Jesus says what is it you want? What is it you want? Because I think Jesus knew what she was coming with. She knew that he knew that she was coming with something for herself and for her sons. Imagine the nerve, right Like that, these two sons sent their mother to go ask this question of Jesus.
Speaker 1:You'll see what this is. She said grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in the kingdom. So they send their mother to go ask hey, can you ask Jesus if, like, at the end of all this, like we can have some power? And Jesus is like what is it that you want? And she asked this question And Jesus then says you don't know what you're asking. Jesus said to them Can you drink the cup? I'm going to drink, and he's speaking of what's coming in his death and resurrection. We can, they answered. And Jesus said to them you will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my father.
Speaker 1:And then the other disciples. They hear that, like, the two sons sent their mom to ask this. And what happens. When the 10 heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Can you imagine how awkward it was after the fact? Well, they were like what are you thinking? Like, why would you go ask? Why would you send your mom to ask Jesus? That's such a dumb question. Like, do you not? like? these guys always seem to struggle with kind of getting what Jesus was trying to convince them and let them know what was going on.
Speaker 1:And so the 10 disciples have become indignant And Jesus then calls them together And he says you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them And their high officials exercise authority over them. And he says this not with us, not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave. These are strong words that Jesus is using. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served This is one of my favorite passages in the Scriptures Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many, to give his life as a ransom for many.
Speaker 1:So there are three observations that I think we can look at in this passage and then I think, we can kind of wrestle with for our own lives. The first one is this Jesus challenges the hearts of the disciples with that question. He challenges the hearts of everyone there. He asks what is it that you want? What is it that you want? And that's a question that we can like, turn on this morning and think about.
Speaker 1:This morning We may not be asking for, like to sit at the left and right of Jesus, but there may be things that we come to Jesus with that may be our selfish. There are things that we care about so much that oftentimes they're like, all focused on ourselves. And I asked that question earlier have you ever wanted something really, really bad? What is it that you want? Let's, you know, put ourselves in the place of the disciples. That question directed at us. Where have we come before Christ with the desires of our own selfishness? Where are those gaps in our life where we're so focused inwardly that those things that I mentioned earlier are happening? And we have to take the time to ask the question and reflect what is it that we really want out of this life? What is it that we really want to get from doing life, living life and every single day. And Jesus asks that question what is it that you want? He already knew That's the thing. Jesus knows the desires of our lives and of our hearts. The Scripture gives us an opportunity to ask that question and look at our own lives and ask ourselves the questions What is it that I want? What do I want? What do I care about most? What is the greatest thing that I want? And so the first observation is that Jesus challenges the hearts of the disciples and in that he's also challenging our hearts this morning with that question What is it that you want?
Speaker 1:The second thing that we can kind of observe here is that Jesus compares kingdoms. He compares these two kingdoms where he talks about how the rulers, the kingdom of rulers and the kingdom of God. right, he says you know that the rulers of the Gentiles, they lord power over them And their high officials exercise authority over them. He says not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. Many times in this life we would like to have control right. With control comes power and authority and desires right. And so Jesus here is challenging them. He says the greatest among you will be your servant, for those who exalt themselves will be humbled. Right, this is what he says in Matthew 23, 11 through 12. He says the greatest among you will be your servant, for those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Jesus compares these rulers of the Gentiles that they knew as to be people that were oppressive and like not good, and they were like, showing what power, in a negative way, looked like, and what Jesus was coming to show was strength but humility, and that is what he's challenging the disciples with.
Speaker 1:There's this passage in the message. If you've ever read the message, it's this kind of like paraphrase of the Bible written in modern language, and I love the way that it's phrased in Matthew 5, 5 through 6. It says you're blessed when you're content with just who you are, no less. That's the moment you find yourself proud owners of everything that can't be bought. You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God, he's food and drink in the best meal that you'll ever eat.
Speaker 1:The desires of our hearts often lead us to want to be like these rulers, to have power, to have authority, to have control, to have things that we want, where Jesus is saying no. What we are called to be instead is those that live in humility. So Jesus compares these two kingdoms and we can easily build our own kingdom to look like one that desires control and power and the things that we want. And Jesus this morning is inviting us to be in humility and servanthood, that we're blessed when we're content with just who we are. No more, no less. And the last thing that we can observe here is Jesus presents the outward-facing kingdom. Some people will call this the upside-down kingdom. It's this, this thing that's kind of like a oxymoron that power comes from no control. Power comes from humility.
Speaker 1:Matthew 20, 28, the last little verse. There it says this just as the Son of man did not come to be served, he didn't come to be served, right? He's not asking people to be his slave in these stories, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. To give his life as a ransom for many. The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus is the embodiment of living outward-facing. He's the embodiment of living outward-facing. Here's the thing about Jesus. You ever meet people that like give you lip service, right, and they just say things and they don't actually follow through. Well, this is not who Jesus is. These are not just remembered words, this is not just the cool line that Jesus uses, but these are words that would be lived out. These are not just remember words, but words lived out.
Speaker 1:We fast forward a few chapters, six chapters forward in Matthew 26. We see that Jesus has presented this outward-facing kingdom where he's saying the Son of man didn't come to to be served but to serve, and he's inviting us into that. And in Matthew 26, 36 through 39, we find Jesus in this place where things are getting kind of dreary and things are not looking good and things are starting to feel kind of like kind of threatening. And in verse 36 through 38, we see Jesus here. You see the humanity of Jesus and Jesus having the opportunity to say no. But he says I didn't come to be served but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. In verse 36 through 38, he says then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane and he said to them sit here while I go over there and I pray.
Speaker 1:And he took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him which that's kind of funny, because those are the two guys that were just asking silly questions And he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. And then Jesus moves a little forward and it's just Jesus by himself and he's wrestling, he's dealing with things. Again, these are not words that would just be remembered, these are words that would be lived out. Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and he prayed My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. And that question of like, what is it that you want? Clearly, jesus wanted something differently here, but he was able to live in a place of humility and say, no, i don't have to get what I want, what I desire, because the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Speaker 1:Jesus is inviting you this morning to take that posture of outward facing, reflecting on the places in our lives where we're inward facing and selfish, and maybe care about the things that we want. Often, and here's what happens, when we live outward facing, live in the outward facing kingdom, there are two things that happen. We do two things. The first is this we are following Jesus every day. We're following Jesus, right, we're following Jesus.
Speaker 1:There's a, there's a small little story that I really think about a lot, and it's this story that talks about how, back in the time of Jesus, there would be these, these rabbis and their students, right, and these students were these young boys that were learning the way of their rabbi Right in the Jewish world, and so they would follow their rabbis everywhere around, right, and they would you kind of see these little Boys falling behind these teachers. And many times you see in the New Testament where the disciples say to Jesus, rabbi or teacher, what say you? and and in this time period, these boys were learning from their rabbi, and often times There was this phrase that would be said. It would be said you should be covered in the dust of your rabbi. You should be covered in the dust of your rabbi, because these boys would be walking behind their rabbi so closely, following them, trying to emulate Every little thing that they did that by the end of the day, all the dust from walking around would be kicked up on them. And it's this illustration of what we are invited into as we are following Jesus, that we are so closely To Jesus that we can't help to be, but to be covered with who he is.
Speaker 1:So, when we're living in this outward facing team, there's two things that are happening. We are following Jesus, but we are also looking around. Right, we're following Jesus, but we're seeing the world around us. We're seeing the things around us. We're seeing what is happening around us. There are these stories where Jesus is very focused, but he also sees the people around him. The story is like Jesus in Zacchaeus He sees a man in a tree. We see where Jesus is, in the crowd and he's walking and he feels a woman tug at his, his garment and he talks to her and he heals her. Jesus lived this life where he was living every day close to the father, but he also saw the people around him and he was there for them and he was there with them. And so, as we live in this outward facing kingdom, we're following Jesus and we're becoming covered in who he is, but we're also looking around to see where we can show who Jesus is.
Speaker 1:And this morning We must wrestle with the same question that Jesus asked his disciples What is it that you want? What is it that you want? What would it look like in your life, maybe this week, if you look at the places, maybe where you're like, maybe you're missing it, maybe you're really inward facing? where are the places in your life Individually that maybe you can like? let go of some of the things that you want so that Jesus can be in your life even more And you can be more selfless? What would it look like for you in your life Individually to take upon that challenge?
Speaker 1:And then, what would it look like if we all did this, if, communally, we did this, what kind of change could there be? what kind of love could we show? what kind of grace could we show to those Around us? what could you see this week that maybe you usually don't? What is it that you want and are you living outward facing, or are you living inward facing? Jesus is inviting us this morning, as we move into a time of prayer and a time of reflection, to think through That question. What is it that you want, and are you living inwardly. Are you living outwardly? Thank you for listening to the Dalton first United Methodist Church podcast. If today's sermon resonated with you, we encourage you to share it with someone who might benefit from the message. Join us for worship and stay connected at DaltonFUMCcom. God bless and see you next week.