Stop Keeping Score

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[0:00] is that they didn't want to understand. They didn't want to process it. They didn't want to live into the reality that it was putting them in. And yet Jesus was walking, and he was going to keep walking to Jerusalem, and they were going to keep following him. So this reality was going to keep operating as reality does, and it was going to continue to pull them along. But at this point, they just were not willing to say, I accept this reality, or I even acknowledge that this reality exists. And there's a lot of that lately. I'm going to say this. I mean, there's a lot of unreality thinking in the world right now. Like you think about COVID. There are some people who don't think it's real, because it's just too hard, right? It's just, it's the, it's the, it's a problem that's so large that they'd rather put it in this box and say it's some kind of conspiracy or something like that. It just, it may not be real. Well, it is real. Reality keeps marching forward, and it will pull us in its wake, and it will rule right over us if we're standing in its way. So living in a fantasy world of our own making is, is not a good strategy. It's not a good way to live your life. It works, it'll work for a day, maybe. But reality always comes

[1:18] due. The bill always comes due of reality. So I think that's what's going on with the disciples. Is they don't want to think about this. They don't want to acknowledge it. But Jesus is still going to go to the cross. I can still get COVID. I mean, some of that's up to me, but some of it's not, right? These, these, these things exist, and they're going to happen. And I would say it's a sign for all of us, and for the disciples, it's a sign of emotional and mental maturity that looks at a difficult reality and doesn't say, well, that can't be true. La, la, la, la, la. That's, that's not, maturity. Maturity, rather, is, I wish that wasn't true, but it's the reality that I'm in now. So I better be thinking about how to respond to it, how to get in front of it, right, if possible.

[2:12] So now for the disappointing part. We look at verse 33. Jesus had just laid out a really difficult truth, and I think it was emotional for him. He's like, every time he tells them this, he's like, this is, this is going to happen, and I'm, I'm a little cranky today because I, I need to tell you something important. I need to, I need to prepare you for it. And he could really use a good friend in this moment. Think about the relational, incarnational Jesus. He really needs a friend right now. And, and you'd, you'd hope that one of the disciples would just come up to him and say, Jesus, I, it sounds like you're having a hard time. This sounds like a rough day for you. How can I help? How can we be there for you? But because they couldn't enter that reality, they couldn't actually be a comfort to Jesus. They couldn't actually be good friends. And so it's so true that Jesus, Jesus, Jesus's friends often don't act like his friends. But at the last supper, Jesus says to them, I no longer call you my servants. I call you my friends. So Jesus is, the friendship is always open on Jesus's end, but it seems to be always conditional on the other end. We'll be friends with Jesus if he gives us what we want. We'll be friends

[3:18] with Jesus if he says things that, that we like hearing, and if he doesn't say things that we don't want to hear. So friendship with Jesus is always on our terms, it seems to us. But Jesus is always unconditionally saying to them, I will be your friend. This is interesting. So he could have used a friend in that moment. He didn't get it. In fact, he gets the opposite. These people are at cross purposes and there's a bit of a double meaning there, right? There's some cross purposes. Jesus is saying, I'm going to the cross. And they're saying, let's have a discussion now about which of us is the greatest. I mean, what a mess up. This is the moment when he needs them. And they're really thinking about themselves totally at cross purposes. And they're really thinking about themselves totally at cross purposes. And they're really thinking about themselves totally at cross purposes. And they're really thinking about themselves here. And I mean, that's poor friendship. This is called that. It's just poor friendship. And this lack of awareness of the situation that they're in. The master has just told us this difficult truth. Let's take this moment now to figure out which one of us is the best out of all

[4:15] of us, okay? But that makes sense though. Because if we put that reality into this box that we want to keep away from ourselves, we're going to turn the topic to something that we love more, which is our self. And that's what we're going to do. And that's what we're going to do. And that's what we're going to do. And that's what we're going to do. And that's what we're going to do. And that's that's my favorite topic is myself. It really is. I'm not, I mean, you think I'm joking, but I, it's true, you know? So they start talking about themselves. That's what they do. This is the, this is the, there's the modern equivalent of who of us is the greatest. And it looks like this. Whose Facebook post is getting the most likes? Whose tweet is getting the most retweets? Whose Who's trending the strongest on social media? I mean, that really is like a real-time popularity contest. It's instantaneous. Of course, you can destroy your career. I tweeted last night, nothing that could get me fired. It was just about sports, you know. I don't think it'll come back to bite me. Krista said, what are you doing? It's almost like you're touching kryptonite. You're like, ah. But I did tweet, and she's like, who follows you? I'm like, nobody. But I wanted to put

[5:23] my little two cents in there, which was that, you know, BYU beat Arizona at the beginning of the year, but then BYU beat Utah last night. I was like, then Arizona's not that much worse than Utah, because we both lost to them. Or no, San Diego State, too. And then also, BYU also beat Arizona State. So BYU is amazing, and God loves the Mormons today for some reason. I have no idea why.

[5:50] And Arizona had its worst situation. Season ever. 15 losses in a row, and they lost to a team that they haven't lost to since 1932. And it's in a totally different league. It's almost like high schoolers playing.

[6:06] So that's the thing, and we're going to get to this. Who's the greatest? Not my team. God wants to chip away a little bit of our identity about what we think makes us great. But as I was saying, the modern version of who's the greatest among us is who's trending on social media right now. And so these are, this is the conversation that they're having, and these are the people that Jesus is going to trust the entire evangelization of the whole world to someday. And he probably thought, oh, God help us. But he really meant it, like only with God's help and with the Spirit's guidance are these misfits ever going to evangelize anybody. And they do, with the help of the Spirit at Pentecost. We always say that. That's when they finally get it. So as you, you know, I love the children's sermon, because it's so important. And I love the children's sermon, because it's so important. Because Victoria always steals my thunder, you know. I don't mind. It's great. And sometimes she gives me ideas. I'll admit it. So I'm like, wow, she has, you know, a good perspective on this. But how do you answer the question of who's the greatest? In case you want to know who's the greatest, he says to them all, it's to receive the weak and the lowly, and to serve others. That makes you great in the kingdom.

[7:14] To serve other people, not to lord it over people. To embrace the vulnerable in this world, the weak and the lowly, like the children. And so he models this for them himself. He's like, if you want, later, and not much later, maybe a month later after this, he's at the Last Supper with the apostles. And he's in the upper room with them. And he's like, if I ever was going to demonstrate something in the flesh for you, is that the greatest among you must serve the rest. And so he gets on his knees, and he washes their filthy feet. This is the master. Like no one, no one has ever heard of such a person. He's like, I'm going to serve the weak and the lowly, and to serve others. There's no record of any master who would touch somebody else's feet in those days, because those feet were gross. But that's what he's doing. He's like, I'm here to serve you. And that itself, washing their feet, was just a sign pointing forward to the cross. I'm going to wash your sins. I'm going to take the pain. I'm going to take the torture for you. I'm going to, my serving you is going to keep happening. In the next hours, as I am tortured to death. So Jesus is going to Jerusalem to serve. And he's telling his disciples on the way to Jerusalem, if you want to be great,

[8:33] you have to serve. You have to serve together. So Jesus is heading towards humility. And the cross purpose of the disciples is that they think they're heading to glory. And he has to pull, he has to pull them back onto course, somehow. And he finally does. Although not, it takes a while. Like I said, it's complex. And I love how scripture is so frank about this. There's not a perfect apostle in the bunch. There's not one that is like the star of the class who goes, oh, I'm always getting this, you know. They all fail. And this actually gives us hope, as humans, that we can fail and we'll make it, right? Jesus can be patient with us. So what does he do? I think this is another thing that's very wonderful, is it's like a parable in real life. He takes a child and he puts them in their midst. And it wasn't easy being a child back then. Like now, I think we really, we really value children. We, hopefully, most of us value children in our culture. We helicopter over them. We get them whatever they want. We feed them whenever they ask, that sort of thing. Back then, it was different. Children, they didn't always survive. Parents didn't, didn't always survive. They didn't always survive. They didn't always survive. They didn't

[9:50] always invest a lot of emotional energy in their children because they might lose them. They had low honor, low status. So Jesus, putting a child in their midst, says you have to, you have to welcome somebody like this. And when you welcome somebody like this, you welcome me. And when you welcome me, you welcome the Father. You have to not only serve others, but you have to embrace the lowly and the vulnerable and the helpless in this world. That is the path to greatness.

[10:24] So if you want to end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want end up being great for others, if you want to end up being great for others, if you want you will serve others. And unbeknownst to you, you will be the greatest. But it doesn't matter to you. You won't care, hopefully. And it really is like the parable of the sheep and the goats, where Jesus says, you did all these things for me. And the people said, when did we do all these things for you? And he says, when you did it to the least of these, my brethren, you did it for me. And they're like, wow, we had no idea. That's the best kind of service is when we're not even

[11:14] aware of what we're doing. So here's the hard part. There's a hard and an easy part of this teaching. And I'm going to start with the hard part so we can end with the easy because it's really good news. The hard part is if we want to be the least, if we want to serve others, we have to chip away at all the things that make us think we're great. So if I put a lot of identity in how well my football team did, I would be about this tall. And this is how tall I feel right now because they end end have the longest losing streak in all of college football, right? They broke a record. I guess they're best at something. They're best at losing. Hooray. But we have to chip away at all the things that make us, that we think make us great, whether it's our education or our wealth or our Bible knowledge. I mean, it's funny how even virtues in the church can be used to puff people up. Oh, I know a lot about the Bible. I have some wisdom to dispense. Careful. Or our life experiences.

[12:19] But really it's to come with no honor and no status and not aspiring to any greatness or keeping track of how we are trending, right? And this is the great and difficult challenge of taking up the cross and following Jesus. It's to give up on ourselves.

[12:40] Sandy Patty, some of you may know Sandy Patty. She's a pastor. She's a pastor. She's a pastor. You may know who that is. She was on the 700 Club. She was a Christian recording artist. And at one point she had just been, a lot of life things had kind of converged all at once. She had a hard time. She went, she realized she needed to check into a mental hospital. So she went to the mental hospital and this very smart doctor sat her down and said, let's figure out, you know, how we can help you. And he said, who are you? And she said, I'm Sandy Patty. I'm on the 700 Club. I'm on the 700 Club. I'm on the 700 Club. I'm on the I'm a recording artist. He says, who are you? She said, I'm Sandy Patty. I'm pretty famous. I'm a pretty big deal. Finally, he says, yes, but who are you? And she says, I have no idea.

[13:32] He says, now we can get somewhere. Now we can make some progress on this. And that's what helped her when she finally said, I'm not all those things. I'm not how talented I am. I'm not how famous I am. I'm broken. If I came to a place where they help broken people, I can't put on airs. It won't work. It won't work. It's a difficult and great challenge to take up the cross of Jesus and allow all the things that we think make us great to not matter. That's the hard part. Now, I said it's easy, too. So what's the easy part about this? There's an easy part about this, too, okay? And the great and easy part about this is that there's a lot of people who are about it is that we can stop keeping track. Do you know how much energy we spend on keeping track of our own stock? I'm not talking about the stock market. I'm talking about our stock, our trending. We don't have to put on airs. We don't have to make sure everyone hears us when we say something smart. We could say something smart to the wind and it won't matter if anyone hears it. Do you know what I mean? We don't have to make sure that everybody sees us when we do something virtuous. Can you imagine somebody just saying, I'm not a great person. I'm not a great

[14:41] person. I'm not great. I'm not great. I'm not great. I'm not great. I'm not great. I'm not great. I'm not great. I'm great. I'm not great. I'm when nobody is listening. God sees, God hears. His approval is the only thing that matters. You don't do these things to look good. And you let go of worrying about what other people think about you. There is great freedom in this. I'm not saying it's easy to get to that point, but once you've committed to it, you'll have a lot more time to actually serve people because you're not stuck on yourself. So here's what, I'll just tell you what makes it easy for me. Because I've thought this through. And I'm not saying I've arrived, but I've thought this through. I am certain that there is someone, and actually many, many, many someones. I'm certain that there are many someones who are better looking than me. It's okay. You don't have to, don't disagree so fast. It's okay. There's a lot of people who are better looking than me. There are a lot of people that are more intelligent than me. There are a lot, a lot of people, especially here in Silicon Valley, that are wealthier than me. There are better preachers than me, by far. There are better fathers and husbands than me, but none to my children. So

[16:26] that's good in this world. I do not come in first in any of these categories. And partly, and it's not false humility. This is just math. I mean, just simple math. There's just too many people in the world. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't if the world had five people in it, maybe we could try to figure some of this out. But there's like over 7 billion people in this world. This is guaranteed that I'm surpassed in every category by innumerable people. It's just statistics and experience. In none of these am I the greatest.

[16:59] And what a relief that is. Because I don't have to try to be the greatest. I don't have to imagine that I'm the greatest or expect other people to acknowledge that I'm the greatest. and keep track of them acknowledging it or not acknowledging it. So I'm only going to say this about myself because each of you is probably the most intelligent and good-looking person in the world. You know, that's up to you to figure out. I'm not asking you to come to my own realization about it. You may know more about it than I do. But there's more than one of you in this room, so it's a little awkward as to who is the smartest and best-looking in this world. So the best idea, I think, is to really backtrack from that and go, well, clearly there are people that are better than me in all these things. It's easier.

[17:40] You know, I think this is what Jesus means, and it's always a bit of a challenge to read this one in Matthew 11.30. He says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light, which isn't true because his yoke is going to the cross, and that's not easy or light. But this part of it is easy. When you take on the yoke of Christ, when you follow him and you become a servant to others, you can let go. You can let go of keeping track of how great you are.

[18:12] And that's easy. So his yoke is easy in that respect. It's easy because I don't have to worry about all that rank ordering of me versus other people. I don't need to do it anymore. So when we take up the cross, when we stop being afraid of the cross, which is hard because it means the loss of all our greatness measurements, then we're free to be a... This is what frees us up now to be a true friend to Jesus, to be a true friend to Jesus. Unlike the disciples were that day. And to welcome God, this is when we can actually enter into the suffering of Jesus in an incarnational way. And then we can enter into the suffering of other people. How hard is it to enter the suffering of other people if we're so worried about our own perceived greatness? It's impossible. We're going to be doing that so other people can see it and praise us for it. But to think lowly of yourself, to be the servant of others, is what frees you to be a friend to other people, vulnerable people, broken people, people in need of the gospel.

[19:19] And I think, speaking of this little child that was in his midst, if we could become more childlike in the best possible way, which is that the world is full of wonder and possibility and the only thing we have to do really is stay connected with the Father and go where he goes.

[19:37] And that's what we're going to do. When I walk with my children, we choose a path. Sometimes, sometimes they choose. But sometimes, I just start walking and they follow me wherever I go. This is just how children are, right? Depends on how old they are. They're less interested in how we're getting to a place and more interested in staying near me and being with me. That's that childlikeness that Jesus needed with his disciples. They just needed to be near him, stay near him, go with him to this difficult place and not act like it wasn't going to happen.

[20:16] So I want to conclude. The cross brings these cross purposes out. Jesus is going to the cross. The disciples are going to glory. But the cross provides us with a choice. This is the choice that lies before you today. Do we change the subject from the cross to the cross? To our own greatness? I mean, really, that is the choice that's right in front. It's just, it's so, it's so true still. Like this was the choice in front of the disciples and this is the choice in front of us now. Jesus is saying to you, you need to go to the cross with me. You need to walk to Jerusalem with me. This is going to be some tough times ahead. And we say, well, let's talk about me. I mean, that's the temptation. That's the choice in front of us. Do we do that or do we embrace the vulnerability? And the servanthood as a way of welcoming the Father into our lives. And that choice is before us. It's not just today. It's every day, every decision, every action that we make.

[21:18] And I think the question is, are we ready to let go of greatness and take on the yoke of servanthood? And that's the challenge for today. Let's pray. Father, thank you again for your word. Thank you for Jesus and his words to us. Lord, break us. Change us.

[21:38] Make us servants to others. Help us to crucify our own greatness and be reborn as servants to other people. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.