0:01 Good afternoon, church family. Great to be with you all in person and online. If you would turn with me to Matthew chapter 20. We're starting from there with a parable that Jesus tells over here. And I'll just read through some of these 0:16 verses. I'm not going to read through the whole parable. Um it's probably familiar to many of you. Jesus says in Matthew 20, uh the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 0:30 When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. And then the parable goes on to say he went in the third hour and he recruited some others. And then in the sixth hour and the ninth 0:42 hour, he recruited ones who were idle and brought them in. And finally, in verse six, it says he went in the 11th hour and he found some others standing around and he said, "Why have you been standing around?" "No one hired us," they said. And he said to 0:54 them, "Come into the vineyard, too." And verse eight, when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Call the laborers and pay them their wages." And when those hired about the 11th hour came, verse nine, each one received a 1:07 denarius as was agreed upon. When those hired first at the beginning of the day came, they thought that they would receive more, even though they were hired for denarius. But each of them received just a denarius. And here's the part I want to 1:22 highlight. When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner saying, "These last men have worked only 1 hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and scorching heat of the day." Let's stop there. 1:40 It's a dangerous thing. Many of us have come to the Lord for a while and been walking with the Lord, but we've lost sight of the fact that he was the one who hired us. He was the one who gave us the opportunity. And we've gotten to a point where we're 1:56 now comparing ourselves. And we're looking at two things. We're looking at the scorching heat and the burden as opposed to our father who hired us. We're paying attention to the trial, the the it's become about our accomplishment. 2:13 And the second thing we're looking at is comparing ourselves to others like we heard a couple weeks ago. These are what are going to stagnate our growth as we just heard earlier today what it means to grow. Part of being 2:23 meaning growth, part of growth is constantly abiding in the vine, depending on the Father. Looking at the scorching heat and the burden, comparing ourselves with others is going to stagnate our growth. And this is the same thing we see in the story of the 2:39 prodigal son. The prodigal son comes home and the older son says, "Hey, where's my celebration? I have not neglected a command for you of yours. I've served you all these years." He's measuring himself by how much he served, how much he's been on 2:53 the out in the field in the scorching heat and with the burdens. And he's saying, "I deserve something." Is the gospel message unfair? Yes, it is absolutely unfair, but it's not unfair in the way you think it is. Here's how it is unfair. 3:11 Think of the denarius as the life of Jesus that is what we get as a gift. We don't deserve it. It's not that the 11th hour got something they deserved or the first hour got something they didn't deserve. None of them deserved it. 3:25 None of them deserved it. God in his great mercy has given us the privilege to be called his children. This is what the father said to the older brother at the end of the parable. He says, "All you have is mine. You get to be with me. That's the 3:42 reward. You get to be with me. It doesn't matter which hour you came, how long you've been working, scorching scorching sun, burden, doesn't matter. You're with me. That's the reward." And that's the message of the Lord 3:56 today. That's the unfair gospel that we of all people, we who were sinners, while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. Absolutely unfair. What must be our response as servants? Jesus says in Luke 17:10, we don't need 4:11 to turn there, but Luke 17:10, Jesus says, "This is the appropriate response of a slave, of a servant. This should have been the response of these servants who were hired. So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, "We are 4:26 unworthy servants. We have only done what we ought to have done." That must be the response. We are unworthy servants. I am privileged to be called into this kingdom, to be called a son of God. What that's un- unthinkable that I should be 4:44 considered from the sins that I've committed in the past that the Lord would die for me, invite me into his kingdom, call me a son, call me a younger brother to Jesus Christ. That is the most unfair thing. That's the most unfair gift that I could 5:01 receive. It does not matter when he recruited me and who he most recently recruited. And the way I can grow in this area is by never losing sight on the price he paid, by meditating on the cross of Christ. The person who's 5:19 lost sight of Jesus and the price he paid on the cross and the love that Jesus had for us is the person who starts comparing himself to another. Is the person who starts judging another. Start look- looking at specs in the 5:33 other person's eye. Starts having an accusatory uh spirit towards another. Starts looking at the scorching sun and the burdens of their trials rather than saying, "Lord, you died for me. You invited me to be a son of the most the of the most high." 5:52 And I want to remind us today to meditate on Jesus' love for us, what Jesus did for us. I'm reminded of what Jesus did what the love of Jesus in many ways, the fact that he could like we've heard many times in Philippians 2, he gave up 6:06 equality with the Father to come down, be born in a stable, to live a life of serving his disciples. I'm reminded of the love of Jesus when he had a loving look to Peter when he 6:22 rebuked him and said, "When you when you deny me, turn and strengthen your brothers." It says Jesus looked at Peter when he saw him deny him and that was a look of love. I'm reminded of the love of Jesus when he looked at the rich young ruler 6:37 and rebuked him and said, "This is a person who loved money, who was a proud rich man." And says he had a and it says Jesus said he had a look of love for him. It says, "Come follow me. Give up your love for money." Do you know that Jesus had a love for 6:50 the Pharisees? It says that he wept over them. He says, "How I wish," right after he says, "Woe to you, whitewashed tombs." He says that the in Matthew 23, he says, "How I wish I could gather you like a hen gathers its chicks." This is the love of a heavenly 7:06 Father. And most of all, I see the love of Jesus in the fact that he laid down his life for me. And that laying down of life was before he even died. He laid down his life for his disciples. I see him it says in John chapter 13 7:19 that loving his disciples, loving them until the end is why he girded himself to wash their feet because of his immense love for him. And that continued all the way into the cross where he said, "I'm going to lay down my life for you." 7:33 And this is our example. This is what I want to always have in mind, the love that Jesus had for me is the only thing I want to meditate on and from that love, I can learn to love others. We've often heard John 3:16 as the 7:46 gospel. How many know the complete gospel is probably more 1 John 3:16. How many of you know that verse? 1 John 3:16. 1 John 3:16 says, "We know love by this that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for 8:06 the brethren." This is the complete gospel. He has Jesus has laid down his life for me, but that's not good enough. That love must inspire me now to lay down my life for my wife, for my children, for each of you here, brothers and 8:22 sisters in the church, for spouses here to lay down their lives for each other, for children to lay down their lives for parents, for parents to lay down their lives for children, and brothers and sisters to lay down their 8:31 lives for each other. And this is what this is the love that Jesus came to show us. Jesus said in I think it's in later in in John 13, he says, "A new commandment I give to you that you love one an- the old commandment said, 8:49 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' This is the whole law. Love the Lord with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself." This was Jesus said this was the whole law. That's from Leviticus 19, I believe. But Jesus said in John 13, 9:01 "I have a new commandment for you that you love each other as I have loved you." It's no longer sufficient to love my neighbor as myself. I must love my neighbor as Christ has loved me. And so that inspires me to look at how 9:14 Christ has loved me and how I can love others the way Christ has loved me. The perfect illustration of that is used in Ephesians chapter 5. You can turn that to Ephesians chapter 5. This is talking in the context of >> [clears throat] 9:30 >> husbands and wives, but really it can apply to any of us as brothers and sisters. Certainly it must apply to us as husbands and the way we treat our wives. But I want you to pay attention to how it talks about Christ loving the 9:45 church in this passage. Ephesians chapter 5:25 says, "Husbands, love your wife just as Christ also loved the church." How did Christ love the church? How did Christ love us? By giving himself up for the church. And why did he give himself? Do you know 10:02 that Christ had a special love? It says John 3:16 says he had a love for the world. But it says here that he had a special love for the church. A love that involved giving himself up for the church. A lifestyle of giving 10:17 himself up every single day as he started his ministry in the home and then from the age of 30 to 33 with his disciples and the cross was just a culmination of that. That was for the church. What was his special love for 10:31 the church? What was it for? Verse 26, so that he might sanctify her. The Lord has a desire not just for the world to come to salvation, but for everybody in the world to be part of a church that is now being sanctified. 10:45 That is being cleansed by the word of God, by the washing of the water with the word. Verse 27 that he might present to himself the church in all her glory without spot or wrinkle. This is the way that Christ loved the church. 11:00 To sanctify us. And this is this is where I can get my example of how I can love my wife, how I can love my children, how I can love you brothers and sisters is to say, "Lord, I want to lay down my life not by pointing out specs, but by laying 11:14 down my life to sanctify. By showing you being an example through my own life, by interceding [snorts] for you, by sharing in your weakness, not being a speck hunter, but being one who shares in the suffering of your speck. A one that is a a 11:32 companion to your weakness. That where your weakness becomes my weakness. The sin you're struggling with becomes the sin I'm struggling with. That is the picture of the the Lord laying down his life for the church, taking on the sins of others. 11:48 And later in this passage it says for no one ever verse verse 29 for no one ever ate his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ also does the church. Do you know that even to this day the Lord is nourishing and cherishing his church. I 12:06 love those two words, nourishing and cherishing. Nourishing his church through the word and cherishing it with his love. What a great motto to have as uh members of a family that my that my ministry at home is to nourish and to 12:21 cherish. To nourish and to cherish. Children, what is your ministry to your parents? It's not just parents to children, children to parents. It's to nourish and to cherish, to build them up. This was Christ's ministry. It says in 12:35 Hebrews 7 that Christ lives to make intercession for us. His work is not done just because he died and uh rose again and went to heaven. It says he lives today to make intercession for us. He lives today to nourish and cherish me 12:49 even today and that's my example. As it says because we are members of his body verse 30 verse 31 says, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh." 13:01 This mystery is great. When I read this verse I always thought it was talking about husband and wife as quoted from the Old Testament, but in this context Paul says in verse 32, "It's not. This mystery is great. I'm not talking about 13:13 husband and wife. I'm speaking with reference to Christ and his church." Or as it says in the Living Bible it says, "I know this is hard to understand." Verse 32 says in the Living Bible, "But it is an illustration of the 13:26 way we are part of the body of Christ." This is a picture of Christ united with us brothers and sisters united with us as a as an individual family unit, us as a church, as one flesh. By laying down our lives, by by him 13:44 laying down his life for us and teaching us how to lay down our lives for each other. This is the picture. Every day I want to wake up with an attitude of "Lord, help me lay down my life for my wife first, for my children 13:58 first, and then for a brother or sister. Let me lay down my life. Let me find a way to intercede for them, to serve them, to practice hospitality, to be devoted in prayer, to be to give them preference and honor. That's what I want to do." 14:12 And Jesus had this all his life. There's a verse in Luke chapter 12 which says you don't have to turn there. Luke 12 verse 50 says, "Jesus said, I have a baptism to undergo and I'm distressed until it is accomplished." So Jesus' entire life 14:29 and especially as it got closer towards his crucifixion, he had this in his mind that he had me, he had Sunil to die for and he was distressed until he could lay down his life for me. What an attitude. It says, "I have the 14:45 death for the salvation of Sunil, for the salvation of each of these brothers and sisters in NCCF. I have this on my mind and I'm distressed until I accomplish it." That's my example. Can I wake up tomorrow and say "Lord, 15:02 we're distressed about many things. We're distressed about things in in the workplace, distressed about our job, distressed about our relationship, distressed about uh relationships with uh relatives, with our spouse, with our 15:14 children, distressed about our financial situation, our health situation." The Lord said the Lord had only one thing he was distressed about and it was not those things. He was distressed until he lay down his life for me. 15:28 This is a good example for us to say, "Lord, tomorrow forget the other distresses. You will take care of that. I'm going to make that your problem, but I want to be distressed until I lay down my life for my family, for my brothers and sisters." That's an 15:45 attitude of what it means to lay down our lives for the church. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 12 as well. To the Corinthians he says "How happily I would be spent or expended." This is the same chapter where he says "I will boast in my weakness. His power 15:59 is perfected in weakness." You know that verse, right? 2 Corinthians 12:9. What is the purpose of the Lord's power being perfected in our weakness? It's not just for his power to show up in our personal life. A few verses later he says that 16:11 power is perfected in my weakness so that I may be spent and expended for you. I will joyfully be spent and expended for you." This is the example of the love that Paul had for the Corinthians whom he rebuked so strongly, but he 16:23 loved them so immensely that he said, "I will gladly be spent and expended for you." This is the attitude. Romans 13:8 says or before we turn there. We know this verse. It's on our it's on our it's on our offering box. "Owe no man anything." 16:41 Do you believe the Lord wants us to carry debt? Yes, there is a command in the scripture that we should carry debt. But it is not the debt that you think. Romans 13:8 We always talk about the first part of this verse which says, 16:57 "Owe no man anything." But have a debt of love to one another. We talk about not giving if we are carrying debt. Yes, important command. But if we obey the other half of the command which says, "Lord, I want to wake up every day with an obligate with 17:16 a debt. Not a financial debt, a debt that I must love. I have so much love to repay. Based on what you've done for me, I have love to repay. And the way I'm going to repay that to you is by paying it forward to my family, 17:33 to the brothers and sisters in the church, by continuing to lay down my life for them. And this Imagine if we have homes like this. Imagine if we have homes We have We often have this conversation in our home about who the king and the queen in the 17:46 home are. And I've challenged my kids to say, "The king and the queen are not your dad and your mom because they're actually serving a lot in the home. Mom especially. She's far from a queen because she's busy cooking. She's doing 18:01 a lot of work in the home to clean up. She's not She's definitely not queen. The king and the queen is often the children cuz they're being served." Imagine if we can have homes full of unworthy servants like Luke 17:10 says. We're just doing all that's 18:16 commanded of us. We don't deserve anything. A home that is filled with unworthy servants where Christ is king. No kings and queens except for Jesus Christ being king in the home. What a beautiful home each of us can have as families where 18:35 we're all unworthy servants. And I don't mean this for the young children who are still growing up. They're they obviously need to be catered to, but as you grow into towards your preteen and teenage years, this is important for us children 18:45 to understand. Be a servant in your home. Don't be a king or a queen. Let Christ be the only king. Imagine we can bring that same fragrance and that same attitude to the church where we're saying, "I'm not going to be a king or queen here. I'm not going to 18:58 be a one that's sitting here entitled. I'm not going to be one that lords it over others, orders people around. I want Christ to be king and I want to be an unworthy servant in NC NCCF." This is what we If you go back to what we talked about 19:13 last week, Jeremy shared from >> [clears throat] >> 1 Corinthians 12 which talks about the appointed Verse 27 and 28 is what he shared. The appointed order of the New Covenant Church with apostles, teachers, prophets. You have 19:33 and we also read from Ephesians 4 about the prop the proper functioning of individual parts, the joints that supply to the needs of others. This in a way if you think of it as a quick biology lesson of the body is a picture of 19:49 the skeletal system and the central nervous system. Joints, bones connected to each other, connected to the head through the nervous system. That is a great foundation. But we mustn't stop there. And the proof of it is at the end of 1 Corinthians 12, 20:03 a couple verses later, after this very passage where it says this is the foundation of the new covenant church model. The apostolic ministry, teachers, prophets, the various giftings. It says, "Seek greater gifts." And then Paul at the end of this at the 20:18 end of 1 Corinthians 12 says, "And I will show you a more excellent way." Last words of 1 Corinthians 12. Says, "I will show you a more excellent way." And what is that more excellent way? Flows into 1 Corinthians 13. We know 20:32 what 1 Corinthians 13 is. It's love. It's love for the brethren. Love that does that bears all things, endures all things, hopes all things, believes in the best of all of of the one that we love. This I like to think of love. If we think of 20:50 but what we heard last week as the skeletal system and the um neurological system, the central nervous system. I like to think of love as a circulatory system, as the blood flow that connects us together. Blood that's passing through every 21:07 single member of the body. Every single organ of the body. Every single member of ACTCF. The blood flowing through. And the beautiful thing why I like the example of blood is blood is there to when there's an infection, blood is there to fight it, 21:23 violently fight it. Send white blood cells to fight it. To rebuke it, to get rid of it. Not to get rid of the organ or the the part, but to get rid of the sin that's plaguing the organ. To fight it. And then blood is part of the 21:39 restoration process, part of the healing. This is the picture of love that we have. Turn with me to Luke chapter 10. I want to show you the example of the story from the Good Samaritan. >> [clears throat and snorts] >> And I was reading this passage 21:55 uh last night and the Lord spoke to me in a different way uh with a a revelation on how I should how I think about the Good Samaritan. Uh we know this we we know the story, so I'll just focus in on a couple of verses. Uh man was traveling uh verse 30, he was 22:14 traveling going down to Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers. This is a picture of sin attacking this man. All of us have been here. All of us have been if we remember what the Lord has redeemed us from or even redeeming us 22:27 today from. We've all been attacked by the devil with our flesh conspiring together with with with Satan. And this the sin is a picture of these robbers that are beating up this man on the road. But a Samaritan, it says in verse 33, we 22:47 know the priest and Levite walked by. Verse 33 it says a Samaritan who was on his journey came upon him. And the Lord spoke to me, the first example of the Good Samaritan was Jesus himself. Jesus, the unpopular Jesus. It 22:57 wasn't me being a help to somebody else. Jesus was the first Good Samaritan to me. He came to me and he helped me on the side of the road when I was beat up by sin. And he bandaged up my wounds. And he poured oil and wine on me. Filled 23:10 me with his Holy Spirit, so to speak. In verse 35, it says he he took he Oh, verse 34 says he put me on his beast and brought him brought me to an inn and to take care of me. That's the picture I like to have of Jesus being the first Good Samaritan. 23:28 And on the next day he came he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, "Take care of him." And this is the picture I have of the Lord saying to me or for all of us parents as well, "You were once a Good 23:38 Samaritan, but now you're the innkeeper." And this innkeeper is an interesting word. Back in the biblical times, they didn't have the contact concept of hospitals, but really what this means is a host. It was a ward for recovery, so to speak. 23:52 That's where the word hospita- hospital comes from the word hospitality. It's the same root word. And this was a picture of this person being a source of recovery for the one who is suffering. And I believe that's what the Lord's 24:10 message for us today is to say, "If if I have taken you from being beat up on the side of the road, guess what? Now I have a ministry for you to be a host. For you to be this innkeeper who is going to be who I'm going to 24:24 entrust to take continue >> [clears throat] >> taking care of to be to continue being the medical treatment, the medical ward for the one that is in need, for the one that is suffering." And that's what Jesus' message to me is 24:37 as a father, as an elder, "Take care of them. And whatever more you spend, when I return, I will repay you." This person doesn't need to repay you. The Lord will repay me. And so I have a desire as we learn to love Jesus the way he loved us, may we have a 24:56 desire, each of us, as we were rescued from the side of the road, to become to graduate from that to say, "Lord, I don't want to ever be the one that's being rescued from the side of the road. I want to graduate to the one 25:07 that is now taking care of the one that is in need. Never forgetting how you rescued me." That's our example. How do we practically apply this? There's a beautiful passage in Romans 12 which talks about how the church should 25:24 operate as in love for each other. Romans chapter 12, verse 9 to 13. Let love This was one of our memory verses earlier this uh year or let love or maybe last year. Let love be without hypocrisy. Romans 12:9. There is a love that is hypocritical. 25:41 There's a love that is in words but doesn't show itself up indeed. That's what love with hypocrisy looks like. You may not realize it. You might say like, "Hey, I'm not a hypocrite." But if you're loving without backing it 25:53 up with the the Christ-like love that glaze down your life for your brothers and sisters or for your spouse, then it's hypocritical love. It's it's hollow love. Verse 10. What is the love without hypocrisy? Be devoted to one another in 26:08 brotherly love. Give preference to one another in honor. Not lagging behind in diligence. Fervent in spirit. Rejoicing in hope. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Persevering tribulation. Devoted to 26:21 prayer for our brothers and sisters. Contributing to the practical needs of the saints and this is practicing hospitality. There's that word again. Hospitality. Don't think of hospitality as just hosting people in your home. 26:32 Think of hospitality as being a spiritual hospital to your brothers and sisters. Being a spiritual hospital. A spiritual nurse or doctor to your wife, to your children, to your brothers and sisters who may be suffering. 26:46 This is the practical way that we can show our love. I'll end with this one passage in 2 Peter chapter 1. If you can turn there with me. Do you know it's possible for us to be useless and unfruitful Christians? Going 27:04 back to the first parable that we talked about. 2 Peter chapter 1. What does it mean to be a use- useless or unfruit- or unfruitful Christian? One who's not bearing fruit. I'll start in verse 8. It says, "For if these qualities, 2 Peter 1:8 says, 27:26 "If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful." So if I don't have the qualities, which I'll talk about in a second, then I'm useless and unfruitful in the church and in my home. 27:42 Verse 9. "For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins." And what are the qualities it talks about? Talks about from verse 4. "He has granted us his precious and magnificent 27:54 promises that we may be partakers of his divine nature. And for this very reason, we apply all diligence. In your faith, supply moral excellence." I like to think of this as a progression. Think of this as like going through high school. Freshman year, 28:10 you're doing your focusing on diligence. Sophomore year, moral excellence. Then you go on to knowledge. From knowledge to self-control. From self-control, verse 6, to perseverance. And in your perseverance, godliness. And now you're getting close to the PhD 28:26 level. From your godliness, you get to brotherly kindness. And finally, you want to achieve a PhD in the Christian life. And in your brotherly kindness, love. These are the qualities. This is what growth means as we think about the illustration that we 28:40 heard about. Are we growing? Are we staying stagnant? Am I getting to a point where I am growing in love? Not human love, but the way the new commandment of love. The love that models itself after the way Jesus loved me. 28:56 And it says the one who has forgotten this, who lacks these qualities is blind, short-sighted. He's forgotten the purification of his former sins. Like those ones who were recruited in the third in in the first hour. They had forgotten 29:13 how much they had been forgiven and the fact that they were even recruited. Like the older son in the prodigal son, forgiven that he was once a prodigal son and was forgiven. May we never for- forget how much the Lord has forgiven us. Jesus said to the 29:28 in Luke chapter 7, I believe it it says he spoke to the woman who was anointing his feet with fragrance and with her tears while he was in the Pharisee's house, he said, "She loves much because she is forgiven much." The more we meditate on how much we've 29:43 been forgiven, the more we will love the Lord. And I'm not just talking about forgiveness from 20 years ago. Yes, let's The Lord has reminded me many times of how much he's forgiven me from the times before I was a Christian 29:56 or before I was a serious Christian or a new covenant Christian. But then the Lord has also shown me how much he has forgiven me today. How is Paul able to say at the end of his life, "I'm the chief of all sinners?" Because he realizes, as we meditate, 30:11 this is the path we we heard this last week as well as well. The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn progressing all the way to the noonday sun. Which means as far short as I am from the noonday sun, let's say I'm at 8:00 30:26 a.m. right now and I still got to go to the noonday sun. As much even if I'm not even aware of it, the Lord is forgiving me of things that I'm discovering tomorrow that he's going to convict me of tomorrow and day after. 30:38 And this is the humble one realizes that the Lord is constantly forgiving him. He may not even realize it. And so I want to grow not just in in these qualities, but I want to grow in the knowledge of how much the Lord is 30:53 forgiving me every day whether I know it or not. This is the one who is fruitful. This is the one who can be useful. So I pray that the Lord will continue to grow us as a church, not just ones that have the right appointed order, not just ones that have 31:12 the right skeletal system and nervous system, but the circulatory system, the blood flow of love that is modeled after how Christ laid down his life for us. That is modeled after Jesus being distressed until he could lay down 31:30 his life. I pray that we would be ones that would grow in being distressed until we lay down our lives for our spouses, for our children, children who are distressed until they found an opportunity to serve in the home. 31:45 Brothers and sisters who are eager to be expended and to be spent, eager to wake up with a debt of love every day for the brothers and sisters in the church. Amen.
