Embracing the Transformative Power of Christ's Kingdom

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Father, as we start this gospel, this good news, we are reminded of the life that we find in the good news of Christ. And we need the Holy Spirit to cause us to believe, to cling to, and to live in light of this good news. And so we ask your spirit to open our minds to understanding, even understanding that is upside down from how we typically think of things or align our lives, a kingdom that is not organized around those who are strongest or the wealthiest or those who seem to have it all together, but one that is for those who are needy. [00:32:26] (43 seconds)


And so help us to understand that, Lord. Help us to embrace an upside down. Kind of living where the first shall be last, help us to remember that Lord, and not just cling to it in a distance, but in how we live everyday life, may your spirit help us to understand that and shape us so that we would be good news. People, we need that Lord, and this is what the city needs. And this is what the world needs is your good news. [00:33:10] (34 seconds)


That's a promise that God makes to those who believe that he is someone who has a light yoke, who can bear the burdens that we carry, who come to him and lay those down at him and take on his yoke in our life, that he promises to give rest to those who come to him. That's a promise that many of us are wanting to be in, isn't it? That many of us lack rest, not just physical rest, a true sense that things are being taken care of, that a rest that kind of empowers human responsibility and yet at the same time has the freedom to lay down at night, close our eyes, and trust that God keeps us safe. [00:45:11] (49 seconds)


Jesus is a savior who mends this gap between us and God, who makes us relationship, who is emotionally, legally, eternally right with our creator by his work. This is a king who is a savior. That is who Jesus is. That's some of the sounds, that's some of the themes we will see throughout this gospel. You'll see threaded throughout all the gospels. You also see this theme in the gospel of Matthew that is also very similar sounding and resonates out from the other gospels, that there's an invitation, an invitation by this king. [01:03:05] (40 seconds)


Not only do we see the identity of Jesus ringing out in this gospel, we see the invitation of Jesus ringing out. Look at the end, and you'll see the various kinds of receptions Jesus has in the end of Matthew's gospel, 28 verses 16 to 17. Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Throughout the gospels, and John in his gospel makes this very explicit why he's writing it, that he wants those who read this to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. [01:03:44] (42 seconds)


He just shows up on your feed. I don't know if you've ever used Instagram recently, but I hate the algorithm. If you go into the search thing, it already is listening to you and it'll just pump you a bunch of stuff to sell you things. Right now, if I say tennis, all of you are going to start getting tennis ads. It's just going to listen to me talk and my phone will eventually start sending me a bunch of tennis advertisements, influencers who influence tennis, whatever else is there. When you see someone you want to get more information about or follow their posts so you find them interesting, you can click follow. And that's, I think, how many of us think a relationship with Jesus feels like. You follow him by following him on Instagram. And so when his posts show up, you like him. [01:08:24] (46 seconds)


Maybe you'll comment a little bit here and there. You'll say, oh, I got to engage a little bit. I'll say, yeah, that's a great statement, Jesus. You'll comment. You'll follow him. Maybe even put him in, I don't know how you do it, but like you can make him pop up, like all his posts will give you notifications. So you always see all his posts. You come out in his video updates. But the people you follow on social media, you don't really know them. You don't really know what they're like outside of the times that they post. Very unlikely that you even live like them as much as you even want to do the things that they're doing or not. Jesus is not a social media influencer. [01:09:49] (40 seconds)


And following him isn't like following those we follow on social media. This invitation to follow him is more like old world apprenticeship. You know how old world apprenticeships worked? When a master took on an apprentice, this new apprentice would come and live often with that master. You would eat with them. You would learn the rhythm, of their life when they woke up and when they went to bed. You would do what they do and not do what they did not do. You would work, sleep around each other. You would share life together. You would glean as much as you can by being around them so that you would begin to not just understand their teaching, you would begin to embody their teaching in the very rhythms of your life. By following them, by living with them, you would become like them. [01:10:00] (57 seconds)


By following Jesus as an apprentice, you would love what he loves. You would hate what he hates. You would struggle in your life to align the things of your life, your schedule, your resources, your rhythms, all to be like Jesus. Choosing to follow Jesus is not just clicking follow on a social media influencer and liking posts here and there. Coming in and out of his life when you turn on the app. It is choosing a lifelong struggle to make him first in your life, to make what he loves your loves, make what he hates the things that you hate. Fellow Christians, I think this is the struggle, isn't it? [01:10:45] (42 seconds)


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