Confronting Religion Pt 4: Exposing the Heart

ministry. It says in Hebrews 10 verse 24 and 25, and let us consider how to simulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking or, uh, our own assembly together, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. We thought it was near in 1999. Can you imagine how much nearer it is in 2022? So there is one catch. You have homework right now. We're doing Colossians. And wouldn't you know, God's so good. We started

back in 1999 in Colossians. So, um, we've already started this lessons, these, these, this session. Um, but it's not too late to sign up. So if you're interested, it's a blessing. We've seen a lot of prayer answered in this group and what is shared in that group stays in that group. So pray about it. Thank you.

Very good. And they are Monday evenings at seven o'clock and then Thursdays at one o'clock. True. Did I do that correctly? Okay. Okay. Very good. Uh, next I would like to have Robbie Nichols come. I can't always call him that, but this time I feel like it's the right thing to do. Robbie Nichols, come on up and share about. Men's study. You can come on over here to the right. Yeah. My right, your left. It's okay.

He's used to me being sighted and not knowing what I'm talking about. Yes. Come on. Okay. Good morning. Uh, I lead the Monday night men's Bible study and we meet at seven and, uh, our, our Bible study is, you know, Ryan, every Sunday and Wednesday night, he does one that, he does a study that involves just monologue, right? And we, we are involved with dialogue in

our study. As, as I lead it, we, as we read through the scripture, we encourage those that come to, to begin to, you know, read the section a little bit and try to do some looking. And then there are different ones that, you know, we'll have their commentaries. And so we study together. I lead it and I, I give information as I, as I've studied it, but we also have,

we have questions and answers and it's kind of round table. So, you know, it's, some people might not be comfortable with that, but we feel like the dialogue, there's, there's a great deal of learning that takes place in that kind of a setting. It's, it's almost, it's kind of like a home fellowship in a sense and the men, and that's our men's study. So we're currently in, um, the book of Philippians and we've just gotten started. We're, we're ready for verse 27 in chapter one.

And we'll probably, again, to dip into chapter two tomorrow evening. But, um, our plan right now is we're going through the prison epistles. And, uh, so you're any of you fellows that, um, want to come, you're sure welcome. God bless. Thank you very much. Okay. And then on Tuesday nights, um, we'll start with Alan Brooke. Is he, Oh, there he is. Okay. I was like, he's not in the sound booth. He must be

coming this direction. Alan leads a Tuesday night home fellowship. He's a member of the church. So I'll have him come up and share about that. Good morning. Hey, um, we have a study that is more of a go through the Bible kind of a study. Um, we've started this, if you will, when it comes to who can come, it started out as a high school study that grew into a college study

that grew into a, an older people's study. Older than college. Um, so pretty much we, as far as we want anybody who feels led the study right now, we're in second Kings and we do about a chapter, about a chapter a week. I'm not really fast through that. And, um, and it's more of a dialogue study is Robbie had shared. It's, you know, we read through the word. We, um, talk about it. We share what the Lord has laid on our hearts

about that section. Um, we try to, I'm not saying there's homework, but it's like read that chapter during the week and just see how the Lord, um, speaks to you about that. And then we just come together and share. And it's a wonderful time of fellowship. And right now it's, and it has been there for a number of years over at Dan and Marge Brooks. Um, they're up on Malwood court next to the Methodist church. Um, but we would love to have you. And,

uh, I think that's the study. Thank you, sir. Okay. And then next I'd like to invite Brian Davis to come up. Uh, Brian's going to be starting one of the new, uh, home fellowships. So we'll have him come share about that. Morning. Hi, Lewis. Thanks for that. That's good. So Julie and I are going to be starting, uh, a new group we'll be hosting at our home. We live on the, um, North side of Winfield. Um,

for those who might be living in the area, we're going to, um, meet on Tuesdays and we'll have five sessions, uh, before Christmas, uh, we think. And, um, we're not going to follow a curriculum either. I think I really want to fellowship with, uh, people. We're going, to actually be following along with Ryan on his sermons. Ryan has suggested that he might give us

a few topics to discuss, um, based on the sermon. And then we'll dig into that together and fellowship and discuss, um, uh, those passages and, um, hopefully just let the Holy spirit lead us and have some great discussion and fellowship. Anybody's welcome. And then you're meeting every other Tuesday, every other Tuesday, every other Tuesday, starting next week.

The following. Okay. You'll get me that info. We'll put it in the bulletin in the back. Perfect. He'll have that in the back. Awesome. Very good. Okay. And then I like to invite Gary Moore to come up. He also is going to be starting one of the new home fellowships. Obviously my name's Gary Moore. Those of you that have been here for a while have seen me at my best and seen me at my

worst. And by the grace of God, I stand before you this morning. Uh, Trace and I, we'll be, uh, leading one of the small Greek fellowships on Thursday nights. We are going to be in the book of first Timothy to begin with. Our study will begin, uh, October the 6th, Thursday evening at seven o'clock at, uh, Jerry and Joy Fry's house. Uh, we'll begin. I, you know, I think as Christians, we recognize that prayer and reading and study,

the word, probably the pivotal points of our lives. So we will begin the first study with prayer. We'll study prayer and what the Bible tells us about prayer. Then we'll study a little bit about the life of Paul because he wrote the epistle. Then we'll study a little bit about the life of Timothy because he's the recipient of the epistle. And then we'll get into the epistle

itself. Uh, my life, my life's verse for most of my life is second Timothy two 15. It was be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, having handling accurately the word of truth. And I think that is, has been important for me all of my life. And I think it should be a priority for each of us to be able to handle the word of God as a workman. But recently

in my life, my Lord, the Lord has also given me another scripture that has become important to me. And it's in first Corinthians six. If you'll bear with me first Corinthians six verse nine, or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators nor adulterers, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor the adulterers, nor the

Isn't sexual nor thieves nor the covetous or drunkards, nor revilers or swindlers swindlers Sheldon, hear the kingdom of God and such word. Some of you but you have been washed. But you have been sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ And in the spirit of our God I know in my life, I have let things in my life keep me from asking questions, to keep me from being open and honest, to keep me quiet, much to my detriment. And I would like our Bible study to be one of openness.

If you question the word of God, you're welcome. If you doubt your salvation, you're welcome. If you're not a Christian, you are welcome. This will be an open Bible study, no holes barred, any question, any problem, any situation, because such were some of you. So I thank you. Thursday nights. Thanks, man. Okay, now then, Tristan Rich, he leads our youth ministry,

so I have him share just a little bit about that. Our youth ministry that seems to be outgrowing the room that it's in right now, which is really fun. Thank you. Morning. So I'm Tristan Rich. My wife, Rachel Rich, over in the back, also assists. Big help. We meet on Wednesday nights from 7 to 8.30. It says in the bulletin in the cornerstone room, but we actually meet in the gape room.

We had to switch rooms due to number of kids, which has been great. We have sixth grade through senior year. We've been going through a lot of topics here recently. But the main focus is understanding why we're Christians, understanding how we're Christians, and like doing the who, what, when, where, why when you're going through verses, trying to figure out what are they saying?

What does this mean? How does it apply to me today in a Christian in the 21st century? So it's been crazy. We have like 25 to 30 kids. So if you're able to help for the crowd control, come talk to me, and we can probably get you figured out in some way, shape, or form. Another thing that we've got going on here shortly is the Great Pumpkin Chase. That is coming up on October 14th.

We have not set a time yet, but usually it's like six or seven in the evening. We also need help with that. So we need drivers and we need sitters. So if you want to help out with that, come talk to me. I can give you more details. But yeah, it's been great. We have a lot of kids. I can see their faith growing day by day, asking harder questions for me, which is a good challenge

because I need to dig deeper as well. So if you have kids from sixth grade to senior year, send them our way. Wednesday's at seven. Very good. Okay, next, Rick Hawkins is gonna come up and share about his prophecy study that he does. Morning. Morning. On the first Thursday of the month, we get together and we study prophecy in the scriptures. And so far this year, we've looked at Isaiah chapter 17

and Ezekiel 38 and 39. On October 6th, we'll start in a series of looking at the Old Testament covenants that relate to Israel. Part of these covenants have had things already fulfilled and part of the things in those covenants won't be fulfilled until the thousand year reign of Christ. And so we're gonna be taking a look at those things and see, you know, how they fit and where we're heading.

We usually meet at seven o'clock in the agape room. It usually lasts about an hour. And we're usually out there by 8.30 or quarter till nine, depends on how much fellowship we do. It's, even though I'm doing a lot of the talking, it's anybody can jump in and share whenever they want to or ask a question. And on the third Thursday of each month, we have a prophecy in the news.

And we take a look at what's been going on in the news for the past month that relates to prophecy. And I usually have a PowerPoint presentation on that one so that you can see what's going on as far as where the locations are we're talking about, who's in the news, that type of thing. And it's the same format. You know, you can jump in and talk whenever you want to, ask questions.

It lasts about an hour and we're usually out of there by 8.30 or quarter till nine. I usually have about 15 people there. And also on the prophecy in the news, I usually have a handout that I make of what's, notes of what's going on in the news and references, usually about six to eight pages worth of notes. And if you don't attend, usually they're out on the table the Sunday after we have that study, there'll be the notes laying on the table so you can pick them up if you want to and check out on your own what's going on.

Also in the back today, I'll have a little signup sheet if you want to get a reminder for when it's taking place, either one of them, then I'll give you a text or a call, send you an email or something to remind you of when things are taking place. But I think that's about it. Thank you, sir. Okay, and then last but certainly not least is Louis George, who leads our college ministry.

I wondered if he had that song, you've gone and saved the best for last. Howdy. So I lead the young adults, which is, you know, you guys can do the math, but like 18 to 20 something. But I remember at that age, right, and it's very hard to know what you're supposed to do. You see a culture of people going crazy, doing what they want to do, living life, and not finding any real meaning

or satisfaction or purpose. And so our goal is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry so that they would be able to, they'd be able to come out of their busy lives, and they would be able to get a job. So I think that, you know, would begin to know who they are in Christ, that they would begin to know their purpose as believers here, because we're all made with a purpose. We're his workmanship. So the goal is

to equip them as well as to see them grow in their love for the Lord and see them grow in their faithfulness to the Lord. So this is on Friday nights at 7 p.m. every Friday night, unless I say we're not going to meet.

It's right over there. So, okay, I'm going to switch back to the. All right. So those are the things that go on throughout the week. That's why when I say, hey, there's lots of places to get plugged into, I really mean there's lots of places to get plugged into. So locate one of those places. And then the one thing I didn't bring up is that Wednesday night, we're going to be at the church. We're going to be at the church. We're going to be at

while youth group is going on. We also have a Wednesday night study in here where I'm overviewing the old Testament, trying to take two or three chapters at a time. Sometimes it's only one, but that's the goal is to make it through that. And then at the same time, we have nursery for the babies. And then there's also a kid's church, which is not, not just, hey, let's just

keep them occupied. They're actually teaching them Bible stories and all of the sweet classic songs that we used to do. So, so that goes on on Wednesday nights. Now I promise I'm going to abbreviate my message. I've got about 25 minutes. So, but first we're going to do our responsive reading. So if you would look at Psalm one for our responsive reading, we'll be looking at the new American

standards. So we sound the same for this part. If you don't have a copy of the new American standard should be one around you. And if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word and to stretch your legs out, cause you've sat for a while. Psalm one, I will read the odd verses. If you will follow along with pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm one, how blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the wicked,

nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. And in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff, which the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor centers in the assembly of the righteous for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. And Lord, may we meditate in your word this morning. May it continue to become a part of who we are so that we can be a well watered tree that produces fruit in you. Father, we thank you for who you are.

In Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up your Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 23, Matthew chapter 23. Again, I'm going to cover a little bit shorter of a section today. We're in part four of our study in confronting religion. Jesus is in the last week before his crucifixion and probably about halfway through that last week at this point in

time. And he has been dealing with the religious leaders. He has been, first of all, um, uh, exposing the dead religion of the religious leaders. He then illustrated that dead religion. And then he was answering some questions from the religious leaders. But as we move into chapter 23, he gets very pointed in dealing with this false religion with this dead religion of the religious leaders. And so there's two things in chapter 23, one of

which we'll cover today. First of all, we will see him expose their hearts. And then we will see him pronounce their judgment. But today we're going to look at the portion of exposing the heart. So we pick up in chapter 23, verse one, Jesus has just silenced them not only by answering three questions in a very wise way, but then asking one question that they could not answer. And as he ends with

that question that they could not answer, it said, no one dared ask him a question. And then it moves on into Jesus giving a monologue in chapter 23. It says this, then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples. Saying the scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. Therefore, all that they tell you to do and observe or do all that they do tell you to do, but do not do

according to their deeds for they say things and do not do them. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger, but they, do all their deeds to be noticed by men for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by men, but do not be called rabbi for one is your teacher. You all are brothers. Do not call anyone on earth father for one is your

father. He who is in heaven, do not be called leaders for one is your leader. That is Christ, but the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. So within this aspect of him exposing the heart of the religious leaders, again, there's two things in this little subheading that we'll look at. First is the heart of the

religious leaders, but the second is the heart of a disciple because Jesus, as he so masterfully does, doesn't have to be a disciple. He doesn't have to be a disciple. He doesn't have to be a disciple. He doesn't just tell them what not to do. He also then tells them what they should do in place of that. And so he starts off by saying, first of all, we realize that he's addressing everybody at this

point in time. Undoubtedly, the Pharisees are right there too, because they had just been talking to him. This is not a separate occasion. This is a movement of the focus of who he's talking to. No longer is he addressing the questions of the religious leaders. Now he looks at the crowds, everybody gathered in Jerusalem during this time of Passover. And he also looks at his disciples and

he begins to say, I'm going to go to the church. I'm going to go to the church. I'm going to go to the church. I'm going to go to the church. I'm going to go to the church. I'm going to go to the church. I'm going to go to the church. I'm going to go to the church. I'm going to go to the church. I'm going to go to the church. He begins to tell these crowds and his disciples something. He says, the scribes and the Pharisees

have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. At the front of every synagogue, there would have been a stone seat. And that stone seat is where a teacher would have gone forward to sit so that he could then address the people. And it was the chair of authority. It was the chair of teaching at that point in time. If you will, it was the chair that in their minds belonged to Moses,

because that's where the law of Moses oftentimes was read. So as speaking of these Pharisees and scribes, he says, they have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. It's interesting that the New American Standard at least points out the fact that this was an authority that the scribes and the Pharisees had taken upon themselves. It was not an authority that God had given to them. It was not an authority that even man had given to them. It was simply an

authority that they had taken upon themselves. He says, they have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. Therefore, all that they tell you do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds for they say things and do not do them. And this second verse, Jesus addresses what I would call the principal issue that he will then explain in just a moment. The principal issue is this. While these men have

seated themselves in the chair of Moses, they are in the place of authority as teachers. You need to pay attention to something. Do the things and observe the things that they tell you to do. Now, we understand that when Jesus says this, he means when they tell you to do the things that line up with the word of God, not just when they tell you to do the things that line up with the traditions of man. Because we'll find that throughout the rest of chapter 23, he will actually pronounce

a woe on them for preaching as doctrine, the opinion of man rather than the word of God. So when he says this, we must qualify that with the understanding that what Jesus is saying is, do the things that they teach you that are written in the law. Respect the authority of the teachers. But then he says something else, but don't do the things that they do. Because what they tell everyone else to do, they don't actually do

themselves. In other words, these men are all talk and no action. We have a term for that. Jesus has a term for that. We call it hypocrisy. He says, I want to expose what's really going on with these religious leaders because I don't want you to do the things that they're doing. When they're teaching you the law, you pay attention to what it says because the law is binding. But when it

comes to their actions, don't watch them because they're hypocrisy. Hypocrites. They know all of the right words to say, but they do not live them out with their actions. They do not live them out from their heart. He then goes on to explain what he means by that by pointing out three things in explanation that they do wrong. It says in verse four, they tie up heavy burdens and they lay them on men's shoulders, but are unwilling to move them

with so much as a finger. Number one, they bind heavy burdens. We would call this legalism because that's exactly what legalism is. It's a burden. Sometimes that burden of legalism is put on us by other people, much like the situation that took place amongst the religious leaders. The religious leaders began to take God's law and say, well, if that's good, then let's make sure that we do it even better.

Let's add to it because if a little bit's good, then a whole lot must be better. And so they began to think, I can be even more holy if I'll add some things to it. But here was the problem when they added things to it. When they added things to it, they made it all about what was on the outside. None of it had to do with the condition of man's heart. It was just the

keeping of a list of rules. And some of us can find ourselves bound by legalism that has been placed upon us by other people. And if that's you this morning, if you've lived your life under the legalism of what some other Bible teacher, has put upon you, some spiritual leader, some spiritual guide has put upon you, then I want you to know that it's time to find freedom in Christ who does not lay heavy burdens upon us. As a matter of fact, we're told in Matthew chapter 11. Let me make sure I get my reference

correct here. Matthew chapter 11 verse 30, he says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. But do you know that sometimes it's not just other people, that put those burdens upon us, that put that law upon us? Sometimes we do it to ourselves. Sometimes we can almost act like Pharisees in our own lives, right? And we can bind a heavy burden upon ourselves and think, well, if I'm going to really follow Jesus, it looks like this.

If I'm going to be a good father, it looks like this. If I'm going to be a good mother, it looks like this. If I'm going to be a good pastor, it looks like this. And we begin to make up rules that sound, good. And if everybody else heard them, they would go, man, that's so good. I wish I could be more like you. We make up rules that sound really, really good.

And sometimes will make us feel really good. But eventually I fail in my own rules. And then I simply feel burdened by them. He says, that's what these Pharisees do. They bind heavy burdens upon people, but you know what? They're not even willing to handle the burden themselves. In other words, they expect more of others than they expect of themselves. He said, therefore, do what they say when it lines up with the law, but don't follow their example.

Don't do what they do because in their heart is hypocrisy. Well, then he tells us about a second aspect of hypocrisy in their lives. They do good deeds to be seen by men. Notice what it says. They do all of their good deeds to be noticed by men, broaden their phylacteries and they lengthen the tassels of their garments. What does he mean by that? We see in both the book of Deuteronomy and the book of numbers, they're told to do a couple of

things. Number one, they are told to bind God's word upon their forehead and to bind God's word upon their hands so that it will always be like frontlets on their eyes. And so they took that very literally. And so what they started doing is they started making these leather pouches and in these leather pouches, they started making leather honor pouches. And so they started making

these leather pouches and in these leather honor pouches, they started making these leather honor pouches. pouches. They would write scriptures down and they would roll them up and they would put them in there. And if you really wanted to make yourself look more holy than anybody else, you would get a larger leather box because after all, those are the scriptures you're trying to keep because of how holy you are. And so they would enlarge their phylacteries so that they would appear to be more

religious to the people around them. And then they would lengthen their tassels because one of the things that the priests were supposed to do was to tie tassels on their robes. Why? Because it would be a reminder of the law and that they would be obedient. And so if you want to prove yourself to be more holy than everybody else, then your tassels are going to be longer than everybody

else. Speaks a little different in this culture today, but I think you know where I'm coming from here, right? Then you say, look at how holy I am because of the things that I do. But you know what the problem was? At the heart of those two things was an issue. They did all of their good deeds to be seen by men. They wanted everybody else around them to come to them.

Constantly take note of everything that they were doing, but it wasn't who they really were in private. Jesus actually spoke about this, didn't he? In Matthew, let's see if I wrote this one down. Yeah. In Matthew chapter six, verse one, Jesus actually said, beware that you don't do your good deeds to be seen by men because you already have your reward. And in the look at me

culture that we live in right now, in the please like my photo culture that we live in right now, in the please understand how good I am right now culture that we live in, it is so easy for us to love the praise of men, to do good works only to be seen by men, to do good works only for the Instagram post, only for the article that might be written, only for the tweet that may come out, just so that everybody else will look at you and not see you. How holy you are. It sounds like a terrible thing, but it's an issue that we can all struggle with. And the quicker that we can identify the issue in our own lives, the quicker we can deal with the issue in our own lives. Because just like those religious leaders, when I do my good works to be

seen by men, it can be called only one thing, hypocrisy. Well, then there's a third thing that he said. He says, they lived for the praise of men, but it's a natural thing that would come about if you do your good works to be seen by men. It says in verse six, they love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by men. He says, first of all,

they love those chief seats in the synagogue. So apparently there were places of honor, the closer you were to the teacher, the greater of a place of honor that you, you had. Perhaps there was even a place where even the better teachers were seated. They were always seated up towards the front so that they would have the best access to that chair of Moses where they could do the most teaching. And so they live their lives to be seen by men so that they

could be praised by men and given the chief seats in the synagogues. But not only that, they loved those greetings in the marketplace. Rabbi, so good to see you. They, they love to hear their name called out with a term of endearment or a term of honor being attached to it. They loved being called rabbi. They loved those respectful greetings in the marketplaces. In other words,

they love the praise of people. In just a moment, he's going to talk to us about being a servant, but you know what? Oftentimes when you're a servant, you need to ask yourself the question, am I doing this because I simply want to be a servant of Jesus Christ or am I doing it because I want to be seen by men so that I can receive the praise of men? As a matter of fact, I'm not sure that there's a day that goes by in our lives where we shouldn't test the things that we do against that particular standard. Because one day I may be walking in the spirit and doing everything

simply to honor and glorify my father in heaven. And then the next day, or maybe later that afternoon, I make sure that the things that I do are seen by as many people as possible so that I can receive the praise of as many people as possible. Listen, it's in me, okay? I have to ask myself the question all the time, Ryan, would you teach the Bible if nobody showed up? Would you teach the Bible if it was only somebody on the street

corner that wanted to listen to you? Or is it only because you want to stand up in front of people? It's a question I have to test myself with because I know me and I know my tendencies. I know my potential because I'm full of flesh that loves the Bible. I know my potential because I'm full of the praise of people that sometimes wants to do things to be seen by men. And so I have to test

myself against that constantly. And when I see that start to well up in my heart, the first thing I can do is say, oh Lord Jesus, please forgive me. Because I know how easy that tendency is. He goes on to give a little bit of a warning. He says, but do not be called rabbi for one is your teacher and you're all brothers. Don't call anyone on earth your father. Don't call anyone on earth your father.

For one is your father, he who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders for one is your leader and that is Christ. Uh-oh. This seems like quite the warning that goes out that we need to all pay pretty close attention to. As a matter of fact, I have a couple of little girls that call me father. That's not true. Only when they want something. Other than that, they call me dad, right? But the

term is the same. It's kind of like the thing I said last week. If one of them shows up and says, father, I know that something's coming that I don't want to say yes to. But anyway, that's not the point. I just said that we have a bunch of leaders that I brought up here. So what does that mean? Listen, what he's saying here is we must beware of titles with excessive spiritual honor or

authority. We must beware of those titles. And listen, we must beware of desiring to be called those titles. It goes on today in our world too. I've never heard anyone called rabbi. I, a few times I've heard someone called father when I've had to go to weddings at particular churches. But you know what I oftentimes hear? I oftentimes hear reverend, esteemed reverend, holy reverend.

I've always said there's only been two people in the world I've ever allowed to call me reverend. And that's just because I love and respect them so much. And that's Jackie Dodson and Glenora Reed. Just because I couldn't bring myself to correct them because I just love them so much that I'm like, man, I respect you guys. Anybody else that calls me that? I'm like, don't call me that. I

don't want to be called reverend. It's like a really wrong thing for me to be called. I don't even like being called pastor sometimes, right? That identifies me as the guy in charge. And sometimes I don't want to be in charge. I prefer just being called Ryan. But in our flesh, sometimes we can crave those kinds of things. I can crave being called reverend every now and then. It'd be nice to get some respect around

here, right? Like there's, we have that in us. And he knew his disciples might have that in them. And because of the abuse of those terms among the people, because of the abuse of those terms among the religious leaders, he says, don't let people call you that. Make sure that that honor that they're bestowing on you is always and only being given to the one who has given you your

authority. Because as I'll tell you, my goal should never be to point people to me. And if I ever do, I want somebody to come to me and say, Ryan, what you're doing is pointing people to yourself right now because I want to correct it immediately. My goal is always to point people to Jesus. And if I ever stopped doing that, then someone better remove me because the church will fall apart and nobody will really know the

Lord. He says, beware of that kind of thing. And so as he explains the principal issue of their hypocrisy, he exposes the real heart of religion. And as he exposes the heart of these religious leaders, he says, now I want to tell you what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. He says in verse 11, but the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

He tells them two things. Number one, he tells them that if you really want to be great, if you want to be someone who is of great respect, then you should actually learn to be a servant. He says, he who would be greatest. He who would be considered great in the kingdom of heaven. This is nothing new. Jesus has repeated this over and over again throughout his ministry, somewhat culminating

a couple of chapters ago, right? If you want to be great in the kingdom of God, then you must be a servant. I don't know about you, but I want to be great in the kingdom of God. And I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to be great in the kingdom of God. But what we have to understand is if we're going to be great in the kingdom of God, then we have to change our idea of what

greatness looks like. Because what greatness looks like in the kingdom of God has nothing to do with everybody knowing my name. What greatness looks like in the kingdom of God has nothing to do with everybody understanding how good I am at things. Greatness in the kingdom of God actually means that I'm going to fly under the radar. It means that I'm going to fight for last place. It means I'm going to be a servant.

I looked up the word servant. Forgive me, I set my water down over here. I looked up the word servant in a Greek dictionary, and this is how the word servant is defined. One who executes the commands of another. That means that if I'm going to be great in the kingdom of God, I'm going to be a servant. It means I then live my life, not for me, but for someone else.

And listen, I want to explain what that means. Because there is a hierarchy of who I am a servant of. First of all, I am a servant of God, first and foremost. If I first become a servant of people, I will burn out. You know why? Because we all are not fun, right? All of us as human beings are not fun people. Because we're all selfish. We all care about the good and the bad. We all care about the good and the bad. We all care about the

good and the bad. We all care about the good and the bad. We all care about what we care about, myself included. I'm condemning me here too. That's who we all are as people. So if I am first a servant of people, I will burn out. Because eventually, I will allow myself, just like you will allow yourself, to allow the complaints of people to supersede my desire to serve people. Therefore,

if I am going to be great in the kingdom of God, I must first of all become a servant, but I must first become a servant of God. That should be my number one goal. Lord, how can I serve you today? How can I serve in your glory today? How can I serve in your kingdom today? And then as I first subject myself, as I first submit myself under the authority of God to say, Lord, I am serving you. I then look for how as I serve God,

as a result, I am going to serve the people around me. Because as a result, I will become a servant of others. Because as I say, Lord, what do you want me to do? He'll say, go serve them. And at that point in time, no matter how much that person complains or whines about whatever it is that I do to serve them, I can bear it just a little bit better. You know why? Because I'm not serving

them. I'm serving God. And if they're not happy with my work, then they need to take it up with my boss. Right? And that's kind of how it needs to be. Now, listen, I've been challenged with this I've shared with you lots of times. My favorite definition of being a servant. You don't know you're a servant until you can act like one, even when you're treated like one. And you know, I've

learned about myself. I don't like to be treated like one. I should be beyond that by now, right? I've been walking with Jesus for almost 25 years. Actually, it has been 25 years. I should be beyond that by now. And yet I still find I don't like to be treated like a servant. And sometimes it makes me feel like a servant. Get it yourself, right? I mean, that's how we all feel sometimes. Forgive

my candor here. And you know what God told me? He said, then just serve me. Just serve me. And if they have an issue with it, they can take it up with your boss. Brothers and sisters, we're called to be servants. And if that's not enough, he takes us one step further. Because not only does he say that the heart of a disciple is to respect, but the heart of a disciple is to humble yourself. He says, whoever exalts himself

shall be humbled. And whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. First thing he says is, of course, the exalted will be humbled. He who lifts himself up, because that's what the word exalted means, means to be lifted up. Whoever exalts himself, lifts himself up, he will be humbled. This is not only a principle in spiritual life, this is a principle in life in general. Because when we begin to lift ourselves up, it's amazing

how we can find ourselves humbled. Usually because we've done something really dumb. Because pride blinds us. Pride prevents us from seeing the truth that stands right in front of us. And sometimes the truth that stands right in front of us is a curb, right? Have you ever noticed that? You're not going to be able to see that. You're not going to be able to see that. You're not going to be able to see that.

You're walking kind of high and mighty, feeling pretty good and pretty soon. Who put the curb there? And why am I on my face now? Right? Because he who exalted himself shall be humbled. The word humbled means to be brought low. But then he goes on to say, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. He who brings himself low. And listen, this doesn't mean just talking down on

yourself all the time. It literally all keeps, going back to the very beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the poor in spirit. That if we will live a life of the understanding of who I am in comparison to the glory of God, and God will lift me up. But you know what's going to be great? I won't care about being lifted up. Because at that point in time, my greatest desire is simply to bring glory to the God who saw fit

to even know my name. He who exalts himself will be humbled. But he who humbles himself will be exalted. It's interesting because Jesus' disciples really picked up on this. Not right away, because they screwed up quite a bit in the beginning. But I want you to turn one place in scripture with me, and we'll kind of close up with this. It's in 1 Peter chapter 5. So you go almost towards the end of the Bible. Hebrews,

James, 1 Peter. I want you to look at 1 Peter, chapter 5, and verse 6. Peter says this, And if you'll notice, there's a comma right there, meaning that the thought's not finished, the sentence is continuing.

Because he cares for you. Friends, humbling ourselves can be a little bit of a stressful experience. Because if I begin to look at myself as I really am, it can kind of cause me a little bit of anxiety, especially in comparison with God's glory. But if I will humble myself under the mighty hand of God and cast all of my anxiety upon him, he will deal with everything else in due time. He will show that you were right in that argument in due time. He will bring people

to a place of listening to what you have to say. And you will stand in the glory of your Savior without all of the things of this earth in due time. Brothers and sisters, the heart of religion that Jesus constantly wanted to confront was the heart of hypocrisy. But the heart of a disciple that Jesus is continually desiring in us is a humble heart of dependence upon him. Amen? Let's all stand.

As the worship team comes up to close us out with one more song, I'll just remind you that the small group leaders are available in the back for you to go visit with them about that, for some places to get plugged in. Please take advantage of that. And I'm praying that we get lots of folks plugged in so that we can keep making strong disciples here at Calvary Chapel. Father, we come before you and thank you for the time that we've had in your word and just ask that you would continue to bless it to our souls. Lord, as we go out from here,

may we not only be closer to you, but may we be closer to you. But have an even stronger desire to pour more deeply into our relationship with you every day. We just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Lord, bless y'all. Have a great week.