Jason Robinson - Toward Jerusalem - Class 4 - Learning to Work (Together)

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   OK, so I’ve realized we totally forgot to do our handout yesterday. We were so busy being lost that we need to come back and find ourselves very quickly. So if you guys go to session three, our blue paper on our handout, we’ll just quickly answer a couple of these and then the personal goals for your own goods for this week.

2. 0:23

   So number one, who did Christ came to come to save the not lost, lost or the Super lost everyone. Christ came to save everyone. He came to save those who weren’t lost, those who were lost, and those who were super lost, right? That was a trick question. Christ came to save everyone and it got it got you good.

3. 0:41

   All right. What makes someone super lost? They have no idea that they’re lost. They refuse to believe that they’re lost. How could somebody like me be lost? Very good. And what did both Jesus and John the Baptist say was necessary to find salvation? Repentance, fruits of repentance. All right, very good. And then we conclude there at the end, what small thing can you do after Bible school to help someone that you feel is lost?

4. 1:10

   So just, I mean, the smallest thing is all we’re looking for, the smallest thing, a text, a short message on a social media platform, a longer conversation than you would have say, good morning, lovely weather we’re having. Isn’t it just the smallest little thing that you can do to break that ice with someone that you feel is lost on the road to Jerusalem? OK.

5. 1:33

   And then the maze at the bottom. Up until last night, I assumed it was solvable because I googled impossibly hard maze and they took the word impossible very literally. Mike, you should have seen the teens sweating over solving this maze that I assured them was solvable. And it’s not. All right, so let’s go to session #4 learning to work together.

6. 2:01

   And what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna, this is gonna be broken up into two parts for our class. We’re gonna spend the first section of our class today purely looking at the dynamics of the disciples. This was very eye opening for me because we’re going to see the purposeful selection of the 12 Christ shows and how it relates perfectly, perfectly to ecclesial life. OK, so does anybody have marked from page one on our handouts the journey’s purpose?

7. 2:31

   What the what verse shows us the journey’s purpose, not the beginning, the purpose. 1831 Luke 1831 and taking the 12, he said unto them, See, we’re going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about me by the prophets must be accomplished. He says in Luke 1831. This was the mission of getting Christ to Jerusalem to fulfill everything that was written by the prophets about the Son of Man.

8. 3:02

   Think about the gravity. Think about the gravity of that verse. On this mission hinges everything written by the prophets. There’s a scope involved with getting to Jerusalem to finish all of those things. The rest of the Bible that was written pointed forward to you making it to that city. Now think about the 12 He chose those, the 12 He chose.

9. 3:30

   Let’s look at Him. He called 12 disciples from the area that he and Joseph had their carpentry business up in Galilee, 11 of them from Galilee. Does anybody know which one wasn’t Judas? Jesus was not. So this group of 12 individuals he picks to be his disciples. Does he put ads in the local paper and say calling the brightest and the best for interviews, tryouts, auditions? Is that what he does?

10. 3:59

    No, he chooses 12 individuals, ordinary, average people. And it’s exactly what our walk to Jerusalem is like, isn’t it? As much as we may think, we are sure a gift to our ecclesia.

11. 4:19

    I don’t know how my ecclesia would manage without me. We’re normal, average, ordinary people just like everyone else, and all the people that you’re going to work with in your ecclesias are average, ordinary, normal people just like everyone else. That’s why Christ chose these 12. He selected the 12 to demonstrate that no matter what your group looks like, no matter what your ranging board looks like, no matter what your committee for the family night or for your CYC looks like, you’re all average, you’re all normal, and you’re all ordinary.

12. 4:56

    Learn to work together. Figure it out. Learn to work together. Let’s say you’re putting A-Team together on the caliber of something like fulfilling everything the prophets had written about you. And that’s your job at work. Your boss says, I want you to put a team. You get 12 people, put a team together. Your job is to fulfill everything the prophets wrote about you.

13. 5:23

    Would you end up with a team like this? No, no way you’d end up with a team like this. Let’s look at these guys, 12 men. You would not have been crazy to look at Christ leading these 12 bunch of people and thought that team’s doomed. You would not have been crazy. There’s careers mentioned for a few of them, those not mentioned with careers, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, James and Thaddeus.

14. 5:53

    We pretty well know the careers of the rest of them. Four of them are fishermen, Peter, Andrew, James and John Fisherman. There was a tax collector. Was a tax collector’s name, Matthew or Levi, Very good. We had a zealot who was the zealot, Simon the zealot, very good. And we had probably somebody with a financial background elected as the treasurer.

15. 6:18

    Judas probably had some sort of financial background. We could be sure. OK, so we know now at least a handful of maybe a little bit more about what made these guys who they were, the backgrounds to them. But let’s look a little bit more at kind of the inner workings, the the dynamics between these 12.

16. 6:35

    Two of them are sets of brothers, James and John, Peter and Andrew. So in the group of 12, you always have four brothers, 2 sets of two. Now, if you know anything about young men and brothers, what often happens between brothers? They can. They can often get into little spats with each other.

17. 6:56

    Do you think that that was happening here? What if your brother was somebody like Peter? Do you think you’d maybe butt heads occasionally? Yeah, there was definitely some spats between these brothers. And you look at this team of 12 and you go, you’re not going to make it out of Nazareth. There was also two seemingly financially well off, probably educated.

18. 7:20

    We have a tax collector in Matthew, some sort of financial person in Judas. We know, by the way, that Matthew would have been wealthy from what story, let alone the fact that he was a tax collector, not just who they were. Is there any stories you guys could think of that show us that Matthew probably had a couple bucks? What happens when he’s called?

19. 7:40

    What does he do? Yeah, he holds a feast and he invites tons of people over to his house and he feeds them all. So Matthew maybe had a buck or two. All right, so mixing these guys are wealthy with fishermen. Does anybody remember what is told us about fishermen in Acts? I’ll read for you Acts 4, verse 13.

20. 8:04

    It says now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John the fisherman, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished. So not only do we have very different backgrounds, we have very different levels of education in this group. Now imagine in your ecclesia being stuck on a committee with somebody at a very different education level than you. Does it ever happen every single day? Imagine being on a committee in your ecclesia where somebody in your committee doesn’t think about, let alone where their next meal comes from, but where their next car comes from. You ever have that in your committees? Every single day.

21. 8:53

    We have mixtures of wealth, we have mixtures of education, we have mixtures of backgrounds in all of our ecclesias. What’s the point? Learn to work together and Christ introduces these. These weren’t the 1st 12 to show up to a wanted poster. These were the first 12 that he hand picked. He said I want you and I want you and I want you to follow me to Jerusalem and he purposely picks these ones. Also on his team was a zealot.

22. 9:26

    What is a zealot? What was the zealots known for? The Zealots were those who are anti occupation, anti Rome. The Romans had come in. The Zealots goal was to kick the Romans out. The Zealot found himself successful. If they pushed Romans out, they pushed them down and they pushed them out. That was a successful Zealot many times by violent means.

23. 9:54

    We’re not saying Simon was violent, but they would have found success if they had successfully moved the Romans out. What about Matthew? Who did Matthew work for? Who was his employer? Rome. So we’ve a tax collector who would have been successful if he kept the Romans in, and a Zealot who would have been successful if he pushed the Romans out.

24. 10:15

    Christ says, I want both of you to work on my team. Does that ever happen in your ecclesia? When you’re on a committee or you’re on a board with somebody and they have completely different ideas, different directions every single day? What’s the point? Learn to work together. He introduces 1/3 though, doesn’t he? Not only that, he introduces Phillip. Phillip.

25. 10:44

    What does that name originate? It’s Greek. Phillip probably was a Hellenistic Jew. I’ll give you just a quick reason why we can maybe think it’s a good guess. John chapter 12, verse 21. Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks, says John 1220. So they go up to the feast and there’s some Greeks. Verse 21.

26. 11:11

    So these Greeks came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Why would a bunch of Greeks find out Philip to find Jesus? Possibly because he spoke Greek. And if he speaks Greek and he has a Greek name, there’s a good chance that his background was Greek.

27. 11:47

    So you put all of these things together and you say these are on the same team of 12 people. That means that if he spoke Greek, he probably had a different version Bible. He probably used the cituigent. The other was we’re used to the Hebrew scrolls. There’s some differences in there, isn’t there? But Christ purposefully puts these together. So you have on this team of 12 someone who’s pro Roman, someone who’s very pro Israel, anti Roman, and someone who comes from a very Greek influence.

28. 12:18

    You know what, I want you all to work together. But it gets worse, it gets crazier. Peter, James and John, what were these three known as?

29. 12:32

    The inner circle. The inner circle, These three got to see a resurrection, the Transfiguration, and Christ’s most emotional moments in the garden. He raised a girl from the dead transfiguration there on the mount, and they were with him in the garden twice in these events. By the way, he says, don’t tell anyone what you’ve seen here today.

30. 13:02

    So does Christ allow an inner circle to bubble up? No, he makes 1. He purposefully makes an inner circle. These three were also given nicknames. What were the brothers James and John nicknamed Sons of Thunder? We had Peter named the Rock, so these give her names. Now how would this have made that other brother feel? Andrew?

31. 13:32

    Not only was he the other brother in this group, the other fisherman in this group, he was actually the first disciple called. Now that would really get under our skin, wouldn’t it? We would. We would feel totally betrayed. This isn’t fair.

32. 13:50

    So why did Christ create an inner circle in the 1st place? If it were me creating an inner circle, I’d probably like to choose the most educated of the group, or I’d try to choose the wealthiest of the group. That would give our mission a little bit more comfort, a little bit more chance of success. If I could get those ones closer. Why don’t, why didn’t he choose Judas? Maybe, maybe, maybe see if he can work him a little bit, Maybe see if he can, he could bring him close to his side and and maybe there’s a different alternative for the sacrifice that needs to be made.

33. 14:26

    Why does he make an inner circle? Not only that, how do you think the relationship would have been with other disciples? When the mother of these two comes up and says, can my two boys sit on your right hand and your left hand? How do you think that would have gone down? But we’re told Matthew 20, they resented them. They resented those brothers.

34. 14:49

    Not only that, but those two were probably actually cousins of Jesus. How do you think nepotism would go over in the 12 disciples out of his inner circle? He has a inner circle, doesn’t he? He has Peter and John, John the one whom Jesus loved, Peter the one on whom I will build my ecclesia.

35. 15:20

    Now you have an inner circle inside of your inner circle. How would this make James feel? Peter and John were sent to make preparations for the Passover. Peter and John seem to be the ones who follow Christ after he’s captured. They’re definitely the ones who race to the tomb after he’s erected. How would James feel about this?

36. 15:42

    What about personalities? We’re almost done. What about personalities? We’re very fast to recognize the personality of Thomas doubting Thomas skeptical. He wasn’t around when the other disciples saw Jesus. And so they say we’ve seen Jesus says I’m not going to believe it until I actually see and witness the evidence of the crucifixion.

37. 16:04

    So we have a man who’s skeptical, but you know what? There’s also another man, Bartholomew seems to be a little bit sceptical. We’re told very little about these two, but the stories we are told give us a little bit of a clue. Maybe after Jesus calls Philip, Philip goes to Bartholomew and says, we found the one that Moses wrote about in the Law, Jesus of Nazareth.

38. 16:23

    And what does he say? Nazareth. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Come and see. So we have two fairly like, I’m going to think before we act. Was there anybody on the disciples who didn’t think before he acted? Peter? Was he skeptical? Was Peter the one who would sit and calculate and think I shouldn’t do this? No, he wasn’t, was he?

39. 16:55

    Peter was impulsive. What are some examples of when Peter was impulsive? It’s not hard to think of him walks on water. He goes, you walk in the water. Can I come? And he hops out of the boat and he walks and he goes, oh, wait a second. And he and he begins to doubt. He chops off a guy’s ear in the garden. There’s there’s so many examples you could think about of, of Peter being impulsive.

40. 17:19

    Now, these two were supposed to work together for years on the road to Jerusalem, for years. The smallest decisions that would need to be made, not these big ones, like walking on the water, not these big ones, like who’s going to pray with Jesus? The smallest ones. Where are we going for lunch today? These little decisions would need to involve personalities of everyone.

41. 17:48

    Some of the disciples were very, very methodical and they thought things out. Others just jumped right into it. Imagine being on an ecclesial committee where there’s a group of people who say, let’s just get it done, and there’s other group of people say, well, we should probably think about this first. Does that ever happen every single day?

42. 18:08

    What’s the point? You’ve got to learn to work together. This is why he can gather the most random 12 people when you really look at who they were. And you could say each one of these has his own baggage, their own weaknesses, their own biases, their own egos. And Jesus knew exactly what he was doing.

43. 18:36

    Had any of you been hired to put together A-Team for your job, you would never end up with a team like this. Your project would be doomed. Christ knew exactly what he was doing. And not only that, but he purposefully introduces chaos. He purposefully introduces competition in the group because he needs everyone to learn to work together. That’s the point of the road to Jerusalem. Brothers and sisters, everybody in this room, we’re all going to the same place, but nobody in this room is exactly like somebody else.

44. 19:15

    And as special as we think we are and as great as we think we are, we’re not. We’re just like everyone else trying to get to New Jerusalem. And so he puts together this group because he says you’re going to be in an ecclesia, you’re going to be working with brothers and sisters, you’re going to be put down at a table needing to make a decision with somebody that you don’t agree with.

45. 19:40

    And you got to learn to work together for a long time. Yeah, a long time. These guys, every day for over three years. Do you think that they would have kind of gotten under each other’s skin from time to time? Do you think that they would have had fights from time to time? We’re told they did.

46. 20:08

    Is that how ecclesial life works? You better believe that’s how ecclesial life works. There’s a committee for this Bible school, isn’t there? Do you think every time that they sit down and there’s a decision to be made that they say, oh, this is easy. Oh, this is easy. Oh, this is easy. Done at the meeting, I see some people nodding their heads every time. That’s never how it works.

47. 20:30

    We come to the table thinking this is the best idea I’ve ever had, and somebody says that’s a crazy idea. And we go, that’s ridiculous. I quit this committee. But it happens, brothers and sisters, we got to learn to work together. It gets worse, these 12. Think about this again in your job perspective, think about this. You put together your team of 12. Not only would you not classify this as the dream team, but you’re sitting together the first day of the job with your new 12 employees and you have a job on caliber with, you know, filling everything.

48. 21:12

    The prophets are written about you and your disciples. Your employees have no idea what your mission is. Who is this? That even the winds in the water, they obey him. Luke 9, We looked at this day 2. They didn’t understand the saying it was concealed from. They didn’t perceive it right before they entered Jerusalem.

49. 21:34

    They understood none of these things. The saying was hid from them. Neither knew they the things which were spoken. You spend three years every day with your employees, your 12 employees. On 1/3 year they go wait a second, what is it we’re working on again? And you go, brothers and sisters, Christ was something special because Christ put up with those 12. And guess who else he puts up with? He puts up with us.

50. 22:12

    And we could sit there at a, at a, at a meeting at our ecclesia trying to decide what color carpet to put in and we can have hours long meeting fighting with each other.

51. 22:25

    We got to learn to work together, brothers and sisters. That’s the point of why He puts together literally the best team that’s ever been assembled. There was no greater team in the history of mankind than those 12.

52. 22:48

    They went with Christ to Jerusalem and they got Him there. Sure, Jesus had to pull them every inch of the way. Sure it was challenging. Sure, it looked impossible, but man, what a journey it was, what love Christ showed these 12. So with that background, now with that example and with that context of who these 12 were, let’s look at their road to Jerusalem together.

53. 23:26

    So let’s go to the beginning, Luke Chapter 9. We know we’re going to depart for Jerusalem in what verse? Luke 9, 51 We’re going to leave for Jerusalem. Let’s just go a few verses back and let’s see.

54. 23:39

    We’ve looked at verse 45. They did not understand the saying. It was concealed from them, so they might not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask Him about the saying. So we know now that this is our context. We know we’re leaving in verse 51. We are 5 verses away. Verse 46. An argument arose among them as to what were these disciples just like us or what?

55. 24:10

    Here Christ says, here’s our mission. I got to go to Jerusalem. I’ll be shamed, I’ll be tortured, I’ll be killed, and on the third day I’ll rise again and you go. I don’t know what he’s talking about, but I think I’m better than you are.

56. 24:27

    Verse 46, an argument arose as to which one of them was the greatest. These were flawed, egotistic, biased human beings. It’s a totally childish argument, isn’t it, Brothers and sisters? It’s, it’s something that that all of us think, but none of us, well, most of us are mature enough not to say these things out loud. We would never, ever express these things. But again, is it any surprise?

57. 24:54

    Look at the 12 he’s chosen. Is it any surprise that he has to deal with this right off the bat? Our journey to Jerusalem. But this is exactly the same. But we would never argue about who’s the greatest, would we? What about on the way home from meeting?

58. 25:13

    What about with our children around the dinner table? What about with our friends or brothers or sisters? Texting, calling. Do we ever put down others and elevate ourselves? Do we ever actually have the who’s the greatest argument? Even worse, do we have these arguments in front of our children?

59. 25:37

    We can’t do that. That’s not how collegial life works. But they had an argument as to who was the greatest. And remember this is immediately following when he expresses what would happen to him at the hands of men. They had really no clue what was going on. All that mattered to them now is who’s the top disciple. So why is it a problem where this argument about who’s greater?

60. 26:07

    How is this anti working together? How is putting yourself in a fictional place with superiority better? Sorry, different and against working together. Well, what happens is when you elevate yourself automatically, now other people have to be below you. That’s just what what happens. But everybody needs to be on the same plane, the same field, the same level if they’re walking together to Jerusalem.

61. 26:33

    So when you have this argument now about who’s the greatest, you’re now saying, well, there’s levels that we need to worry about as well because you need to do more work than I do and you didn’t do way more work than I do. I know we’re all going the same place, but try to pick it up, man. And this is this is an issue.

62. 26:53

    This is a problem. We need to learn to work together. So how does this argument really come from? Because I think it’s fascinating and it’s exactly where the argument will come from in our Eclesius. Look at verse 40. It says in verse 40, the man, he comes to Jesus. He says, I beg you to heal my son.

63. 27:17

    I tried to ask your disciples, I, I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not. And there’s a boy with an unclean spirit, and he would throw him to the ground, he would convulse. And he comes to the disciples and say, please heal my boy. Heal my boy, he says.

64. 27:35

    And they couldn’t. Matthew 17 says to the disciples, Christ says because of your little faith. He says, for truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you’ll say to this mountain, move from here to there and it’ll move and nothing will be impossible to you. So he says there was a lack of faith that made it so these disciples couldn’t heal. The boy could the disciples heal? Verse 6, same chapter, they departed and went through the villages preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Could the disciples heal?

65. 28:08

    Yes, they come now to this boy and they cannot. What’s wrong? What’s the matter? Christ says in Matthew, it’s their faith. What was the problem here? Well, we know what’s in their mind. Let’s look at when Christ heals him further on in the verse, verse 41, Jesus said, O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here, he says.

66. 28:33

    While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and revulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, gave him back to his father, and all were astonished at what Jesus the majesty of God. They didn’t look to Jesus and say, Wow, Jesus, you’re an amazing healer. They knew full well that the healing came from the majesty of God.

67. 29:06

    So what do you suppose the problem with the disciples would have been? If just verses later, they’re arguing about who’s the best and who’s better? What do you suppose the problem was?

68. 29:17

    Well, I think it’s stems from this idea of who could heal him. I’m, I think I’m a better disciple. I’ll give it a stab, Peter, get out of my way. And it didn’t work. He couldn’t heal him and so that they go through the the reins and nobody can heal him and he brings them to the Jesus says I went to your disciples and they couldn’t. He says you’re faithless.

69. 29:43

    He heals him and majesty instantly from the crowd goes to God. You want to learn to work together brothers and sisters, who cares who does the work, Who cares who gets the praise Just get it done. Get the work done. Don’t care about what eyeballs are looking at you don’t care about who gives you a round of applause when you’re done. Just get the work done.

70. 30:07

    Bring more people to Jerusalem. But these people, these disciples were arguing about who was the greatest brothers and sisters. 1 Little quick side note, take a look at verse 42. I think hidden in verse 42 is probably the shortest summary of the road to Jerusalem that we have just just hidden in there.

71. 30:33

    Look at verse 42. Think about this. Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit. He heals the boy and gives him back to his Father. That was Christ’s mission all along, to rebuke the unclean spirit, to heal the boy and to ascend to his Father. That’s what Uncle Stevens been looking at with us in Class 3.

72. 30:56

    To bring him back to the Father hidden in here was his mission all along. Let’s keep moving. So they have this argument about who is the greatest. Verse 46, an argument arose among them about which one was the greatest. They completely missed the point about why they’re journeying what Christ is going there for.

73. 31:13

    And they come back to the argument saying, well, why couldn’t you heal them? Well, I couldn’t heal them because of this reason, but I’m still better than you. Verse 47 But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, takes a child. He takes a child and put him by his side and said to them, whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whosoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great. What he’s going to do is he’s going to demonstrate now this principle of humility.

74. 31:53

    Brothers and sisters, you want to learn how to work together. It’s humility. How many times would pure humility solve a cliche of problems? So many times, wouldn’t it? So many times. And he brings a little child to him and he says whoever wants, whoever is least among you shall be great. Now our minds, my mind, pardon me, my mind automatically says, OK, Jason wants to be great. Jesus says that to be great you need to be least. So from to get from A to BI need to be least that way I’m always aiming at being great.

75. 32:35

    Is that what Jesus is saying? Not at all, not at all. The point about being least is actually to be the least. He says be the least because you actually are the least. You’re ordinary, you’re average, you’re a normal person, you’re the least among the brethren. He says if you actually view yourself as the least, not so you could be great, but so you can be the least, God will lift you up.

76. 33:02

    Christ will make you the greatest. He brings a boy to him, to his side, and he finds a child and he says whoever receives me receives him who sent me for he’s least among you is the one who is great.

77. 33:20

    What he’s going to do now is he is going to teach us humility and we’re going to get this beautiful story on the road to Jerusalem. We’re going to be given three stories of children. Well, each one of these is going to teach us a little bit extra. Another layer about this humility principle that we can learn from kids.

78. 33:49

    Kids can teach us a lot. The 1st is becoming teachable, the second is learning to ask, and the third is accepting graciously. And these three principles we’re going to see in Luke 1011 and 18 all in this row to Jerusalem. But he introduces it steps before verse 51. He says he brings a kid to him. This is verse 48.

79. 34:16

    We’re 3 verses away. He brings a child to him and says learn to be like this kid, except with humility. Be the least. Now, Are you ready to go?

80. 34:29

    And we’re going to go through these three stories. And we’re going to get as far as we can with the actually only 15 minutes, 15 minutes we have left. Becoming teachable, learning to ask and graciously accepting. Because what we’re going to notice is there’s the showdown on the road to Jerusalem. He’s going to show multiple times that we need to act like little helpless children when it comes to our Father. We need to act like kids to our Father. And this is the very last thing he’s going to teach us before he leaves for Jerusalem.

81. 35:04

    Verse 48. So let’s take a look then at our first. The first one is this finding humility. We’ve already looked at in verse 48. The kid principle is this is the kid principle. Acting humbly shows that you understand your place in relation to the Father. The father can make great the lowest. That’s the kid principle. The principle here was humility.

82. 35:28

    Whoever acts like the least important was in God’s eyes, actually the most, because he’s elevating God automatically by putting himself down. There’s no struggle with hierarchy in the mind of a child, is there?

83. 35:42

    And I’m talking young children. My 4 year old is already starting to push the boundaries of hierarchy. It’s amazing how fast it happens. I’m talking maybe 3 and under, little children. Little children is what Christ says, but a little child knows the hierarchy of the family. What we’ll notice just quickly, the older the children get, the more they abandoned these kid principles and take on adult mistakes.

84. 36:13

    We’re in Luke 9 verse 48 at the moment. Yep, we’re going to get to the adult principal right now. OK, so the story was in Luke 40, Luke 946 to 48. That was our argument. Now we have a couple more verses because John instantly gives us the how adults take it. So the principle is least shall be greatest.

85. 36:35

    John verse 49, John answered Master verse 49. You know, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he doesn’t follow with us. But Jesus said to him, don’t stop him for the one who is not against you is for you. Very next verse, by the way, we go to Jerusalem. So this is it.

86. 36:58

    This is this is the end of the pre journey narrative and John jumps up and says, look, Jesus, we saw him with someone casting out names. Sorry, demons in your name. Don’t worry, we tried to stop him. What does Jesus say? What does Jesus say? Don’t stop him. For the one who’s not against you is for you. How many times would that solve problems at an ecclesial committee meeting if you sat down, you actually thought about, you know what?

87. 37:34

    We’re actually all working on the same thing. Instead of look, look, look, that guy over there, he’s taken all the credit. It’s in your name, Jesus. Don’t worry, we put an end to it. Think about that. Think about what he’s saying. We look at this and we go, how childish. How could John do that? Brother, sisters, has this story happened before? Yeah, it’s happened before.

88. 38:02

    You don’t have to go there. I’ll, I’ll read you the story. But it’s number Chapter 11. This has happened before. This happens probably in our ecclesias. Number Chapter 11, it says in verse 24, Numbers 11, verse 24. So Moses went out and told the people the words of Yahweh, and he gathered 70 men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. Then Yahweh came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took some of the spirit that was on him and put on the 70 elders. And as soon as the spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not continue doing it.

89. 38:36

    So these men, these 70 are given the Spirit and they’re prophesying. Now it says in verse 26, two men remained in the camp. We’ve heard these names, Eldad and me Dad. The Spirit rested on them. They were among those who registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, so they prophesied in the camp.

90. 38:56

    So the Spirit of God comes on 70 the 70 go out and prophecy. Two of them are left in the camp prophesying Eldad and me dad.

91. 39:06

    And a young man ran and told Moses. Moses, Eldad and me, dad, are prophesying in the camp, and Joshua, yes, the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, My Lord Moses, stop them.

92. 39:31

    But Moses said to him, Are you jealous for me? He says. And what was Moses’s answer? Would that all Yahweh’s people were prophets, that Yahweh would put his spirit on all them? And Moses and the elders returned to the camp. What was Moses’s answer? A man runs in and he says there’s two people prophesying.

93. 39:57

    Joshua says what stop them, Moses? Moses says. What this says. Are you jealous? For me? I wish everybody could prophecy. Imagine how much better this place would be if everyone had the Spirit of God on them.

94. 40:13

    Never, ever, brothers and sisters, consider the work that you’re doing as somehow better than another project in your ecclesia. As long as everyone is walking towards Jerusalem, any project is great in the ecclesia, whether it’s helping those who need help, whether it’s arranging for a Bible school, whether it’s helping children, whether it’s running a CYC, whether it’s running preaching efforts, they’re all perfect because they’re getting people to Jerusalem. Learn to work together in humility. We’re going to blast through a couple of these. Let’s go to the next one.

95. 40:56

    We’re in the journey now. Luke 1021, Luke 10, verse 21. In the same hour rejoiced. He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

96. 41:18

    All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. So this is all about becoming teachable kids. Young children are extremely receptive to what their father teaches.

97. 41:39

    Very quickly, I’m putting father for these examples. We all are aware that mothers are equally important. I capitalize the word father for us. We’re all under our Father’s guidance. So when you see Father that that’s the reason kids are receptive and open to what their literal father teaches. Just like we need to be to our Heavenly Father.

98. 42:04

    But you tell a three-year old he is going to trust you implicitly. You’re his dad. He knows that when you tell him that’s gold. He may not listen, but he knows you’re his dad. They’re open and they’re receptive. Is that how we approach our heavenly Father? So that’s the kid principle. How do adults apply it on the road to Jerusalem? Come to verse 40, Luke 10, verse 40, sorry, pardon me, verse 25. And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, what is written in the law? How readest thou?

99. 43:04

    By the way, great point to an expert in the law. Might have been quite some time since she actually read it. It was pretty memorized. And up in here. What readest thou? And he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind.

100. 43:16

     Your neighbor is yourself. And you said to him, you know you’ve answered correctly, do this and you will live. And does he accept that answer? Is he teachable?

101. 43:25

     But he desiring to justify himself, Why does he ask the question? Because he wants to learn, Because he’s a teachable man. No, he asks it to prove how great he was. That’s the principle right after what he teaches about the kids. But Christ’s answer to him is perfect. He says, how readest thou?

102. 43:56

     This is perfect, isn’t it? Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. How often in our lives in 2024 have we become used to the answers of things like, you know, God didn’t mean it that way. Well, Jesus was living in a different time. Paul wrote to a different kind of people, Brother and sisters, how readest thou the answers are in here.

103. 44:24

     How do you read? He asks him. But he, desiring to justify himself, said, OK, and who is my neighbor? And Jesus goes into the parable of the Good Samaritan. You see, we can be so pridefully locked into our views and our practices that we become almost

104. 44:51

     immune to other people’s ideas. You know, I didn’t actually ask you to get an answer. I asked you because I wanted you to hear me ask you this. Do we ever find ourselves doing that? No, it’s, it’s not good. We got to skip over this one. My apologies learning to ask right after that they Christ says an evil generation.

105. 45:14

     They ask for a sign. No sign should be given of the prophet Jonah. We can ignore signs all the time, but graciously accepting this is the end of the journey. Luke 18 come with me to this one. Luke 18 verse 17 Truly I say unto you, he says, now let’s go to, let’s go to 16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, let the children come to me, don’t hinder them.

106. 45:40

     For to such belong the Kingdom of God, the humble, the least those is who the Kingdom belongs to. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. You receive it like a child. Children, little children, understand that they cannot earn, they cannot repay their parents for the gifts they provide. How many times do you see a three-year old at a birthday party say, oh thanks dad, how much was it? How many times do you see a child at dinner say that Mac and cheese dad was great?

107. 46:19

     What do I owe you? Ironically, you never see 18 year olds do that either, but that’s beside the point. Kids fully grasp, they fully understand that what their dad and mom give them is that of the pure greatness of his heart. And they they don’t even, they don’t even it doesn’t even comes into their mind that they need to give back because they don’t.

108. 46:47

     They accept knowing full well that that’s just how it works. Kids get things from the Father. Is that how we approach the Kingdom of God? Or do we say things like the adult mistake? Luke 1818 instantly after a rich young ruler asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? That’s the principle.

109. 47:28

     And so the grown up mistake that we can all make is thinking that we have some sort of control over our place in the Kingdom of God. Learn humility, learn to work together. That’s how you find your way to Jerusalem. And so let’s conclude then by looking at skipping a few slides. Luke 22. Let’s come then into Jerusalem.

110. 47:59

     He’s sitting at a meal with his disciples, Luke 22, seven to 13. He sends Peter and John to prepare the Passover meal, 14 to 20, the Lord’s Supper. Familiar words we hear every single week. Verse 21 Luke 2221 But to behold the the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.

111. 48:19

     For the Son of Man goes as has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to question one another which of them was going to do this? And so he says, one of you will betray me. And they say, is it you? Is it you? And then what do they do instantly after that?

112. 48:34

     What does it say in your Bibles? They argued about who was what the greatest. Is this a new argument? Nope. This happened the very beginning, and it’s happening right when. Christ is going to be killed. Is it you? Is it you? Are you going to kill him? No, I’m fantastic. I’m a great disciple.

113. 49:06

     Well, I’m better than you are. And it breaks out again. And what’s Christ’s answer verse 26 Rather, let the greatest among you become as the least no, but the. Greatest become. As the youngest, which is why in John he can say in John 13 little children get a little. While I’m with you. And while he’s.

114. 49:42

     In the upper room, what is Christ? Doing while they’re. Arguing about who’s the. Best disciple? What is Jesus doing? He’s down on his knees. He’s washing their feet.

115. 50:01

     That’s the man they followed to Jerusalem. Brothers, sisters, we follow the same man. Sure, we can get into. Spats in our cliches. Sure, we can go through tough times with brothers and sisters. But man, the big picture makes it. Seem so petty, doesn’t it? We’re all going to Jerusalem. We’re all trying to get there, brothers and sisters.

116. 50:28

     The point is simply learn to work together. Become humble. He says a new. Commandment I give to you. You love one another and. So. Brothers and sisters. Sorry, we had to. Skip a few things. Hopefully slides we made available at the end of this week, but the theme of working together, the theme is of course learning to work together. So hopefully what we can do is.

117. 51:00

     We can now. Maybe question #1 give some reasons why you think Jesus chose the disciples. Did I put it as a critical thinking question because it’s a tough one, But what’s your reasoning? When you get back to your ecclesia and you’re sitting down with a meeting and, and, and things aren’t going perfectly, just think back to how it must have been for these 12 and for Jesus. Humility is the cure for the feelings of greatness, the examples of children.

118. 51:26

     And finally, maybe there’s a kid principle. You can apply to your. Life OK, so ultimately brothers and. Sisters, of course, the way that. People will be able to tell that we’re disciples of Christ, that we’re followers of him, that we’re walking with him together towards Jerusalem as we follow the new commandment Christ gave us, that we love one another.