A Life That Has Made Jesus Lord

Hey, Pando, we are so glad that you are part of the Harris Creek family. We wanna make sure that you know that you are that. You are a part of our family. Even though you might not be here in person, we are so glad that you are tuning in today. We're gonna be teaching from God's word today, the book of Colossians. Paul is gonna be the author of it, and he's saying, hey, I am suffering, but I'm rejoicing in the middle of these trials. He actually is writing this book while he's in prison himself, and he's got a word saying, hey, the joy of the Lord is in me because God is in me even in this circumstance. So my hope is that it speaks to you in your circumstance. No matter where you're at, we believe that God is with you, he's for you, and he has great plans for you. Thanks for tuning in today. Well, my wife and I, we've been married for almost eight years now. We've got three kids. Our first is almost five years old now, and about five years ago, right before we were going to give birth, we decided to go on a baby moon because we're like, we gotta travel before we can never travel ever again.

So we looked all over the country, tried to figure out where we had hotel points, what would work, and we landed on Scottsdale, Arizona. We had never been there before and thought that'd be a great place to go. So we asked everyone we knew who had been there before, hey, what do you do while you're in Scottsdale? And it felt like every single person said the same thing. They just said, you gotta hike Camelback Mountain. That's like the one thing you gotta do while you're there. Now, I made a mistake because the amount I heard, you gotta hike Camelback Mountain, and by the types of people even that told me about it, I thought it was gonna be easy. Like, these people, they weren't like REI hiking aficionados. They're just like normal people. They're like, yeah, you gotta go do it. So I'm like, let's go do it. And then we start doing it, and I'm like, this is the hardest thing I've ever done. I told someone this week that we did this for our baby moon, and they're like, Nate, you took your pregnant wife on a hike up a mountain. And I said, yes, but here's the issue. She wasn't the problem. I was. She was like 15 yards ahead of me the entire time because I don't know, what do you think of a hike?

My ideal hike is like slightly uphill, and just do that for a little bit and turn around. There are times I'm on my hands and knees, like rock climbing. It was not at all what I expected. And so nearly the whole time, I'm like, Hadley, can we please turn around? Please turn around. And she just said no. And I was not going to come back to Waco saying my pregnant wife finished it, and I did not. So eventually I did power through. We did make it to the top. Here's a picture of us. Yeah, we looked, there we go. Yeah, so we made it to the top. Now I made, I learned an important lesson that day. There are no easy mountains to climb. I should have known that, but what I learned that day is there are no easy mountains to climb. If you're gonna get to the top, it's not gonna be easy. Now I start there today because I think in the American church, many of us have been sold a false bill of goods. You have been told, oh, if you just follow Jesus, your life's gonna be really easy. And following him is gonna be easy. Just read your Bible whenever you have time. Show up at church whenever you don't have anything else going on in the weekend.

Serve if you kind of like to serve. Just kind of go through the motions and it will be easy. And for some of us, that's what you've been doing and you're looking around going, why am I not on fire for Jesus? Why do I not have a mountaintop type of faith? I just wanna tell you, here's why. There are no easy mountains to climb. If you want to get there, it's gonna take some work because following him isn't always easy. And it's important for us to understand this because for me, I had a misunderstanding on that day. Since I thought that climb would be easy, as soon as it got hard, I wanted to turn around. This is what will happen for so many people. They'll start to follow Jesus. They'll think that it's supposed to be easy. And as soon as it gets hard, they're like, I wanna get out. Maybe you're going through a financial crisis. Maybe you have a cancer diagnosis. Maybe you have a job loss, whatever that might be. You start to go through a difficult season. You're like, wait a second. I was told that this was going to be easy. Well, what we're gonna do today is we're gonna open up the scriptures and see that it's plain and clear in God's word that following Jesus doesn't make your life easy. Makes it better, doesn't make it easy.

Because we're continuing on in our sermon series on the book of Colossians. And in this text, we're gonna start in Colossians 1, chapter 24, so if you have your Bibles, you can open them up there. In this text that we're gonna be reading, Paul uses the word I 10 times, over and over and over again. Because what he's doing in this section is he's opening up the door to his life so we might have a window in on what. his life looks like and reading it this week, I was really struck by two things. One, his life was really, really hard. But two, he really, really liked his life. Like those two things are hand in hand. He's going, this is so hard and this is so worth it at the same time. So that's what we're gonna see as we continue on in this series, just to give you some context on this book. This was written to the church in Colossae. Colossae was a small town that Paul had actually never been to, but he had heard a lot about. And he was largely encouraged by their faith, but he had also heard that there was some false teaching going on, that they had been adding to Jesus, that they had started to believe that it was Jesus and good works, Jesus and the worship of angels, Jesus and, Jesus and.

And Paul's just gonna say over and over again, Jesus is enough. In and of himself, Jesus is enough. That's really the purpose of this book. And over the last couple of weeks, we saw that JP talked about how when you understand the gospel, the gospel changes everything in your life. And then last week, John looked at the fact that Paul is writing about the supremacy of Jesus. He's writing why he should be supreme. And this week, we are going to see a life that has made Jesus supreme. We're gonna see a life that has made Jesus supreme. What does your life look like when you make him Lord? We're gonna see that it makes your life difficult, but it also makes it all worth it. So that's where we're going this morning. Colossians chapter one, verse 24. Paul writes this. Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions. For the sake of his body, which is the church, I become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness. Now if you don't know, you need to know that Paul is writing this while he's in jail. Colossians chapter four, he says, I write this to you while I'm in chains.

He is under house arrest in the city of Rome. He is suffering on their behalf. And here he says, I want you to understand, my life is hard. I'm going through suffering, I'm going through afflictions. He also says here that I've made myself a servant. He's saying my life is really, really difficult. And here's what you and I need to understand. This is the Christian life. This is the Christian life. That our life will be difficult. And this is point number one. First thing we need to understand from this text, expect the sufferings of Christ in you. Expect the sufferings of Christ in you. Now before we move any further, it's important for us to understand what he is saying and what he isn't saying here in this text. Because verse 24 is one that if you don't understand, it can really mess with your theology. Because just to read again what he says here, I don't want you to be confused by it. He says, I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions. Now, this is not him saying that Christ's afflictions on the cross were insufficient. Make no mistake, he's not saying that Christ did some of the work and now we must suffer to finish the work so that our sins could be forgiven. That's not the teaching of scripture.

Hebrews 9, 12 says that Jesus's blood was shed once for all, obtaining eternal life for all who believe. So Jesus's work was finished upon the cross. So what is he actually saying here? Well here, this word that he uses for afflictions is never used to describe Christ's afflictions upon the cross, but rather the afflictions that will come our way as we follow Jesus. Because while on the cross, Jesus purchased salvation in his life, he also promised suffering. While on the cross, he purchased salvation in his life, he promised us suffering. We see this all across the gospels. Here's one example, Matthew chapter 24. He says, then you'll be handed over to be persecuted. Here, that word persecuted is the same word that Paul uses here for afflictions. And put to death and you will be hated by all nations because of me. So Jesus is saying, if you follow me, you will participate in my afflictions. And this is what Paul is saying. He's saying I'm participating in the afflictions of Christ. Now, this is where the American church has done a disservice to believers by teaching the opposite. The prosperity gospel has seeped into so many corners of our churches, and that prosperity gospel says, if you just follow Jesus, you're gonna be healthy and wealthy and life is gonna be really easy.

The only big issue is that Jesus said, in this world, you will. will have trouble. Jesus said, pick up your cross and follow me. He said, if you follow me, it's going to be difficult. But then people go into church and they hear from leaders saying, if you follow Jesus, it's gonna be easy. And then all of a sudden cancer comes, financial difficulty comes, issues with raising your kids comes, and life is really hard. And you're left thinking, I thought this was gonna be easy. I wanna make sure that you see it clearly in scripture. Easy is not promised to us. In fact, difficulty is, suffering is. And Paul says here, following Jesus has made my life difficult and it's probably gonna make your life difficult. But here he says, even though it's difficult, it's worth it. It's worth it. Because in this text, he says, I rejoice even as I'm suffering. Now, how can those two things be true? Well, to explain, let me take you back to a week ago today, really at this very moment, a week ago today. I'm just still so bummed for our friends from the North because they invented a game and then we beat them in it because the United States played Canada a week ago and they should be so proud of their silver.

They put in a lot of hard work. It looks great on them. They just didn't win. So we played Canada and in that third period, I don't know if you saw it, but we've got a guy on our team. His name is Jack Hughes. He's skating around trying to get the puck. And one of those dirty Canadians took his stick and hit him right in the face with it, just right across the face. And so Jack falls down on the ground. He's bleeding profusely. And then he sees on the ice that his teeth have fallen out. He lost like a tooth and a half. If that were me, I'd be in the ER immediately. He just got right back up and started skating. He finished out the third period. The game's tied going into overtime. And then in overtime, the puck is getting passed around, gets to him. He takes a shot on goal, scores the winning goal. And immediately after, they took a picture of him in what has now become one of the most iconic pictures in sports history. Check this out. This is what he looked like. Why is he smiling? Like he just suffered. In fact, he probably is still suffering.

He's still actively bleeding. There's an open wound. They don't even know where his teeth are. Why is he smiling? Why do none of us feel badly for him? I mean, he suffered. Because he won. He won. It was all worth it. All the agony, all the suffering, all the pain was worth it because he won. He went through all of that to win the gold medal. And then he was draped with the American flag. And he's rejoicing in the middle of his suffering because he won. Yes, it gets better. It gets better. Because church, here's what you need to understand. Our victory has been won. Yeah. Because you've got a God who so loves you that he sent his one and only son to leave heaven to enter into earth. And he came here with a purpose. He came here to live 33 perfect years fulfilling the law that you and I never could, only to be arrested and tortured and tried and mocked and beaten and spit on. Then they put a crown of thorns upon his head. They whipped his back.

They nailed his hands and feet to the cross. And in that moment, you gotta know what he was doing. He was taking on our enemy. He stared down Satan in the face. He stared down death in the face and he beat it. And three days later, he rose again, guaranteeing, amen, guaranteeing our victory. And since that's true, this is also true. In Isaiah, he prophesied hundreds of years before Jesus even came, what's coming our way. Because of Christ's victory, Isaiah chapter 61, verse 10 says this, I delight greatly in the Lord. My soul rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness. You see, one day, our time is gonna be up here and you and I, we're gonna get to heaven and we're gonna be robed, not in the American flag, but in his robes of righteousness. And it's all gonna be worth it. You gotta know that it's all gonna be worth it because some of us, we're gonna get to heaven looking like that. If we could put that picture back up. You're gonna get to heaven looking like that. You will. Because the enemy, he wants to kick you in there. Teeth. And he's probably actively kicking you

in the teeth right now. I don't know what you're going through. But I know that in this life, you're gonna go through really difficult things. Many times you're gonna go through difficult things because you follow Jesus. And sometimes your family is gonna cut you out because you follow Jesus. Your friends are gonna delete your phone number because you follow Jesus. Eventually, you may be persecuted because you follow Jesus, but it's gonna be worth it. We're gonna look like that in eternity. Not because we worked for the victory, but because he did. And since he won the victory, we get to be robed in righteousness. And since victory is assured, we can rejoice in every single trial. And this is why Paul says this, just to read it again, verse 24. He says, now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you. And I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, which is the church. And what he's really saying is, I may not have a chipped tooth, but I've got chained hands. And yet I'm still filled with joy because everything I'm going through

is for the sake of Christ's body, which is the church. And I know that everything done for the sake of Jesus is worth it. See, he was spent for the sake of the gospel. He was suffering for the sake of the gospel. My question to you is, are you? Are you afflicted for the sake of the gospel? Let me even take a step back. Are you even inconvenienced for the sake of the gospel? Are you willing to be generous for the sake of the gospel? Are you willing to share the gospel for the sake of Jesus? Are you willing to serve Christ's bride for the sake of the gospel? Are you willing to get in the game? This is an invitation to some of you who have been on the sidelines. It's an invitation to come on in, participate in what God wants to do through you, be willing to suffer for the sake of the gospel, be afflicted for the sake of the gospel, because that's what's expected here. Paul's writing this in prison being like, man, I'm just assuming that this is what's gonna come your way as well. So following Jesus won't necessarily make your life easier, but it'll make it better. Because point number one, first thing we need to understand about Jesus is that we must expect the sufferings of Christ in you. So let's keep reading.

We're gonna read again verse 25 and continue on through verse 27. Paul writes this. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness. The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord's people. To them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So Paul's saying, I'm working so diligently to make sure everyone understands that this mystery is no longer mysterious. In the text that we're gonna read, he says mystery three separate times. Mystery, mystery, mystery. He's saying this mystery that has been kept hidden for generations is now clear. Well, what was this mystery? Well, the mystery was the Messiah. Because he's writing about people in the Old Testament. He's saying in ages past, it wasn't clear to them. There was a mystery to it. They knew, the Jewish people knew that God loved them. They believed that they were God's people and that God was going to one day send a Messiah to save them. They just weren't sure how. But now this mystery is no longer mysterious

because the Messiah has come by the form of a person named Jesus. But here's what was surprising to them about this mystery is that he didn't just come for the Jewish people, but he also came for the Gentile people. And then here, Paul says that the glorious mystery isn't just that he came for the Jewish people and the Gentile people, but he came to live in those people. And this is what makes our belief about God altogether different from every other religion. Because every religion has beliefs about God. Ours is altogether different. Islam says that Allah is up in heaven and he serves as a judge overseeing and overlooking what's going on. Hinduism believes that there are many gods and they exist in the divine realm, but they don't interact with us. Buddhism believes that there is no God. We believe that there is a God who so loves us that he came near as a person. He took on flesh and lived among us, but then he lived, died, rose again, ascended into heaven. And then on Pentecost was the day that God came, not just near, but to live in us, the Holy Spirit. His spirit came to live in us and God himself stayed in us. And if that's true, that changes everything about my life and yours. This is point number two.

Second thing we need to understand from this text, we must experience the mystery of Christ in you. Experience the mystery of Christ in you. And the problem is so many people don't know this truth. So many people haven't actually experienced it and so they're left searching for something that's gonna fill the hole in their heart. You see, all of us were born with a hole in our heart. All of us were born asking, why am I here? Why am I not fulfilled? Where can I find pleasure? And we're left searching to try to find the answer for this mystery. This week I heard about a book that was written about a year ago called There's Treasure Inside. It was written by John Collins Black. And in this book, he gives hidden clues to five treasures that he has spread all across the United States. Apparently it's a true story where he put boxes all across the United States. Within them are treasures up to $2 million. So he hid them and he wrote this book and the book sold out immediately. It's developed this cult following online of people who are giving their life to try to find these treasures. And I found one subreddit thread and I just read person after person after person. Here's one of them describing what they've done to try to find this treasure.

She said, I'm finally searching. I've hiked so many miles in the last two days. I have one day left and I found a potential solve spot. Then she posted an update the next day. Update, I searched for hours and hiked 25 miles in three days around my solve, but I didn't find it. Hopefully after playing on Google Maps for a while, I can come back and try again. Yeah, that's the problem. You need to put more time into it. So I just look at that and I go, what a waste. You hike 25 miles, come up empty, but you're like, I'm going to search more, why? Because we all have this hole in our heart. And it's like, man, if I could just get this, it would be solved. If I could just get more money, it would be solved. If I could just have a different marriage, it would be solved. If I just got promoted in my company, it would be solved. If I just had a bigger house, it would be solved. If I just had this or that or this or that, and then you search the whole world and you come up empty because there's only one thing that can fill the hole in your soul, and it's Jesus Christ. Paul says here, the answer to this mystery, the answer to your search is Jesus Christ. In the next chapter that we're about to read, he says this about Jesus, verse two. He says, my goal is that they may be encouraged in heart

and united in love so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You see, Jesus is the treasure our hearts are searching for. In Jesus is the treasure trove of all wisdom and knowledge and hope and joy and peace because this mystery is no longer mysterious. You were made by Jesus for Jesus. And here, Paul says, you weren't just made by him, but you were made so that he would live in you. You were made to live through him. So my question to you is, are you experiencing the glorious riches of Christ in you, the hope of glory? If you are, it will change everything about your life. Because as we mentioned before, life is difficult. Many of you, you're going through really difficult things right now. You're trying to make difficult financial decisions. You're trying to make difficult parenting decisions. You're trying to make difficult decisions about your aging parents. You're trying to do some difficult things at work. Maybe someone in your family has a difficult health diagnosis. Life is really hard. And it's even harder if you try to do it on your own. The good news here is Paul says, you don't have to do it on your own.

Christ is in you, the hope of glory. And if that's true, that changes everything. Because if that's true, that means the God who had so much power that he spoke the words and the universe was created, that God is in you. If this is true, that means the God who allowed Abram and Sarai to have a baby in their old age is in you. That means the God who allowed Joseph to decipher dreams is in you. That means the God who split the seas is in you. That means the God who raised up Esther for such a time as this to save the Jewish people. is in you, that means the God who slayed the giants, the God who allowed three men to be in the fire but not be burned, the God who shut the mouths of lions is in you, that means the God that came as a man to heal the sick, to give sight to the blind, to allow the lame to walk, that means the God who came to walk on the water and to steal the seas and eventually to take on death and destroy it is in you. Now if that's true, you need to understand, he doesn't look at your anger and go, I don't know how to fix that one. He's the God who calmed the waves, he can calm your anger. You gotta know that if this is true, he doesn't look at the decisions you're trying to make going, I don't have the wisdom for that. He does, he doesn't look at you in this season of parenting young kids and the strength that you need

just to get by every single day, he doesn't look at you and go, I don't know how to give you the strength for it. No, the God of the Bible is in you, he's in you. My question to you is, are you experiencing him? Are you living by his strength or yours? And some of you need to hear this, that you have been trying to live for him the life he's been trying to live through you. You've been trying to live for him the life he's been trying to live through you. You've been trying to do it all on your own and meanwhile he's going, I'm here, I'm here. Rely on me, I can live through you. My strength is here, my wisdom is here, my hope is here. My question is, are you experiencing the mystery of Christ in you? Because Paul says here, you don't need to search for any other treasure because the treasure of all treasures is in you. So point number two, second thing we need to learn from this text is that we must experience the mystery of Christ in you. So we're gonna keep reading, we're gonna read through verse five in chapter two and you just need to know that chapter breaks, they are man-made, they came after and this is all just one idea. So we're gonna read through chapter two, verse five. Paul writes this, he is the one we proclaim,

admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end, I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. I love that verse, I think that explains what I was just trying to explain. He says, to this end, I strenuously contend with all the energy that Christ so powerfully works in me. So I'm working, I'm trying, but it's really Jesus in me. He's living through me. Then he says, I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those in Laodicea and for all who have not met me personally. My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this, that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments, for though I am absent from you in the body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. So Paul wraps up this section by saying, I'm working so hard, I'm going through so much, all because the mission of my ministry is to bring you to maturity. The mission of my ministry is to bring you to maturity. He repeats that here, verse 25.

He says, my goal is to present everyone underneath my authority fully mature in Christ. Verse one, he says, I'm working so hard for you and others that you'd be encouraged in heart and united in love. In other words, mature. Then verse five, he says, my goal is that you'd be disciplined and firm in your faith. And this was Paul's call on his life, but what we need to understand is that this is our call on our life as well. This is point number three. Third thing we need to understand is that we must extend the maturity of Christ through you. Extend the maturity of Christ through you. Because again, this wasn't just Paul's mission, and this isn't just the mission of anyone who's quote-unquote in full-time ministry. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are in full-time ministry. Jesus gave the great commission to all of us, and that's to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything that he has commanded us. That's not just for the few, that's for everyone who calls on the name of Jesus. We've been giving them a mission to bring those underneath our authority to maturity. Because you see, Christ isn't just in you for you, Christ is in you for them. So my question is, who's under your authority? Who has God placed in your life that you might bring up

towards? Maturity, if you're a parent, maybe it's your kids. If you're a professor or a teacher, maybe it's your students. If you're in a sorority or fraternity, maybe it's the people in those organizations. Or maybe it's the moms in your neighborhood. Who has God placed in your life? And you just need to see them the right way that they have been placed in your life by God so that you might raise them up towards maturity. But now, as all parents know, bringing someone up towards maturity is not easy. It's one of the most difficult things you can do. Speaking from experience, as I mentioned before, we've got three little kids, and in this process of maturity, we have finished, I think, emphasis on think, I think we have finished potty training with our second. She's two years old, and I have seen some things. It's a gory thing. I'm not gonna give you all the details of potty training. I just want you to know it's not enjoyable for me. I've smelled some things, I don't want to. It just was not fun for me. You know what would be easier for me? It'd be easier for us to just keep her in diapers. Like, just keep doing that. Like, going through potty training, it's not for the faint of heart.

But we do it, why? I don't want an 18-year-old in diapers. One, I can't afford that. Two, I don't want that for her. I have been placed in her life to bring her up towards maturity, and that means asking her to do some difficult things. That means doing some difficult things myself, because I have been placed in her life to bring her to maturity. So what you just need to understand is you have people in your life who've been placed in your life so that you would bring them to maturity, and it's not always gonna be easy, because bringing people up oftentimes is difficult. So who are these people in your life? Again, maybe it's people in your classroom, maybe it's people in your office, maybe it's people in your family, maybe it's your life group. Who are these people in your life? They are there so that you would bring them up to spiritual maturity. And like I said, it's not always gonna be easy, but easy isn't the goal. Faithfulness is. And if you're wondering, okay, I get it, but how do I actually do this? How do I bring them to maturity?

Paul says it plainly in this text. He says you bring them to maturity by making sure you know the Hebrew and the Greek so you can translate it for them. He says make sure you go to seminary so you can bring them to maturity. That's not what he says. What does he say? How does he bring them to maturity? Look at verse 28. He says, he is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. How will the people underneath his care be fully mature? He shares Jesus. He presents Jesus. And if you are a follower of Jesus, you are equipped to do that. You don't have to have all the answers. You don't have to speak smoothly. You just get to share Jesus, share what he's done for you, share what he's taken you out of, share your favorite things about Jesus, what you love about him, share your favorite stories about Jesus in Scripture. And as you share Jesus with them, here's what will happen. He'll mature them. Because it's not ultimately up to you what happens with them. God will do the work through you.

As we said before, Christ is in you for them. And as you share Jesus with them, he will bring them up through you. So my question is, do you see your life this way? Do you see the people in your life being placed there for the reason of you bringing them up towards spiritual maturity? And parents, your kids. Your kids, how do you view them? My question to you is, how do you honestly view this question? Who is the primary discipler of your kids? I wanna make sure you understand, it's not our kids team. Not our volunteers, although they do an amazing job every single Sunday. If you got older kids, it's not our youth team. They see them for about an hour and a half to two hours every single Sunday. You see them a lot more. You gotta nail this down. Who's the primary discipler of your kids? You, you are. I think some of us, we're just sitting back going, man, I hope my kids are raised to follow Jesus. Hope is not a discipleship strategy. Like, get in there and tell them about Jesus from an early age. Get one of those early Bibles and just like read those stories about Jesus. He's better than the Disney princesses.

Like, get in there. Read about Jesus. And if they're older. Start to memorize verses about Scripture, about Jesus with them. Like this week, here's my challenge to you. If you've got older kids, if you've got teenagers, they're in high school, you as the adult, as the parent, pick out your favorite chunk, and I mean like a chunk of the Gospels, and then say, hey, we are going to memorize this together, you and me, and we're gonna memorize it by Friday, and Shorty's will be on me. Let's do it. Now, Shorty's is always on me, you haven't ever paid, but still, I'm not gonna pay unless you memorize it. Challenge them with it, and here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna love Jesus more, and then the most important thing that could ever happen, they're gonna love Jesus more, and there's nothing more fun than being on the front row seat to see your kids fall in love with Jesus. You see, this is what you were made for, to influence the people in your life to love Jesus more. So who is that for you? And maybe you're looking around going, man, I don't know who that is for me. We will give them to you. We'll put you in a life group, we'll put you in regen, you can join sisterhood, you can join men's ministry,

you can sign up to serve in the kids ministry, you can sign up to serve in the youth ministry. There are all sorts of people in this church who need to be brought to maturity, and outside this church that need to be brought to maturity. The invitation this morning is, get in the game. The water's fine, and it's fun. Like, it's really, really hard, but I feel like oftentimes I just look around and go, I've got the best job in the world, because I get to see a front row seat to people's lives being changed. You see, this is what we were made to do. So who has God given you, and how can you help them mature in Christ? So in summary, three things we need to learn from this text is point number one, expect the sufferings of Christ in you. Point number two, experience the mystery of Christ in you. And point number three, extend the maturity of Christ through you. Well, I wanna close by taking you back to my opening illustration about my hike on Camelback Mountain. You know what made it all worth it? Like, you know what the best part of that hike was? You know, it wasn't actually the view, but once you get up top, it's just kind of a valley underneath. Like, the view is fine,

but that wasn't what made it all worth it. My favorite part of the whole thing was lunch. Like, the walk back down, knowing I'm about to eat just felt amazing. Like, I still remember, we went to Culinary Dropout. I got a double cheeseburger, onion rings, and a Diet Coke to cancel out the rest of the calories. That's how it works. I don't care what you believe. It just felt so awesome to be totally spent. Like, I walked in, like, with my knees wobbling. I was so weak and just fell down in the chair and got to rest and eat. And it was so fun to get to sit across from my bride. And all we did during that lunch is we just talked about how hard it was. And we just laughed about how often I was like, Adelie, I need to quit. I need to quit. And she's like, keep going, keep going. We just shared about, remember how hard that climb was? Remember how difficult that was? And it made it all feel so much better to get to that meal totally spent. I end there because what you need to understand is if you are a follower of Jesus, you and I, we're headed to a meal. Revelation 19 says it's the great wedding banquet of the Lamb. You and I, we're gonna sit down at a table

and have the best food and the best drink. I don't know about you, but I wanna get there spent. I wanna get there having left everything I've done on the table. I wanna get there having spent my whole life for God's glory to equip his church, to serve his saints, to share the gospel with other people. I want to get there exhausted. Like I'm not looking for rest here, I'm looking for rest there. That I just get down at the table and relax. And then we get to sit there as the bride, talking with Jesus and just remembering. Man, remember that time your life was so hard and you wanted to quit. Jesus is going, remember when I carried you through that season. Remember that time when you were so stuck in that sin, you thought you'd never get free. Remember when you cried out to me. Remember when I picked you up and saved you from it. Remember when you had that health diagnosis and you were so scared. But remember when I was close to the brokenhearted. Remember that I was true on my promise that I saved those who are crushed in spirit. Remember how hard it was. And I just believe, man, getting there spent will make it all taste better. Getting there spent.

will make it be all the more fulfilling. Now, I wanna be clear, you don't get there because of your works, you get there because of His finished work on the cross. And that's why Jesus instituted another meal. On your way in this morning, you should have received a communion cup. So if you have them, pull them out now. And if you didn't receive one, we've got some on the side at the tables. If you don't have one, raise your hand, we'll have one of our team give them to you. And if you came here this morning and you're not a believer in Jesus, we're so glad that you're here. We would just ask you to not take communion. We believe that communion is for believers in Jesus. So rather than taking communion this morning, we'd offer you an amazing opportunity to take Christ. But for any of you who are a believer in Jesus, on that night that he was betrayed, on that last supper, he gathered up with his friends and he said, hey, I wanna tell you something. And he told them what he was about to go through. He said, I'm gonna suffer and be beaten and I'm going to die. And so every single time you're together, I want you to do this in remembrance of me. And he took the bread that was at the table and he broke it.

And he said, this is my body that will be broken for you. Eat it in remembrance of me. Then he took the cup, he raised it, and he said, I'm about to be pierced. I'm about to bleed out. And the reason why is because I'm going to take your sin, which is like scarlet and my blood is gonna make it white as snow. So whenever you are together, drink this in remembrance of my blood that was poured out for you. Heavenly Father, thank you so much that you gave of yourself. You gave yourself fully and faithfully. And because of your finished work on the cross, we know where we're headed. If we're a believer in Jesus, we know this meal, this last supper, this communion is a reminder of the great wedding banquet of the Lamb. We know where we're headed, not because of what we've done, but because of what you've done. But God, I pray that we would see all that you've done and desire to give our life for you just as you gave your life for us. I pray that you give us a vision for our life to be willing to do whatever it possibly takes to give you glory, to equip your church, to share the gospel with the lost,

knowing that it may be really hard, but it's going to all be worth it because nothing done for Christ will be done in vain. So Father, I pray that you just give us a vision of the people in our life who don't know you or who need to be matured in you. And I pray that you would allow us to be used by you, that Jesus Christ in us would empower other people to come to know you or to love you more and more and more. And God, I just believe that as we do that, we will be feeling fully alive because it's what we're made for. But God, more than anything, we want to rejoice in the fact that you are fully alive and that you are with us and that you're for us. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.