Crucified With Christ

I'll see how long my voice will last. I apologize for this. I guess I could have Mr. Johnson come up here and fill in for the next hour. Or Mr. Hudson surely would love to have the opportunity. I've got the notes right here. They may or may not help you very much.

Anyway, hopefully we'll be able to get through this without too much trouble. I'll try not to raise my voice very much. I guess that's probably what creates more of a strain on it. But as all of us are preparing for the upcoming pass over here in the next couple of weeks, I know that several... thank you. Is this gin? No. Just water. As we were preparing for the pass over, several weeks ago here, actually the first part of the month, I gave a sermon that was kind of pass over oriented and talked about the suffering that Jesus went through and the suffering that we also go through. And in a sense, we share in the suffering of Jesus Christ. And I was thinking about the pass over, and I think you all probably got about the same time I did. This last letter that Mr. Leuker sent out, which was really very uplifting, very thought-provoking, encouraging in that it was pointing out a couple of new archaeological discoveries or actually verification of an archaeological discovery that seemed to verify if it is an actual relic, an artifact of the brother of Jesus named James, and the author of the book of James. A number of things in the book of James point out how we ought to live. They point out what it is that we should do as Christians, how it is that we should approach things. And particularly, he was talking about how it is that our words, how those words are gauged, how we think about what we say. And certainly, it's a very important, very significant factor as we look toward the time of the Passover and as we examine ourselves. I'd like to take a look at a few other scriptures in connection with that, not so much directly in what he said, but more specifically about what Paul said here in Galatians 2. In the book of Galatians, Paul was writing to a congregation of the church that was primarily Gentile. He had been actively involved in helping them, bringing them into the church, bringing them into an understanding of how much they needed Jesus Christ. That's what he was teaching, and that's what he taught, and certainly they were responding to that. But I'd like to focus on what he said, in a sense, was his own example. In Galatians 2, and you can probably quote which verse out of that, verse 20. Galatians 2, verse 20 is a memory verse or a verse that I know we've emphasized in the past. But I want us to think about specifically what Paul is saying and how it then directly applies to each of us as we live our lives and as we even prepare to come before God at the Passover. It says here in verse 19, Galatians 2, verse 19, for through the law, I died to the law so that I might live to God. See, he had lived a life of lawkeeping. He was a Pharisee. He had been schooled in the law. He was very good at trying to observe the law.

And yet he said, I've come to a point to where I have died to the law so that I could live to God.

And so he said, I have been crucified with Christ. I've been crucified with Christ. And, or I have been, I need to see that, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and who gave Himself for me.

See, he makes some very significant statements in that very short verse.

He says, I am crucified with Christ. And he also said, though, Christ is living in me and I am living by the faith that I have in Jesus Christ and by the faith that He gives to me. And the part of this that I want to focus on is what Paul states about living a crucified life.

See, that's what he said he was doing. That's what he understood he was doing.

And I think it's good for us as we think toward the Passover, as we realize what it is that Jesus has done for us, that we ask ourselves, am I really living a crucified life? Because that's really what he wants us to do. He wants us to live a crucified life. A life, and I'm going to go ahead and describe what that's like. Because if we think about it, a crucified life has a certain direction. It has a certain focus, and it has a great benefit for us. But it's one that's different than the average life as far as people in general. You know, people generally just do whatever they happen to like, what they happen to feel would be good or bad, whatever they consider to be acceptable or unacceptable. You know, that's the life they're living, but that's not a crucified life. See, a crucified life is one that understands just the type of transition and the type of transformation and the type of change that God is bringing about in us. And as Mike was mentioning in the sermon, Ed, we want to produce fruit. We want to grow in the divine nature. We want to grow in attributes that God says are His and that He will give us. He will help us with. And so, living a crucified life is actually an imperative for us, and yet it is a good way to kind of think about, you know, how am I preparing for the Passover? Am I really living a crucified life? And, of course, as we do that, I think we also have to think about, if we are, then who deserves the credit? Who deserves the praise? Because if we, again, are taking that credit or if we're taking that as anything that is a wonderful thing about ourselves, you know, then we're not seeing who it is that really is giving us that wonderful blessing. So, I'd like to focus on four different things here throughout the sermon today. The first of these is simply in connection with the sacrifice that Jesus gave for us. See, we can all read, and we certainly know that the sacrifice of Christ was a sacrifice, a willing sacrifice, that He gave for the entirety of the world. He gave for all of mankind, for all of the however many billions of people who have been alive on the earth.

You know, the sacrifice of Christ covers every one of them. It covers all of them, so it certainly was an immense sacrifice. But to be of most benefit to me, I have to think about accepting or appreciating the sacrifice of Christ for me personally. And so, I ask that you think about it in that way. Here in 1 Peter chapter 1, we have a section that, again, I know that all of these verses that we'll be covering today are ones that you're familiar with, but I hope that it can help to think about how we are to appreciate Christ's sacrifice for me personally. Here, starting in verse 18 of 1 Peter 1, it says, you know that you were redeemed. You were redeemed. Each one of us have been redeemed.

From the futile ways inherited from our ancestors, we've been redeemed not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the age for your sake. And through Him, in verse 21, you have come to trust in God. See, that's where our trust, that's where our security, that's where our assurance comes from. It comes through Jesus Christ, and then it comes as we learn to trust God, who raised Him from the dead and who gave Him glory so that your faith and your hope are set on God. See, thankfully, as we have entered into a covenant of baptism, as we have been given the coverage that comes from the blood of Christ for giving our sins, we have been an opportunity. We have a wonderful blessing. Having been redeemed, we are able to set our hope on God. We're able to trust God in a way that's extraordinary. It's a very, very significant factor in our lives.

He says a similar thing back here in 1 Corinthians 7. 1 Corinthians 7.

This chapter actually talks about marriage in many ways, but I want to focus on the very last part of it. The very last part of 1 Corinthians 7 says, were you a slave? This is starting in verse 21. Were you a slave when you were called? And so here he's going to talk about the type of life that Christians are to live. Were you a slave when you were called? Do not be concerned about that. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of the present condition that you now have more than ever.

For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord.

Just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Jesus Christ.

Here he's pointing out, and at that time there were some who were servants to other people.

And he said, if you've been called and you're a servant, then make the best of that situation. Realize that, well, that's a physical circumstance that you're dealing with right then.

But ultimately, spiritually, you have been freed. You have been given a release. You have been given a wonderful benefit. A benefit that we get and receive from appreciating the sacrifice of Christ. He says, whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is freed, a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called becomes a slave to Jesus Christ.

He talks about two different concepts there. One of them, as far as how wonderful it is to be released, how wonderful it is to be a free individual, to be free from the penalty of death, to be free from the fear and the apprehension that otherwise we're enslaved by, but then to be free to be a slave to Jesus Christ. See, that's what we are all to be servants of God. We are all to be the slaves of Jesus Christ. And he goes on in verse 23 to explain why. You were bought at the price. Do not become the saved servants of human masters. In whatever condition you were called, brethren, they remain with God. So here in not only Peter, but also here in 1 Corinthians, we find that Jesus has purchased our lives. Now we are to be his slaves. We are to be his servants.

And the more we appreciate that, the more we benefit from that, the more then we are going to be transformed. That's really what he's wanting. He's wanting us to be transformed more and more.

And of course, all of us, I think for the most part, all of us have observed the Passover for a number of years. It's been some time, I think over what, 40 years for me? I think back, sometimes I can't even think back that far. It doesn't seem like I can think or remember too many things.

And yet I know that I understood certain things when I came into the church. I understood certain things several years into that. I understand a lot more about it today. I can think back and say, well, I didn't understand very much about it. And yet, you know, that's okay. You know, we ought to be growing. We ought to be understanding more. We ought to be learning to appreciate the sacrifice of Christ and understand what it is to be bought with a price because we've been purchased to be the servants of Jesus Christ. The second thing that I'll point out about living a crucified life is that it does involve making decisions. It does involve making choices. And we've been called to be dead to sin and to be fighting against that. We see this here in Romans 6. Romans 6, where we're told, as we have come to a commitment to Jesus Christ, as we've come to a recognition of just what it is that God is expecting and what He's wanting of us, He talks about a transition here of where we are to be dead to sin. He says in verse 4, you know, talking about our baptism, talking about the time when we wanted to be forgiven, when we wanted to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, He says, you should be walking in a new life. Walking in the newness of life, that's the type of transition that occurs whenever we are baptized, whenever we commit our life to Jesus Christ, then we've come to understand the benefit that He has to offer, and then we are going to turn. We're going to do something different. We're going to walk another way. We've got to walk in a newness of life. And He says in verse 6, we know that our old self was crucified with Him, so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. See, if we're going to live a crucified life, then we're going to be breaking free from the entrapment, breaking free from the enslavement that we've had to sin. Now, this is something that I know all of us have done for a number of years, but it doesn't hurt us to be reminded of that. Sin is a very deceitful thing. Sin can involve action. It can involve thoughts. It can involve circumstances. It can involve many, many factors in our lives. And as we look at some of the things that a crucified life is going to focus on, we're going to find that there are certainly areas to review, certainly areas to be reminded about. And this is actually what Paul does here in Romans. If we drop down to verse 12, it says, "...since we've been brought into this new way of life, since we've been crucified, our old self is crucified with Him." In verse 12, "...let us, or do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies to make you obey their passions." No longer, maybe this is more specific here in verse 13, no longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.

See, that's the transition that God is asking us to make. He wants us to make those selections. He wants us to make those choices, and we have to be struggling against the things that we see identify as being wrong. He goes on here in verse 16, "...do you not know that if you present yourself to anyone as obedient slaves, then you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience that leads to righteousness." To hear it's very clear that well, we have to continue to put that emphasis on turning from sin and pursuing righteousness.

But in verse 17, "...thanks be to God, that you having once been slaves to sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you having been set free from sin have become the slaves of righteousness." See, we have all been enslaved to sin. We've all had that as a way of life. This is a description that you find that Paul gave and that he realized even about his own life. But he says we don't have to remain enslaved to sin. We can present ourselves to God as an instrument of righteousness. We can ask God to provide the righteousness that he wants us to live by. And of course, that's going to involve us pulling away from sin. Over in Mark 8, I think it summarizes this very well in what Jesus said. He was talking to his disciples here in Mark 8, and he said in verse 34, he called the crowd with his disciples and he said, if any of you want to be my followers, if you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, if you want to be a Christian, then let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. See, that again is a pretty well-known statement or phrase. But see, what it involves is living a crucified life. If we're going to pursue Christianity, if we're going to draw closer to God, if we're going to appreciate the sacrifice of Christ, then we're going to have to be willing to deny ourselves and take up our own cross and follow Jesus Christ. See, now does that tell us exactly everything that we may have to deny or everything that we may have to sacrifice? Well, I don't think it does. I mean, I don't know, you know, what is it? What is my own cross that I'm required to bear? What is your cross that you're required to bear? Well, in many ways, our own nature, the circumstances that surround us, you know, that we're involved in in our own lives, it's going to vary for all of us as far as exactly what God asked us to bear. But He does tell us in general, we're going to need to deny ourselves, deny ourselves and take up our own cross and follow Him. For in verse 35, those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and yet forfeit their life?

So this is a type of transition that God is asking us to make, and of course it's a way of life of thinking about denying whatever we might think we would like or what we would want, denying ourselves and focusing more on Christ than simply ourselves. Colossians chapter 3, and Mike also read a few verses in Romans 12, we've got a number of chapters that you could go to to see how is it that a crucified life can be described. Well, here in Colossians chapter 2, you have a number of things that could be looked at, a number of things that could be analyzed or thought about or examined to see, you know, is that the way that I'm really living?

It says in verse 1, so if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated in the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above and not on things that are on the earth. So that's a very general statement, but telling us to think more of the things of God as opposed to just simply our own things or things that are earthy.

But he goes ahead in verse 5 to outline, to outline things that we need to be on guard against.

And again, we can read through this and say, okay, I don't do that. I don't do this. I don't, I'm not involved in any. Well, we might step back and think about, you know, some of the things that actually lead up to many of these problems, you know, because what leads up to these problems are situations and circumstances that we either find ourselves in and it leads up to our own thought patterns and the things that, you know, we are tempted to do. It says, put to death, in a crucified life, put to death therefore whatever in you is earthly. Fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, which is idolatry, and on account of these things, the wrath of God is coming on all of those who are disobedient. These are actually the ways that you also once followed while you were living that life. But now, and so here he's making a transition, you know, this is what you were involved in, this is what you, you know, perhaps didn't even identify. I think that's what we find about a crucified life. We're trying to move away from sin. We're trying to put sin out of our lives, but we find, you know, that we can't completely achieve that. We find that even when we do that, and this is what Paul says, even when we strive to do that, we find that we're still trapped to a degree. And so we want to struggle to keep out or get out of that type of a trap and situation. And actually, I think this points out just the awareness that we have. I think many times we'll find if we think back, you know, that even though we may have been aware of certain sins in our lives, we probably were not acutely aware. You know, it wasn't enough to concern us. And this is what this is speaking of. We're concerned. We think about whether, you know, we are involving ourselves in any of these type of things. Verse 8, now, you must get rid of all of these things. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another seeing that you have stripped off the old self with this practices and you have clothed yourself with a new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.

See, that's what we're in the process of doing, living a different life, living a life that is aware of sinful situations and pulling back from those. Do we totally avoid all of those?

Well, I can say I don't. You know, if anger or malice or wrath, sometimes that's the way I feel.

But I also realize that's wrong and want to pull back from that and then get away from that, request forgiveness for that, and then strive to live a much more calming and peaceful life.

But here you see this description. Of course, there are numerous chapters that you can go to.

And actually, whenever, as Mr. Luca wrote in this letter that he sent us here just the other day, he points out about just, you know, do we have self-centered thoughts that need to be replaced by the thoughts of God? See, that's what a crucified life is going to be doing. If we're crucified, if we are putting to death our old ways with Christ, well then, are we thinking about the things of God? Or are we thinking about self-centered things? He says, has our speech improved? That's really a good way of stating it. Has our speech improved? Has unoriented criticism, foul speaking, gossip, and harsh talk vanished from our lives?

And of course, that's a good thing to analyze. It's a good thing to evaluate because whenever those things are present, you know, our heart still needs to be cleansed. Our heart still needs to be transformed. He says, James warns, if anyone among you thinks he's religious and does not bridle his own tongue but deceives his own heart, that one's religion is vain or useless.

See, if we think ourselves to be religious and yet we're not bridling our own tongue, then we're not as religious as we thought we were. So that's a good way, I think, to analyze whether or not I'm living a crucified life. He also mentioned, are we learning how to love one another in a greater way?

See, loving one another can be kind of very unclear. He points out, are we more forgiving? Are we less judgmental? You know, those are areas of love. They're areas of understanding and appreciating others. And so I hope that those can be areas that we evaluate as well as we think about, are we living the crucified life that Paul said he lived and that all of us should want to live. The third thing that I'd like for us to be mindful of in this regard is just as we are aware of our sins, as we acknowledge the errors that we make, we want to seek God and His forgiveness. And in essence, we want to accept that God is merciful and that He is so forgiving. See, in Psalm 103, we see a description there.

Psalm 103, you find some statements that David makes that are certainly very, I think, encouraging and uplifting. It's not so much a matter of simply maybe focusing on what am I doing that's wrong, but the fact that I realize that that's wrong and I'm turning from that, I'm asking God for help, and I'm appreciating His forgiveness. I accept, I guess accept probably is better than appreciate because in many cases, you know, we can know that we're going to be forgiven or that we can be forgiven, but we may not accept that forgiveness. Not as much as we really should. Here in Psalm 103, he says, for the heavens in verse 11, for the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him. But as far as the east is from the west, so far He removes our transgressions from us. As a father who has compassion for His children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear Him. And in verse 14, He knows what we're like. He knows what we're made of. He remembers that we're just dust. He remembers how limited we are. He knows how subject to sin and deception that we can be. And so He tells us to remember that He is the one who offers forgiveness and accept and appreciate that forgiveness. Actually, I think if we are understanding better maybe the extent of the effects of sin in our life, you know, we should be growing in repentance, growing in repenting of things that we have seen. Now, growing in repentance, I think, can mean a number of things, but it should involve the way that we are responding, the way we appreciate the fact that we can be forgiven. And it involves a clearing of ourselves. We find over in 2 Corinthians that Paul writes about that, that someone who was truly repentant, someone who was in godly repentance, did fully understand that, well, I can be cleared. I can completely have this wash from my record. And see, sometimes, even though we know we can be forgiven, you know, we tend not to forgive ourselves, or we tend not to release things that we know that God still will forgive us of, and that we bring that to Him and He will do so.

Now, I thought it was interesting, in an article that was in the Good News, you know, this past time, actually several very good articles that lead up to the Passover and lead up to the Holy Days that we're looking forward to. And yet, one of them made the statement, and it was talking about David and what it was that David came to see about himself, and how it was. And, of course, David's sins are pretty, you know, highly documented. You sometimes wonder, well, you know, how could David be thinking so poorly? How could David be letting himself get into such messes?

How could David, you know, find himself, you know, in such a situation with Masterba and then devise the plan that he did with Uriah? How could he do that? Well, he clearly wasn't focused right then. He was clearly, you know, not focused on what God wants. And yet, what we find is, as those things unfolded, and, of course, they're all written for us to be able to read and to learn from. You find that God sent Nathan to David and told him the problem. He told him what was wrong. He told him, you're wrong.

And David acknowledged that. He finally came to see that I've sinned. I have sinned greatly. And, you know, I would like to rectify this, but there really is no way that I can do that. I don't have any way to rectify it. I have to just admit and say that I'm wrong. But then, what it says there in 2 Samuel 12, I'd like to go back there. 2 Samuel 12, 1 Samuel 12, as Nathan came to David and gave him some illustrations and explained what he'd been doing.

In verse 13, David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And so, it was a matter of not just thinking, okay, I've sinned against Bathsheba. I've sinned against Uriah. I've sinned against Israel. You know, I'm supposed to be the king. I'm supposed to be setting a good example.

He says, I've sinned against God. I can't understand that sin is against the real authority, the authority of God. And so, he had probably allowed it to become a minimal thing in his mind. He had allowed it to become a common thing instead of a serious thing that Nathan pointed out to him. I have sinned against the Lord. And in verse 13, the last part of it, it says, Nathan said to David, now the Lord has put away your sin and you shall not die.

And so, you know, the part that I want to focus on there is the fact that as David did repent, as he saw what the problem was, as he turned from that, as he recognized in many ways the significance of what he had been doing, you know, he was truly repentant. And yet, what's followed up in this same verse is just simply the fact that God does forgive. God does put away your sin. And that is certainly a lesson that we find even when we read here in the New Testament about how it is in the New Testament, how it is that God, you know, views us.

He does offer us forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ, but then how should we view it? Here in Romans 8, Romans 8 verse 1, it tells us something that in many ways I think we find hard to accept. And yet, I hope that we can and I hope that we will accept what it says here in Romans 8 verse 1. He says, as we, and of course in chapter 6 and 7, he's talked about the process of conversion. He's talked about what it is to be baptized and to turn from sin and to present yourself to God and to be an acceptable servant of God, to present yourself as an instrument of righteousness.

But here in chapter 8, he's talking about the Holy Spirit. He's talking about receiving the Spirit of God. He's talking about even being led by the Spirit of God. But in verse 1, he starts off this chapter by saying, as you have been baptized, as you have had extended to you forgiveness, as you have accepted that forgiveness, it says in verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ.

See, what does that mean? Does that mean that we're still guilty? We still feel guilty? Now, that means we're no longer condemned. God has removed the death penalty from us. He's removed the penalty for sin away from us. And He wants us to accept that and to appreciate that and be appreciative of how it is that He creates within us the peace, the calmness, the security, the assurance that He wants us to have. The last thing that I want to mention in regard to just living a crucified life, each of these, you know, they kind of build on the other.

But ultimately, as we are serving God, as we are preparing not only to just do what He says as far as observing the Passover and observing the Holy Days, which of course are coming up, He wants to live our lives worthy of the calling that we've been given. That's what He wants us to do. And I think it's amazing to see what it is that Jesus showed is the way of life that He lived and He wants us to live.

Why does God bring us into the church? Why does He bring us into a body where we can learn to interact with one another? Why does He bring us together and give us a mission? He gives us a purpose. He gives us a direction. Well, He tells us that He does that so that we can follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Now, John 13 clearly points out an example that Jesus set that He wants us to emulate. He tells us in John 13, and of course He told His disciples after He had washed their feet, He said, I've set you an example that you should do as I have done to you.

And of course, what was that example? That example was washing their feet, yes. And He tells us, well, wash one another's feet or be willing to do that. But what He was really exemplifying was that what you need to do is to love one another. What you need to do is to serve one another.

And this is actually the way of life that He's called you to live, is a life of service and a life of love toward one another. He later, over in John 13, in verse 35, said, this is the way others can even identify you if you love one another. And we can do that by serving one another, by truly having that attitude of service. I think it's remarkable when we look in Luke chapter 15, because this is a remarkable parable about the two sons and the father.

And how it was that the younger son, he left and he took his inheritance and he essentially blew the entirety of that. And he was gone for quite a while. And, of course, his older brother stayed there at home and he continued to work with his father. But as you read this parable, it's also kind of sad to see that the older boy, the older son, didn't really seem to benefit from the closeness that he should have had to his father. He had his own problems, and I'm not really wanting to get into those. But what we find about this younger son was that as he was gone and as he was living it up, he finally realized that this isn't going anywhere. This will just completely destroy me. And what I need to do is I need to go back to my father. What I need to do is that I need to tell him that I'm wrong. I need to tell him that I want to be forgiven.

I need to go back to him and I need to ask him for help. And so in verse 17 of Luke 15, it says, "...when he came to himself and he thought about, well, how many of my father's higher hands have bread enough? Here I'm dying of hunger." He really was at the end of his rope.

He didn't have hardly anywhere else to turn, but he was actually learning a very good lesson. He was repenting. When he came to himself, he came to understand his own life, his own actions, his own thoughts, his own outlook. He came to see that much differently, much better than he had perceived it before. And that, of course, is a good example for us, you know, that we examine ourselves and we ask for God's help. We ask for his mercy and we repent of our sins.

But I think it's interesting to see what else he says here. I know all of us are familiar with the fact that he came to himself, and yet what does he say in verse 18? He says, I'm going to get up and I'm going to go to my father. And I'm going to say to my father, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before you. And so he was willing to admit that he was wrong. He was willing to admit that he had sinned. And yet he says in verse 19, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me like one of your hired hands, one of your servants. See, what was it that was changing in his mind? See, he was no longer thinking of himself as deserving respect, deserving applause, deserving praise from his father. What he had come to see was that I need to repent, I need to return to my father, and I need to be a servant.

That was what he had come to understand. He had come to realize this. Now, if you read through the whole thing, you find his brother didn't like the fact that he was coming back, didn't want to accept him, didn't want to receive him. But what I want to point out about this is that this follows exactly in what Jesus told his disciples, I want you to do. I want you to serve one another. I want you to understand that your calling is about service. Your calling is to follow in my footsteps and to follow my example and to serve other people. And so, amazingly, this young man had come to see that a purpose for my life is to be a servant. It's not to be served, it's not to be the respected son that his father actually was going to give to him. He was going to help him. He was going to forgive and of course he was waiting for him. But this son had come to see that, well, the purpose of my life, the purpose of my calling was to serve other people. In 1 Peter 4, one verse that we can read in connection with this as we're concluding here. 1 Peter 4, starting in verse 10, it says, Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. We've all been called to be servants and then we need to serve with whatever type of gifts we have. All of us are different. All of us have different abilities. All of us have different capacities. But all of us can serve with whatever gifts we have. He says, whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the words of God. And whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies. See, some of us have more strength than others. Some of us are stronger than others. But some of us are older than others.

We all have different strengths. We all have different abilities. And so we all have to figure out, well, how is it that I can contribute? How is it that I can serve? And that's not going to be the same. It's not going to be even equal. It's just going to be, as he says, serve with whatever strength that God does supply. And he goes on to say in verse 11, do that so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. See, that's what He wants us to do. That's how He wants us to live. And so if I live a crucified life, if I live, as Paul said he did, he said I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. See, all of us want to fit that category. We want to fit the category of allowing Christ to live in us, of learning to battle against sin, to accept the forgiveness of God, to have the peace that comes from knowing that God forgives. But then beyond that, to know that He's called us to serve one another. And in so doing, we're going to glorify God in our actions. Let's close with just one other verse here in John chapter 10, because it ties together. John 10 is the parable or the explanation that Jesus gave about Himself being the Good Shepherd. And it's again something that I think is very important that we realize out of this particular section, describing how Jesus is concerned about us. He's the one who has laid down His life for us. He's the one who has allowed His blood to be shed, His body to be broken. He's the one who gives us hope. He's the one who gives us the ability to help and love and serve one another. And this is exactly what He says here as He talks about the Good Shepherd down starting in verse 11. He says, I am the Good Shepherd. I'm the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. See, what kind of example did Jesus set? Well, He said, I'm willing to wash your feet to the disciples. I'm willing to do whatever is necessary in order to serve you and help you and encourage you and uplift you. And then ultimately, in not too long of a period of time, He's willing to lay down His life, even as they forsake Him. Even as they flee, because they just simply don't know what to do.

But I want to go on here in verse 12, because He says the Good Shepherd in verse 11 lays down His life for the sheep. But He contrasts that with the hired hand or the hireling who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, but sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. But the hireling runs away because the hired hand does not care for the sheep. Jesus cares for the sheep. He loves the sheep. Far different. There's a big contrast between the Good Shepherd and the Bad Shepherd that He describes here. The Bad Shepherd doesn't really care and He ultimately leaves. He ultimately is not providing any help or assistance to the sheep. But what does it say about the Good Shepherd? Well, the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. That's what Christ has done. But what it really says as well in verse 12 is that the Good Shepherd owns the sheep. There He is. He owns the sheep. And that's a part of what we all are doing as we respect the Passover as we take the bread and the wine, as we commit our lives to Him knowing that He has bought and paid for us, that He owns us. And what it says in verse 14, I'm the Good Shepherd and I know my own and my own know me. See, that's the type of union, the type of unison, the type of harmony, and certainly the type of love and respect that He wants us to have for each other and that He emulates as our Good Shepherd. He was the Passover Lamb. In this case, He's watching over us as the Good Shepherd. And so, He clearly deserves our undivided devotion. He clearly deserves that. He deserves the commitment that we should extend. He deserves our love. So, I hope that as we prepare for the Passover, as we think about how it is, you know, that we appreciate what Christ has done. How it is that we are living a crucified life by serving one another, by being a servant. That we can do so in gratitude. And actually, as Paul tells us to do, He wants us to proclaim the Lord's death. See, that's what He tells us to do here around the Passover time. You know, many people have certain perceptions about Passover or Easter connections and celebrations. But what we're directly told is to proclaim His death. Proclaim the fact that He died for us. And I hope that we can do that with maybe even more understanding, more devotion. And I think even if we understand it fully, we should also do that with delight. Because He is excited about His sheep. He's excited about how we're developing. He's excited about how we're growing. And so, I think we ought to be able to, you know, give that excitement back. And give that type of delight back to the one who is so very concerned about us. And I apologize for my voice today.