Servant Leadership in the Kingdom of God

Well, good morning, brethren. Welcome to the fourth day of the Feast of Tabernacles, God's Feast of Tabernacles. And I want to remind you, today is Friday. I have trouble during the feast figuring out what day is it. So I'm going to remind everyone, today's Friday, of course, we're in the middle of the feast, and we can truly rejoice. I want to thank our choir, a wonderful, wonderful blessing to be able to have a choir and be able to have people serving in the choir as they are. And it's a delight to see all of you today, and I thank you for being here. I know you want to be here. I know God wants you to be here. But I thank you for being here, because we're gathered together to worship God and being able to appear before God. And I think it's important. I think all of us know of some of our brethren in our local areas who are not able to come or not able to travel right now because of illness or other issues. So some are needing to observe the Feast of Tabernacles at home. But all of us are greatly blessed. You know, we are blessed to be here, and I'm delighted to be able to see all of you this morning. My wife Pat and I are very thankful to be here. We've loved the area. We're not really... I know that we have numerous feast sites around the country or around the world where they go close to water and beach and hot. That's not us. We're cool, according to Mr. Jones. And certainly I'm not pretty or funny, but hopefully we enjoy the little cooler temperatures. I'm growing up in Oklahoma, living in Kansas City right now. We live in Kansas, side of Kansas City. But I love clouds. I love big, blooming clouds that are coming across the plains and into Kansas City. It's almost always coming from the north and the west. And it was fabulous driving out here the other day. Marvelous, marvelous!

Little different clouds, but amazing up here in the mountains. And I'm hoping all of you are watching the moon. It's very clear out here. Not so clear in other places, but I hope you're watching the moon because it's full or was. It will be waning throughout this week. And so it's a wonderful place to come. It's a blessing to be able to get together and honor God, as of course we all want to do. I do bring you greetings from the brethren in Kansas City and over in Fulton, Missouri. A few of them are here today. Not very many traveled up here this time. Most of them generally are traveling closer. At least several I know are down in the feast in Branson, where we commonly go, and as was mentioned, that's where we commonly serve. It's always amazing to me to see the number of young people. Now I know some of you are seasoned. Some of you are my age or older.

But I know, and I'm amazed, at the number of young adults, young families, young people, and of course all the wonderful little children, it's a blessing to be able to have those children here with us. And since I know that all of you are an amazingly good audience, in that you are so biblically knowledgeable. I know that about our local congregation. I know that about all of our feast sites as we meet together. People are studying the Bible. We're reading, you know. And so I've got a little ditty here I want to tell you about. Actually, it's about Mr. Jones, because it's about him. Some of you know he moved here to Denver recently, and he's going to go out, and of course he's going to visit people. He's going to find out where you live and who you are. But he was out visiting one of the parishioners the other day. And actually, this lady was a middle-aged woman. But I want to go ahead and read this, just to get it straight.

Mr. Jones went to the door. He rang a doorbell, and there was no response. And so he rang it again.

He could see there was a light on, and again, no response. He went round to see. There was a radio on. A light was on. He thought, turns out, this is really strange, and decided to just leave it alone. He's a very good pastor and wants to contact people. Revelation 3, verse 20.

Some of you would know what that says. Revelation 3, verse 20, came to mind, and he wrote a little note to her, saying, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them and they with me. He thought that was just a brilliant response. Very appropriate. And he put it through the mailbox of the door, and then he walked away.

Now, the next time he saw this woman in church, she came up to him and just handed him a little note. And when he looked at his note, he saw that she had written a verse on her note as well. She had written Genesis 3, verse 10. I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked.

So I hid. Now, Mr. Jones is going to get acquainted with all of the people here, and Mrs. Jones will as well. And so, that's probably enough of that stuff.

Anyway, I appreciate the choir, as I mentioned earlier, a very, very wonderful piece, very encouraging, uplifting. I appreciate the sermonette. Mr. Waterhouse presented a topic that all of us can act on today. And I want to, in a sense, kind of carry that theme into our sermon today because it's very important. It's important that we understand the whole mindset of serving other people. We all know that we're here to envision the coming rule of Jesus Christ to the earth, the establishment of a kingdom that's going to replace all of the kingdoms and the countries and the governments that are established by men.

See, that's what we've got today, whether we like it or not. We've got some countries around the world that are monarchies, and some have dictators. Even some like us have democracies that don't work.

I mean, this doesn't work. If we haven't figured that out, this is a good form of government, perhaps for man, but it's not the type of government that Christ is going to set up on earth.

I want us to look in Luke 19 because in Luke 19 you see Jesus giving a parable, a parable that's about the kingdom of God. And, of course, many of his parables were about the kingdom of God, but he gives a parable about the 10 pounds. And in verse 11, he tells this parable, and it's a parable about the kingdom of God. In verse 12, the nobleman.

So he said in verse 12, a nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then returned. See, that's what it's mentioned in verse 12, and, of course, he's depicting him dying, going to heaven, returning with royal authority. And yet, we can drop down to verse 14, the children of the country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, we don't want that man to rule over us. See, that's what we're going to see happen here at the end of this age.

We're going to see Christ return to earth. He's going to come in the clouds. That's why I love the clouds. I love the different types of clouds. I love to see, you know, sun shining through the clouds, and yet Christ is going to return in glory and power. And yet, the world is going to hate that. They're going to hate that he is taking over because that's what he's going to do. He's going to return to stop this age of darkness, as we've had very well explained to us.

But I want to jump back to verse 13, where he says he has 10 servants, and he gave each one a pound. So we had 10 pounds. And he gave them, in verse 13, and told them to do business with these until I come. And so in verse 15, returning in royal power, he called his servants to report what they had gained with the pounds he had given them.

And the first came back and said, well, I gained 10 pounds. I have one pound, and that pound just simply representing gifts and talents, abilities. All of us have some of those. We are blessed by God to have incredible ability and capacity. We want to use those capacities properly. And in verse 17, it says, well done. Well done, good and faithful servant. I'm going to give you... what? What is he going to give? He's going to give rulership. He's going to give authority to us.

I'm going to give you a rulership over 10 cities. And of course, you know, the next one came. He says, I've gained five pounds. And he says, fine as well. You have done well. I want you to have rulership over five cities. See, these servants had acted properly during the time that they were given to grow spiritually and then actually learn. They were growing in learning how to properly rule in the kingdom of God. Now, again, in our sermonette, that was mentioned. That's what we're looking forward to. But I can tell you, we'd better know what it is that Jesus expects us to know.

So I want to cover, you know, what type of rulership will be taking place in the coming kingdom? And are we learning those valuable lessons right now? And it's not just for those of us who are older. I include myself in that. But for every one of you, no matter what your age, your middle age, even our teenagers, our younger people, this is what you are being trained in. And, see, amazingly, we have to have in mind that the kingdom that Christ is going to come is just going to be a new government. It will be a literal kingdom here on earth. It's not some ethereal thing.

Like many teach, many preach. The kingdom of God is some kind of a vision or some type of a concept that is really not concrete. That's what a lot of people think. Some people think the kingdom of God is here already. I'm pretty sure that's not the case. That is not what we see around us. You know, we see the kingdoms of the world just simply running amok. We see even the better kingdoms or the better rulers struggling with all kinds of problems. Let's see the literal kingdom of God is going to come to the earth.

And then we have to understand how we're going to be expected as the children of God to rule in that kingdom. See, in Zachariah 14, all of you, I'm sure, are familiar with that chapter because it's a wonderful chapter. It's about the Feast of Tabernacles being observed in the 1000-year rule of Christ on earth.

And in verse 3, it talks about the great battle that will happen on earth, and mankind will be fighting against Jesus' return. Zachariah 14, verse 3, a great battle is going to happen. And, of course, Christ in verse 4 is going to stand on the Mount of Olives. And yet, the outcome of that is the literal kingdom that will start from Jerusalem and then expand around the world.

In verse 9, it says, and the Lord will become king over all the earth. On that day, the Lord will be one, and His name will be one. See, what an incredible blessing that's going to be. We're not going to have the nations vying against one another, people hating and warring against one another. That's going to change because in verse 11, it shall be inhabited, and never again shall it be doomed, talking about Jerusalem to destruction. Jerusalem shall abide in security.

People are not going to be afraid. They're not going to be fearful. They're not going to be apprehensive. We have plenty of that in this world. All of us suffer some of that from time to time.

And yet, we are greatly blessed to be able to think about the literal kingdom of God that is going to come to the earth. We know what the answer is. We pray, by kingdom come. We want that kingdom to come. Let's see, do we fully comprehend that that kingdom is a literal kingdom?

In the verses that describe Jesus' rule on earth, whenever you have any kind of kingdom, any kind of government, there have to be several things. There have to be a territory. There has to be subjects There has to be a law, and there has to be a king. Now, I could go through and enumerate each one of those, which I'm not going to take time to do. I think all of us know that the territory we've already said, we read it here in Zechariah, verse 9, 14, 9, it's going to be over the whole earth.

The whole earth will be under one ruler. And, of course, talks about the subjects. It says in Daniel 7, verse 14, if you want to look that up or write it down, it says, to him was given dominion and glory and kingship that all people, all nations, and all languages should serve him. And so all over the globe, this government is not going to be in North America. It's not going to be the U.S. or Canada. It's going to be all over the earth. And it's going to have subjects, all nations. We know from Micah 4, verse 2, that the law is going to go forth from Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. See, these are all very familiar verses to everyone.

And amazingly, the king is going to be Jesus Christ, and he is going to rule. His administration will be a government from God of love. That's what he's going to start off and get people's attention. And yet beyond that, he's going to rule a government of love. He actually calls this kingdom that he's going to install on earth. He calls it the Father's Kingdom.

That's what he said right before he died. He says, I'm awaiting the time when my Father's Kingdom will come to the earth. Let's look at Hebrews chapter 1, again pointing out the authority that Jesus will have at that time. Hebrews chapter 1 says in verse 5, to which of the angels, says, God said, You are my Son. He was differentiating here in Hebrews the authority, the power, the greatness, the wonder of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He says, he's far greater than any angel, far greater than Lucifer, far greater than Michael or Gabriel, or any angel. He is God Himself. In verse 8 of the Son, he says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.

See, that's the kingdom that Jesus told Pilate, I'm the king of. Pilate asked him, are you a king?

And of course, he said, yes, I'm a king. I'm not installing the government yet, but I will. I will later on, and that's what we envision as we are celebrating this Feast of Tabernacles. So, I want all of us to know the type of qualities that Jesus has. Now, I'm not going to read anything that you haven't read before, but I hope in framing it this way you can realize, well, Jesus sets a pattern. His style, his pattern of leadership is, I mean, you talk to the corporate world, and some of you are in that world of a lot of different styles of leadership and styles of working with people, but Jesus' style is servant leadership. That's what he says, that's what he tells us to grow in, that's what he wants us to understand. It's actually a mindset of true care.

We don't have that today. You know, we have people who pretty much care about themselves, about what they can get out of the system. But see, Jesus' government, his rule, is going to be for the good of others. It's going to be for the good of everyone, and it's going to be truly helping others to be all they can be, to be the children of God. That's what all of us are in training to do. See, when you think about the government that Christ is going to install, and then he's going to give authority to those of us who learn, who learn his style of leadership, see, he's not just going to cut you loose or cut me loose and say, okay, do it like I want to. You know, I've waited throughout my lifetime, and now I'm finally in the kingdom of God, and I'm going to do it the way I want to. That isn't it. That's not going to happen. He's only going to have you there if you have learned his style of leadership. In Matthew 20, we're familiar, I'm sure, with the the vying of the disciples for position. You know, this is brought up a couple of times, but in Matthew 20, I guess I'd better turn there to be able to read part of it. Matthew chapter 20, you see the disciples wondering, well, who's going to be first? Who's going to be the highest? Who's going to be next to you? Well, that wasn't what Jesus wanted them to learn. He says, in verse 25, he called them together. He says, you know, the rulers of the nations, the rulers around you, everything you are familiar with in this dark world, the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great ones are tyrants over others. So he pointed out, this is the wrong type of government, the wrong type of leadership, the wrong qualities. In verse 26, it will not be so among you. He says, I don't want that for you, my disciples. I don't want that for others.

I want people to learn an entirely different way of ruling. It's not to be so among you, but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant. Whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave, just as the son of man came not to serve or to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. See now, verse 28 there, you should mark, you should draw a circle around it, you should write it down, you should memorize it, and you should know.

This is what Jesus requires of me if he's going to give me rulership. He wants me to understand that his way of ruling is in complete conflict and contrast to what happens around us in this world today. Now, I want to go over a number, really quickly, of leadership qualities that Jesus has. So it's not just telling you that Jesus is going to be a good ruler, because we know that, but what about us? Are we going to properly rule because we understand his perfect example? That's what we have to be learning. We have to not only know that example, we have to, what does he tell us, we have to follow his example. He said, follow me.

And it applies. It applies to every single one of us, no matter who we are, no matter what our role today, you know, whether we have a position or role in the church, whether we have a role in our family, in our marriage. These principles apply to every situation of our lives, to become, you know, the type of a servant leader that Jesus is the perfect example. The first point I'll give you, I better not say, because I don't know, I know that Mr. Jones has, you know, somebody mentioned about the rugs, and these are really nice. These are cushy rugs. But I'm concerned about Mr. Jones' trap door. That's what I'm concerned about, because he may have this rigged up here. I'm not sure. These rugs cover something. I'm just not sure what. Anyway, first point I want to mention is simply the fact, you know, that Jesus expresses, he exudes, he is the epitome of, what?

Humility. See, now this world operates on pride, and if you make a study of pride and humility, you will find very many bad things about pride. And of course, James tells us, you know, God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. In Philippians chapter 2, and again, I will only mention that this is the most remarkable treatise on servant leadership that we have written for us in the pages of the Bible. But in Philippians chapter 2, I want to read a couple of verses here that point out what Jesus was willing to do. Philippians chapter 2, he says in verse 5, let this mind be in you, which was in Jesus Christ. Who, in verse 6, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality, but God is something to be clung to. Now, he was willing to humble himself. He was willing to give up what he had. He had glory with the Father and has always had. He is eternal. The Word has eternally existed with the Father in love, and yet he was willing to give that up. In verse 7, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in human likeness, being found in human form. What did he do in verse 8? He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death, on a cross. Now, you can read the whole thing on down to verse 11, and of course that's why he's exalted. That's why he's the King. That's why he is the one who is going to lead all of us and everyone else on earth, those who live into and who will be born during that thousand years. That's why he is the one that we will always look to. And so, getting rid of pride, which is another great topic, and again a good study for all of us, study about pride. Pride has no upside. It is all going down, and humility is the example that Jesus said. So that's the first leadership quality I'll mention about Jesus. The second thing is that he simply recognizes that he and the Father have existed forever. They are eternal, and he recognizes that there has to be order and structure. Now, this world enjoys thriving on chaos. That's what we see in many different aspects of this world. And, you know, you often hear even in our country, which is actually a very good country, you know, we have great blessings.

We are immensely blessed to live in this land, and yet we have a mindset of people who are generally in leadership. You know, don't let a good crisis go to waste. You know, just try to embellish every crisis that you can come up with. And yet, Jesus was not going to have any of that.

That's not going to be the way that things are done in the kingdom to come. I want us to look at 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, of course, gives God's order, not only for the resurrection, as I'm sure you know, throughout 1 Corinthians 15. But in verse 20, he shows a pattern.

The firstfruits of those who have died. So he's talking about those who will rise as firstfruits.

Jesus is, of course, the first of the firstfruits. But in verse 23, he says, in raising people to be a part of my kingdom and to be servants with me in the kingdom of God, to rule in love, there's going to be order. Verse 23, each in his own order.

Christ, the firstfruits. We're always going to be referring everyone to the king. We're going to be referring everyone to the ruler, who also, of course, is subject to the father, as I will point out. And yet, he says, Christ, the firstfruits in verse 23, and then those who belong to Christ.

That's the category I want to be in. I hope all category, all of you, want to be in.

Whether we're alive or whether we have died, we want to be in the category of being ones who belong to Jesus Christ. Christ, the firstfruits, and those who belong to Christ, that is coming, and then comes the end. Then comes the rest. And he is going to reign in verse 25 until all his enemies are under foot. He is going to rule over all, and there's going to be order. There's going to be a direction that Christ teaches that everyone should look to the Father. And, of course, we're going to be teaching that everyone should look to Jesus Christ. So that's the second point.

The humility that Jesus has, we seek an understanding of order and structure that is necessary in order to lead. The third thing I'll point out about Jesus is he is a great follower. Too many times people today want to demand their own way. And, of course, I can say that. People today, everybody else demands. No, I mean me. I demand my own way way too much. And that's something all of us have to understand. See, Jesus is a great follower. Here in John chapter 5, and for the most part we'll be in John for the rest of the sermon, John chapter 5 in verse 19, Jesus says, "'Verily I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own.'" That's quite an admission from the Son of God. He was here. He was living in a physical form as we read, but the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. You know, that's what, you know, how is it that we learn what we are supposed to do? Well, we see in the Word of God, well, that's what it tells us to do. That's what Jesus is represented as a great follower. He can follow instructions. He can do it exactly the way the Father and he designed it to be done. If we turn over to chapter 7, chapter 7 is an amazing chapter because it's our example of Jesus keeping the Feast of Tabernacles.

And he sent his family, he sent his brothers up to the Feast and said, I'm not going right now, but it says in the middle of the Feast, he did go to the Feast. And in verse 14, about the middle of the Feast, Jesus went up in the temple. He began to teach. And the Jews were astonished, saying, well, how does he have, how can he teach us anything? He wasn't taught by us.

That's what they're saying. You didn't learn what we had to teach in our schools.

He goes ahead and answers to that in verse 16. Jesus answered and he says, my teaching is not mine. My teaching is not just what I came up with, even though it appears to me he would have done quite a good job of coming up with something.

But he points this out for us. He says, my teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.

He goes ahead in verse 17, anyone who resolves to do the will of God, and all of us should be wanting to do the will of God, anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. Those who speak on their own try to glorify themselves, but the one who speaks or seeks the glory of him who sent him is true.

There's nothing false in him. Now, what was Jesus saying in that discourse with those who were criticizing him or really wondering, see, actually, we live in a time today, and I think all of us see this around us. Everybody is a critic. Everybody is a critic, including me. I have an opinion.

It doesn't mean that opinion has any bearing on anything. It's just everybody's a critic, but right now everybody feels free to voice their criticism, whatever it is.

Psalm 1 says, don't sit in the seat of the scoffer. That's not going to get us anywhere. We want to delight in the rule and law of God. So back to the point here, number three, he's a great follower. Let's jump down to number four. Jesus, in his leadership style, his servant leadership, Jesus was willing to do the hard things. Now, we know, clearly, the crucifixion was going to be incredibly hard, even though as a human being, and being able to feel the pain and the suffering and the disrespect, the anger, the hatred, the mocking. Now, that was not easy. None of us would like that. None of us would want to go through anything near like that. But he was willing to do that for us. He wants us. He wants us so badly to be in his kingdom. He wants us to trust him. He will. He is the right way, and he will lead us the right direction.

You also see Jesus enduring temptation from the devil. That was incredible.

None of us, I'm pretty sure. I can say I certainly haven't. I haven't fasted 40 days and 40 nights, and I'm not recommending that at all. But Jesus did that, and he was hungering. And then, what were Satan's temptations? Well, hunger and disrespecting God, and actually trying to encourage him to satiate his hunger for power. He says, that's not why I'm here. I don't want what you have to give. I'm going to wait for the Father to give me that in his order, because we are a family of order. And so, we see in Matthew 7, and again, all of you are very familiar with this part of the Sermon on the Mount. I'm going to say, but it says in verse 13, enter through the narrow gate.

Enter the narrow gate. Be willing to do things that are uncomfortable. Be willing to do things that are hard, because they're the right thing to do. Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy, that leads to destruction, and there are many who are taking it.

And yet, he goes to the head to say in verse 14, but the gate is narrow, and the road is hard, that leads to life, to eternal life, and there are few that find it. See, Jesus was willing to do the hard things. He was willing to suffer and endure the hard things.

And brethren, many times, we face things that are difficult. We face things that are hard. We often pray that God will take away the trial, take away the suffering, and clearly, that's what he wants us to do. He wants us to bring those things to him, but sometimes he allows us to endure. Sometimes, you know, many of us know people who are suffering. Some of us, probably all of us, know people who are suffering from COVID. Unfortunately, we have a number in our congregations that I'm aware of that are suffering from that. And yet, you know, God can help with that, but he doesn't want us to disregard the fact that we may go through some things that are very, very hard. I know some of you have endured some very hard things. If we think about that, as I'm following Jesus Christ, I can make it a little bit better, because that's the example that he set.

The fifth thing I'll say about Christ's leadership and his servant qualities was that he clearly, this is over in John chapter 8, John chapter 8, this is where he was talking about being the light of the world. He clearly states that in verse 12, I am the light of the world. And clearly, we want to understand that and grow in our understanding of that. But what I want to point out is that Jesus, and this is the fifth point, Jesus had a sense of his own destiny. He was only here on earth for, well, we would say a relatively short period of time.

And yet, he had a sense of destiny. He knew why he was here. He knew where he was headed. He knew what he needed to go through. He knew what the future was. And of course, he wants us to follow that same example. He wants us to understand our purpose. Here in John chapter 8, verse 14, Jesus again was being criticized. He's saying, your testimony can't be valid. You know, you're just one person. You know, they thought, well, you have to have two or three, verify whatever is said. And on a human scale, that certainly mostly is needed. And yet, for Jesus, he said in verse 14, he said, even if I testify on my own, on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, because I know where I have come from and I know where I am going. You do not know where I came from or where I'm going. See, he absolutely knew the purpose of his life. And so we have to consider, do we fully sense God's purpose for my life, for your life? See, we cover this often. It's something we talk about at church much of the time, because it is the trunk of the tree. It is the big picture.

But see, it's the example that Jesus said. He knew where he came from. He knew where he was going.

That gives us stability. That gives us encouragement. We can have stability like the anchors that were talked about yesterday. So he had a sense of his destiny, and so should each of us, if we're going to be given rulership in the kingdom of God. The sixth point that I'll make is that Jesus was willing to be inconvenienced for others. He was willing to be inconvenienced.

Now, you read through the entirety of what we see in the Bible about his life, and you know, he clearly was called upon many times to go out and serve, to help, to heal, to feed. That's what he did. But I want us to look here in Matthew chapter 14. Matthew chapter 14, you see an example that is incredible, and it points out the humility of Jesus, but also it points out his humanity. And yet, I believe it will point out the fact that he was willing to be inconvenienced even when himself, when he himself was suffering. Here in Matthew 14, first section is about John the Baptist. John the Baptist being beheaded by Herod out of an insane request, and that was the end of John the Baptist's life. Now, John was Jesus' cousin. He was close to him. He knew who he was. He loved him. He understood numerous relatives. He was close to John the Baptist. And, of course, whenever John was beheaded, it says in verse 14 here that John's disciples came and took the body, and they buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

So what would be the effect of that? Well, of course, I'm sure Jesus would be saddened. He would be grieving. He would be, in a sense, suffering. He knew, perhaps, he knew better than anyone what John's role was, and perhaps even knew what would happen to John. But, humanly, he had lost a very dear, loving relative. And in verse 13, I think this is reflected when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself.

Now, sometimes we just need to be away from everybody, sometimes. And certainly, when we are suffering with grief or sorrow, that's what Jesus did. He went away. He was thinking about how this probably played into the hands of what was needing to be done on earth. And yet, it goes ahead in verse 13, say, But when the crowds heard what Jesus did, that he had ripped it off in a boat, they followed him on foot from the town. And when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd. And he had compassion on this crowd, and he cured the sick. See, the masses, anytime they saw him, you know, they clamored to be around him. They wanted to know, you know, will they walk on water? You know, they'd heard that. They'd heard the disciples say that he didn't do that. Or will he heal people? Or will he feed thousands? And of course, if you read on down, you know, that's what he did. He fed, not only heal people, but he fed people. And yet, he did that at a time when he was sorrowful, at a time when it wasn't convenient, and yet he was willing to serve. Now, in John 15, verse 12 and 13, I won't read those, but you can read them if you want.

You see Jesus telling his disciples, you need to just lay down your lives for your friends, just as Jesus intended to do in his, when he was giving this information to his disciples.

So Jesus was willing to be inconvenienced for others. And finally, number seven, Jesus treated everybody, everyone with dignity. He treated everyone with dignity because he understood that humans have been created in the image of God. He understood. He wasn't affected, even as all of us know we are today. You know, we have so much division around the world and in this country over race or over status or over political party. You know, the Bible just calls that factions. It says, get away from that. That has nothing to do with what God is doing.

But it says Jesus treated everyone with dignity. See, why was he criticized?

Why was he criticized for eating with tax collectors and sinners? See, most people didn't like the IRS agents. Most of them didn't want to be around them, even Matthew. They didn't want to be around him. But that's where Jesus was at his home and eating and being criticized for being around tax collectors and sinners. Here in John 4, you see a brilliant example of Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well. John 4, it's an amazing account. It's incredible how it was that he really revealed himself. He revealed who he was. He revealed himself as the source of living water, not directly to his disciples, even though maybe he told them that privately.

In the Bible, what we read, it looks like the Samaritan woman was the first one that Jesus directly told that to. And yet, she didn't understand why he would even talk to her.

Neither did the disciples, because they thought, why is he talking to a woman? That's not a good thing. Verse 7, Jesus said to the woman, give me something to drink. And the disciples were gone.

And in verse 9, she even asked, as a Jew, why are you speaking to me as a Samaritan? I don't understand what you're doing. But Jesus, of course, didn't despise the Samaritans like everyone else. He treated her with dignity. He understood a lot about her past. He knew about it. She understood. He knew about it. He was forgiving. He was loving. When the disciples came back in verse 27, it says they were astonished that Jesus was speaking to a woman. This was unheard of.

This was not something that commonly would be done. But this is an example of Jesus treating everybody, those created in the image of God, with dignity. And of course, that's what we're going to be expected to do. We're expected to learn that today and apply that, and we're going to be expected to use that in the kingdom to come. See, now what's going to be the outcome of the kingdom? The outcome of the rulership of Jesus Christ and the rulership of the children of God. What's going to be the outcome? Proverbs 29 gives us the answer. Proverbs 29 verse 2.

The latter part of verse 2 talks about this world. When the wicked rule, the people groan. But the first part says, and this is what Christ will do, and what hopefully all of us will do as we learn his leadership qualities of serving others. Verse 2, when the righteous are in authority, the people will rejoice. And brethren, that is our destiny. That's what we want to do. We want to follow Jesus Christ here and now, and we want to rule with him throughout the millennium and beyond.