Jesus’ parable of the pounds in Luke 19 shows us that we are to rule with Christ in the Kingdom of God and we must be learning how to properly rule now. To properly rule in this Kingdom of God under Jesus Christ, we are learning today to yield to and be guided by Christ’s rule in the Church and in our lives. All of the governments in this world reflect selfish desire and lust for power.
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I'm thankful to see that all of you are appearing here before God in Rapid City. God has placed His name here, and we are in a sacred assembly, a holy convocation. And so it's wonderful to be able to think about what God wants us to think about regarding the feast. We've got a beautiful location here. Rapid City is quite a colorful place. We've got the mountains around here, or hills at least, called the Black Mountains. I could see the last couple of days a lot of blue clouds and rain. And if you were looking out between the clouds last night, you could see a gorgeous full moon. You all know, I believe, that that's what you might expect on the 15th day of the first month of any lunar year. And so, very, very wonderful to be here. I appreciate so many who are working hard to make things run.
Mr. Lemore is a wonderful festival coordinator here. He's quite colorful, as you know. I mean, that's what I picked up on when we were listening to him last night and this morning.
I really appreciate his energy, because about 60 years ago I had some energy like that.
Maybe some of you did, too. But I appreciate that. And it looks like from last night, he's quite a packer. So I'm going to have to help and get his help as we head back out of here in another eight or ten days. My wife Pat and I are delighted to be here with you. We live in Kansas City, and so we don't normally come this direction, but occasionally we do.
I do want to greet you from the brethren who were in Kansas City in Mid-Missouri, in Fulton, Missouri. I know a few of them are here. But normally, we attend the Feast Down in Branson.
We have done so for the last 15 years or so. We've been there most of the time.
And some of you have already told me that you're wondering what I'm doing here. Did I mess up and not get into the right area or what? Because how many have been to the Feast in Branson? Let me just... Okay, all of you, you don't have to listen to the sermon.
And I know the rest of you, you're probably in Steamboat in the last six years. And so all of you don't have to listen to the sermon. Anyway, enough of this nonsense. All of us know that we're here to celebrate the coming of Jesus to the earth, and even more importantly, perhaps not more importantly than Jesus coming to the earth, but what he's going to do. He's going to inaugurate a new order, a new kingdom, that's going to replace all of the kingdoms and the countries and governments that are established by men. We watch this all the time, all of us, if we watch television, if we pay attention at all to what's going on around the world. We see that things are not working so well. We've got all kinds of human governments, monarchies and places. We've got a democracy like we use here. There are certain countries that are dictatorships. All of those are just government rule by men. And, as we can see pretty clearly, not working so well. Constant battles, constant wars.
Here in this country there almost appears to be war going on because of conflict. But in the kingdom of God, the kingdom that Jesus is going to bring. And see, I know, just looking at this crowd, I know you already know what the answer is, but I want to repeat it again, because that's what God is reinforcing in our mind. But there's going to be a unique new form of rulership introduced whenever Jesus sets up his kingdom. And I'd say it's a unique biblical teaching and a unique form of rulership because you don't really see that in the nations on the earth today. They're all going to be replaced. They're all going to give way, and then this new form of rulership is going to be established. And again, I know you know who's going to be in charge. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is going to be the King. He's going to be the ruler. And if it was just that easy, we'd just have to wait for Christ to come and for him to do everything. Now, he's invited us. The Father has invited us to share in that kingdom, to share in the teaching, to share in the instruction that Christ is going to give to the world, all over the world. And so it's important that we are learning that today. In Luke 19, you see a parable that Jesus gave. It's called the parable of the minas or of the pounds. And he's telling that parable about the kingdom of God. He's talking about that. And what we see is that he gave the servants, his servants, his servants, he gave his servants 10 pounds or a pound each and told them to do business.
And when they did, some of them produced. Some of them learned what they were supposed to learn. Some of them grew the one pound to 10 pounds. And what did Jesus say? Well, in verse 17, he says, well done. Well done, my faithful servant. I'm going to give you rulership over 10 cities. And the second one, of course, he gained 5 pounds or 5 minas.
In verse 19, he says, you shall rule over 5 cities. But I want to ask you to give the people who are going to be taught throughout that thousand years, what kind of rulership is Christ going to ask me or you? What are we supposed to do? Now, the answer to that question should be obvious. No, he's not going to ask me. He's not going to ask you.
He is going to install a new government, and he expects us to be trained in it right now.
We are expected to be trained in his work. We are expected to be trained in his work.
We are expected to be trained in his rulership style right now. And so that's why it's important for us to cover this today. Jesus is the ultimate ruler, the ultimate leader. The Bible is filled with examples. I'm sure you're going to hear some about that during certain sections of the feast time. We're going to learn about how Jesus lived. We're going to learn about what he did, what he said, what he taught the disciples. And yet we should think of it as what he is teaching us. The type of rulership that Jesus is going to install is described here in Matthew 20. We need to go to Matthew 20.
And I will go over this for your benefit because all of us are in training right now.
We don't just go to the feast to have a good time, although we do have a good time and we enjoy being able to get together and be able to enjoy an abundance that we may not have throughout the year. But see here in Matthew 20 you have a section where we have it actually describes the kind of rulership that the world has today. And then Jesus telling us the disciples it is not to be that way with you. Here in Matthew 20 starting in verse 21. The mother of James and John came to Jesus. And in verse 21 she asked what do you want?
And she said, in verse 21, I'd like for you to declare that these two sons of mine will sit one on the right hand and one on the left in your kingdom. Now we can read right over that and not really know what she's asking. What she's asking is I want my sons to have position and power. I want them to have influence and authority right under you. What does Jesus say? He says, you don't know in verse 22, you don't know what you're asking. He asked him some questions, but see I want us to realize that, well, that was the rulership of the world. That was what she thought was right. That was what James and John thought was right in another account. It appears that they were kind of in on that. And yet, that was just simply promoting what's already not working on this earth. And that wasn't what Jesus wanted her to focus on or his disciples. And of course, whenever the other ten of the disciples heard what was being asked, they were furious. In verse 25, Jesus called them to him and said, you know, this world, the rulers of the Gentiles, the rulers of the Gentiles, as they were familiar at that time, Caesar, Herod, even the Pharisees. Not that they were the Gentiles, but they had their own order. They had their own rule. They had their own type of government. And yet, he says here, you know, the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and the great ones are tyrants over them. See, what do we see today in our world?
That's exactly what we have in numerous countries around the world. It's even what we have here in this country. Whether we realize it, we like it, because we've all grown up in this country, perhaps, most of us. And yet, we have not. We've been absorbing that system, and it's kind of a system that, in a sense, makes sense, or we think it makes more sense than other things around the world. But Jesus said in verse 26, that is not to be so. And that is not to be a slave among you. But whoever wishes to be in authority, someone who wishes to be great among you, must be your servant. Whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave. I know all of you are familiar with that verse. You're familiar with this whole section. We teach this at the Passover. We teach this right before the Days of Unleavened Bread. We say that, well, Jesus was washing the feet of the disciples.
Well, what was he displaying? Well, he was displaying the servant rulership because he was in charge, and yet he was displaying that for the disciples and telling them, look, what you see and what has just been asked for is wrong, and it is not going to work.
And the only system that you need to imbibe in, that you need to have as a part of your heart, is what we read in verse 28. He says, whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave. Just as the Son of Man came in verse 28 not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Again, a verse that you surely have memorized, or you have read to you over and over and over again. It is why so many of you are already sitting here. You are serving. We have got ushers here. We have got people who have worked on the sound. Actually, I know the sound is working quite well. At least it sounds good up here. Before I got up here, one of the sound men came and gave me a pocket full of stuff and pinned this on me. I was thinking I shouldn't have worn my skinny suit. I couldn't even get it in my pocket. Anyway, we've got all kinds of people. We've got people doing special services. We've got people who have all kinds of assignments as far as activities.
That's wonderful. What does it say here in verse 28? I'm certainly not negating any of that. That's terribly needed. I want everyone to understand serving others is correct.
What does it say? It says, just as the Son of Man came in verse 28, not to be served.
That's why many people are in human government today, to be served, to get my way, to do what seems right to me. Like I said, Christ isn't going to ask me, how should we run the kingdom?
He's going to run it, and He's going to expect me and you to run it His way. It's important for us to comprehend that. He says, I didn't come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life away. Give His life a ransom for many. See, that encapsulates everything that I want to share with you today. This is what Jesus' example is. This is what Jesus' example is. He's going to bring and install with the kingdom to come. This is what each one of us has to internalize. It has to be in our mind. It has to be in our heart. And you might be saying, well, I'm not very able to serve other people. Like I said, when I was 30 or 40 years old, I felt like I was more able than I am in my 70s to do whatever I might do to serve others. But see, there are many ways that we can serve, and many of you are serving with your prayers. You're serving with your heart as you support the preaching of the gospel around the world. That's an attitude. That's an outlook. That is a heart of a servant. The title that I would give this servant or sermon is, is, Servant Rulership in the Kingdom. Because that's what Christ is going to expect us to learn now. Christ wants us to know. That's what he wants me to know today, and he wants each one of us to know that. Amazingly, in verse 28 here, it says, Christ came not to be served, but to serve. That was his purpose. We have to ask ourselves, is that our purpose? Is that my purpose? Is that what I get up every morning thinking, how can I serve others? How can I serve others? Well, it's exactly the attitude that Jesus had. Jesus said, if we try to just save our life, then we'll lose it. But if we give our life away, that's what he said.
He said, if we give your life away, then that will bring you salvation. That was what Christ did. We have to think about that sometimes, because Christ laid down his life every single day, in his not conquering sin, because he didn't sin, but he was always in prevention mode. He was always on guard against sin. He was laying down his life every single day.
Then, ultimately, of course, he would be laying down his life as the Lamb of God, and allow the blood of the Lamb to be shed. That's what Christ set as the perfect example of servant rulership. He was ruling even then. When Pilate asked him, were you a king? He said, of course I am. Yes, I'm a king. I'm a king, and I'm here for this purpose. But we need to think about it for each one of us. What kind of rulership do we display individually? We've got a number of examples throughout the Bible, and primarily here in the Gospels, about what Jesus was like. That's what we want to think about today. If we're going to have the attitude I keep looking at my watch, because I don't see a clock up here, and I'm glad to see that there's not a clock on the wall or behind us, because Mr. Lamoure said I could talk as long as I wanted. But I also know that all of you are going to walk out of here at 4.30. I will wrap it up.
This is an adjustable sermon. It has three points or five points or seven points or nine points, depending on how many stay in the room. But I hope that you can be encouraged that what you are learning, what you are learning here at the feast, what you are learning in your local congregation, what you are learning in your growing, in even your study of the Bible, it's most of all to become like Jesus and to have the love of God that he had for other people.
The first point that I will point out if you want to write down what the points are is simply there is a primary attitude of servant rulership. And again, you can write down what it is because that primary attitude of servant leadership or rulership, as we are kind of covering today, is humility. We see Jesus exemplifying that. Let's go over to Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1. Excuse me, I will go to the second chapter, if I can even find Philippians here. Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. Paul gives a description of what Jesus was like.
But see, he points out that as he came not to be served, but to serve, it says in verse 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Jesus Christ. And so we are directed by the Apostle Paul under God's inspiration that this is the kind of mind that I need to ask for every day. That's what I want to do. I encourage you to do that.
I believe that each one of us have the opportunity. We can choose to do that or not. But I think it would be to our benefit to do so. I'm reading out of the New Revised Standard, so it may be a little bit different than what your New King James or whatever type of translation you commonly look at. But it says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who in verse 6, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited.
He was with the Father in the beginning, before anything else existed. He was with the Father. And yet in verse 7, it says, but he was there in the glory of the family of God with God. But it says in verse 7, he emptied himself and took on the form of a servant. It was an emptying of his glory to take on the form of a servant, being born in human likeness. So he became as a man. And being found in this human form, what did he do? He humbled. Humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
And of course it goes on to show how that that qualifies him for everything. Therefore God, who also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend. And heaven and earth and under the earth and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. Now that is, it says, or has covers many different topics, perhaps. But all I'm pointing out is that Jesus said that the primary attitude, or he displayed, I should say, the primary attitude of servant-ruler, that you want to be and that I want to be in the kingdom.
We want to be a part of the resurrection that will occur when Jesus comes. But we have to have already learned. We have to already learn what the attitude is that the servant-ruler is. And that is what the attitude is. And that spiritual ruler is going to implement. We have to be manageable.
And of course, it's going to take humility to do this. Matthew 11, verse 28 and 29 and 30 talk about Jesus telling people, I want you to come to me, those of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. If you just take my yoke upon you and what? Learn of me. That's Matthew 11, I believe, about verse 29. If you learn of me because I am meek and gentle, I am lowly or humble with heart.
This is the essence that is required. Now why would I point that out to begin with? Well, the reason is that that is not a natural trait for human beings. Human beings are not normally humble. They are not normally, as Jesus says, he is, lowly and meek and gentle. And yet that's what the ruler of the kingdom of God is. And God, that's what he's going to be. That's what he's going to expect me to be.
That's what he will expect you to be. It's actually amazing to think about what Jesus was doing in John chapter 13. I'm not reading all these verses because, again, I know when 4.30 is.
So, you know what John 13 talks about, about Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. And, of course, they were watching, and Peter almost protested against that type of activity. And yet think about that. What if the creator God was washing your feet? That's what Jesus said. That would be almost an understandable, and I'm pretty sure it was, to the disciples.
But he said, that is my humble attitude, and that is the type of servant rulership that I want all of my followers to understand. So that's where we begin. The second thing I'll point out is that God has an orderly reign. The kingdom is coming. You know, the songs that we just heard, some of them on the video earlier. Boy, that scared me. I'm bigger over there than I am in real life. I think they got the zoom lens on over there or something. Anyway, God has an order to what he's doing, and Jesus fully knows this.
Let's look at 1 Corinthians 15. Actually, if you back up, we go to 1 Corinthians 15, and just back up to the verse in chapter 14 that leads into this. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 40 says that all things should be done decently in an order. That's why we have order here in the feast meeting. That's why we are meeting together in the type of constructive way.
We can come together. All of you are very cooperative, as Mr. Thubenson said. You all sat down at the right time. You knew exactly what to do. What is it here in chapter 15?
Chapter 15 points out in verse 20 that Jesus is the first fruit. In fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, and he is the first fruit of those who have died. But he says in beginning in verse 23, that each resurrections are going to occur in an order. That's why we read about the first resurrection, and we read about a resurrection that is going to be the rest of the dead. We read about a resurrection. That may only be just eternal death if people refuse to learn that. But see, it's amazing. Christ is first, and then he says other resurrections will occur in their order. Christ the first fruits, and then at his coming those who belong to Christ, and so that will be those in the first resurrection.
But then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, and after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power, he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. Now in some ways you can read that and think, well, that's the rod of iron. That's what I want to be able to exert in the kingdom.
That's not primarily. That is clearly the prerogative of the king. I don't think he's going to have most of us wielding that kind of force, because he doesn't teach that that, even though that's something that could be available, he teaches a different type of rulership, a gentleness, a meekness, a humble leadership.
In connection with this, why is it, for all of us, and I think I'm pretty normal, why is it that I just don't like to be corrected?
There are a lot of people in this country today who don't like to be corrected, and they cannot even think about not saying something in retaliation. Let's see, all of us are going to have to learn to accept correction, to be correctable, to be teachable. See, that's why God has an order to his reign. It's wonderful to think about, because he's teaching us, we have to choose to obey God. We have to choose to obey God every day. We have to choose to be correctable, and maybe get better than I am at it. Not try to hide it, not try to overlook it or ignore it, because that's what I commonly do. That's my heart. But I know, I know that God says, I have an order, and my reign will be orderly. Jesus will be a charge, and then we, we will be expected to extend that same type of rulership to others in five or ten cities, or whatever amount of authority he gives us. It's going to have to be done his way. And we have to recognize or acknowledge that Christ is the head of the church. He's the one who is the guide. You know, Mr. Elliott was the one who was in our video here earlier. You know, he's now the president of the United Church of God. He is trying to fulfill a responsibility. But see, he's not the head. The head is Jesus Christ. And there, we have a council of elders, and we have an administrative staff, and we have some pastors. But see, I absolutely love the pastors that I have. I love the pastors that I know rule over me. And I think we each have to think about, do I actually connect with whoever it is that God has set over me, and because I look to Jesus as the head, the head of the United Church of God. So that's the second point, the order that will be there.
The third thing about Jesus, and this is amazing to me, that he, as he came to the earth, having been in the beginning, he's an incredible follower. He's an incredible follower because he was a great follower first before he even came to the earth. And then while he was here, we're still here in 1 Corinthians, or at least I am, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 28. How much is Jesus a follower when all things are subject to him? Then the Son, he is a follower. And himself will also be subject to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all. See, he looks to the Father out of respect, out of love, out of order. He absolutely knows that that is being done for the good of the family.
And so each one of us, we have to think about, well, is God that interested in learning what I think, or wanting to do things my way? No, he's not. He's interested in teaching me and you what it is he's going to do. But it says the Son himself will be subject to the Father. Now that, of course, is at the very end. When all authority, all enemies have been put down, perhaps as we're into Revelation 21 and 22 and beyond, but he's always going to be subject to the Father. But he's doing that for a reason, because he is setting the example, the example for the rest of the family.
Let's look at a couple of other verses here. John 5 is talking about Jesus. In verse 19 it says, "...the Son can do nothing of his own, but only what he sees the Father doing." If Jesus is going to have to do that, I would assume that's what I have to do, too. Verse 30 he says, "...I do nothing of my own, but I seek to do, I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me." See, that's what makes Jesus the great follower that He is. He follows the Father. They've already worked out the plan. He thoroughly understands the plan. He knows what's going to happen, and all of us are in the process of learning the plan. And again, those of you who have been studying it for 50 or 60 years, you know what the plan is. There may be more to it than you know. You have to be thinking or asking God to give you better understanding of the plan. Not just what's going to happen, but what the attitude is that is wrapped up in the nature of God, which is love. See, this is amazing what God is doing. He has called us together, and we all have our own ideas about stuff in some cases. We have our own ways of doing things. But He says, I call you together, and I want to teach you what the Father and Son are like. How they cooperate, how they are in complete harmony, how they are in unity, how they exist in love, and He expects the rest of the family to follow that, to follow that.
And so it's amazing to think about that. Let's also look in John chapter 7. John chapter 7 is always an amazing chapter to me because it describes Jesus as a God. And it describes that the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, the first part of that was He was with His brothers, and He wasn't going to go with them. That was pretty obvious. So He sent them on, and then He would later go up. It says in verse 10, after His brothers left, John 7, 10, He also went up, but He didn't do it publicly. He did it on the side. And down in verse 14, about the middle of the festival, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. And of course the Jews were astonished. Well, how can He teach like this since He's never been taught by us? Well, He had an advantage. He was taught by the Father. He was subject to the Father. He goes on to say, verse 16, Jesus answered, He says, My teaching is not mine, but it is His who sent Me. And so clearly this is showing that He's a great follower.
A great follower, He says, Even the Son of God wasn't down here just doing what seemed right to Him. And that's a lesson for us. We're not just relying on what seems right to us because we have too many verses that say, well, what seems right to a man is going to just lead to death. He says, My teaching is not mine, but it is Him who sent Me to do the will of God will know whether the teaching that I'm speaking is from God or whether I'm speaking on my own. Now we have to again realize that that's Jesus' instruction.
He goes ahead to clarify that by saying, those who speak on their own seek their own glory.
Again, we've already got that going on in the world today. People vying for position, vying for power, even like the disciples were. They were infiltrated with that same type of misunderstanding. And we can be too, unless we are doing what it says here. Those who speak on their own seek their own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of Him who sent Him is true. And there's nothing false in Him. See, that to me points out how Jesus is the incredible follower. It's also very clear. This would be point number four, unless I get confused. He was willing to do incredibly hard things. We're all familiar with what He said right before He was crucified when He was praying to the Father over and over and over again, asking, is there any other way? Matthew 26, verse 26, says, is there any other way? Can this cup be removed from Me? And of course, He ended that by saying, well, not my will, but Your will be done. He was acquainted with hardness. And see, some of you are suffering from hardness in many different ways.
Difficulties. Testing. Testing you. Will you endure through hardness? Even Jesus, when He was tempted by the devil in Matthew 4, He was shown by the devil. Matthew 4, the devil presented a lot of temptation to Him, but the one that was really remarkable, the devil said, I own everything. I'll just give it to you. I'll just give it to you. All you have to do is worship Me. But of course, Jesus said, you can only worship God. That's not what I'm going to do. That would have been the easy route to being the ruler of the Kingdom.
But Jesus wasn't about to do that. And in Matthew 7, verse 13 and 14, we have got to take the narrow gate and the road that is hard because we're still physical. We're not spiritual, or at least with the spiritual body. We should say that we are spiritual because the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Holy God, has been the Holy Spirit. And we have forgotten in us. He's begun that process in us. But because of that, and because we understand that, then we are able to do the hard things. We're able to do the hard things.
I want to go on to another example here of Jesus being willing. This is in Matthew 14.
This would be maybe number 5, if I'm not too mixed up. Matthew 14. Matthew 14. This example is the death of John the Baptist. And of course, here it had John's head cut off. Verse 10 of chapter 14, he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. Verse 11, the head was brought on a platter and given to the girl. She took it to her mother. And John's disciples came and took the body and buried it. And then they went and told Jesus. See, that's a setting for what we see in verse 13 and 14 and 15 and 16. See, how do you think Jesus was affected after his cousin, a cousin that he was close to and a cousin that he was very, very concerned about? He loved John. He had some pretty high praise for John. He says, I don't know of another person that's ever lived that is better than John the Baptist. Now, John was a little different than Jesus. He had a different style. He had a different message. He was probably looked upon in a little strange way at times. He was a little different. He was but Jesus knew he was doing the job that his physical life was to achieve here on earth.
And so he said, there's no man that's been greater than John, my cousin. And so Jesus was hurt. He was hurt. I'm sure he was perhaps sobbing. Sobbing over. We see the fact in John 11 that Jesus wept over just the hardness of the people. What more would he do when he learned of his cousin being beheaded and his, in a sense, his ministry being stopped right then? Well, in verse 13, when Jesus heard about what happened to John, he withdrew from where he was in a boat to a deserted place by himself. He withdrew to grieve by himself his cousin. And certainly that is an appropriate response. It's a very important and it's a right reaction to disaster that happens. But you see, in verse 14, even though he was grieving the loss of his good friend, his cousin, someone he deeply loved, someone who was impressive, John the Baptist, Jesus in verse 14, as he went ashore, he was very sick. He saw a great crowd of people and his heart was poured out to them. He had compassion for them and he cured their sick. And when the evening came, he fed them. He fed this large crowd. He was willing, again, number five, willing to be inconvenienced for others.
That doesn't always feel very good for us if we're trying to follow Jesus and trying to do what he did, what he said. It's an amazing thing that Jesus was able to do that, but he was willing. In his servant rulership role, he was willing to be inconvenienced. There were many times. I'm sure when the disciples just gave up on him, he won't turn anybody away. He will always help people. That's something we have to think about. The last point, I guess it will be number six, he treated everyone as a potential son of God. Did I have to say that I don't do that? I'm polarized and affected by this world, I'm affected by the attitude in the world, I'm affected by the prince of the power of the air. But Jesus treated everyone as a potential son of God. For the most part, I think most of us look at other church members as I look at you. I think you're a potential son of God. Or you might think of your family members, and some of them may be church members, and you may think of them as a potential son of God. But there may be others of your family who you don't know or don't think are potential sons of God because they're not doing what you're doing. They're not keeping the peace.
They're not obeying God. They don't observe the law as God requires us to do. But see, he had this sense that everyone was a potential son of God. You see that by the accusation that the Pharisees would bring against Jesus. He is just terrible dining at Matthew's home and eating with tax collectors and sinners. Many of the Pharisees wouldn't do that. And yet we have to apply it to ourselves. We have to think about how is it. Like I said, it's easy to think about other church members, and maybe we even think about other family members in a positive light. But what about just strangers? Or what about the person that cut you off when you're driving down the street? Or what about people who are just your out-and-out enemies? You don't like them at all! Well, Jesus had all of them. He faced all of those situations. And he looked at everyone. The last verse we'll look at here is in John chapter 4. John chapter 4 gives an illustration of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. An incredible story. And of course he sent the disciples to town. The woman came to him. And she was not the most upright of people. But Jesus explained to her who he was. He says, I have living water to give. Let me see if I can find where this says.
Verse 10, give me a drink. And you would have asked him. Or let's back up. Even the woman in verse 9 knew, well, Jews don't have anything in common with Samaritans. Jesus answered her and said, if you knew the gift of God, if you knew who it was that was saying this to you, he would have given you living water. And the woman really couldn't understand that.
But see, Jesus saw the potential daughter of God in this woman. And of course, later the disciples come back and they looked at her as, I don't want that Samaritan woman around. But she turned out to be quite a potential son of God or daughter of God. But see, that's the example that Jesus sets as a servant ruler.
And so I want us to consider, as we should throughout the feast, not just that we ought to serve other people, because that's surely true. Yes, we should do that. We should do that in every way we can. We should do that in our family. We should do that here with one another. But we should recognize that God needs to grow in us a heart of a servant ruler because that's what he's going to have us do throughout eternity.
We might think, as we see Jesus talking about the kingdom and certain different people who apply what Jesus says to be given rulership over ten cities or over five cities, we might ask, well, what kind of cities is Christ going to be able to give me? Have I really learned not just the actions but the attitudes of his servant rulership?
And so that is, in part, a wonderful thing to keep in mind as we observe the feast. All of us are in training right now. All of us can grow with a heart of servant rulership.
And I would encourage us to do that, not only here but back home in our congregations, in our family, and then for everyone. We're having the Kingdom of God seminar tomorrow night. If people come to that, we certainly want to represent Christ properly. We'd like to be a good example. We'd like to have the love of God. We'd like to have the humility of Christ. And so I encourage all of us to do that. And, of course, what we find is whenever Christ is ruling, the world will be completely different. There will be peace and there will be joy. There will be safety. There will be security. And there will be the righteous rule of Jesus Christ that will cause people all over the earth to rejoice. And we want to be a part of that, but it requires us to learn from Jesus' example of being a servant ruler.