Participants:
Series Code: SCM
Program Code: SCM210008S
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00:03 [MUSIC]
00:10 Who was Jesus. 00:11 He had compassion for the weak and the hurting. 00:15 He loved every person he met and taught them how to love 00:20 His great heart helped all those who came near Him. 00:24 But most of all, He was a friend 00:26 that was who he was. 00:29 Now, find out who He is. 00:38 Hello. I'm Jill Morikone and I just want to welcome you at 00:41 home to 3ABN's virtual summer camp meeting. I'm so 00:45 excited about our topic. This entire camp meeting week is Who 00:49 is Jesus and tonight's topic is I think one of my favorite 00:53 topics "Christ, the Servant Leader." It's my great privilege 00:57 to introduce to you our special guest for this evening. He is no 01:02 stranger. If you've watched 3ABN for any length of time. You've 01:05 seen Pastor Doctor David Shin on many times he's 01:09 currently the president of Watcha Hills College. Prior 01:13 to that, he spent 17 years in pastoral ministry. And he also 01:18 served as the adjunct teacher for 12 years at Michigan 01:22 conference, campus ministries program. 01:25 He's a student of the word, a student of the Bible and the 01:29 thing that I love most about Pastor Shin is that not only 01:33 does he preach well, but he practices what he preaches. 01:38 He lives, what he believes and that is an incredible testimony 01:42 to his life. Greg and I consider him and his wife Tennille 01:45 friends. And I'm so grateful that he will be sharing with us 01:49 tonight before he comes and opens up the word of God. 01:53 We're gonna be blessed by special music from Celestine 01:57 Dickens and her daughter Farrah Barry accompanying her on the 02:01 piano, the song that they will be ministering is Trust His 02:05 Heart after they shall sing, the next voice you will hear is that 02:09 of our pastor and friend David Chin. 02:12 [MUSIC] 02:33 All things work for our good 02:38 [MUSIC] 02:40 though sometimes we don't see. 02:44 How they could 02:48 Struggles that break our hearts in two 02:53 sometimes blindness to the truth. 03:01 [MUSIC] 03:02 Our Father knows what's best for us. 03:09 His ways are not our own 03:15 and so when your pathway grows dim 03:20 and you don't see Him. Remember you're never alone. 03:34 God is too wise to be mistaken 03:41 God is too good to be unkind. 03:48 So when you don't understand, When you don't see His plan, 03:55 when you've trace His hand, trust His heart. 04:05 Trust His heart. 04:10 [MUSIC] 04:14 He sees the Master plan and He holds our future in His hand. 04:28 So don't leave us those 04:30 Who have no hope 04:34 all our hope is found 04:37 in Him. 04:41 We see the present clearly 04:48 but He sees the first and the last. 04:54 And like a tapestry, He's weaving you and me 05:04 to someday be just like Him. Ohhh! 05:11 God is too wise to be mistaken, 05:19 God is too good to be unkind 05:24 So when you don't understand 05:28 When you don't see His plan you when you can't trace His hand 05:34 trust His heart. 05:39 He alone is faithful and true 05:43 [MUSIC] 05:46 He alone knows what is best for you. 05:50 [MUSIC] Oooo, Oooo, Oooo, 06:00 God is too wise to be mistaken 06:07 God is too good to be unkind. So when you don't understand 06:17 when you don't see His plan, when you can't trace His hand 06:22 trust His heart. 06:27 [MUSIC] 06:30 When you don't understand 06:34 When you don't see his plan. 06:40 When you can't trace His hand 06:45 Trust His heart. 06:48 [MUSIC] 06:55 Trust His heart. 07:04 [MUSIC] 07:05 Amen. Amen, thank you so much for that beautiful special 07:10 music when you can't see His plan. 07:14 Trust His heart. Praise God that He has a vision for our lives 07:21 and He can see the end from the beginning. 07:24 Well, it's a privilege to be here at 3 ABN virtual camp 07:29 meeting. 07:31 I trust that the Lord has sustained you this past year. 07:35 year, 2020, 2020, year, 2021 year. What a what a just an 07:43 experience it has been and what a fitting camp meeting that we 07:50 are focusing on Who is Jesus? Here we are, 2000 years after 07:57 the cross and this question remains, Who is Jesus? 08:03 It has been said how do we know 08:05 that we are worshipping Jesus and not a concept. 08:11 One individual said how do we know that we're worshiping 08:15 the real Jesus and not a middle class 08:18 individual that lives in the suburbs drives an SUV 08:25 and has certain political values. In other words, we're 08:28 living in an age where we have a concept of who Jesus is. But how 08:33 do we know if that concept fits. Who the actual Jesus is? 08:40 And this is the same problem that the Jews had 08:42 2000 years ago, they had a mental idea. 08:49 A mental notion of who 08:51 Jesus was to be he was to come as a King individual that was to 08:56 come and conquer the Romans. 08:59 But when the real Jesus came, 09:03 it didn't fit their mental concept and they ended up 09:08 killing the real Christ because their mental picture 09:14 was an idol that they were not willing to give up. And by the 09:19 grace of God in this series. I know that as we go to 09:23 scripture for the description of who Jesus is. I pray that you're 09:29 you are challenged and that we can come to the place by the 09:32 grace of God that our pre- suppositions or ideas of Jesus 09:37 in who years may be refined. And if perhaps we come to the 09:41 place where we say, look, my idea of Jesus is more cultural 09:46 than the real Jesus. I pray that we give up our ideas by the 09:49 grace of God and live by every word that proceeds out of the 09:54 mouth of God. So in the series Who is Jesus. Let's go to the 09:58 word for most accurate picture of who Jesus is. Pray with me. 10:08 Our father in heaven. 10:09 We thank you so much for Jesus. 10:14 We thank you that Jesus is the revelation of who God is 10:23 that the light of the knowledge, of the glory of God is found 10:29 in the face of Jesus Christ. 10:31 We thank you that we can find the most accurate picture of who 10:35 Jesus is in the word and today as we look at this theme 10:40 of Jesus, the servant, leader that you would speak to us 10:45 hide me behind the cross, may Christ be uplifted and 10:50 Jesus be seen. For we ask these things in the 10:53 precious name of Jesus. 10:54 Amen. 10:58 There was a story told of a man that was called to the 11:04 White House. He was to be the 11:06 honored guest of the White House 11:09 and as he was waiting there in the waiting room awaiting 11:15 the audience. 11:19 A meeting with the President of the United States. 11:24 A White House aide came into the waiting area and mistook 11:31 the guest of the president as a waiter and he took a look 11:39 at this individual who was to be the guest 11:42 of the president and treated him like a servant and said, hey 11:48 you there and the man was like me, he said yeah you. 11:53 Why didn't you go around in 11:55 serve everybody by giving them a glass of water to drink 12:00 and this man 12:01 didn't miss a beat. 12:03 He said okay, he got up and got the pitcher of water and went 12:07 around to the other guests there waiting time with the president 12:10 and serve them all water and make sure that all their needs 12:13 were taken care of and he was serving everybody and the White 12:16 House aide was naturally assuming that this person was 12:19 like a servant to waiter in the White House. And finally, 12:24 the president of the United States 12:27 walked into the room and today... 12:30 I'm so glad that you're here. Face of that White House aide 12:36 just turned pale and flush and red 12:40 with embarrassment when he realized he had treated 12:44 a guest of the president like a servant and he said to the 12:50 guest, he said I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. 12:52 And the man said, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. 12:58 I tell you that man's better man than I because I would have said 13:05 excuse me, I'm not a servant of the White House. 13:10 I'm an honored guest. 13:14 No one wants to be a servant. 13:18 Yeah, at least not naturally if we're honest with ourselves, 13:23 right. Everyone wants to be served. I mean, when you get to 13:26 the certain apex of society. You have you have paid servants. 13:31 You know that serve you hand and foot. You have the 13:33 waiter that comes in and you pay for their services and so forth. 13:36 No one wants to be a servant. We all want to be served. 13:41 And as we focus on this theme of Jesus, the servant leader. 13:46 We come to this classic passage that describes Jesus as 13:53 suffering servant. If you have your Bibles turn within their to 13:57 Philippians chapter 2 and verse one. We will be reading through 14:01 this passage as Jesus is described as a servant who would 14:07 be in chapter 2:1 14:09 reading from the new King James Bible. You can follow along in 14:13 the version that you have there at home. 14:51 Here the Apostle Paul is describing a certain mindset 14:55 that we are to have. He says notice, notice the word that 14:58 pops up here and just the tip when you're studying the Bible 15:00 look for repetition and you can see the 15:02 theme of having a certain mindset or having a like minded 15:08 outlook is being described here and he says, look, don't be 15:12 concerned about selfish ambition. 15:16 Don't be self-centered. Don't make it all about you. 15:20 And he said don't have this thing called vain glory, but to 15:24 look at others as better than yourself. 15:29 In other words, you should not be 15:32 comparing yourself with other people. 15:34 And naturally assuming that you're better. But to look at 15:36 other people and recognize that if they have the same 15:38 background, the same socioeconomic status, the same 15:43 parents and the same environment I've had to come to the 15:47 conclusion that to be 10 times worse, then they are in their 15:50 situation. It's so easy to look at other people and say, you 15:53 know, I wish that other men we're like me. 15:56 But here Paul says we should actually look at other people 16:00 and assume that they're better than us 16:03 considering the circumstances. 16:06 And then he transitions from this mind set theme of not 16:11 having this selfish mindset to the classic passage of having 16:17 the mind of Jesus. The question is what is the mind of Jesus. 16:22 Don't let it be about selfish ambition and upward mobility but 16:25 have the mindset of Jesus. Here it is in Philippians chapter 2:5 16:34 So what's the mindset of Jesus here He describes, 16:43 Other translations actually say that the nature of God 16:48 or the divinity of God was something that he did not want 16:50 to hold on to. 17:09 Here Paul describes the mindset of Jesus 17:11 and this mindset of Jesus first of all, 17:17 has to do with this concept of incarnation 17:23 that He being God equal with God co-eternal. The illimitable 17:31 God of the universe became as one of us. 17:38 Now, this is a theme for eternal contemplation. 17:43 Now we think that being human is not a bad thing. 17:49 But for God to become human. The book Desire of Ages indicates 17:53 that it would have been infinite humiliation for Jesus to take on 17:56 the nature of Adam prior to the fall in his perfection that 17:59 would have been infinite humiliation. 18:02 But the Desire of Ages indicates that He took on the nature 18:05 of man after 4,000 years of the results of sin. 18:11 You can't even imagine that. It's like me 18:14 becoming an amoeba. I mean, that doesn't even grasp it. I mean, 18:18 we have humans animals and insects just for the sake of 18:23 illustration and we have God the Bible says Angels and man, 18:27 man was made a little lower than the Angels. 18:30 But here we have God becoming a man. In other words, 18:34 he took two steps down. 18:37 You know, that's like me becoming an ant. 18:40 Can you imagine? Like just. 18:43 Hey, that's like I mean, what does that even become? 18:47 I mean, who would want to become an ant what type of 18:51 existence would that be? 18:54 And here the Bible points out that He's not even an upper 18:57 class ant, He's like an impoverished ant 19:01 and this is mind-boggling for us to even imagine. 19:08 Now, theologians for centuries have been grappling with 19:14 this idea of God being transcendent. 19:19 In other words transcendence is this notion that 19:23 God is beyond us. 19:24 You know, the Bible says that the heavens can't even contain 19:27 God. And when you look at the universe and our Milky Way 19:31 galaxy alone. It takes a 100,000 light years to go from one end 19:34 to the other. That means traveling at the speed of light 19:37 186,000 miles per second. It would take you a 100,000 19:42 years to go from one end to the other. And that's just one of 19:48 billions of galaxies and the Bible indicates that Jesus 19:55 created it all. In other words, God is bigger, 19:59 than the universe so God is transcendent. He's beyond us... 20:02 and the Bible indicates that that there is this mystery of 20:06 God. We can't even grasp the vastness of God. And I believe 20:11 that throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity that even 20:14 though will be receiving more and more revelations of the 20:17 glory and the love and the character and the goodness of 20:21 God. That even then we will never fully grasp God because 20:28 God is infinite. 20:31 And so God is in a sense mysterious. He's beyond us. 20:37 He's bigger than the universe He's infinite and 20:43 that's transcendence. 20:44 But there's also this idea and this notion 20:47 of what theologians call eminence 20:50 eminence simply means He's near, He's close, He's intimate. 20:57 You know, there's this there's this distant idea of God that 21:00 mysterious beyond us. But the Bible also points out 21:03 that God is with us, He's near us. 21:07 Jesus shall be called Emmanuel, God with us. So God is not 21:11 only transcendent, but He's eminent as well. 21:16 And here in Philippians we have this idea of this big God 21:22 not only coming down to be close to us. But becoming one of us. 21:29 I mean, how do we even grasp this concept of this big God? 21:39 Carl Sagan says that it's estimated that number of stars 21:42 in the universe is greater than the number of grains of 21:45 sand on all the beaches in the world. 21:51 This God that created the universe came and was in the 22:01 very room of Mary. 22:05 This is a concept that Angels marvel at 22:11 God becoming one of us. 22:18 And so, Philippians 2: 5 to 7, I like it in the NIV. 22:46 So here Paul describes the condescension of Jesus 22:52 He becomes one of us, which is humiliation infinite humiliation 22:57 to become as one of us. 23:01 But then the Bible points according to Philippians that he 23:04 didn't come into the pomp palaces of their day. 23:10 He wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth. 23:14 He wasn't born in the best hospitals are the best homes are 23:19 the best environment. 23:22 He grew up in the projects. 23:24 He was a peasant. 23:26 In other words, the Bible points out here that he took on 23:31 not only a low class existence but the Bible says he took on 23:35 the form of a servant. And you can see this servant hood of 23:40 Jesus describe throughout the Bible 23:43 and it comes out in this word that is found in the King James 23:48 version to empty oneself. 23:51 And if you look it up in the 23:53 lexicon, it says to completely remove or to 23:56 eliminate elements of high status are ranked by eliminating 23:59 all privileges or prerogatives associated with such status or 24:03 rank to empty oneself to divest oneself a position he emptied 24:10 himself. 24:17 There is nothing like flying that really 24:24 brings out this element of status. 24:31 I usually fly coach because I can't afford 24:37 business class or first class or whatever 24:40 you call it. But every now and then for whatever reason, 24:43 the Stars align. And this particular time, I was getting 24:47 miles with Delta and I heard my name come over the 24:52 intercom as I was waiting for my flight and they said, David 24:56 Chin, please come to the ticket counter and I walked up 24:59 there. And the individual says Mr. Shin, I have good news 25:04 for you. You've been bumped up to first class and I was like, 25:09 oh, Praise God, Praise God. 25:12 And so on Delta they have this special carp that you come in 25:19 for first class and I remember as they said now boarding, 25:26 you know, medallion, Diamond 25:29 first class passengers. And I remember oh, oh. I stood up 25:34 while everyone else is waiting, you know, with their children 25:37 screaming. And we have kids at the time and I was by myself. 25:41 You know, and they're all like each like cattle over there 25:44 and I got called to first class and I went up there and I was oh, 25:48 that must be me and I walked up there kind of smug. 25:52 I'm just being transparent here and walked to the ticket counter 25:55 and they said Mr. Shin, you know, welcome to first class 25:58 I thank you. And I went in there and I sat down 26:01 and I tell you, those of you that have flown first-class 26:05 you know the seats are nice and big. 26:07 And the person comes out and says Mr. Shin, would you 26:14 like to read the New York Times or the Wall Street 26:17 Journal. And I'm like I like to read one of those saying thank 26:21 you and they said. Would you like anything to drink. 26:24 And I said yes, I'd like some orange juice and they bring out 26:26 in the special Cup. I've never seen in my life and they bring a 26:29 special napkin that they don't just call a napkin 26:32 it's called a serviette. 26:33 Yeah. And they serve you and I was this is amazing to 26:37 better spoons, better, better everything and then they maybe 26:41 they pull curtain so you don't have to see those animals 26:45 back in coach and I was just like wow! and you use a 26:51 different separate bathroom. 26:54 I tell you after flying first class and then on my next flight 26:59 I had to go back to coach. 27:01 I didn't like being downgraded you know, that's us on flights. 27:10 And this is like a temporary existence. My point is everyone 27:14 likes the upgrade. 27:18 But this is pointing out Jesus took a downgrade 27:24 and this downgrade was not a temporary downgrade 27:28 in terms of taking on humanity. 27:31 This was an eternal downgrade. 27:34 In other words, Jesus will forever retain 27:39 the human nature. That's why when he comes in the clouds of 27:41 glory He is called the son of man. In other words, throughout 27:44 the ceaseless ages of eternity one third of the Godhead will 27:51 forever identify itself with humanity. In other words, 27:55 incoming down to save us. He elevated the entire race by his 28:00 eternal condescension of forever being as one of us. 28:07 What a theme for meditation. 28:11 The Bible says in John 1:1, the word was God. 28:16 The word became flesh. John 1:14 Emanuel God 28:21 with us. Jesus descended down to serve our needs. He lived with 28:24 us. John. One 14 he ate with us, Matthew chapter, 21 verse 32. 28:29 He knelt down and washed his disciples feet. He came down to 28:34 serve. Now we can't talk about Jesus being a servant, 28:39 then going to the classic example of His servanthood. 28:42 and I invite you to turn with me your Bibles again to 28:45 John chapter 13 verses 28:47 one through 7 as we reflect very quickly on this demonstration of 28:52 Jesus not only becoming a man but taking on the role of 28:58 a servant. John 13:1- 5 and read through very quickly. 29:43 Now, let me just paint the picture here for you 29:46 a little bit. It was customary in those days 29:50 that when you arrived at a meal, 29:54 there would be a particular individual, a servant 29:59 that would wash the feet of the guest. 30:03 This happened. 30:05 It was like washing your hands when you came to a meal 30:08 and in this particular occasion, the last supper 30:13 with the disciples. 30:15 This scene the pretext or I should say the environment 30:21 into which these disciples came was that there was this 30:23 discussion about who was the greatest. And so those are great 30:27 bit of animosity and rivalry among the disciples because they 30:30 have this picture. Then in the kingdom, those a certain 30:32 hierarchy and everyone wanted the right hand and the left hand 30:36 of Jesus to sit on the right or left because they assume that 30:38 uses coming as a political entity. 30:42 So all of these guys are rivals and they're all assuming that 30:45 they're going to be you know, you know, these governors 30:49 in Christ, new Kingdom. And this is this is that the context into 30:53 which the disciples come to the upper room. Now Jesus is it just 30:56 about go the cross and they're still dealing with these worldly 30:59 presuppositions. These ideas from culture about what 31:02 greatness is. 31:04 And the Desire of Ages paints this picture because they 31:06 come to the room and they're wearing not shoes like 31:10 we have today that are covered. The wearing sandals. So you can 31:13 imagine these feet are dusty, dirty and perhaps caked with 31:19 mud, especially if they had rain just before. 31:24 So these feet or not like feet of today. 31:26 You know, I don't even like, you know, feet, period. 31:32 I mean, who likes feet? 31:34 And I don't like touching other people's feet, you know. 31:38 And so here, you know, in most feet are clean nowadays 31:42 because we wear shoes comparatively to the first 31:44 century. So the disciples come to that upper room and they 31:48 sit down and in your sanctified imagination. Imagine that 31:53 they're all sitting there and there's no servants 31:58 and it gets very awkward and the book Desire of Ages 32:04 indicates that the Jesus paused and there is no disciple 32:10 that is going to just be beneath himself 32:17 to wash. Yeah, we have what, 12 sets a feet 32:23 in that upper room. 12 disciples, right. Twelve sets of 32:26 feet. That's 24 feet. That's a lot of feet and these are 32:30 probably not clean feet. So 24 individual feet or foot anyway. 32:36 Someone correct me later because so they are all around there. 32:38 There are 24 sets and no disciple is going to get up to 32:41 do this and there's a tension in the air. You ever been in that 32:46 awkward silence there, just like who's going to move. 32:48 You know, who's going to be the person that's going to wash 32:51 these feet. You know, the meal can't go on. And when 32:54 the tension gets to a certain point. 32:59 Jesus, the God of the universe, the God that every disciple 33:07 should be washing His feet. 33:11 The God who breathed worlds into existence. 33:14 This God, the big God gets up... 33:18 You know, he not only stepped down became as one of us. 33:23 He gets up and the Bible says girds a towel around Him 33:29 pours the water and then instantly in the minds 33:32 of the disciples. 33:34 This is this is shocking. 33:36 This is shocking. 33:38 You know, if you don't have the book Desire of Ages I encourage 33:40 you to read the book, Desire of Ages because she paints a 33:43 picture there. 33:45 The book Desire of Ages indicates that that as He starts 33:49 with the disciples and goes around to each one and washes 33:54 their feet. I don't think that this was 33:58 quick washing, it took some time, especially 34:03 can you imagine going to Judas? 34:05 I believe that He lingered at Judas's feet recognizing that 34:11 this man is about to betray Him. 34:13 This is an opportunity for repentance washing the feet of 34:16 His betrayer goes around to every single one. 34:22 The disciples never forgot that lesson, I mean, it stayed 34:30 with them for the rest of their lives. 34:35 Can you imagine then, of course He comes to Peter. 34:40 You come to verse six: 35:59 Wow. It. In other words, Jesus just performs this 36:03 unthinkable act. And I believe entire universe is just watching 36:07 with bated breath as He is washing His disciples feet and 36:09 then afterwards, he says, look, 36:12 this is way the way the kingdom of heaven works. 36:15 I am modeling the values of the kingdom of God. 36:19 This is a revelation as to who God is at the very heart of God 36:26 is the heart of a servant. 36:29 And this was such an important value, 36:33 He demonstrated this to each of his disciples. 36:38 They never forgot this for the rest of their lives. 36:41 Do you think that this precedents molded the ethos 36:46 of the early Christian church? 36:49 Absolutely. 36:51 Absolutely what a God we serve. 36:56 One person said, precisely because He was God 37:02 He became a servant. 37:05 Therefore, the essential nature of God is to be a servant. 37:09 Being a servant is not an exception to His nature. 37:14 It is His nature. 37:17 You can see that the path of Jesus is what we would call 37:22 downward mobility. 37:24 It is a descendant path. He became a man and he became a 37:30 servant and became obedient to death. Even the death of the 37:34 cross. The description in Philippians 2 is downward 37:38 not upward, downward mobility, descendant into service. 37:43 And Paul says let this mind be in you 37:45 was also in Jesus who descended in the incarnation 37:49 who descended in the servant hood and washing 37:52 the disciples feet who descended into death. The trajectory of 37:56 Jesus is downward, not upward. 38:01 You know how many times we think that that it's all about upward 38:04 mobility. But you can see the very heart of God. The very 38:07 mindset of God as exemplified in the revelation of Jesus Christ. 38:11 It's not to move up, but to move down. 38:14 Now, I like to contrast this with another familiar verse 38:18 in description of Lucifer because we see that the path 38:23 of Jesus is downward mobility downward into 38:25 service will be see in Isaiah versus 12 through 14 38:29 that Lucifer had a different picture of what he should be. 38:36 Isaiah chapter 14 verse is 12 to 14. 39:08 Notice the egocentric focus of this verse, I will ascend, I 39:13 will exalt. It's in a chiastic structure, meaning that this 39:18 Hebrew parallelism in this verse. Yes, I will ascend, I 39:22 will exalt and the point of this chiastic structure is I will 39:26 sit on the Mount of the congregation on the fun farthest 39:31 sides of the north. In other words, Lucifer did not want to 39:35 be like God. He wanted to be God. 39:38 And this is the ascendant path. 39:43 This is the opposite of Jesus. This is upward mobility Jesus 39:48 descends into service. Lucifer says I will ascent. 39:53 I will exalt. I will be God. 39:57 And this is at the very heart of what it means to be 40:02 and to have the mind of Lucifer at the heart of Lucifer 40:08 is upward mobility it's to move up. 40:13 The heart of Jesus is to move down 40:17 the heart of Lucifer is to ascent. 40:23 We can see that Lucifer is an ascendant 40:28 dominance-oriented path. 40:32 The path of Jesus is descendant and incarnation. 40:38 When I began ministry, something called Nguyen ministry 40:49 that the pastors that were unordained would come together, 40:52 regular intervals during the year to receive training 40:56 for ordination. And I can remember being a young 41:02 aspiring pastor. That was un- ordained that the conversations 41:08 would many times go something like this. Some day 41:12 I'm going to be Conference President, I'm just being real 41:18 someday I'm going to be Ms. Carroll director. 41:24 I remember one of my friends one time said someday you never 41:26 know. I may be GC president. I mean, this is the sentiment 41:30 that's in the minds of individuals. Even in ministry. 41:33 In other words, no one wants that podium church out in the 41:36 middle of nowhere everyone wants that large Church of thousands 41:42 that his televised internationally. 41:46 So we can see this attitude even comes among ministers, 41:53 among God's people. In other words, we're not immune 41:57 to bringing some of these ideas of Lucifer even into the church. 42:02 In other words, we're not content with that small church 42:06 or that small district. This is a temporary stepping stone and 42:10 everyone has visions in the beginning of their ministry to 42:14 be somebody. 42:19 I remember when I received the call, to pastor in Alaska. 42:23 You know, for those in the lower 48, we have this vision of 42:29 Alaska that you see in the History Channel of igloos 42:35 and individuals that that are being pulled on a dog sled 42:39 out in the middle of nowhere polar bears and seals and 42:43 so forth and I received a call to Alaska and 42:45 I was so startled by the call and I said Lord this is your 42:48 call I don't want to go up there in the middle of nowhere 42:51 without your confirmation. I said I need you to sell 42:56 my house this week and the house sold just like that. 42:58 That is, oh, here we go. And I thought to myself, Lord. 43:02 What did I do wrong? You're sending me out to oblivion. 43:07 You're sending me out to exile. You know what did I do 43:10 wrong and I remember people would say like a David 43:13 why Alaska? And I said the Lord calls, and it wasn't on my 43:18 bucket list of places to go on division of places that I wanted 43:24 to be. In my mind. It wasn't upward mobility. 43:26 You're putting me in Seward's icebox, as it were. 43:31 Remember that saying that little did they know 43:33 greatest secret, by the way, had a wonderful time in 43:36 Alaska. And you know, friends, if you're watching this from 43:38 Alaska, you know, I love you. I'm just I'm just being 43:40 transparent here. But. 43:41 But you can see that this idea comes even into ministry. 43:44 And we can see that the disciples are not immune to this 43:47 type of thinking either because in Matthew chapter, 20: 21 43:52 Matthew chapter 20:20-21: 44:15 Nothing like parents. If you're the mother Jesus comes to Jesus 44:18 probably in a backroom away from the other disciples 44:22 and said Jesus please when you come in your kingdom, my boys 44:29 one on the right and the other on the left. Please. 44:37 Being a parent I can relate now. We named our son 44:43 Hudson Michael Chin. Hudson after the great missionary 44:50 to China and his initials just happened to be H M S. 44:57 No pressure. And you know, a father's heart we just 44:59 want our son. You know, 45:02 I just imagine someday if he follows the heritage of HMS 45:05 Richard senior if he becomes a preacher and I'm sitting there 45:08 as a father watching my son preach and say ahhh. You know, 45:11 praise God, this is a father's heart. 45:14 This is a mother's heart. You can't blame her for coming 45:16 to Jesus making this request. 45:20 Evidently, the news got to the other disciples and verse 24 the 45:23 same chapter when the other 10 disciples heard what James and 45:27 John had asked. They were indignant. 45:31 So Jesus has to do a little damage control 45:34 leadership, one on one. 45:49 Listen to this. 46:13 But Jesus asked in the same passage 46:15 He turned the James and John and said, look, are you willing to 46:20 drink a cup that I'm about to drink. They didn't know what He 46:23 was talking with us. Yes, we're able 46:26 are you willing to be baptized with the baptism, I'm about to be 46:29 baptized with. They said yes, we are able 46:34 it's the baptism of suffering, the cup. With a cup of suffering. 46:40 James, first to be martyred, John lived the longest 46:50 of all during privation on the Isle of Patmos. 46:56 It seems that heavens perspective about greatness is 47:03 is counterintuitive from a worldly standpoint at 47:08 the heart of God is the heart of service. 47:12 Now. If you're following me here. 47:16 The path of Jesus descendant incarnational the path of 47:22 Lucifer, ascendance and dominance oriented in. If you're 47:26 following me on this message about the servant head of Jesus. 47:29 You may ask yourself or ask me the question, David, you know, 47:32 if everyone is descending to service, if everyone's on 47:37 this path of seeking the lowest place then who 47:41 who's going to be conference, president 47:44 or GC president or college president. I mean, you know, 47:48 if everyone is wanting to serve then who's going to 47:52 get any of these positions. 47:54 Well, in reality, the path comes out 47:59 in Philippians chapter 2 because 48:00 Bible points out Let this mind be in you which was also in 48:03 Christ, Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not 48:05 robbery to be equal God but became a servant and 48:08 became obedient unto death. 48:09 Even the death of the cross. He descends and then the 48:12 next verse in verse. 9 says therefore God elevated Him, Jesus 48:18 to the highest place of honor. 48:22 In other words, as we descend to service as we go down in our 48:26 faithful in the role that God has called us to be the 48:31 Lord calls and individual to a higher position not because 48:35 we're politicking. Not because we're about upward mobility, 48:38 not because we are seeking the highest place. But as we 48:41 descend to service like Jesus did. 48:44 God says the Father, He says come up 48:46 and I will exalt your name above every other name. 48:51 In other words, it's the down-up pass. 48:55 It's a passive ascendancy as you are faithful in the role that 49:00 God has called you to be. And as you're acting in the role of 49:04 a servant. It is the Lord that calls you up. 49:09 You can see this throughout scripture. David called to be 49:14 king, God says going to be a Shepherd. 49:16 Moses called to lead and be a general of Israel calling them 49:20 out. You know, leading them out through Canaan in the Exodus, 49:23 be a Shepherd for 40 years. You can see this throughout the 49:26 Bible in James Chapter 4:10 the Bible says Humble 49:30 yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up. 49:37 In other words, faithfulness in being a servant. 49:43 And as we are carrying out the task that God has called us to 49:47 be and to do. God says I want to call you up 49:51 to other responsibilities. 49:55 Not because we're seeking it 49:57 not because we're striving for the highest place. 50:00 But because the Lord calls and by God's grace when He calls, 50:04 we said Lord, like Isaiah, here am I. Revelation 3:21 says: 50:21 As I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. 50:24 And here's the irony. Those who take that down path to service 50:30 will occupy the throne where Lucifer hoped to rest. 50:36 Did you hear that. In other words, the very Throne of 50:39 God that Lucifer wanted to sit on, if you go down 50:43 to service, God says to him that overcomes I will grant 50:49 to sit with me on my throne. That's the ultimate 50:51 calling of. And friends there's no better place to be 51:01 than service for mankind. That's the highest place 51:07 that we can be. And as we are faithful in the role that God 51:10 has called us to be. I know individuals that are always 51:14 unfaithful in the place that God has put them. 51:17 Not recognizing that its faithfulness in that task 51:22 that fits them for higher responsibilities. 51:27 Let's be faithful by His grace. 51:32 I remember distinctly my first camp meeting. 51:40 Camp meeting is a place during summer that we have this. 51:45 Spiritual kind of retreat for the churches. 51:49 In the state or an area and pastors come together and we 51:53 we set up for camp meeting by having something called 51:57 camp pitch. 51:59 It's where you get the grounds ready, 52:02 put up tents and so forth. And back in 52:06 In the old days, they used to set tents and so forth. 52:09 And having this been my first year at camp meeting 52:14 I was shocked when I was assigned to the stake crew. 52:20 A stake crew being that there were literally hundreds of these 52:25 stakes about 6 feet high that you have to drive 52:29 into the ground. 52:30 There was these like stake drivers, kind like a pipe with 52:33 handles on the end of it in usually took 2 of us one on 52:35 each. And then we would drive the stakes into the ground. 52:38 And we were just praying that it rained before because it didn't 52:41 rain. The ground was really hard and especially if it was rocky. 52:45 I mean, it was jarring, and there were times when you're driving 52:48 this thing into the ground and it would catch on the top and 52:50 they were pastors because it caught on the top that heavy... 52:53 I don't know what it is, steel stake driver would fall on the 52:57 head of the pastor and this, you know, there would be bleeding 52:59 and Emergency Room. It was jarring work and just dreadful. 53:06 You know, one of the toughest things were for me 53:11 was when I would be driving these stakes 53:15 is that the conference officials would 53:20 be riding around on their golf carts. 53:24 And I remember driving the stakes in the hot sun while 53:30 conference officials are riding around, you know, supervising 53:34 and I was just like. Wow! Just really. 53:39 and being honest and transparent. I wanted to ascent. 53:47 I wanted to be on that golf cart and my goal at camp meeting, 53:51 one day was to be sitting on one of those golf carts. 53:56 I'll never forget it, one day conference president 54:01 rolled up in his golf cart. Now it's like, oh, what did I do 54:05 now. So I better get busy here, and how are you doing elder? 54:10 Hot day isn't it? you know I'm driving these stakes in. 54:14 Never forget it, conference president got off the golf cart 54:19 put on his gloves and shoulder to shoulder 54:24 with the rest of us unordained ministers like myself drove 54:29 those stakes into the ground for hours. 54:34 I tell you that did something to me. 54:40 I was like where you go, I will go where you die 54:45 I will die, like Ruth and there I will be buried 54:50 I will be in this conference for the rest of my life because 54:52 he didn't have to do that. You know, he took the decedent 54:55 path. He got off the golf cart and took the role of 54:59 a servant next to us. And it reminds me how much more 55:03 the God of the universe, descended and became as one 55:09 of us and served and that is the reason 55:14 that motivates us throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity 55:20 the as we recognize that this God and the universe, this big 55:25 vast transcendent God became a human being, a human being 55:33 and will forever retain human nature. 55:37 That is what causes us to in spontaneous just utterances 55:45 of praise and worship because of this revelation of who God is. 55:51 Praise His name. Praise the heart of God! 55:57 Philippians Chapter 2: 56:24 It's my prayer that each one of us would be 56:28 touched by this demonstration of the heart of God 56:31 that as we see who God is that our hearts would be touched 56:37 and that we by the grace of God can ask Him for the same 56:42 mind of Jesus Christ. Is that your desire today? 56:46 I know it is. By God's grace, raise your hand wherever you are 56:49 and ask him to give you the mind Jesus Christ. May God bless you 56:54 and keep you to that end. 56:57 Praise His name. 56:58 [MUSIC] 57:01 His body was broken 57:04 so that we could live-giving us the gift of eternal life. 57:10 He pursues us relentlessly with an everlasting love. 57:15 Regardless of our failures and mistakes. 57:18 The One Loves us like no other. 57:24 This is who Jesus is. 57:26 [MUSIC] |
Revised 2021-08-17