Lessons from the Beatitudes

Thankful that the presence is the priority here at the refuge, that Jesus being exalted and lifted up is why we're gathered. It's what we are here for. And so that's what I'm here to do this morning. All right, so just a little bit about me as a person to kind of intro what I'm going to share with you guys this morning. If you knew me growing up, several of you do, actually, as I look across from.

There's several of you guys that knew me growing up, and if you knew me growing up, I was kind of a go against the grain type of kid. You guys have kids like that where like they're the kids that ask why to everything that you tell them to do. Anyone have a kid like that? Dear God, bless your heart, because I was a kid like that and my mom knows it well. And my mom got really good at giving me the answer because I told you so, right?

And hey, listen, there's new styles of parenting and there's people that say that children should be given reason for why they're being told to do something. And here's what I'll say. I'm grateful that my mom told me because I told you so. Why? Because I needed to learn.

It wasn't about me understanding why I was being asked to do something. It was about me learning obedience, right? Because I was a go against the grain type of kid and I still am. And I've realized now the Lord uses different skills and giftings in us. And if we're not committed to the Lord, then it become something that actually works against us and against the Lord.

And so now that I've come to understand that this going against the grain thing is actually something God's instilled in me to push back against status quo, normal Christianity, what we might deem as normal. But maybe where scripture differs in its, in its explanation, right? And so I'm. I'm grateful now to have that. And something I, I love as well is to look at the lives of people who also went against the grain in history or in culture.

I'm a hist. I like history. I'm a fan of studying the history behind things. And I came across a story one time of someone who went against the grain. And it just resonated with me.

His name was Galileo, right? You've heard the famous astronomer, physicist, engineer named Galileo. Many people refer to him as the father of modern science for his advancements in the fields that he was in. And he was a very well known and respected astronomer. Physicist, engineer in his time, in the 1600s, during the time that Galileo lived.

The Church at the time revered the Bible. It revered Scripture's teachings on things and used Scripture as a final authority. And the difference between then and now is that the Church had power at that time and was influential in political spheres and power spheres. And so the Church really was kind of the benchmark for what was being passed as legislation, as scientific fact. Right.

And so the Church really revered the Bible. And the Church fathers at that time held to a teaching that was commonly accepted amongst a lot of scientists at that time, that the universe or the solar system revolved around the Earth, that the sun revolved around the Earth. Right. Modern understanding of that tells us that the Earth revolves around the sun. Right.

But that was the common way of thinking. Early Church fathers used Scripture to point to this, and they didn't have the scientific understanding we have now. So that's what they believed, that the Earth rotate or that the sun rotated around the Earth. Well, Galileo in his time came out with a finding from a scientific study in 1632 that taught that the Earth rotated around the sun and not the sun around the Earth. And what was really interesting here is that the early Church fathers then, at that time, put Galileo on trial for this finding because they thought that it went against Scripture.

They literally put him on trial. And the early Church fathers found him guilty of heresy in 1632. You can look this up. They found him guilty of heresy for suggesting that the Earth revolves or orbits around the sun. And they put him on house arrest because he wasn't willing to retract his statement.

Right. So the point of that is that the example shows there's certain ways of thinking that we adopt as truth or as normal that are more cultural than they are scriptural. Right. Because what we see here with this example, Galileo, is that the early Church fathers didn't have a full understanding of, of the way the universe worked. And they were bending Scripture, taking it out of context, and they were using Scriptures to teach something that scriptures never actually meant to say.

Right. The Bible is not a science textbook. All right? The Bible is not only a historical textbook. The Bible is the living and active word of God.

It's useful. Right. But they were using it the wrong way. And what happened was they adopted something that was culturally normal and as scriptural truth because they didn't understand Scripture. And see, the thing about going against the grain is that Jesus was countercultural in everything that he did.

The life of Jesus flew in the face of cultural norms. His whole teaching, his whole method was upside down compared to culture Jesus. So here's the issue. When we start practicing Christianity and it begins to look a little bit like culture, a red flag should raise up in us. Why?

Because Jesus went against the grain of culture. Jesus pushed back against societal and cultural norms that contradicted his Word. All right? And we see this, evidently, I think, in the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are one of Jesus most famous sermons.

They're found within one of Jesus most famous sermons. It's called the Sermon on the Mount. And today I wanna pull out a couple of lessons from the Beatitudes that we can draw from. And these are found in Matthew 5. So if you have your Bible, turn there with me.

Matthew 5, 5, 1, 10. While you're turning there, I'm gonna pray. Holy Spirit, we thank you for who you are, Lord. And we celebrate all you've done this year. God, in 2024.

God, I echo the verse that we just sang, that everything we have is because of you. God. Every breath that we're able to breathe. God. Every article of clothing, every time we sleep in a bed, God.

Whenever we wake up, Lord, Everything that we have is because of you. The cars that we drive, God. The jobs that we have, Lord, we thank you for those things. And we don't want to be unnegligible people who don't recognize what you've given us. But today, Lord, I ask that your mercy would be on display in our lives, Father, that you would communicate through me the way that only you can, Lord, because I cannot change a heart or a mind.

So, Holy Spirit, I invite you to come right now, and I pray that this would be service to you, that you would find this act of worship faithful, presentable, true Lord, to what you receive. And I ask today, God, that you would speak to our hearts the way that only you can. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen.

So again, the Beatitudes, they're found within the Sermon on the Mountain. What we see here is Jesus gathered with his disciples with some Israelites, and he gives one of the most famous sermons in all of Scripture, probably the most famous sermon in all of Scripture. And that's where we're picking up this morning. So Matthew 5, 1, 10. And if you would just stand with me as we honor the word of God.

This morning, we're starting in verse one. Today, it's gonna be on the screens as well. And it says this. Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain. And when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

And he opened up his mouth and taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We're going to break this down together, but before we do, let's make some declarations together. Ready?

Go. I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God. This word is life to my body and health to my bones. I will be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. And I am confident of this that he who has begun a good work in me will complete it in Jesus name.

Amen. You can have a seat this morning. It would probably take us an entire sermon series worth of Sunday mornings to go through each of the statements that we just read in the Beatitudes. And I would love to do that, but for our sake together here we're gonna focus in on verse 3. Now verse 3 said this.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit. What was Jesus saying by making this statement? What does it mean to be poor in spirit? Now you might hear this and be confused at it, because I often am, because to me I'm not quite sure the application of being poor in spirit, like what does that mean for my life?

Does that mean material wealth? Does it mean a mindset? Does that mean the way that I think or an attitude that I have? And for many of the people that were first hearing this, that Jesus was speaking to, this also would have been really confusing. When Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, the people around Jesus would have been really confused.

And here's why. At that time it was very normal. A normal way of thinking amongst Israelite and religious leaders at the time was that your wealth signified how blessed you were in God's sight. So in other words, if you were really wealthy during that time, God must have smiled upon you. You must be doing something correctly.

However, the adverse was also true. They believed at the time that if you were not wealthy, if you were poor, that it means that you have disobeyed God. That You've blasphemed his name. You've done something to go against him. And therefore, that's why God has made you poor.

So the disciples and the Israelites hearing this at the time would have been just as confused sometimes as we are when we read to be poor in spirit. They wouldn't have known what that would have meant in full. And in fact, it would have actually frustrated things they thought were normal ways of thinking that they thought were normal. Because all their life they've learned, wealth is good. It means God blesses you.

And now Jesus is saying, hold on a minute. Blessed are the poor in spirit. So the disciples imagine with me, the disciples would have been pretty confused here. They would have not really known what was going on or what was being said because this flew in the face of a norm that they had accepted amongst their culture, right? So this breakdown of cultural thoughts around wealth at the time helps us to understand that poor in spirit does not mean entertaining a poverty mindset.

To clarify, let me just put it out there for you so that you understand. Poor in spirit does not have anything to do with material wealth or a poverty mindset. But being poor in spirit, here's what it means. It means understanding the depravity of the human condition when left to our own devices and the weight of his mercy in spite of our sin nature. Being poor in spirit means keeping at the forefront of our minds where we'd be apart from his saving grace.

It means keeping in mind that he stepped in and saved us from our own condition, our own nature. Right? In other words, being poor in spirit means understanding the depravity of human condition against the backdrop of his radical and scandalous mercy. See? Cause here's scriptural truth this morning.

Scriptural truth is this, that all of us in this room owed a debt we could not pay. Every single person in here, no matter how good or righteous you feel in your own doing, owed a debt because of our sin nature that we could not pay. And I'm gonna explain to you how oftentimes, especially in Western culture, we get this twisted because we begin to feel like we're okay and that we don't need help. Well, the church in the Bible also felt this way. In Revelation 3.

Jesus rebukes the church in Laodicea because they were not poor in spirit. Watch this. Verses 15 through 17. It says, I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold, and I wish that you were one or the other. But since you were lukewarm water, neither hot Nor cold.

I'll spit you out of my mouth. Watch this. You say, I am rich, I have everything I want. I don't need a stranger on the street. And you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Listen, our culture in America is consumer based. What does that mean? It means that all of us have been ingrained with this rhythm that we are blessed, that we don't have need of anything and. And that we can work hard enough to provide for ourselves because of where we live. Right?

And I'm grateful for some truth in that. But here's the reality. A lot of times we miss out on the great need of our spirits because we get our spirit and our flesh mixed up. See, because I think, because I have food on the table, that I don't have a need. But in reality, there's a spiritual hunger in me that cannot be satisfied apart from Christ.

So if I'm searching for it in something else, I'm starving. I feel like I have what I need because I've got a bed to sleep in. But the reality is my spirit is not able to rest outside of a relationship with Christ. See, there's actually a reason why in Afghanistan and Iran and China and the places where these underground churches are, where it's illegal to. To profess faith in Christ, there's a reason why their church is progressing at the rate that it is.

And honestly, it's leaving Western church in the dust. And here's why. It's because they are not. They don't have it mixed up. They understand their need for Christ.

Why? Because Christ is literally their source of food. He's literally their source of life. He's literally their source of peace. He's literally the source of life itself.

Because if they can get caught with the gospel, they're killed. See, here in America, we feel like, because there's not a threat of that, sometimes the enemy likes to mask what is really a need in our life. Feeling like we're rich, we have everything, we don't have a need, right? And in reality, Jesus here is teaching us in the Beatitude, something that all of us need to learn in this room. And it's not the act of self deprecation, not the act of adopting a poverty mindset, but it's understanding our need for Christ.

Why? So that we can understand the weight of his mercy and what he did on the cross.

See, we've become really desensitized to the cross. Why? Because we're a people that don't recognize our need. Why did Jesus do what he did? Because I'm good.

I can live how I want to live. I can make the money I need to make. I can acquire a lot of possessions, right? And all the while, I don't have to acknowledge Christ. But the reality is the enemy has done a masterful job at masking our need.

He's convinced us that we're a people without need. See, here's my point in preaching this message to you this morning. It's not to make you feel bad about yourself. So don't hear what I'm not saying. I love you.

But it's so that you would understand the beauty of his mercy. John Piper, when talking about preaching, he described preaching as an act of expository exaltation. I know a lot of words there. Here's what he was saying. He was saying that a pastor has a job when he's preaching to communicate what the original author intended to say biblically and to exalt, to rejoice over what he's teaching.

So John Piper poses the question, well, how then can a pastor rejoice over biblical principles that need to be preached like sin, like death, like hell. And here's what he said. He said, when a pastor is preaching on sin, on death, on hell, on sin nature, it's to be done in the service to the service of the beauty of the Gospel. In other words, I take up the sin nature to exalt God and show how glorious and merciful and kind he is. It's not to put a priority or an emphasis on our sin nature.

Listen, all of us know that we're sinners, but it's to put a magnifying glass on his love, on his mercy, on his acceptance and grace towards us that he extends through the act of the cross. So this morning, that's my goal here, is to help you to understand that without a true poor in spirit posture, you will never appreciate or value the cross for what it's worth. Because if you're a person who thinks that you don't have need, you will never confess true faith in Christ. And I believe with good intentions. People in America have gone their lives forming their understanding of the gospel in a very skewed way, in a way that puts themselves at the center.

And when you do that, you can't see why there's a need to be poor in spirit. Why does Jesus say be poor in spirit? Why is that? Jesus would never ask us to do something that He Himself was not willing to do first. So why does he tell us to be poor in spirit?

God, why would you want me to recognize my need? It's because Jesus recognized a desire that he had to be with his creation. And he didn't just snap his fingers, wipe us off the earth and start clean, but he actually decided, I'm gonna come to the earth in the form of my fallen and broken creation. I'm gonna humble myself. In other words, Jesus decided, I'm gonna be poor in spirit.

I'm going to empty myself of divinity, of equality with God in heaven, and I'm going to come to the earth. I'm going to live a life as a human right? It's why we just celebrated Christmas. It's why we gather and what that season stands for. It's acknowledging the incarnation of Jesus.

Right? And so Jesus decides he's going to come to the earth. He's going to live a life as a man. Why? So he can show us what it means to be poor in spirit.

Why? Because he's the kingdom of heaven. What did John the Baptist say before Jesus came in John chapter three, he said, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. The kingdom of heaven is not a place. The kingdom of heaven is Jesus embodied.

He embodies the kingdom of heaven. And so what Jesus is saying is, in order to get me, you have to be like me. You have to become poor in spirit. And Jesus suffered at the hands of his creation, his own creation. Can you imagine just the humility that it takes for the God of the universe, Almighty God, to step down from his place in eternity, to live a life as a man, to save his creation, all the while knowing my creation is gonna betray me.

They're gonna stab me in the back, they're gonna turn me over to be crucified and murdered. And yet he did that with love in his heart. Because he knew what was on the other side of that suffering. He knew what was on the other side of being poor in spirit. And why did he do that?

He did it. He stayed silent. He could have smited them, struck them dead right there on the spot when they're mocking Jesus, when they're putting nails through his wrists and his feet, when they're cramming a crown of thorns onto his skull, whenever they're beating him and spitting on him, right? They're humiliating Jesus. He could have instantly smited them, but he didn't.

Why? He wanted to show us what it looked like to be poor in spirit. Why does he show us what it looks like to be poor in spirit? So that we know that when we turn our backs on him, that when we reject him, that when we are far from him, that when we humiliate him and how we live and how we act, that he would never turn his back on us, that he would never abandon us, that he would never not be faithful to us. Why?

Because he cannot be untrue to his own nature, cannot do it. He is faithful beyond what we know. And it's because Jesus was willing to be poor spirit. So I want to identify some areas that Scripture teaches according to this beatitude that fly in the face of some cultural norms that we've adopted, not just in the secular world, but even in the church world. So here's what I would ask.

Allow the Lord to examine your heart, your faith. Is there any area that you have adopted, maybe in good intentions, some cultural norms as truth that actually stand in opposition to the Word of God? We're gonna look at that together. So we're gonna look at a couple of differences in Scripture and in culture. Difference number one.

Scripture says we should be poor in spirit. Culture says we are innately good. You ever heard this before? Right. We are good by nature.

There's good inside of all of us, right? It's this belief, according to new age and postmodern philosophy that's incorporated itself into the Church that says that we as humans are innately good, that we're capable of good outside of Christ, and that each one of us have good inside of us regardless of whether we accept or receive Christ. See, this is also referred to as secular humanism. I'm gonna teach you a little bit here. Secular humanism teaches that we as individuals are the center of what happens and that we are innately good beings.

And see, what happens is sometimes we mix in a little bit of this cultural norm with Scripture and we start to believe that we are good and that outside of Jesus, we are capable of some good. I can be nice. I can be kind to other people outside of Jesus. I don't have to have him. Right?

And the reality is that the more we begin to believe that, the more we begin to forget our need for Christ because the enemy wants to lead us down this path of deception that says, you're good by yourself, you're good by yourself. You don't need anyone. You are good. You are. You don't need someone else to make you good.

You are good as an individual, as a person. It's a core belief of progressive Christianity, literally, that we as humans are good by nature. But here's what scripture says, Ephesians 2, verse 3, it says, among whom, speaking of those that are dead in sin, we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were, watch this by nature, children of wrath like the rest of mankind. What's that Scripture saying? It's saying that all of us were infected.

All of us had an issue. All of us had a disease that was not curable by our own merit or our own strength. It means that all of us had a disease that affected our condition. Meaning that we, outside of Christ have no capability of producing good outside of Him. Why?

Because. Because what is good outside of Jesus?

You might say, well, there's people who are not believers who developed cures for diseases. There's people who aren't believers that are philanthropists and they give a bunch of money, right? And all that's great, but it's temporal, right? Because one day money fades away because one day there will be no more diseases. And I'm not making light of people's contributions to society in that, but I am drawing attention to the fact that Jesus himself is good.

So to say that outside of him there can be good is a double negative. It contradicts itself. See, each of us have been plagued by sin and we're in need of saving. How do I know that's true? Because you don't have to teach a kid to be selfish, right?

Take the graham crackers away from the two year old and tell me there's not a sin nature in us, right? You don't have to teach us to sin. We just, we know because we were born into it, right? This world is infested with sin. And as I shared at the beginning of this message, I promise this isn't a doom and gloom message.

It's to make light of his glory. So stick with me. Galatians 2:20 also alludes to our sin nature. It says this. It says, I have been crucified with Christ.

It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Why would there be a need for us to live crucified in our flesh? Why would there be a need for us to no longer live, but for Christ to live through us if we were capable of good in ourselves? It's not a doom and gloom message.

It's making light of what we have access to as believers. We. When you put your faith in Christ, you have access to a good that is not temporary. You have access to a peace that is not temporary. You have access to redemption that is not temporary.

You have an eternal standing and identity with God. So no matter what happens to you on this earth, no matter what you've done in your past that the enemy's tried to convince you you can't come to God, now there's a place for you when you put faith in Christ that He's prepared for by way of his body that he gave up, and his blood that was spilled for you and for me. And that's good. We, in our own strength, in our own measure, are not capable of good. But by his mercy, God has allowed us to be grafted into his eternal storyline of humanity.

Isn't that amazing? He didn't have to use us to do that. He could have done it all himself. But God in His great mercy goes, this creature that was not capable of good outside of me, I'm gonna allow to be grafted in to this story that I've been writing from the beginning of humanity that's gonna end in no death, no disease, no sickness, no tears, no suffering, no pain, no anxiety, no depression, right? God allows us to be caught up in that story with Him.

Difference 2. Scripture says that we must trust him to pay for us. Culture says we can work hard and be good. The culture has ingrained this thought in us that we are able to pay with good deeds, so to speak, and make ourselves good individuals, that we can feel righteous in our own accord, right? But the truth of his word is that each of us owed something that could not be paid on our own.

Have you ever tried to feel righteous by coming to church or by reading the Bible, or by anything that is not relying on his grace that empowers us to live righteously? It's like a hamster wheel that you just keep spinning on, right? Where do you feel like maybe you've got it down for a little bit and then you stumble and you fall? And that righteousness, maybe you thought you were feeling was just a farce and now you don't feel that anymore because you've sinned, right? It's because.

The reality is, it's why Christ stepped in and paid this debt for us. Ephesians 2, 8, 9 says, God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this. It's a gift from God. Salvation's not a reward for the good things we've done.

So none of us can boast about it. See, you could never pay the debt that you owed because of sin. Culture is a liar. You cannot work your hardest to be good. You cannot become the best version of yourself outside of Jesus Christ.

Right? Why? Because Jesus doesn't make us a best version of ourselves. The old self has died and is gone, and a new self is resurrected by the power of his blood that saved us, that delivered us, that healed us. See, culture is a liar.

Even Christian culture, which has been infiltrated by this way of thinking that says, strive and you can make yourself right with God. I promise that you cannot. And when you view things this way, that's why you feel distant from God. I'm going somewhere with this. Look, when you view whether you are right with God or not based on your own actions, that's why you feel distant from God.

See, because we've all probably had seasons where we're on fire for Jesus and then all of a sudden we kind of fall off. The flame kind of filters out a little bit, and now we feel like a failure. Now we feel like we're not as devoted to Christ as we once were. Now we feel like Christ doesn't accept us as much as he once did. Right.

And the reality is you cannot change his faithfulness to you.

So maybe you were on fire at the beginning of 2024, and now you find yourself in a dead place. You cannot change God's faithfulness to you. He still loves you. He's still for you. Grace is still available to you.

Mercy is still available to you. Why? Because your failure to live sold out for Christ is not stronger than his blood.

Jesus bought us with a price that we could not pay. Therefore, we cannot do something that alters his feelings of faithfulness and love towards us. Now, don't get it twisted. Living an unrepentant lifestyle and a cycle of sin that you have no desire to get free from is going to lead to separation from God. However, I cannot change God's faithfulness to me.

Cannot do it. It's against his nature. According to Colossians 1, we cannot change his faithfulness to us. See, working to be good can never make you right in life. It can't.

Doesn't matter how much money you earn, doesn't matter how well you provide for your family. It doesn't matter what type of job you get or the status that you have in your tax status. It doesn't matter. Anything you can achieve in your own measure will not make you right with Christ. Why?

Because of what Romans 5, 8, 9 says. It says that God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God's sight. By what? By the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation.

That's good news to us today. Church this is not doom and gloomy preaching. There's good news you couldn't pay for yourself, but there's one that came and lived a life for you that you could never live so that your debt could be paid. Why? So that you could be made right in God's sight by way of his blood that was shed for us.

Jesus bought that for you and for me. Difference 3 It says this scripture says we must deny ourselves. Culture says, prioritize yourself. I feel like one of the most frustrating things that I hear, and hear me out here, is the whole movement around putting yourself first. See, there's this common way of thinking that's been adopted by culture that's like set boundaries.

Make sure you're prioritizing you first over other people, right? Your needs are important. You need to make sure your needs are met, right? And I'm not saying that it's not important for our needs to be met. What I am saying is it's Christ who meets those needs for us, not us.

And so we've adopted somewhat this way of thinking that says that I as a person need to prioritize myself over other people. And if prioritizing someone else cost me something or inconveniences me or puts my reputation at stake or puts me in harm's way, then I need to not do that because I need to prioritize me. Well, thank God Jesus didn't live that way, you know what I mean? Because Jesus himself didn't prioritize himself. Why?

Because Mark 10 says that he came not to be served, but to serve others, to give his life as a ransom for many. Thank God Jesus didn't put up boundaries in his life from people that were toxic or that he didn't want around him. Because what would have led to we'd all be cut off from Christ.

He didn't cut Judas off even knowing that Judas would betray him. But he gave him chances, mercy, over and over again. Judas didn't choose Jesus, but that didn't matter. The chance was still there. The opportunity was still there.

Why? Because Jesus denied himself, never asked us to do something he would not do himself. Luke 9:23 and he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me. This isn't a popular message. It's not gonna gain followers or money, right?

Or popularity or fame. But this is the message of Jesus. Anyone would follow me. Let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Why?

Because Jesus knew the self that you're denying. That we're holding onto White knuckled is actually leading you to destruction and death and separation from God. You say Jesus is so mean, making me give up myself? No, it's actually the most loving thing he could command us to do. Why?

Because he knew self is gonna stand in the way of life everlasting. And he knew that his life that he lived was what we needed to grab hold of in ourselves. See, there's this message, secular humanism, which I mentioned earlier, kind of has infiltrated some of Christian thought. Why? Because when we read the gospel, it's very me centric, right?

When I read the gospel, sometimes it's easy for me to view the the gospel in light of how it affects me as a person. But here's the problem with that. The gospel is not about me. The gospel is about Jesus. The gospel is about what he did for his creation.

Right? The Gospel is a retelling of his faithfulness and his love to us. And the minute that we put ourselves in the center of the story of the Gospel, our priorities are out of whack.

When I was in rds, Pastor Abe used to have a famous saying. Maybe he still does, but it was a famous saying. You want to know what the saying was? He used to say, it's not about you. It's not about you.

Right. And here's the problem with our culture. We don't have enough voices echoing scripture saying it's not about you. We have too many self help sermons. We have too many self improvement books and techniques coming from pulpits and pastors.

We have too many people that are lobbying for ways that you can improve yourself or ways that you can follow Christ. It's gonna affect you positively. And here's what I'm offering this morning. I don't know if that's the way Scripture teaches us, because Jesus says the opposite. He says, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.

That's why Philippians 2:3 says to consider others as more significant than ourselves. Could you imagine what that looked like if our culture in America considered others as more significant than ourselves? Can you imagine how different we would treat our spouses? How different our patients would be with our kids? How different our attitude would be towards teachers and coaches, mentors, how different society would be if we viewed our neighbor as more significant than ourselves.

See, it's very simple. It's not easy, but it's very simple. Jesus gave us the blueprint here for what this would look like. Last difference this morning. Difference 4 we're closing is this Scripture says, lose your life for Christ.

Culture says, live your life how you want. Scripture is clear. Living how you want is the quickest way to lose your life. I'm not saying that from a lack of experience. I'm saying that from experience.

Whenever I've thrown caution to the wind and just lived however I wanted to live, you know what it's produced? It's produced depression. It's produced anxiety in me. It's produced insecurities because I can't measure up to expectations that I feel like people are placing on me. It produced rebellion in me because the further that I got from Christ and the more isolated I felt, the more I just wanted to abandon it.

All right? When I lived how I want to live, the end results were clear. And the enemy has done a masterful job in this as well. He's tried to convince us that living how we want to live doesn't always lead to destruction and separation from God. But here's the reality.

John 14 Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and what the life. So life outside of Jesus is not really life at all.

You can breathe air in your lungs, but that doesn't make you alive.

Some of you in here may have walked in feeling like you've been living the life you want to live, and you've realized, maybe this morning, that it's not produced what you thought it was going to produce. There's a famous saying that says the enemy will take you places that you said you'd never go. He'll keep you there longer than you said you'd stay. And it'll cost you more than you thought it would cost. And it's because it's all a ruse from the enemy.

This cultural norm that says, live life how you want to live, do things how you want to do them. Jesus is saying the exact opposite. He's saying, lose your life for me. Matthew 16:25. If you try to hang on to your life, you'll lose it.

But if you give up your life for my sake, you'll save it. See, there's no greater way to spend your life than for the sake of Christ.

No greater way. Why? Because it leads to life. It leads to life. When I allow myself to be lost in the pursuit of Jesus, what it does is it produces his image in me.

So I lose my life, but I gain Christ. And he's everything. To echo Michael Culianos, he can't just be a part of something because Jesus is everything. He can't just be a part of our lives. He has to be our whole lives.

And in order for that to happen, we have to lose the lives that sometimes we hold so tightly to, and it might cost you something. But living how we want always end in death. Why? Because Proverbs 14:12 says, There's a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. A way seems right to us, but its end is death.

See, living poor in spirit produces great joy in your life. It does. It produces great joy in our lives. When I decide to keep on the forefront of my memory what Christ saved me from, it protects me from growing callous to the gospel, so that when I sit in these seats, I can't hear someone talking about the blood of Jesus without being moved and stirred in my spirit. When I hear someone preaching from the stage about his body that he gave for us, I can't help but respond in my spirit.

Why? Because I'm doing whatever I can to live poor in spirit, which means remembering the depravity of the human condition against the backdrop of his scandalous and radical mercy. That's what living poor in spirit is all about. It's not about self deprecating, tearing yourself down and talking about how horrible you are as an individual. No, it is making much of his mercy by recognizing what he saved us from, eternity apart from him.

This is what Jesus saved us from. Bow your heads and close your eyes this morning. God, we just love you this morning. And we say, oh, God, we want to be a people that is not calloused to the gospel. We want to be a people that recognizes the great magnitude of your mercy for us and God.

I'm playing. I'm praying this morning that that mercy would be on display in the lives of those that sit in these seats, those watching online. God, those that feel like they've ran, they've outran his mercy, that there's no more mercy for them. I'm praying that the lie of the enemy would be exposed this morning. God, I'm praying for those maybe that have grown calloused to the gospel, to what Christ has saved us from.

Lord, that you would help us this morning by replacing our heart of stone with a heart of flesh. God, give us a pure and undivided heart and teach us to walk in your ways this morning by remaining poor in spirit, by recognizing our need for you.

Come on. Would you just take 30 seconds and just think about the character, the person, the nature of Christ, of Jesus, of what he saved us from. Come on. When we had no answers, when we rejected him, he was faithful to us. Maybe you're walking out a season right now where you've been rejecting Christ.

He's faithful to you and he loves you and he wants relationship with you this morning.

Maybe you need to lose your life for Christ. You've been holding on to things that have kept you From Christ in 2024, going into 2025, the last Sunday of the year. You need to set the tone, the precedent and surrender. Deny yourself this morning. Can I just tell you, there's no greater joy than to lose your life and gain Christ.