Father, we just want to, again, I thank you for this time. I thank you for just the gift that you are to us. I thank you for the cross and this day that we can focus on it. And I pray that you would give us, again, the gift of your Holy Spirit, that you would accompany us as we open up your book and make it of permanent value. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, this is the day that we remember Jesus and his cross. And we start out by remembering that Jesus, on the night before he died, he met with his disciples to celebrate one final Passover supper with them. Matthew 26 says, Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you. For this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. So Jesus took bread and he took wine and he offered them up as symbols of his flesh and blood and he asked the disciples to eat the bread and drink the cup so that they might symbolically eat his flesh and drink his blood. He then asked them to repeat the remembrance of this sacrifice on a regular basis, and it's what we call the Lord's Table. We celebrate it once a month, and we do so by meditating on what it is the Lord Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, by examining ourselves, that's allowing God's Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, by confessing our sins, and then by participating in the elements. John 6.53 says, So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Well, we are following the life of Christ, this time in the Gospel of Mark. And at this point in Jesus' ministries, on the final stretch of his public ministry, his crucifixion is literally days away. And he seems to be poking the bear. He's goading the authorities into arresting him. He's had many different confrontations with the Pharisees. Jesus uses a story of a vineyard owner to actually accuse the Pharisees of murder. He shows them that God has sent them prophet upon prophet whom they rejected and mistreated. And now he's pointing out that the king of all prophets, Jesus himself, is there in their midst. And they're about to kill him. The story wasn't lost on the Pharisees. I mean, they knew they had been called out, and they wanted nothing more than to take Jesus out. As Mark 12, 12 points out, it says, they were seeking to arrest him, but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away. And what then follows is this series of confrontations between Jesus and the religious leaders. And we've seen a number of them. We've seen how they question Jesus about how taxes should be paid. And he calls for a coin and he says, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. And they marveled at him. And what quickly follows on the heels of that confrontation is yet another. This time it's about marriage and resurrection. If you remember, the Pharisees ask if a woman marries a man who dies and then marries Her brother, and then his brother dies, and another brother dies, and the process continues through seven brothers. Whose wife is she going to be in the afterlife? And again, the question's asked in a mocking way by religious leaders who are trying to make Jesus look stupid. And Jesus will not have it. In verse 24, it says, Jesus said to them, is this not the reason you are wrong? Because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And so we see time and again, Jesus, he's confronted by this mocking tone of the religious leaders as they try to make him look foolish. And in each case, he very calmly and very thoroughly trounces his attackers. And if you simply take a step back and picture what is taking place in these confrontations, you realize that these mere men You know, these Pharisees, Sadducees, these scribes, they're trying to match wits with the creator of the universe, with the one who created wit in the first place. And they're absolutely no match whatsoever for Jesus. And each time they try to match wits with him, they go off looking profoundly silly and ignorant. But Jesus' response is not treated like some simple slap on the wrist by these folks. In their view, this is a country peasant with no pedigree or no education who's making them look foolish. And for people whose entire career is based and built on false notions of honor and respect, this comes as an existential challenge. Instead of simply licking their wounds, they decide they're gonna continue this intellectual war of worlds, words. And what they do is they bring yet another religious leader for yet another confrontation. It's found in Mark 12, 28. It says, And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another. And seeing that he answered them well, asked him, Which commandment is the most important of all? And this is Jesus' answer. He says, The most important is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Well, if you read the scriptures, you find it's impossible to tell really what's motivating this scribe. I mean, here's this guy from this long list of adversaries that the religious leaders have been putting in front of Jesus, and yet his response to Jesus' answer shows that this guy actually has insight, he actually has wisdom. It says, and the scribe said to him, you are right, teacher, you have truly said that he is one and there is no other beside him. So here we have the scribe responding in a way that had to be shocking to these religious leaders. I mean, this is what he says about loving God. He says, and to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. That's not the response the religious leaders expected. I mean, their whole approach to God is centered around getting the issue of burnt offerings and sacrifices right from a mechanical standpoint. They just make sure you attend to the rituals and the ordinances like we tell you to, and you don't have to worry about dealing with God. Now, we pointed out to some 2,000 years later, we're still wrestling with the very same issues. We pointed out the difference between religion and relationship is the difference between adhering to a set of rules and regulations that put you in good standing with an unknown, unseen, and basically unloved God who is much more a set of propositions than a genuine personality versus working through forming a genuine relationship where you actually get to know and love the real God. A scribe clearly has an understanding of God that differs from all of the other ones. And Jesus hears his response, and he hears his understanding of faith, and he understands it. He gets it. It's not mechanical. It's not ideological. It's an understanding that puts him very close to grasping the gospel. In verse 34, it says that when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. So Jesus tells the scribe that he's close to grasping the gospel. And we asked last time, why did Jesus say that? How is it that this scribe understood what it meant to truly love God? You see, we Westerners, we struggle with this idea of God. We struggle with the whole idea of God, this idea that God is commanding us to love him. How in the world can you command somebody to love you? I mean, if you want somebody to love you, you do your best to be as attractive to him or her as you can, and you hope for the best. Maybe they might like you, and if you're successful, you somehow or other are able to win their love, but nothing about love is guaranteed. I mean, in our culture, love is a crapshoot. You can do your very best and still not win the romantic love of the person you're interested in. But you understand this is not the way God looks at this at all. I pointed it out last time. Love to God is not something you feel. It's something you do. And Jesus tells us that our greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the scripture tells us specifically how we do that. First John 5.3 says, For this is the love of God. that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. You see, loving God's not a matter of romance or sentimentality or emotion more so than it is simply a matter of obedience. I mean, we are commanded to love God not by trying to drum up some warm fuzzies, but by keeping his commandments. And the key thing is that God senses our love or our lack thereof by our obedience. As Jesus puts it in John 14 21, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And the simple fact is the more you obey God, the more you pursue him. The more you pursue him, the more you learn who he is, the more you learn what he's done for you, the more your love for him automatically grows. I said before, I said, you'll find that obeying your way to feeling happens a lot more readily than feeling your way to obeying. Because that's the difference between religion and relationship. So he said, ask yourself, am I trying to feel my way towards obeying God? Or am I obeying my way towards loving him? One thing we know for sure, obedience was not an option for these religious leaders that Jesus was confronting. They felt nothing for Jesus but anger and disgust. I mean how dare this peasant who they saw as first of all being born out of wedlock from a backwater town in Nazareth where no prophet of God ever came from with no formal education or even a lineage that would mark him as any different. How dare someone like him would challenge them. And they were so profoundly ignorant they didn't even realize Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem, not Nazareth. And Bethlehem was the exact town that God said would produce the Messiah. Go back to Matthew 2, it says, When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea. For so it is written by the prophet. And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel." This ruler was like no one they had ever imagined before. And so they felt compelled to confront him constantly. And in each of these confrontations, it's always the religious leaders who are setting the agenda. It's always them who are on the attack. And whether it's taxes or marriage or what is the greatest commandment, it's always the Pharisees demanding these answers from Jesus. Well, now in our text this morning, we find it's Jesus' turn to turn the tables. Our scripture is Mark 12, 35 to 37. It says, and as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, how can the scribe say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself in the Holy Spirit declared, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son? And the great throng heard him gladly. Now you look at this statement, I have to tell you if most of the power of this statement escapes us, What we have here is Jesus is challenging the Pharisees on their own turf, and he's challenging with something that he helped author thousands of years before they were even born, and that's the word of God. And what he's doing is he's quoting Psalm 110, and he's presenting the religious leaders with this obvious dilemma. You see, sons in a Jewish hierarchy, they're always inferior to their fathers. And so the Christ, or the anointed one, they all agree, they all understand he's the Messiah, he's superior to all others. Oh if the Christ is the son of David, well then clearly by every metric of Jewish understanding he should be inferior in rank to David. But in Psalm 110 he's clearly not. In fact he's referred to as Lord. Says, David himself and the Holy Spirit declared, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. So, okay, who is David referring to as Lord? Well, obviously it's the Christ, the son of David. Jesus goes on to ask, well, how can David refer to a son of David as Lord? Verse 37, it says, David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son? What Jesus is doing is he's turning the entire understanding of rank and authority on its head. He says, how can the Christ be a son of David and still be Lord over David? The original Hebrew states the case even more starkly. In that statement, the first Lord that David is referring to is from the Hebrew Jehovah. And the second Lord is from the Hebrew Adonai. On that first Lord, Jehovah, it's clearly the understanding of God the Father, but this second Lord, Adonai, that refers to God as someone who is sovereignly above you. The Lord said to my Lord. Jehovah said to Adonai, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. This is clearly God speaking to God about subduing his earthly enemies. Which could only happen if God had decided to become a man. I mean, if God were to insert himself into the lineage of David, which he did, then even though he should be David's generational inferior, his lordship over all of creation would make him uniquely David's lord. David himself is acknowledging that his offspring is actually lord over him. And so what Jesus is doing is he's making an unequivocal statement that he's not only fully man, but that he's also fully God. And that's something that's not lost on all the people. It says, and the great throng heard him gladly. Now, I think it's important to take a step backwards here, to take a look at this from the 10,000 foot level. You see this Jesus that the Pharisees are confronting, he is God. He's the king of the universe. You know, you think of the Israelites, and the Israelites have a history where they were confronted by the actual God. They saw God at Mount Sinai. And if you remember, first he tells them to prepare themselves for three days. He tells them, if anyone is to even touch the mountain that I'm coming down on, that person would die. And when he finally comes to the mountain, scripture says, quote, on the morning of the third day, there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast so that all the people in the camp tremble. I mean, these people are absolutely terrified of God's power and might and the fact that he's altogether other than anything they've even thought of. I mean, just imagine coming face to face with this gigantic alien power that you knew instantly could annihilate you with a look. And it's accompanied by the sound of a trumpet that's growing louder and louder and louder. And it's completely surrounding you. And every one of your senses is telling you, you are nothing. And this being is all powerful. He is everything. People want no part of this terror whatsoever. That they're begging Moses, please speak to God for us so we don't have to see him or get near him. Understand, the very same God is the one who's arguing with these Pharisees. You know, Philippians 2 says, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man. I mean here's the very same God having emptied himself to the point where he's managed to live his life in the form of a servant as a fellow human being for some 30 years before his public ministry began. And there's no doubt that a huge part of Jesus' own personal energy went into truncating his own personal glory so that he wouldn't kill everybody around him just by his presence. If you remember only weeks before he'd gone up on a mountain with Peter, James, and John to be transfigured. by his father. And we're told as he goes up there, it says, he began to take on a glow so intense that Peter became so terrified that he literally starts babbling. I have no doubt that if Jesus had fully realized his own personal glory there, Peter, James, and John would not have survived this. And here's this very same Jesus being mocked and belittled by these religious leaders, yet he's still willing to engage them in dialogue. I mean, I can't begin to imagine the humility that enabled Jesus to engage in civil discourse with creatures who were so far beneath him. As the elders begin distributing the bread, I just would like us to consider the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ, King, Creator, and sustainer of the entire universe, willingly engaging men who are mocking and belittling him, men he knows that are planning to kill him. We are, according to Hebrews 12, too, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Understand this love of Jesus for us was so great that in spite of the degradation of the cross, that's right in front of him. In spite of the lunacy of debating mere humans about his worth, Jesus is pressing forward for the joy of it. And what was the joy? The joy was to see his father glorified by you and me ransomed and rescued by his death on the cross. As the bread is being distributed, let's prepare. And as we prepare, let's just focus on the humility of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11.28 says, But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. And as I repeat each month, I say communion is an incredibly serious business, and that to enter into it in an unworthy manner is to literally court disaster. And I plead with you, if you're not absolutely confident, you're a child of the King, if you haven't by faith trusted in Christ as your Savior, or if you first need to be reconciled to your brother or your sister by bringing the sacrifice of yourself to the altar, then don't participate. Just pass the elements on. God is convicting you. If you don't feel right about participating, err on the side of caution. Get right with God first. And as I always point out again, on the other hand, you can make the mistake of thinking, okay, I need to be spotlessly perfect or else I'm unworthy to receive communion. And the enemy loves that. That, too, is a mistake because being a child of the king doesn't mean that you don't sin. It doesn't mean that you don't fall. It means you recognize that salvation is a gift that no one is capable of ever earning by, quote, being good. And so we quote Dane Orlin each month. He says, in the kingdom of God, the one thing that qualifies you is knowing you don't qualify. And the one thing that disqualifies you is thinking that you do. And you know, it also means that when we do fail, we are aware that we have sinned. Why? Because we have God's Holy Spirit living inside us. And that spirit convicts us. Thank you. And so we grieve as children who know that we have a father who longs to forgive and cleanse us. A father who says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. So being a child of the king doesn't mean that we are flawless and sinless. What it means is that we understand we have an advocate with the father. We have someone in heaven itself right now speaking on our behalf. As first John 2 1 says my dear children I write this to you so you will not sin but if anybody does sin We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And so because we have that righteousness, and as I say it each time, it's an alien righteousness, it's Jesus' righteousness, belonged to him, given to us, because we have his righteousness, we are now free to eat from his table. So if you love your Lord, do not deny yourself the privilege that he purchased for you at the cost of his life. He lived the life that we were supposed to live. He died the death we deserve to die in our place so that we could be worthy of this very moment. So as you're considering, ask God for the grace to expand our understanding of his humility. In First Corinthians 11.23 says, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So take and eat. Jesus has been having these verbal confrontations with the political and religious leaders. He's been having them for days now. And they're completely unaware that he is the king and creator of the universe, the one who's sustaining the very planet that they're standing on, providing the very air that they're breathing moment by moment while they're arguing. I mean, there's something almost absurd about the idea of creatures engaged in a bitter argument with their own creator. And the closest we come to a similar situation we find in the book of Job. There God finally challenges Job as a creature trying to challenge the fairness of his creator. And if you remember Job has been arguing back and forth with God about how poorly he's been treated and how unjust his life circumstances had become. And eventually God calls him front and center. And he calls him there to ask a series of questions of him. And God says to Job, dress for action like a man. I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. God asked Job all kinds of quick questions he should have answers to, since he feels he has a right to question God. And most of the questions have to do with creation, and they're broken down into many different categories. You know, God asked Job questions about the geography of planet Earth. He says, who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? God sarcastically asked Job, how did you design the oceans? He says, or who shut up the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors and said thus far you shall come and no further and here shall your proud waves be stayed. God wants to know how Job designed sunrises. and sunsets. He says, have you commanded the morning since your days began and caused the dawn to know its place? That it might take hold of the skirts of the earth and the wicked be shaken out of it? He asked Job how much of this planet he's actually really explored. He says, have you entered into the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare if you know all this. Now you need to understand the very same God who is actually graciously chiding Job about his profound ignorance of all things created. This is the very same God who's engaging in these debates with the religious leaders. God next asks Job what he knows about night and day. He says, Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And where is the place of darkness, that you may take it to its territory, and that you may discern the paths to its home? You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great. What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth? Next, God asks Job how he would control all aspects of the weather. He says to Job, have you entered the storehouses of the snow or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I've reserved for the time of trouble for that day of battle and war? Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and away from the thunderbolt to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert where there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land and to make the ground sprout with grass? Has the rain a father or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth and who was given birth to the frost of heaven? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds that the flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings that they may go and say to you, here we are? Who can number the clouds by wisdom or who can tilt the water skins of the heavens when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together? Job is obviously at this point, he's speechless. He recognizes, he's a mere human, he knows absolutely nothing about the physics of weather. Well, God decides it's a perfect time for them to ask him what he knows about astrophysics. He says, can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Maseroth in their season or can you guide the bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? We know astrophysics is the study of the ordinances of the heavens. It's a science that we know is filled with brilliant people. But you know, it's absolutely remarkable that we see that science as brilliant simply because it has managed to unlock some of the mysteries of what God has actually done in creation. But understanding the how of something is not the same as actually creating it. And that power belongs exclusively to God. I mean, it's taken 2,000 years since Christ was here for us to understand the rudiments of the ordinances of the heavens. And yet the one who created those very ordinances, the Lord Jesus Christ, he says, the secret things belong to the Lord, our God. But the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. I mean, I thank God for the discoveries that we've made, the ones that have been revealed to us. Secrets that have been long hidden in Christ who emptied himself to the level of mere human who we now find engaged in arguing with these religious leaders about the nature of God and creation when he happens to be the author of both. Speaking of Christ, Paul says, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. You know, Paul's telling us every physical thing around us, visible and invisible, has come into being through the Son of God who became Jesus the Christ when he entered into flesh in a barn in Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago. And that the very molecules that make up all of creation, they're held together moment by moment by the power of the very one who's there arguing with the Pharisees. And so moving on from astrophysics, God then asks Job about the nitty-gritty aspects of providing for all the creatures that he finds on earth. He says to Job, can you hunt the prey for the lion or satisfy the appetite of the young lions when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in the thicket? Who provides for the raven, its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help and wander about for lack of food? And so God's questioning. It goes on. It's relentless for two more chapters. Until finally he asked Job the ultimate question. This is what he says in Job 40. He says, And the Lord said to Job, Shall a fault finder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth, I've spoken once, I will not answer twice, but I will proceed no further. He's absolutely crushed by the questioning. But God says, I'm just getting warmed up. Says, then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Dress for action like a man. I will question you and you will make it known to me. Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? Have you an arm like God that you can thunder with a voice like His? Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity. Clothe yourself with glory and splendor. Pour out the overflowings of your anger and look on everyone who is proud and abase him. Look on everyone who is proud and bring them low and tread down the wicked where they stand. Hide them all in the dust together. Bind their faces in the world below. Then, I will also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you. But God's not done yet. The questioning goes on for another chapter and a half until Job, he's utterly crushed. And he says, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. I'd heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you, and therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. Well, I want to go back just for a second to that critical question that God asked of Job in Job 40. He says, And the Lord said to Job, Shall a fault finder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it. That's precisely what the Pharisees were doing. They were finding fault. They were arguing with And so we ask, why didn't Jesus ask the same questions of them that he asked of Job? I mean, why didn't he take them apart like he took Job apart? No, we know that God loved Job because he said so. And we also know that God disciplines those whom he loves. So Job came under withering scrutiny for his mistaken notions about God. But there's another more important reason why Jesus didn't then and there take his enemies apart. Twice now, I've quoted Paul's statement about Jesus emptying himself in order to live life just like we have to live it. But in each case, I left out a crucial verse because I was focusing just on his servanthood. This is what I said. I said, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Although he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men. The very next verse explains why Jesus did what he did with the Pharisees. Verse 8 says, And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. You see, we have to remember where we are right now in the life of Christ. He's coming down to the wire. He knows that the showdown between him and the God of this world, Satan himself, is coming in the next few days. And yes, he's goading them. Yes, he's poking the bear. He's getting them to the place where they want nothing more than to see him crucified, dead, and buried. Because the thing that Jesus never varied from was his mission to glorify his father by laying down his life as payment for his sheep. As the elders distribute the cup, take a few moments to ponder the humility of Christ. Consider what it took for God to be willing to go from thundering on Mount Sinai to engaging his enemies as if they were equals with a constant goal of heading to the cross. Just ponder the depths of humiliation that Jesus underwent for us and the love that drove Jesus forward. First Corinthians says, in the same way also he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So take and drink. This is what we call hands, head, hands, and feet. That's where we try to have some practical application of just what it means for what we've been hearing about. And I just wanted to again focus on the fact that Jesus experienced the ultimate in servanthood. And he did it for the joy that was set before him. And just to repeat that scripture, it says, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And as I said, the joy, it was his father's glory at the rescue of his sheep. But what we don't realize, because we don't really see it and Jesus doesn't focus on it, is how much Jesus despised the shame of the cross. And that had to include, I'm sure, these dialogues with mere humans who wanted nothing more than to kill him. But you know Jesus had a goal in all of that, that was more than simply to glorify his father and rescue us. His goal was to set an example for each of us. First Peter describes that. It says this, it says, For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly." You know, there's an old cliche that says, the way to know if you genuinely have a servant's heart is to practically listen to your mind and your heart and your spirit when somebody treats you like one. How do you react when somebody treats you like a servant? How did Jesus handle that very same thing? It says, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. I'm just throwing it out there. The next day, the next week, or month or so, you just might have a situation where somebody is going to treat you like a servant. And so I want to pray this morning that you remember this very moment, that you remember what it is that Jesus did. No striking back, no threatening back, just simple trust. And that you use this as an opportunity to just trust in him who judges justly. Let's pray. Father, I just am stunned. I'm speechless at your servanthood. I see how you took Job apart, Job whom you love. You just took apart piece by piece. And yet you tolerated these scribes and Pharisees, religious leaders who were there to mock you, were there to belittle you, actually were there because their ultimate goal was to kill you. And yet you engage them over and over and over again with no striking back, no threatening back, just simple trust. Lord, that's the way life is. We're going to find ourselves in these situations. sooner or later, and I pray when we do, we would see your example and follow after you. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.