Hey all, Pastor John here. Thanks for tuning
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Now let's dive into this week's message. So we're
in a series called True and Better, and we're
looking at a gospel -shaped identity. And today
we're going to talk about this aspect of it,
pilgrim not consumer. Pilgrim not consumer. So
there are two fundamentally different ways to
view, to live in this world. You can live as
if this world is your home or you can live as
if you are passing through. Think about the difference
between how you treat your living room and how
you treat an airport terminal, okay? So in your
living room, what do you do? You decorate, you
renovate, right? You settle into your living
room. I love my living room. It's the place of
comfort that I come home to, right? And I've
got my spot. I've got a spot on the couch. Everyone
knows that that's my spot. You don't sit in Dad's
spot. The dogs, for some reason, don't know that.
It's a place of comfort. It's a place to settle
in. It's a place that you build for permanence.
Hopefully you have that living room for a while
and you can relax and enjoy it for a long time.
But at an airport, it's different, isn't it?
You don't repaint the walls, right? You're like,
hey, I think we need to do something about these
walls over here. You don't hop on your phone
and get on the Crate and Barrel website and deliver
brand new furniture to gate B6, right? Hey, I
was talking to my son between Nate and he's like,
dad, you did not paint the picture of the airport
terminal and how terrible it is enough in the
first place. There's people eating everywhere,
there's babies crying, there's loud noises, there's
the terrible music and then people keep getting
on the intercom over, it's not comfortable, right?
You don't make it feel like home. Because you
accept the reality that it's going to be whatever
it is, right? Well, why? Because you're not staying.
It's an airport terminal. You're in transit.
You're just passing through. You see, Christians
are not settlers here. The Bible uses words like
strangers, exiles, sojourners, pilgrims on a
journey home to describe the Christian life.
And Paul says in Philippians, our citizenship
is in heaven. And notice what he says, he doesn't
say not will be in heaven, our citizenship is
in heaven. But if we're honest, most of us don't
feel like exiles. We feel quite at home. We've
built our lives here, we've organized our hopes
here, we've anchored our expectations here. And
without realizing it, right now, we have been
discipled into a different identity. Not pilgrim,
but consumer. The consumer identity says life
is about maximizing satisfaction. The consumer
identity says institutions exist to serve me.
We'll talk about that a little bit more later.
The consumer identity says that discomfort in
my life must mean that something is wrong and
therefore it must be fixed immediately. The consumer
identity says if I don't like this, I just move
on. But the gospel says something radically different
than that. It says that the world is not your
home. It is your assignment. See, if you believe
this world is ultimate, then you are going to
cling to it with all that you have. But if you
know that your citizenship is elsewhere, you
will hold this world loosely and yet find the
greatest joy possible in it. That's what's extraordinary.
I'll say that again. If you know your citizenship
is elsewhere, you're gonna hold this world loosely
and yet at the same time be able to find the
greatest joy in it that is possible. C .S. Lewis
put it this way. Aim your life at heaven and
get the earth thrown in. Aim your life at earth
and you will get neither. So the question is,
are you living like a citizen of heaven? Is your
life aimed toward heaven or are you settling
in? And today we're gonna explore what it means
to live as a pilgrim, not as consumers. People
whose deepest allegiance lies elsewhere and our
desires are being reordered around that place
and that person and whose hope is anchored in
a kingdom that can never be shaken. So if you
take notice, the first point of four is identity
determines attachments. Reading out of 1 Peter
chapter two, beginning in verse 11, Peter writes,
Dear friends, I urge you as strangers in exiles
to abstain from sinful desires that wage war
against the soul. Conduct yourself honorably
among the Gentiles so that when they slander
you as evildoers, they will observe your good
works and will glorify God on the day he visits.
Notice what he does first. He begins with identity.
Peter says, I urge you as strangers and exiles,
before he tells them what to do, he reminds them
of who they are. Exile is not about geography.
Exile is about allegiance. You may live in Sacramento,
you may work here, you may raise your family
and raise your kids, you may build a business
in Sacramento, but if you belong to Christ, your
truest citizenship is elsewhere. And identity
determines attachments. If you believe this world
is your home, you settle into it. You will build
for permanence and you will fight tooth and nail
for comfort. You will defend your right to have
all your preferences met. But if you know you
are passing through, you just travel different,
don't you? Me and my wife had the opportunity
to fly into Milan, Italy, and then drive over
to Rovinj, Croatia, and it was. Beautiful, Rovinj,
Croatia is this little peninsula city. It's on
a little hill, there's a church on top of it.
It's the most picturesque thing you can imagine
with cobblestone streets winding up to that church
at the top. We show up, we've been in Milan for
a little bit at a place and so we kind of got
comfortable there and felt like, hey, we look
like locals, right? We know the places, we know
the terminology, we can get the drinks, right?
So then we go over to Rovine and we're still
in that local mindset. But on that trip, you
know, me and my wife, we're carry -on people.
Anyone carry -on people? If you travel, you carry
-on, yeah. Yeah, that whole like check bag thing,
no thank you. Carry -on, carry -on. Well, we
were on a 10 -day trip and we brought our carry
-on, right? So it's like, you know, one pair
of underwear. I'm just kidding. These are good,
I'll air them out. Day seven. Sorry. No, but
we are, we carry on people and you can't fit
a whole lot of things in your carrier, right?
So you have to be very discriminating. You look
and you say, do I need the kitchen sink? No,
I don't need the kitchen sink. Come on ladies,
some of you check bag ladies are like, you brought
your whole living room, right? It's in your bag.
No, but when you do a carry -on, you're discriminating.
You decide what you're gonna have. You only have
a few things, a little bit of space, and you
don't want to haul that thing around. You don't
want to lift it up over your head. It's super
heavy. You want it to roll with you wherever
you go. Well, we hit Rovine, and we're thinking
we're locals here, but we have these carry -ons,
and unfortunately, we had to park like a mile
and a half from the place we were staying, and
we had to walk on cobblestone streets with roller
bags, right? And you can imagine, you know, these
locals, you know, click, click, click, click,
click, click, click, click, click, click, click,
click, click, as we're walking down the streets
and everyone's looking at us, you know, tourists,
yeah. So at one point I'm like, just give me
your bag and I'll carry it. I'm like, put it
on my back. No, but when you know you're passing
through, when you know you're not going to be
there for long, you pack different, don't you?
And most of us have not been discipled into an
exile identity. We've been discipled into a consumer
identity. And the consumer identity says that
I am primarily a chooser. Choice. A consumer
identity says I am the center and the curator
of my life experience. I make choices and decisions
about... what I want to do based upon my comfort
or preferences. I curate my life the way I want
it. A consumer identity says, my preferences
define what is good. And the moment something
stops meeting my needs or preferences, it's dead
to me, right? I don't like, you know, this consumer
product is no longer meeting my needs, dead to
me. That restaurant took too long to get in the
door, dead to me, right? Dead to my spouse, dead
to me, right? Whatever it is, move on, right?
The consumer identity says that institutions
exist to serve me. What do I mean by institutions?
There are institutions in this life, these are
things that are instituted. And with some of
them, we find their origin in the Bible. And
therefore, we know them to be true and good,
God's institution. One of them would be the church.
And with the consumer identity, the church is
just a spiritual service provider, like your
AT &T or T -Mobile. If you're getting good reception
there, you're happy. If you're not getting good
reception, I'll move on. I know I have choices.
Marriage is another institution. And the consumer
identity says, well, marriage exists to meet
my emotional needs. And the moment it doesn't
meet my emotional needs, well, I can get a new
one. Another institution is the institution of
work. And the consumer identity will work exists
to fulfill Me, it's interesting, I was reading
this book called The Rise and Triumph of the
Modern Self and there's a part in the book where
it talks about how like, some of you have probably
heard this before, maybe you've even said it
before without even thinking about it. But think
about work and think about these words, see if
you've ever said them or heard them before. You're
talking to someone and you ask them, you're asking
them about their work and you ask, do you enjoy
what you do? Ever? asked that or heard that before,
do you enjoy what you do? You know that for almost
all of human history, that question was never
asked. Do you enjoy, like what does that mean?
My grandfather, he was born probably 1915, my
grandfather would have no concept of the idea,
he's passed now, he died in the late 80s, early
90s, no concept of the idea of do you enjoy what
you do? He was a plasterer his whole life. He
was a hard laborer. He had done everything that
he did out in the sun, down in Bakersfield, California,
AKA hell. Okay, hell lights, but no. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. Do I enjoy what I do? Are you crazy? No,
I'm grateful for the results of what I do, which
is provide for my family and contribute to my
church community and be a part of the greater
community in a helpful way. That's what my grandfather
would have said. And that's what a lot of people
in the more communal or community based cultures
that have come before. But in our hyper individualistic
emotional therapeutic culture, we ask, do you
enjoy what you do? That's a consumer identity.
What do I get? What do I get out of this? But
the pilgrim, the exile stranger asks a different
question. According to the word, as it's laid
out and we're instructed as exiles and strangers
in this world, the gospel -shaped identity says,
who am I here to serve? Who am I here to serve?
Because I'm on assignment, and it's a temporary
assignment. Who can I serve today while I wait
for my ultimate hope? The consumer says, this
life must satisfy me. The pilgrim says, Christ
fully satisfies me already. The consumer says,
protect comfort at all costs. But the pilgrim
says, pursue faithfulness every day. until I'm
home. The consumer identity feels normal to us.
It's reinforced everywhere. It's advertisement
tells you that you're incomplete without X, Y,
Z. Social media keeps you up to date on how sucky
your life is and what it should look like, right?
Pornography reshapes what sex looks like in a
marriage. And so people have all kinds of wild,
crazy expectations. Politics tells you to protect
your interests at all costs, to stay in your
tribe, to rise up and fight, fight, fight, fight,
fight, get anxious and be overwhelmed, and fight,
fight, fight, fight, fight. Right? And even churches,
man, they can unintentionally market themselves
as spiritual vending machines. We got the goods
you're looking for, come over here. until we
don't. And so we begin to evaluate everything
through our preference. Am I being fed? Is this
my style? Or does this fit my needs? Is this
comfortable to me? But Peter says, you are not
a consumer. You are exiles. And if you forget
that, you will slowly begin to cling to what
was never meant to hold you up. If this world
feels ultimate to you, you will grip it so tightly,
but if Christ is ultimate in your life, you will
hold this world with an open hand. Exile identity
loosens attachments, and this doesn't say work
or family or beauty or your house or your car
or your politics or culture are all inherently
bad. No, not at all. But they are not ultimate.
And the consumer identity lives as if they're
ultimate. They are gifts to us. And pilgrims
enjoy gifts without mistaking them for home.
So number two, where's this battlefield? Well,
the battlefield is desire. Desire is the battlefield.
Peter says, he says, as strangers in exiles abstain,
from sinful desires that wage war against your
soul. That's war language. We know all about
that in the last day, don't we? The language
of war, wage war. Why does he use military language?
Because what you long for will determine what
you live for. The real conflict in exile is not
external pressure. It's not those people out
there who keep messing up my life in here. It's
internal. It's desire and appetite. The war is
not first out there, it's in us. And that's where
the consumer identity takes root. The consumer
self is built on cultivated desires. Our entire
culture runs on it, people. You are trained to
want more. Think about the word upgrade. Like
in the early 1900s, when it came out, the word
was actually invented in 1847, the word upgrade.
You know what it meant? Walking up a hill. Go
upgrade. Walk up that hill. It took some effort,
right? But then over time, upgrade just meant
get the newest, bestest thing that comes out
because they make everything else obsolete and
then they have an upgrade, right? So we upgrade
our phone plans, we upgrade our phones. We upgrade
our experiences, right? We go to finer dining
and upgrade, upgrade. We upgrade our spouse or
whatever, like we upgrade, right? Upgrade. We're
trained to one more, to always be upgrading,
to always be curating, to always be optimizing,
to always avoid inconvenience at all costs. And
slowly, without noticing it, desire becomes sovereign
in our life. If I want it, it must be good. If
I feel it, it must be true. If I don't like it,
it must be wrong. And that's not exile thinking,
that's consumer thinking. But Peter says those
desires wage war against your soul. Not because
desire itself is evil, God made us desiring creatures.
The problem is not desire, the problem is always
disordered desires. When good things become ultimate
things. When comfort outranks faithfulness. When
approval outranks obedience. When security outranks
trust. When experience outranks holiness. Consumers
are ruled by their appetites. Pilgrims are ruled
by their destination. I'm going home. A pilgrim
can enjoy comfort, success, or possessions, but
not worship. They can enjoy those things, but
not cling to them or build their identity on
them because their deepest longing, their ultimate
is not for upgrade, it's for home. And here's
the kind of subtle spiritual danger behind it.
When desire is left unexamined, it slowly rewrites
your theology. You start to believe things about
God that are not true. Things like If God loves
me, my life would go a lot smoother. Or if something
is hard in this life, like maybe I'm encountering
all kinds of difficulty, struggles, something
must be wrong with my relationship with God.
Or if I'm obedient, well, that should earn me
something, right? like at least a little upgrade,
a little better seat, right? You think about
the rich young ruler. This is a story Jesus encounters
this young man. The rich young ruler comes to
Jesus and he says, you know, Rabbi, what must
I do to inherit eternal life? What do I have
to do to get the thing? How do I get the prize?
Tell me what to do. And Jesus says, well, How
about the law? Right? And he lists off some of
the laws, the relational laws in the Ten Commandments.
And the rich young ruler, the young man says,
oh, well, I've done all those since I was, since
birth. Like, I've been faithful and executed
that. And so, if that's it, what else do I have
to do? I need to know that I've secured, you
know, the box seats, you know, or the first class
seat on the airplane, right? What do I need to
do? And the Bible says that Jesus looked at him
and he loved him. Jesus looked at the rich young
ruler and loved him. And so you know what Jesus
said? Not a problem. Here's free tickets to heaven,
right? Did Jesus say that? No. Out of love, he
looked at the young man and he saw that the young
man had a functional God. He said, oh, no, I
worship God, I follow Yahweh, I keep the commandments,
but Jesus looked and loved him and said, no,
you have a functional God in your life, something
which you have made ultimate, something which
you have based your entire worth or existence
or security on. And so Jesus looks at him and
says, let's address that thing. Like he wants
him to follow, he wants him to inherit eternal
life, but he wants him to do it the right way,
right? And so instead of saying, yeah, no problem,
here's first class. He looks at the young man
and he says, go sell everything you have. Go
sell everything you have. Distribute it to the
poor and then come follow me. And the Bible says
the young man looked at Jesus, lowered his head,
turned away with great sadness because he had
great wealth. And what he didn't realize was
that eternal life was not something that you
trade for or you bargain for. It's not something
that you buy or something that you earn. Eternal
life was the man who was standing in front of
him who loved him and invited him to follow him.
Literally, Jesus offered him eternal life by
saying, come follow me. All that other stuff
was just to get him to feel like you're gonna
have to let go of those things because you can't
have a functional God higher than me. You've
got to follow me. But eternal life is not something
you're granted. It's a person. Jesus. And all
those who are in the train, captured up in the
train of Jesus' robe, enter right into eternal
life. Because it's Christ. And so you have this
functional God, this disordered desires in the
rich young ruler. And he wanted to earn, he wanted
to buy, he wanted to achieve, and it was as simple
as follow. As pilgrims, we should expect resistance.
As exiles, we should expect tension. We should
expect discomfort. Strangers, always get the
side eye. We've noticed that everywhere we've
traveled. It's like, who are you? You look like
you got off the wrong bus. You get the side eye
wherever you're at, because the world is not
aligned with our king. The world is not aligned
with our king or kingdom. And so Peter says,
abstain from sinful desires. Why? Because certain
desires, if fed, will slowly anchor you to a
world you were never meant to settle into. Here's
the thing, every desire you have, every single
desire you have is forming you. You think it's
something you have that you're producing, but
what you don't realize is those desires, especially
the cultivated desires that you entertain, are
actually forming you. They're shaping you and
reshaping you. Every desire, good or bad. and
they're either shaping you toward temporary comfort
or toward eternal life. The consumer identity
promises you ownership. You can be the owner
of all kinds of things, your life, your experience,
everything, but in the end, the consumer identity
owns you. The battlefield or the battlefront
in the war of desire is subtle. It's that sense
of constantly upgrading instead of. the kind
of generosity Jesus calls his disciples into.
It's protecting reputation, even instead of confessing
sin. I got to protect how people see me instead
of saying, hey, sin has got to get out of my
life so that I can continue to obey and follow.
It's choosing convenience over obedience. It's
small attachments, it's small compromises, it's
small rearrangements of love. And over time,
they build a life that feels very settled here.
but pilgrims were never meant to settle. So are
your desires training you for heaven or rooting
you more deeply in the earth? Number three, citizenship
shapes conduct. Philippians chapter three, starting
in verse 17 says, join in imitating me, brothers
and sisters, and pay careful attention to those
who live according to the example you have in
us. For I have often told you, and now say again
with tears, that many live as enemies of the
cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their
God is their stomach, their glory is in their
shame, and they are focused on earthly things.
Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly
wait for a savior from there, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He will transform the body of our humble
condition into the likeness of his glorious body
by the power that enables him to subject everything.
to himself. Citizenship would have landed really
well in Philippi because Philippi was a Roman
colony. And to be a Roman citizen in that time,
it meant all kinds of things. It meant protection,
it meant status, it meant security, it meant
privilege. It's kind of like being a citizen
of the USA in the world, right? People go, oh,
you're from the US, right? In that time, the
Roman citizenship would have been the world,
the empire, right? And Paul says, to those people,
to those Christians in Philippi, he says, you
know what, that passport you have that says Rome,
that's not your truest passport. Your truest
passport is elsewhere. It's heaven. And that
reality reshapes how you live here. If you remember
Peter, in the chapter we read in Peter, 1 Peter,
he said, conduct yourselves honorably among the
Gentiles, exiles and strangers, they conduct
themselves in a certain way while they're here,
while they're on pilgrimage. And notice what
exile identity does not produce. It doesn't produce
withdraw, it doesn't produce hostility, it doesn't
produce isolation. Pilgrims are not escapists.
They live visibly and work, jobs, they build
homes and raise families, they serve neighbors
and contribute to society, but they do all of
it differently. Because their allegiance is different.
Consumers live in the world to extract from it.
Pilgrims live in the world to bless it. We see
this in Jeremiah. In the book of Jeremiah, God
speaks to Israel, not at a moment of triumph,
but while they're exiles in Babylon. They're
displaced, they're disoriented, they're longing
to be back at home. And what does God tell them
in that moment? Well, instead of telling them,
hey, withdraw, or why don't you revolt and overthrow,
or just survive, what does he say? He says, build
houses, plant gardens, marry, have children,
raise them there, seek the welfare of the city
where you have been sent, pray for it, for when
it thrives, you will thrive. The exiles were
not to assimilate into Babylon's idolatry, but
neither were they to retreat into isolation.
They were to live as distinct people who actively
blessed the place that feels foreign to them.
the place that actually was their captors. They
were to actively bless. And that's the posture
of a pilgrim. We know this world is not ultimate,
and yet precisely because our hope is anchored
elsewhere, we are free to work for the good of
the culture, for the good of our cities, for
the good of people contributing and praying and
building and loving. Because a consumer asks,
how does this benefit me? But a pilgrim asks,
how does this reflect my king and kingdom? As
consumers, when the stock market tanks, what
happens? Panic. Silver and gold fall. Bitcoin
drops off. Everyone freaks out, right? Cultural
influence fades. Comfort is threatened. Power,
political power changes hands. Oh my goodness,
it's the end of the world. But a pilgrim is steady.
Not apathetic, not disengaged, but anchored.
They don't need to grasp for control. They don't
need to win every argument. They don't need to
dominate the cultural moment. Why? Because their
king, Jesus, is not up for reelection ever. Their
kingdom cannot be shaken. And so their conduct
is marked by stability and chaos and generosity
and scarcity and conviction without panic. Just
hear this, it's stability and chaos, right? In
2015, there were 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians.
who were executed by ISIS on a beach in Libya.
They were brought out one by one, one man after
another, and they were given the opportunity
to curse Jesus or renounce their faith in Christ
and convert to Islam or face death. And one by
one, they were asked what they were going to
do, and each one said, my Lord Jesus Christ.
and were executed, one by one down the line.
But the final guy in the line, his name was Matthew,
and Matthew was not a believer. Somehow he got
caught up in the mess, killed by association,
and he ends up on the beach, kneeling before
Isis. And they come to Matthew, and they ask
him, renounce or die? Renounce or die? And seeing
the response of the men who came before him,
one after another, claim allegiance to Christ,
even in the face of death. Matthew turns to the
guys who hold his life in the balance, and he
says to them, their God is my God, and is executed
there on the beach. The only way that's possible
is if you're anchored somewhere else. If, as
a consumer, everything is about me, my senses
around me. And so things like even death, things
like death are scary because that's the end of
me. But when you're anchored in eternity, when
your life is anchored in Christ, you can look
in the face of something like that and just say,
hey, you just hasten the day. I get to go see
him today, right? Today's the day I get to go
home. In the third century AD, there was a plague
that swept through the Roman Empire. And during
that time, whole cities of Rome were abandoned.
Families were left. Families would leave family
members who were suffering from the plague. You
know, it's like, peace out, I'm outta here, I'm
still healthy, right? And run for the hills and
get outta town. And so there were all of these
ghost towns that had only suffering people in
the streets, in the homes, who had been abandoned
in the middle of the plague. But do you know
what Christians did? Third century, this is a
couple hundred years after Jesus, the Christians
stayed. The Christians stayed knowing that the
plague was running rampant. The Christians stayed
and they cared for the dying. And oftentimes
those who were dying were the same people who
had persecuted them regularly, day after day.
The Christians stayed and many of them died doing
it. Not because they were reckless, but because
they believed death was not ultimate. And that
conviction held even without panic in the face
of imminent death. Peter says, live honorably
so that those who see your life watch how you
live. They may see your works and glorify God.
Your life becomes a signpost. The church is an
embassy. An embassy is physically located in
one country, but it represents another. It operates
under different authority. It flies a different
flag, and that's us. We live here, but we represent
there. And when the world looks at us, it should
not see frantic consumers trying to preserve
comfort. It should see confident citizens of
a coming kingdom. Never do we need to hear this
more than with elections on the horizon, right?
People are already starting to rumble about elections,
right? And who's gonna run here in primaries
and all kinds of stuff? And then just people
get wound up into craziness for a couple of years
thinking this is home. This ain't home. Confident
citizens of a coming kingdom. I can represent
my king and kingdom no matter the case, and we'll
see that with Jesus at the very end. Our ultimate
hope is not located in this age. It is anchored
in the age to come. The final point, the future
loosens our grip. Paul says, our citizenship
is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a savior
from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform
the body of our humble condition into the likeness
of his glorious body. You notice the order of
citizenship, waiting, transformation. Christians
are not people who are trying to squeeze everything
out of this life. We are people who are waiting.
Not passively, but eagerly. And the consumer
identity says, you must get everything now. Now
is ultimate. Now is everything. Now is where
fulfillment must happen, which is why everything
feels catastrophic. If this life is ultimate,
then suffering is intolerable. Aging will terrify
you. Any decline is devastating, and death is
ultimately defeat. But Paul says something else
that's radical, that there is transformation
coming. Bodies will be renewed, creation will
be restored, Christ will visibly reign. See,
our hope is not optimization of this, our hope
is resurrection, life. And resurrection changes
how tightly you grip this world. If you believe
this life is all there is, you must cling to
it. But if you know Christ is coming, if you
know your body will be transformed, if you know
the kingdom will be established, then you can
lose things without losing yourself. You can
lose all things without losing yourself. Because
your future is secure. With resurrection coming,
you don't have to squeeze eternity out of this
moment. You don't need perfect circumstances.
You don't need constant comfort or the newest
stuff. You don't need the cultural or political
dominance. You don't need everything to go your
way because this is not the final chapter, but
we know how the story ends. Amen? And this is
why Christians throughout history could endure
exile, persecution, loss, displacement with song
and singing. Because they weren't settling, they
were walking. walking toward a kingdom that cannot
be shaken. And when that future is real to you,
something shifts in here. Your grip loosens,
your fears shrink, generosity grows, and your
hope steadies. So what does this mean for us?
Well church, we are pilgrims, not consumers.
The question is not, does this serve me? The
question is, does this honor my King? And in
church, we gather as citizens, not consumers.
In our money, we invest like eternity is a real
thing. In suffering, we endure like resurrection
is coming. In politics, we refuse panic because
King Jesus is not up for reelection. And you
know, you got to self -examine here on this consumer
identity. You know that that identity at least
has some root in you if as we hit any sort of
political season, you know, anyone who knows
you knows that you said your favorite candidate's
name or the candidate you hate, you know, 10x
time to the amount of time that you talked about
King Jesus. That you have no problem evangelizing
your candidate. But evangelizing King Jesus in
the kingdom? Ah, it's a little weird, I don't
know. That puts the center on you. We are pilgrims
on a pilgrimage, waiting for King Jesus. This
is not our home, but this is our assignment.
And those who have built and sustained even this
fellowship here at Village over the last 110
years, they didn't labor all of that time and
invest all of their blood, sweat, and tears into
the kingdom so that they could get to us and
say, have some comfort. Welcome to Village Day
Spa, where all your needs are met. Did they?
No, they wanted the kingdom to come. come in
Sacramento as it is in heaven. They wanted the
will of God to be done. They wanted to make much
of Jesus. Consumers make much of comfort. Pilgrims,
disciples make much of Jesus who left heaven,
who walked as an exile without home or comfort.
who spoke truth even when it cost him, who didn't
need the approval of people or to have political
power in his favor at all to do the will of God.
He was perfect in faith. He was perfect in obedience.
He was perfect in holiness. All the things that
we think, if I'm perfect in these things, man,
I should have a smooth, good life, shouldn't
I? He was perfect. He was the perfect Christian,
right? Jesus was. And what did that get him?
Cross, death. suffering, rejection, a beating,
spit on. He died outside the city. He died a
criminal's death. But you know what? He rose
on the third day. And you know why? He rose on
the third day so that you and I would never mistake
this world for home.