WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.899 Now, I have to let you all know, I've talked 00:00:01.899 --> 00:00:05.160 a bit about before about, you know, the joy of 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:07.980 British shows, but my sister and I, as much as 00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:10.859 we love watching things from England, is that 00:00:10.859 --> 00:00:14.080 for my sister, if it does not have people being 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:16.440 murdered in a British countryside, then it's 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:19.699 not really a good show. I'm more of the mindset 00:00:19.699 --> 00:00:22.600 of Doctor Who, sci -fi and the like, but I will 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:27.300 admit, there was a dramatic show I loved. The 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:30.800 Crown. Oh my goodness. I watched all six seasons 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:33.700 of The Crown, all these things about the life 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:37.359 of Queen Elizabeth II and everything, and Vanessa 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:41.240 Kirby is still my Princess Margaret. I don't 00:00:41.240 --> 00:00:44.219 care what season it was, she's always the one 00:00:44.219 --> 00:00:47.179 for me. But the thing about this show is that 00:00:47.179 --> 00:00:49.859 there was so much to it, where there's all this 00:00:49.859 --> 00:00:53.200 drama and all these romances and all these affairs 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:55.420 and everything. And I think I was just watching 00:00:55.420 --> 00:00:58.500 it because it actually makes me not worry too 00:00:58.500 --> 00:01:01.600 much about my own country right now. But in thinking 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:03.960 about all the things that they had on there, 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:08.000 what was funny was that even the entire premise 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:11.500 of the show almost did not happen. It was not 00:01:11.500 --> 00:01:15.390 supposed to happen. Queen Elizabeth II was originally 00:01:15.390 --> 00:01:17.450 not even supposed to be the one inheriting the 00:01:17.450 --> 00:01:20.650 throne in the first place. Her father, George 00:01:20.650 --> 00:01:24.790 VI, was not originally supposed to be king. The 00:01:24.790 --> 00:01:27.950 only reason that he became king was after a year, 00:01:28.769 --> 00:01:32.569 his brother, Edward VIII, abdicated the throne. 00:01:33.609 --> 00:01:37.379 See, it turns out that King Edward VIII He had 00:01:37.379 --> 00:01:39.879 wanted to get married to someone he was not supposed 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:42.439 to get married to. The woman he wanted to get 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:44.980 married to, she had been divorced, but the man 00:01:44.980 --> 00:01:48.579 that she had divorced was still alive. And apparently 00:01:48.579 --> 00:01:51.120 it's better for divorcés to be dead in their 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:53.340 eyes? I don't know, it's kind of creepy. But, 00:01:53.579 --> 00:01:56.420 the thing about it is that he was not supposed 00:01:56.420 --> 00:02:00.219 to marry her because he was the head of the Church 00:02:00.219 --> 00:02:03.000 of England. And that it was not acceptable, it 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:07.569 was not allowed. Well... He did not want to let 00:02:07.569 --> 00:02:10.849 go of the woman he loved and so instead he let 00:02:10.849 --> 00:02:14.129 go of his country and he let go of the throne 00:02:14.129 --> 00:02:19.050 the crown and He became the Duke of Windsor instead 00:02:19.050 --> 00:02:22.150 and so his younger brother George the sixth became 00:02:22.150 --> 00:02:24.270 the king I think there are a couple of movies 00:02:24.270 --> 00:02:27.689 about him as well But then his daughter Elizabeth 00:02:27.689 --> 00:02:31.349 the second becomes queen for 70 something years 00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:34.680 Now, in looking at all this is that what we realize 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:39.659 is that Edward was trying to end up pursuing 00:02:39.659 --> 00:02:43.120 what really mattered to him. He felt in his mind 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:45.840 that what mattered more was to be married to 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:49.719 the woman that he loved. But in so doing, he 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:53.599 had to let go of the authority and the power 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:56.439 that he had. He had to walk away from the crown. 00:02:56.919 --> 00:03:00.419 let go not just of that but also of any political 00:03:00.419 --> 00:03:03.199 influence he would ever have from then on. So 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:06.159 it wasn't even just that he couldn't have that 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:10.300 title. By being Duke of Windsor, it was basically 00:03:10.300 --> 00:03:14.979 just in name only. From then on, he never had 00:03:14.979 --> 00:03:19.719 any other influence in the politics or the future 00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:24.219 of Great Britain. This idea of what authority 00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:27.900 and power can truly look like and mean is much 00:03:27.900 --> 00:03:33.080 of what we see as Jesus is going up to Jerusalem. 00:03:33.379 --> 00:03:36.340 Because what we see is that as Jesus is going 00:03:36.340 --> 00:03:40.740 to Jerusalem, he realizes that he is about to 00:03:40.740 --> 00:03:46.199 lose everything. Now, Jesus losing his throne 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:50.080 wasn't just there on the way to Jerusalem, but 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:55.199 it was even when he became a human at all. Jesus 00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:58.639 lost his throne not because of the love of one 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:02.099 person, but because of the love that he had for 00:04:02.099 --> 00:04:05.039 the entire world. And I want to make sure that 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:07.599 I clarify something with some of these words, 00:04:07.879 --> 00:04:10.639 okay? There's a part in here where it says that 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:14.379 he had the form of God. And I want to make sure 00:04:14.379 --> 00:04:18.420 that I clarify some things because the word form 00:04:18.420 --> 00:04:22.019 in the Greek, means something different from 00:04:22.019 --> 00:04:24.899 what we might think. We in the English, we might 00:04:24.899 --> 00:04:27.920 think that the form of something means that you 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:31.759 only appear like it. But the word morphe, in 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:35.879 the Greek, it could also be translated the nature 00:04:35.879 --> 00:04:41.079 of God. So that Jesus had the very nature of 00:04:41.079 --> 00:04:42.759 God. It would be sort of like if you were trying 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:46.420 to shape something out of clay, okay? If you 00:04:46.420 --> 00:04:50.149 put it into the form of a cup, then it is a cup. 00:04:50.350 --> 00:04:53.569 If you put it into the form of a horse, then 00:04:53.569 --> 00:04:56.889 it is a horse. If you put the clay into the form 00:04:56.889 --> 00:04:59.370 of a vase, which you should not do because it's 00:04:59.370 --> 00:05:01.730 pronounced vase. And I don't know why those Europeans 00:05:01.730 --> 00:05:04.769 keep saying it wrong and stop putting a U in 00:05:04.769 --> 00:05:07.449 the word color. It's C -O -L -O -R. Why do you 00:05:07.449 --> 00:05:09.430 keep spelling it wrong, Great Britain? I don't 00:05:09.430 --> 00:05:12.310 know. They're weird. But the point being is that 00:05:12.310 --> 00:05:16.069 whatever the form is, is the nature. It's the 00:05:16.069 --> 00:05:20.100 very being. But it wasn't just that Jesus has 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:25.139 the nature of God But that he also takes on the 00:05:25.139 --> 00:05:29.160 nature of a servant See, that's the thing about 00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:33.899 being human is that he has to be human So that 00:05:33.899 --> 00:05:39.160 he can also be a servant When we think of this 00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:42.620 it also helps us to understand when we see the 00:05:42.620 --> 00:05:47.199 word emptied See, when we see that Jesus emptied 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:52.620 Himself, He was not losing His essence, His nature 00:05:52.620 --> 00:05:56.860 of being God. But instead, just like what we 00:05:56.860 --> 00:06:00.379 saw with the King is that He was letting go of 00:06:00.379 --> 00:06:03.800 His title, He was letting go of the appearance, 00:06:04.139 --> 00:06:07.620 He was letting go of what it was to be in the 00:06:07.620 --> 00:06:13.160 glory of the Father. When we see this is that 00:06:13.160 --> 00:06:17.839 Jesus stepping away from that lets go of the 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:21.579 privileges that came with being in heaven in 00:06:21.579 --> 00:06:24.220 the glory of the Father. See, that's one of the 00:06:24.220 --> 00:06:27.379 things about Jesus is that he is letting go of 00:06:27.379 --> 00:06:30.420 the thing that makes life comfortable, easy, 00:06:30.779 --> 00:06:36.220 blessed, glorious, wonderful. Why? Because his 00:06:36.220 --> 00:06:42.019 love meant even more than any of that. See, Jesus... 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:46.199 coming to let go of all these things is where 00:06:46.199 --> 00:06:51.720 we see him humbling himself. How difficult is 00:06:51.720 --> 00:06:55.199 it to let go of the things that make us comfortable, 00:06:55.959 --> 00:06:59.439 that make us happy, because we need to embrace 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:05.480 being willing to serve. But we see a lot of examples 00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:10.100 of what it is to let go of power, to let go of 00:07:10.100 --> 00:07:13.579 titles and authorities, Because people matter 00:07:13.579 --> 00:07:17.019 more to us than that One of the things that was 00:07:17.019 --> 00:07:19.019 always interesting growing up is that I had heard 00:07:19.019 --> 00:07:21.939 about George Washington as as our first president 00:07:21.939 --> 00:07:25.620 and I was just wondering How long had he actually 00:07:25.620 --> 00:07:28.160 been president? He was such an important figure 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:31.699 in the US and I found out he'd only been President 00:07:31.699 --> 00:07:35.300 for two terms and it made me wonder what did 00:07:35.300 --> 00:07:38.360 he do wrong? Why was he only able to stay in 00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:42.439 for two terms and then realizing? He was the 00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:45.779 one who didn't want to stay in for a third term 00:07:45.779 --> 00:07:51.560 Why? Why was that so important to him? Because 00:07:51.560 --> 00:07:54.939 for him he saw that the longer that a person 00:07:54.939 --> 00:07:58.139 stayed in that role It would become more about 00:07:58.139 --> 00:08:01.680 that person's ambitions Than it would about the 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:05.339 people that they were serving as much as in his 00:08:05.339 --> 00:08:07.899 mind. He might have had the best of intentions 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:12.410 He knew that it's so easy when you stay in so 00:08:12.410 --> 00:08:16.209 long, that it only becomes about your ideas, 00:08:17.029 --> 00:08:18.810 more than about the people that you're serving. 00:08:20.430 --> 00:08:24.430 When we see this, we end up having an idea of 00:08:24.430 --> 00:08:27.629 what it is that Jesus has in his mind as he's 00:08:27.629 --> 00:08:31.699 going up to Jerusalem. See, Jesus is on a donkey. 00:08:31.740 --> 00:08:35.279 He's not on a giant war horse, okay? He is not 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:38.039 coming in like the military leader. He is not 00:08:38.039 --> 00:08:40.960 coming in with a helmet and a spear. He is not 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:44.820 coming in victorious after a battle. He's coming 00:08:44.820 --> 00:08:49.159 in on a humble animal. He's coming in on a donkey. 00:08:49.940 --> 00:08:53.360 This is an animal that is used for work, not 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:59.639 for glory, but to work. Jesus is on his way for 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:02.000 what it means for him to serve. He had spent 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:05.460 all of this time preaching, proclaiming, doing 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:09.820 work among the people, but he also knew how easily 00:09:09.820 --> 00:09:12.879 the people would want to make him into their 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:16.620 military king. He knew that the more he kept 00:09:16.620 --> 00:09:19.980 going about the path he was on, it would be easy 00:09:19.980 --> 00:09:21.980 for the people to just try to put him up on a 00:09:21.980 --> 00:09:25.019 pedestal and keep him from anything dangerous. 00:09:26.190 --> 00:09:29.090 But he knew that the path he was going on had 00:09:29.090 --> 00:09:34.610 to go to the cross. Because the true glory of 00:09:34.610 --> 00:09:38.850 the Messiah, the suffering servant, was to be 00:09:38.850 --> 00:09:43.370 on the cross. But doing this is sometimes something 00:09:43.370 --> 00:09:46.350 that we find difficult. To admit that I have 00:09:46.350 --> 00:09:49.230 to leave behind the things that I feel are successful, 00:09:49.710 --> 00:09:52.450 I have to let go of the thing that I feel good 00:09:52.450 --> 00:09:55.049 about, the thing where people acknowledge me. 00:09:55.100 --> 00:09:58.879 recognize me, see me, give me accolades because 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:03.320 I believe I'm supposed to go do something that 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:07.399 maybe makes me look lower, but it can actually 00:10:07.399 --> 00:10:10.799 proclaim God's kingdom. And one of the people 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:14.879 that we see doing that is Mother Teresa. Now 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:17.399 Mother Teresa, for all of her ups and downs, 00:10:17.860 --> 00:10:20.919 the goal of why she was even in Calcutta in the 00:10:20.919 --> 00:10:23.519 first place is because she felt that she needed 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:28.649 to be serving You see, she had a pretty comfortable 00:10:28.649 --> 00:10:31.330 teaching job. She was at a convent. You teach 00:10:31.330 --> 00:10:33.409 people, you go home, you eat, you go to bed. 00:10:33.490 --> 00:10:36.330 It's really not complicated. I had a friend in 00:10:36.330 --> 00:10:39.129 St. Louis one time. He was actually able to go 00:10:39.129 --> 00:10:41.929 live at a monastery for a week because you could 00:10:41.929 --> 00:10:43.950 actually do that for free and the monks like 00:10:43.950 --> 00:10:46.669 to hang out with you. And apparently, the monks 00:10:46.669 --> 00:10:49.889 in East St. Louis like to watch Simpsons. Are 00:10:49.889 --> 00:10:52.580 you as surprised by that as I am? Yeah, that 00:10:52.580 --> 00:10:54.559 was kind of interesting. But apparently you can 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:56.919 be a monk and go watch the Simpsons every day 00:10:56.919 --> 00:11:01.899 at 6 p .m. But to be able to see I have a job 00:11:01.899 --> 00:11:04.860 and a life and a home and everything is safe 00:11:04.860 --> 00:11:08.179 and secure, but I'm going to leave it to go live 00:11:08.179 --> 00:11:11.580 in the slums. I'm going to be with the poorest 00:11:11.580 --> 00:11:14.600 of the poor. I don't even know where food or 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:19.600 a place to live is from day to day. Even starting 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:23.360 the missionaries of charity, for this sake. But 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:29.720 it begs the question, have you discovered anything 00:11:29.720 --> 00:11:34.279 that requires you to empty yourself in order 00:11:34.279 --> 00:11:39.600 to pursue Christ Jesus? Have you discovered anything 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:43.139 where you're supposed to empty yourself to truly 00:11:43.139 --> 00:11:47.519 follow after and live your true calling in Christ 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:53.570 Jesus? We spend a lot of time seeing our calling 00:11:53.570 --> 00:11:59.570 as the thing that gives us praise, money, acknowledgement, 00:12:00.289 --> 00:12:04.990 stuff to put on the CV. How many things does 00:12:04.990 --> 00:12:08.570 God call us to where we're supposed to let go 00:12:08.570 --> 00:12:14.710 and be willing to suffer instead? When we understand 00:12:14.710 --> 00:12:18.480 the idea of Jesus going to the cross, Then we 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:20.940 realized that he was pursuing what truly mattered 00:12:20.940 --> 00:12:25.200 and That message actually comes from an interesting 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:28.360 place There was a book called the subtle art 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:31.360 of not giving up. I'm not supposed to say the 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:35.360 last word in church So just go with it But it 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:37.340 starts with an F just in case you weren't sure 00:12:37.340 --> 00:12:43.779 anyway But with the book itself It communicates 00:12:43.779 --> 00:12:48.110 this idea of whether or not we are comfortable 00:12:48.110 --> 00:12:52.149 with the idea that each of us will someday die. 00:12:53.450 --> 00:12:57.210 Are we comfortable with the idea that each of 00:12:57.210 --> 00:13:01.149 us will someday die? And I don't mean that in 00:13:01.149 --> 00:13:03.269 a depressing way. I don't mean that in some sort 00:13:03.269 --> 00:13:06.149 of a, you know, condemning way. What I mean is, 00:13:06.750 --> 00:13:10.710 how often do we focus on what gives us legacy? 00:13:11.809 --> 00:13:14.820 How many times do we focus on things that give 00:13:14.820 --> 00:13:17.600 us comfort. How many times we like to focus on 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:22.220 things that help us ignore our mortality, the 00:13:22.220 --> 00:13:24.620 things of fun, the things that give our heart 00:13:24.620 --> 00:13:29.159 a skip in the beat. How many times we want to 00:13:29.159 --> 00:13:34.120 avoid that our life does not go on forever yet 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:39.460 because then we're afraid of letting go and embracing 00:13:39.460 --> 00:13:43.519 what truly makes life difficult. We want the 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:46.919 things that make life easy. We don't want the 00:13:46.919 --> 00:13:52.220 things that remind us we're only human. But that's 00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:55.279 the thing about Jesus, is that he knew that being 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:58.820 human would be the only way to do what was needed 00:13:58.820 --> 00:14:03.940 for us. It was only by being human that he could 00:14:03.940 --> 00:14:08.019 truly give his life for us. Because the only 00:14:08.019 --> 00:14:13.039 way for Jesus to be exalted was because humility. 00:14:14.299 --> 00:14:18.100 The only way for Jesus to be exalted in the way 00:14:18.100 --> 00:14:22.360 that the Messiah was meant to be was by being 00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:25.879 humbled in the first place. See, that's the thing. 00:14:26.419 --> 00:14:30.419 When we let go of this idea that death will never 00:14:30.419 --> 00:14:34.980 find us, then we start to realize that every 00:14:34.980 --> 00:14:39.330 day is a gift to make the most of. Not to try 00:14:39.330 --> 00:14:42.009 to add more to the bank account not to try to 00:14:42.009 --> 00:14:45.009 somehow Put our name out there more or make sure 00:14:45.009 --> 00:14:49.590 that things are in bold but instead Another day 00:14:49.590 --> 00:14:53.769 to give and to sacrifice for what matters See 00:14:53.769 --> 00:15:00.970 Jesus embraced death But then was exalted in 00:15:00.970 --> 00:15:07.799 the humility To be exalted in humility Goes against 00:15:07.799 --> 00:15:11.000 so much of what we think makes sense But it's 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:15.080 the only way to actually do what matters Because 00:15:15.080 --> 00:15:19.700 when we spend our life trying to avoid pain When 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:22.740 we spend our time saying ooh, I didn't enjoy 00:15:22.740 --> 00:15:26.000 that. Let me just walk away When we spend the 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:28.360 time saying this is going to make things too 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:31.700 difficult for me my life I'm not gonna have enough 00:15:31.700 --> 00:15:34.639 people agreeing with me I'm not going to have 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:37.460 enough people liking me. I'm not going to have 00:15:37.460 --> 00:15:40.019 enough people giving me what I want. I'm not 00:15:40.019 --> 00:15:42.919 going to have enough. I'm not going to have enough. 00:15:43.259 --> 00:15:47.059 I'm not going to have enough. Then we're too 00:15:47.059 --> 00:15:51.539 afraid of pursuing what's actually going to matter 00:15:51.539 --> 00:15:56.740 in the Kingdom of God. So this week, as we are 00:15:56.740 --> 00:15:59.899 finishing this time of Lent, as we are moving 00:15:59.899 --> 00:16:03.399 toward Maundy Thursday, Jesus celebrating communion 00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:07.080 with his with his disciples good Friday where 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:10.620 he is betrayed By the people who should have 00:16:10.620 --> 00:16:13.659 followed him most and then finding our way to 00:16:13.659 --> 00:16:18.179 Easter and the resurrection My thought for you 00:16:18.179 --> 00:16:22.340 today is this What have you been avoiding that 00:16:22.340 --> 00:16:25.659 you know God is calling you to? Because you thought 00:16:25.659 --> 00:16:29.340 it was just too difficult Because I can promise 00:16:29.340 --> 00:16:33.940 you that on the other side there is life everlasting, 00:16:35.379 --> 00:16:37.179 and that if it is something God is calling you 00:16:37.179 --> 00:16:40.019 to, no matter how difficult it may be, it is 00:16:40.019 --> 00:16:43.360 the only thing that will truly matter for the 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:47.600 rest of eternity. So may we, just like Christ, 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:51.679 be willing to go to the cross knowing that it's 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:55.639 only through serving, being humbled, and giving 00:16:55.639 --> 00:16:59.720 up everything that we truly have anything worth. 00:17:00.110 --> 00:17:02.570 preserving. Thanks be to God.