1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:05,360 We are in the season of Lent now and it is, it's, it's one of 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:10,600 those wonderful times of the year that the, that the church 3 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:13,920 celebrates that the world is largely unaware of. 4 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:17,240 Unlike the Christmas season, which which the world is very 5 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:22,760 aware of, this is a this, it's very big, it's very loud, it's 6 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:26,320 very celebratory, very joyous, very out there. 7 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,480 And, and Lent is, is kind of the opposite. 8 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,780 It's more of a stepping back and a stepping away, a time to re 9 00:00:34,780 --> 00:00:38,800 evaluate and reassess, a time really to look and reflect. 10 00:00:39,160 --> 00:00:43,320 The 40 days of Lent, not counting Sundays, remind us of 11 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,640 the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness when he stepped 12 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,960 away from everything in order to connect more fully and 13 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,280 completely with God as he was about to begin his public 14 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:56,480 ministry. During this time this year, I 15 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:59,320 want us to reflect on this question of of how can we be 16 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:03,640 faithful in a world where the systems of the world are stacked 17 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:08,160 against us? The world is not set up and 18 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,800 designed the the philosophies, the political systems, the 19 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,280 economic systems, even the educational systems and many 20 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:19,640 religious systems. These are not set up to help us 21 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,040 be faithful to God. In fact, they, they are set up 22 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:27,000 to help us do the opposite. They're set up to help us to 23 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:32,720 promote the, the opposite kinds of, of virtues and, and 24 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:37,320 lifestyles that God calls us to. One example of this, and I'm 25 00:01:37,320 --> 00:01:41,360 again, I'm going to, if I ruffle feathers, well, I don't really 26 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:42,680 apologize. It's my job. 27 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:48,520 But if you think of capitalism and, and I'll say up front, 28 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:52,680 capitalism is the worst economic system there is, except for all 29 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:57,360 the others. But capitalism, if you remember 30 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:02,200 way back in the 1980s speech by, and I, I want to say Ivan 31 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:03,640 Boesky, but it wasn't Ivan Boesky. 32 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,560 It was another one of the, the bigwigs who made a lot of money 33 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,320 in the stock market back then and delivered a speech that was 34 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:12,000 very famous, speech that became the basis for a movie. 35 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,120 And the speech was called Greed is Good. 36 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:19,200 And, and it was all about how greed is not a vice at all, that 37 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:23,520 in a capitalist system, the the greedier a person is, the better 38 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:26,800 it is for everyone. And, and whether you love 39 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,400 capitalism or whether you hate capitalism, that is absolutely 40 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:34,000 true about capitalism. It promotes greed. 41 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:39,040 It encourages people to behave in a way that says the more I 42 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:42,160 can get for myself, the better it is for everyone else. 43 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,480 Whether it's really better for everyone else is questionable, 44 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:47,520 but that's what the system promotes. 45 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,360 And, and that's the system that we live in, like it or not. 46 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:55,000 And, and it's, you know, there are lots of different systems, 47 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,840 again, political, economic, philosophical. 48 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:01,960 How can we be faithful to God in these systems that are set up 49 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:07,400 and designed to encourage us to be the opposite of what God 50 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:09,440 calls us to be? That's what we're going to be 51 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:11,080 reflecting. On Ash Wednesday, we talked 52 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:13,720 about wrestling with God. Today we're talking about, you 53 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:17,280 know, what's the greatest virtue that we can have, the greatest 54 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,920 virtue we can possess and, and exhibit when we're living in 55 00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:24,440 systems that are stacked against us before we get into that. 56 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:26,600 And if you came to the Ash Wednesday service, this is a 57 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:28,000 little bit of a repeat from there. 58 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,680 But I want to I want to hit this again as as we're thinking about 59 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:35,560 these things, I want us to make a distinction between strategies 60 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,560 and tactics. As we're thinking about how can 61 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,680 we be faithful in a system stacked against US, strategy. 62 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,440 And the distinction I'm making, I learned from a book by 63 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:50,040 Emmanuel Katangale, who is ethnically Rwandan, grew up in 64 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:54,000 Africa and and now lives in the United States as a professor, a 65 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:55,840 seminary professor in the United States. 66 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:57,440 And he's written a book, several books. 67 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,080 This book in particular is called Mirror to the Church, 68 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:04,080 where he's reflecting on the genocide in Rwanda that happened 69 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:08,520 decades ago. This in in this reflection, 70 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:12,880 Katangale makes a distinction between strategies and tactics 71 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:15,600 and and this is what he says is the difference. 72 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,880 He says strategy is how people in power plan. 73 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,000 They want plan the way they want things to work. 74 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,520 Strategy is always realistic, even when it's ambitious. 75 00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:29,080 It lays out a step by step process for moving with 76 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:32,560 predictable results from where we are to where we want to be. 77 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:35,520 Strategy is the posture of the powerful. 78 00:04:35,840 --> 00:04:38,800 It sets goals and commits to measurable outcomes. 79 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:42,120 It is not comfortable with uncertainties but always 80 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,120 accounts for them as a predictable variable. 81 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:49,280 Strategies are what folks in boardrooms come up with. 82 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:51,640 Strategies. Again, when when you have the 83 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:55,080 power to control variables, to control outcomes. 84 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,400 In many ways strategy is the way to go. 85 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:04,200 But Jesus followers are are seldom in positions of power and 86 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:09,720 and seldom have power in society to really be about the business 87 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,200 of strategy. And Katangale makes the argument 88 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:15,320 that Jesus didn't give. Jesus came when he came to 89 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,480 establish the Kingdom of God, a thing that is still ongoing. 90 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:24,400 He did not give his followers a a a grand strategy for 91 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:27,680 overflowing, overthrowing the kingdoms of this world and 92 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:31,080 establishing the Kingdom of God. Instead, what he gave his 93 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:33,840 followers, us included, were tactics. 94 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:36,320 And this is what Katangale says about tactics. 95 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:39,840 On the other hand, tactics are the tools of the weak, the 96 00:05:39,840 --> 00:05:43,440 wisdom of the weak about how to survive in a world they do not 97 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:46,480 own. Tactics assume that the system 98 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:50,960 we live in live under cannot be reformed or reorganized in its 99 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:54,160 entirety. Instead, tactics plot to subvert 100 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:58,040 the the reigning system at those places where it is weak. 101 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,560 Tactics are worked out on the fly and passed on in the jungle 102 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:03,440 and the under the cover of night. 103 00:06:03,840 --> 00:06:07,120 Like strategy, they are realistic, but tactics do not 104 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:10,320 pretend to know for certain what will happen in the future. 105 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,240 Tactics depend on the art of improvisation. 106 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:19,280 When situations change, tactics change with them and a world we 107 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:24,760 do not own, which is this world filled with systems that are 108 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:29,040 stacked against us. What Jesus offers us are tactics 109 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:33,200 for undermining that system, tactics for finding its weak 110 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:37,760 spots, tactics that require us to improvise and, and to change, 111 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,480 to pivot on a moment's notice. And that's what we're going to 112 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:44,880 be looking at our tactics and, and, and a weird sense this 113 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:46,720 virtue today that I'm talking about. 114 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:51,560 I'm talking about as a tactic, strategies versus tactics. 115 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:54,960 Jesus gives us tactics for attacking and undermining the 116 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:57,160 weak spots in the world's systems. 117 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:02,560 Let's talk about Jacob's tactics because Jacob is in a situation 118 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:06,240 where again, he is not the one with the power. 119 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,600 He is not the one in the position of influence. 120 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:15,160 He stole from his brother. He deceived his father, and the 121 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:19,240 cultural system that he lived in was stacked against him to do 122 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:21,880 those things. Honoring your father and your 123 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:25,280 mother was a high level value, not just among the Israelites, 124 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:27,280 but among all peoples of that region. 125 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,760 Honoring parents, particularly the father, the patriarch, was 126 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:33,600 one of, if not the highest level value. 127 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:37,920 And Jacob dishonored his father when he disguised himself as his 128 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:41,360 brother and pretended to be his brother so that his father would 129 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:44,080 give him the blessing his father meant to give his brother. 130 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:48,280 And that put Jacob on the outside of the system. 131 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:52,560 Jacob was the second born. Esau was his twin. 132 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:55,880 But Esau, you know, got out first. 133 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:57,560 That's probably not the best way to say that. 134 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:06,120 Esau was born 1st and and that gave him priority and position. 135 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:11,600 That made him the heir to the majority of their father's 136 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,040 estate. It made him leader and Lord over 137 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:19,880 his brother and for the covenant people of God, Abraham's 138 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,000 descendants. It made him heir to the 139 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,600 covenant. But Jacob used a moment of 140 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:31,000 weakness in Esau to manipulate Esau into selling him his 141 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,280 birthright. And Esau, by the time all this 142 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:37,559 has happened, Esau is so angry he did. 143 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:41,400 The last thing Jacob heard Esau say to him or about him was that 144 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:45,520 I am going to kill you. And now Jacob's been gone for 20 145 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,840 years and he's coming back in. The system is stacked against 146 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,200 him. His brother has prospered in his 147 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:54,880 absence. He's not only very wealthy, he 148 00:08:54,880 --> 00:09:00,280 has lots of men and his employ and under his leadership, the 149 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:04,040 culture says that Jacob wronged his father and his brother. 150 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:06,840 And now God is saying, Jacob, you need to go home. 151 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:12,320 You need to go back into that. And Jacob goes in with with 152 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:18,360 three tactics to respond to his brother in this situation where 153 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:22,640 he is without the power. The first tactic is he divides 154 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:25,560 his assets. The first tactic is Plan B. 155 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:29,080 I'm going to split everything up so that if my brother comes to 156 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:32,800 kill me, at least half of my family and my goods will 157 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:35,360 survive. We'll put them in two different 158 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:38,960 places two different times so that so that one can get away. 159 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,680 This is clearly Plan B. This is clearly the the worst 160 00:09:42,680 --> 00:09:46,440 case scenario for Jacob. So he's dividing his assets. 161 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:48,720 That's one tactic and part of his tactics. 162 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:51,600 The second tactic that he has is generosity. 163 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:56,160 He sends gifts to his brother, very extravagant gifts. 164 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:59,440 God has blessed Jacob too. He is now very wealthy. 165 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:03,680 He now has large herds and large flocks and and he sends 166 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:09,680 tremendous gifts to his brother. But dividing your assets and 167 00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:14,480 generosity can only go so far against an enemy that really 168 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:18,640 despises you. It's they're both, in a sense, 169 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,240 signs of weakness, admissions that I'm not strong enough to 170 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,320 overthrow my brother, so I've got to divide my assets and and 171 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:29,720 you can read the gifts of generosity contemptuously as 172 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:31,640 bribes. Jacob. 173 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,080 Just Esau could have read those, as you know. 174 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:36,720 Oh, well, my brother's attempting to buy me off for the 175 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:40,040 rotten things that he did. I'll teach that dirty rotten son 176 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:44,560 of a gun. Without the third one, I think 177 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:47,320 the first two make no meaningful impact. 178 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:51,520 And the third tactic that Jacob has is humility. 179 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:56,840 Humility from the beginning when he sends the gifts out to his 180 00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:59,960 brother Esau. It's with the message that my 181 00:10:59,960 --> 00:11:06,040 Lord, your servant comes to you. My Lord this, my Lord, that your 182 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:08,400 servant, this your servant, that. 183 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:12,960 Jacob humbles himself before his brother, before he put himself 184 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:16,560 above his brother, based on words that God had spoken to his 185 00:11:16,560 --> 00:11:19,760 mother even before he was born, that he would be the heir to the 186 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:22,600 covenant, that he would rule over his older brother. 187 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:27,760 But now, instead of asserting his God-given dominance, Jacob 188 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:33,720 comes in humbly and he places himself beneath his brother in 189 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:38,320 terms of position, authority, rights, and duties. 190 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:44,000 I belong to you, I serve you, I bow before you. 191 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:50,560 This is that greatest virtue. Of these three tactics, the 192 00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:52,920 greatest is humility. And that's the virtue. 193 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:57,720 It's the greatest tactic in a system where the in a world 194 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:01,920 where the systems are stacked against us, the greatest tactic, 195 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:06,000 the greatest virtue that we can have as followers of Jesus is 196 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:12,120 humility, not asserting dominance, not exercising power 197 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:15,280 over, but humbling ourselves before others. 198 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:19,280 This is what Paul said. It's what he said Jesus did and 199 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:22,200 he told followers of Jesus when he wrote his letter to the 200 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:25,520 church in Philippi, he said have the same mind that Jesus had, 201 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:30,320 have the same mindset that our Lord had who humbled himself and 202 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:36,360 made himself a servant, literally a slave when he came 203 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:41,160 into this world. Jesus did not come in exercising 204 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:45,200 dominance over the world. Jesus did not come in demanding 205 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:48,440 respect. Jesus did not come in claiming 206 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:51,800 power and authority. In fact, he surrendered all of 207 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:54,400 those things. And Paul says who understood a 208 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:57,920 thing or two about being faithful in systems that are 209 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:01,680 stacked against you. Paul says, this is the this is 210 00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:04,600 the attitude, this is the approach, this is the posture 211 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:08,360 that Jesus, we as Jesus followers need to adopt as well. 212 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:11,720 A posture of humility in another place. 213 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:15,480 He said, consider others needs ahead of your own. 214 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:22,640 This tactic of humility is the greatest virtue that we can 215 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:24,800 possess. That's not the only thing that 216 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:26,000 we're going to take a look at here. 217 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:30,040 But in a system stacked against you, humility is your greatest 218 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:33,760 virtue. Not strength, not power, not 219 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:38,000 authority, not wealth. Again, people know when they're 220 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:40,600 being bought. People know when they're being 221 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:43,920 flattered. People know when they're being 222 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:51,040 manipulated most of the time. But genuine humility to someone 223 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:55,640 who has a grudge against you, who has, who has reason to be 224 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:59,600 angry with you, Genuine humility before those Pope, those folks. 225 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:04,040 It's not a guarantee of a particular outcome, but it can 226 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:08,800 be very disarming. And it gives us the greatest 227 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:12,760 opportunity to reconcile humility rather than pride, 228 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:15,280 rather than power, rather than assertions of dominance. 229 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:19,760 Humility gives us the greatest opportunity for reconciliation, 230 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:24,440 which is what Jacob was after. Jacob didn't want to come back 231 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:26,680 and fight his brother. He didn't want to come back and 232 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:29,120 overthrow his brother. He probably knew he didn't have 233 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:31,600 the power and the resources to do that anyway. 234 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:36,320 What Jacob wanted was to reconcile with someone whom he 235 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:41,920 had wronged, and the way to do that was with humility. 236 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:48,040 The flip side, Well, this humility, just brief word on 237 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,200 humility because humility too often we think of humility 238 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:55,120 wrongly and we think of humility as thinking less of ourselves. 239 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:59,720 That the worm theology. Oh, I'm a worm, I'm awful, I'm 240 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:03,120 nothing, I'm terrible. You know, woe is me. 241 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:05,720 I'm you know, that's not humility. 242 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:09,360 That's humiliation, which is different than humility. 243 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:12,920 Humility is not thinking less of ourselves. 244 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:16,320 Humility is see that where we go? 245 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:17,880 Come on. My goodness. 246 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:20,280 I'm jumping all over the place here. 247 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:25,400 Yeah. Humility is not thinking less of 248 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:27,440 ourselves. It's thinking of yourself less. 249 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:32,320 It's taking yourself off center stage. 250 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:36,840 It's saying I'm not. I don't need to be the center of 251 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:40,400 attention. My wants, my needs, my desires 252 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:45,640 don't need to rule the day. It gives us the space in the 253 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:47,520 room to say, what does someone else need? 254 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:50,360 It gives us the space in the room to say, how can I be of 255 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:55,080 service even if the even if my agenda at the end of the day is 256 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:57,000 not met? How can I help others? 257 00:15:57,080 --> 00:15:59,800 How can I lift others up? How can I build others up? 258 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:05,680 How can I encourage someone else rather than how can I arrange 259 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,560 things so that I'm the one that's lift up, I'm the one 260 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:11,560 that's center of attention, I'm the one that's encouraged Not 261 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:14,040 thinking less of ourselves. It has nothing to do with saying 262 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:17,040 I'm a bad person and has everything to do with saying how 263 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:21,160 can I be a blessing to the other folks around me thinking of 264 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:23,720 ourselves less. Another way to think about 265 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:29,840 humility is to think rightly about yourself, to recognize the 266 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:33,400 strengths and assets that you have as well as your weaknesses, 267 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:37,120 because those strengths and assets are very often going to 268 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:39,400 be the ways that you're going to be a blessing and service to 269 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:42,760 other people as well. So a story that I remember from 270 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:46,960 years and years ago, back when I was on staff at Camp Otterbein, 271 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:50,200 our director there, Chuck Morris, would bring in folks 272 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:53,680 during staff training to do some specialized kinds of trainings. 273 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:56,800 And there was a woman he he invited in a couple of different 274 00:16:56,800 --> 00:16:59,240 summers when I was there. I have no idea what her real 275 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:01,720 name was. Everyone called her Cork I. 276 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:04,000 That might have been her real name, I don't know. 277 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:06,400 Corks. Corks. 278 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:13,800 How do I say it? Cork was trying to think the 279 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:19,000 Elon Musk of summer camping in the sense that that there was 280 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:22,560 really only one right way to do it and it was her way, and if 281 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:26,599 you didn't do it her way, you were wrong and you were out and 282 00:17:26,599 --> 00:17:29,520 she had a lot of rule. No blue jeans at camp, ever. 283 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:34,880 It was immoral, unsafe. People will die if you wear blue 284 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:36,560 jeans at this was Cork's attitude. 285 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:41,320 So she's very focused, very passionate about her work and 286 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,240 very passionate about providing good camping experience for the 287 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:46,000 campers. And she prided herself on that. 288 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,440 She was talking about her husband at one point who who was 289 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:53,280 also very deeply involved in camping And, and, and again, she 290 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,720 was an expert mountaineering, you know, using a compass and 291 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:59,280 everything else to guide your even if you don't have trails 292 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:01,560 and maps, you know, or you don't have a trail, you got a map, you 293 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:03,800 got to, you can find where you're going, orienteering and 294 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:05,720 that sort of thing. She was great at all of that 295 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:07,480 stuff. And she talked about a training 296 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:10,200 that husband went on and they were in a group and they were 297 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:13,160 given an orienteering task with a compass. 298 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:17,320 And and she said her husband held back to let other people 299 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:20,680 figure it out because, you know, he didn't want to be a know it 300 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,440 all. And his group in this 301 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:26,120 competition spent hours and hours and hours on it. 302 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:30,640 And when they learned toward the end that he had known exactly 303 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:34,520 how to do it from the beginning, his group was ticked with him. 304 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:37,840 Like, why didn't you tell us? We could have been done with 305 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:41,680 this two hours ago if you would just shared the information that 306 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:44,400 you have. Humility isn't pretending 307 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:46,680 stupidity. When we have intelligence, it 308 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:49,400 isn't pretending ignorance. It isn't pretending weakness. 309 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:54,040 It's acknowledging who we really are, strengths and weaknesses, 310 00:18:54,640 --> 00:19:01,080 assets and disadvantages, and utilizing what we have and being 311 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:04,600 honest about what we have and who we are in order, again, to 312 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:06,680 be a blessing to the people that are around us. 313 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:10,280 This is humility. This is what we're called to do 314 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:12,480 and the attitude and the approach that we are called to 315 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,480 have as we interact not only with each other, but people with 316 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:18,560 the world around us. There's another thing on here 317 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:22,200 though, that in a system stacked against you, humility is the 318 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:25,160 greatest virtue, but relationships are your most 319 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:31,280 valuable resource. Prioritizing relationships is 320 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:35,720 one of the most important things that anybody can do in a system 321 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:40,360 stacked against them, prioritizing relationships. 322 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,160 We see this in the story with Jacob and Esau. 323 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:47,280 We see it Jesus repeating this truth in a variety of different 324 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:49,280 ways. But do you remember this, this 325 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:53,520 line from from Jacob when he finally sees his brother and 326 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:56,360 again is is fearful when he learns that his brother is 327 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:58,920 coming with 400 men. He assumes his brother is coming 328 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:01,240 to attack him. But instead his brother greets 329 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:02,920 him. He welcomes him, he hugs him, he 330 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:08,000 kisses him and and and and and Jacob's just overwhelmed. 331 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:10,880 And Esau says, hey, keep this stuff. 332 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:12,040 You don't need to give that to me. 333 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:14,200 God has blessed me. And Jacob said God has blessed 334 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:16,240 me too. I want you to have it. 335 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:21,800 And Jacob says this, If I have found favor in your eyes, accept 336 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:25,160 this gift from me. For to see your face is like 337 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:29,800 seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. 338 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:35,960 When he was still a kid, when he was a young knucklehead, Jacob 339 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:39,200 could not have cared less about his relationship with Esau. 340 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:42,560 If you want to have a relationship with someone, you 341 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,640 don't RIP them off. If you want to have a 342 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:48,240 relationship with someone, you don't steal from them. 343 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,080 When he was a young knucklehead, Jacob wanted the stuff. 344 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:54,400 He wanted the power. He wanted the position, he 345 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:56,760 wanted the authority, he wanted the prestige. 346 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:01,320 Now that Jacob has grown up and spent 20 years working for 347 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:04,040 someone who'd been lying and stealing and ripping him off, 348 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:09,160 Jacob understood the difference. And now his priority is not 349 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:12,680 power over his brother, but relationship with his brother. 350 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,960 And that relationship is not just friendship. 351 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:21,960 It's not just family. It is seeing the face of God. 352 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:25,440 Now, I didn't check this. I know we've got some Les 353 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:28,280 Miserables fans in, in, in in the room. 354 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:29,920 And I'm a big Les Miserables fan. 355 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:34,000 But one of the one of the there's a beautiful line that in 356 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:38,440 in the musical where to love another person is to see the 357 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:42,120 face of God. And I don't know if that's where 358 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:46,160 you know, the the lyricist for Les Mis got this line or not, 359 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:55,560 but it's so true. When we can and humility go to 360 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:59,640 others and love them and serve them and bless them and lift 361 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:03,480 them up, we have the chance to see the face of God. 362 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:09,840 This is what happened in Les Mis When when Jean Valjean, through 363 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:16,080 a situation of tremendous stress and and and ignorance about the 364 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:20,400 plight of Fantine, puts her in a very desperate situation and 365 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:22,640 which ultimately costs her her life. 366 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:30,520 But when he sees what he's done, he goes to her with humility and 367 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:34,400 he blesses her as he is able and her final sickness. 368 00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:39,720 And then he goes in humility and and adopts her daughter and 369 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:45,080 raises her daughter as his own, spending his life making sure 370 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:50,240 that she has what he what she needs, even if it costs him his 371 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:53,480 safety, his security, his reputation. 372 00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:58,120 To love another person is to see the face of God. 373 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:02,320 And Jacob had learned that it took him 20 long years, but he 374 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:08,040 learned it. That if I want to see God, if I 375 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,280 want to see God in this life, I don't need wealth, I don't need 376 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:18,600 power, I need relationship. I need to love another human 377 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:22,680 being. And for Jacob, that meant loving 378 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,840 a human being whom he had grievously wronged. 379 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:31,080 But to go back and do what he could to make that right and 380 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:35,040 restore that relationship is to see the face of God. 381 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:40,000 Jesus taught us the same thing. Jesus said, remember that when 382 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:44,640 he was talking about the, the, the unrighteous manager, the the 383 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:49,840 dishonest manager who, you know, basically stole from his 384 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:52,800 employer in order to build relationship. 385 00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:55,600 You know, the employer fired him and then let him still have 386 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:57,520 control over the books. Never a good plan. 387 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:03,240 And and he used his employers resources to, you know, buy some 388 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:06,160 friends. And Jesus instead of condemning 389 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,200 him in this parable, praises him. 390 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:12,640 And he says use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves. 391 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:18,240 This is the opposite of what the philosophies of this world say. 392 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:23,640 The philosophies of this world say use other people to gain 393 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:27,760 wealth for yourself because it is in wealth that you will find 394 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:30,280 security and you will find happiness. 395 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,240 And Jesus said, we've got it completely backwards. 396 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,480 Use wealth to gain friends for yourself. 397 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:42,840 Because it is in our friendships and our relationships, in these 398 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:50,120 bonds of love that we can find true security and joy even in 399 00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:55,760 the midst of suffering. Perhaps this is how Paul who was 400 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:59,640 able and his situations of powerless, being arrested over 401 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,680 and over again, being beaten over and over again, being 402 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:06,160 jailed and imprisoned over and over again, being stoned over 403 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:10,560 and over again, but facing it with joy and with hope and with 404 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:20,240 with with humility and never alone, always with others, 405 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:25,800 always friends around him, always people who he was lifting 406 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:27,600 up and people who were lifting him up. 407 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:32,960 It wasn't the wealth. He wasn't spreading the Kingdom 408 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:35,880 of God by going out to see how much money he could get so he 409 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:37,960 could do great things. He was spreading the Kingdom of 410 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:42,960 God with the strategy of going in and speaking boldly with with 411 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:47,320 humility of serving others and putting their interests and 412 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:50,200 their needs ahead of his own, even at great risk to himself, 413 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:58,040 and it cost him a great deal. But what he gained in the end 414 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:02,760 was this opportunity over and over and over again to see the 415 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:06,720 face of God. Jesus said no one can serve 2 416 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:08,880 masters either. You hate 1 and love the other, 417 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:11,000 you will be devoted 1 and despise the other. 418 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,240 You cannot serve both God and money. 419 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,760 If money is our goal, If wealth is our goal, If power is our 420 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:22,480 goal, If influence is our goal, we will not be serving God. 421 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:26,640 We will be serving whatever it is that we're seeking. 422 00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:32,400 But if we serve God and trust God to provide us with whatever 423 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:36,840 resources and influence that we need with favor in the lives of 424 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:41,520 others like he, He gave Jacob favor and his brother Esau's 425 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:43,480 eyes. If we trust God with those 426 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:48,120 things, then then we can live in peace. 427 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,280 We can live in joy. We can we can see the face of 428 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:55,120 God. If you ever talk to folks, 429 00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:56,960 you're like, you know, how Can you believe in God that you 430 00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,840 can't see? And we can see God anytime we 431 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:06,600 want to, anytime we want to. Remember what Jesus said. 432 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:12,440 He said that there's going to be a day come when everyone's going 433 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,640 to be divided and sheep and the goats and God's going to look at 434 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:21,960 the sheep and say come join me in my Kingdom for you. 435 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:26,120 When I was hungry, you clothed me, or when I was hungry, you 436 00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:27,880 fed me. When I was naked, you clothed 437 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:30,720 me. When I was sick, you attended to 438 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:32,880 me. When I was homeless, you gave me 439 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:34,880 shelter. When I was in prison, you 440 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:38,600 visited me. You said to the goats depart 441 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:42,200 from me forever because when I was hungry, you didn't feed me. 442 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:45,600 When I was naked, you didn't clothe me. 443 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:47,680 When I was homeless, you didn't shelter me. 444 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,000 When I was sick and in prison, you didn't visit me. 445 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:55,320 And they said, when did we do these things to you or when we 446 00:27:55,320 --> 00:28:00,080 fail to do these things to you. And God says, whatever you have 447 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,520 done to the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, 448 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:07,600 you've done to me, whether you've failed to do, you have 449 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:13,800 failed to do for me. All we have to do is spend time 450 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:16,080 around poor folks being a blessing to them. 451 00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:20,120 And we can see the face of God lifting up another human being 452 00:28:20,360 --> 00:28:25,840 in a desperate situation. We can see the face of God being 453 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:29,360 a blessing to another and their time of need and their hour of 454 00:28:29,360 --> 00:28:33,080 distress and pain and discomfort and heartache and loss. 455 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:37,800 And we can see the face of God just like Jacob did with Esau, 456 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:43,440 just like Valjean did with Fantine and Cosette and so many 457 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:49,680 others, being faithful and a system stacked against you. 458 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:56,240 The greatest virtue is humility. It's the greatest virtue that we 459 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:59,680 have as we go out into a world that we do not own. 460 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,280 To spread and share the Kingdom of God and the good news of 461 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:09,440 Jesus Christ is not arrogance. It's not being loud, it's not 462 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:13,200 being obnoxious. It's not yelling and screaming 463 00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:15,600 and hollering. You know that that makes it's 464 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:19,880 great click bait. It's you know, it was another 465 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:24,480 thing is that you know, click farming click bait rages. 466 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:26,880 Rage is a wonderful way to get clicks. 467 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,960 Humiliating people is a great way to get attention and ads. 468 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:36,040 It is the exact opposite of what Jesus calls us to do and to be, 469 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:41,600 but instead to be humble and instead of using other people to 470 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:45,440 get their wealth or to get their clicks or to get influence, 471 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:49,080 instead of using them we use what God has given us to gain 472 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:55,440 their friendship, their relationship in Jesus name. 473 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:57,120 Amen. Amen.