Sunday 10 • 13 • 19

Alright. We are continuing our sermon series on the book of Ecclesiastes. This morning we come to Ecclesiastes chapter four. It's been our custom of late to read it all together. So let's do that with gusto this morning as we work through chapter four verses one through 16. It's a good long passage. So let's enunciate and listen clearly to the word of God as we read it to one another. You ready? On your mark, get set, go.

Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun and behold the tears of the oppressed and they had no one to comfort them. On the side of their oppressors there was power and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive but better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun. Then I saw that all toil and all skill and work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. The fool folds his hand and eats his own flesh. Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. Again I saw vanity under the sun, one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil and his eyes are never satisfied with the riches so that he never asks for whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure. This also is vanity and an unhappy business. Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil for if they fall one will lift up his fellow but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. Again if two lie together they keep warm but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice for he went from prison to the throne though in his own kingdom he had been poor. I saw all the living who move about under the sun along with that youth who was to stand in the king's place. There was no end of all the people all of whom he led, Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and is striving after wind. — Ecclesiastes 4:1-16

Let's pray. Lord God we pray that you would make solid in our minds, in our hearts, your word that we would comprehend it and we would rightly apply it and that lord, through looking at your word, we would see you, lord Jesus, that we would draw closer to you and you would draw closer to us and we would be reminded of the beauty of who you are and all that we have in you. Lord, would you work through your word in that way this morning, we pray in your name. Amen.

The Camera App and Ecclesiastes

Well, recently I got a new app for my phone. I'm really excited about it. It's a camera app called Spectre. What Spectre does is it essentially allows the lens on your camera to stay open longer. So it's really great if you're trying to do light trails like at night. The lens stays open and it just gets all of the car light traveling and you get a nice little line and it's really cool. It's also really fun if you want to take a selfie. I don't take a lot of selfies, but it's fun to take a selfie if you take it and hold very still in front of a background of a lot of moving people. What happens in the picture is it creates this live photo where essentially you stay solid but everybody else kind of ghosts out.

In Ecclesiastes, we're looking at the teachings of the teacher, Kohelet—Solomon. And one of the constant refrains throughout the book of Ecclesiastes is that all of this life under the sun is vanity. We've translated that as vapor. And chasing after that vapor is like chasing after the wind. So there's all this stuff under the sun. Some of it's better than other stuff, but at the end of the day, Kohelet keeps coming back to the refrain: even this is vanity, vapor, a chasing after wind. You can imagine trying to catch ghosts. That's essentially the picture that you get again and again throughout Ecclesiastes.

This camera app gives me a picture, a sense of what this world is like under the sun. Everything kind of ghosts out as it moves. The only thing that stays the same is the one who never changes—the one not under the sun, the one from over the sun. He stays solid because he never changes. He's consistent and has substance to all that he does. The purpose of Kohelet's teachings isn't to make us depressed with a vapor-like reality of life in this world but instead is to point us to the substantial one that is beyond this world.

In this passage it feels like we're getting kind of random observations from Kohelet. They are in fact tied together. If I can try to give you a sense of how this passage works together, it's structured in a Hebrew style.

So it's kind of hard for us to understand, but there are really three topics that Kohelet dives into in this passage. One of them is power, and you see that in verses one through three, but you also see it again picked up in verses 13 through 16. Often in Hebrew writings this happens where you have a topic framed by another topic. And so the frame of this passage is power. And then in the center there are two things that he considers. One is work and the other is relationships.

So we've got power, we've got work, and we've got relationships. We're going to look at it in this order though. We're going to start in the middle and work our way to the edges. We're going to start by looking at work, we're going to look at relationships after that, and then we're going to look at power to conclude. So that's our outline: work, relationships, and power.

Work

Alright, work. The centerpiece of this passage, what hinges, is verse four.

Then I saw that all toil and all skill and work comes from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. The fool folds his hand and eats his own flesh. Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

Do you see Kohelet's observation? He's looking around and he sees a bunch of people who are also looking around and they're comparing themselves to everyone around them. And their desire is to essentially be the best in the show. They see others that are better than them and they want to be better than those people. What he's describing is envy. We had a whole sermon series on the seven deadly sins and Jeff preached a great sermon on envy. I'd encourage you to go back and listen to that. But just to briefly consider that again—this is how that works. We want to be the best. We want to be the king. We want to be the greatest around. In fact, we're trained to do that. All throughout high school, you're taught, "Hey, you've got to distance yourself. You've got to make yourself noticeable. You've got to become kind of the best in your class. Shoot for being valedictorian." Or if you can't do that, find some other way to separate yourself from the crowd so that you can be seen as better.

And all of us, we walk around and we see different people with different positions, they have different settings, and we long for it. We want to be the best. Envy kind of creeps into our hearts. Our discontent of our own situation—rather than being content in what God has given us, we become discontent because we want what they have, and then we strive to work for it.

You see this all throughout Scripture. There are tons of examples in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Cain and Abel was the passage that Jeff looked at when we considered envy, right? You remember Cain who was envious of his brother Abel and then he killed him. He strived to become what he was not in his brother. He wanted to be the best and he wasn't, and it led to murder.

The Tower of Babel—all of the people in Babel wanted to have the tallest tower. They wanted to be the best of the best, so they strove to be as powerful and reaching to the heavens. They wanted to be like God. They were comparing themselves to God and striving to be like him. That didn't work out so well. God scattered them by dividing them into different languages and tribes throughout the nations.

Joseph and his brothers—his brothers saw Joseph as the favored one, the one with the technicolor dream coat who could interpret dreams, right? And the brothers were not too keen on that. So what did they do? They sold their brother into slavery and left him for dead.

And in case you just think that this is an Old Testament problem, not a New Testament problem—the apostle Paul talks about in Philippians those who are actually preaching the gospel to one-up him for competition's sake, to become better than him out of envy and personal gain. They're actually preaching the gospel to become better than Paul.

Now, I know a little something about this because I've been to seminary. I remember my first preaching class. I remember sitting in there and going, "This is just like that scene in Top Gun when all the pilots show up for the class and they say, 'Who's the best?' And we're invited to preach in front of one another and evaluate our sermons and to try to decide who's the best of the best?" Envy, comparison.

And Kohelet says this pushes people to do one of two things. This is his observation. Did you notice? It pushes them to do one of two things. He says there's a foolish response to this. You can respond to envy in your heart foolishly, and that is simply to fold your hands and to eat your own flesh.

You can look at the world and see how you measure up and decide that you don't, and you can fold your hands and give up. You can quit. When you try to keep up with the Joneses, you just decide, forget the Joneses. I'm gonna stay in the house and do whatever makes me happy, whatever satisfies me. I'm gonna become self-serving rather than pursuing any kind of purpose in life. Instead of having any kind of purpose, I'm gonna make myself the purpose. I'm gonna consume myself folding my hands. God says, that's not good. That's foolish. Don't do that.

Another response that he identifies as foolish—you have to pay attention to verse six. It says, "Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind." Another thing that he says is foolish is two-handed purpose. These are the opposite of the fool who folds their hands, who gives up. This is the person who grabs life by both hands and says, I'm gonna be the valedictorian no matter what it costs. I'm gonna work day and night. I'm gonna beat you no matter what it takes. I'm gonna compete and I'm gonna win. I'm gonna throw everything that I have into it. No matter what it takes, I'm gonna get it all. This is the self-important person who is a little too full of purpose—their own purpose—and they can't let go of it. This is the workaholic who, rather than spending time with his family, chooses to work night and day. Rather than connecting to any kind of quietness and rest, they work and work and work saying, I will earn my rest. God says, that's not good either.

What's better? Better is a handful of quietness. The picture is a worker who has one hand on his work, working towards a purpose and meaning, but another hand of quietness, another hand of rest. This is work-life balance. We think a lot about this in our society. We talk a lot about this. Do I have a good work-life balance? What does that look like? It can be really challenging to manage that balance. But what Kohelet is saying is you need a wise balance between your work and your rest. We're left with his teachings wondering how do we do that? How do we actually let go of the work and hang on to the rest? How do we do this one-handed approach?

Jesus and True Rest

Kohelet's teaching is furthered by the teaching of a greater teacher, the rabbi Jesus Christ. Let's look at the passage that we used as our assurance of pardon today.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. — Matthew 11:28

You ever think about why Jesus' work, his burden, is easy and light? Here's the answer. It's because he's already done the work. Jesus Christ has done the work of works. He has completed all that is necessary for your salvation, and everything that he has done brings about complete fulfillment of the will of his Father. It's done. Do you see how that creates a platform for rest that the world can't offer you? Because essentially, if the work is done, you don't have to do it.

There are some of you who are two-fisted workers who need to be reminded of the fact that Jesus has done it all. He doesn't need you. You don't need to do this in order to achieve your rest. He has already done it and completed it and achieved the rest for you. You can start with the rest and work out of it rather than working towards some imaginary rest that you'll never be able to earn on your own. Do you see?

Another thing for those of you who fold your hands, who've given up, who decide that the purpose and meaning in my life, I'm never going to achieve that. I'm never going to be able to accomplish that. There's an invitation here. Come, take my yoke upon you. Come with me. Do this work with me. Even though Jesus doesn't need you to do anything, he invites you into it. You get to participate in the purpose-filled work that Christ calls you to—whether that's your employment, your life in the church, your relationships. God calls you to a purpose-filled life even though he's already accomplished it for you.

Speaking of work-life balance, this summer I'm excited. You know why? I have been working at this church for seven years. We have a policy at this church which one pastor benefited from like a summer ago, and I get to take advantage of this summer. I get a sabbatical. I get the whole summer off. You know what I'm gonna do on my sabbatical? Here's my plan. I'm gonna sail across the Atlantic Ocean. I haven't found a boat. I've never sailed anywhere in my life. I have no idea what this entails, but I have found a website called Crewseekers where captains of boats advertise their need for crew. And I've been looking for this ad.

Wanted, overweight 40 year old with no sailing experience to board my vessel to help me navigate the wild raging seas of the Atlantic Ocean filled with sharks and narwhals and giant squids and whatever else. Right? No experience necessary. That's not an ad I've been able to find. If any of you know anybody, look me up.

Here's the thing, I don't think that ad exists on the Internet because I don't think anybody is crazy enough to want that. They don't want somebody to come on their boat that has no experience, who isn't probably going to be very much help, who has no clue what they're getting themselves into because that seems more like additional work in a situation that's probably really taxing and challenging.

Here's the thing, what you can't find on the internet, you find in Jesus. Nothing to offer him. He wants you on the boat. He wants you to come. He wants you to experience the full meaning and purpose of his redemptive work in the world but he doesn't need you. You can show up and you can be relaxed. I need a captain like Jesus. Jesus, take the wheel. If I'm going to sail across the Atlantic because if I were left to my own devices, I'm sure it would go very badly. I need someone like Christ who says to me, hey, come on. I don't need you but I want you. That's the kind of work life balance and rest that the rabbi that Jesus offers us and it's not something you can find in the world or on the internet.

Relationships

Let's talk about relationships. That's the second point. We're moving from verses four through six to seven through 12. Essentially, the transition hinges in verses seven and eight, right? We just talked about work, you either fold your hands or you're all in or you have one hand open and you're working, you have that work life balance. It goes on to describe, hey, here's the problem with not having that work life balance with regards to relationships.

Again I saw vanity under the sun. One person who has no other either son or brother yet there is no end to all his toil and his eyes are never satisfied with riches so that he never asks for whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure. This also is vanity and an unhappy business — Ecclesiastes 4:7-8

Picture the workaholic who has no relationships, who's working for who knows who? Nobody. Working towards some sort of end that they never get to enjoy. That's vanity, that's vapor, that's chasing after wind, that's foolishness, Kohelet says. And then he goes on to describe why, right? In the section about work he says, you know, one hand is better than two but in this section he says two is better than one.

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil for if they fall one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, he has not another to lift him up. Again if two lie together they keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken — Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

This is like the wedding passage, right? You've heard this preached at a wedding? Probably many of you. I've preached this at a wedding. This is not about marriage. It has application for marriage but it's not about marriage. This is about general relationships, friendships, love. Look at the benefits that he says. Essentially, why is two better than one? One is better than two when it comes to work because you have an open hand. An open hand to form a relationship to form two, right? And the relationship of two is better than one, why? Because they have a good reward for their toil. There's all these benefits, good reward for your toil, you have someone to celebrate with.

This past week, Katie had a work trip in Miami, Florida and from time to time when Katie has a work trip, I agreed to travel with her as her gentleman escort and enjoy a little work life balance and take advantage of a free hotel and free rental car. And this one happened to be in Miami which is where I grew up. So I was excited to go back. We connected with some of my family and did some fun things in places where I grew up. One of the things that I got to do is I got to play golf on this golf course that I played when I was a kid. And I got to the ninth hole of this golf course and I remembered I had this flashback as I was about to tee off of playing with my dad and some friends from church and they told a joke and the joke was about a pastor playing golf.

So that's why it came back to me. Here's the joke. So this pastor gets a tee time at Pebble Beach but the only tee time available is Sunday morning. So he calls in sick, plays hooky from church in order to go play golf and abandoned his congregation and his pastoral duties to go enjoy the golf course. Right? And God and Michael the archangel are down, you know, they're up in heaven kind of watching this pastor playing golf by himself.

By the way, I was playing by myself. That's why I just came back and God says, "Watch this, I'm gonna get that guy." Michael's watching, they're all watching. The pastor reels back, he hits this incredible drive. Harder, farther, more beautiful than he's ever hit. It lands right on the cart path and bounces up high in the air, runs into a tree, bounces off the tree, back onto the cart path, continues down the course. Some sort of wild animal comes, runs up against it, brushes it, it spins off onto the green and goes right into the hole. And Michael says, "What? What was that? I thought you were gonna get him. I thought you were gonna teach him a lesson." He says, "Yeah. He can't tell anybody about that."

After remembering that joke, I teed off and I did hit a tree, but it didn't go in the hole.

That's the thing, right? Two is better than one because you want somebody to celebrate stuff with. You want to celebrate life. You don't want to have a birthday party by yourself. You want to invite your friends. You want to rejoice over victories in life and things that are worth celebrating. You don't want to be alone. You want to have people.

Another thing he says: you want to lift each other up. Two is better than one because you can lift each other up. You stumble, somebody can pick you up. That's a good thing, right? It's nice to have some insurance, somebody who's going to help you.

Another thing that he says is that spooning is good. Did you see that? The Bible says spooning is good. You can quote me on that.

If two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? — Ecclesiastes 4:11

Sometimes it's really frigid and you need the human blanket. Yesterday, we were watching soccer and we have four soccer games, so it's like four hours of kids' soccer. All of our kids were there and James wanted to cuddle with his dad, so he sat on my lap. It was 85 degrees outside and I said, "James, I love you, but I want you to sit in your own chair and I'll hold your hand." But sometimes you want to be close to people. You want the warmth of life to connect and to comfort you. That's a very comforting thing, right?

He also says that it's better to go into a battle with a wingman, right? Fighting alone is never a good idea. In the Roman Empire, the Romans always fought in a legion, but the barbarians fought as individual champions. The legion won every time because they fought together side by side. They depended upon each other. There was a greater sense of ability to fight because there were more of them fighting together in unity. It's better to have two rather than one.

And then it ends with: a threefold strand is never broken. When you tie three strands together, that's probably some sailing application here that I probably need to learn before this summer. Essentially a rope is stronger when it has three strands, right? It's a picture of the Trinity. It's implying that not only is two better, but three is even better and so forth and so on.

Unity in Christ

The teaching of the rabbi with regard to this gives us some insight as to how we actually achieve these kinds of relationships. Listen to this:

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one. Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. — John 17:20-23

The thing with relationships is that they're hard, aren't they? Sometimes it feels like two is not so much better than one. When I'm in a minivan with my five kids, sometimes I wish I was alone. There's all kinds of sin and strife and hardships in relationships in this world. You've probably experienced a lot of that. People will let you down. They don't always embody verses nine through twelve. That's something that, along with everything else that Kohelet looks at under the sun, is vapor-like. People ghost. People will ghost you, literally, right?

But Jesus won't. Jesus won't. Jesus didn't. He left heaven in order to come and be with you. He wants to be a part of your life. He wants to be enmeshed and entwined with you. He wants you enmeshed and entwined with the Father. That's why he prayed for that.

Now, here's the thing, church. Church of Jesus Christ, the one whom Jesus prayed we would be unified as he and the Father are unified. We, as we march through this life together, are being made more solid and less ghost-like as we progress in our sanctification. We become like Christ—solid, touchable, tangible people.

Think about that as it applies to these verses. Good reward for their toil. Jesus celebrates your work even though he doesn't need it. He's there at the party. He's here at this party. Sunday morning is a party. Sunday morning should be the greatest day of the week because we should be celebrating the amazing love of God our Savior together in complete unity, rejoicing like it's a big party. And you know what's greater than the fact that all of us are here? Jesus is here. Jesus came and he wants the party to be bigger. He prays that we would all be one.

Do you think that Jesus prayed this and God said, "Jesus, I know you prayed that everybody would be one, but there was really just a little too much strife going on between all those people. So you're great, Jesus, and all, but I'm not going to answer that prayer"? The reality is that prayer will be answered. One day we will stand in heaven unified perfectly as the bride of Christ—fully substantial, not vapor—together unified the way that Jesus prayed that we would be. And we have the opportunity as we become more solid to look like that to a watching world.

So CTK, we need to celebrate together. We need to rejoice together because we have been given each other and given Christ to celebrate.

Living Out Unity

Think about lifting each other up. We need to lift each other up in this church. Here's the thing: I think a lot of you would say, "I'm happy to lift up anybody else," but what I find is that in this church there's a lot of people who aren't willing to be lifted up. Have you thought about the fact that without somebody lifting you up, without Jesus lifting you up, nothing's going to come out of your life? It's not going to be substantial. Jesus lifting you up is the solution to the vapor-like reality of the world. But as we're called to unity together, as you let people into your life and allow them to lift you up, we model what Christian unity looks like to a watching world.

Some of you need to let people into some of the struggles that you're facing in your life and allow them to care for you and lift you up. I know that's scary. Keeping each other warm—you need to find someone in the church to come alongside. Not literally. Maybe appropriately. But the point is this: you need to find some way to come alongside the beautiful warm life of others in this church. You need to let them in. You need to bind yourself together with them the way that Jesus bound himself with you. His life is in you. He's more than spooning. He has become one with you and is keeping you warm with his life. You need that as well. We need to model that to the watching world.

And finally, fighting together. Think about this: the devil fights alone and he's a mean and vicious fighter—powerful. Many of us fight sin and Satan alone. God never fights alone. God fights as a trinity. We need to fight together. As we struggle as the church against the forces of darkness, we need to do that together. We need to bring each other along into that. As we struggle with our sin, we need to bring each other along into that. We need to hold each other accountable. We need to help encourage one another. We need to pray for each other. We need to model the unity, the substance of the unity that Christ prayed for and will receive in heaven as we become more and more like that here on earth.

Power

And finally I want to move to look to power. Power is a loaded topic and we're going to come back to this. So this isn't everything that we're going to say about this. But I want to try and introduce this a little bit. If you look at verses one through three, that's where power has begun to be discussed, and then it also comes back at the end.

Again, I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun and behold the tears of the oppressed and they had no one to comfort them. On the side of their oppressors there was power and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive, but better than both is he who has not been and who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun. — Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

Alright. Notice everyone has power. Some people have more power than others. There are oppressors and oppressed. The exercise of power wrongly in a fallen world under the sun necessitates the reality of oppression. And one of the things that oppression produces in addition to the tears of the oppressed is the isolation and loneliness of both the oppressor and the oppressed. Do you see that?

Kohelet doesn't say it's better to be the oppressor, it's better to be the one with power than the one with tears.

He points out the fact that the oppression, the wrong use of power, the abuse of power in the world leads to isolation and loneliness, separation—the antithesis of all that we just talked about in terms of the unity that we experience in Jesus Christ. Separated. No one to comfort either of them. And his conclusion is the dead who are already dead are more fortunate than the living who are still alive.

So what's better? It's not to be the oppressor or to be the oppressed. What's better is to be dead. It's depressing. Thanks, Kohelet. But better even than that is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun. The abuse of power done under the sun leaves you with nothing but hollow emptiness and despair.

You see that? We need to think about power as it exists in this world and that reality with regard to power. We need to understand power dynamics and how they function in the world so that we can see the reality of the vapor-like existence of power as it manifests itself here.

But it gets worse. Notice verses 13 through 16. Essentially what you have here is the story of two men: a foolish old king and a wise young man who's poor. You have the wise poor young guy and the foolish old king. And he says that the wise poor young guy is better than the foolish old king who doesn't take advice anymore. But as the passage progresses, what happens is the young poor wise kid grows up to replace the old foolish king and he becomes the old foolish king.

Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. For he went from prison to the throne. So in his own kingdom he had been poor. I saw all the living moving about under the sun along with that youth who was to stand in the king's place. Do you hear that? He's going to replace the king. There was no end to all the people, all of whom he led, yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. — Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

You see? He becomes the old foolish king. Surely this also is vanity and striving after wind.

Here's the thing with power: it's not simply a problem with other people. It's a problem with us. When we start to think, "Hey, if I had the power, things would be right," there's a problem because our exercise of power is just as problematic as the world's exercise of power. We cannot put our hope in our exercise of power being right or being righteous.

There is only one young, wise man who can come and be king whom the people will not forget and whom they will rejoice in forever. You know who that is? Jesus. We have to look to him as the solution to all of the power struggles of this world. Our hope in this world does not come from someone under the sun; it comes from someone beyond the sun. It comes from Jesus Christ himself, because his exercise of power is both eternal, complete, and perfectly righteous.

You want a great picture of what power—real power from beyond the sun—looks like? Read the Gospel of Mark. You have a man who shows up who commands the winds and the waves. He commands the demons. He is even able to command sickness and death. He has dominion and power over everything. And yet, does he oppress? No. He becomes a suffering servant offering himself as a sacrifice for all of the oppressors. He is the one who exercised power both in enormous completeness but also in perfect righteousness.

Listen to this because this deals with our power, not just Jesus's power, but what power do we have?

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. For whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." — Mark 10:42-45

Now, all of you have heard this passage preached—not maybe all of you, but most of you—and you know where this goes, right? You need to lower yourself. You need to humble yourself. You need to become a servant for everyone. That's what Jesus is saying.

But here's what I want you to catch: I want you to catch the power that you have in Jesus Christ. The absolute, perfect, beautiful power from beyond the sun. Do you see that the most powerful person who has ever walked the earth came to be your servant? How much power must you have if that man is your servant? What power do you need more than the power of the love of that man and the love of God displayed in that man?

If the God who created the universe was willing to come and offer himself as a sacrifice for you, rather than lording over you, what power do you have? Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have real power from beyond the sun.

Not the kind of power that is corrupt and hurtful and divisive and dangerous and deadly and depressing, but power that gives hope and life and joy. Do you see that?

Now, I'm not saying that because Jesus is our servant that he's a genie in our bottle, right? We rub it and he pops out and we say, "Jesus, I'll take a cheeseburger with fries and a coke" and he goes and gets it. He's actually a better servant than that. He serves you beyond your wildest dreams in ways that make you better, that transform you, that do amazing things in and through you.

I want to say too that in the past and in church history, there are story after story after story of the church exercising worldly power—of using spiritual truth and exercising worldly power, of lording it over the Gentiles the way that the Gentiles do. You can think of some of the stories. I can tell you all kinds of stories throughout church history. I can even tell you stories about this guy and ways in which he's done that.

The question that we have to ask ourselves—and I think it's very important that we try to steer away from the use of that power. We want to become like Christ, become servants of others. The question we have to ask ourselves is not what are we going to do with this power, but what is this power going to do with us? When we ask that question, our posture flows from the posture of Christ.

Flipping the Org Chart

I was at the RUF Permanent Committee meeting this last week in Dallas, Texas. RUF is Reform University Fellowships College Ministry. They've got a chapter at NC State but they're all over the place. We just hired a new coordinator for the ministry, kind of the head honcho, this guy named Will Huss. We've had an interim committee or committee chairperson who helped us put together an org chart for the senior staff of RUF.

You know what an org chart is? It's where you've got the boss and everybody hears who answers to whom and all of that, and it kind of works from the top down. You get all the way down to all the campus ministers spread throughout all the different campuses and the interns, all of that. It's a good business practice so that everyone kind of knows who they're supposed to talk to. This work chart was really helpful for the organization. We had worked on that for the last several months.

This guy shows up and he says, "Man, this work chart is great except it's upside down. We need to turn it like this. Because I am the servant of the senior staff who serves the campus ministers and the interns who serve the students, who serve a watching world."

What does it look like, CTK, for us to ask the question of what is this power going to do in us rather than what are we going to do with this power? What will it look like for us to flip the org chart, to adopt the posture of Christ and become servants? Where do you need to do that in your life? Where do we need to do that as a church?

One thing I think of is we've gotta remember that the church doesn't exist for the church. Our membership isn't for our members. We don't exist for our body. We do serve and love each other, but we exist to serve the world.

So what does it look like, CTK, for us to flip the org chart, to follow after the pattern of Christ, be swept up in his redemptive power, and be carried to serve a watching world? That's something I think we need to wrestle with and we need to pray for and we need to look at. Because the world is a bunch of ghosts, impermanent, like vapor. But we, brothers and sisters, because of the power of Christ, because of his love, because of his invitation into his purpose, are being made substantial, substantive signs to a watching world of hope that they cannot have under the sun.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.