Seven :: Jesus is Knocking (Laodicea)

In the final week of our "Seven" series through Jesus' seven messages to the seven churches of Revelation 2-3, we are with the church in Laodicea. Jesus' letter to the Laodiceans is the only letter where he has only rebuke for the church. His primary issue with this church? They had established a way of life that was comfortable and complacent, lacking passion and dependence. Jesus described this way of life as "lukewarm". He called them back to a heart of zeal. 

Guest Preacher: Everett Pollard from Atlanta Westside Presbyterian Church

Main Point(s):

Self-reliance blinds us to our need for Jesus and keeps us from real relationship with Him. Jesus confronts our self-reliance and restores us to real relationship with Him by...

1. Reminding us of who He is (v. 14).
2. Revealing who we really are (vv. 15-17).
3. Reaching out to us in love (vv. 18-20).
4. Restoring us to share in His life and rule (vv. 21-22). 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Alright, alright, alright. Let's go. Let's go. Some of you introverts were like, yeah, two minutes is really my limit. Two minutes is really my limit. Some of y'all sit really strategically, y'all meet the same people every week. I love it. At this point, y'all just got a small group that meets during our gathering. Well, in case we haven't met, my name is Blake, and I get to serve as the lead pastor here at Kingdom City Church. And we are really, really grateful that you're here. I've got a friend who's going to be preaching for us this morning, and I've been really looking forward to this for weeks at this point. My friend's name is Everett Pollard. And even though you haven't met him yet, can you just applaud him because he's awesome? I think we've got a picture of him and his beautiful family here. Yeah, these are the Pollards here, and they have been amazing gifts to my family, and we really, really love them. He's been a gift to me. And all I can really say is that he loves God, he loves his word, he already loves you, and and he's godly. And so I think that you will be blessed today. I'm gonna read our text for today, which is coming out of Revelation chapter 3. This is our final, our final week of our seven series, looking at the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. Has has anyone been blessed by this series? Awesome. Hope you didn't feel obligated to say that, even though you were. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to eat, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. This is the word of the Lord. Please welcome my friend Everett Pollard.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Good morning. As Blake said, I do love you. First time I met Blake, we were looking out over the ocean, sitting side by side, and he was just dreaming of one day that he would have a church where he would preach, where he would see people gather, where he would be part of people's lives in a deep and meaningful way. And I mean, he talked about it with such fervor. If you've been friends with Blake, it's contagious. And I I live across the city, I pastor at a different church, and when I need to be filled with that contagious spirit of God, I call Blake and I drive across the city and I'm like, dude, I need to be pastored. Pastors need to be pastored. And in so many ways, Blake is a dear brother, but he is also a pastor to me. So you got a good one, is what I'm trying to say. Yeah, good. Yeah, good, good, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Good. Well, I don't know if you know the name Ian McKellen. Probably behind me at this point. He's an 86-year-old now. He's a British actor. And he's so good at acting that he got knighted for it by the Queen Elizabeth herself. He's known for doing a lot of things, a lot on stage and a lot on screen. He's probably most famous for his role as Gandalf the Gray and the White. Don't let my nerdiness about Lord of the Rings come out too quickly. I'm trying to contain it right now. But I watched something recently that was talking about why is Ian McKellen such a good actor? And they made this compelling case that it's because of his eyes. His eyes are what take him from being an ordinary actor who delivers his lines to being one of the most compelling and decorated actors of a generation. That as an actor, you're responsible for giving information, the plot, what's happening in this story. But that's just half of your job. You're also responsible for feeling. When we're watching you on screen, we're supposed to know how that information make you feel? How does that impact your world? And Ian McKellen, Sir Ian McKellen, is so good at depicting how information makes him feel. That it's contagious. When he's in despair, you see it in his eyes. When he's angry, you can see his eyes widen and raise. And when he's giving tender counsel to a friend, you can see it. He doesn't just give us information, he conveys feeling. And he got knighted for that because he's so good at it. Well, this section of Revelation is a rebuke. It's the only letter to one of these churches in Asia Minor that's all rebuke. No commendation.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

It's a rebuke.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

They've been self-sufficient, self-reliant. They like their plans, they like how their life is going. They're satisfied with themselves. That's the information. Now, what I want you to notice as we go throughout this scripture, how does Jesus feel about them? What's going on in his heart towards them? What do you pick up on how he feels to them? So I want you to do something as we read and as we move through scripture. I want you to watch the eyes of Jesus. I want you to picture what his face would look like as he's talking to his people in a real church as he's crying out to them to put away their self-reliance and to cling to him tightly. Watch his eyes. Jesus confronts our self-reliance, and he restores us to real relationship by a couple things. He reminds us of who he is, he reveals who we really are. He reaches out to us in love. And he restores us to share in his life and in his rule. Watch his eyes as we move. So, first, Jesus reminds us of who he is. So it's the same setup as the sections and the letters to other churches. We're given a title of who Jesus is as he's writing to this church. And the title we're given is the Amen. I have a three-year-old son, and he loves lions. And he's always pointing at lions in books, on TV. We've got to go to the zoo. The zoo Atlanta finally fixed the lion exhibit. Get excited. We were pumped about that. But every time we see a lion, I tell Bishop, my son, that's just a lion. That's not the lion. And it's because I'm a nerd for Narnia and I want to prepare his little heart for Aslan. Over and over again, when Aslan, this Christ figure in C.S. Lewis's book, is introduced, he's not just a lion. He is the lion. And as much as I can prepare my son, I'm saying that's that's just one version. But Aslan's the real thing. He's the measuring stick for all other lions. And Jesus introduces himself to this church as the Amen. Amen is this word that means verily, truly, the truth. In John's gospel, 25 times Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you. And what that means is I'm about to give you the bedrock reality of who I am and how this world works. He's not just giving helpful tips, some cool ideas. He's saying, This is bedrock truth. And it's built on me, the eternal God, who's been here from the beginning. So what you're about to hear in this rebuke is true. And it's not just kind of true, it's the truth. What else does he say? Well, he says, I'm the faithful witness. Faithful and true. He's just furthering this idea that I'm about to tell you what it's really like. I have a friend who lives in Detroit, and he recently boarded a flight to go to Rochester, Minnesota. Now he had spent several weeks in debilitating knee pain. He was bouncing around from doctor to doctor, specialist to specialist, getting second and third opinions. His knee pain was going up his leg and into his back. He's a dad of little kids. He couldn't play with them. And nobody could figure out what was going wrong. So he got on a plane to go to Rochester, Minnesota. And if you know anything about Rochester, Minnesota, there's not much going on there except one thing: the Mayo Clinic. The number one hospital in the world, that's what they say. And I believe them. He says, when you're on this flight to Rochester, Minnesota, everyone around you is going to the same place for the same reason. That they've been bouncing around specialists to specialists, and now they're about to go to the Mayo clinic to figure out what's going on. And he said, you can feel that this anticipation mixed with this anxiety. But these people are desperate for the truth. What's going on with me? Can you give me a proper diagnosis? That's what Jesus said he's about to do. I'm the faithful and true witness that's about to tell you what's going on in the world and what's going on with you, my church. That he's about to give a diagnosis. And the truest and realest diagnosis that they can imagine. I imagine that you like me, we live in a context in a world that's surrounded by just misinformation, just fuzzy realities. If you've ever been sick and you Google your symptoms, you know, that's a bad rabbit hole to go down to. We want to be told the truth. We want a real diagnosis from a real specialist. And this is what Jesus says he is. He says, I am the faithful and true witness, the amen, the one who truth comes from. But as my friend told me, he's like, I don't just want a diagnosis. I want the prescription. I don't want just someone to tell me what's wrong. I want them to give me something that will actually make me better. And this is what we see at the end. Jesus said, I'm the beginning of God's creation. This is not saying that Jesus is a created being. No, he's a second member of the Trinity, eternal God, the Son of God. He was not created. From the beginning, he has been. What it's saying is he, in his resurrection, in his overcoming of death, that he is the beginning, he is the author, he is the inaugurator of a new creation. He is making all things new. So he has not only the power to prescribe, to diagnose, but also to prescribe. That he's the healer, he's the great physician. So everything that flows from there, and what we're about to see in this rebuke to a real church and to us comes from the one who's able to diagnose and the one who's able to give us the proper prescription. Number two, Jesus reveals who we really are. This is what he says: I know your works. This is how he started pretty much every section to the churches. He says, I know your works. He sees everything: our ups, our downs, our triumphs, our failures. Scripture says he knows all the hairs on our head. I heard recently that's not just like, great, Jesus is good at math. No. He sees us so intimately, knowing us better than we even know ourselves. And why is that good news? Well, I don't know if you've ever written a 20-page paper in school. And you're wondering as you're pulling an all-nighter in the library, pouring hours and hours into something. Has it ever crossed your mind, is the professor ever going to read this? Am I putting hours and hours into something that's ever going to get real eyes put on it? Have you ever put hours into something, maybe in school or in work, and you get a two-word response, hey, nice work. Nice job. And it makes you wonder, did you even read this? When you think about the flip side, I had a professor in college at every line he used to give feedback. It's kind of annoying in one sense, but in a real or deeper sense, I'm like, he read it. And what it assured me is that he cares about me. He cares about my growth. That's what we see when we when Jesus says, I know your works. He's watching our lives intimately. I do not want to live in a world where none of my work matters. I do not want to live an existence where nobody cares what I do or don't do. I want to live in a world where every day of my life matters. And what Jesus is saying is, your actions, they matter to me, and I'm watching. This is what he says. I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you either were either cold or hot? So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Sheesh. That's harsh. That's real. What does it mean? I spent a lot of time this week thinking about what this means. Archaeologists have studied Laodicea. They've studied their water systems. And what they found out is that Laodicea has bad water. They were known for their bad water. They were known for water that was stagnant and undrinkable. A few miles away was Hieropolis. They had hot springs. Hot water, a tonic. It's like taking a hot shower, drinking a hot beverage. Y'all know what the feeling is. It just warms you up. There's something about it. That's curing and healing. In Colossae, they had cold water. Refreshing cold water. And this arid temperature brings refreshment. Brings renewal. But not Laodicea. By the time the water got from Hierophilus, the hot water, it arrived stagnant. By the time it came from Colossae, same thing. This is what Jesus is looking into this church, and he's saying, You're useless.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

You're not refreshing.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

I have called you to be a kingdom of priests in this world, vessels of praise to my God. I have called you to be a people so dependent on me that everything that you touch gets better. That you are children of the beginning of the new creation, and you look nothing like the new creation. That's harsh. You can imagine his face, his eyes widening. He's serious. He's saying, I've watched your works and I want to spit you out of my mouth. If you read the King James Version, which I do sometimes, it says, I want to spew you out of my mouth. The Greek word is vomit out of you out of my mouth. It was known in the ancient world that if you wanted to throw up, you drank something lukewarm. If your stomach was upset, you intentionally drank lukewarm wine or water to get whatever's going on in your stomach out. And this is what he's picking up on. He's saying, I I want to spit you out of my mouth. That's harsh. How does someone become lukewarm? Well, in the case of water, it's time and it's distance from the source. That if you spend time and distance from the something hot or something cold, automatically water becomes lukewarm. You can see it when you fill a glass of water with ice and you leave it out. Over time it becomes lukewarm. If I make a cup of coffee in the morning, steaming hot, if I leave it out, I don't want to drink that. It's that middle temperature, spew you out of my mouth. So how do you become that way? Time and distance. We're not spending time with Jesus. He's not close to us. And the world, the flesh, and the devil are too strong, making us lukewarm when we spend time and distance away from Jesus. So what do we do? Well, John, who's the author of Revelation, also wrote a gospel, gospel according to John. And in it he gives this beautiful word picture, one that's really famous. And I want to read this to you in John chapter 15. Him talking to his disciples, he's saying, Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. This is what he says. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Nothing. For apart from me, you can't do a little you can only do a little bit. No, as somebody says, you can do nothing. Do we believe that? I don't think so. How much do I try to do on a daily basis apart from Jesus? How many books do I read to try to get smarter to solve my problems?

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Apart from me, you can do nothing.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

Well, I used to teach in a school, and I would say I wasn't a very good teacher. I taught Bible. I had a hard time with classroom management. I had a hard time engaging my students at times. So I would go around and I would talk to veteran teachers because I wanted to become a better teacher. And I would write down and scribble down notes and I would ask them about how do you how do you do it? How do you engage your students? How do you make sure that they're learning and growing? I'll never forget that one of the best pieces of advice I got about teaching came from a geometry teacher. And he was talking more about teaching geometry, but I was like, man, this applies to human nature. This is what he said. He said, never use the word easy when you're describing something. He said, never use the word easy. Use the word simple. When you use the word easy, you alienate how Your class that if they're not getting it, there's something wrong with them. Instead, use the word simple. Because often things are simple. It's a step-by-step process, but it takes time and focused attention, successes and failures for us to be able to grasp it. What Jesus is saying is abide in me. That's pretty simple. He's saying, make your home at all times in me. Make me the power source for everything that you do. Never go a moment without fully relying on me and my presence in your life. That's pretty simple. But you and I both know it's not easy. And it's not easy because it's so much easier for us to read another book, to listen to another podcast, to talk to another friend before we go to Jesus. To reach into our own bags of resources before we go to the King. But this is what he calls us to, and he reminds us for apart from me, you can do nothing about. Whenever I read scripture or dig into it, some background information about it, I'm like, oh, this is all really, really great information, but I feel this disconnect between me and a first century Christian. You know, I live in Atlanta, 21st century, I got different problems. So what I found it easier to do or and helpful for me, and maybe this will be helpful for you, is I tried to picture a middle-aged man living in Laodicea and what his life would be look like. I've used real first century background information and I've infused it into a story. I'm gonna read it to you. This man wakes up in a good-sized home. He walks into a full closet of fine clothes because in Laodicea they got the best clothes. They wear black wool. People come from all over the place to buy this wool because it's so nice. He's got a closet full of them. He knows the guy that makes them. He works hard. He's savvy with money. The city that he lives in is full of bankers, people who are really, really good with their money. But he remembers when the gospel first came to Laodicea. He remembers even getting a letter from Paul when he was a young man. And he was so inspired. He was so full of clarity, he had so much urgency with the gospel. When he read Paul's letters, he could hear God speaking. But that was a long time ago. Now he walks to the sit-in, he stops at the Roman bathhouse. He checks on the economy. He talks to local bankers, his accounts are in order, he's got things taken care of. He can provide for his family. He can afford nice things. But what he was really, really passionate about are his hobbies. He loves board games. They played board games back then, I promise you, it's a real fact. He goes down to the local gym. He loves exercising. Whenever he has an ailment, well, he lives in Laodicea. They're a medical hub. People come from all over the place to go to Laodicea. They're known for their eye ointment. Everybody else has got bad eyes, not us. We've got great doctors. If I have a problem, I know where to go. He has a good life. He's made all the right choices. This is the type of man who can say, I am rich. I have prospered. I don't need anything. And I'll be honest, when I read that, I'm like, that's a great life. All your needs are taken care of. You don't want anything. You don't have to worry about your family. You live in a great place with exciting, interesting people. You have interesting conversations. But this is what I remembered. Once a week, he he goes into church. In the book of Colossians, which the Laodiceans read, it says, remember to sing songs, psalms, spiritual songs, encourage one another. And he's standing in worship as he does every week. And he's mumbling these words, and there's no feeling in his heart. He has no worship overflowing for Jesus. They're just familiar words. And his mind is elsewhere.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Is that you? Does that sound familiar? It's lukewarm.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Jesus wants that guy. He wants to rattle the cage of that guy. He wants to fill that guy's heart with worship and devotion and deep need and longing for him. He doesn't want him to live just a comfortable life. He wants him to need him at every moment. He wants his deepest aspiration for Jesus to walk through that door. Is that your deepest aspiration? I wish he would walk through right now. I long for that. Jesus is not here to beat up lukewarm people. He wants their hearts. Watch his eyes. There's this gripping quote from C.S. Lewis that I've I just continually come back to. He writes this in the in the weight of glory. He's talking about us. He's talking about Christians. He says, It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. We're like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum, because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. A person who says, I am rich, I need nothing, is someone whose aspirations are not big enough. Someone does not understand what God is wanting to do in our lives. Someone who is just content in what they've got. They're comfortable in a quiet life. It's void of worship. When they bump up against a wall in a relationship, when relationships get hard, they're not pleading to Jesus, Lord, change my heart. I want to love that person. And when they're so hard to love, they just move on. When they finally get promoted, all their aspirations have been met. They're not pleading with God to help them in their work. To see it as an offering to him. They're no longer wrestling.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

They've given up. They've eased in.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

The heart that says that I am rich is the heart that fails to desire more. And what Jesus is telling us to do is want more for yourself. I'm here to give it. I stand ready to give it to you. I'm ready to give you the kingdom of God. Let's keep going because we'll see what he's actually ready to give us at the end. The third point: Jesus reaches out to us in love. One of the things about being a pastor is sometimes you get texted crazy things at weird times. Usually questions. Sincere questions. But one time I was standing in Kroger and somebody texted me, dude, the God of the Old Testament, what is going on? He is nuts. He's killing people. Is this the same God? And I'm standing in Kroger writing a dissertation to this guy, just like that. And I'm like moving my cart out of the way. Sorry. Sorry, everybody. And I've literally spent 30 minutes texting this guy back. Is the God of the Old Testament the same as the God in the New Testament? And I'm thinking about all this stuff that I've learned in seminary. Oh man, there's a Marcion heresy that says, no, there's two separate gods. One's really nice, one was really mean. We shot that down. And I'm like, hey, God's refrain in the Old Testament is the God is abounding in steadfast love and grace. That's what he's telling his people all over the place. I hope I convinced that guy. But when we come to this next passage of Scripture, when Jesus is finally ready to give us a prescription for our problem, we read something that sounds exactly like what he said to Isaiah, almost verbatim. Now, Isaiah was a prophet of God. He wrote to the people of God who were rebellious, turned away, and he's saying, I'm going to send you into exile for your rebellion, for your lukewarmness, for the ways that you have bowed down to idols and turned away from me. For all the ways that your heart has grown cold to me, I'm about to send you into exile. Away from the land that I promised you. That's the first part. But then he in the in the message with Isaiah, he gives it so much hope that centers on this servant who is to come, who they knew by faith. We know by name, Jesus the King. In Isaiah 55, this is what it says to a people who are downtrodden, beat up, feeling the judgment of God, he is filling them with hope. He says, Come, everyone who thirst, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come buy, eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Listen diligently to me and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live. After this stern rebuke, we start to see these eyes change. My wife is a therapist. It's kind of funny. I know that she's a good therapist, but I'll never get to see her do her job. Confidentiality. I don't get to walk in the counseling room and see her. But I know she's a good one because she's my therapist all the time. But you can see it in a good therapist's eyes, in a good counselor's eyes. And we can see it in the Capital C counselor, Jesus. This one with all the wisdom and all the love. He says, I counsel to you, I counsel you to buy from me. I'm a Presbyterian. Sorry, confession, real confession. There's this great hymn. One of the lines is the only fitness that Jesus requires is that you feel your need of him. What qualifies you for the gospel is an empty hand, empty pockets. He says, Come to me all who have no money, all who know their state, that they have nothing to offer me except their sin, except their emptiness. He says, that's what qualifies you. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, he who has no money and buy from me. Jesus is telling a well-off church, come get my resources. Gold that has been refined in fire. I know that your bank accounts are full, but not really. You can't take that stuff with you. The stuff that I have is eternal. It's more valuable than anything your eyes can see or heart can imagine. Come buy from me gold. And he says, Come buy from me white clothes. In a different part of Revelation, these clothes are white because they've been dyed in the blood of Jesus. That doesn't really make sense, but it's a great metaphor. It's a great picture of these clothes that have been washed in Jesus' blood, that his sacrificial death is that which cleanses us, makes us clean, removes the shame, covers us in our nakedness. There's a Christian psychiatrist that I really enjoy reading and I listen to his podcast sometime. His name's Kurt Thompson. He's a brainiac when it comes to the brain, which is, yeah, there you go. Sorry, I didn't mean to do that. And he's a Christian, he loves the Lord. He talks a lot about shame. What shame, what it feels like in our body. He talks about shame being this emotional response when we feel our brokenness. And he talks about the physiological effects of shame. That unlike fear, which fills us with this capacity, if I'm afraid, I can either fight you, I can run away. But shame sends us inward and down. We automatically curve in. We can't think creatively when we feel ashamed. We can't move towards another person when we feel ashamed. We can't even make eye contact with somebody when we feel ashamed. So, brothers and sisters, it's good news right here that Jesus is saying, I'm going to give you the clothes. You can't out-read shame. You can't outthink shame. You can't talk yourself out of shame. You need somebody to come get you from shame. And that's what Jesus is promising to do. He's saying, I'm going to give you the resources that you cannot find for yourself to overcome your shame and brokenness. That's good news. And he's telling these people who live in this wonderful city of the best doctors in the world. He's like, you can get your eyes fixed all you want, but you still won't be able to see who I really am or who you really are apart from me. And what I can give to you. And I'm going to give you the salve that actually opens your eyes to reality. You picture the eyes of Jesus as he's sitting there as this wonderful counselor. And he's telling you what to do with great tenderness. And then he gives us this one of, I think, one of the most tender pictures of Jesus in the Bible. He says, I'm standing at the door and I knock. I'm not bursting down your door. I'm not kicking down your door. I'm gently knocking and I'm gently calling out. And if anyone hears my voice, I will come as close to you as I possibly can. I will move towards you all the way to the table, and I will sit and I will eat with you. This is what he says. Those who I love, I discipline. My wife and I are very far from perfect parents. And there's good news in scripture. Jesus says this thing one time where he's like, even you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your kids. I'm like, yeah, that's right. I probably fit that description sometimes of a bad parent. Sometimes I feel evil. But even I can stumble into picturing God and how he parents me. My wife is a much better parent than I am. And we have a three-year-old son almost. And he is in a mood most of the time now where he does not want to listen. He does not want to obey. And he gets in trouble like at least 12 times a day. And one of the coolest things I get to watch my wife do is discipline him. That sounds weird, but it's cool. When she is wrestling him to the ground, usually, he doesn't want to look at her. She cups her hands around his face. And she makes him cup his hands on her face. And she says, Look at me. And you know, he's a three-year-old, so he's not looking at her. But when he finally does, when he's in trouble, he's feeling that the heavy condemnation of being in trouble. That's natural to not want to be in trouble. But when he finally looks at my wife, you can see him melt. That it's not just heavy words, but it's heavy words that come from his mom's heart, his mom's love. He sees the eyes of the person who loves him the most in this world. And it melts him. Repentance is referred to as turning away from sin and turning towards God. You can see in this passage this picture of him cupping our face. And he's saying, Look at me. Look at me. And when we do, we can melt into his love. Our lives can be different as we move on. That he loves and he reproves. Those are synonymous. That we are his children. And he disciplines those he loves. Doesn't want our perfect plans. He wants us to look at him in his face. Move to our last point. That Jesus restores us to his life and to his rule. Well, I have a one-year-old daughter as well, and her name is Palmer. And today is a special day for Palmer because it's Palm Sunday. And we actually named her after the people who laid down the palm branches in front of Jesus, who celebrated him as King. We wanted an identity for her that would celebrate Jesus as King every day of her life. She's one, so she's doing all right so far. But it's Palm Sunday. This is the day of the week where Jesus was invited into Jerusalem, and everybody was super excited because they thought he was going to ascend to this throne, take over Roman occupation. But we know this side of history where we sit in the New Testament that he actually was descending to a cross. That he was going to die. After living a perfect life, he was going to die, a sacrificial death, to cleanse us from our sin. I knew a Latin teacher when I was teaching at school, and he said, one of my biggest gripes with high school students is the way that they use the word passion. They say, I'm passionate about Chick-fil-A. I'm passionate about photography. And he was a Latin teacher, so he was kind of a nerdy guy, and he really cared about Latin. He's like, you know what passion means? Or the word passion? It's really closely linked to passive. It's like, what are you willing to take on? What are you willing to let happen to you? That a close definition of passion is what are you willing to suffer for? We're about to enter into holy week, what a lot of traditions call holy week. Some other traditions call it passion week. And we're reminded what Jesus was willing to suffer. Suffer for. What he tells us at the end of this passage is that when we let him in, when he knocks and we hear his voice, he says, I'm going to come eat with you. He says, I am going to come sit with you. I'm going to come so close to you. And I'm going to grant that you sit at the right hand of me as I sit at the right hand of my Father. I'm going to give you reign and rule in my kingdom. During Passion Week, Jesus looked out over the city of Jerusalem. He said, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. City that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. Often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. And you were not willing. The story of Scripture is a God who wants to bring his children in as close as possible. And there's a people who refuse and keep stiff arming him. What was Jesus passionate about? Being as close to us as possible. Cleansing us of our sins so that we could be in his presence. Inviting us into this new creation, this new heavens and this new earth. The refrain of Scripture that God's will is, I will be your God, and you will be my people. I am not dying for you to give you spiritual resources or good teaching so that you can go on and live your life however you want. I'm dying, and I'm raising from the dead so that you can be as close to me as possible, depending on me with every waking second of your life. This has been the story from the beginning of the Bible to the end that God wants to be close to us. And he has designed us to flourish as we are close to him. I want you to picture his eyes as we close this out. And it reminds the power of abiding with him and what Jesus is actually after. This is John 15 continued. This is what he says. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I want you to get this. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. When Jesus is revuking us, when he's moving in, saying things that are uncomfortable to us, when he's calling us out of self-reliance and independence from him, he's not trying to rob us of our joy. He's trying to give us joy to the full. And as we enter into Passion Week, that's what Jesus was willing to suffer for. Our joy. Our moment-to-moment joy as we cling to Him. What a gospel. Let's pray. Jesus, I confess to you, my lukewarm heart, that there are moments that I can just get so wrapped up in my own way, my own plan. Just so fixated on everything that's right in front of me, Lord, that I actually miss out on joy. I miss out on you. I miss out on your purposes for my flourishing. Lord, I ask that you would open my ears to hear your voice this morning. Open the ears of the people in this room to hear the knock, to see the eyes of Jesus as he tenderly calls them to dependence. Lord, we love you and we praise you in all glory to your name this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.