He Who Is Not Against Us is For Us

Well, good morning everybody. My name is Steve Trichler. I'm actually the senior pastor of all of the Hope community churches. So I am Brian's boss. Just. We'll keep that kinda I guess. You're very independent each church. But so I just to let you know about my stuff, I started the first location of Hope in 1996. Coming up in 30 years, it'll be a 30 year deal this, this fall and very exciting thing to do just to see and it's been fun to be part of what God's doing here in Lowertown. I was reading this passage. I know we're in Mark, I'll get there eventually. But the. I was reading this passage on Wednesday just in my devotional life and it said this is kind of a cool passage. Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus honor. Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of Pure Nard, an expensive perfume. She poured it on Jesus feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Now if you know this account, you know what's about to happen is that the disciples, especially Judas is going to say that's a waste. You know, you wasted all that very expensive perfume. We could have sold that and done something for the poor or whatever. And Jesus says no, wherever the gospel is preached, this will be also in remembrance of what she's done. And that's great, that's the point. But I just wanted you to lean in on something. Just humor me for a minute. Okay? So as I read that, it just, it gave me this like, what if you were there? What does this feel like? So it's Jesus is in this home and a guy that has been raised from the dead now is there and there's a dinner it's giving in Jesus honor. So there's like this party happening, right? And everybody's reclining at the table, they're relaxing, they're eating. There's this fellowship and something is happening in that home. And then this smell. Now the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume, right? That's what it would have felt like. It's one of those moments. I don't know if you have many of those moments in your life where just everything feels right, right? Everything is going. I look at a lot of people who have young children and I know that happens never right when that happens. But there's just this moment when everything feels right and the house feels like this, you know, to use the Jewish phrase shalom, or there's a sense of ah, it's all right. There's something about a home that does that. Right. There's just something that's really, really good about a home. Now, church. When people say, I'm going to go to church, in our culture, it almost always means a building. Right? That's the way we kind of associate it with a building. Sometimes we say the phrase church building because that's where the church meets. The church is actually not a building. Right. The church is not a building, but it meets inside. Generally speaking, if you live in Minnesota, you're going to be meeting in some place inside. So there's something about, say, for instance, like your family or if you own a home. There's something about our house that it's an important part of who we are. In fact, if you own a home and people come over to visit, it's definitely an upper Midwest thing. But we give people tours of our homes. Oh, we gotta walk them around and show. Because except for that bathroom, we never clean. We're never gonna go there. But everything, we kind of give them a tour. Cause there's something about our house that kind of defines us now. Your house does not equal you or your family. That's not the same. But there's some linkage there about that. And that's not a bad thing. It's an okay thing about where you live and your space. This little slide here was made in 2001 and 2002 when the downtown. What now is downtown? At the time we started Hope Community Church at the University of Minnesota campus. We were renting in a ready for it, very old church building. That has been a jam for at least us in Lowertown has been following. I don't remember when that one was built. It was 19 something, 0 something. I can't remember when that one was built. It was called Stadium Village Church at the University of Minnesota. And it was our home. We rented space there. Sound familiar, right? And we actually started. We helped send off our first church planter in 2002. And our time for being there was coming to an end, so we had to move and we didn't have anywhere to go. So where are we going to go? What are we going to do? At that time, the church was made up of about 75% college students. So I remember once when we were in a bad place for money, we really were hurting as a church. We had this special prayer meeting we had, like, we met in the sanctuary and there were like three circles of 10 people. And I was in one circle of 10 people. And we were praying for the church's finances. Right. And I realized as I kind of opened my eyes and looked in my circle, that I was the only one with the job in that circle. So I think they're just praying that I would give more, which is ironic because if I give more, you know, anyway. But the. We were strapped. We did not have any money. And the University of Minnesota, that area we were looking for, there was no property available. It was very expensive. This is back in 2001 and two when we were looking, everything was north of a million dollars. And it needed a lot of remodeling. And there was just no way. And then we started out, we sent our first church planter, which sounds familiar. You all sent your first church planter to start a new church. And within a year, God gave us a property. And so we moved into what now is known as Hope west because we ended up buying a. Buying a church next to us. We're slowly buying up Minneapolis, one old church building at a time. And St. Paul now. So. And so we moved into this building and it was different for us. We were used to being by the University of Minnesota. This is actually real close. If you've never been to this building, it is right next to what is now U.S. bank Stadium. the time, it was the Dome. And we're about a block away, or. Yeah, one full block away from U.S. bank Stadium. So it was a new neighborhood for us. It was a new experience. It's kind of scary at first, you know. Cause we didn't know it as well, but it was really, really exciting. And as I thought about this week, coming here, getting the opportunity to be the one that shares God's word with you. This morning, I thought, this is right after the vote, when you guys are getting the same opportunity. That's the best picture I could find. There's the. Actually, if you get interesting, if you go to the Google right now, it shows the church's new building. Yeah, it's interesting. So it doesn't even give you. Anyway, just FYI, if people are trying to find you by your address, they're going to the other building, they're going to the other church. But you have an opportunity here. It's a remarkable opportunity. You are going to move into a home. You get to put a nail in the wall. I don't know if they allow you to do that. Here or not, but we couldn't at the other place. We couldn't put up any permanent signs. We couldn't do anything. And that's okay. There's a lot of churches that we're meeting there and same here. And that's respectful. But now you get to put nails up, you get to paint some colors that are gonna be the colors y' all want. And you're gonna get to see those windows break and you gotta fix em and everything else. Right? So it's your house. This is gonna be your opportunity. And it is so exciting. I know if you. We were almost in the exact same boat as you all, except we didn't have to. We didn't have to buy our building. It was given to us. So we tried to work that deal. But by today's economy, what you paid for this property is nothing short of miraculous. I mean, it is very, very affordable. And 600,000 for the property. And then Brian had set a goal to try to raise another. Or excuse me, to raise $350,000 to help offset some of this. 200,000 to go towards the price, and then 100,000 or so to work towards remodeling. And then 50,000 to just help with the added expenses as time goes on for the next probably couple years or so. And it's remarkable. We think, as of this morning, I think we were figuring about 260,000 has already come in. So it's very exciting. Or is pledged to come in. It's very close to somewhere in that. We'll find out this week or next week. So that still leaves a little bit to go. And so we still have about 90,000 that we'll need to raise. We can do that through one time or there's a pledge. But we were trying to figure out is it two year pledge? Is that what. So you pledge up per month for two years and. And that's in your newsletter. The link to that, it's easiest to just say is in the newsletter. But yeah, we'd love to get this up and running and have the finances raised so we can get. After the remodeling. We did the exact same thing you're all gonna do. Most of it was work nights with the church. And we spent two months in the building doing. We didn't knock down any walls. I know you guys are gonna knock down some walls. Just minor walls, but they're still walls. And the hope, I think still the hope is to aim to fall. Okay. We'll just say fall. Yeah. So expectation management right but yeah, to aim and open it up in the fall. So it is super, super excited and I'm very excited to be here with you today. And then I'm very excited to come and see when you guys finally do get moved into your. To your place. Okay. With that said, I want to move into Mark. When Pastor Brian was reading that passage, I said, whoa, feel sorry for the sucker. It's got to preach on that. Well, but we're really short of time, so I'm not going to be able to know. I'm just kidding. Well, we kind of are. But anyway, I want to give you a little bit of the context, because it's important. All right. I want to take this passage, which seems to be a bit of a bunny trail. And I think there are elements of talking about a few things that are maybe going around things. But I think there's one main thread and I'll show you what that is. I want you to follow the context in Mark, though. Cause it's really important. So a couple weeks back, maybe before Easter or so, it was the transfiguration where Jesus took James, John and Peter up to this mountainside. And there he transfigured. It just. We don't know exactly what that means, except it says his clothes became whiter than any bleach could ever make clothes. And then Moses and Elijah was there. And you hear the Father audibly speaking, so that those who are there, James, Peter and John, hear, it says, this is my son. Listen to him. And there's a variety of things that that means, but at least it means that Moses and Elijah being the heroes of the Old Testament, now Jesus is on the scene. And he is the completion of that. He is the. These other ones were forerunners. He's the one who's come to finish the story. And so he's the pinnacle of all this. When they're coming down the mountain from that, as he's. They're coming down, they see a crowd and they're. And the teachers of the law, the religious leaders at the time, are arguing with the remaining disciples. So remember, three went up with Jesus. So nine are down there and they're arguing. All right? So Jesus inquires what's going on. And no one says anything except for this guy and the guy's man. The crowd answered, teacher, I brought you my son. But you weren't here. They said you were out of the office. And so I said, okay, well, these guys will probably work. He's possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the Spirit, but they could not. Okay, so then that leads to an account where Jesus does eventually drive out the Spirit from there. Now, this is all happening in rapid succession, so that's why it's important to see this. It says they left that place. Okay, and they passed through Galilee. This is last week's stuff. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him and after three days he will rise. But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. Interesting stuff, right? Couldn't be a whole lot more clearer than that. But they don't get it and they're not going to say anything. They came to Capernaum when he was in the house, he asked them, what were you arguing about on the road? Okay, so we always get the picture of the disciples. You know, they're, you know, they got little halos over their head or whatever. No, these guys were bickering about something on the road. And it's not a large group here, you know, it's 13 of them plus a few others. I'm sure that. But you can tell when people are bickering. What were you arguing about? But they kept quiet on the way because they had argued about who was the greatest. Okay, now, and this is amazing, right? Jesus just got done saying, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go die a horrible death. Ultimately, we know it's on a cross and I'll be raised again. And they're arguing about who's the greatest. Okay, so sitting down, Jesus calls him and said, anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all. He took a little child whom he had placed among them, taking the child in his arms. Okay, so Jesus got this child in his arms, all right? He said to them, whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me. Whoever welcomes me, does. Excuse me, Whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but the one who sent me. So in other words, you're going after little children now? I just came yesterday from my grand, my 2 year old grandson's birthday party. Cuter than anything. I mean, just, you know, we have this family text where it just blew up, right? All the pictures were coming in and sometimes on a meeting and my phone's blowing up, it's like, either we just went to war with Russia or something. Somebody posted a cute grandkid picture. It's almost. It's always the grandkid picture. And they are really, really cute. And they are. That's not exactly the way they viewed it in that culture. Okay, so they. It's not. They didn't think children were cute. They just. They weren't seen that way. They were kind of, you know, children are seen and not heard. They don't really have any value to the organization until they can work. And they were viewed as like, almost Persona na grata. They weren't of value yet. So when Jesus grabs a little child, he's not meaning, aren't they cute? Aren't they precious? He's saying, this is someone who's not gonna give you anything. In fact, they probably take more from you than anything else. And so he says, that's what I'm saying here. If you welcome someone who's not gonna give you anything back, that's what this means, this whole idea. Okay, he's actually gonna continue on in that conversation. I wanna look at this passage and I wanna look at it with a thread. Okay? There's a variety of things we could look at here, but I wanna look at one thread. And he was not against us. As for us. Mark 9, 38, 50. So realize that this passage start. And they're right there. They're still standing there. This is continuing on. Jesus still has this child in his arms. Teacher said, john, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we told him to stop because he was not one of us. Okay, now there's just irony all over this, right? First, irony. Jesus, we saw some people driving out demons and they were actually doing it, whereas we couldn't before. And so we didn't like that. But they're not in the in crowd. They weren't sanctioned by you. What do you say? About what? It's not a question, by the way. It just says, we stopped them. And Jesus goes on to say, don't stop him. For no one who does a miracle, my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me. For whoever is not against us is for us truly. I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward. So he's lie down saying, listen, this thing is bigger than you all think. And he uses this metaphor of like, someone who's just gonna give you A cup of cold water. Now a cup of cold water feels really good to us. I think we get it. But in that culture, man, it was a hot, arid culture. And it could even have further meaning where Jesus is going downstream. David Garland says it this way. Jesus asserts that those who give his followers even a cup of cold water in his name will be rewarded. The reward is more than the satisfaction of doing someone a kindness, but an eschatological reward. It's something in the future. The cup of cold water image suggests that those who hear Christ's name will find themselves in grievous circumstances and desperate for just a drink of water. Later, Jesus will warn them that they will be persecuted and hated by all. Cups of water will be hard to come by. And then they will appreciate more than the neutrality of those who do not join the persecution, but extend only the most basic kindness. So it's this kindness done. They're on our team. He goes on, he says, if anyone causes one of these little ones, remember he's still got that child in his arms. Those who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for them if that large millstone were hung around their neck and, and they were thrown into the sea. And the context here is what just happened. There was a guy who in the name of Jesus was casting out demons and they threw them to the. He threw them to the side, the disciples, they out. Is it John here? Yeah, they out. John is the one who says this, but they do that. And he says, maybe don't do that, maybe that's a bad thing. And then he goes on to, to go into this whole thing here about the seriousness of what we're doing. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off, right? And he goes into these whole things about hands and foot and eyes and it's like, whoa, what is happening here? Now listen, this is hyperbole. Jesus is not advocating for you to actually do this. That's not what he's doing. It was very verboten in Jewish culture to do any kind of self mutilation. That's not what he's getting at. He is over saying, do you realize what actually we're talking about here? We're talking about heaven and hell. Heaven and hell, that this is a thing for eternity and we're the gospel. What I am embodiment of the gospel. This is what's on the line here, folks. And then he goes on to say, and he describes this from Isaiah 66, the worms that eat them do not die. And the fire is not quenched. And everything will be salted by fire. Now, it seems like here Jesus is just chasing some bunny trails, right? That's where it just seems like, okay, we went from not rebuking this guy to this whole thing about little children, to this thing about hands and this, and now this fire. Now we're talking about salt. And look, if you just chase that bunny trail one more. Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves and be at peace with each other. Even when you read the passage, I'm going, what is this passage about? I thought, oh, yeah, I got to speak on this in a couple minutes. It seems like he's going all over the place. But I want to suggest to you that he's really making one big point. And the big point is the last sentence here. Have salt among yourselves. And then he defines what that means. And be at peace with each other. What's the problem here? They've been constantly ranking. They're ranking themselves, they're ranking how great they fit in with the others. They find a guy who doesn't seem to fit their paradigm, they cast him away. And Jesus is saying all that. The way you look at things, the mark of the follower of Jesus is actually that you actually don't do that with other people. You actually understand that the gospel means it's level ground before the gospel. There's no one better, no one worse. We're all sinners who need the gospel of Jesus. And when you get that, and when you really do think that, that is your saltiness. David garland one more time here, he says this. Jesus concludes his teaching in this section with two enigmatic sayings about salt. The first, everyone will be salted with fire, appears only in Mark. An early interpretation of this saying appears in a textual variant. For every sacrifice will be salted with salt. Salt was used for purification, and the one who substituted this gloss associated fire with persecution, which would purify the Christian community in the way that salt purified a sacrifice. The second salt saying divides into two halves. The first half, salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Assumes that one recognizes salt by its distinctive tang. If salt fails to salt food, it is not salt and it's worthless. The same applies to the disciples. If they do not manifest the distinctive characteristics Jesus requires, they are not real disciples and are worthless to him. The second half of this saying, having salt among yourselves, not in yourselves, and be at peace with one another, is in Synonymous parallelism. In other words, those are the same thing. He's saying the same thing twice. To have salt among yourselves means to share salt, a reference to have meals together in the context of fellowship and peace. When people share meals together, they're at peace with one another. The discourse began, however, with the disciples disputing among themselves about their status. An objection to a stranger's right to use Jesus name it. Continue with Jesus warning about causing other believers to stumble. Those concluding sayings present peaceful fellowship as the model for Jesus relations. So I think there's a lot going on this passage, but I think the thread is here is, hey, disciples, are you actually going to realize that it's only by the grace of God that you are who you are and that you look at other people with incredible charity, incredible love like that? Now, I know one of the things we don't do is go ahead and I'm going to cheat here. And I'm going to go ahead. And then I realized that the passage that I'm going to look at, because you don't do that for the next guy, it kind of makes it his life difficult. I'm back in three weeks, and this is my passage, so I get to cheat from myself. This is a theme with these disciples. Over and over, they're arguing again about who's the greatest in John chapter 10. In three weeks we'll look at this passage after I go on two fishing trips, which is a beautiful thing in May. Anyway, he says this. He says, you know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. And then he says these four words, not so with you. Hmm? That's not the way we operate in this house. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants you to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. The. Those four words. Not so with you. There's a book written on this. I just happened to Google it. I wanna find an image. And it's this book. And it actually looks like a really, really good book. Talking about spiritual leadership. And I actually know one of the authors who's. It's. What do you call it? A lot of authors. What do you call those? It's edited. It's got a culmination of authors. Anyway, not so with Lower Town. What would it look like if we all live that way? As you pick up Shop here and move over there. Doing the. No way. Really? I am so turned around. I'm pretty good. Iron Ranger always knows which ways north is. That's north. No way. Cray cray. Okay, so we got to go that way to Como and Dale area. What would it look like if we went with that kind of attitude that we were gonna go there and live at peace with one another. To think generously about other people, no matter where they're at in life. To know that there's nothing special about us more than Jesus has shown himself to us. We just wanna see more people have that. What would that look like? So as we move to a time of response, invite the worship team up. As I Right. Yep. As I close here in prayer, we'll also celebrate communion. That's a way we can respond. You feel free to come forward. There is the bread and the cup up here. This one over here has gluten free. If you need that, feel free to do that. It's just a way to respond. And it's open to anyone in this room right now who just says yes to Jesus Christ. And if you haven't yet said yes, why not right now where you're sitting? Just say yes to him as Savior and as Lord and come take your first ever real communion. As you do this, I'd love for you to to think along these lines in the light of the gospel of who Jesus is. Will you live out the phrase not so with you, not so with you. I'm coming back in three weeks. I promise you that's my title. Because this is a common thing. Are we going to love the least of these in all this? Let's pray together. Lord, you are a good God, a very good God. And we just pray right now that you do a work in this church. Lord God, as they move just right down the street, I pray, Lord God, that you would go before them. I pray, Lord God, just like you did with Hope Community Church. It was at the U of M. God, you. When we moved into a new neighborhood, it was a new chapter for us. And it was so fun to think of the early days, but it's so fun to think of what you've done since. And so, God, to make that part of this story of what you're doing here for your glory, God. But the way that happens is because each one of us gets gripped by the gospel and starts to really realize that we're that deeply loved by you, no matter what we do, no matter who we are, no matter what we've done in our past that we're that loved and that forgiveness. And therefore we can live that way with others. Help us to be that. We pray in Jesus name, amen.