You Go First

[00:00:02] Well, I took about four or five guys with me, and we went and climbed a thirteener. This has been years ago. [00:00:08] And we did thirteeners because the fourteeners are just so packed with people all the time. We wanted to kind of be off and by ourselves. We got to the summit, it was wonderful. We had our lunch and then the clouds started coming in. We thought, we better get off the mountain. [00:00:23] Well, those clouds were coming in fast. And so we were looking for a fast way off the mountain. And one of our guys noticed a sort of a snow field off over there. And he said, let's go over and glissade down the snow field. We all thought, that's a pretty cool idea. Let's all go glissade. You know what glissade means? [00:00:46] You sort of sit down on the snow, or ice in this case, and you use your hiking stick as a kind of a rudder to guide yourself down the hill. That's glissading. [00:01:00] So we all thought, this is a great idea. Let's go over and glissade down the snow field. [00:01:05] And we all got over there. We tromped ourselves across, you know. Well, let me tell you, that snowfield looked a whole lot steeper when you were standing looking down at right here than when we thought from over, you know, the other side of the mountain. [00:01:25] And one of my friends said, you go first. [00:01:34] Let's pray. [00:01:38] Lord, open our ears and our hearts to hear your word this day. [00:01:43] Teach us, Father. [00:01:47] Teach us how to go first. We pray in Jesus name. [00:01:51] Amen. [00:01:55] So one of the things that I like to do when I look at various scripture passages is I just try to get a picture in my head about what that is. Do you do that? Pictures? Do you make pictures out of stories? So this first one was great. Picture this. Okay? It's Joseph, and he's now in the throne room with his brothers. And he has them dead to write, right? Because they'd stuffed him down a well. They sold him into slavery. They told some crazy story to their dad that Joseph is dead and went on their merry way, kind of thinking, well, that's the end of that story. And Joseph was, let's face it, kind of a nuisance. Now you can go back and read the whole story. It's all there at the end of Genesis. Fabulous story. It could make a great movie. Okay, it would. Well, here's Joseph now in the throne room with his brothers. [00:03:02] And of all things. [00:03:04] Are you picturing this? He starts to cry. [00:03:08] He's wailing so loud. He gets Everybody out of there except his brothers. And his brothers are like, what did we just walk into? And he of course, reveals that he's their brother. And here's the thing that I think is so fascinating. He says, I'm your brother, Joseph. [00:03:30] Oh, and now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve your life. [00:03:45] You got that picture? [00:03:48] And he even says it again, God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant on earth. See, this whole story is there because there was a promise by God to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob to make a great nation out of his family, a nation that would ultimately bring the Savior of the world. And Joseph is just one little cog in this thing. And so he's telling out this whole story. [00:04:18] And then picture this. He weeps. He weeps on his brother Benjamin. [00:04:32] And then his brothers will talk to him. [00:04:36] Got that picture? Isn't that something? [00:04:40] What a story that is. [00:04:42] What an account of a then savior of God's people. [00:04:51] Or look at the pictures that we have in our gospel lesson today. [00:04:56] And what pictures come to your mind? I'll just ask you that because Jesus says, love your enemies. [00:05:05] Oh, boy, you getting some enemies rolling up into your mind right now. [00:05:14] And they come in all kinds of forms. Bless those who curse you. [00:05:20] Yeah, right. [00:05:22] Oh, that one who strikes you on the cheek, give him the other one as well. [00:05:30] These are kind of. [00:05:33] These are kind of outlandish sorts of statements from Jesus. Right. Think about that. Or give to one who begs from you. And if they come and rob you blind, don't try to get it back. [00:05:50] So what he's saying, oh, and here's one. As you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. That's golden, isn't it? Did you get some pictures in your mind? Maybe some people or some situations that go on at work, perhaps school, you know, people at school. Or how about in the stores? Or here's one. Somebody cuts you off while you're driving down the freeway. [00:06:21] Yeah, or maybe when I cut someone off while I'm driving down the freeway, which is perfectly understandable as far as I'm concerned, but I would imagine that other person is, what's this guy got going on? [00:06:39] Or situations maybe start to crop up in our mind. Situations that go on at home. Maybe there's some. Some tension that you'd even say somebody at home is like an enemy of a brother or a sister or sometimes spouses kind of tangle or child making parents life difficult or parent Making child's life difficult. [00:07:07] Or friends, Friends who would do some of these kinds of things. [00:07:17] Jesus says, love those who love you. That's easy. [00:07:25] The world does that lend to somebody that's going to give back to you. [00:07:32] Come on, there's no challenge there. [00:07:37] You getting the picture? [00:07:42] Got somebody in mind? [00:07:52] My picture is this was a co worker, a fellow teacher. [00:08:01] He did something that just absolutely rankled me and I got my backup. Meanwhile, I said something to him about it. [00:08:11] He got his back up. [00:08:15] But you know what? [00:08:16] Neither one of us knew that we offended the other person. I thought I was perfectly in my rights to say something. He thought what he did was perfectly the right thing to do. [00:08:30] There we were at odds with. He taught me how to play golf. [00:08:36] I taught him how to swing a tennis racket. We were good, good friends and all over, unwilling to go and try to figure out what was wrong or. I remember this couple, they got into it over some kind of a disagreement. I see some couples here, you ever do that? Get into some disagreements? This or that. One sees something this way, the other one sees it that way. Well, that's what was going on with this coup. And both of them thought they were right. And they got into this argument. It went on and it went on. And pretty soon they forgot what they were arguing about and started arguing about arguing. [00:09:19] If you can imagine that. Okay, picture that, right? They're back and forth. Finally, there's silence. And the wife, she can take it no more. So she decides, she says, I'm going to fix this. [00:09:32] She goes and she says to her husband, look, I will apologize for this whole terrible argument that we've been having if you'll just admit that I was right. [00:09:50] And he looks at her, kind of twists his head a little bit, has the most heartfelt, sorrowful look on his face. And he says to her, he says, you're right, you were wrong. [00:10:07] I thought that would land just a little bit better. But here's my point. [00:10:15] When I read these texts, I always try to figure out what were they thinking when they put these particular verses together. I mean, Joseph and then Jesus talking about, love your enemy. I kind of get Joseph has to sort of love his brothers. But I think there's something more going on here. There's a nugget that ties these together that I think really helps us out. [00:10:44] I think really is what God's word is saying to us today. And you know what it is? [00:10:50] I think it's, you go first, you go first. [00:11:00] I kind of think that's what Jesus is saying, and look back at Joseph. I mean, somebody had to do something. [00:11:08] He and his brothers were at odds with each other. That's a little echoey up here. Can you turn me down just a little bit? Thank you. [00:11:18] So Joseph, he owned it now. He had to go through a lot of tears, and he probably was so sorrowful about the fact that he had missed out on his family and missed out on his father's love for all of those years. But meanwhile, look what God did through him. And so he took that opportunity to go first and say, hey, brothers, we got to work this out. You may have meant it for bad, but look, God meant it for good, because that's what happened. [00:11:57] Or Jesus coming to us today with all of these challenging things. [00:12:04] Love your enemies. [00:12:06] What? [00:12:12] What else you got, Jesus? Oh, I got more. [00:12:15] Do good to those who hate you. [00:12:18] What I think what he's saying is, you love your enemy first, you go first. [00:12:33] You do good to those first. [00:12:39] You pray first for those who abuse you. Now, I don't think Jesus is saying, be walked on. Let yourself be beat up by a bully or something like that. But that's not what the whole issue is about. The whole issue is about the fact that we are so turned in on ourselves, we never want to go first. We'll let somebody else. And if they never do, well, see, that just proves all the more they're exactly what I thought they were. [00:13:18] No, I think the message is, you go first. [00:13:28] I'll tell you about somebody who went first. He's there. In our New Testament lesson from 1 Corinthians that we heard read to us moments ago, I have a feeling I know what I'm about to say is true, that a lot of people in here are farmers or ranchers. Am I right? [00:13:46] Would you just toss up a hand if you have anything to do with farming or ranching? [00:13:51] Yeah, I'm right. There's a bunch. [00:13:55] So you get this passage. It's in First Corinthians, really? Well, you plant a seed, it's got to die. Now, I had a biologist challenge me on that once upon a time. I'm not a scientist particularly, but I happen to know if you plant a seed and you dig it up just a little right before it sprouts, it smells a little funny. [00:14:13] Am I right? [00:14:16] Yep. Okay, so you plant a seed, according to this, it dies. It has to die. It gets planted, perishable, like that milk that's in the refrigerator gets perishable, right? [00:14:34] But it rises, imperishable, and the picture I get when I read this passage, in fact, all of 1 Corinthians 15 is when I have stood at a graveside and laid my hand on a casket or on an urn and said, ashes to ashes and dust to dust. [00:15:00] But the sure and certain hope of a resurrection. Because that's what's happened here. We're planting perishable that it might rise to new life. [00:15:13] You all understand this. [00:15:20] Who went first? [00:15:24] Jesus. Because that's what it says here. Verse 23. Each in his own order. [00:15:31] Christ, the first fruits. [00:15:36] See, he made this promise way back at Genesis. He made this promise to save people from their sin. [00:15:48] And all of history is pointing at this. That event that would take place when he died was planted perishable in the grave. [00:16:02] Planted, Buried. With all of our sin going to the cross with all that we do. [00:16:12] Hatred of enemies, striking others, begging and not returning, abusing, being at odds, being enemies even with God. He takes all of that upon himself and dies with it. Is planted in the ground with it. [00:16:39] But he doesn't stay dead. [00:16:43] He rises to new life. And in his rising, he has swept away all the sins that would keep you and keep me from a relationship with God once again. And he promises with this new life to bring new life to you and to me eternally, if we put our trust in Him. [00:17:09] But there's more. [00:17:12] While we are here, he calls us. [00:17:17] He calls us to love our enemies. [00:17:24] He calls us to do good to those who hate us. [00:17:33] He calls us to lend to those who would curse us. [00:17:42] And he calls us to pray for those who would abuse us. [00:17:53] Got the picture? [00:17:57] Got the picture. [00:18:02] You go first.