Kingdom of God Anticipated: The Royal Son, Victorious through Suffering

Sermon from Psalms 2, 22 by Ben Watson, Pastor
Series: Kingdom of God Anticipated (Part 3 of 3)
Delivered on September 20, 2015

We’ve spent the last two weeks building up to this point. We’ve been talking about Missions, and more broadly we’ve been talking about the distant shadows of a king—a building anticipation of the Kingdom of God in the Old Testament. And we’ve been making a lot of connections. We’ve reached way back into the first stories of the Bible to highlight major promises. A seed of Abraham is coming, and he will vanquish our enemies, and he will bless the nations. A son of David is coming. His house will be established forever. And we took these promises and laid them over the New Testament. We saw last week that the seed of Abraham is the son of David. And we saw last week that these promises were all about Jesus. Jesus is the promised seed of Abraham. Jesus is the promised son of David. So all of the building expectation that has developed over the course of this monumental history of the people of Israel is actually a mounting anticipation for a Messiah, a King who will rescue his people, and establish his people, and who will reign over his people forever and ever. We’ve been discussing the greatest story ever told, the brilliant act of redemption that characterizes the God who sends and saves.

I’ve also repeated, at least four times now, that you cannot appropriately appreciate, or appropriately praise, or appropriately serve the God who sends and saves without a decent understanding of that from which you’ve been saved, and that to which you’re being saved. We want to cultivate affection for the God who sends and saves, and we can’t do that without highlighting what you’ve been saved from, and what you’re being saved to. You can’t serve well, you can’t praise well without understanding the gravity of your hopelessness without Christ, and the staggering beauty of your inheritance in Christ. But if you get this. If you get the change—the great exchange which was your rescue, your adoption, the guarantee of your inheritance, then you will serve him, and you will praise him, and you will devote your life to his Kingdom.

If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that we’ve spent a lot of our time thinking about the gravity of our hopelessness without Jesus, and we’ve spent a whole load of time speaking about the nature of our redemption in Jesus. In other words, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about what we’ve been saved from, and who has done the saving. But that isn’t enough. It’s not enough to exhaust our time remembering our hopelessness, remembering our exile, remembering our sin and God’s wrath. And it’s not enough to remember that we’ve been rescued from that wrath by the seed of Abraham, the son of David. We can’t stop there. The gospel isn’t merely dodging a bullet. The gospel doesn’t stop at Jesus taking our sin, our curse. He didn’t just absorb the consequences of our rebellion. The gospel is about a great trade. Jesus took our sin, yes, but he gave us his righteousness and he secured a Kingdom for his people. We’ve got to finish the story. We’ve got to look beyond our rescue to our inheritance. Today is about our inheritance. Today we’re going to answer the other half of the question. We comprehend the gravity of our hopelessness without Christ. Now let’s celebrate the bright hope of our inheritance in Christ. Today we’re going to marvel at the beauty of the Kingdom of God and the beauty of the King who sits on God’s throne. Today we’re going to praise the King of Kings, who will reign over the people of God in the Kingdom of God forever and ever.

So let’s get started. We’re going to ask, and then answer, two questions.

First: What is our King like? In other words, what type of King will reign over the people of God? What characterizes the King of Kings? Not just who is he, but what is he like? The first question we’re going to try to answer is about the nature of our King. A great King will sit upon a great throne at the center of the Kingdom of God. Who is this King who we’ll serve and praise forever? What is he like? This strikes me as one of the most important questions anyone could ever ask for any reason.

Second: What is the Kingdom of God like? We are citizens, bought and secured citizens of the Kingdom of God. We will dwell there forever. It will be our home forever. Our city, our homes, our present environment will seem like but a brief preface, a whisper of an introduction, when compared to the staggering eternality of the Kingdom of God. If this will be our home, if we are told to set our hope in this home, then it seems prudent to discover the nature of this Kingdom. What is this Kingdom like? What characterizes the Kingdom of God?

So open your bibles to Psalm 22. Let’s read together.

Text:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,

and by night, but I find no rest.

Yet you are holy,

enthroned on the praises of Israel.

In you our fathers trusted;

they trusted, and you delivered them.

To you they cried and were rescued;

in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

All who see me mock me;

they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;

“He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;

let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

Yet you are he who took me from the womb;

you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.

On you was I cast from my birth,

and from my mother's womb you have been my God.

Be not far from me,

for trouble is near,

and there is none to help.

Many bulls encompass me;

strong bulls of Bashan surround me;

they open wide their mouths at me,

like a ravening and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water,

and all my bones are out of joint;

my heart is like wax;

it is melted within my breast;

my strength is dried up like a potsherd,

and my tongue sticks to my jaws;

you lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs encompass me;

a company of evildoers encircles me;

they have pierced my hands and feet—

I can count all my bones—

they stare and gloat over me;

they divide my garments among them,

and for my clothing they cast lots.

But you, O LORD, do not be far off!

O you my help, come quickly to my aid!

Deliver my soul from the sword,

my precious life from the power of the dog!

Save me from the mouth of the lion!

You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

I will tell of your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

You who fear the LORD, praise him!

All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,

and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

For he has not despised or abhorred

the affliction of the afflicted,

and he has not hidden his face from him,

but has heard, when he cried to him.

From you comes my praise in the great congregation;

my vows I will perform before those who fear him.

The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;

those who seek him shall praise the LORD!

May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth shall remember

and turn to the LORD,

and all the families of the nations

shall worship before you.

For kingship belongs to the LORD,

and he rules over the nations.

All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;

before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,

even the one who could not keep himself alive.

Posterity shall serve him;

it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;

they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,

that he has done it.

(Psalm 22 ESV)

You’re probably already beginning to see it. You probably already see Jesus here. Pierced hands and feet. Lots cast for clothing. You probably already hear the allusions to the Cross. But I don’t want to start there. I want to start at the beginning, with a specific eye to answer the question.

What is our King like? What is King Jesus like?

Read with me again from verse one.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,

and by night, but I find no rest.

Forsaken. The first answer to our question is the most striking, perhaps the most troubling. Our King was forsaken. And we know this is true, we know this is a legitimate connection because Jesus himself makes it. Let me read to you from Matthew 27.

And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

(Matthew 27:39-46 ESV)

Darkness falls and Jesus shouts, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” Now we’ve spent a lot of time this month discussing Christ’s sacrifice, the sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So I don’t want to hover here for too long. But I do think it’s worth highlighting.

In so far as Jesus took upon himself your sin. In so far as Jesus took upon himself your curse. In so far as Jesus traded his righteousness for you to wear, and put on your sin, your rebellion, and your stains— he was forsaken by God. Jesus was forsaken so that we didn’t have to be forsaken. When Jesus gave his life on our behalf, he bore the wrath of God. Jesus bore the wrath of God. Jesus bore the curse for us. He was forsaken so that we won’t be forsaken. He hung in darkness without reprieve, bearing the God-orchestrated beating, thorns, filth, spit, mocking, tearing, hanging, suffocating wrath of God so that we didn’t have to. He was forsaken. For you. Jesus bore the wrath of God so that you didn’t have to. That’s the kind of King we serve. We serve the kind of King that loves his people; so much that he bore the sin of his people, so much that he suffered so that his people wouldn’t suffer. So much that he was forsaken so that his people would be welcomed into the Kingdom of God. That’s the kind of King we’ll serve forever and ever. This King’s people were purchased with this King’s suffering. This King endured unspeakable suffering to rescue his people from the justice which they deserved. This King is just and justifier. That’s the kind of King who we will praise forever.

Okay. Keep going.

Yet you are holy,

enthroned on the praises of Israel.

In you our fathers trusted;

they trusted, and you delivered them.

To you they cried and were rescued;

in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

Our King is faithful. We serve the kind of King that bears the cross for the joy set before him. In the midst of unspeakable suffering, our King looks to the heavens and proclaims the gospel. YET YOU ARE HOLY. You are holy, and you are the God who rescues your people. You are the God who does not put to shame those who trust you. Jesus is the kind of King who endures unspeakable suffering and yet does not flinch. He is unwavering in his trust, in his faith. Jesus is the faithful son. Our King does all things for the joy set before him. He endures all suffering, all injustice, and all humiliation because he trusts that God is faithful. Our King is the faithful one. Our King is unwavering. That’s the kind of King we will praise. That’s the kind of King that we serve.

But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

All who see me mock me;

they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;

“He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;

let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

Yet you are he who took me from the womb;

you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.

On you was I cast from my birth,

and from my mother's womb you have been my God.

Be not far from me,

for trouble is near,

and there is none to help.

Our King is humble. We serve the kind of King who set aside his glory, who humbled himself and took on flesh. This King could have summoned legions of angelic armies at a word. And yet this King bore the mocking of rebels. He bore the humiliation of rebels to save his rebel people. We serve a King who humbled himself. Our King was exalted from humility. He won his place on the Throne of the Kingdom of God by humbling himself even to death on a cross. He won his people through patient, humble suffering. That’s the kind of King we serve. That’s the kind of King we’ll praise.

Many bulls encompass me;

strong bulls of Bashan surround me;

they open wide their mouths at me,

like a ravening and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water,

and all my bones are out of joint;

my heart is like wax;

it is melted within my breast;

my strength is dried up like a potsherd,

and my tongue sticks to my jaws;

you lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs encompass me;

a company of evildoers encircles me;

they have pierced my hands and feet—

I can count all my bones—

they stare and gloat over me;

they divide my garments among them,

and for my clothing they cast lots.

Our King died for his people. This is not the model that the world has given us. The Lords of the Romans are surrounded by servants. That’s not how the Kingdom of God works. In the Kingdom of God, the greatest serves the least. Our King, the first and greatest citizen of the Kingdom of God, our King serves the least of these by dying to secure their redemption. Our King is a servant leader. When our King took off his cloak, tied a towel around his waist, and knelt down to wash his disciples feet, he was painting a picture of his death. Our king set aside his rights to glory and he humbled himself even to death to win the people of God. That’s the kind of King we serve. Our King gave everything to win his Kingdom.

But you, O LORD, do not be far off!

O you my help, come quickly to my aid!

Deliver my soul from the sword,

my precious life from the power of the dog!

Save me from the mouth of the lion!

You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

Our King has defeated death. Death couldn’t hold our King. Our King endured the cross for the joy set before him. By quoting this passage, by quoting this psalm at the precipice of his death, our King was shouting victory over death. 

You have rescued me! Tell me that Jesus wasn’t thinking about the end of this song when he began to sing the beginning. Our King, bloody and broken, shouts victory. In the midst of the battle, in the midst of the darkest night, our King shouts victory. Our King remembered that his sacrifice would vanquish the curse. That’s the kind of King we serve. Our King defeated death for all of us, and he began the celebration of an eternal people by bursting from the bonds of death! That’s the kind of King we serve. Unstoppable. King Jesus is perfectly kind, perfectly humble, perfectly loving, and perfectly good. And King Jesus is unstoppable. His influence only yields renewal, rebirth. King Jesus makes all things new, and his work to defeat his enemies, his work to vanquish evil and restore creation, to populate his Kingdom with his people, cannot be stopped because he cannot be stopped. He defeated death. He will reign forever and ever because he is ever-good and ever-strong and ever-powerful. Nothing can stop King Jesus.

That’s the kind of King we serve. That’s the answer to our first question. But what of his kingdom? What is his Kingdom like?

I will tell of your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

Brothers. The Kingdom of Jesus is filled with his brothers. Adopted brothers and sisters, secured by his redemption. When we praise the King of Kings, we praise the eldest son in our family. If you trust in Christ, you have been adopted into the family of God. You adoption was secured by his rescue. The great trade was the cost of your adoption, and when Christ took your sin and carried it to the cross he won a little sister, a little brother, with whom he will shout the praise of Yahweh. The Kingdom of God is filled with the adopted brothers and sisters of a great King. The Kingdom of God isn’t just like a family; the Kingdom of God is the family of God. We are heirs together with Christ because he has won our adoption into the family of God.

You who fear the LORD, praise him!

All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,

and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

And what will King Jesus do, in the midst of his people, in the midst of the citizens of the Kingdom of God? He will shout the good name of Yahweh. He will tell of the glory of Yahweh to his brothers. The Kingdom of God is occupied with the praises of God. The Kingdom of God is populated with citizens ever-impressed by the great work of rescue secured by the King of Kings, because the Kingdom of God is populated by the least of men. They will sing and shout of their great rescue forever and ever. The streets of the Kingdom of God hum with the praises of the redeemed.

For he has not despised or abhorred

the affliction of the afflicted,

and he has not hidden his face from him,

but has heard, when he cried to him.

The people of God, the adopted children of God won by the great trade, are those who cry out to God in the midst of affliction. Are you suffering? Are you lost? Are you broken? Are you weak? Cry out to God and be won by the King of Kings! Cry out to God! The King of Kings has already won your adoption. Cry out to God and join the congregation of the rescued! That’s what the Kingdom of God is like. The Kingdom of God will be filled with the rescued, shouting praise to the King of Kings who bought them, who saved them from desperation and hopelessness.

From you comes my praise in the great congregation;

my vows I will perform before those who fear him.

The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;

those who seek him shall praise the LORD!

May your hearts live forever!

The King of Kings has purchased the forever joy of his people. The Kingdom of God is populated with the formerly afflicted, the formerly poor, the formerly hungry. And this people feasts. The Kingdom of God is a place where the afflicted eat and are satisfied. The people of God were rescued, they were purchased as a bride. And the Kingdom of God is a great wedding feast. We will dine and we will celebrate the unspeakable glory, the great sweeping victory of our King. And we will live forever. O Death! Where is your sting? O Death, where is your victory! The dead in Christ are but napping. The dead in Christ rest to prepare for the great wedding feast of the lamb. That’s what the Kingdom of God is like. A forever feast. A forever celebration of the great story of redemption.

All the ends of the earth shall remember

and turn to the LORD,

and all the families of the nations

shall worship before you.

For kingship belongs to the LORD,

and he rules over the nations.

This Kingdom, our Kingdom, is populated with the nations. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord! Our King, by his blood, has purchased the allegiance of the nations. All of them. Every tribe and tongue and people. All the families of the nations shall worship before Yahweh. FOR KINGSHIP BELONGS TO THE LORD, AND HE RULES OVER THE NATIONS! Our King has bought the adoption of little brothers and sisters of every color, every language. Do you know what that means? That means that there are people out there, in the nations and in the tribes, in the forests and in the deserts, who have been purchased by the blood of our great, unstoppable King and do.not.yet.know.his.name. They are his. They are his brothers and sisters. They are purchased by his blood. He has secured their rescue and they do.not.yet.know.his.name. They are yet afflicted. They are yet hopeless. But he has won them. He has won the throne through his suffering. And he has won his people through his suffering. The nations are his. And some of them don’t even know his name. Let’s go introduce them to their King. Let’s go tell them about their Kingdom.

All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;

before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,

even the one who could not keep himself alive.

Posterity shall serve him;

it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;

they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,

that he has done it.

The arm of salvation has reached to every corner of our globe. The prosperous have been bought by the blood of the King. They will shout of the victory of the King of Kings at the great feast. Those whose strength has failed, those who have spent their last breath will yet shout the victory of the King of Kings at the great feast. The halls and streets of the Kingdom of God shall be filled with generations and generations of his children. We shall live there, forever praising his name, forever feasting in celebration of his work. These children whom he has bought. These children will come to the Kingdom of God and they will proclaim his righteousness. He has done it. He has rescued generations. He has rescued his people, and though they were scattered across time, across geopolitical boundaries, across cultures and nations and languages, they will join together to shout his righteousness. He has done it. That’s what the Kingdom of God is like. Multitudes singing and dancing and shouting praises. The great host of the rescued. The great multitude of the redeemed. That’s the nature of the coming Kingdom of God. That’s what our Kingdom is like.

So this is the Kingdom of God.

And this is the King of Kings.

Now, if your eyes are opened to the brilliance of King Jesus’ rescue. If your eyes are opened to the hope of the great celebration feast. If your eyes are opened to the forever joy purchased by the King’s sacrifice. That should change everything. That should radically change the way you live your life. If you get this, you cannot remain unchanged.

So now we’re going to ask “How?” How should this—the beauty of the King of Kings, the drama of his rescue, the thrill of adoption, the hope of redemption, the forever joy of the great wedding feast—how should this change the way you live your life?

How does this change you?

How does this change how you relate to people?

How does this change how we do church?

How does this change how you spend your money?

How does this change how you make plans?

I can think of a few ways. You, and your family, and your care group, you will think of the rest. Let’s get started.

Application:

First, the people of God are won through suffering.

Look, we’ve spent a lot of time considering the suffering of the Lamb of God. We have gazed upon the suffering of King Jesus, who purchased his people by giving his life. Our King stooped down to wash feet. He stooped down to suffer death. And he did so to win his people. The people of God—You—are won through suffering. And in Matthew 16, just after explaining that he must die, that he must die on a cross to purchase his Kingdom, Jesus looks at his disciples and he says,

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

(Matthew 16:21-26 ESV)

Woah. What does that mean? I’ve heard people claim (I, myself, once claimed) that this mandate was referring to persecution. You shouldn’t be afraid to claim Jesus, even if it means death. I don’t think that’s enough anymore. I don’t think that’s everything that Jesus meant. Let me read you one more passage. Paul says in the letter to the Colossians,

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church”

Wait a minute. What was lacking in the afflictions of Christ? By his stripes, and his stripes alone, are his people healed. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” it was finished. The King has bought the redemption of his people. So what was lacking in the afflictions of Christ? A visible picture. A visible, tangible representation of the suffering of Christ. And Paul says that his suffering—his beatings, his stonings, his imprisonment, his coming death—this suffering presented a picture of the sufferings of Jesus. That’s why he rejoices. Because when you labor to deliver the gospel to a people—when you suffer loss and sickness and financial insecurity and hunger and pain and imprisonment and death—when you do that you’re painting a picture of Jesus. You’re projecting a life-sized, three-dimensional picture of Jesus onto that people. Because that’s what Jesus did. He gave up everything to win them. What were the Colossians lacking? They had heard about the gospel, but they hadn’t seen the unfolding drama of Christ’s sacrifice until they saw the blood and sweat and tears of Paul. That’s why Paul rejoiced. If my cuts and bruises and tears, if my hunger, if my thirst, if my imprisonment will give you a picture of the King’s suffering, then it’s all worth it. Because you’re going to look at me and you’re going to ask, “What kind of man sacrifices everything on behalf of others?” And I’m going to look at you and shout, “King Jesus is the kind of man that sacrifices everything to save his people! That’s what Jesus is like!”

Now. Go and fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.

When you go and proclaim the beauty of the gospel to a people, when you go and shout about victorious King Jesus, who won his people through suffering, when you go, even though it costs you time and money and relationships and your home and your health, even though you risk imprisonment and death, when you go like that you’re filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ by painting a picture of who he is, what he is like, and what he has done. Your suffering is necessary to finish the story of the gospel. The nations will not be won if we do not suffer on their behalf. Let me repeat that, because it’s important. The nations will not be won if we do not suffer on their behalf. The people of God are won through suffering. You were won through suffering. Now we must take up our cross, and we must fill up what is lacking in King Jesus’ afflictions on behalf of his people.

Hear what I am saying. The nations will not be won if we do not suffer on their behalf. I am not talking about inconvenience, I am talking about real suffering. Real sacrifice, real pain, real loss, real turmoil. Real imprisonment. Real death. We’re called to these things. “Take up your cross” is a mandate. If you would be his disciple, you must take up your cross. Because the people of God were won through suffering.

Evaluate your life this week.

Are you suffering? Do you have any sufferings to rejoice in? Are you so laboring to bring the gospel to the nations that they could rationally ask, “What kind of man gives up everything on behalf of others?” What would your life look like without Jesus? Would it look substantially different? Your home, your time, your checkbook, your budget should look like suffering. It should look different—radically different.

King Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him. Are you avoiding the cross for the joys of this world?

Second: While you suffer, remind yourself and everyone around you that God is faithful. Shout about the trustworthiness of God even in the midst of great loss and unspeakable pain. Believe, even when you’re hurting, that God is trustworthy, that he keeps his promises, and that he will reward his sons and daughters with forever joy. Trust that God will rescue you, even as he has already rescued you.

When King Jesus shouted, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” he was singing a song about rescue, about hope, about the glory of a trustworthy God, and about the forever joy of the blood-purchased Kingdom. He was bleeding to death and nailed to the cross, and he was singing songs of rescue and hope. Choking on his own blood he sings songs of victory. I want that kind of faith! I want my heart to look like the hope of King Jesus. I want my heart to shout songs of hope, of rescue, of forever joy when I’m knee deep in suffering. I want to shout about the trustworthiness of God when I suffer! Lord, may it be so. Change our hearts and give us hope. Give us the kind of Joy that barrels through suffering without interrupting the songs of praise!

We need to learn how to suffer. We need to suffer like King Jesus. We need to think about the wedding supper, about the forever joy when we’re hurting.

How do we suffer well? Talk about that in care group. Pray about it. Ask the Father for that kind of faith, that kind of trust, that kind of hope.

Third: Our King’s great exchange has purchased the nations. King Jesus has bought them—brothers and sisters from every tribe and tongue and nation. He has purchased their rescue with his blood. He has bought them. They are his. He has won the nations with his suffering. He has won the praise of the nations.

And many of these brothers and sisters do not yet know his name. They are yet hopeless. They are yet lost. They are yet afflicted. They do not know about the Kingdom which was purchased for them. They do not know about the great celebration feast. They are yet lost. They are yet hopeless. They do not have hope in the wedding feast, because they do not know about the wedding feast.

These are your brothers and sisters. Won by the blood of Christ. Purchased by his suffering.

Let’s introduce our brothers and sisters to big brother Jesus.

Let’s speak to the nations of the unstoppable King Jesus.

Let’s go shout to the nations about the coming Kingdom of God.

How will you take the gospel to the nations? How will you introduce a people to their King?

Think about it.

I want you to stop and think about it.

I want you to stop your routine. I want you to stop your routine and your family’s routine. I want you to take time. I mean, take real time, not 15 minutes. I want you to take time and pray and ask questions about how you’ll take the gospel to the nations. I want you to talk about it in care group. Come up with real ways to obey the mandate. Real ways. Real ways that start tomorrow and don’t stop until the forever feast. I want you to take the mandate seriously. You are a steward of his time, his stuff, his breath. If you are in Christ, you have died. To live is Christ. You’re not living any longer; Christ is living in you. Now take up your cross. Take up your cross like King Jesus took up his. Follow him in suffering. Herald the coming Kingdom. Paint a picture of the sufferings of Christ. Take the gospel to the nations because he has purchased them with his blood. They are his. Introduce them.