Choosing Your Hard: The Real Cost of Following Jesus
We all have morning routines. Some are chaotic, filled with the screams of young children and the desperate search for matching socks. Others are carefully orchestrated rituals—coffee first, then everything else. But beneath these daily patterns lies a profound truth: what we do first thing in the morning often reveals what we're truly giving our lives to.
The question isn't whether we'll give our lives to something. We will. The question is: what will it be?

The Uncomfortable Truth About Discipleship
In Mark chapter 8, we encounter one of Jesus' most direct and uncomfortable statements about what it means to follow Him. The context is crucial: Jesus and His disciples are walking toward Jerusalem, just weeks away from the events we now call Holy Week. Peter has just had a breakthrough moment of clarity, declaring Jesus to be the Messiah. Finally, the disciples seem to get it.
Then Jesus explains what being the Messiah actually means.
"The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed, and after three days rise again."
Peter's response? He pulls Jesus aside and rebukes Him. The same Peter who just correctly identified Jesus as the Messiah now tells Jesus He's got it all wrong.
Jesus' counter-response is shocking: "Get behind me, Satan."
What happened? How did we go from a spiritual high point to such a devastating low?
When We Get Jesus' Identity Right but His Mission Wrong
Peter understood who Jesus was but completely misunderstood what Jesus came to do. In Peter's script, the Messiah was supposed to be a conqueror, someone who would take the seats of political and military power, who would use authority to overcome enemies and establish dominance.
Sound familiar?
We still make this mistake today. We can correctly identify Jesus as Lord and Savior while completely missing what His mission is actually about. We want Jesus to take over certain places of power in our world. We want Him to align with our political agendas, our economic systems, our cultural battles.
But Jesus keeps saying, "My kingdom is not of this world."
The truth is, it's remarkably easy to get Jesus' identity correct and still misunderstand what His purpose is all about.

The Cost of True Discipleship
After correcting Peter, Jesus gathers the crowd and lays out what following Him actually requires:
"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."
Let's be honest about what this means.
Denying yourself isn't about giving up chocolate for Lent or cutting back on social media for a few weeks. It's about taking your entire agenda—your script for how life should go, your understanding of what you deserve, even your sovereignty over your own life—and surrendering it completely to Jesus.
It means saying, "I want what You want, Jesus, more than I want what I want."
And taking up your cross? In the first century, that wasn't about wearing a cute cross necklace or getting a cross tattoo. It was about picking up your instrument of execution. Jesus was telling His followers to be prepared for the hardest possible road.
This is not easy Christianity. This is not "say a prayer and your life gets better" theology.
Following Jesus is hard work.

The Hard Truth: Everything Is Hard
Here's what we need to understand: no matter what you give your life to, it's going to be hard.
Marriage is hard. Raising children is hard. Building a career is hard. Pursuing wealth is hard. Nursing an addiction is hard. Chasing success is hard.
Following Jesus is also hard.
The question isn't whether life will be difficult. The question is: which hard is worth it?
Because here's the difference: when you give your life to your career, it's hard, and at the end you realize your kids don't even know your favorite color. When you give your life to accumulating wealth, it's hard, and you end up with a full bank account but empty relationships. When you give your life to success, it's hard, and you discover that no one on their deathbed wishes they'd spent more time at the office.
But when you give your life to Jesus, it's hard in a different way. You have to lay down your agenda for His. You have to surrender your plans to His kingdom purposes. You have to deny yourself and pick up your cross.
But this hard leads somewhere.

Where Does Your Hard Lead?
Jesus continues: "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it."
The hard of following Jesus leads to a place where Christ returns and sets everything wrong with the world right again. It leads to a kingdom where every tear is wiped away, where disease and sickness are gone, where all things are made new. It leads to living forever with Christ in His eternal kingdom.
The hard of giving your life to anything else? It all goes back in the box eventually. There are no U-Hauls behind hearses.
So choose your hard.
Both roads are difficult. But only one leads to a destination worth the journey.

What Are You Really Giving Your Life To?
If you're unsure what you're truly giving your life to, try this simple exercise: look at your calendar and your bank account. They'll tell you the truth about your priorities.
Maybe you've been calling yourself a Christian for years, but if you're honest, Jesus has been more of an add-on than the substance of your life. He's been the ketchup you put on top, hoping to make the flavor a little better, when He wants to be the actual meal.
The good news? You can change that today. Not by trying harder or doing more, but by surrendering more fully. By asking Christ to help you live a life completely given over to Him.
Will you mess up? Absolutely. We all do. The question isn't whether you'll make mistakes. It's whether, when you do, you get back to trying to live your life fully for Christ, trusting that His grace covers all your failures.
Following Jesus isn't easy. But it is good. And it's worth every bit of the hard.
So choose your hard wisely. Because you're giving your life to something either way.

In a world that often equates power with domination, success with authority, and leadership with control, we're confronted with a radical alternative – one that turns these notions upside down. This counter-cultural perspective isn't new; it's been around for two millennia, yet it remains as challenging and revolutionary today as it was when first introduced.

The heart of this message lies in the words of Jesus: "You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you, it will be different." (Matthew 20:25-26)

These words were spoken in response to a mother's request for her sons to have positions of honor in Jesus' kingdom. It's a relatable scene – a parent wanting the best for their children, seeking security and status. But Jesus uses this moment to redefine what true greatness looks like in His kingdom.

"Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave." (Matthew 20:26-27)

This isn't just a nice idea or a suggestion. It's a complete inversion of the world's power structures. Jesus is saying that in His kingdom, the way up is down. The path to greatness is through service. The road to leadership is paved with humility.

But why is this so important? Because power, when misused, corrupts. History – both secular and religious – is littered with examples of power abused, authority misused, and people hurt as a result. From ancient crusades to modern scandals, the church has not been immune to this corruption.

Recent years have seen high-profile cases of church leaders abusing their positions, using their influence for personal gain or gratification rather than for service. These stories – whether from megachurches in America or global ministries abroad – have left many disillusioned, questioning the very institution meant to represent Christ on earth.

It's easy to become cynical, to wonder if the church can ever truly embody the servant leadership Jesus modeled. But amidst the darkness, there are glimpses of light – moments where the church truly shines as the hands and feet of Christ:

- Communities rallying around those facing illness or hardship
- Churches mobilizing to meet tangible needs in their cities
- Believers sacrificing time and resources to care for the marginalized

These glimpses remind us of what the church can be when it embraces Jesus' upside-down kingdom values.

The ultimate example of this servant leadership is found in Jesus Himself. On the night He was betrayed, knowing the cross lay ahead, Jesus did something shocking. He wrapped a towel around His waist, knelt before His disciples, and washed their feet. This task, usually reserved for the lowest servant, became a powerful object lesson.

"I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you." (John 13:15)

Jesus, the one with all power and authority, chose to use that power not for His own benefit, but to serve others. He emptied Himself, taking on the very nature of a servant (Philippians 2:7). This is the model we're called to follow.

But let's be honest – it's not easy. Our natural inclination is to seek our own comfort, to protect our own interests, to elevate ourselves. Serving others, especially those who may not appreciate it or reciprocate, goes against our instincts. It's uncomfortable. It's vulnerable. It's risky.

Yet, this is precisely where the transformative power of the gospel shines brightest. When we choose to serve, to put others first, to use whatever influence or ability we have for the good of others – we reflect Christ to a watching world.

This call to servant leadership extends beyond church walls. It's a way of life that can revolutionize our families, workplaces, and communities. Imagine a world where people in positions of power consistently used that influence to lift others up rather than to dominate or control.

So, how do we live this out practically? Here are some questions to consider:

1. How can I use my skills, resources, or position to benefit others today?
2. Where do I need to "get my towel out" and serve, even if it's uncomfortable?
3. In what areas of my life am I tempted to lord authority over others instead of serving them?
4. Who in my sphere of influence needs encouragement or practical help?

Living this way isn't just about individual acts of service. It's about cultivating a heart posture that sees others as more important than ourselves (Philippians 2:3). It's about viewing our talents, resources, and even our suffering, as opportunities to reflect Christ's love to a hurting world.

This servant-hearted approach to life and leadership is countercultural. It won't always be understood or appreciated. There will be times when it feels like others are taking advantage of our kindness. In those moments, we're reminded of Jesus – who was ultimately taken advantage of to the point of death on a cross. Yet through that supreme act of servant leadership, He brought about the redemption of the world.

As we wrestle with disillusionment over the failings of religious institutions or leaders, let's not lose sight of the beautiful vision Jesus cast. The church, at its best, is a community of people committed to serving one another and the world around them in Jesus' name. When we embrace this calling, we become living testimonies to a different kind of kingdom – one where the last are first, the humble are exalted, and true greatness is measured by sacrificial love.

May we be people who consistently choose the towel over the throne, who use whatever power or influence we have to lift others up, and who, in doing so, point the world to the servant King who gave His life for us all.

In a world quick to point fingers and cast stones, we find ourselves yearning for a different way. A way marked not by harsh judgment, but by transformative love. This is the radical path Jesus invites us to walk – a path that challenges our preconceptions and calls us to a higher standard of grace.
Picture this scene: A bustling temple in Jerusalem, the heart of religious activity. Suddenly, a commotion erupts as religious leaders drag a woman caught in adultery before Jesus. They thrust her into the center, her shame on full display. "Teacher," they declare, "this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?"
It's a trap, carefully designed to ensnare Jesus. If he calls for mercy, he contradicts the law. If he endorses execution, he violates Roman authority. Either way, his critics win. Or so they think.
But Jesus, in his infinite wisdom, does something unexpected. He stoops down and begins writing in the dust. What did he write? We can only speculate. Perhaps he listed the accusers' own sins, or referenced scriptures about mercy. Whatever it was, it clearly unsettled them.
As they persist, Jesus stands and delivers a response that cuts to the heart of the matter: "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." With these words, he holds up a mirror to their own souls, forcing them to confront their own brokenness.
One by one, the accusers slink away, leaving only Jesus and the woman. In this moment, we witness the breathtaking beauty of grace. Jesus, the only one truly without sin, the only one with the right to condemn, instead offers mercy. "Neither do I condemn you," he tells her. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
This story from John 8:1-11 encapsulates a profound truth: Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save. As he declares in John 3:17, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." This is the heart of the Gospel – not a message of shame and condemnation, but an invitation to transformative love and grace.
Yet how often do we, as followers of Christ, miss this central message? The world around us often perceives Christianity as judgmental, hypocritical, and out of touch. These perceptions stand in stark contrast to the character of Jesus himself. While the church is sometimes seen as anti-homosexual, Jesus sought out the marginalized. Where we're viewed as judgmental, Jesus offered second chances. When labeled as boring, Jesus' ministry was anything but – filled with healing, confrontations with authority, and radical love.
The call of Christ is clear: "Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples" (John 13:34-35). This love is not a passive feeling, but an active choice to see the image of God in every person, even – perhaps especially – those whose actions or beliefs we struggle with.
To truly embody this love, we must ask ourselves some challenging questions:

1. Who are the "adulterers" in our lives? Who are the people whose actions or lifestyles we find most difficult to accept?
2. How can we intentionally show Christ-like love to these individuals? How can we lead with grace and mercy, seeing past actions to the person made in God's image?
3. What would our communities look like if we truly lived this way? If our churches were known as safe havens for the broken, the questioning, and the struggling?

The antidote to judgmentalism is honest self-reflection. When we take time to humbly examine our own lives – our motives, our shortcomings, our need for grace – it becomes much harder to cast stones at others. This doesn't mean ignoring sin or never offering guidance. Rather, it means approaching others from a place of shared brokenness and shared need for God's transforming love.
To those who have been hurt by judgmental attitudes within the church, know this: God's heart toward you has not changed, even when his people have failed to reflect it. He sees you fully – every struggle, every shame, every secret – and his mind is made up about you. The good news? His mind is made up to love you unconditionally.
God is not interested in condemnation. Instead, he longs to wrap you in his grace, forgive your sins, and restore you to wholeness. Through Jesus Christ, he has made a way for complete reconciliation. On the cross, Jesus took the judgment we deserve, so that we can stand before God not in shame, but in the confidence of his love.
This isn't just intellectual knowledge – it's an invitation to a personal encounter with grace. You don't need to clean yourself up first or have everything figured out. God meets you exactly where you are, arms open wide. The question is: will you take that step into his embrace?
If you're ready to receive this love, to let go of the weight of sin and shame, a simple prayer can be the start of a new journey:
"God, I know I've fallen short. I've sinned. I've judged. I've been far from you. But I believe that through Jesus, you've made a way for me to be forgiven and restored. I accept your love, your grace, and your invitation to live in the freedom of your presence. Help me to follow you and to reflect your love to the world. Amen."
This is the beginning of a new story – one of hope, healing, and abundant life found in Jesus Christ. As we receive this radical grace, may we be transformed into people who offer the same to others. May our churches become beacons of love in a world desperate for genuine acceptance. And may we, imperfect as we are, learn to see others through the eyes of Jesus – with compassion, with mercy, and with an unwavering commitment to love.

Well, last week I recounted a story. If you weren't here, you can go back on the app and you can check it out. I recounted a story last week of how I came home after I was living in Sydney, Australia, Hawaii. I came home early from Australia and a picture of what it looks like to move from a place of hoping for something to actually hoping in something. And again, that might seem like a really small difference to you where you're sitting.
And yet I think it's important for us to understand some of the differences. Because when we hope for something, largely what we end up talking about is that we're referring to kind of wishful thinking about a better future, a better day sometime in the future. But when we hope in something, we're really believing in that and trusting in something that happens. So much so that really we take different action, we live differently because of that hope. I've got a few examples of the difference here because the difference is like it's between buying a gym membership and actually showing up to the gym.

Like one you're hoping for, you're buying a little certain way. The other one you're actually hoping in, you're actually doing something about it. It's the difference between planting seeds in the ground and actually going out and weeding and watering and all the other stuff that has to be done in pictures of the garden is the difference between downloading the Duolingo app and expecting that somehow you're going to all of a sudden become a savant in Spanish or French or whatever it is, and actually finding a friend who speaks that language and going and having actual conversations with that person. There's a difference between what we hope for something and when we're really hoping in something. Now when I got home from my time in Australia, I quickly realized that God was calling me into ministry.

And after a few months of me running away from that and saying that's a great idea for future Brian to do, I finally surrendered to that call and ended up enrolling in seminary. At my very first step into this call into full time ministry, that was step one, but it certainly was not the end of the steps. Step one of the plan was seminary. Step two was I was going to go to seminary and then I was going to go get a job somewhere in some church environment or ministry environment so that I could take the things that I'm learning and actually apply them in real time and that would be this great life situation. And so I started to submit my resume to countless different job postings.

I didn't really grow up in a specific theological tradition or denomination. So I cast a really wide net, all sorts of different churches and backgrounds, and I ended up countless job postings in churches that were within an hour or so commute of where I was living. And let me tell you, it was such an encouraging thing. There were zero offers, not even zero offers. There were zero interest, no takers, not even an interview to speak of. No one even looked at the interview, the resume, and was like, let's give him a shot, maybe an outside shot. We'll bring that guy in. No, not a single nibble at all. And a plan that started out with such hope and excitement really ended up in a place of frustration really quickly because it didn't pan out the way I wanted it to. I had a plan, it didn't pan out the way that I thought it should go.

And my hope for a future in ministry that I felt God was even calling me into just really wasn't happening as quickly or in a way that I thought it should happen. And I think we've all been in that kind of a place at some point in time for that in between spot, right? That place where we've been in between something we're in between, the mess has already occurred. It's getting messy in life, and yet the miracle has not yet shown up. Yet.
The in between time between the diagnosis happening and the healing coming, the in between time between the brokenness occurring and the being made whole on the other side of that happening. In between time between the heartbreaking moments and the heart mending places. And even though we almost always wish, and if you don't wish this, I think something's wrong with you, you probably need to go to counseling or something like that. But almost all of us wish that our hope would be realized quickly. The mess would get over really fast.

We get to the good stuff on their side, almost every one of us, the truth is, finds out that it often takes a whole lot longer than we ever thought it was going to take. We end up spending a whole lot more of our lives in the in between space than we ever really thought that we would ever spend in that space. And the question starts to become, what do you do in the place between the mess and the miracle? What do you do while you wait for hope to actually arrive? How do we live or act or engage in the midst of those agonizing moments in between?

Right? Those agonizing places that we don't even like to talk about. So this morning, what we're going to do is we're actually going to go back into the book of the prophet Isaiah where we were last week, where we're going to encounter people who find themselves in the midst of their own in between time, their own in between the mess that they've been in and the miracle that will come in the future at some point in. And we're going to be in Isaiah. And the book of Isaiah is typically split up depending on who you talk to and what scholars live.

It's usually split up into either two or three chunks there that based off of their different themes and different ideas that tend to show up in these different areas of Isaiah. And So the first 39 chapters, chapters one through 39, are largely, not 100%, but largely are about the infidelity, the unfaithfulness of the people of God to worship God wholeheartedly and then to commit to themselves to be a people of justice and of mercy and of true love toward one another and toward the world all around them. And it talks about then what God is going to do in light of or because of that infidelity in order to help draw or bring or correct those people back into a life of fidelity toward the way that God has always called them to engage in, to be. And then chapter 40 shows up and 40, really to the end of the book. Chapters 40 through 66 take on a completely different flavor.

In fact, if you're reading it all the way through, it kind of feels like whiplash all of a sudden. If you read it like 39, it's all kind of doomy and gloomy and really kind of rough stuff to get through. And all of a sudden 40 comes and you're like, wait, wait a second. What's going on here? And we'll read that at the beginning of chapter 40.
And the words start off with comfort. That's a strange thing to say. Comfort. All right. That means it's proclaiming.

And all of a sudden it changes take on this different flavor of the eventual ending of the suffering that the people of God have been experiencing. The restoration of the people of God to a different way of being and the good things that God has for his people moving forward into the future. So today we're going to be in Isaiah, chapter 40. If you have your Bible with, you can turn there. If you don't, you can pull it up on your screen.
Or it could be up on the screen up here as well. But in this passage, it's written to a people who've been dealing with an immensely difficult circumstance and situation that they've been dealing with for quite some time. They are people who have endured tragic hurt and pain. They've endured tragic hurt and pain. They've watched foreign empires come into their land and their land in absolute ruin.

They've watched this all take place. They've seen their family members die of starvation and hunger and all sorts of awful things all around them. There are people who have then been, many of them exiled, fellowed out of the land that was originally promised to them by God to their forefather Abraham. There are people who have endured famine and hardship and death and destruction. And they are people where comfort has not been something that they have experienced at all.

There's been no peace, no comfort, nothing like that at all for them for years on end. And then arise the words of God through the prophet Isaiah And Isaiah, chapter 40, verses 1 through 5, which say, comfort my people, Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over for all her sins.

But listen, it's the voice of someone shouting. Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord. Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God. Fill in the valleys and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves and smooth out the rough places.
Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken. Would you pray with me? And then we're going to jump into this and try to figure out what the world Isaiah 40 might have to say to those of us who are walking in the midst of places, between the messes and the miracles that happen in life. So Lord, we ask that you would just move in these moments, that your scripture would speak freely and openly to the power of your spirit into the hearts and minds of each one of us this morning.
May the words be your words that we hear, Lord. May everything else fall to deaf ears, Lord, so that you may get all the honor and the glory in everything. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. So the passage begins with God speaking to a people who find themselves between this mess that they've been dealing with for so long, this deep dark mess, and the miracle that will eventually come with the restoration of the people of God by saying the words, Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and that her sins are pardoned. God is saying to these people, these people who have no real hope going on, and I feel like restoration and the transformation that they long to see is taking way too long to take place, just like so many of us find ourselves in. And he's telling them that there is still some hope to be found, that one day the sad days will be gone, that God speaks to a day that when hurt and pain will be no more, will be over. In other words, there's hope.

And we see this theme reiterated throughout scripture. We get the revelation. We see this as a picture of what God has said that will ultimately come and happen in the future. That the sad day will be no more and pain and hurt will be gone. But God doesn't stop just by saying, hey, by the way, there's nothing to look for in the future.

Nice little picture. Enjoy that wishful thinking. And it felt good in the dead because it just says that there's hope. But he continues in verses three and four of this, saying to them, listen, it's the voice of someone shouting to clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord to make a straight highway for the wasteland, for our God to fill in the valleys and to level the mountains and the hills, to straighten the curves and smooth out the rough places. I don't know about you, but it seemed like an interesting thing to say right after his words of, hey, comfort and no more sadness, and the sad days are over and there's going to be pain and all this stuff will eventually be gone, all these kind of things to hope for.

And then he turns around and says there's some work to be done. These verses get picked up actually in the New Testament by the gospel writers as they are talking about the person John the Baptist, which we're going to get to, actually in a few minutes. But I think what's amazing to me about this is that he's speaking to people who are in exile, who are in the midst of deep mess, and he tells them that it isn't just the work of God. It is that. But isn't just the work of God that the people of God are supposed to.

It's not just his work. And the people of God are supposed to sit back and go, cool, thanks, God, for doing that. That's awesome. Thanks for doing that. I'm going to be on my Chase Lounge watching the super bowl, and you do your thing.

And I'm just going to hang out and chill while you do your thing. And I'm just going to sit back. But actually, what God is saying that, yes, there's this beautiful day in the future that we are all hoping for, but I'M asking you not just to hope for it, but I want you to hope in it. I want you to be a participant. I want you to live differently in light of it.

It's an invitation by God with a peaceful people of God who are in the midst of the mess, to be active participants as they await the fulfillment of their hope. The people are given a call to be about the work of helping to clear a pathway through the wilderness, to make paths straight, to make a straight highway, to fill in valleys, to level mountains and hills, to strengthen, to straighten the curve and smooth out the rough places. In other words, what's interesting is that all these pictures are things that the people of God are to do as they await the fulfillment of their hope. As they sit in that time between the mess and the miracle, they are called to these things. And what's interesting is that almost all of these things, and I like to make a piece of all of them, are about getting rid of the hinges, the difficulties, the things that get in the way of things moving freely and openly and evenly and equitably among God's people.

That it's about leveling the playing field in so many different ways. This is why, actually, I think this is what he's calling them to, is just as seeking wholeness, making kinds of work in the midst of the moments that they're in their mess, waiting for their miracle, that if they wake up, the fulfillment of that which we hope for, that we're supposed to work toward. And the word is not in this actual passage, but it's an image that is used throughout the Old Testament all the time of what they look like when the sad days are no more and the things that the people of God are supposed to work towards, which is the word shalom. Shalom is always translated. It's always translated as peace in your Bibles, which is a good translation, really.

I mean, it's a good. The right translation for it, but it's a piece that it's really more nuanced, deeper really in many ways than what most of us think of peace. Because the Hebrew word for peace, shalom, contains so much more than simply a lack of conflict. It's not just that two sides are no longer fighting with one another, but instead it brings about the ideas of fullness and wholeness and completeness and justice in the midst of that peace. It's a peace that's born out of when everything is the way it spoke to be in the world, you know, those few fleeting moments you've experienced before where you just kind of sit back and go like, this is.

This is the way it's supposed to be. And there are full moments, there's a wholeness of those moments, there's a completeness of those moments. That's the type of peace that he's talking, that the Old Testament constantly is calling the people of God to. And that I believe God is saying here that we're supposed to be a people that clear ways through wilderness and make straight highways and fill in valleys and level mountains and straight curves and smooth out the ruffling, that we're supposed to be about that same kind of justice seeking and wholeness making and shalom making work in the world while we wait for God to bring about the miracle in our midst. And as the people of God engage in this shalom making work of justice in the world while they wait for God to move the rest of the way and bring about the miracle, God continues then to say, then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all people will see it together.

The Lord has spoken. Did you catch it here? That it's actually going to be through the justice works, through the shalom making, works through the peacemaking work, through the straightening of the highways and the making, the leveling of the mountains and the building up of the valleys and the strengthening of the turns, that it's through that work. He says then, or because of, or because of these things, that is how the glory of the Lord will be revealed, that because of those things happening, people will see the wholeness and the shalom and the peace, that the glory of the Lord will then be revealed through that. And seen by all people that these things, this justice making stuff, this shalom making, this wholeness making ministry, this way of working so that we kind of leveling out the plaintiff and making a path for the Lord to move in power actually becomes the greatest evangelistic tool at our disposal.

Because it becomes a living demonstration of what God's presence at work among his people actually looks like.

As I noted earlier, Isaiah chapter 40 is a passage that gets picked up in the New Testament by the Gospel writers and attributed to the person of John the Baptist. It's attributed to and directed towards the ministry of the person of John the Baptist. And in Mark, chapter one, the Gospel of Mark begins with these words. It says, this is the good news about Jesus, the prophet of the Son of God. It began just as the prophet Isaiah said, look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you and you will prepare your way.
He is a voice shouting in the Wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord's coming. Clear the road for him. And they said this messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they have repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. This is going to be a strange statement to make, but I just want you to go with me on it because I'm going to try to try to make you believe what I believe at the end of this week.

But here's what I say. I think John the Baptist is one of the most hope filled people in the entirety of the New Testament. In many ways, I think he's the picture of what it looks like would be someone that hopes in the Lord, not just hopes for a better day sometimes in the future, but actually live differently in light of that hope that he is given. And I say that not because John's story is really all like sunshine, unicorns and lollipops. It's not a picture of the most hopeful thing on the surface, to be completely honest.

John's life, he lives his entire life dirt poor, living almost his entire adult life out in the wilderness. Which is not like he's hanging out in the woods, hunting deer in the wilderness. This is him. He's in the middle of the hot sun of the desert without a tree in sight, just being beat on by the sun day after day after day after day. He eats locusts and honey, most likely not because they were the most appetizing thing that he could find around, but they were probably the thing that he could afford and find to be able to survive. He wears itchy camel's hair for clothing. Again, not probably because he woke up that morning and was like, you know what I want to wear for the rest of my life? As the itchiest purr I could possibly find, but probably because that's what he could get his hands on. And beggars can't be choosers when it comes to what you're wearing. He has no cultural, no political, no economic power to speak of to the religious leaders he's seen as a threat. He ends up being arrested by the Romans because he deemed and seemed to be an agitator. He's messing things up, he's agitated, so let's throw him in prison where he can't agitate things. And then finally, the end of this story, the glorious, beautiful end of the story is that he is beheaded while in prison as a gift to a girl because she danced real good at a party.
That's literally the end of the story. She danced for life. And the guy asked her, what do you want for, you know, the thank you for dancing all night. And she goes, I'll take the head of John the Baptist on the platter. And that's the end of the story.

Hopeful, right? The picture of hope, right? It's not. It's not the picture of what a hopeful life or hopeful end looks like. I doubt there's a person here that sits there and goes, you know what?

Give me the John the Baptist treatment, God, I'll take that. That's what I want out of my life. And yet, in all those circumstances, John still lives and preaches and ministers out of an immense hope. He still speaks in the midst of the circumstances to a day coming in the future when all things are going to be made new. Even though everything around him is old and messed up and not ran.

He still points to a future where God will ultimately reign. Even though his life is literally being directed by all sorts of other people who seem to be reigning over him. He still points to a hope in a day when sin, evil will finally be vanquished. Even though he is the recipient of so much sin and evil in the world. He still points people to Jesus and prepares the way of the Lord even though he finds himself in the midst of those deep valleys more than almost anyone else.

You see, it is this hope that I think leads him to live as a minister out of the reality of what his hope actually is in instead of what his current circumstances are. And that's the real differences between are we hoping for this pie in the sky future or are we hoping in something? You see, John believed that hope really truly was dawning. And because of that he got to work preparing the way of the Lord. True hope, gritty, down to earth hope, hope that meets us in the midst of the mess calls us to work toward that which we have put our hope in while we sit in that space between the mess and the mirror.

Even though the world around us and the reality of many of our situations may look very different than the picture of hope that is found in Jesus Christ and will ultimately be realized in Jesus Christ. We get the opportunity to engage now in the midst of the message in God's kingdom, revealing and justice working vision of the future out of our hopes in who God is and what he has done through Jesus death and his resurrection.

This week, it's not the easiest week at the Remsch family. I'm not going to get into specifics or details or anything, but just Suffice it to say that the week has been a week that has led me to personally know in many ways what it means to find yourself in a space between messes and miracles. In all honesty, I didn't start out this week with a great attitude of wanting to live with a great hope in something. I wasn't really a John the Baptist. Let's go continue to do this whole thing.

In fact, I spend more time than I want to admit this week sulking a little bit, dodging phone calls. My old person does that. Sometimes when you get down, you're like, I probably need to talk to that person. I don't want to talk to that person. You know, dodging text messages, right?

Like someone not returning a text. With someone texting, they're like, that's why the person I need to text back. I don't want to talk to them. All right, they're going to tell me the thing I probably need to hear but don't want to hear. So that's not going to return the text.
Feeling discouraged and on Wednesday morning, I came back to the prophet Isaiah again. Read Isaiah chapter 40 yet again. And the words of the prophet Isaiah to the people of his day very clearly became the words of the Lord for me as well as I will remind us the comfort of God's promises and also the call to be about God's kingdom, work in the world as a way of living out faith in our hope in the world, in the world. Sorry, it's no secret. I shared earlier that our congregation as a whole is going through a time of hurt, of pain, of disease, of struggle, of difficulty.

It's rampant. The mess is extremely real for many of us. And the reality of the difficulties of in between times, like, it's a little too close to home for a lot of us. It's like, oh, I don't want to talk about this, Pastor. Leave the hospital probably is why I gave like the sermon description in an email this week.

Shouldn't have done that. I think that's why maybe you people are like, yeah, probably not going to church. I don't really do Psalm 23 next week or something, make it a little easier on everybody. But. And in these moments, can we just be honest that it's really easy to get discouraged.

It's really easy to feel like everything, excuse the phrase, it's gone to hell in a handbasket. We're not really sure what to do. And it can be tempting, maybe more than tempting, to sulk a little bit, to move away from community instead of toward it to develop maybe a little bit of woe is me or woe is our situation mentality diverse for everybody else. But I think it's in those hard moments that we also get a decision that's put before us. I didn't do well the first couple days figuring out what the answer to that decision was going to be, but we got a decision.

Are we going to live in light of the current circumstance, or are we going to live out of our hope in the Lord and get to work preparing the way of the Lord in our world? So the question then becomes, how do we do that? How do you live out of our hope in the Lord and prepare for the way of the Lord today? Especially when we find ourselves in those in between times, between the mess and the miracle. Let me just offer you these are not the end all be all type of suggestions at all.

But let me just offer you maybe a couple of tangible actions, a spiritual formational practice maybe to pick up and to engage with, and a prayer prompt to pray even this morning and ask for God to make his way known to us and make his will known to us. So first of all, the tangible action, I think we can all ask the question how we can commit to shalom, work, justice, work, wholeness, work within our spheres of influence. How can we make a mountain just a little bit lower? How can we raise the valley just a little bit up? How can we straighten the road just a little bit for someone else and help to make the way of the Lord that much easier through that work.

There's a bunch of different organizations locally that you can serve with a way of doing this. The Frederick Rescue Mission is one Christmas Alive Garb tuning house in Frederick. There's a whole bunch of different groups that really at the heart what they do is they seek to make the mountains low, build the valleys up, straighten the pathway and make a highway for the Lord to be able to work among the people in this area. And there's multiple ways to get involved and with people that are already doing this work and doing great jobs to add. I think in addition to that, we also can find ways to give to others in their need at this time of year.

Especially, especially if you're one who has maybe a little bit excess yourself at this time of year. I know whatever it feels like when we have excess, but a lot of us have excess if we were to be objectively honest about where our situation in the world versus where maybe some others find this place so that we can give to others in Their need. Christmas Alive is a great way to do that. And there's still some families that need to be adopted. That's a fantastic way to do that.

If you're like, I can't do the distribution on the 14th, but I'm happy to help with it, or I can't make contacts, because if you're like, our family, we've got like eight concerts in four days this week or something like that that's going on. Can't get to the grocery store, up the items to go do this. I'd like you to be a part of it. Like, we can get creative. We can partner with someone else.

You've got the money, someone else has got the time. If you got the time, someone else probably have the money. All right. We can make this work and figure out a way to bless others and give to others in their need as a way of tangibly living into our hope in the Lord and to make straighter pathways for the Lord to move forward. I think in addition to those tangible steps, I think that there may be some formational practices, some habits that we can adopt that are going to help us, that might reinforce to us our hope that we have and what the end point of this whole Christian story is all about.

Because the end point is that one day that hope will be realized. One day the sad days are all gone. One day every tear will be wiped away and disease will be gone, and all the hurts will be gone and all the issues will be gone, and everything will be made whole again. Shalom again. And I think one of the ways that we can do that is start just the daily, simple formational practice of reading scripture on a daily basis.

I don't know if you realize this, but this time of year is like, if you're looking for a study or a reading plan to get into. This is like the. Like this is like the super bowl time of year. To be able to do that, like the lead up to Christmas, this time period, like, everybody's got a reading plan that they're trying to. Trying to offer out.

Everybody's got something to be able to help us to engage with the story of Christmas. Why not just start? There doesn't have to be that you read five chapters or 12 chapters or anything. Indeed. It can simply be that you read the verse of the day on the Bible app every day.

Start small. The point is not about whether we're starting in the middle of something or that we, you know, it's the. If the aids already. I missed the first seven days of the adhesive meeting program. The point is not about where you could check the marks off.
The point is about let's get started immersing ourselves, being in the story and being formed by. And then. And maybe most importantly, I think we need to pray. It seems so simple, and yet it's so easy to overlook it. To pray and to ask God to show us, how can we be about your kingdom revealing and justice making work in the world?

How can we go about doing that in a tangible way in our lives this week? Even. Even in the midst of our busyness or in the midst of our own needs, how can we be about that in a little way? It's amazing. When you ask the question of God and give some space for him to answer and attune yourself and open yourself up to.

To have. Maybe your first response be to say yes to the Lord instead of saying no is he'll show himself. He'll give brick opportunities. Doors will start to open, Conversations will start to take place. Things will open up, and they might be just different for you than it is for the person next to you than the person that's across the pew for you.

And so as our worship team starts to make their way back up here into the front, I figured that this morning maybe we just make space to do just that. Like, what if we just took some time this morning and we just prayed, but not prayed with our laundry list of guys, and here's what I need you to do. But what if we did the listening type of prayer where we just asked a question and this is crazy, but then we just listen?

I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that when God listens to my pray, there's a couple times he just wants to go, be quiet. Shh, shh, shh. I'd like to say something, too. You just keep talking. Like, you don't let me get a word in any lives.

You just keep. You got stuff to say, that's great. I want to hear from you, but, like, I want to say something. I want to speak into your life. I've got something I want you to do.
Why don't we just create a space to listen to the Lord and hear what he has to say for us this morning?