Video Transcript: Noblesse Oblige

So, we talked last time about our mentality. Do we see ourselves as reapers? If you're sowing the seed out there, keep at it. Never quit. You have to plant before you can reap. But Jesus calls us to be reapers. Because we're surrounded by a harvest. Think, for example, of sports. A team that isn't as good as another team can psyche themselves up, can see themselves and say, "We can do this!" And they go out and beat a team that's much better than they are. It happens many, many times. 

And here's an interesting thing that I've seen in the 53 years that I've been preaching. There are some Sundays when I'm prayed up, when I'm prepared up, when I'm geared up, and God just works through me on those Sundays. In a way, I go home, "I say Jesus, I don't what you were doing today, but it was there." It's because I see myself in that way. Today, I'm going out as his spokesperson. How do we see ourselves? 

Our lesson, this time, is in a French expression - noblesse oblige. What that means is the "obligations of the nobility." If you are in a kingly family, if you are in a royal family, you have certain obligations on you. You have to live in a certain way. You have to talk in a certain way. You have to set that example. You and I are in the royal family. That's what we're talking about all the time. You and I belong to Jesus, the king. He's our brother. We belong to the Creator of the Heavens and the earth. He's our Father. We have their royal power living within us. There are obligations on us because we are spiritual nobility. And I want to ask you, are you that today? You don't get that by knowing about Jesus. You only get it by knowing Jesus himself by having given yourself to him. 

It says in, John 1:12, "To as many as received him, to those who believed in his name, to them he gave the right to become the children of God." You become royalty when you accept Jesus. Let's pray about it and then, move on.

Jesus, so easily, we call you our Lord. And that's because you are a king. We are your brothers and sisters, and that makes us royalty. We're children of the Heavenly King. And we have that kingly power within us. We accept it gratefully. We accept it humbly. And we accept it responsibly. We are going to live like spiritual royalty for you. We love you. Amen.

And before we move on, I want to go back to that thoughtless concept again, because that's so important about what we're talking about in this whole course. I told you about - and I'm going to repeat it again - I told you about the lady with the four children whose behavior was so exemplary. And when I complemented her on it, she said, "Yeah. And they do it so thoughtlessly. It's part of them." 

And that's an important part for us as well. That the vocal witness, we don't have to think about it. It just flows out of us, especially because we are royalty, and it's the obligation of the royalty to be a vocal witness for Jesus. That's who we are. So, I want to share a verse with you. It's just an incredibly rich verse. As we saw last time, you can take just about any word in the Bible and it's full of meaning. Listen to this in Mark 1. "As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother, Andrew, casting a net into the lake for they were fishermen. 'Come follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will send you out to fish for people.' At once, they left their nets and followed him."

Now, back in one of the earlier sessions, I talked about this, because it is so crucial. We saw, in our last session, that Jesus calls us not to be craftsmen for him, but to be workers. And I asked you this question. When we look at this passage, why did Jesus promise them that they would fish for people? That's what it says. "I will send you out to fish for people." Why? What does it say? "For, they were fishermen." 

He didn't say to them, "I'm going to send you out to build a new spiritual house for people." 

They would have said, "Lord, we're not builders."

He didn't say, "I'm going to send you out to win the battle for people's hearts."

They would say, "Lord, we're not military."

But he talked to them right where they were. And he said, "Fishermen? Ah! I know this will turn you on. I am going to send you out to fish for people."

"You're a bookkeeper? Oh, I'm going to send you out with a message so that people can keep their lives orderly. You're a nurse? Oh, I'm going to send you out so that you can show people how to live healthy. You're an attorney? Oh, I'm going to send you out so that you can show people how they can be right with God. You're a student? Ah! I'm going to send you out so that you can help people learn about me." 

Jesus comes to you wherever you are, whoever you are. And he says, "You are going to win people for me." And you know, I think if you're like me when I first started to think about these things - maybe you're biggest feeling now is surprise. "Me, win people for Jesus? No, that's for pastors. That's for people with special gifts. That's for Billy Graham and all those other evangelists who go around the world. But I'm only," and then we put in what we do. It surprises us. But it shouldn't surprise us if we knew the Bible. Because all through the Bible, it talks about God using us to win souls.

Proverbs 11:30 says, "The person who wins souls is wise." 

Daniel 12:3 says, "Those who turn many to righteousness shall shine like the stars."

Remember, we looked at that passage of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:22. He says, "I became everything to everybody, so that I might win some." Paul is the one who told us how God has to bring us home. Paul is the one who is talking, always, about the work and the Holy Spirit. Paul is the one who taught us so much about being dead in sin. And yet, he doesn't have any hesitation to say, "Through my life, through my vocal witness, I am going to save some." That's surprising language. 

And then, the last thing that James wrote when he wrote his letter, he talked always about how important it was to let our faith be shown in actions and in words. And the very last thing he said was this. And we always listen carefully to people's last words. "He who turns a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death." That's you and me - reapers. Surprised, but reapers. That we can save a soul from death. We know all sorts of theology. We know all sorts of Scripture. They say, "No, it has to be the Holy Spirit who leads." 

"No, it has to be Jesus who forgives." Yes, we know it all.

But God uses us directly as he works indirectly through us to save people. He who turns a sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death. And besides from being a surprise, isn't it a tremendous honor? Just think of that - that Jesus wants people to turn from wickedness to righteousness, from death to life. And do you know who he asked to do that? You and me. He sends us out as reapers into a harvest. Can you imagine? 

Sometimes, when people work for an important company, they like to let you know that. "Oh, yeah. I work over there." Or when they've graduated from a high-ranking college, they always like to wear the ring and let you know, "I was a graduate there."  Or maybe a pastor of a large church with a big, beautiful campus, he likes to let you know, "That's the church where I'm a pastor." 

Imagine, all that stuff is going to disappear one day, and Jesus, the King of kings, comes to you-- he doesn't demand it, doesn't threaten, but he calls you. He says, "Follow me. And you are going to win people over to me through your vocal witness." What an honor. 

But we have to look at something there first. It says, "I will send you out to fish for people." We love that. But that's a second part of a quote. The first part says, "Follow me, and." That's what ties it together. "And I will send you." What does the "and" go to? First, we have to follow him, "and then, you will bring people to me." So, what does that mean. First, we have to follow him and then, he sends us. 

In John 10:4, Jesus, in that chapter, calls himself the Good Shepherd. And in verse four, he says, "My sheep know my voice and they follow me."

I have emphasized this all the way through this course with you. It's not enough to know about him. "My sheep know my voice." Do you know him? And you have to know him before you can follow him. "My sheep know my voice and they follow me." Do you know his voice?

There was a man in the Old Testament by the name of Job. He had it good: big business, large family, lots of people working for him, good health. And satan came and said to God-- this is to teach us what goes on. He said to God, "No wonder he loves you. Look how good he has it." 

God said, "He doesn't love me for that. He loves me for me." 

And satan said, "Sure. You take that away, and then, see what happens."

So, God gave satan permission and remember that always. Satan works under permission. Satan is not in charge. God is. 

And so, satan went out and he did some awful things. First, he ruined Job's business. Then he took away Job's family. And then, he took away Job's health. And in all of that, Job did not sin, because his heart was right with God. And at the end of those experiences, after God brought him back and took care of him, Job said this, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you."

I wonder if that talks about us, knowing God. That we've heard so much about him. Maybe you go to a great church, maybe you've read the Bible a lot, maybe you've gone to Sunday school or special doctrine classes or a school where they talked about Jesus. We hear about him all the time. And you've heard much about him. Does your eye see him? That's the first part about being able to fish for people. And that is that we have to know him in order to follow him. 

Then, in order to follow him, we have to obey him. Jesus was talking once in Luke 9:23. He said there, "Deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me. Deny yourself before you can follow me." What's in your life that's more important to you than Jesus?

Do you know where that word "deny" was used?  On the night before Jesus died, Peter stood with some other people and Jesus was over there with his worst enemies, and they had beaten him and mocked him, and somebody came up to Peter and said, "Do You know that guy over there?" 

And Peter said, "No." Peter denied it. He said, "I don't know him." 

And then, a little bit later, they came up to him again and said, "But you sort of talk like he talks. Are you sure you don't know him?" 

And Peter even cursed and he said, "I DON'T KNOW HIM." And with that kind of power, he denied Jesus. He said, "It's not mine. I don't know him. I don't want him." 

And my friends, that's what we have to do with our life. We have to deny ourselves. "I don't know Ren. I don't know Ren's dreams. I don't know Ren's fears. I don't know Ren's habits. I don't know what Ren wants. I don't know Ren's possessions. I deny myself. I empty myself so that I may follow him." What is there in your life that stands between you and Jesus?

And then, the third thing to follow him is we have to trust him. There's a tender story in Matthew 9, the chapter we were just in, verse 27, about some guys who were blind. They couldn't see a thing, of course, because they're blind, they're beggars, they're downtrodden and they hear the voice of Jesus. And they follow him. In their blindness, they're groping all over the place. They're following him because they trust him. "Jesus! Jesus! Help us to see." What trust that is. And so, to follow Jesus, we have to know him. We have to deny ourselves. We have to obey him. And we have to trust him. 

Say, "Jesus, you called me as a worker into your harvest field. I'm going to go do it."

In fact, Jesus said once in Luke 14:26, "If you don't hate the things that are so dear to you, you can't follow me." That's a strong word. Do you know why? Because he included our families there. Even our families cannot stand between us and Jesus. That's a hard saying. 

Martin Luther, the reformer, said once, "God's grace should cost us our life," and I believe it. The way we will fish for people is if we follow Jesus. 

Oliver North is a well-known TV person in our country. He served in the U.S. military for many years. And now, he goes all over the world giving reports. And when he was in Iraq during a war there, he told this story - that a U.S. medic picked up a person who was gravely wounded and was carrying him to the hospital helicopter. And another person called out and said, "Don't you know he's an Iraqi?" 

And the medic said, "Don't you know he's wounded?" 

That has meaning for us. Somebody will say, "Don't you know he's a drunkard?"

 And you say, "Don't you know he's not forgiven?"

"Don't you know she's committing adultery?"

"Don't you know she's not forgiven?"

"Don't you know that he cheats at business? Don't you know that he is a loud mouth at school? Don't you know that he is a very undesirable person?"

"Don't you know he's not saved?"

There was a great ad on TV a couple of years ago from the Royal Bank of Scotland. These people are sitting around the table having dinner, and a person at the next table begins to choke on his food. And they all sit there saying, "If somebody would do the Heimlich on him, he could get rid of that." 

And another guy at the table says, "Yeah, if they don't get that out of there, he's liable to die."

And meanwhile, the guy is choking and falling over the table, looks like he's going to die, and someone at another table gets up, does the Heimlich on him, he spits it out and he lives. And the ad says, "Get it done." 

And Jesus says to us today, "Get it done." 

We sit here at our tables and we see people at other tables chocking to death on their sin, just about ready to enter eternity, and we talk with our theological knowledge or with our church talk, and we say, "That person's lost. The way that person lives, he's not going to make it. That person isn't forgiven. That person should be ashamed of himself."

Jesus shouts from Heaven and says, "Just get it done." 

You and I are ready to get it done for Jesus. It's all here. He honors us. He surprises us and calls us to be workers, to be fisherpersons for him. Let's do it.