The Issue: To Be Served or To Serve - Life of Christ Part 33

It was November 1861 and things were not going well for the North. So Abraham Lincoln, who was then president of course, decided to go pay a visit to George McClellan, who was his commanding general in chief, so they could talk about some ideas and some options. Well, McClellan was staying at a house right here in Washington at the time and so Lincoln went over to see him and when he arrived, McClellan was out at a wedding. But the butler informed Lincoln that McClellan would be back real soon and so would he please have a seat in the living room.

And so Lincoln, along with his personal secretary Mr. Hayes, went in and had a seat. They waited about an hour and all of a sudden they heard McClellan come in and they heard the butler inform him that the president was awaiting him in the living room. Without saying a word, McClellan walked right past the living room, walked right up the steps and wasn't heard from for a while. About a half an hour passed and Lincoln was very patient and sat there, finally called the butler in and he said, would you mind going upstairs and checking to find out what happened to General McClellan? I mean, you know, is he not feeling well?

What happened? And so the butler went up to check, came back down a few minutes later and said, Mr. President, the general wants me to tell you that he has gone to bed and he will not be coming down this evening. Mr. Hayes, the secretary to the president, writes, and I quote, coming home, I spoke to the president about this matter, but he seemed not to have noticed it very much, saying it was better at this time not to make big points out of etiquette and personal dignity. He went on to say to me, Hayes, I will hold McClellan's horse if he will only bring us some success, end of quote.

What an incredible response to being snubbed like that. And you know, I doubt if there's very many Americans who would even recognize the name George B. McClellan if you told it to them. Certainly if you go down the Library of Congress and you look up biographies about George McClellan, there won't be very many where the ones about Abraham Lincoln fill a whole card drawer.

And if you go down to the mall and you look, you won't find the McClellan Memorial anywhere. And the reason that this is true is that people like George McClellan, arrogant egotists, they are not the people who touch the soul of this world. But it's humble men and servants, men like Abraham Lincoln who really make a difference in this world. And this morning I want to talk to you about being a servant because that's what our passage is all about. And I hope that you'll listen and I hope you'll listen not just with your ears, but with your heart and let God talk to you. Because I'm convinced that nothing is more crucial to the success of your family. Nothing is more crucial to the success of your personal relationships. Nothing is more crucial to the success of your ministry for Jesus Christ and the ministry of this church family than this single issue of you and I being servants.

And I hope you'll listen. Let's begin Luke Chapter 9, verse 46. It says that an argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus and the disciples are walking towards Jerusalem for the very last time. Jesus is headed for the cross. And remember that Peter and James and John have just been up on the Mount of Transfiguration. And with Jesus, they've seen his glory. They've seen him transformed. And now as they're walking towards Jerusalem, remember the other nine guys didn't go up there.

There's this big argument that comes up about who is going to be the big cheese and who's going to be the second big cheese and who's going to be the third biggest cheese and on down the line. You would think that these guys, having been up on the mountain, having seen the glory of Jesus Christ revealed, and then having realized that in spite of who he was, Jesus was not claiming his rights. He was not claiming his prerogatives. He was giving all of that up to go to the cross. You would think it would have produced some humility in these guys. But it didn't.

Here they are jockeying for position like a bunch of cheap carpetbaggers. Jesus confronted them head on. Verse 47. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. And he said to them, whoever welcomes this little child in my name, welcomes me.

And whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me. And if you want to know who's going to really be the greatest, it'll be he who is the least among you all. The way Jesus confronts them is by taking a little child. And he points to this little child and he says, okay, fellas, you want to know who's going to be the greatest one among you, the greatest one in the kingdom of God? I'll tell you who it is. It's the one who receives and cares for and welcomes this little child.

That'll be the one. Now, you say, well, what's Jesus talking about here, Lon? Is he saying the way to be the greatest in the kingdom of God is open an orphanage and care for a whole bunch of little kids?

No. No, that's not what he's saying. The point that Jesus is trying to make is a point about attitude. It's a point about perspective.

It's a point about world view and the way we see ourselves. That's what he's trying to get across to these guys. And he was trying to do it by saying to them, it's the person who cares for a little child.

You take that attitude and you make it your attitude and you'll be the greatest in the kingdom of God. Now, what does it take to care for a little child? Moms, dads, what's it take to welcome and care for a little child? Well, it takes a whole lot of hard work. Washing the laundry and changing the baby and feeding them and bathing them and cleaning the house takes a whole lot of hard work.

And it takes a whole lot of self-sacrifice. I mean, if you've got a child that you're taking care of, you've got a whole lot less time for yourself. You've got a whole lot less energy for yourself.

And, brother, you've got a whole lot less money for yourself. Believe me, I'll tell you the truth. You see, my dear friends, when you're taking care of a child, you're kind of like the energizer bunny. You just keep giving and giving and giving and giving. And that child just keeps taking and taking and taking. And that child can't return one thing to you that's of any value in the eyes of this world. That child can't give you power. That child can't give you money. That child can't give you prestige or fame or anything else. Basically, as a parent, you become that child's servant. That's what you do.

You serve that kid. Now, this is what Jesus was trying to communicate to these men. That in God's eyes, greatness comes through giving. That the way up in God's kingdom is the way down. And that in the army of Jesus Christ, promotions are given to servants. You know, what's interesting is that this is not the only time these guys argued about this.

As a matter of fact, if you read the gospel accounts, these guys are arguing about this all the time. And every time they argue about it, Jesus gives them the very same prescription for greatness. He redefines greatness for them every time they talk about greatness. Because, you see, he tries to make them understand that greatness is not based on how much power you can amass. It's not based on how many people you can push around.

It's not based on how much money you have or how many people know your name. That is the world's value system. That is the world's definition of greatness. And Jesus said, I reject that. That's not greatness. Jesus defines greatness in every one of these instances the very same way he did here.

It's the one who serves. And as the consummate example of that, he offers himself. He said in Matthew 20, when they were in the middle of another one of these arguments, he said, whoever wants to be the greatest among you needs to be the servant of all. And just as the Son of Man, I, did not come to be served, but I came to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. Jesus said, you want an example of greatness? Look at me. And I didn't come to be served, even though I could have demanded that. And I deserve it as God, but I came to serve others.

He said, well, Lon, I like what you're saying. Why don't we have more people like this in the world? Where are all these people?

Well, that's a good question. And the reason we don't have more people like this in the world is because there are some enemies. This kind of attitude has some enemies that work against it. And I want to show you three of them. Number one, jealousy.

We can see it right here with the disciples. They were jealous of one another. They were envious of one another. They wanted to be so careful that nobody got ahead of them, that nobody got an advantage over them.

Shakespeare calls it the green sickness. And friend, may I say to you, if you're concerned about anybody getting ahead of you, if you're concerned about somebody getting one up on you, you'll never be able to serve them. Because by serving them, you're trying to make them a success.

And if you can't allow that success to go beyond where you are, you'll never be able to serve people. Jealous people are not good servants. Second of all, the second enemy is arrogance. Look right here in Luke chapter 9, and it's interesting, right here in this passage, all three of the enemies of servanthood, the disciples display all three.

Of course, they're usually good at displaying everything that's bad, and they are here too. Look at this, verse 49. Master, said John, we saw a man driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn't one of us. He didn't come along with us. He didn't do it our way. Don't stop him, Jesus said, for whoever is not against you is for you.

Arrogance is what these disciples had. We're doing it right. Nobody else does it right. We're the only ones who get it completely right. This guy's not with us, so he's doing it wrong. We're better than all the rest.

Now, we're better than all the rest. Maybe okay is a cheer at a high school pep rally, but it is not okay as an attitude for life. And friends, Philippians chapter 2 says that serving others has to flow out of an attitude that we consider others better than ourselves. Well, arrogance is the sworn enemy of servanthood because arrogance is the exact opposite. Arrogance says that I'm better than everybody else is. You can't be arrogant and be a servant.

They're mutually exclusive. The disciples had a real problem with arrogance, and that's why they weren't great servants. Third enemy of servanthood is not only jealousy and not only arrogance, but third and finally, having a judgmental attitude. Always walking around judging everybody. Well, they're wrong, yes, and they ought to do this, and I ought to do this, and they're really awful here.

Look at them do this. Verse 51. As the time approached for Jesus to be taken to heaven, he resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Now, remember, I told you, Galilee's up here, Jerusalem's down here, and the space in between is a place called Samaria.

So he wanted to go the direct route right through Samaria. And it says here he sent messengers on ahead, and they went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him. But the people there did not welcome him because he was heading for Jerusalem. Remember, I told you, the Samaritans and the Jews didn't get along so good, and when they heard this party was going to Jerusalem, they said, nope, sorry, you're not coming through here. Well, when the disciples heard about it, they went ballistic.

Look at this. Verse 54. And when the disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, can you believe they did this to you?

Who do these people think they are telling you that you and we can't come in here? Lord, why don't we call down fire out of heaven and burn these people up? Now, this is John, the apostle of love, the guy who wrote 1 John. John said, you know, I was up on that mountain with you and I saw Elijah, and I remember what Elijah did. He called down fire from heaven.

How dare they tell you that? Why don't we pull an Elijah on them? Come on, Jesus, right out of heaven. We'll just burn that whole village up.

Let's do it. How dare they say that to us? And look what Jesus did. But Jesus turned and rebuked them. He said to them, hello, McFly, what's wrong with you people? This is not being a servant. I'm on my way to Jerusalem to die on the cross to make a way for these people to have eternal life and you guys want to burn them up? What is wrong with you people?

Come on, he said, let's go to another village. And so they did. See, servants don't judge other people. They just serve people. They leave judgment to God. That's not their business. They just serve people. And the reason the disciples were not better servants is very simple.

They were jealous, they were arrogant, and they were judgmental. And when you've got those three things going on in your heart, you're not gonna be a very good servant. And the answer to the question, why don't we have more servants around? The answer is, because we've got a whole lot of people dealing with that kind of stuff in their heart and that's why we don't have a whole lot more servants in the church or outside of it. Those are the enemies of it. Now, that's the end of our passage, but it leaves us to ask the important question and that is, so what? Right, and I want to answer that. You know, when you look through the New Testament, there's one thing that is so clear in the New Testament and that is that Jesus Christ came in to the world to be a servant.

Over and over and over again, he says that. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. And it's interesting when you look in the Bible that Jesus told us that as Christians, this is exactly the way he wants us to live. Let's go back to Philippians chapter two. This is the letter Paul wrote the church at Philippi, Philippians chapter two.

If you're using our copy of the Bible, it's page 831. Philippians chapter two, and let me show you this. Verse three, Philippians chapter two, verse three. Here's what God says. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility, consider others better than yourselves.

Each of you should look out not only for your own interests, but also for the interest of others. Verse five, your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ. And what was the attitude of Jesus Christ? The Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve. This is the way Jesus Christ tells us to live. And you know what's interesting is that God promises us that the more we live this way, the more he will bless and honor our lives. Listen to Luke chapter six. Jesus says, give, and it will be given back to you.

Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, listen to that, running over will be poured into your lap. This is God's promise to servants. This is God's promise to givers. That's why Jesus said in the Bible, it is more blessed than to receive.

That's right, now I say from a human point of view, that's incorrect. It's much more blessed to receive because then you got it. When you're a giver, you give it away and then you don't got it no more.

But you see, Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive because when you give, then you activate the promise of God and supernaturally God gives more back to you than you ever gave away every time. Now the world out there says this is stupid. The world out there will hear me say something like that and go this is incredibly stupid, Lon.

When you go out of your house in the morning, brother, you got to lock and load. I mean, that's a tough world out there. And all that stuff about serving other people and being nice to other people, that's great church talk.

God bless you, we love you. Great church talk, Lon. But you go out there in the real world and you try to live like that and people will eat you for lunch, buddy.

It's a great preacher talk. But don't go out there and try to live it. Now, you know what? I'd like to say two things in response to that. The first thing I'd like to say is that people who tell you that are right.

You say they are? Yeah, they're right. They're right.

You go out there in the world and you try to show people a soft servant spirit and they will try to take you for all your worth. They're right. But you see, the problem is they're right except that they left one small detail out of their equation. And what they left out is a supernatural living God.

That's what they left out. If there was no supernatural living God, then living this way would be stupid. You're right. But when there's a supernatural living God who has promised you give and I will give back to you running over, I'll pour it in your lap, then that makes them wrong.

That makes them wrong. Because God's promise is no matter how much you give, if you're willing to serve people, I'll fill your cup up faster than anybody out there can drain it. You don't have anything to worry about. Give, give and it'll be given back to you, not by people out there.

Don't worry about them. It'll be given back to you by me, God says. The second thing I'd like to say is not only have they missed a very important point, but second of all, what's interesting to me is that the world may say living this way is stupid. But if you look for a moment at who the world holds up as its heroes, it's all the people who live the way they're telling you is stupid to live that way.

You follow what I'm saying? Look at all the heroes the world holds up. George Washington, what was the name of the man's life? He served his country, right? Mahatma Gandhi. Or we could hold up Winston Churchill or Albert Schweitzer or Frances Nightingale or all those nurses that were in Vietnam.

We dedicated that great memorial this weekend down in Washington to those women who served and served and served and served. Mother Teresa, Corrie Ten Boom, even Abraham Lincoln. Isn't it interesting that the world says to live that way is stupid? Isn't it interesting that the world says nobody in their right mind lives that way and yet years later it's not the Rockefellers and the Hitlers and the Donald Trumps who took and pushed and shoved and had and got that the world honors and reveres. The world doesn't want anything to do with those people years later. But rather it's the people who live the way Jesus is saying to live.

Isn't that interesting? The people who gave and who cared and who loved and who hugged and who served and those are the people that the world holds up as its heroes. But yet the world tells you you can't live that way. Something doesn't make sense.

And what doesn't make sense is the world. Jesus is telling you right. Jesus is telling you exactly right. The fact that the world later honors the people who live the way Jesus is telling us to live only proves that Jesus Christ is right and that Phil and Oprah and Geraldo and Jenny and Beavis and Butthead, they're all wrong.

All of them are wrong. Jesus Christ is right. You know I often have people ask me what this church needs the most. What does McLean Bible Church need the most so I can pray for?

What do you think the answer to that question is? More money? Nah, we could use more money. How about more parking? Ah, we use more parking, you know. Wouldn't it be nice if God could just drop a parking garage from heaven and would just hover here on Sundays and then go away so the Board of Zoning Appeals couldn't even prove it was ever here?

Well, it's kind of my fantasy. What else do we need? Do we need more facility space? Sure, our children's ministry is kind of like Ms. Pac-Man just eating rooms up everywhere around here.

It's a great problem but we need more space. More staff, more Bible studies. What's the greatest need of our church?

You know, when I answer, none of those are the answer I give. Because I don't think any of those represent the greatest need of our church. The greatest need of our church family is more servants. The greatest need of our church family is more people with a servant spirit. By the way, what does your home need the most?

It needs more people with a servant spirit who are willing to care for one another and trade on one another and love one another and put the needs of one another ahead of their own needs. That's what your home needs the most. What does our Senate and our Congress need the most? You say, oh, I got all kinds of ideas about what those folks need. Well, I'd like to suggest to you what our Congress and Senate need the most is more servants. Men and women who are willing to serve, who aren't interested in their career, who aren't interested in their pocketbook, who aren't interested in all their perks, who aren't interested in all their own leisure and pleasure but who are genuinely interested in serving the needs of Americans and making the hard decisions that need to be made to do it regardless of what it costs them.

That's what our Senate and Congress need. What do the streets of Washington, D.C. need the most? More people with servant spirits? What does your office need the most? More people with servant spirits? You say, man, you write about that.

My boss needs a whole bunch of that stuff. Well, that's true, and so do you. My friend Jesus Christ knows what he's talking about.

There's a big difference between success Washington style and success Jesus style. And if you don't believe Jesus is right, then I would like to invite you to just take a good hard look around. And if this world system is so smart, if they know how to live so well, if they're so right about everything and if Jesus is so wrong, then you tell me why this world is so screwed up. Would you do that if they're so right and they're so smart? They don't know how to live.

If they did, the world would be so different. Jesus Christ is telling us how to live. And what he's calling us to as Christians is a different value system than the one this world operates on, a value system that will make you and me a blessing to other people, a value system that will make us happy and fulfilled human beings, a value system that will bring the supernatural blessing of God to bear on our life and a value system that Jesus Christ will produce inside of you if you'll just surrender your will to him and let him do it.

I'd also like to say if you're here and you're not a Christian, God has this same value system for you too. But the problem is that without Jesus Christ in your life, you can't ever live this way. You can't ever do it. You can want to do it, but you can't do it. And the reason for that is that these forces of jealousy and these forces of arrogance and these forces of a judgmental spirit are so strong in our flesh that there's no way in your own energy and power you can overcome that stuff.

I mean, I tried. When I was a young person, before I was a Christian, I wanted to live this way so bad. I was part of the hippie and the love generation, you know, peace and love and wanted to live that way. And I faked it and I pasted it on and I tried to do it, but you can't do it. The forces working against you in your sinful nature are too strong. You need, and I needed, a change from the inside out, a supernatural change to enable me to overcome those forces and really live as a servant. In order for it to be real, in order for it to be genuine, only Jesus Christ working inside your life can make that happen.

You can fake it and you can paste it on, but if you want to be authentic as a servant, you need Jesus Christ to do a supernatural work on the inside of you. And I hope you'll think about that. You know, when I was in high school, I hated English. Anybody else hated English?

Well, you don't have to raise your hand. I hated English. And the worst part about English was Shakespeare. I hated Shakespeare. Do they still have to read Shakespeare today? Oh, God bless you people. I thought maybe that would have gone out with spanking, but I hated Shakespeare and I actually met an English teacher.

This is true. Right after the second service in the foyer, I had a woman walk up to me and say, I'm an English teacher, but I'm teaching junior high in English because I hate high school English because I hate Shakespeare. This is an English teacher.

I said, oh, God bless you, lady. I wish I had had you for English. I love English teachers who are honest enough to admit that Shakespeare is boring. You can't understand him. Ridiculous.

I know he's great, but put him in the library where he belongs and let us read normal stuff. But anyway, what's that got to do with anything? Well, I don't remember much from my Shakespeare, but I remember a tiny little bit from Hamlet. Any of you guys remember Hamlet? Okay. Well, you'll remember this.

To be what or not to be, that is the question. That's about my total recall of Hamlet, but I got that. And I remember out, out, spot. I remember that.

I almost got myself in trouble, but I remember that. But that's about all my Shakespeare rolled up into one. Anyway, I want to change Hamlet's question around just a little bit. And I want to ask you to serve or to be served. What's your purpose in life? See, in every situation in life, if you boil it down, I boil it down, take away all the rationalizations, all the justifications, peel it all down, buddy, you're in every relationship either as a taker or a giver.

I mean, it just boils down to that. So what's your purpose in life? Are you here to take or to give?

It's one or the other. What Jesus says is that the people he rewards and the people he promotes and the people who make a difference are the ones who make it their purpose to give. There's a little children's book. Have you ever seen it?

It's called The Giving Tree. You know this book? What a great book.

If you've never read this book, go buy it. Put it on your shelf. They'll look at you a little weird when you go in a kid's store and buy it, but that's all right.

Just smile at them and buy it. Let me read it to you because it applies. Once there was a tree and she loved a little boy. And every day the boy would come and he would gather her leaves and he would climb up her trunk and swing from her branches and eat apples and they would play hide and seek. And when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade and the boy loved the tree very much. And the tree was happy. By and by, time went by and the boy grew older and the tree was often alone. And then one day the boy came to the tree and the tree said, come boy, come and climb up on my trunk and swing from my branches and eat my apples and play in my shade and be happy.

And the boy said, I'm too big to climb and play. I want to buy some things. I want to have fun. I want some money. Can you give me some money? I'm sorry, said the tree.

I don't have any money. All I've got is apples, but why don't you climb up and take my apples, boy, and sell them in the city and then you'll have money and you'll be happy. And so the boy climbed up the tree and gathered all of her apples and carried them away. And the tree was happy. But the boy stayed away for a long time and the tree was sad. And then one day the boy came back and the tree shook with joy and she said, come boy, climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and be happy.

I'm too busy to climb trees, said the boy. I want a house to keep me warm. I want a wife and I want children and so I need a house. Can you give me a house? Well, I don't have a house, said the tree, but you can cut off my branches if you want and take them and build a house for yourself and maybe then you'll be happy. So the boy cut off all the branches of the tree and carried them away to build his house and the tree was happy.

But the boy stayed away for a long time and when he came back, the tree was so happy to see him, she could hardly speak. Come, boy, she whispered. Come and play.

I'm too old to play, said the boy and too sad. I want a boat that'll take me away from here. Can you give me a boat? Well, cut down my trunk and make a boat, said the tree. Then you can sail away and be happy and so the boy cut down her trunk and made a boat and sailed away and the tree was happy.

After a long time, the boy came back again, but he was an old man now. I'm sorry, boy, said the tree. I don't have anything left to give you. My apples are gone. My teeth are too weak for apples, he said. My branches are gone, said the tree.

You can't swing on them. I'm too old to swing on the branches, said the boy. My trunk is gone, said the tree.

You can't climb. I'm too tired to climb your trunk, the boy said. I'm sorry, sighed the tree. I wish I could give you something, but I have nothing left. I'm just an old stump.

I'm sorry. Well, the boy said, I don't need very much now. Just a quiet place to sit and rest. I'm very tired. Well, said the tree, straightening herself up as much as a stump can. She said, an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, boy, sit down on my stump.

Sit and rest. And so the boy did. And the tree was happy. You know, I read that book this week, and I sat back and I tried to think about all the givers in my life, all the trees in my life.

You know what I'm saying? People who've given and given and given and given to me. Do you have some trees in your life? We have a lady in our church, a very dear lady who just passed away. Her name is Eleanor Simon.

And, you know, I got to thinking, this is one of those ladies who, when I think of this tree, I think of this woman. The last time I ever saw her here at our church, a few months ago, she was dying of cancer, very painful. And she came in, and the first thing she said to me is, she said, how's your little girl doing? She said, I'm praying for your little girl.

I pray for your little girl every day. How's she doing? And I thought, something's wrong with this picture. This woman's dying of cancer. She can hardly even walk. She's ill and she's sick. And here she is asking about my problem. Something's wrong with this picture, but not really, huh?

Not really. Because this was a woman who was a tree. She never talked about herself. She never asked about herself. The whole conversation I had with her, all she wanted to know is how I was doing, how my family was doing, how my little girl was doing. How could she pray for us?

What an incredible gal. A tree to the end. And so I guess my question to you is, are you a tree or are you a boy? Are you a taker or are you a giver? And you know, after I thought about all the givers in my life, I took a moment to think about the takers.

And you know what it seems to me? Takers live very lonely lives. And takers make very little impact on this world.

And when takers leave this world, they have very few cars in their funeral processions. Being a taker is a sad life. God doesn't want you to be a taker. God wants you to be a giver. God doesn't want you to be like the boy. He wants you to be like the tree. There's a joy in being like the tree. Even though you might end up as just an old stump when it's all done, it's all right.

God blesses people who give. And so my question for this morning as I leave you is, if you're more of a taker than you'd like to admit, and many of us here are, including your pastor, the question is, are you prepared to ask God to change you from the inside out and make you more of a servant? God won't force you. You can live like the boy if you want to, even as a Christian.

But do you see the value in being like the tree? I hope you do, and I hope you'll ask God to change you from the inside out. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the word of God this morning. And Lord, we know the word of God is no good if it doesn't change our life. Theology is no good if it doesn't change the way we live.

Preaching is no good if it doesn't change the way we view ourselves and the world. And so, Lord, I pray that you would allow the word of God to accomplish in our hearts today what you gave it to accomplish, that you would change the very way we see ourselves and that you would change the very way we see the world. Redefine greatness for us, Lord.

And forgive us for being so caught up in pursuing it the world's way that we've been walking right by the living room, just like McClellan did, with you sitting in the room saying, if you'll just do it my way, I'll show you how it's done. Lord, make us more like the tree, less like the little boy. Make us more like you because you didn't come to be served but to serve and to give your life for others. Make us servants, Lord, and in doing so, make us a blessing to others. Help us make a difference for the kingdom of God and in the process, we know we'll live meaningful and fulfilling lives. Change our lives by what we've heard today, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. .