The Paradox Of Sacrificial Love

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. So we are in the Gospel of Mark. As Pastor John has illustrated, and as we've been tracking along, an extremely long worship series. So what I wanted to do was to take the worship series on Mark and do a subset. I can't remember the name of that movie that was about a dream within a dream within a dream? Inception. Not Conception. No, Conception, that was a different movie. Inception, there's a dream within a dream within a dream. Well, what we're going to do, we're in the Gospel of Mark, which is its own worship series. And we're going to now, let's see, I did simply Jesus. We are now going to, for the next three weeks, do a subsection of the Inception and talk specifically and especially about the paradox of the theology of the cross. Because what we've got going on now in the Gospel of Mark, we've reached this point in time when the waters get a little rougher, when the truth gets a little harder to understand, where it's a little bit more difficult to digest. Which would you rather eat? A glazed donut or broccoli salad? The donut. The donut usually wins. Tao, would you rather have a donut or broccoli salad? Broccoli salad. I knew he was going to say that, so I'm going to base the rest of my sermon on broccoli salad. Well, it's because I'm not hungry, so I can throw it in the trash because I'm not hungry. It makes me hungry and then I'll probably eat all the food in the fridge. Welcome to my world, right there. Exactly. Thank you for bringing Tao, Charlie. It's going to get better from then. So, we're going to have to unfold some of this. What Jesus does now in Mark chapter 8 is take a turn into some very difficult truths. Up until this point in time, people who have been following Jesus have noted a few things, that he doesn't necessarily appreciate the authorities of the day. You'll notice, too, that he is able to do what he says. He is performing miracles, people are healed. As a matter of fact, right before we begin in John chapter 8, he heals a blind man in a really, really interesting one that I thought I could go down that road, but that's a whole other story. So, we're going to just kind of mention it and then ignore it from that point on. Jesus heals a guy slowly by spitting in his eyes. And the guy goes, well, I see that people look like trees, which is kind of what I say to my ophthalmologist when I go get my glasses fitted. And then Jesus re-does it until it gets clear, and it's a whole other thing. But he's doing miracles, and there's a pattern. He does a miracle, he pulls somebody aside, he doesn't want it to be a big show, and he says, don't tell anybody about this! It's called the Messianic Secrecy, and we talked about how Jesus didn't want to become a showman, didn't want this all to be the focal point. The reason why he kept this Messianic Secret up is because of where we're at today in this subset series called the Paradox of the Theology of the Cross, or the Paradox of Sacrificial Love, or the Weighty Momentum of Putting Yourself First. So, at the heart of the message here today is going to be this reflex that you and I have, this automatic, autonomic reflex to think first and foremost about us, me. And what Jesus is about to do is say, you know what, for you to make it into eternity, all I want you to do is kill that reflex. Eww. All you have to ask. So, Jesus doesn't want to make a better you. Jesus isn't interested in fixing you. Jesus isn't interested in making you your best self. Jesus wants to kill you and trust that he will rebirth you. Are you ready for that? Let's go. Thank you, John, for handing me this part. Wow. So, let's talk about a paradox first. Let's define a paradox. A paradox is a statement or proposition which on the face of it seems self-contradictory, absurd, or at variance with common sense. Though, on investigation or when explained, it may prove to be well-founded, or according to some, though, it is essentially true. So, you know you run across a paradox and you go, pffft. Then you go, well, well, well, Ooh. Oh, by the way, yes. These books will be on sale in the lobby. I wrote a book called The Love Paradox. It was based on my doctoral dissertation. The reason why I bring this up is because I have studied biblical paradox thoroughly. I love the study of biblical paradox because therein lies the truth, which is different. I don't necessarily love biblical paradox like broccoli salad, but it's just good for me. So, the whole love paradox phenomenon is about this. Seven times the Bible says, Love your neighbor as yourself. What does he mean? Why did he say that? What are the contexts? I've been appearing seven different times. Well, it turns out that the biblical paradox here, in summarized, is just this. If I will love myself the way God loves me, if I will care for myself the way God would call me to care for myself, yo...