LAST IS FIRST (4 OF 5)
Scripture: Matthew 19:13, Matthew 19:16-30
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Last Is First (4 of 5)
Series: Paradox
Dave Gustavsen?
Matthew 19:13-30
We're taking a few weeks to talk about this idea of ''paradox.'' A paradox is something that, when you first look at it, it makes no sense. It seems contradictory. But then, when you look closer, you realize that it actually makes sense in a way that you never saw before.
For example: we've all seen this, right? (Video of wagon wheel effect). You're watching a wheel on a car, and all of a sudden, the wheel starts spinning backwards. But the car's still moving forward. They call it the ''wagon wheel effect,'' and there are actually multiple theories about why this happens. But the point is: It appears contradictory, right? The wheel's spinning that way; the car's going that way! It doesn't seem to make sense. But appearances can be deceiving. So that's what a paradox is. And a lot of times, when Jesus taught, this is the effect it had on people. It didn't make sense. Sometimes it seemed backwards. But those who stuck around realized that the words of Jesus were actually more true and more coherent than anything they'd ever heard before.
So today we come to our fourth paradoxical teaching of Jesus: the first will be last, and the last will be first.
Have you ever noticed that our culture is obsessed with ranking things? We do it all the time. For example, these statements are all true...
My college basketball team is now ranked 10th in the nation.
When I graduated from high school, I was ranked 16th in my class.
Hunan Taste restaurant in Denville was just ranked the #1 Chinese restaurant in New Jersey.
New Jersey was just ranked the 5th worst state to retire in.
And this is hard to say, but...Tom Brady is the #1 ranked quarterback of all time. Ouch.
But we rank things all the time, right? Something in us wants to know how things stack up-what's at the top of the list and what's on the bottom. So we rank cars and dishwashers and movies and books and toothpaste ...
Series: Paradox
Dave Gustavsen?
Matthew 19:13-30
We're taking a few weeks to talk about this idea of ''paradox.'' A paradox is something that, when you first look at it, it makes no sense. It seems contradictory. But then, when you look closer, you realize that it actually makes sense in a way that you never saw before.
For example: we've all seen this, right? (Video of wagon wheel effect). You're watching a wheel on a car, and all of a sudden, the wheel starts spinning backwards. But the car's still moving forward. They call it the ''wagon wheel effect,'' and there are actually multiple theories about why this happens. But the point is: It appears contradictory, right? The wheel's spinning that way; the car's going that way! It doesn't seem to make sense. But appearances can be deceiving. So that's what a paradox is. And a lot of times, when Jesus taught, this is the effect it had on people. It didn't make sense. Sometimes it seemed backwards. But those who stuck around realized that the words of Jesus were actually more true and more coherent than anything they'd ever heard before.
So today we come to our fourth paradoxical teaching of Jesus: the first will be last, and the last will be first.
Have you ever noticed that our culture is obsessed with ranking things? We do it all the time. For example, these statements are all true...
My college basketball team is now ranked 10th in the nation.
When I graduated from high school, I was ranked 16th in my class.
Hunan Taste restaurant in Denville was just ranked the #1 Chinese restaurant in New Jersey.
New Jersey was just ranked the 5th worst state to retire in.
And this is hard to say, but...Tom Brady is the #1 ranked quarterback of all time. Ouch.
But we rank things all the time, right? Something in us wants to know how things stack up-what's at the top of the list and what's on the bottom. So we rank cars and dishwashers and movies and books and toothpaste ...
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