"You Had One Job!"
EPISODE 218
Get Used to Different
On the heels of our 'Getting to Square One' mini-series — and before introducing our next series — we’re pausing to watch some TV! The Bible Geeks AV Club is back as we talk through 'The Chosen' Season 1, Episode 7. As always, our goal is to ground the show’s events in the relevant Biblical truths and events. We focus on Jesus' dialogue with Nicodemus in John’s gospel. What does it mean to be born again of water and the Spirit? What does the Bible really say about Nicodemus? We go through his story in a segment we call, “Hello, My Name Is…” and then we close with a Reach Out conversation. Building on a noteworthy comment by Jesus in the show, we discuss how we’ve each had to “Get used to different” as disciples.
Takeaways
The Big Idea: Keeping your faith tucked in your pockets for fear of offending or alienating someone leads to regret and lost opportunities.
Episode Transcription
Come on, John. Come on. You had one job. Well, hello, everyone, and welcome to the Bible Geeks Podcast. This is episode 218. I'm Bryan Schiele. I'm Ryan Joy. And thanks so much, everyone, for tuning in. We are back on the heels of our Getting to Square One little mini series that we were doing. We're going to continue in our Bible Geeks AV Club. This is The Chosen, season one, episode seven, Invitations. So that's right. We are in season one, episode seven of The Chosen. And I don't know, does this seem fitting after the conversations we've been having about evangelism? I feel like it does. Yeah. You busted out something from the Nicodemus conversation last time. I was wondering if you noticed that. In the questions of Jesus. Oh, yeah. No, that was cool. These episodes are so in line with the conversations around evangelism and making disciples as Jesus keeps calling new followers to himself. So thinking about this episode, let's get into an icebreaker question here. And the question is, growing up, Ryan, did you tend to pick truth or dare and why? Really, there's some risky stuff going on here in this episode, Invitations. So were you a truth or a dare kind of kid? Yeah. I agree with Jesus in this said something like, I am used to risk or something like that, or I'm not uncomfortable with risk. And I would definitely go dare on this as, especially as a kid doing something risky was more fun than talking. Come on. Talking. That's for my sister's slumber party. We do dares in my friendship group. What are we doing? What about you? I think I might've been more of a truth kid myself, but if I really get honest with myself, I'm fairly confident I was a quote unquote boy in that regard. You know, I was definitely somebody who wanted to do ludicrous things with my friends for a laugh. So although you know, truth, there's a lot of value in it, but definitely as a kid, I was probably more willing to hurt myself and do something dumb like a dare. Yeah. Now I would definitely go with truth. I think I don't want to some of the like, I remember a mixture of every kind of sauce in my house that I had to eat. I remember like a midnight jump in the lake maybe at one point. No thanks. Just ask me anything. I'm happy to tell you the truth. All right. So let's move on here to our first segment and really focusing on this episode in season one, episode seven of the chosen. We see a lot of stuff here coming from the gospel of John primarily, but John chapter three in this conversation that Jesus has with Nicodemus. So maybe let's find something here to learn a little bit about. Yeah. So in John three, three through 15, as Jesus interacts with Nicodemus in the middle of the night, stretching the limits of his thinking, really pushing him. And he talks to him about being born again and about the spirit. And he talks about Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness. So as you look at all of these big ideas that he's just mic dropping on Nicodemus here, what do you grab ahold of and learn from in Jesus words? Well, I feel like it's really important, you know, as we actually look at this chosen episode, how the episode starts out going back to Moses and Joshua building this bronze serpent in numbers 21, it's a, you know, a throwback verse of this time when the children of Israel really were close to death because of their complaining and their unbelief. But here is Jesus talking to Nicodemus who clearly knew this story. Nicodemus is able to understand what Jesus is laying down for him here. It just makes me really appreciate how Jesus is able to weave in the comparison between him and the fact that he gives new life, that he allows people to be reborn and this connection with Jesus as the one who was the bronze serpent in the story. Jesus was the one who was lifted up and he was also the interceder. So he was both Moses and the bronze serpent in this story. The fact that Jesus in this conversation with Nicodemus says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. The story from numbers 21 was obviously God punishing the people with venomous snakes and they were going to die and they come to Moses and say, Hey, you know, please go to the Lord and figure out how we can fix this situation. And then Moses holds up the bronze serpent as God told him to do. And all the people had to do was look at it through faith. They were saved. And in such a similar way, Jesus is comparing himself to that situation and God is going to save them. God is going to give them new life, bring them back from the brink of death by having faith in him and trust in him. You know, I love that Jesus is making this connection with Nicodemus to a story that Nicodemus absolutely would have known and probably has for a very long time in scratching his head wondering why these things happen the way they did all the way back there in numbers. Oh yeah, it's because Jesus is going to fulfill these things later on. Yeah. It's a really cool metaphor for faith, right? I mean, it doesn't always make sense, but you look to the one who is lifted up in this case is lifted up, not in exaltation like we would normally think, but glorified in the cross he's lifted up on. And we look to him in faith, put our trust in that Lord and in that act of faith and there it is, we are saved just like Israel. That little couple of verses there at the end really brings home this whole discourse. And I was really happy to see so much of John 3, all of these pieces of it show up in the episode. A lot of times they'll just pick one little piece of a story in the gospels and he might say one statement, but there's a lot of that discourse fleshed out in the episode. And I was really glad that they talked about the need for a new birth. Like you talked about a birth of water and the spirit. That's something that people need to know that as you put your trust in Jesus, that you need to be born again. And the place of that birth is water through the spirit and Peter will later tell people to be baptized for the remission of their sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, water and the spirit. This is a birth that is both new, it's a new birth, you're born again. If you look at the way the language is, it's a birth from above. It's a birth that is empowered from God. The spirit of God is the source of this recreation, God, Jesus and his spirit. And Paul talks about Jesus says here, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. And I think that makes a little more sense as Paul could be commenting on this in Titus 3, almost whenever he says, "He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our savior." So it sounds like a riddle when he's saying it to Nicodemus, but then we start to understand the role of the Son of God and the Spirit of God as the rest of the gospel is starting to be unveiled. If we're paying attention, we can see the Spirit of God at work in Jesus and his work, his resurrection, his miracles. And then we can see that fruit of the Spirit in those that he converts, the effect that God has on a life. We don't see the wind, but we can tell when it's active as Jesus compares it there. Yeah. But if you don't understand what I'm talking about with wind, you're not going to understand about the spiritual things. So we're back to analogy land. Analogy land. Welcome back. We need theme music for analogy land for sure. Definitely. All right. So that was our Jesus said segment looking at John chapter three. Let's move on to the meat of this conversation. And that is Here's the Story. So we are going to look at the story here of this chosen episode, season one, episode seven titled invitations. Up to this point, we've been following Jesus around, watching his response to people and people's response to him. Now we're finding this story of Nicodemus that we've been watching since episode one kind of come to this high point where finally Nicodemus gets to meet the man he's been searching for his other disciples. They're starting to build their faith. They're starting to see his miracles. They're getting a little concerned for his safety. You know, they're almost like Jesus bodyguards here. So he's been saying some difficult things. And now this is when a lot of this stuff really comes to a head. I think in this episode, yeah, starting with that flashback, which I think it's fitting that the series keeps having flashbacks to the Old Testament or to earlier parts of the story. That's so much of what the Bible does is it's setting up and fulfilling as you just talked about here in the 13th century before Christ. As it says, we find Moses fashioning the bronze serpent and Joshua just trying to get his breeze like Nicodemus, trying to understand how that will help the Israelites dying of snake bites. How is this? Is there medicine in this bronze snake? It's a pagan symbol. What are you doing? And Moses says, I've learned to do what he says without questioning, which is the great lesson there, right? It's so good. I really appreciate the way that they've thrown back a real foreshadowing, obviously, of all the things we're going to talk about. But then we turn to a story here that we haven't really seen a lot with Matthew and his mother, also with Jesus and his disciples. But this is looking to Matthew. He's in a difficult spot. I love Matthew so much. We love Matthew here on this show. We've been talking about Matthew so often. And as a tax collector, his parents really want nothing to do with him. He talks to his mom and asks sincerely, my whole world, everything I thought I knew, what if it's wrong? You know, because we've seen Matthew up to this point watching Jesus from a distance, seeing these amazing, miraculous things. And the laws of nature are being put aside so that Jesus can accomplish the things that he wants to do. I find it interesting here that we see Matthew calling his mom, Emma. And then instead of being able to call her that, he corrects himself and calls her by her actual name. Kind of a nod to the difficulty that Matthew is having in his family and the disconnection that he's probably feeling at this point. We also see a shift in that story back to Mary, who's apologizing to Jesus for bringing the paralytic to the roof and disturbing his teaching. That's sort of the things we saw in the last episode in season one, episode six. And Jesus reassures her that they would have found a way to come to him even if she hadn't helped. And she tells Jesus also that Nicodemus is searching for him and wanting to meet with him. So Mary's playing a big part in getting all this stuff going. And that leads to the meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus in the night. You know, like a superhero, Jesus puts on this big black cowl and coat to secretly meet Nicodemus on the rooftop in the night. There's very Princess Bride in this story for sure. Yeah, that was cool. And Nicodemus struggles to understand as Jesus is pulling back the curtain in their conversation on this different kind of kingdom and the different kind of deliverance that Israel needs. I really like that he talks about sin there because, you know, it's easy to miss that that's what this story is ultimately about is Jesus taking that away. He says that is the real problem. That is the death that needs to be dealt with. And he talks about that bronze serpent pole and whoever looked on it in faith being saved. And then something that we don't find in the Gospels, kind of a cool moment, seeing Nicodemus bow down and kiss his hand and quote Psalm 212, kiss the sun. And then Jesus lifts him up and gives him this hug and finishes the quote, blessed are all who take refuge in him, which is the end of that verse about kissing the sun. And I mean, it just, again, all of those moments where you see someone coming to the Lord and the Lord receiving them, it's like a prodigal son type moment that maybe we all see ourselves in a little bit of a tearjerker. Little bit. Those moments, little bit. I'm not crying. You're crying. I'm not. I just just had something in there in my eye. So then what happens? So the episode wraps where they're walking along, Jesus and Simon, they're going back and forth about this guy, Matthew. Simon has to be reminded that Simon wasn't much different than Matthew before Jesus called him. Simon's trying to remind Jesus, no, he's different. Matthew is a different kind of guy. Jesus tells him, get used to different is like one of the great pull quotes in this whole episode. Get used to different. So Matthew is finally being accepted by somebody other than a Roman. He's been rejected by his parents and Jesus now knows who he is and what he's done and how despised he is. And of course, Simon doesn't like the idea of a tax collector joining them. Matthew is definitely different and Jesus calls Matthew and Matthew follows him. Again, obviously this is a real connection to actual scripture and this really did happen. Although whether this happened earlier or later in the story after Nicodemus or before, hard to say, but I love the way that this is all portrayed in the episode. You could really feel positively for Matthew in this story at the end. Yeah. It's so cool. And I love seeing where he is brought in and hey, you will be hosting the party. That's why we don't have to worry about you being invited. Yeah. It was another awesome episode. I'm just so enjoying these and I hope other people are benefiting from the episodes and maybe the conversations are fun and helpful to listen to. So we've been talking about Nicodemus here on this episode quite a lot actually. And let's maybe go into a little more depth as we understand who this Nicodemus is by entering into our next little segment here, which we call Hello, My Name is. Hello, is it me you're looking for? Hello, my name is Nicodemus. So let's go back into his background and who is this man and what's he all about? Yeah. So we're, and we're just pulling from the Bible, which all of these references are in the book of John. But in this chapter, John three, we learn in verse one and verse 10, a couple things about him that he was a Pharisee, that he was a ruler of the Jews and that he was a teacher of Israel. So he was a rabbi in his own right. And he's coming to Jesus and saying, teacher that we know you're from God, but he was also a Pharisee, which comes from the word for set apart. This word that seems to describe the lifestyle they pursued. They set themselves apart from the Gentile ways from the Romans, but even pulling apart from the other Jews, it seems like and saying, this is how you should really live. The word ruler there means that he was one of the 70 Sanhedrin members, which was sort of like a Jewish Supreme court. So this, as he's portrayed in the episode, he was kind of an uppity high big wig in Jewish culture at the time. He was highfalutin highfalutin. There's the word. Well, we see in the gospel of John, like you said, him pop up quite a bit here and more than I actually expected. You know, obviously we go to John three, which we'll talk about, but he's also in other places. Let's start here as he meets Jesus by night. We know the things that he says here are really powerful, but again, he meets Jesus by night. What do we learn about that? Like, what do we learn about this man, Nicodemus, a teacher, a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews when he's sneaking around? Like I think Nicodemus is being really careful because he seems to have such a confidence as maybe we'll talk about in a second, but he seems to have such a confidence in Jesus, but he's, he's still sneaking around. You know, he's hedging his bets. He doesn't want to rock the boat before he knows for sure. I think that's a really interesting thing about Nicodemus. He's being careful. He's being cautious. He's got a lot to lose. There's a lot at stake. So if he's wrong and Jesus is just another one of those fly by night kinds of teachers, false Christs, as we read about them in other places, then he didn't want to risk it all for Jesus. But I think he really has a trust in Jesus because of the things that he says later on in that verse. Yeah. And that's the next thing we see about him is that trust, that statement of faith. It's not a faith that he's the Christ, but he says, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." And it kind of gives you this sense of all of the conversations that are constantly happening about Jesus. Like Jesus questioned to Peter, who do people say that I am? Well, you're, you're a prophet, you're a great teacher, you're all these things. And we can see, you know, he doesn't say, I know, he says, we know that you're a teacher from God. But he's been in the conversation and he's not with those who think that he's from the devil, you know, as Jesus will be challenged and awful things said about him from that standpoint to quote something that Peter and Andrew say to Matthew in the previous episode. Like if you don't believe yourself, why would you believe us? He's believing himself that he has seen Jesus is doing great signs and that is leading to an obvious conclusion that he's from God. But he doesn't know if maybe he's something more than a teacher from God. You know, we have been waiting for this Messiah. Is there any chance that there's something more happening here? And he's not there, but he's asking questions and that's a good place to be. Well, asking questions is powerful because that's where he goes on to next in John three versus four and verse nine. Jesus is having some really difficult things thrown Nicodemus's way and he's challenging him with, with some very powerful language. Nicodemus doesn't get it. He says, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? He doesn't get it. And I think, you know, it just really shows us how the Jews had a long standing physical view, a literal way of handling all their dealings with the Lord. Everything that they did, everything that they, that they practice was all very, very physical, all very tithing, very specific things, going to the temple, doing this and doing that. Like it's all good. It's all commanded by God, but I don't know that they were used to getting into the deeper kinds of ways of seeing things. I think when Jesus started sharing some of these truths that it just blew their minds because they weren't used to thinking about things in this non-physical, non-literal way. And so I kind of give Nicodemus a pass just because of the fact that like in the context of where he was, I don't think he was used to being challenged in this kind of way. Like, yeah, you know, 2000 years later, we look back to Jesus questions and his teachings. We're like, yeah, Jesus is teaching a deeper lesson here, but I don't know that they always knew that. Well, and as soon as you like, this is the bait and switch switcheroo of the Bible is as soon as you start judging Nicodemus, then you wait a minute. I remember when I was doing that. See, I'm doing that right now. And so yeah, you have to acknowledge there's there is a journey to Christ and we really don't see the conclusion of this interaction. I mean, Jesus gives this amazing statement in verses three through 15, maybe all the way through verse 21. He talks about who he is and challenges him. And then we don't hear anything from John about the response of Nicodemus there. And so, yeah, come on, John, come on, one job. Well, and so you're like, okay, that had to have been compelling, right? Yeah. But the next time we see Nicodemus, it's in dialogue with the other Pharisees and the other highfalutin people, maybe of the Jewish community there in John seven, 40 to 52. So this is four or four and a half chapters later. And he's advocating to give Jesus a hearing. And so you see sort of a half step towards Jesus. It does not make me think that he was all the way, you know, like he was following him, but he's definitely sympathetic here. He definitely wants Jesus to get a fair hearing. And so the officers came to the chief priests and the Pharisees and the chief priests are asking, why didn't you bring him? And they said, nobody ever spoke like this man. And the Pharisees answered them, have you also been deceived? Did he trick you too? You know, none of the authorities, the Pharisees are believing in him, but this crowd that doesn't know the law is a cursed. And so they're proclaiming a curse on all the people who are following Jesus and Nicodemus carefully, but he does get bold enough to speak out to say, does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? And they replied, are you from Galilee too? I mean, it just makes you think about Peter at the bonfire, right? At the crucifixion time and oh, listen to his accent. He's a Galilee and he's one of them. No, no, I'm not, you know, and we don't see the Nicodemus, you know, denying the Lord, but it just has the question. Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. You know, go search the scriptures, go study and you're going to find that he can't be from Galilee. And so it's, it's another interesting moment where Nicodemus is using his authority to sort of step out, but he's only stepping out so far. I mean, Pilate stepped out to make a statement almost like this too. Like, you know, I think we should let him go or, you know, you think of Gamaliel a little later in Acts. So you see him trying to figure out how to work with his position, but it's an interesting moment and Nicodemus here is cited in the middle of the book. And then we find him again later in the book. Exactly. And that's in chapter 19 verses 38 through 42. This is after Jesus dies. And it says that Nicodemus also who earlier had come to Jesus by night, which I really appreciate because like, you know, that somebody, if it was just like Nicodemus, they'd have been like, is it that Nicodemus? Oh, probably not that Nicodemus. Oh, it's a different Nicodemus. No, no, Nicodemus who had come to Jesus by night. And then back in your verse in John seven, it also said Nicodemus who had gone to him before. So it's like, yeah, no doubt. This is the same Nicodemus. Connect the dots. Yes. And so it says who had earlier come to Jesus by night came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about 75 pounds in weight. And I'm so glad that you threw this little point in here in our outline because this is a thread I forget about with Nicodemus. I forget that he was in the beginning of the gospel of John and then at the end of the gospel of John, you know, after Jesus has died in this great story, he is just a small character, but he is doing things for Jesus that is really respectful and reverent and honoring him with such a difficult position that he's in as a teacher, as a Pharisee. And I think as Nicodemus is bringing myrrh and aloes, I think he's throwing back to Psalm 45, where it says, your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes from Ivory Palace's stringed instruments make you glad. Like he's pointing back that I think Jesus is the king. I think Jesus is the one who deserves this kind of honor. And which is why he brings these really symbolic things to Jesus in his funeral. It was just such an interesting place where we see Nicodemus pop up. Like he's there. He's on the periphery. He's watching these things and John is very careful to keep reminding us that this important Pharisee hasn't left Jesus side yet. Yeah. I love that verse that you threw back to in Psalm 45. I hadn't made that connection ever. And that's so powerful. And now I've got that song out of the Ivory Palaces in my head because, you know, that's Jesus, his robes, his burial robes, fragrant with myrrh and aloes. He is the king. And your point about the way he connects to, you know, that Nicodemus, it makes you think like sometimes when you see in the gospels a name given and it's just a little detail of a name, sometimes seems to suggest that maybe this was somebody that the disciples would know, you know, that the early church that the evangelists are writing to as they're writing the story of Jesus are able to say, "Oh yeah, Nicodemus, you know, I know his son or I know it's, you know, whatever." So getting into lessons and observations, what can we learn from his story, good or bad? I mean, to be on the periphery of Jesus story or to be a true disciple, I think that's really my lesson here. It's like Nicodemus was not Peter. He was not John. He was not any one of the disciples who followed Jesus around all the time. But Nicodemus was on the periphery. He was watching. I don't know. John doesn't do anything for us here, like telling us the end of Nicodemus story. Like he really needs to learn a lesson from Paul Harvey here. But like, I would love to think that Nicodemus faith just exploded after the resurrection. For somebody who has been really invested in Jesus at a distance, I would like to think that Nicodemus stopped riding the fence and actually did something courageous and followed Jesus after all of this stuff. But again, we know that a lot of the Pharisees out of fear of being kicked out of the synagogue and everything else, they were so used to in their life. I know that there were so many who didn't turn to the Lord. So it's hard to say, obviously, it's just speculation, but like just such a question for me about like, am I a Nicodemus who's just kind of watching from a distance or am I really invested giving my all and putting things out there for Jesus and, you know, having skin in the game, I guess more analogies, but yeah. Yeah. And it's a hallmark of all of the gospels that they keep showing us these different ways that people are responding to Jesus. And like you say, we find ourselves in this and we keep noticing, okay, some people are doing this, some people are doing that. And it's not this or that. It's a whole spectrum of responses. And I like the way you talk about it, like on the periphery or riding the fence, you can't be a top secret Christian ultimately. And I see some lessons about transparency and openness and sharing our faith, which we have been talking about in some ways in our getting to square one episodes. And I've got another analogy land for you here. A few years back, there is a player that got drafted from my favorite college team. And after going to the podium, then he shook the hand with the NFL commissioner. He opened his suit coat and you could see Brutus the Buckeye, the mascot of Ohio State in the inner lining. And so he looked like a normal fancy gray suit from the outside, but he could show you his true colors if he wanted to. He could just, you know, if it was safe, it wasn't like decked out in red. It was, I've got a little something here that I can open up to that I did that. And I see Nicodemus doing that throughout his life. And this chosen version of Jesus even acknowledges to Nicodemus, like we said, he has a lot to lose, but as he says in the show, you have a lot more to gain if you just commit to following me. And based on what we know from the account in John three, maybe like we said, he didn't bow down and kiss the sun at that point. He didn't, he certainly didn't leave everything and leave his place in the Sanhedrin and follow Jesus as Jesus invited him to. And he seems kind of stuck even in his questions. There's a stuckness, you know, like if he can't understand earthly things, like you said in our last episode, if he can't understand these earthly things, how can I tell you about heavenly things? And so his sympathies to Jesus aren't going away. But I think the big moment where maybe we start to see him leaning in is that lavish gift that you talked about of the myrrh and the aloes. And that seems to be a step towards honoring Jesus as the King, as the Messiah. I don't know what 65 pounds of spices look like. I mean, just imagine that 65 pounds of, let's like, you know, one of my kids worth of weight in like the most expensive spices. Wow. Jesus was born, he had the myrrh and now here he is as he's being buried. There is a burial fit for a king. And you know, that might be what Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were seeking to do for the crucified Lord. And you just think about them mourning Jesus. You wonder about how much regret he felt at not stepping out in faith more because he's thinking the movement's over or something. I mean, who knows the rest of his story. But for me, I don't want to wait and regret keeping some of my faith tucked in my pockets for fear of offending somebody or alienating somebody by my zeal. I want to hold that hope openly. Just again, this goes so well with what we've been talking about. You know, we want people to be able to ask us about the hope within us. And in that way, you know, may we wear our hearts on our sleeve and be visible from the inside out. Unlike Nicodemus so often, let's not just go to Jesus by night. Let's show up every day speaking the news, proclaiming the excellencies of Jesus. I would like to think that we were thoughtful enough about this episode and the previous conversations we've had in our Getting to Square One series. But we were not. As I'm now realizing how well these things fit together, it's like, wow, I don't think I could have timed this whole conversation any better with what we've been talking about. It just fits so perfectly. So let's move on to our last segment here on the episode. And that is our reach out question. Reach out, reach out and touch someone. So our question for each other on this episode is what's one area you've needed to get used to different as a disciple? Just with this whole conversation Jesus has about Matthew with Simon, you know, get used to different. What's one area you've needed to figure that out in? Yeah, that's so great because that is, you know, following Jesus, everything gets turned upside down. And I think that one thing that comes to mind for me is just learning and then relearning three steps forward, two steps back to put others ahead of yourself to, you know, to as Paul says in first Corinthians 13, love does not insist on its own way to be a servant. I have a friend who is earlier in his marriage that, you know, I've had some good conversations with and I see in him some of the growth and the growing pains that I had to go through in the past, which believe me, I am still having growing pains and have miles to go before we sleep. Not that I have already accomplished. Yes. But I press on and, you know, I just see this maturing where you learn to give up the things you love. And that sounds sad, but there is a beauty to it where you learn to give up some of the things that were central to your life and just make your life about other people. You take responsibility for, especially having a family for other people come before me and dad doesn't get to have everything that he used to have. It's just not like that. You live a life where you are tired and sacrificial and you are constantly finding ways to build others up, to invest in creating oneness in your marriage. And that's just the lesson from Christ. You have to get used to different that you're not going to have the life you used to have in so many ways. But that's one way is just learning to lift others up and to be sacrificial. I feel like that's one of the hardest things, right? And it's dealt with so often in scripture about loving people and what that leads you to do and how that sacrificial nature of our love for each other changes the game with how we approach people. And I really appreciate that. I think as a disciple looking out into the world, the world does not operate that way. The world is not focused on other people the way that we should be. Very selfish, very self-centered, all about me, all about my comfort, my happiness. And I remember something that Adrienne said on a previous episode. What did she say? Something like parenting is death. Yeah. I mean, title for the episode, I think, were Sherilyn's words. It's so good, right? It's like, cause it is, it's putting yourself last. It's putting your needs behind the needs of your kids, of those that you love. And even those, and the hardest thing, I think for me, those that give you a hard time and those that you struggle with still loving your enemy. And what a great example of getting used to different as a disciple. For me, I was thinking about this question, you know, an area that I've needed to get used to different in is very similar to that, but is about those interpersonal relationships. It's not just about learning to put other people ahead of me, but it's also about just how diverse we are and how varied we are. Unity is such an important factor of disciples. We are all united. We all have the same king. We all do things so very similarly in so many ways, but we are very opinionated and we are very diverse in the community of the church. And it is so important for me to just accept that, to get used to different people. Christians are different. We are just, you know, for better or for worse. Peculiar people. We are peculiar people, you know, dealing with each other's foibles, learning to let things go, learning to work things out and talk about things that are uncomfortable or we may not want to talk about. Jesus could have united a whole group of people that were autonomous copies of each other, clones or whatever, all doing the same things, all thinking the same things, wearing the same things. That's just not who we are. Praise God. You know, and every church has a character, every group of people, small group of people has their own personality. And I've just really appreciate how Jesus in this chosen episode turns to Simon and says, get used to different as in relation to Matthew, because Matthew is different and Jesus is not only saying like, get used to Matthew, get used to a different kind of guy, but he's also saying like this whole thing is going to be different. Yeah, like who of us can talk? He says to Peter, remember when I called you? Yeah. You know, you didn't feel like you were the right one for the job either. And you know what? This is a good model. I like the point you're making for what the church looks like. This ragtag bunch of people that have come together and become transformed in a way that we can be united in a way that nobody else in the world, no other group can be because Christ teaches us how to have a different kind of love and harmony and peace with each other. All right. So this has been season one, episode seven of the chosen in our AV club episode. Really appreciate everybody following along. I love these episodes. I hope you do too, and for some reason this just fit perfectly into what we've been talking about this season on evangelism. In our next episode, we will start to pull back the curtains on our square one series. We're not going to get it started yet, but we are going to talk a little bit about building this whole series that we're going to be doing called square one. What went into it? Why are we doing these things? What makes it different? What are we looking to accomplish with the whole thing and why maybe you should pitch it and do your own thing if you want to do that. We're really going to get super honest about what works and what doesn't and what you might want to try or not try in evangelism. So looking forward to that conversation on our next episode. Yeah. I mean, it's an invitation to throw it away. That's a good way to promote it, but it's so true that it's every situation, every person who's evangelizing are going to need something different. And so we're just adding this tool to your toolbox. I hope that it is a blessing. I'm bad at marketing, so throw it away. Don't use it. It's going to be great. So thanks so much everyone for tuning in to the Bible Geeks podcast. You can find us on our website at biblegeeks.fm. You can find show notes for this episode in your podcast player or at biblegeeks.fm/218. You can also follow along with our square one series that we are kind of in the middle of in between talking about next episode, talked about on the last episode of biblegeeks.fm/squareone. And if you want to reach out to us, talk to us about anything, please do that. We'd love to get in touch with you. And until next episode, may the Lord bless you and keep you Shalom.