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brethren, neighbors, the heathen, and even our enemies. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen, the title of my sermon this morning is What Shall This Man Do? What Shall This Man Do? Of course, John 21 is such a beautiful chapter in general, but the part that I wanna focus on is beginning in verse number 15 where the Bible reads, so when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? Now, why is Jesus singling out Peter and questioning his love for Christ? The reason is that if you know the story, before Jesus was crucified on the cross, he predicted that Peter would deny him three times, and Peter's confronted outside of the court where Jesus is being tried, and he three times denied that he knew Christ, and then the cock crowed, and then he went out and wept bitterly, and so Peter has denied the Lord, and Jesus is here to restore him, but he first is basically bringing up the fact that he denied him in a sense by three times asking him, do you love me? And then he gives him the answer, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee, verse 15. He saith unto him, feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? So he goes through this three times to mirror the three times that Peter had denied Christ, and so Peter's very grieved about this, and he said unto him at the end of verse 17, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest, but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God, and when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me. So Jesus gives him this kind of cryptic or kind of a riddle of an answer where he says, you know, when you were young, you went where you wanted to go, but then when you're old, you are going to stretch forth your hands, and another is gonna carry you where you don't wanna go. So it's kind of a cryptic answer, but it's definitely something negative that he's gonna go somewhere he doesn't wanna go, that he's gonna face something bad in his future. The legend has it that Peter is crucified upside down, eventually, which would be consistent with this because of the fact that it talks about him stretching forth his hands, but that's not actually in the Bible. The Bible doesn't explain exactly how Peter was martyred, but he was martyred. You know, we do know that from scripture that he's going to be killed in some way. He's going to be going through this tribulation in the future. And so Jesus spake this signifying by what death Peter should glorify God, and when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me. You know, and look, you've messed up. You denied me three times. You love me. Let's get back on the horse. Follow me. You're gonna be killed in the future. Probably something of a little bit of a consequence for having denied him. He's saying, you know, okay, you denied me to avoid persecution. You denied me to avoid being killed, perhaps. Well, guess what? You're gonna be killed anyway, but follow me. So that's kind of just the context of what's going on. But the thing that I wanna preach about is this question that he asked in verse 21. So look at verse 20. Then Peter turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also lean on his breast at supper and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Verse 21, Peter seeing him sayeth to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? So he just got this kind of bad news about his own future that he's gonna go somewhere he doesn't wanna go and he's gonna be killed for Christ ultimately. So his response to that, he's told follow me, but then he looks over at John, who's the guy who didn't deny Christ, the guy who stayed close to Christ all throughout the events leading up to the crucifixion. And he looks at John and he says, well, Lord, what shall this man do? What about this guy? What's he gonna do? Jesus saith unto him, verse 22, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Don't worry about what John's gonna do. I'm telling you what's gonna happen to you and I'm commanding you to follow me. Don't get distracted and start talking about, well, what's John gonna do? And then it says in verse 23, then went the saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die. But if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? If I were to just allow him to live all the way until the second coming. Because of course they don't know when the second coming is gonna happen. Obviously nobody's gonna live that long. But the main point that I wanna draw out of this story this morning is that we should be happy when other people succeed and do well. We should be happy to see them blessed. We should want the best for other people if we love other people, if we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, if we love our fellow man. And we should never be upset about the fact that other people perhaps have a better fate than we do. Maybe they are given more blessings than we've been given or they have more advantages than we've been given. We shouldn't look at that and envy other people. We should stay focused on the path that God has set for our life and not wish that we had someone else's life or envy what God has done for other people. We'll flip over to Matthew chapter 20 because if we just look at our situation, if we just look at our life, we've been very blessed by God. God has given us so much. His grace has saved us and we're going to heaven not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his own mercy by which he saved us. And so we should just be thrilled and happy with the fact that we're saved, we're going to heaven, our sins are forgiven, God loves us, the hairs of our head are numbered, he's looking out for us. Now is our path, is our life gonna be just like someone else's? No, everybody has a different fate. But let's say someone else has it better than I do. I'm not gonna sit back and say, well, it must be nice. You know, why didn't God do that for me? Because if I just look at my situation, I say, you know what, God has given me more than I deserve. I have it better than I deserve. I have it better than I could have hoped or expected. God is good to me. And you know what, there are always people out there that have it so much worse than us. But sometimes we tend to focus on the guy who has it better than us. Peter is sitting there looking at the disciple whom Jesus loved, John, and say, well, what shall this man do? No fair. Why does he get to tarry until you come? You know, which he didn't, but that's what maybe he thought. You know, he could have looked over at John's brother James, who's one of the first people dead in the book of Acts. I mean, that's one of the 12 disciples too, right? James is killed by the sword pretty early on in the story. Obviously, Stephen is the first martyr of the New Testament, but James is killed shortly thereafter. What about James? You know, you can think about James because Peter lived much longer than James. Peter got to do a lot more work for God on this earth than James did. But we tend to sometimes focus on the people who have it better than us or are superior to us in some way. And this is a bad way to go through life. Don't ask this question, well, what shall this man do? Ask yourself the question, what shall I do? What does God want me to do? What is God's plan for my life? And don't get distracted with comparing yourself to other people. Now, there's a similar story in the Bible that, or I should say a story in the Bible that gives a similar message in Matthew chapter 20, this parable that Jesus gives about the householder. It says in verse number one, for the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his field. So this man, he's a business owner. He basically goes to Home Depot in the morning and you got all those guys outside of Home Depot and they're looking for work and they're Mexicans. But anyway, they're out there and they're looking for work. They're looking for a day job. They're looking to get hired just for the day, okay? And so he goes out and he finds these guys and he agrees with the laborers for a penny a day. Now, it doesn't sound like a lot, but you gotta factor in the inflation we've had over the last couple of years. It's just a different unit of money, okay? So back then, a penny is a reasonable amount of work for a day's wages. The Bible used that term in other places and it's apparent that that's what it is. But it says in verse two, he agreed with them for a penny a day. He sent them out into his vineyard. Now look, if you're out there at Home Depot and you're looking for a job and a guy comes and hires you for the prevailing rate, day's wages, hey, that's a good day. Because you don't wanna just be standing out there all day without getting hired, right? So somebody coming first thing in the morning, hiring you for the whole day, they're gonna pay you for the whole 12 hours. That's great. Amen, what a blessing. Because you know, it's a blessing for us as men to have work to do, to have a job to go. And the reason that those guys are out there outside of Home Depot at 5 a.m., 6 a.m. is because they wanna work, they're ready to work, they're looking for something to do and they wanna get hired and so this is a blessing to get hired first thing in the morning, get a good day's work in. But see, oftentimes we complain about our job but actually having a job to go to is a blessing. We gotta think about that too. So then this guy, he needs more workers. You know, he hired the guys at the beginning of the day but he needs to hire more. So he goes back around the third hour and he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, verse three, and said unto them, go ye also into the vineyard and whatsoever is right I will give you. Now notice the difference. The first people, he agreed with them and he said, look, here's the deal, you're gonna work all day, 12 hours, you're gonna receive a penny, wages. They all agree but with the people at the third hour, it's a little different because he doesn't tell them how much he's gonna pay them. He just says, I'm gonna pay you and it's gonna be fair. Whatever's right, I'm gonna give you, right? And so he does the same thing at the sixth hour and the ninth hour where he just says, whatever's right, I'm gonna give you. And about the 11th hour, he went out, verse six, and found others standing idle and said unto them, why stand ye here all day idle? You know, what are you guys doing? Just standing around all day. They say unto him, because no man hath hired us. They're like, dude, we wanna work. Nobody hired us. He saith unto them, I mean, the day's almost over. There's one hour left. He saith unto them, go ye also into the vineyard and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, call the laborers and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they that were hired about the 11th hour, when they came that were hired about the 11th hour, they received every man a penny. Now that's like 12 times what you would expect them to get, right, because if you're gonna go out and work all day for 12 hours and you get a penny, you'd assume that the guy who only works one hour is gonna get a fraction of that. But he starts with those guys who've only worked for an hour, and he gives them a penny. They're like, wow, score, we sat around all day, we worked for one hour, and we got a whole day's wages. What a great day, what a blessing, this is great. But when the first came, verse 10, they suppose that they should have received more, because they thought, wow, if he's giving a penny to the guys who worked one hour, what are we gonna get? We're gonna get like 12 pennies. We're gonna get this huge amount of money. They suppose they should receive more, and they likewise received every man a penny. Everybody got paid the same, the people who started three hours in, six hours in, nine hours in, 11 hours in. And when they had received it, they murmured against the good men of the house. What does murmur mean? Well, it's automata pia, it's murmurmur, like rah rah rah. That's what it basically means, like they grumbled, they complained against the good men of the house, saying, these have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said, friend, I do need no wrong. Didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way. I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will, but hey, it's my money, I can just give it away for free if I want, I can give it to whoever I want. If I wanna just give this guy an insane wage, and just pay him way more than he's worth, that's my business, it's my money, I'm the boss, I do what I want. Is thine eye evil because I'm good? Because I'm generous? Because I'm giving people extra? You wanted a penny, you got a penny. Take your money, shut up, and get out of here. That's the end of the story, right? He said, is thine eye evil because I'm good? He ends on that question. And then Jesus gives the moral of the story, so the last shall be first, and the first last, for many be called, but few chosen. Now this is often how little kids are. Little kids are always really worried about what's happening to the other kids, as opposed to just being happy with their own situation, or thinking about their own situation. Why doesn't he have to go to bed? Like, oh, I have to go to bed? Why doesn't he have to go to bed? It's like, this is your bedtime. You're going to bed at your bed. It's like, you're looking at a little toddler, like, friend, I do thee no wrong. Take thy glass of water and go to bed. Brush thy teeth and go to bed. I do thee no wrong. Your bedtime came, you're going to bed. But nothing makes a kid more upset than another kid, maybe who's even younger than them, getting to stay up a little bit later. What? He's younger than me. I mean, and this is the stuff that tears are made of. I mean, this could be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Like, I'm older than him. You know, why do I have to take a nap? Why do, you know. Now we as adults, man, we would love for somebody to just send us to bed. You know what I mean? I would love to just like, take a nap. I'd just be like, yes, sir, you know, like, go to bed. I'm just like, I'm gone, you know. You don't have to tell me twice. But kids, you know, they don't like going to bed. Okay, the thing they're looking forward to in heaven is that there's no night there. And that they just stay up all the time. You know, that's, yeah, that's why I got saved as a kid. You know, I just, I wanted to go to that place where there's no bedtime. No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, the point is, though, that kids are like this. You know, well, what about him? You know, you see, you give, you can give them a generous portion of dessert, but God forbid that another child gets a bigger portion. You know, they're thrilled with their three cookies until they see the kid who has four cookies. Now this is a bratty attribute. You know, they don't want another kid to have a slice of cake that's a little bit larger than theirs. You could give them a piece that's half the size. And as long as that's what the other kid's getting, they'll be happy to both get it. You know, they're both happy if they both get one cookie. But God forbid they get three and someone else gets four. And so when we think about how little kids are like this, we should stop and think about the fact that we're adults. Now we need to grow up and we need to get past that mentality and that part of being a mature person is not begrudging other people who have it better than us, but just being happy with what we have, trying to get the best deal for ourselves, yes, but not looking at other people and begrudging them. You know, we should be happy for other people, right? Look, if my friend or my brother or my sister or my colleague or someone that I love does better than me, receives more than me, that should make me happy if I love them, right? I mean, look, if I do well, I would think that the people who love me would be happy that I'm doing well. And if other people that I love do well, that should thrill me. It shouldn't be like, well, they have to outdo me. You know, what's the deal? Or why do they get more than me? That's a wicked attitude. And you know, some people might read this story in Matthew 20 and say, well, I could see where these people are coming from because it isn't fair. Well, you know what? You're the people that he's talking to. You're basically just showing that you're the one who has this wrong. You need the story more than anybody then. If you're sympathizing with these people and not understanding the fact that they should just be happy with what they got instead of wishing, man, I just wish I would have just sat on my butt all day and just showed up at the 11th hour and I could have got the same amount of pay, you know? And obviously it's a parable about the Christian life. What the parable is saying is that, you know, let's say you're unsaved earlier in life or you're not serving God earlier in life, what the Bible's saying is it's never too late to jump in and start serving God. And even if you jump in late in life and serve God, you can still earn great rewards. And you might even earn as much rewards as a lifelong Christian if you jump in and work hard at the end of life. And obviously it's also a parable about the Jews and the Gentiles because the Jews are the ones that have been serving Jehovah for, you know, couple thousand years, you know, going back to Abraham. And then the Gentiles are kind of just jumping on board in the first century AD en masse. Obviously there have always been saved Gentiles, but just the Gentiles really jump in and then the Jews are like, oh, what's the deal? You made the Gentiles equal to us? What are you talking about? We're better, we're Jews. How do you make the Gentiles equal to us? Because notice he used that word, like you've made these 11th hour guys equal to us. The Jews don't want the Gentiles to be equal to them. They want to think they're better. But what does the Bible say? There's no difference between the Jew and the Greek. They don't like that. Cause they're like, we've been doing this for 2000 years. You know, it doesn't matter, right? What matters is who's serving God right now. And they're going to be blessed by God. And so instead of comparing ourselves to other people that we think have it better than us or getting a better deal than us, we should instead just be happy about how incredibly blessed by God we are. And by the way, you know, I got saved as a six year old boy and obviously I'm not perfect. And obviously there have been times in my life when I was serving God better than others. But in general, I've been serving God my entire life. Been going to church, reading my Bible, witnessing and serving God in one way, shape, form or another. You know, pretty much for my entire life I've been serving God, okay. Now other people maybe were unsaved or maybe they were saved but they just weren't living for God. And then maybe they got serious about serving God when they were 20 years old or 25 years old or 30 years old. You know, some of my pastor friends have not been saved since they were a little kid. Like some of them have. Pastor Jimenez got saved as a little kid, okay, around the same age as I was. When I think he was like five years old or something. I got saved when I was six years old. But then we look at say, for example, Pastor Berzins, he got saved as an adult, okay. So, you know, we got a couple of pastors. One of them got saved as a toddler child. One of them got saved as an adult. Now, wouldn't it be stupid for me to have this attitude that says, oh, it must be nice to go out and party and do all that and you get to live for God now. No, because guess what? I guarantee you that the people who got saved as an adult are wishing that they had got saved as a kid. Okay, so it doesn't make any sense to wish you're the 11th hour guy. In reality, we ought to be wishing that we were there at 5 a.m. out at Home Depot getting hired for the Lord. Amen, because it's better to live a Christian life anyway. Because all the junk out there that the world does, all the partying and the drinking and the drugs and the fornication, whatever's out there, you know what, it's all vanity anyway. It's not what it's cracked up to be. And it brings a lot of heartache and misery and pain and sort of something to envy. You know, oh man, this guy got saved when he's 50 years old. He got the best of both worlds. No, I got the best of both worlds. And everybody who grew up in a Christian home and lived for Christ the entire time, they got the best of both worlds. That's the childhood, that's the teenage years, that's the young adult life that you want. That's some sinful life, there's nothing there. It's a waste. And it caused you problems anyway, you know, for the rest of your life, stuff that you do, stupid stuff you do as a teenager and as a young adult, you know, you end up suffering from that stuff. So look, here's the thing. And look, I'm not being down on those who've been saved their whole life. I'm not being down on those who got saved later in life. You know what? I say, whoever's serving God right now, praise God, right? I praise God just as much for a Pastor Jimenez as I do for a Pastor Berzins. You know, both of them are serving God now. Both of them can earn great rewards now. Both of them are gonna get to that judgment seat of Christ and have the potential to earn great rewards. And it wouldn't make any sense for say, a Pastor Jimenez type or like myself to say like, well, Pastor Berzins is in line with me at the judgment seat of Christ. How does that work? How does that work when I was a Christian, you know, for 20 years before him? How does that work? Hey, look, if I get to the judgment seat of Christ and Pastor Berzins earns greater rewards than me, I'm gonna be thrilled. I think that's awesome. I'm gonna be happy for him. You know, I would love that, okay? And you know what? It wouldn't surprise me. Wouldn't surprise me at all. Why? Because I know that whenever you jump in, you can still earn great rewards for God, whether you get saved as a kid or an adult. You can do great things for God. You can earn great rewards. And guess what? When we get to heaven, we might sometimes be surprised because sometimes the first will be last and the last will be first. We don't know how God is gonna give out the rewards, but we know it's gonna be fair. We know it's gonna be just. And God is gonna reward people who got saved even as adults greatly if they went out and worked hard for that one hour or that three hours or that six hours. So don't envy other people. Don't compare yourself to people that you think have better than you. And especially don't be stupid enough to think that people who lived a sinful life had it better than you. You know, oh man, these guys, they only worked for one hour. Yeah, but they had to sit bored outside Home Depot for 11 hours. That's not cool. You know, oh, it's so great. Oh, so great to sit on your butt all day and only work for one hour. No, it isn't. I'd rather work 12 hours. Here's the thing. The guy who worked 12 hours and got paid, you know what? He's more physically fit. He got more sun. I bet you his day went by faster because your day goes by faster when you're doing stuff. You know, you go out and work for 12 hours, you're doing stuff. Sitting around is overrated. Sitting around isn't what it's cracked up to be, okay? Turn if you would to 1 Samuel chapter 18, 1 Samuel chapter number 18. We need to just live our own life, be happy with the blessings that God has given us, be thankful because we have it so good. We've been so blessed. It's so great to be hired first thing in the morning, get paid a full day's wages. We live in America. We've got safety, security, prosperity, opportunity. We've got a great church here. We've got great friends. We've got brothers and sisters in Christ. Nothing's ever perfect, but we have it good. So why would we compare ourselves to other people? Here's another example of this. In 1 Samuel chapter 18, it says in verse six, and it came to pass as they came when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tablets, with joy and with instruments of music. And the women answered one another as they played and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David his 10 thousands. And Saul was very wroth. He's very angry. He's very filled with wrath. And the saying displeased him. And he said, they've ascribed unto David 10 thousands. And to me, they have ascribed but thousands. And what can he have more about the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day forward. And you know what? I'll bet you that Saul didn't kill thousands of people. They're exaggerating about both. They're exaggerating about Saul. They're exaggerating about David. It's just a song. It's a song. They're singing. They're excited. They're having fun. But they're glorifying David more than they're glorifying Saul. And instead of Saul just being happy that he's the king, instead of Saul just being happy that he's considered a great hero, that he has slain thousands in their mind, and that they're giving him all this credit for what he's done, instead, all he's fixated on is that there's one guy in the whole kingdom, millions of people in this kingdom, millions of people, one guy's better than me. Hey, I don't know about you, but being the second coolest guy, that's pretty good. But human nature is just not satisfied with that, right? We just always have to find that person who has it better and compare ourselves to them instead of just being happy. And you know, Jonathan had the right attitude. Saul's son, Jonathan, just said, hey, I know David's number one. I just think it's cool to be David's friend. I think it's cool to just hang with David. But no, Saul has to be number one. And having to be number one is a wicked attitude. Go if you were to John chapter three in the New Testament, John chapter three. And of course, the Saul and David saga goes on. And the Bible said, while you're turning to John three, I'll read you a little more of this from first Samuel 18. It says in verse number 14, and David behaved himself wisely in all his ways. And the Lord was with him. Wherefore, when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. Now, who does David work for? David works for Saul. Saul's the king. Saul's the top guy. David is in his military. David is hired by Saul. David is working for Saul, and he's doing a good job. And Saul looks at David doing a good job, and is like, ah, oh, he keeps doing so well. He's so smart, he's doing such a good job. He's killing so many Philistines. He should be thrilled, but instead, he's just thinking, this guy's making me look bad. I mean, think about, like, just think about if we were to apply this to, like, a job or something. Let's say, like, you're a plumber or something, right? And you own a plumbing company, and you hire a plumber, and the plumber's just killing it. You're not gonna be like, man, this guy's making me look like I'm not as good of a plumber. You're just gonna be like, man, this guy's awesome, and I'm making a lot of money. Because what kind of a person has such a big ego that they just care more about, well, I wanna be the best guy in this company? What you should really care about is, I've got an employee that's making me a boatload of money. This is great. And really, that's the same situation here, because you've got Saul, who's basically running Israel, and his worker, David, his soldier, David, is out there just killing it. He's being wise, he's leading people well, he's killing the Philistines, he should just be happy that we're smoking the Philistines, Israel's thriving, this is great. But instead, he creates this situation and state of civil war, where instead of fighting the Philistines, he's gonna be chasing after David eventually, and David's got his troops, and Saul's got his troops, and all of this infighting is going on, instead of just making it all about the Lord. All about, hey, we want the Lord to reign. We want God's word to reign supreme. We want the Philistines to get their butts kicked, because they're wicked, because they're worshiping idols, because they're worshiping false gods, they're pagans. We want God's people to thrive. We want the worship of the Lord to thrive, but instead, it's about ego. It's about, well, I wanna be number one. And that's wicked on Saul's part, that's why Saul ends up getting destroyed, because of that wicked attitude. That's one of the reasons that he got destroyed. But look at John chapter three, this is a positive example. Look at John the Baptist in verse 28. Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I'm not the Christ, but that I'm sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy, therefore, is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. So what's John the Baptist saying? He's saying that he is willing to play second fiddle to Jesus. He said, I don't need to be number one. I don't wanna be number one, because they come to him and try to appeal to his ego. They say to John the Baptist, hey, did you know Jesus is baptizing more disciples than you? Well, well, you know, that's not cool. No, John the Baptist, when he hears that Jesus made him baptize more disciples, he says, great, amen. I'm not the Christ, I'm not number one. Hey, he must increase, I must decrease. I am willing all day long to play second fiddle unto Jesus. Now you say, well, you know, of course I'm willing to play second fiddle to Jesus cause he's Jesus, because he's God in the flesh. But I don't wanna play second fiddle to other humans, you know, that are non divine. But hold on a second. Look at the illustration he gives though. The illustration he gives is a human illustration that's not about necessarily the son of God, because he just used an illustration of a wedding. At a wedding, you've got the bridegroom, which is another word for just, we would just call it the groom, right? Just chop off that bride at the beginning cause we don't say that anymore. You know, you got the groom, and then you got the friend of the groom. What do we call the friend of the groom today? So at a wedding, you got the groom and you got the best man. Now, should the best man have an attitude that says, you know, I'm here to steal the show, it's all about me. And when we get to the reception and I get to make that speech at the reception, you know, it's all about moi. Is that really the right attitude? No, because the best man is there to support the groom, to enjoy his happiness, to enjoy his special day, to be excited about what's happening in the groom's life. And that should be enough for him. That should fulfill his joy to see his buddy happy, to see his buddy married, right? Or we could flip this over and say, the bride and the maid of honor, right? And typically, of course, traditionally, the bridesmaids and the groomsmen are single. So if you, you know, there's the saying, always a bridesmaid, never a bride, right? So you've got the bridesmaids, it's not their day. It's the bride's day, right? So imagine a bridesmaid who's bitter, like, oh, you know, why no guy wants to marry me? I don't have a boyfriend or, you know, whatever. It's wicked, right? She's there to be excited and happy for her friend, right? The groomsman is there to be excited and happy for his friend. That's what John the Baptist is talking about. And John the Baptist is a picture of us. We're the Baptist, right? We're all Baptists here. And so he represents all Christians anyway, because we as Christians, it's not about us, it's about Jesus, it's about Christ. We have a role to play, we have a function to perform, but at the end of the day, it's not our show, it's his show. And so we must decrease, he must increase. And so it's a human illustration. So that means that in a literal wedding, we should literally be willing to play second fiddle to the bride or to the groom. And then we can apply this to other parts of life and say that in other areas of life, it's okay to play second fiddle, period. So at your job, you don't always have to be number one. Don't be too humble to be someone else's helper for a day. Well, I'm supposed to be the lead technician or whatever. Hey, it's okay to be somebody else's helper for a day. It's okay to support someone else. It takes humility, but you know what? Hey, I wouldn't mind going and preaching somewhere where I'm not the keynote speaker. Hey, I'll be glad to be the opening act for some other preacher, right? Because it's not about ego where I can't be second to anyone. You better put me down as the main speaker. I gotta go second. I can never go first. That's ego. That's pride. That has no place in the ministry. And as Christians, we should be humble people that are willing to play second fiddle. Like David was willing to play second fiddle to Saul. He was willing to be Saul's helper, Saul's lieutenant, Saul's auxiliary. But yet he ended up gaining more glory, but not because he was out seeking glory, because he was always humbling himself to Saul. Whereas Saul just had to be number one. John the Baptist, John the Baptist didn't have to be the number one preacher. He said, hey, let Jesus be the number one preacher. I'm just glad to be his friend. I'm just glad to help him out, to support him and so forth. Now let's apply this also to something that's very relevant today. How about wives in a marriage? Guess what wives are? Second fiddle. That's what they are. Wives are playing second fiddle to their husband. I don't care what feminism says. That is the reality of the situation. Okay? Because you say, well, that's insulting. If you think second fiddle is insulting, you haven't been listening to anything I've said for the last 10 minutes. If you think second fiddle is an insult, you don't get it still. Look, you say, what is second fiddle? You keep saying that word. Maybe I should stop and explain that expression. Does everybody know what a fiddle is? What is a fiddle? It's a violin. Okay? So here's the thing. When you go to the symphony, who's ever been to the symphony before? Okay, you go to the symphony. And the thing about the symphony is that if it's traditional, which it usually is, they don't use amplification equipment. So traditionally, there's no amplifier. There are no microphones. They build the building in such a way where it has good acoustics. And in order to get more violin sound, what they do is they just get more violins. So if you look at the violin section, they're all playing the exact same thing. So you'll see a bunch of violins. And if you watch their arms, they'll often, sometimes somebody might play something different. But the point is, in general, their arms are just in sync perfectly. There'll be two guys with a cello, and they're both just playing the exact same note. Like you can just stare at them and watch, and it's like synchronized swimming or something, right? Their arms are moving the same. The notes are playing the same. You say, well, why do we need 10 violins? Are they playing 10 different things? No, they're not playing 10 different things. You're getting more volume. Because in order to amplify that one volume, in order to double the volume that you would have if you had one violin playing, to double it, you need like 10 violins to double that sound. And also you get a richer sound, a fuller sound, whatever. So the point is that you have multiple violin players, but typically the people that get the most honor when you go to the symphony and people are bowing and people are being introduced, usually the people that you really focus on as far as like when you open the little program and you have a picture and the name and a little bio, it's usually like the conductor. He gets a lot of honor. He's bowing and we all know his name, and he gets a picture and a little bio. And then also the first violinist is also an important person. So pretty much the composer and the first violinist, they're kind of bowing and getting extra accolades because they're the main people. So second fiddle is referring to that phenomenon that basically you've got one person who's the leader and then other people are supporting and they're not in the main leadership role. They're a support role. Well, here's the thing about marriage. The Bible says that the man is the head of his wife. That's what the Bible says. In 1 Corinthians 11, the husband is the head of the wife. But then it also says that Christ is the head of man and that the head of Christ is God. Okay, that's what it says in 1 Corinthians 11 at the very beginning of the chapter. And all throughout the New Testament, we have other scriptures saying that the husband's the head of the wife, that the husband is the ruler of his household, that the wives are to submit unto their own husbands. Christ is the head of the church. The husband is the head of his wife, the head of the home, the head of household. That term is even something that'll be on official documents. Who's the head of household, right? I put my name in that box, okay? So here's the thing. Being a wife, you are second fiddle because your husband is the leader. Your husband, and by the way, you have been created by God to be a help unto your husband like Eve was created to be a help that was meat for Adam, okay? So this is the role that you play. It doesn't mean that he's better than you. It doesn't mean that you have less value than him, but it does mean that he's the boss and that he's the one who takes the limelight and that you're not to go through life as a wife saying, hey, look at me, look at me here. No, no, your husband is the more public face of your family. He's the one who is the leader. He's the one who's out front. You're more of a support role. He's the NASCAR driver. You're in the pit crew. Now you're the head of the pit crew, but you're pit crew. You're not driving the car. He's driving the car. Does everybody understand? That's what the Bible teaches. This is not what our society teaches, but our society also can't figure out what pronouns to use so we don't care what they think. We only care what the Bible says. Nuts to them. They're idiots. They don't know how to have a family. They don't know how to have a marriage, but here's what I've noticed. So seriously, just as John the Baptist is willing to play second fiddle, just as David is willing to be a second man, you know, wives should be willing to support their husband and be second in the family and not be like, well, I have to lead. I have to be number one. I have to be out front. It's all about me. Maybe he can take my last name or something like that. But here's what I've noticed. I've noticed that if I ever preach a sermon about women's roles in marriage, or if anyone ever preaches a sermon about women's roles, here's what inevitably is the comment on social media. Well, now you have to talk about everything that men need to do. What about husbands? What about what husbands need to do? And you know what they're basically saying? Well, what shall this man do? God's like, wives, submit to your husbands. Well, what shall, what's the point, what does he do? And you know what? That is a wrong heart to just knee jerk. Oh, you're telling wives what to do? Well, you gotta talk 10 times as much about what husbands need to do. No, I don't. What if I told you that I could get up and preach for an hour about wives' roles in marriage and what wives need to do, and not even mention what husbands need to do, and I can just do that, and you can just go jump in a lake, how about that? Because what are you gonna do about it? Because that's just what the sermon's about that day. But guess what? But here's the thing. I've done whole sermons where it was all about the husband's responsibility. Do I have to bring up, and then all the MGTOWs are gonna jump on and be like, well, you forgot to bring up what the wives need to do. It's easy for you to say, but what about the wives? You see how this goes both ways? It's an attitude of like, well, what shall this man do? But I'm telling you, you cannot even, you can't even post a Bible verse on social media about women's roles without somebody jumping out. What about the men? And you're just like, dude, I'm not talking about the men. I'm talking about the women right now. I'll talk about the men tomorrow. It all needs to be covered. But it's a mentality that says, don't talk about my responsibility. Don't talk about my job. Don't talk about my sin. Let's redirect to someone else. What shall this man do? No, we need to think about ourselves, okay? Also, one time I preached a sermon against rap music and hip hop culture. And a bunch of people are like, well, you know, you're speaking out against rap music and hip hop culture. You know, why aren't you speaking out about the sins of white people's culture? Or, you know, when, and people confronted me and said, when have you ever called out a specific white culture and condemned it? And I said, well, I'm glad you asked. Because I did a whole sermon called The Sinful Nation of France. And last time I checked, France is a nation of white people. And I did a whole sermon singling out France as being a wicked nation. I did another sermon called Iceland, The Nation of Bastards. And it doesn't get much whiter than Iceland, right? I mean, people in Iceland are really white. They're not exactly getting a suntan out there. And so the point is that, you know, because I'm calling out the rap music and the hip hop lifestyle, which is sinful, whether I talk about France or not, whether I talk about Iceland or not, it doesn't change the fact that the hip hop culture is sinful. But it's this, well, what shall white man do? What shall Japanese man do? Well, I did a whole sermon called Japan, The Kamikaze Nation, where I spent a whole sermon rebuking Japan. See, it has nothing to do with race. It's not about singling out one group or something. It's just, you feel that way because maybe the shoe fits a little bit. Or maybe you just don't like your buddies and your group and your crew being called out. But the bottom line is that when we hear the preaching of God's word, we should be looking to ourselves more than just kind of like looking up. I've literally been preaching a sermon before and somebody looked up to me from the auditorium and I'm preaching and this guy literally just started pointing at his wife like this. And he meant like, what you're saying right now, she's guilty, and he's just like. And he was doing it so that she couldn't see. And I'm thinking like, dude, why don't you just listen and apply stuff to yourself? But instead, all he's thinking about is just, yup, mm-hmm, yup. We shouldn't go through life going like this. What shall this man do? We should be thinking, what shall this man do? We should be thinking, what shall this man do? You know, and be applying things to ourselves. And so whether I preach about women's roles or not, a husband's roles are clearly laid out in God's word and husbands need to do what husbands need to do. Whether I preach about men's roles or not, women's roles are laid out. I can do a sermon on wives and it's still just as true. I can preach about France in one sermon, Japan in another sermon, hip hop culture in another sermon, and it stands. But the people who don't like it are typically wanting to just point to someone else and say, what about their problems? You know, they have problems too. You know, I could point out the problems with something and then they're just like, oh yeah, well these people are worse. You know, what if I got up and preached about the errors of Catholicism? And I got up and preached about all the unbiblical things about Catholicism. And then the Catholics could be like, oh yeah, well at least we don't have women preachers like the Protestants. Could they say that? Yeah, at least we don't have some fag clergy like the Methodists and the, you know, a lot of Presbyterians. Could they? They could legitimately say that. But you know what they're doing? They would just be drawing attention away from their own error, their own wicked heresies and damnable doctrine. So it's easy to just shift the responsibility to someone else. But if the sermon applies to you, apply it. We should be more eager when we come to church to apply God's word to ourselves than to always wanna just be shifting it over to someone else and well, what's he gonna do? What does she need to do? What do those people over there need to be doing? We need to apply it to ourselves. Not what shall this man do? It's what shall I do? So in closing, don't compare your circumstances to other people and become envious. Just look at your own situation and think about how God has blessed you so much and you have it so good. And if you wanna compare yourself to somebody, compare yourself to someone who has it worse. And then think about how blessed you are and how good God has been to you. Don't get upset when someone else has it better than you. Be happy for them. Be like John the Baptist saying, man, my joy is fulfilled because the bride, because the groom, because they're happy, that's where I'm getting my joy from their happiness, right? Be happy when your friends are successful. Be happy when your family is successful. Don't feel like it's not fair because I didn't get it as much as they did. Just be happy that you love them and they've been blessed. Be willing to be in a secondary role. Be willing to play a supporting role. Be willing to be second fiddle in all areas of life. Don't always have to be front and center, number one, top billing. It's the kind of thing that actors and actresses argue and fight about because they're ungodly, because they're filled with pride and ego. I remember there was this one movie where these two actors both were big name actors, they were both gonna be in the movie and they're fighting over who gets top billing. So finally they made this compromise where the one guy's name was on the left but it was a little higher, or no, I'm sorry. One guy's name was on the left but it was a little lower and the other guy's name was on the right but it was a little higher. So it was like if you're going from left to right, this guy's first, but if you're going from top to bottom, this guy's first. So they could both like tell themselves I'm number one because people read from left to right. And then the other guys think like, well, I'm number one because my name's just a little higher. So it goes from top to bottom. No, it goes from left to right. This is a true story, okay? I'm telling you, my friend, that is not a Christian attitude. You know, like, oh, we're having a preaching conference, well, change that poster because we gotta do this little thing where the left and lower, you know, because we don't want any, that is wicked among God's people to have this attitude of I've gotta be the best, I gotta be number one, I gotta get top billing. Be humble. And when God tells you what to do, or when preaching rebukes your sin or your culture or something close to home for you, don't change the subject to what someone else should do. Right, if you're a woman and the pastor gets up and preaches that wives need to obey their husbands, then you know what you need to do? You need to apply that and obey your husband. Not be like, oh yeah, why is he bringing up the man? And the same thing, if you're a man and the pastor's getting up and preaching about men being faithful husbands and dutiful husbands and doing what they're supposed to do, don't be like, oh yeah, but women these days, he won't talk about that. I mean, I've literally had people leave comments on my videos like, well, Pastor Anderson won't talk about how, you know, feminists are the way, and I'm like, really? Like, I don't talk, I've never talked about that? I don't talk about that? It's funny how Pastor Anderson will never bring this verse up. It's like a verse I've preached a million times. But it's that attitude of just shifted onto someone else. So Peter asked the question in John 21, well, what shall this man do? And what was Jesus response? What is that to you, buddy? What is that to thee? Follow thou me, you follow me, what's it to you? About that other person over there. Think about how to apply my commands and my word to yourself. And if I will the John Terry till I come, you should just be happy for him. You just think it's great that your buddy John gets to be blessed in that way. Should make you happy if you love John. Could be worse, you could end up like James getting smoked in chapter 13 of Acts. Let's probably have enough word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. And Lord, help us never to get this attitude that compares ourselves to others and complains about our situation. When we have it so good, Lord, please help us to recognize all the blessings we have. And what a blessing it is, Lord, to play second fiddle to you or to any man of God or to any godly Christian, Lord. To be a silent partner is a blessing, out soul winning, Lord. Please just bless our church and help us not to get this prideful attitude. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.