Jesus and the Wounded
Transcript
All right, well, it's good to see you guys this morning. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Matt Freeman. I'm one of the pastors here with Mill City Church. And I am very, very excited about the scripture that we're going to be looking at this morning. Um, because it's one of my favorite interactions that Jesus has with any person in the Gospels. In fact, it's one of the earliest stories that I can remember from my childhood.
And since then, it's just been one of my favorite stories. And I think part of that is because there's so much in this story that I think that all of us are actually going to be able to relate to. So I'm just really excited about it. Um, we're in the second week of our Jesus and People series. And what we're aiming to do in this series is take a look at the Gospels and try to answer the question, How does God want to relate to me in normal, everyday life? Okay, and I'm going to say that again.
How does God want to relate to me in normal, everyday life? And for most of us, it's kind of hard for us to imagine because God seems so far off sometimes in the day in and day out of our lives. And the New Testament kind of picks up on this idea. And here's what it says in Colossians 1.15. It says that He, when it says He, it means Jesus. Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
Jesus is the image of the invisible God. So that when we look at the life of Jesus, when we look at the things that He said, the things that He did, the conversations and the interactions that He had with people, we're actually getting a perfect reflection of God's character and nature. So that's what we're doing in this series. We're going to the Gospels and we're looking where Jesus has interaction with people. And we're saying, okay, what do we learn about Jesus and how He relates to a person? And how is Jesus wanting us to relate to Him?
And then we're bringing it to our side and trying to apply it and say, okay, what does it look like for Jesus to relate to us in normal, everyday life? How is He calling on me to relate to Him? And last week, Chet kicked off our series by talking about Jesus and how He relates to the desperate. And we looked at the story. There were two different characters in the story. You had Jairus who was a synagogue ruler and his young daughter was sick and at the point of death.
And he comes running to Jesus in his desperation. And Jesus meets him in his time of need. There's a woman that had had a bleeding disorder for 12 years. And she runs up just to grab the hem of Jesus' garment. And she's healed. Jesus meets her in her time of need.
And what we're looking at this morning is a little bit different. And in fact, it's going to be a little bit harder for us to see because it's something that can be so easily hidden. And in a room this size, I would guess that we have people in this room that are struggling with the very thing that I'm talking about. That there's something in your past. Maybe it's something that you've done. Maybe it was something that was done against you.
Hurt, pain, and shame that you just don't want people to know about. Much less God. What would God think of me if he knew the things that I did? Would he love me? Would he accept me? What about other people?
Would they love me and would they accept me? And as we walk through this story this morning, if you begin to relate to the character that Jesus is talking to, my prayer for you is that you see very clearly how Jesus wants to relate to you this morning. And if we walk through it and you're not necessarily relating to the person in this story, what I want you to see is how Jesus relates to her so that we as Christians, so that we as a church can help people who are walking through this situation. Okay? So we kind of understand what we're listening for.
So if it impacts us, we want to see how Jesus wants to relate to us. And if it doesn't necessarily land, we're looking at how do we as Christians engage with people in normal everyday life who might be struggling with this. Okay? So I'm going to pray before we hop in. I'm going to ask the Holy Spirit to open up our minds, open up our hearts so that we can understand God's word. You guys pray.
Let's pray. God, I thank you for this morning. I thank you for the truth that is revealed in this story. I thank you for what we're going to get to see. God, I'm asking by the power of your Holy Spirit that you would open us up. God, that we would let our guard down, that we would very clearly hear from you this morning, that we would see how Jesus wants to relate to us, God, and how we in turn are to respond to him.
I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. So if you've got a Bible, go ahead and grab it. We're going to be in the book of John, chapter 4. And the story that we're going to be looking at is commonly referred to as Jesus and the woman at the well.
And so if you don't have a Bible, just grab one of those blue and white Bibles that we have sitting on the seats. It's actually going to be on page 578. If you brought your own Bible, I don't know what page it's going to be on. Good luck. And if you're here this morning and you don't have a Bible, please just take one of those with you. That's what they're there for.
We want everyone to have a Bible. And before we hop in, I just want to set the stage for what we're about to do. What we're going to look at is a rather long conversation that Jesus has with this woman. And so we're going to walk all the way through the conversation. We're going to point out important details. We're going to look at the things that Jesus says, the things that she says.
And then at the very end, we're going to land on our main point and settle there for a little bit so that we can see how Jesus wants to relate to us and how we ought to relate to him. Okay? Make sense? All right. So here we go.
John, chapter 4. And we'll actually skip the first two verses. We'll start in verse 3. All right. He, and again, that's he meaning Jesus, left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria.
So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. All right.
So here's the scoop. Jesus and his disciples have been down in Judea, which is the region where Jerusalem was. He had been teaching. He had been doing miracles. He had been making disciples. And now they're going to just another region that they had spent a good amount of their time in.
And scripture tells us that he had to go through Samaria. Okay? So if you were looking at a map, and I'm going to draw you an imaginary map right here. So use your imagination. If Judea is here, then Samaria was north, and smack dab in the middle of them was Samaria. Okay?
So they had to go Judea through Samaria all the way to Galilee. And the scripture tells us that they ended up in a town called Sychar, which is where Jacob's well was. And I love that John just kind of adds in that little detail. And the well plays a prominent part in the story. But this isn't the first mention of Jacob's well that we actually see in scripture.
We see Jacob's well all the way back in the book of Genesis. God comes to Abraham. He says, I'm going to bless you, and I'm going to increase your descendants, and I'm going to bless you, the whole earth, through your family. And we see the line go from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. And this is Jacob's well. And we even see it again later in the book of Joshua when the Israelites are coming out of Egypt and they're entering into the promised land.
There's Jacob's well. And here we are thousands of years later again. And Jacob's well is still a part of God's story. This is a small little theme that you see God's promise kind of continuing on through the scripture here. It's really cool. So verse 6, Jacob's well was there.
So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. And then John tells us, for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. And honestly, verse 6 is actually one of my favorite parts of this story because I forget sometimes that Jesus was human.
Like I know that Jesus was the son of God, but he stepped out of heaven and he was completely human. And he and his disciples had been traveling for a long time. And he's worn out. It says it was about the sixth hour. And he's sitting beside the well. And he's smelly, sweaty, hungry, thirsty, like most of us are here in Columbia during the summer.
Okay, so very similar to that. And it says it was about the sixth hour. And that's a detail that most of us would just kind of blitz right by because that's not how we tell time. But the sixth hour was noon. It was midday. It was the hottest part of the day.
And Jesus is sitting by this well and all he wants is something to drink. And lo and behold, this Samaritan woman is coming up to the well. And Jesus is like, sweet. I'm finally going to get some water. But this is actually kind of weird.
Not that the woman is coming to the well to get water. That was normal. It was the fact that she was coming to the well in the middle of the day and that she was by herself. See, the way that most cultures in this town worked was early in the morning, all the women of the village would get up together and they would travel to the well. They would all go to the well together. It was kind of like a social event.
Sometimes even children would go too. And they would travel to the well to get water for the day, water to cook with, water to clean with, even to water like small plants and crops. And part of the reason they did that was because it wasn't the hottest part of the day. And they were going to have to lug this water back into the village. And so they'd go early in the morning and then they would come back. And if they needed water for the night, right before sunset, they would all travel back to the well together and then back down into the village.
And there are still some cultures in the world that are like this. A couple of years back, I got to spend a little bit of time in Burkina Faso, which is in West Africa. It's just below the Sahara Desert. So it's very much the same kind of climate, same kind of village life that you would have expected here. And that's just what the women did. They would get up early in the morning and you'd see just one person would come out and you'd hear chatter.
You'd hear laughter. And people would just go down to the well, women and children, and then they would come back together. So we just got a clue into the story because that's not normal. Now, we don't know exactly what it means, but the fact that she's coming to the well in the middle of the day and she's coming by herself is just kind of weird. Okay? So Jesus is sitting there.
He's tired. He's thirsty. He's like, jackpot, score. I'm finally going to get something to drink. And he asked her for a drink. In verse 9, The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?
And then John adds in the note, For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Okay. Well, this conversation just went to a whole other level. Read that again. The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
So Jesus just asked this lady for a drink. Not a whole lot to ask for, right? He's just tired. He's thirsty. And her response is kind of cold, kind of distance, putting him at arm's length. And what we're actually seeing unfold here is a nearly thousand-year-old feud between these two groups of people, between the Jews and the Samaritans.
And if you were with us back in the fall during our Bible story series, we actually touched on this briefly, that after the reign of Solomon, the nation of Israel split in two between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. And what we see through the entire Old Testament is that God's promise, His covenant promise remains with the southern kingdom, with Judah. And the northern kingdom does okay for a little while, But over time they start to marry in with different people groups in the area. They start worshiping other gods. Assyria comes in and swallows them up whole and then spits them back out into the region.
And they resettle there. And by the time they're resettled in this area, they're not even referred to as Israelites anymore. They're being referred to as Samaritans. So the Jews and the Samaritans hated each other because the Jews looked down on them because they were half-breeds. They had gone back on their heritage. And the Samaritans hated the Jews because they excluded them.
They just pushed them out. In fact, if a Jew called another Jew a Samaritan, them's fighting words. I mean, that's like a four-letter word to them. Devout Jews at this time. Again, we've got to go back to our imaginary map. I'm sure you haven't forgotten it.
Devout Jews would have to go. Devout Jews so that they could go from Judea to Samaria. Here's what they would do. They would start here in Judea. They would cross the Jordan River. That's my river.
They would cross the river. They would go up the Jordan River until they were parallel with Galilee. And they would cross back over just so that they didn't have to go through the land of the half-breed Samaritans. I mean, that's hatred. That's pure hatred. That would be like me saying to get from Clemson to Charleston, two of the greatest cities in the world.
Amen. All right. To get from Clemson to Charleston, I'm going to cross over into Georgia. I'm going to go from Augusta all the way down to Savannah. And then I'm going to come up the coast to Charleston just so that I don't have to go through the heart of Gamecock country. And trust me, I thought about it.
And then I moved here, so there's that. In fact, people ask me all the time from back home, like, you moved to Columbia to plant a church? I was like, yeah. I mean, somebody's got to share the good news with the Gamecocks. Why does Matt secretly wear orange all the time? Oh, don't.
That's okay. It's okay, guys. You'll come around. And so Jesus is sitting by this well, and the Samaritan woman comes up, and he casually asks her for a drink of water. And she's just like, who are you, a Jew, talking to me, a Samaritan woman? You can just feel that tension.
But not just that. She plays the gender card, too. She says, you're a Jew, and I'm a Samaritan woman. Because that's another thing. In that culture, men and women didn't talk to each other when they were alone like that, especially if they were strangers. So this conversation just keeps getting weirder.
She's coming to the well at a weird time. There's this weird kind of tension in this relationship. She's kind of being cold and calloused. And here's what Jesus said to her. Let's pick it back up in the story.
Verse 10. Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Okay, you can picture this, right? There's a smelly Jewish guy.
I'm sweaty. I should say sweaty, not just smelly. He's smelly and sweaty. Jewish guy sitting by the well, and he asks her for a drink of water. And when she rejects him, his response is, oh, yeah? Well, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is talking to you, you would have asked me, and I would have given you living water.
And her reaction is like, say what? Bruh, you don't even have a bucket, and the well is deep. I think you've been out in the sun too long. Maybe you're just a little bit dehydrated. And before we go too far with that, it's not, it's probably not like that, where she thought he was crazy for this idea of living water, though we kind of get tripped up on that phrase. It was actually his ability to pull it off.
Because when he's using that phrase living water, living is exactly the same way that we would use the phrase running. We would be saying running water. Now, not like running water out of a faucet, more like you're standing beside a river, and this is running water. This is a constant source of movement. It's this continual welling up of water heading down a stream. So it's not like Jesus walked up and said, hey, you want some of my magic beans?
It's more like well water. I've got a constant source of water you don't even know anything about. And she, again, she's just kind of cold and calloused. And it's like, you don't have a bucket, and this well is deep. And she continues on in verse number 12. She says, who do you think you are?
Who you are in the gift of God. Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us this well. He drank from it himself. And Jesus responds in 13. Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.
But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. Okay, obviously at this point we're starting to realize that Jesus and this woman are having two different conversations. What she's saying is, give me some of this water so that I don't have to be thirsty again, so I won't have to keep coming up here to the well to draw water. That sounds great.
But Jesus isn't talking about spiritual water. He's not talking about physical water. He's talking about spiritual water. He's talking about something completely different, and she's missing it. Think about what Jesus has said. He said, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is talking to you, you'd have asked me and I would have given you living water that would become in you a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
And this metaphor is found all throughout the Old Testament. We're going to see in just a little bit. She's not unaware of these Old Testament passages. She's not unaware of these prophecies. And what Jesus is saying is that this promised Messiah, this promised Redeemer, this river of life that can well up, that can save and bring about eternal life, I'm right here. If you knew who I am and the gift of God, and she is completely missing it.
Verse 16, Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come here. The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You are right in saying I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true. And the conversation just changed. You ever been in one of those conversations where two people are kind of going back and forth and back and forth, and finally somebody says something and it feels like the air gets sucked out of the room?
That's this moment. You can almost imagine. You can almost imagine her. She's kind of perturbed. She's annoyed with this whole conversation. She's finally got her water bucket.
She's just going to head back down into the village. And Jesus says, Go call your husband. She leans back over her shoulder. I don't have one of those. And Jesus says, Yeah, I know. In fact, I know that you've had five husbands, and the man that you're with now is not your husband.
What you have said is true. Stops her. Dead in her tracks. And now for the first time, all of the details, all the little things that we've begun to see in this conversation begin to add up. The fact that she's going to the well in the middle of the day. The fact that she's alone.
The fact that she seems a little bitter. A little calloused. Playing the Samaritan card. Playing the woman card. What this woman, the way I would describe her, is she's someone that is wounded. This woman, whether it's things that she's done, or things that have been done against her, over her life, she's just built up this brick wall around herself, so that people can't get in.
She's been hurt too much. She's gone through too much. And she just wants to keep people out. And I feel like so many of us in this room kind of do the same thing. We don't want to let people in. And it now begins to make sense why this woman was going to the well in the middle of the day by herself.
And here's what I want us to do. We're going to take a time out. Because so often when we read through scripture, we'll go right by that. And we won't think about the implications of what Jesus just said. What he just brought to light. But I want us to just imagine for a second what life actually would have been like for this woman.
Okay? So Jesus just said that she's had five husbands. Here's the options. Okay? Either all five of her husbands have died, all five of them divorced her, or some combination of that. Okay?
So all five died, all five divorced her, or it was some kind of combination thereof. And most scholars believe that the way the text reads and what it's implying here is the divorce. And here's how divorce worked at that time. Only men could initiate divorce. You ever been in love? Some of you are married.
I hope you're in love now. And it just didn't work out. And you had your heart break. Imagine being this woman, and she's married, and she's been told not once, not twice, but five times, you have no value to me. And this was a public thing. It was done in public.
He would write her a letter, and he would kick her out of the house in public shame. And this has happened five times. And this is the worst possible scenario for her, because she's a woman in a culture that did not value women. And this is a side note, and this one's just for free. This is one of the reasons that I love Jesus, and I love our faith so much, is because for centuries, Christians have been on the forefront of fighting for women's rights, that they would be treated with value, and dignity, and honor, and respect. But that's not what this woman had.
This woman actually had no rights outside of either her father or her husband. No economic standing, no status, no ability to go get a job, no ability to go buy land, nothing. And so when she is kicked from her house, she is left with absolutely nothing. And all a man had to do was to find one little fault, and he could write her a letter, and kick her to the curb. Could you imagine the shame and the pain that she felt? And not only that, what do you think life's like for her right now in this village?
Do you think she has any female friends? No. She's the woman that everyone whispers about. She's the one that they all want to gossip about. And when she walks by in the marketplace, wives whisper to their husband, look at that tramp. I better not ever see you talking to her.
Men probably made jokes at her expense as they heard stories from her divorced husbands. It's probably why she stopped going to the well with the other women. She could feel the judgmental glances. She could hear them whispering. She could hear the giggles. And she just couldn't stand it anymore.
And now the only place that this woman feels accepted is with a man who doesn't even have the decency to marry her. Just use and abuse her. Can you feel that? She's just eking out an existence at this point. She doesn't care about respect anymore. She just wants to survive.
And you've got to imagine at some point she's had to ask the question, what is fundamentally wrong with me? I'm broken. I'm damaged. I'm incapable of being loved. And the truth is, there's some of us in this room this morning that are feeling the exact same way. You've got stuff stored up from your past, things that you've done, things that have been done against you, pain and shame and hurt and regret, things that are in your past, those skeletons in your closet that you don't want anybody to know about because you don't know if you'll be loved.
You don't know if you'll be accepted. Maybe it's a loved one that you feel was stolen from you too soon. You've got bitterness locked up inside. Maybe it's the shame that you feel from being molested by some evil jerk when you were a child. Maybe it's the drug addiction that you hide from your family and friends, unable to cope and figure out what to do next. Maybe it's how a church treated you when you found out you were pregnant before you were married.
In fact, that may be more people in this room that would care to admit that a church or a Christian may have treated them poorly and there's so much pain and there's so much hurt. What if it's the secret that you're hiding that you're actually secretly attracted to the same gender? Maybe it's your living situation. Having to lie, having to fake it with your family and friends that you're living with someone you're not married to. You feel alone and isolated and you've just kind of decided that this is how life is going to be. You've gotten really good at faking it.
When the subject's brought up in a conversation, you've gotten really good at just kind of steering it the opposite direction. Pretending on the outside that you're fine while on the inside, you are an absolute mess. Asking the question, how could God ever love me? I'm so dirty. I've got so much shame. I've got so much regret.
And what has happened is that you've allowed the past to define who you are. As the past has begun to define who you are. And this woman is in the exact same situation. She is at the end of her rope. She's hurt. She's got so much pain and she doesn't know what to do with it.
She's got this brick wall that she's built up around her. And Jesus, brick by brick, is tearing this wall down and she finally goes on the final assault. She finally throws it all out there. Verse 19. Pick it back up. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.
For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming, He who is called Christ. When He comes, He will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. Jesus and this woman keep going back and forth and back and forth and finally she throws out her card.
I know that when the Messiah comes, I know that when the Christ comes, He'll be able to tell us all these things. He'll be able to answer all the hard questions. He'll be able to help me cope with what's happened to me. He'll love me. He'll accept me. And Jesus lovingly in the midst of this conversation through her pain and shame and regret says, I who speak to you am He.
I'm right here. I didn't walk away. I didn't go anywhere. The pain and the shame and the regret. I know you've had all that. I know you've had five husbands.
I know that the man you're with now is not your husband. And I'm right here. And if you're sitting in this room this morning and your heart is breaking and all the words that I'm saying, realize very clearly that Jesus' response is exactly the same to you. And it's the main point of everything that we're talking about this morning. And it's this. Your past does not have to define who you are.
Jesus gives you a new life and identity in Him. Don't just hear it. Let it sink in. Your past does not have to define who you are. Jesus gives you a new life and identity in Him. In this conversation Jesus just walks up and lovingly starts pulling down the bricks in this wall.
Samaritan, I don't care. Woman, I got that. Okay? Five husbands, I don't care. Jesus lovingly pulls down the bricks in her wall. And that's exactly what He wants to do with you.
He wants to lovingly bust through that wall. Your past does not have to define who you are. Jesus gives you a new life and a new identity with Him. Let me ask you this question. Why do you think you're sitting in this room this morning because Jesus is saying I'm right here and it gets even better. It keeps going guys.
Verse 27. Pick it back up. Just then His disciples came back. They marveled that He was talking with a woman but no one said what do you seek or why are you talking with her? So the woman left her water czar and went away into town and said to the people come see a man who told me all that I ever did.
Can this be the Christ? They went out of the town and were coming to Him. Your past does not have to define who you are. Jesus gives you a new life and identity in Him. This woman met Jesus and it changed everything. The scars that she thought would never go away were healed.
The pain that she thought would never subside went away. The shame that she carried was finally set aside because she was filled up by Jesus. She didn't even care about the water bucket anymore because she had found the gift of God. She had found Jesus and by that Jesus had filled all the empty places in her. All the void in her He had filled it. Her past no longer defined who she was.
She had been given new life and identity in Him. And in fact she's so overwhelmed by who Jesus is and what He's done that she just straight up leaves the water bucket and goes running back into town yelling at the top of her lungs come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ? To the same women who had whispered about her to the same men that had shunned her likely to the same family and possibly some of her ex-husbands that had kicked her out because her past no longer defined who she was and the people could see it. It says the people actually came out of the town and followed her and what we're seeing in this story is a beautiful accurate picture of exactly what Jesus ultimately does for all of us.
Jesus came to this earth to take care of all of our past. All of our sin. All of our shame. All of our regret, hurt and pain. Our inability to get things right or to do good things and He died the death that we should die. Jesus paid for our past and He swapped His life for ours.
So He gives us a new life and identity in Him. He rescues us. He redeems us. He calls us fully loved, fully accepted. We are made sons and daughters. You see, this woman's past was not too much for Jesus to handle.
That's why Isaiah 53 says this, He was pierced for our transgressions, sins. He was crushed for our iniquities, another word for sins. Upon Him was the chastisement or the punishment that brought us peace and by His wounds we are healed. The reason this woman was able to run back into the town and yell at the top of her lungs is that she had left her old identity behind and had found her new identity in Him. She didn't care what people thought anymore. She wasn't living in the past.
She was looking to Jesus for her identity and for her life. Do you see the invitation that's being extended to you this morning too? Because Jesus has the same response to all of us. Maybe you're sitting in the room this morning and you're not a Christian. You're just kind of checking this Jesus thing out. His response is the same to you. your past does not have to define who you are.
Jesus gives you a new life and identity in Him. And you're saying, Matt, you don't know what I've done. You don't know what's been done to me. And what I would like to share with you is the gospel is that salvation is not based off of your work, but Jesus' work on your behalf. So whether it's the things that you do well or the things that you do that are bad or the bad things that have been done against you, Jesus says, I can take care of it.
You don't have to live in the past anymore. I'll give you new life and identity in me. And maybe you're in the room this morning, you're a Christian, but you would say you're in that category. That there's not a day goes by that you don't think about that thing, that that feeling doesn't creep into your mind, that you're not reminded of shame and pain and hurt. Jesus' response is the same to you. Your past does not define who you are.
You've already been given a new life and a new identity with him and Jesus is just saying walk in it. Don't let the past define who you are. You've been given new life and a new identity with me and you've been given a group of people that you get to walk through life with that at some point have all raised their hands and said, Jesus, take care of my past. Give me a new life and identity in you. You don't have to keep that brick wall up. You get to share it and let it out.
You don't have to carry those burdens and that baggage anymore. And maybe you're a Christian in the room and this story doesn't necessarily resonate with you. You wouldn't say that you're wounded or that you're kind of haunted by your past. Jesus shows us very clearly what it looks like for us to relate to someone who's wounded. Their past does not define who they are. Jesus gives them new life and a new identity in him. which means that we sit and listen not in judgment or condemnation but in love and compassion.
It means we open up our homes and create environments where people can be open and share the mess of their lives. There are going to be times where you have to sacrifice money, time, resources. You're going to have to pour yourself out so that others can be filled up. That's exactly what Jesus did for this woman. And you get to do so by pointing them towards Jesus. Raz and Bianca are going to come back up and we're going to stand and sing a song in a second.
And I want you to respond however you feel like Jesus is leading you to. If you're not a Christian and you have this feeling, you have this sense, Matt, I want that to be true for me. I don't want the past to define who I am. I want this new life. I want this identity. The Bible says that you're to repent of your sin, which means that you're just willing to admit it and turn away from and you place your faith in Jesus for this to be true, that he can give you new life and new identity.
If you're a Christian in the room and you're wounded, as we stand and sing, if you just need to let it out, go grab somebody in our church family, go off to the side and talk to them about it. Let it out. Let them pray over you. Let them point you back towards the gospel. Some of you may need to make a phone call and talk to somebody during this time. And for all of us, we're going to stand and praise Jesus because our past does not have to define who we are.
We're given new life and a new identity in him. Let's pray. God, please let that be true in this room. I pray that that truth would sink into our hearts, that it wouldn't just be in our heads, that it would actually be in our hearts, that we would understand that that's true. And Holy Spirit, we pray that you would move in this time, that you would draw us close to you, help us to realize that our past doesn't have to define us. We're given new life and a new identity in you.
Amen.
Jesus and the Religious
Transcript
Well, good morning. We are in our third week of our Jesus and People series. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. And what we've been doing in this series is we've been taking some time to just look at... The Bible says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
It says that in Colossians 1. It says in Hebrews 1 that he's the exact imprint of his nature. So that when we look at Jesus, we actually get to see the character and nature of God. And so we kind of have this understanding of how does God feel about me? Or we have questions about how does God feel about me? How would he interact with me?
And so what we've been doing in Jesus and People is just taking a look at how Jesus interacted with different groups of people, different types of people to see how does God actually respond or feel about me if I kind of fit in that category. So the first two weeks, if you fit into the category, you pretty much knew. So last week, Mac talked about that you had your identity wrapped up in past events, that you were kind of wounded. You had some past stuff that you thought defined who you were. And the week before that, we talked about people who were just completely at the end of the rope and just absolutely desperate.
And so there wasn't really a whole lot of like, when we were talking the first week about being desperate, you probably weren't sitting there going, now am I desperate? Am I in a really bad spot currently? Like do I have options or not? Like you kind of know. You're either that's me, that's where I am, or you don't. Today is going to be a little bit different because what we're going to talk about is sneaky and hides.
And so if it is you, if you kind of fit in this category, you most likely don't know. You most likely don't walk around thinking, that's me, that's you talking to me right now. Like you just don't know. And so I'm going to pray. Let's pray together that the Lord would speak to us, reveal to us where this shows up in our own hearts and our lives, so that we might best follow him.
God, we ask for your grace. We ask for your Holy Spirit to expose us today, that we might see clearly how we ought to approach you, how we ought to understand how the gospel applies to our hearts, so that we might follow you, that we might love you, and that we might feel and know your love. And we praise you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Some of you came in today and maybe you've been hanging out in Christianity a little while, or you've been checking this Jesus thing out, but most everybody knows two things about Jesus.
And so maybe you came in today and these are the only two things you know about Jesus. And you maybe have never taken the time to think about how these two things aren't really coherent together. Like they don't make a whole lot of sense. So thing one that everybody knows about Jesus, Jesus was the nicest person who ever lived. Like he's just the best. Like he would hug you if you were ugly.
That's who Jesus is. Like Jesus is just the best. He was humble. He was kind. He was loving. He was nice.
That's the first thing everybody knows about Jesus. Like if you ask somebody, hey, do you think you and Jesus would be friends? He'd be like, yeah, I think Jesus is great. Like I don't have a problem with Jesus. Thing two that we know about Jesus. Sorry, this is a two.
This is a one. Thing two that we know about Jesus, he was brutally murdered by people that hated him. Okay. Thing one, nicest person ever. Thing two, brutally murdered by people that hated him. Now that's not usually how that goes.
Like there aren't a whole lot of people that are like, that Mother Teresa, she makes me sick. Like that doesn't really happen. Like it doesn't make a lot of sense that Jesus was the nicest person ever and brutally murdered by people that hated him. Like those aren't really coherent together. And what we find as we look in the gospels and we see Jesus interacting with people is that Jesus does not get along well with religious people. Jesus does not get along well with religious people.
Now that seems weird too. Because you're like, wait, didn't he start a religion? Like aren't his followers like religious people? Like isn't that, hey bro, isn't that what we're doing right now? I can't know what this is. Like Jesus would be mad at us?
Like what's, what's going on? Like that's, that's kind of what, and the answer is no. Jesus didn't start a religion. He wasn't religious. And what we mean by religion, when we're talking about religion today, and when we're talking about religion mostly is this, this idea that what I do, my, my work, my effort, my behavior is what earns something with God. So most religions are basically do this, don't do that, and God will love you.
Do this and don't do that. You'll reach nirvana. Be this type of person. Be this nationality. It's, it's all about you. And so basically religion is this.
I obey and therefore God loves me. I obey. I behave. I'm moral. I follow the rules. I obey.
And therefore God loves me. And it actually can equate to, I obey. And therefore God owes me. Like I've, I've punched the clock. I've done my moral thing. I've earned it.
He owes me. That's religion. The gospel, which is what Jesus came to present, to do, to accomplish is God loves me. Specifically, God loves me in Christ in that he would die for me, pay for my sins, pay my debt, and give me his life when he rose again. So God loves me in Jesus.
Therefore, I obey. Because I'm loved. From a position of freedom, from a position of being loved, therefore I obey. Two very different things. And on the outside can look very similar. So, they both obey.
So, in this room, a person who's absolutely been radically changed by the gospel, and believes, I'm loved by God through Jesus, therefore I obey. And someone who believes I obey, therefore God loves me, would look very similar. Show up on Sundays. Give of your time, of your money. Be a part of a community group. Serve.
You'd be doing all the same steps in a lot of ways. Look very similar, and your heart and your motivation would be in two completely different places. One is from a position of rest and love, a family, of being adopted as a child of God through Jesus. And the other one is, as a position of earning and work and effort, trying to get God's favor. Look the same. Two very different positions.
The way I think about it sometimes is romantic comedies. And this is the plot to like 17 different romantic comedies. But it's the same plot. I'm going to do the teenage version of it. And as soon as I start talking about it, you'll go, oh, I know that movie. Yeah, you do.
You know five of this movie. But let's just go with the basic one. This is the plot. Really cool guy. Most likely athletic. Kind of a jerk.
Bets his friends that he can take any girl in the school and make her prom queen. So they pick the most awkward, terrible girl they can think of, who is the same girl at the end, but just with her hair up and glasses. And then she takes the glasses off, puts her hair down. Everybody's like, what the heck? Kind of like the Superman thing. But so he picks this girl and then he begins to pursue her.
So he puts in all this effort, these actions. He begins to talk to her, say nice things to her, take her out. He goes after her. And his behavior looks very similar. Somewhere in the middle of the movie, though, he falls in love with her. He realizes that she can, she has a heart.
She's not just good at math. He falls for her. Usually after she takes her hair out of the ponytail. That happens somewhere in the middle. And so then he, no offense to people with ponytails today, it's just how the movie works. I didn't write it.
I'm just telling you what it was like. People in the back pulling their ponytail around. But, uh, so he falls in love with her and then the actions look the same. He actually goes further. He pursues more. He cares more.
At the beginning, it was about himself. At the beginning, it was about earning something, achieving something. It was about his own notoriety, his own status. At the beginning, he did all of these actions, but they terminated on him. And at the end of the movie, he does all the same actions and actually even more. Like he shows up and sings a song or whatever and super embarrassing or whatever.
But he does even more, but it's about her. It's about pursuing, like genuinely their relationship, that he cares about her, that he knows that she cares about him even though he's messed this all up because she found out or whatever. Does that make sense? So you've got the first half of the movie, which is basically what religion is. Going through the same motions, but it terminates on us. And then you've got the back half of the movie, which is what the gospel is.
It's all about Jesus. And it's about where we, the position, the relationship that we already have and not trying to maintain it, but for the joy of the relationship pursuing it. So in our basic understanding, if we thought about it, we would think this. This is how most of us understand stuff. God likes good people. There are good people and bad people.
There are moral people and immoral people. There are those who behave and those who misbehave. And God likes the good people. Like if God was going to show up on earth, he'd like the good people. And so when you read through the gospels and you look at the Pharisees, the Pharisees are like the best example of good people. Now, if you've read the Bible much, when you read Pharisee, you think bad guy, but you wouldn't.
That's actually not helpful. You wouldn't have thought that if you were a first century Jewish person. The Pharisees were religious leaders. You would have thought good guy. They were very moral. They behaved really well.
They taught scripture. They memorized scripture. They knew it backwards and forwards. You would ask them your Bible questions. They were the good guys. May have been a little bit stuck up about it and kind of jerks, but you still wanted them on your class project in Hebrew school.
Like they were the good guys. And so what we would see, since God likes the good guys, when he became a person, when Jesus showed up, he would be hanging out with the Pharisees. They'd be fist pumping all the time. Like one of them would quote Leviticus and he'd be like, dude, up top. And they would high five. They'd be best friends, right?
Because God loves the good guys. You would look at them and think, if God loves anybody, it's these people. If God cares about anybody, these people. If he's proud of anybody, it's these people. If he has favor on anybody, it's these guys. And what we see is that Jesus shows up and he and the religious people, those who behave really, really well, those who are very, very moral, very, very good, it's those people that they can't stand each other, that he says really mean things, really un-Jesus-y things, the way we think of Jesus.
Because you know Jesus, he like wears a white robe and he kind of floats. Like we know he has feet, but he's a little floaty because you can't see his feet because of how long his robes are. And he holds a lamb. Sometimes a single tear just rolls down his eye and you just know he thought something super profound and was really touched by something. He says stuff to the Pharisees that you just assume he had to have put the lamb down. Like it just got serious.
And he was like, like either covers the lamb's ears or he's like, you know what? No, no, I'm putting my lamb down. This is about to get real. Like he says stuff to Pharisees that you're like, this isn't, this is not nice. And so what we're going to see is that Jesus, when it comes up against religion, when he comes up against the idea that I obey, therefore God loves me, there's animosity, there's anger because they completely miss the point. Turn to Luke chapter 11.
We're going to look at a story of Jesus at a, at a, I love this story because Jesus is in a, at a house party. He's at a dinner party and at a Pharisee's house. So we're in Luke chapter 11. That'll be on page 556, 550, no, sorry, 565. It's probably written up behind me. I'm winging it here, guys.
565, If your Bible looks like this. Luke chapter 11, we're going to start in verse 37. While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him. So Jesus is teaching out in open air area. A Pharisee comes over and says, will you come dine with me? So he went in and reclined at table.
Off to a good start. Want to come eat at my house? Sure. Walks in, sits at the table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Now, this isn't like a germs thing.
They didn't know about germs the way we know about germs. So this wasn't like my grandmother who wants to squirt hand sanitizer all over everything all the time. It's not that. It was a ceremonial, added to the law thing. So the Old Testament law, the Pharisees had gone through, looked at the law, and added in their own little rules of how you applied it better and how you could be more pious and how you could be more holy.
And so they took Scripture and added to it. So Jesus didn't do the added to stuff. But they would have been lined up. The Pharisees, we know that there are lawyers there, which just meant that they studied the Hebrew, the Jewish law. They would have known the Torah backward and forward and taught on, here's how to apply the law. They would have been probably in line waiting to get to this ceremonial jug to wash ceremonially to show their piety and how much they cared and how much they followed well.
And Jesus walks in and plops down at the table and is like, let's eat. Y'all got mashed potatoes? Like he just sits at the table and it says that the Pharisee was astonished. He's scandalized by this. It doesn't say he says anything, so I just assume he did his best like puckered up religious face, which was just like, like looking back and forth at Jesus, like you see this guy? Like he's washing his hands, he's looking at the other like Pharisees and lawyers, like are you kidding me right now?
He's not going to wash. And so this is what Jesus says, assuming just to his face. He says it to his face, says it because of his face is what I meant there. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Verse 39, And the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness, you fools. Well that escalated quickly.
Just a little rule on manners. When you get invited to someone's home, break a house rule, and then tell your hosts that they're idiots. Probably didn't know that. It's in the chapter after which fork to use for your salad. But this seems like a very non, like Jesus just gets intense very quickly in his main point.
And what we're going to see the rest of this is he's going to unpack what he just said, which is you only care about the external. You wash the outside of the cup and the dish. And they're like, okay, what does this have to do? And then he immediately says, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You only care about external. You only care about what this looks like.
You only care about behavior. You're only a, I obey, therefore God loves me. It has nothing to do with a loving relationship, nothing to do with following, nothing to do with resting in God. It's I obey. It's my behavior. So he says it's all external.
39. And the Lord said to him, now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness, you fools. Did not he who made the outside make the inside all but give as alms those things that are within and behold, everything is clean for you. But woe to you Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue and every herb and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees, for you love the best seat in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplace.
Woe to you, for you are like unmarked graves and people walk over them without knowing it. 45. And one of the lawyers answered him, Teacher, in saying these things, you insult us also. So the lawyer's like, whoa. You know, when you put the Pharisees on blast like you just did, that was a little bit offensive to me. The lawyer assuming, can't really be talking to me, just wanted to clarify, maybe you should, you know, whatever to the Pharisees, but apologize to me maybe.
This is what Jesus says. 46. And he said, woe to you lawyers also. Oh, guy should have kept his mouth shut. Sorry. Jesus was like, oh, are you confused as to whether or not you are included?
Let me say the word lawyer so that we're clear. Woe to you lawyers also, for you load people with burdens hard to bear and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you, for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed, so you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them and you build their tombs. Therefore also the wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute so that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world may be charged against this generation from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.
Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. Woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves and you hindered those who were entering. As he went away from there, so it seems as if he did not stay and eat, he didn't stop and say, pass the biscuits. Furious leaves. As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him to catch him in something he might say.
Make a little more sense as to why the religious people hated him and wanted to kill him. Jesus' response to everybody, he shows up and says, you're a sinner and you need to repent. And people who were in flagrant, immoral rebellion had been told consistently, you're a sinner and you need to come be good. You need to come behave. You need to earn your way back. And at some point, it was, you've sinned too much.
You can't come back. You're out. We're in. Jesus says, you're a sinner and you need to come back. You need to come back. You're welcomed in.
My burden is easy. My yoke is light. There's nothing to earn. Come in. And so when he says to sinners, you're a sinner, they say, yeah. Can you help with that?
He says, absolutely. And then he looks at religious people and he says, you're a sinner and you need to repent. And they say, you're evil. You're wrong. And they kill him. Because the response of religion to grace is to try to destroy it.
The idea that you don't have to earn it, but you can just be freely welcomed in. Religion doesn't like that because religion loves earning something, loves obeying to achieve status, to achieve favor. So here's what we're going to do today. Jesus basically says this. You only care about the external. And then he gives a bunch of cultural examples about how that shows up.
So for us, most of us don't tithe mint, rue, and herb. Like you hadn't bought a spice rack from Bed Bath & Beyond and went home and weighed out 10% of it and brought spices here and was like, next time we have some chicken, pour some of that thyme on it. Like that hadn't happened. Most of us, I don't think any of us have built a tomb for a prophet. Like he's going through and saying, this is how it shows up. None of us like the best seat in a synagogue.
So, what we're going to do as best we can is we're going to walk through and try to give cultural examples of where religion, where self-righteousness, shows up. Now, here's why this is important. There are some people in this room, three people in this room, you're not a Christian, checking things out, and basically you maybe have understood that Christianity is a set of behaviors. It's a come follow the rules so that God will love you. It is not. Hopefully this is clarifying.
There may be some people in here who genuinely are Christians. You have trusted Jesus. You've believed the gospel. But religion is like weeds that grow in the garden of the gospel. It's briars that wrap itself around so that it begins to grow and it's hard to fight. We tend to lean towards religious ideas, religious efforts, and self-righteousness even if we understand the gospel.
So as best we can, we're going to try to diagnose that today. Some of you in here have grown up in the church, have heard a lot of things about Jesus, have memorized a lot of Bible verses, read your Bible, study, pray, give money, show up, serve, and you are not a Christian. You have trusted in yourself. You have trusted in your behavior. You have trusted in your own self-righteousness, your own religious activities. You are very much in the I obey and therefore God loves me camp and you are not a Christian.
And Jesus cares enough to say, repent and trust me. Repent of all of your very, very good works. repent of all of your really good morals that you think you can stack up in front of me and I somehow owe you. Repent of all the reasons why you've done all these good things because ultimately they terminated on yourself. Now, there was two responses to what Jesus said. One was anger. If you just got angry, good, pay attention.
Religious people don't like grace. This is a good opportunity to repent. The other was you cannot be talking to me. That was what the lawyers said. And if you're in that camp, pay attention. Let's try to weed out some religion.
Let's try to weed out some areas where it's grown up in our hearts and led us astray. So he says this, Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish but inside you're full of greed and wickedness, you fools. Did not he who made the outside make the inside also but give as alms those things that are within and behold, everything is clean for you. If you're religious, it's all about external, not the heart. It's all about the external, not the heart. So for a religious person, even a person who says I'm a Christian, your way of knowing how you're relating to God is based solely on your behavior.
Am I doing the right stuff? Am I not doing the wrong stuff? Only behavior. Has nothing to do with Jesus, has nothing to do with his sacrifice. You realize maybe that was the door that got you in but the way that you relate, the way that you understand your Christian walk is am I doing the stuff? Are my externals good?
And then it doesn't matter how you change those because it's not a heart issue just as long as you're not doing the external wrong stuff and you are doing the external good stuff, it doesn't matter how you go about changing them. So you may have like an accountability partner, y'all get together and your main goal is how did you fail this week? How have you sinned? How have you fallen short? Because the only goal is behave well because that's how we know that God cares about us. And the way that we spur ourselves on, pride, fear, guilt and shame.
So pride is, I'm a Christian, I'm better than this. I'm not that type of person. I'm strong enough to say no to this sin. That's what you look at your person that you're walking through stuff with. When you get in your community group, that's what you appeal to. You don't point people to the gospel, you appeal to pride.
You're better than that, come on. You're a man. You've grown up in the church. Fear? What if your wife found out? What would happen if you got caught?
No love for Jesus, just fear. Guilt? How would you feel if you did that? I can't believe that you'd be that type of person. And we spur ourselves on with this, we spur other people on with this, and we spur our children on with it too. You don't want to be like that person.
You don't want to be that type of person. You want to be a, your last name's Phillips. Have some pride. It's not the gospel. And there's no rest there. But it's all about external behavior.
So as long as you're behaving morally, you don't really question your heart, as long as the actions are good, you feel like you're fine, you've related to God fine. You look to other people's external sin to value, to understand their value. The next thing he says is, as he begins to explain how this plays out, he said, Woe to you Pharisees, for you tithe mint, rue, and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. He says, you do these rule-following, minutia things. They tithe out of their spice rack.
He says, you should do that, but you've missed the point. You've missed the whole heart behind it. You don't love God. It's just about following rules. Religious people love rules. They especially love rules that aren't in the Bible that they've added to the other rules so that they can know whether or not they're good.
Here's what happens in religion. You oscillate between pride and despair. Either you're doing the stuff and so you feel great. God loves me. We're rocking along. He's proud of me.
I have value. I have worth. Or you're falling short and you feel terrible. God's mad at me. He's disappointed in me. He can't love me.
Look at me. And the gospel negates both of those because our righteousness, our good works are found in Jesus and our debt's been paid in Jesus. So when we fail, the gospel's true. And when we succeed, the gospel's true. We don't oscillate between pride and despair. The other thing we love about rules is that it gives us a level of control.
If my relationship with God is based off of my behavior, then I have some rights. I have some say. There's a limit to what he can ask of me. My relationship with God is based off of behavior. Then there's only so much he can ask and he owes me.
So if we're religious, when things go poorly, there's either self-loathing, I failed, God's punishing me. You try to figure out, something bad happens in your life and you try to figure out what you did wrong. Why would God not let me have that? Why would God have this relationship break up? You try to point out, this must be what I'm being punished for. Or, you've been really good, so you're mad at God.
You owe me a spouse. You owe me. I true love waited. You owe me. I kissed dating goodbye and you owe me. I've worked really hard.
How could this happen? I've been praying, I've been going, I've been serving, I've been doing all the stuff you want. How could I lose my job? Because your understanding of your relationship with God is based solely on your behavior. And there's no rest there. And there's no peace there.
And there's no life there. And it just makes joyless obedience. Joyless manipulated obedience rather than genuine love and following. And you've missed the point. Because the point is that we would love God, that we would understand His love for us, that we would understand justice and love, which is the cross, that God paid for sin and that He loves us so much that He would pour grace out on us. And He says, these you ought to have done, you ought to follow, you ought to do these things, but it's not about that.
You ought to serve, you ought to give. It's not about that though. You've missed the point if you think you're earning something. Here's the thing, when it comes down to rules, Jesus doesn't have to exist. Jesus doesn't have to exist if my relationship is based off of rule following. If I'm good based off of my own merit, then it just gets to be about me and I get to be in control of the situation.
Jesus doesn't have to exist. But since Jesus does exist and God's a God of grace, He's not controlled by our actions, good or bad, but freely just pours everything out. So when we get religious, there's no rest, there's no joy, there's no peace, and the only way we understand our relationship to God is are we checking the things off the list? Are we doing the right behaviors? When you're religious, you'll repent. You'll understand that you're going to fail and you'll repent, but even your repentance has to measure up.
Was I guilty enough? Did I feel bad enough? Did I pray hard enough? Did I beat myself up enough? See the gospel, you don't get to beat yourself up. Jesus was already beat up for you.
Your repentance doesn't have to measure up, but when we become religious, even our failures have to measure up. Then He says this, Woe to you Pharisees, for you love the best seat in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplace. Woe to you, for you are like unmarked graves. People walk over you without knowing it. When we become religious, it all becomes about title and position and prominence and being looked up to, being the one who has the answers. I'm the girl in our group that everybody comes and talks to.
I'm the one everyone can confide in. I'm the one that helps manage everybody's sin issues. I'm the most helpful. Religion begins to show up in, I'm the one who understands the gospel the most. When our group gets together and talks and everybody's giving advice, I give the gospel. I help people know that the gospel, that's why I'm better than everybody.
Isn't that cute? I love being self-righteous towards self-righteous people. Look at these religious people. Idiots. I'm better than they are. See how sneaky it is?
Confess sin and somebody just gives you advice and you think, no, you should have pointed me to Jesus. You failed. You don't give them the gospel, but you want them to give it to you. That's why you can't confess sin. Or you can only confess safe sin. Yeah, I've only prayed an hour a day this past week and I've only memorized half of Leviticus when I was planning on memorizing the whole thing by now.
I really feel for you, bro. Like you can only confess safe sin. You can't be real about where your heart is. You can't be real about what's going on. When you do sin, you only care if people know about it because it's all about the external and it's all about how you're perceived. You see, if it's based off of our work, then I need to be beating the people around me.
So you'll point out where you're strong and where other people are weak. That's how religion shows up a lot in marriages. Here's where I'm good and here's where he fails. Here's where I'm doing all of this and here's where she's an idiot. Because you need to be perceived as better. When you sin, you image manage, you try to hide it, try to spin the story.
You won't confess. So if somebody catches you in sin, you're going to wait as long as you possibly can until they completely say, this is what I know you did. And then you'll say, yeah, I did kind of do those things. Because you think it's about prominence. You think it's about your position. You think it's about how you're viewed because that's the only way you understand your relationship to God.
There is no freedom. There is no grace. There is no ability to fail because you have to be seen as good. You take criticism very poorly. Religion, religious people take criticism very, very poorly. Criticism isn't fun for anybody.
Sometimes you're just receiving some, some loving correction. But you know why some of you, criticism eats away at you for days or weeks? Is because the only way you understand how you're doing is based off of how other people view you. So you immediately become defensive. You immediately fight back. You immediately respond with things like, well, pretty big words for someone who's been divorced.
Couldn't even keep your marriage together. Because the goal is not to grow. It's not to love Jesus more. It's to look good. And to be better than those around you. It also makes you very critical.
If half of everything you say is a complaint, it's because you want to make sure everybody knows that you've noticed, that you're elevated, and everybody else falls short. That's religion. And that's why they loved prominence, and they loved being greeted, and they loved best seats in marketplaces because that's how they understood their worth. And he says this, you're an unmarked grave. You're dead, and the only goal is to not let people know. You're dead, but as long as no one knows, that's okay.
There's no life, there's no joy, there's no hope, there's no freedom. You're dead, but as long as it's hidden, that's okay. So the goal is not love for Jesus. The goal is not grow in grace. The goal is not be real in the context of community. The goal is look good, pretend to be good, pretend to have it all together, make sure that people think highly of you so that you can know that you're okay.
See, eventually it just becomes, let me look good. Reality has left the room. You have a lot of secret sin, a lot of inward greed and wickedness, a lot of brokenness, but you can't bring that out into the light because the only way you know how to relate to God is to be thought well of, to look good, and to have your external behavior looking okay. And he says, you're the fool. Eventually, when we're dead, and the only goal is to not let people know, that we're a grave, and the only goal is to not have a tombstone, you're the fool. You have fooled no one, you're the fool.
And at the end of it, when you stand before God to be judged, you're the fool. You only care about your sin if someone else knows about it. You only care about external behavior. The only way you know how to relate to God is am I measuring up by following the rules? Do I behave well enough? And here's why I think Jesus is as furious as he is when he relates to religious people.
I think this is why he's as furious as he is. And I think we see it in two places in what he says, and we're gonna end here, try to understand a little bit of Jesus' anger. He says, you tithe mint, rue, and herb. You do all the little works. And you miss justice and the love of God. You miss the main point.
You miss the gospel. You've based it off of behavior. Here's the biggest problem with religion. It's all about you. That's the problem with religion. It's all about you.
It's all about self-righteousness. It's all about your work, your behavior, your moral conformity, your good effort. So you may give to the poor. You may feed the hungry. You may serve. You may work really hard, but you're in the first half of the movie.
All of your selflessness is actually selfishness because it just terminates on you. You're feeding yourself, clothing yourself, serving yourself. Because at the end of the day, you think it's added to the bottom of your ledger that you get to present to God. And the problem is, with religion, it's all about you. That's how you can gather in a room. Churches gather all over the place and they just talk about, here's how to do better.
Here's how to try harder. Jesus never shows up because he doesn't need to be here. He's not the hero you are. That's how we get in our groups and all we give people is, here's how I used to be like that and then I changed. Here's how I got better. Here's how you could be better.
Here's how you can do better and try harder because Jesus isn't the hero you are. And the problem with religion is that we are claiming, please God, judge me. Let me stand before you on my own merit. Let me stand before you on my own righteousness. When we come to the judgment day and I stand before you, please weigh me out, measure me, you'll see that I'm good enough. And Jesus hates it and he hates religion because it's all about you and you will fall short.
Just behaving just makes you an unmarked grave, which means that you can be in a church, you can be in a group, you can lead a group, you can hang out forever and be dead, never raised to life by Jesus, never given life by Jesus and stand before God and be weighed out and measured on your own merit because that's what you've always wanted. And he hates it. The second thing is what he says to the lawyers. Woe to you lawyers also. Before we get into that, let me tell you something that happens when we become religious, when we begin to only follow rules. You might share the gospel, but only because you know there's no joy in it.
Your offer to people is come behave, come be good like me. So there's no joy in sharing the gospel. There's no joy in inviting people to come slave away with you. But you might do it because you know it's one of the things you're supposed to check off the list. There's no desire to be on mission. There's no desire to help people meet Jesus just to behave.
But you know that one of the things you're supposed to do is check that off the list. So you'll do that because you know it's one of the things you're supposed to do. But there's no desire. There's no brokenness over the fact that there are people in our city who don't know Jesus. There's no brokenness over it. There's no joy in pursuing people that don't know Jesus.
You do it some because you know you're supposed to check it off the list. Here's the thing he says to the lawyers. Woe to you lawyers also for you load people with burdens hard to bear and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves and you hindered those who were entering. Religion lies about the gospel. Religion lies about the gospel and we believe religion.
We lie about the gospel. We take the key. We don't go in and we keep others from coming in. So someone comes to you and says how do I follow Jesus? How do I become a Christian? You say well here's the list of rules.
Here's the list of behaviors. Here's how to come be good. Here's some guilt. Here's some fear. Here's some shame. God's going to judge you.
You should feel bad. Be proud of who you are as a Christian and we've lied about the gospel. We've stood in the way of the door. Jesus comes to say there is no burden. There is no weight. I've paid for all of it.
I offer you grace and what we stand and say is come be good like me. Please come work with me. Please come slave away with me. We can all be good together and then one day we'll all get to stand before God and be judged on our own merit. Please join me in seeking after your own righteousness and being condemned on your own work and your own effort. And it's a lie.
Jesus loves us enough to say you don't want it to be about you. And the gospel is a much more beautiful truth than come earn it. He died to pay for everything. He declares that it is finished. There is no effort. There is no behavior.
There is no work that you're going to bring before God. We get to show up empty handed. We get to show up completely broken. Nothing's added to our account. All of it was paid by Jesus. The call to the gospel is not come be good.
There are not good people and bad people. There are people and Jesus. And the call of the gospel is to come trust Jesus. Which means that for those of us in flagrant rebellious immoral sin repent of your sin. And for those of us who are religious moral upright and have done all the right actions repent of the reason why you did all that good stuff. Because ultimately it was just about you.
Jesus offers grace to everyone. Hope to everyone. And we can have freedom and life and joy in Jesus. Some of us in the room you need to erect a tombstone. And you need to be raised to life. that's what's offered to us in Jesus. Admit you're dead.
There's no shame in that. There's no shame or guilt at the cross. Just freedom and life and hope. And for those of us who are Christians but are allowing religion to creep in becoming more critical trying to posture ourselves so that we look good the call's the same. Repent and come and know Jesus and come and trust the gospel. I'm going to pray.
Father we thank you for your grace and your love. We thank you for your joy and the hope that we have in you. God help us to see where we're trusting ourselves. Help us to see where we've ceased to follow you. Cease to rest in you. And God please help us when we want it to be about us when we lie about the gospel.
And for that person or those persons in this room today that know a lot about you but don't know you and are currently asking you to measure them on their own self-righteousness. God in your grace help them see it. Help them to erect a tombstone today so they can be given life by you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen.
Jesus and the Desperate
Transcript
You are listening to a message from the Gathering of Mill City Church in West Columbia, South Carolina. I'm very excited we're getting to start a new series today. So what we try to do as a church family is kind of stay on the same topic for a couple weeks at a time so that we can all kind of gather around that, think through the same stuff together. And so what we're doing for the next several weeks is we're going to be doing a series called Jesus and People. And then after that we're going to be walking verse by verse through the book of 1 Peter throughout the summer. And so we're excited about both of these.
This series, what we're shooting for, what we're trying to do is understand how God would respond to us as individuals in our normal everyday life. So what happens is I think sometimes we have this vague understanding of God. Or depending on kind of how you grew up and your background and what you've learned about God or been taught by God, sometimes taught about God. Sometimes we feel like maybe God's angry. Like if we sat down with Him, He'd be mad at us or frustrated with us or that He's got a lot of anger towards us that we don't measure up. Sometimes I think we have this vague sense that God's loving and He's just good and He probably loves everybody.
And even if we think about that, though, I've met some people who feel like God is just loving and He's good. And then as you keep asking questions, it's like, well, yeah, but if I talked with Him, He loves everybody. But if He sat down with me, I just feel like He'd be a little bit disappointed, a little bit frustrated, a little bit wished that I would do better. We have this understanding that – and so what we're shooting for is to just look at Jesus and how He interacts with people in the Gospels. And the reason is the Bible tells us that Jesus is God. Colossians 1.15 is going to say that He is the image of the invisible God.
So the Creator God that exists that you don't just see when you're on your way to work, but you kind of see His work. What we see is that Jesus is Him as a human, that Jesus is God when He became a person, that God relates to humans so much that He actually became one, that He actually took on flesh. And then He interacts with real people, broken people, confused people, hurting people, self-righteous people, that Jesus interacts with them. And so what we're trying to do is just take a look at who are the people He interacts with and how can we learn from that how God would respond to us. And so we're kind of looking twofold at this.
One is if you fit in the category of what we're studying that week, if we're looking at a specific person and that's kind of you, what we want to understand is this is how God would respond to us because this is how Jesus responds. This is how Jesus interacts. This is what He calls that individual to. And the other one is if it's not you, if you don't fit in that category, for us to as a church family learn how we ought to respond. For us as a church family to see how Jesus responds because Jesus is our hero and our Savior and He is God, but He is also an example. He's not just an example, but He is an example, and we get to learn how we ought to respond to people.
And so I think sometimes the church – I don't think sometimes. This is correct. The church ought to respond to people, treat people the way that Jesus does. But I think sometimes the church doesn't get that correct. So if you're just hanging out and you're checking out this whole Jesus thing and you're like, yeah, I've seen how the church treats this group of people or I've seen how the church treats me or I just have looked at the church and they're hypocrites and they're off.
I want to say two things to that. One is a lot of times I think we look at the church and we say, man, look at how messed up those people are. Look at how their lives are off. Look at how hypocritical they are. And honestly, yeah, that's kind of how it works. The church is the group of people who were the first to raise their hands and say, I need a Savior.
I'm not awesome. I'm not great. I'm not figuring this out well on my own. I am messed up. I do have problems. And I need Jesus to save me.
That's what Jesus does. He steps in and He saves everyone who's broken, everyone who's needy. So at times when people levy complaints against the church and they're like, look at how hypocritical they are. Look at how messed up they are. I'm just kind of like, yeah, it's a little bit like looking at like a summer camp for overweight children and being like, that camp's terrible. All the kids there are fat.
It's like, that's why they went. Like you're confused. That's what the church is. So the church is filled with broken, messed up, sinful people. Yeah, because they're the people who realize they need Jesus. Does that make sense?
So it's like people will be like, man, I just don't know about that guy. He's kind of like a four on a scale of like following and obedience. And I'm like, really? That's beautiful because six months ago, he was probably like a two. Like, that's great. Like, that's wonderful.
Yeah, she's kind of a jerk. Kind of a jerk. Man, you'd have to reach in your bag of profanity to describe her a year ago. Kind of a jerk is amazing. Like, we need to go high five her. That's amazing growth.
Like, that's what the church is. It's a group of people who realize they need Jesus. That's what brought us together. And on the other end of that, so there's two things. There's that. And then there is people who are confused about what the church is, who are part of the church, claim the name of Christian, but believe it's about their morality and something that they've earned.
And that's how you get Dana Carvey being the church lady on SNL. Or you get Angela from The Office. And that general attitude of, I'm a Christian, so I'm better than you. And that's where, yeah, Christianity at times is off there, where people have thought they've earned it. When that's the opposite of what the Bible says. And so us as a church family, we want to grow and learn how we ought to respond to people in specific situations.
And just very practically answer some of those questions. And then for the weeks that it actually really applies to you, get to see how God would interact with you, how he would respond to you. So I'm going to pray and then we're going to hop in this morning. God, we thank you that you are relational, that you do care about humans enough to become one, to identify with us in our hurt and our pain and our confusion. To take on sin in a very real way. So that you could redeem and so that you could save.
God, we trust you. We pray that you would speak to us this morning as we study your word. In Jesus' name, amen. We'll be in Mark chapter 5. So this whole series is going to be in the Gospels.
Just looking at stories of Jesus interacting with people. So we won't deal much with things that he taught. Way more with how he spoke to people, how he interacted with people. And we're going to be in Mark chapter 5 starting in verse 21. And the Gospels are just accounts of what Jesus did while he was walking around on earth. Mostly focused on the two years, three years right before he was crucified.
And then most of their time is spent on the crucifixion. But we're going to spend some time just looking at some different stories in the Gospels. And so what we're going to look at today is we're going to look at two individuals that are just out of options. At the end of their rope. Have no good plan for where to go next. They're just desperate.
And so we're going to look and see how God, how Jesus as God interacts with people who have no more options and who come to him. Have no good idea of how the future is going to work out. No plan for it. And come to him. So we're going to start in Mark verse 21, chapter 5, verse 21.
And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side. So he's coming across the Sea of Galilee. A great crowd gathered about him. And he was beside the sea. So tons of people show up.
He's just getting out of a boat. He's famous at this point. Kind of reluctantly famous. But he's famous at this point for healing, for teaching. This great crowd shows up. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue.
The synagogue was a place where Jewish people would gather every Sabbath and study scripture. So he oversees a synagogue. Jairus by name. And seeing him, he fell at his feet. And he implored him earnestly, saying, My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live.
So Jairus shows up. And he says, My little daughter is at the point of death. Come lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live. What we find out later, What we find out in Luke's gospel is that she's an only child. What we find out later in this, Mark's account, is that she's 12 years old. So they didn't have birth control.
And you wanted to have a lot of children. The desire in their culture, in Jewish culture, was to have a lot of children. Children were a blessing. They would take care of you in your old age. And so just to know that they have a 12-year-old girl, and that's their only child, that story already has a lot of pain in it, already has a lot of frustration in it, already has a lot of doubt and questions and fears in it. We do know that the mother is alive, so we don't know if there's been miscarriages.
We don't know if there have been other children that have died from illnesses while they were young. All we know is that they've at least been together as a couple for 12 years, and they have one child, and that's already got a lot of pain in it. And now this 12-year-old girl is at the point of death. We don't know how long this sickness lasts. We don't know if it's been a long sickness, if she's just recently gotten sick. But what we do know is that Jairus knows she's not going to make it.
And he had to have made a decision. He had to have been home and heard, Jesus is here. With his daughter who's gasping for air, maybe drifting in and out of consciousness, and he decided the only thing I can do is try to make it to Jesus. I've heard that he heals. I've heard that he's capable of doing things. By the grace of God, he just showed up in our town.
And the only thing I can do, and as a father, as a husband, designed to lead and protect the sense of helplessness that this man must have felt in a situation where he has no control over the outcome, and then he hears Jesus is here. And he's got to be thinking, what if all this stuff about Jesus is true? What if the things I've heard about Jesus, what if it's real? What if he actually can save? What if he actually can heal? What if he actually can just show up and this work out?
And so he leaves. He makes a decision to, I'm not going to be with her while she takes her last breath, possibly. I'm going to go do the one thing I know I can do. And he earnestly implores Jesus, come with me. Please, just come with me. I know there's a huge crowd.
I know you've got a lot going on. I know there's, just come with me. And so what we see very early on is that this guy runs into the middle of what Jesus is doing, falls on his face and says, I need your help. And the next line is beautiful. Verse 24, And he went with him. I love that.
Jesus' immediate response is, let's go. Like, don't you feel sometimes that like if you came to Jesus, his response would be like, well, let's talk. Have you been a good little girl? Have you been a good little boy? Have you been behaving? Have you been following?
Like, let's, I've got some questions for you. Do you deserve this? No, Jesus' response, he just went with him. He comes to him and says, I have no other options. It's just you. And Jesus just, let's go.
And that's beautiful to me. So Jesus is going with this man to his daughter who's on her deathbed. You feel his pain? Have a 12-year-old who's going to die? Do you feel that? Where he would be at this point?
Mentally? Emotionally? A great crowd followed him and thronged about him. Thronged just means they were all over him, touching him. Probably had his disciples running some crowd control. And I mean, he's in a hurry.
So they're on their way to go try to save a child who's about to die. And there's a huge crowd of people just mobbing him, which has to be slowing down the progress. Jairus has to probably be trying to push people out of the way. You know, this is important. You can talk to him later. We got something to do.
Doing everything he can to get Jesus there. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years and who had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all that she had and was no better but rather grew worse. Okay, so in the crowd, in this crowd that throngs about him, there's a woman who's had a discharge of blood for 12 years. Now, that can mean that she had an external sore or external sores that were bleeding off and on or continuously for 12 years. Most likely, she was having uterine bleeding, which would have been basically a constant menstruation for 12 years. This is a real medical condition.
I was talking to David Hewiler, who works with an insurance company. He says they get claims for it a lot. A lot of times it has to do with a tumor. And it causes fatigue, pain, and eventually can lead to death. And so for 12 years, she's had this condition. And added on top of that, in Jewish culture, when you had this kind of issue, either external or if it was an internal issue, she would have been unclean.
Because they had ceremonial clean and unclean laws. Where God in the Old Testament through Moses was teaching his people that they're not like him. That he's holy. He's separate from them. And so he gave them laws to show them this. And even in those laws, if you did everything to be clean, you did everything to be as clean as possible, when you showed up at the temple, you still needed a sacrifice on your behalf.
So he's also just teaching them that not only are you not like me, but even if you're the best version of you, you still need a sacrifice. You still need your sin covered. And he was pointing to the cross and all of that. But because of the clean and unclean laws, while she was unclean, would not be allowed to touch people. Or else they would become unclean. If it was, she would not be able to have normal relations with her husband, physical relations with her husband, if she was unclean.
So if she had a husband, we don't know. But if she had a husband, that would affect their relationship significantly. She would not be able to gather for worship with the temple. She would not be able to take part in feasts and festivals that would happen multiple times a year. She basically would have to remove herself from normal society because of this issue. Not only is it painful, not only does it cause fatigue, not only does it just drain her of energy and life, but it affects her ability to have a normal life.
And it says that she's suffered much and hasn't gotten any better, but to grown worse. And it's been 12 years. The same time that Jairus was welcoming, his family was welcoming a newborn daughter into the world, she began to have this issue and it hasn't ceased for 12 years. And she's in the crowd. And she has no other options. Quite possibly because it's been a 12-year-long process and she's growing worse, she may be close to death.
She has no energy. She's in pain constantly. Spent all that she had. Spent all that she had. Has completely gone out of money to only suffer and grow worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus.
That's verse 27. She had heard the reports about Jesus. And came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, If I touch even his garments, I will be made well. Okay, so she's heard about Jesus. And she has to have this, Really?
Can he really heal? Can he really save? Can he really, Is he able to do what I've heard that he's able to do? And she has no other options. And she comes up with a plan. I'll sneak through a crowd, Making everyone around me unclean.
I'll sneak up to Jesus and touch him. Something I'm not allowed to do because I'm unclean. And because he's a teacher. Because he's a man. So all the regulations of how this will work.
But I'll just sneak up and touch him. And if I can just do that, I'll be healed. If I can just get close enough to touch him, I'll be healed. Can you imagine that? Like he shows up with all the amount of energy that she has. She fights through this crowd.
She has to have, Her heart is pounding. And she just gets close enough, Just reaches out his hands, Able to touch his garments. Able to just swipe his clothes. With just the hope, The belief and the faith, That if I can do this, I'll be healed. I'll be made right. So we've got Jairus, Who's leading Jesus through a big crowd, Trying to get as fast as he can, To his house.
Not knowing at what moment, His daughter's going to die. And we've got this lady, Who's fighting through this crowd, Just to touch Jesus, In the faith that that'll heal her, From 12 years of suffering. We've got two people that are a lot like us. Broken, In need, With a lot of pain, And not a lot of hope. Who, Honestly, Don't have good options at this point. Jesus hadn't showed up, Hadn't gotten off this boat, Jairus' option was, Hold his daughter's hand while she, Dies.
Jesus hadn't shown up in this area, Then this lady's hope was to, She had no more money, Suffer more, Die eventually. And both of them have a sliver of hope, Because Jesus is here. And for us, We can be money, I just don't have, When it comes to finances, I just have no more good options, I have no plan, I have no clear idea, Of where this is going to go, I'm honestly, I'm in a place where, Just desperate. Relationships, I don't see how this is going to work out, I don't see how I'm ever, Going to get here, I don't see how this, I'm ever going to be married, I don't see how this marriage, Is ever going to last, I don't see how we're ever going to have children, I don't see how, Our children are ever going to turn out, The way, I just have no more good options, I don't have options, When it comes to work, I don't have, Like, You feel that, You feel where they are, And they're further along than us, The part where it says, 26, It was a woman who had suffered much, And it ends with, Was no better, But rather grew worse, Is that some of us, That's the story of your life, You've suffered much, And it's not getting any better, There's no light at the end of this tunnel, When you look at your options, When you look at the foreseeable future, The best thing you can come up with is, Pain, Hurt, Suffering, If the past is an indicator, Of where this is headed, I'm going to continue to suffer, It's going to continue to get worse, And thankfully, At some point I'll die, And at least that'll stop it, So these are the two people, Who are saying to themselves, Can it be true?
Can what I've heard about Jesus be real? Can he actually heal? Can he actually save? Can life actually be different, Because of him, Because I've heard that it can, Is that real? And they're both trusting, That it is, So she sneaks through, She catches this plan, If I can just touch his garments, I'll be made well, And she really just wants to, To kind of steal, Some healing from Jesus, Most people when Jesus heals them, They have to show up, They have to say, Here's my problem, She had no desire to do that, You see, If she had an internal issue, She really had two options, For life, Follow the regulations, And have, Be ostracized, Have no normal life, Or, Hide this, Lie, And have a normal life, And I feel like, In a room this size, We've got some people, Who feel like, That's your options, I can be real about this, And have zero friends, I can be real about this, And have no actual relationships, Or I can hide this, I can keep this a secret, And have a normal life, And she decides, At least on this day, I'm going to keep this a secret, I'm just going to sneak up to Jesus, And I'm just going to, Get some healing from him, I'm not going to walk up to him, In front of everybody, And say, Here's my problem, Will you heal me, I'm just going to, Work my way through this crowd, Make a bunch of people unclean, Not tell them about it, Make him unclean, And leave, That's her plan, 28, For she said, If I touch even his garments, I will be made well, And immediately, The flow of blood dried up, And she felt in her body, That she was healed, Of her disease, She touches Jesus, And immediately, She's healed, She feels it in her body, I don't know what that would have felt like, I'm assuming, Amazing, 12 years of pain, 12 years of hurt, 12 years of struggle, 12 years of suffering, She touches him, And immediately feels, I don't know, Warm, Tingly, Super excited, Like if you saw her, Walking into the crowd, She was, She was in pain, She was hurting, She was fighting through, If you saw her walking out, She was like, Like, Just smile on her face, Like that lady's glowing, That was weird, She feels healing, Just by getting her hands on Jesus, And she was ecstatic, In awe, Blown away, For about, Five seconds, Maybe three, Feels that she's healed, Her mind is blown, She feels warmth, And life, Energy running through her, Verse 37, And Jesus, Perceiving in himself, That power had gone out from him, Immediately turned about in the crowd, And said, Who touched my garments?
Okay, That's super weird, A couple of things, One is Jesus feels power leave from him, Which means that in some way, When Jesus heals, There's this exchange, Of his life, For ours, That he has to give up, Some of his power, That he has to become weaker, So that she can become stronger, That he has to give up some life, So that she can have health, That Jesus has to exchange with us, And so he's walking along, There's a huge crowd, A bunch of people touching him, They're fighting him, The disciples are around him, Pushing on him, Hand on his back, Trying to get him through the crowd, Like he's Justin Bieber, And there's a bunch of 13 year old girls around, Like they're fighting through, And suddenly he stops, And this giant crowd, Stops, Spins around and says, Who touched my clothes? And everybody goes, Like there was a guy at the back, Like just, I ain't even got hands, Like they were in my pockets, Like immediately he stops, And spins around and says, Who touched my clothes? And you had to imagine, Everybody was like, Like a lot of people, I think, And this lady, Who was super excited, Jesus stops, Says who touched my garments, And she goes, Like I mean just, Still excited? That she's healed, But she's entered into a new arena, Not as excited as before, I love his disciples response, This is the best, Jesus had real people around him, Just so you know, Jesus perceiving himself, The power had gone out from himself, Verse 30, Immediately turned about in the crowd, And said who touched my garments, And his disciples said to him, You see the crowd, Pressing around you, And yet you say, Who touched me?
So his disciples are like, I got this, What? That guy, That guy, I was touching you, Pretty sure Philip had a hand in there, Like, Like, This is the weirdest question, You've probably ever asked, Is this one of your parabolas? Like you, You're going to teach us something? Like what are you doing here? So Jesus being Jesus, Doesn't respond to them, Verse 32, And he looked around, To see who had done it, So he's scanning the crowd, To look for the one, Absolutely terrified person, Who knows exactly what just happened, That's what he's doing, So he's like, Okay, Wasn't that disciple, Because he doesn't understand, What just happened, So he's just looking around, Where are you at?
Verse 31, His disciples said to him, You see the crowd, Pressing around you, And yet you say, Who touched me? 32, And he looked around, To see who had done it, But the woman, Knowing what had happened to her, Came in fear, And trembling, And fell down before him, And told him, The whole truth, You don't get Jesus, Without the personal relationship, You don't just get benefits of Jesus, Without Jesus, So immediately he says, No, There's a human here, I need to talk to, Where are you at? She knows what happened, She lays down, Trembling before him, Knowing that what she had done, In all of understanding, Of everything that would happen, Would be wrong, What she had done was wrong, And she's about to have to, Articulate this in front of everybody, She's about to have to explain, Explain her whole story, And she gives the whole truth, Which is our option, When we come to Jesus, Whole truth, Not half truth, Not a little bit of a spin on truth, Whole truth, Lay it all out there, We also come to Jesus, On his terms, Not ours, Jesus is in control, Of the whole situation, You come to him on his terms, Not yours, You don't get to come up with, This is how my interaction, My relationship, This is how Jesus and I, Are going to work together, No, Jesus is in control, Of all of that, And he controls how, Your relationship is going to work, So she lays it all out there, Tells him, Why he should be mad at her, Why he as a teacher, As a good devout Jew, Should be disgusted, By what she just did, And he said to her, Verse 34, Daughter, Your faith has made you well, Go in peace, And be healed of your disease, Do you know how beautiful that is? How many other ways he could respond, And he starts with daughter, I just assumed there was a smile, Came across his face, As he was impressed by her faith, I don't think Jews use this word, Jewish people at this time, But her moxie, Just appreciates her, And just, Daughter, Go in peace, Your faith has made you well, That's the response, We get from Jesus, When we run to him, When we're desperate, I have no other options, I have no other plan, And I have no other idea, Of how this is going to work out, I'm done trusting in myself, I'm done trusting in other things, I just need you, I just trust you, To let this work out, The way you want it to work out, I have a preference, She had a preference, As to how this would work out, It did not work out that way, Jesus had some of, No this is how a relationship, Is going to work, But just with love, And just with acceptance, And just with this open arm, Yes you can come to me, You're welcome to come to me, When you have no other options, Okay, A couple of things to see here, She tells the whole truth, This is a 12 year long story, And a lady, If I ask my mom, A yes or no question, She responds like this, Well last Tuesday, Nope, This is a yes or no question, Like, The response is yes or no, She wants to tell a story, That's my mom, She's super sweet, Some ladies aren't like that, A lot of ladies are, One of the things we talk about, In premarital counseling, Is we're coaching people up, Is we say, Men, Come up with things, That happen during the day, That you can tell your wife about, Because when you get home, And she says, How was work, How was your day, And you respond, Good, Or fine, Which is a very acceptable answer, She's not going to think, It's acceptable, You need to have some form of, Carl was there, And he hurt his shin, And I was all, Dang Carl, She'll love it, Oh wow, I didn't know that about Carl, You know like, There's just something about that, And then we tell, We tell the ladies, Please just give highlights, Just give highlights, Just, Just bullet points, Of your day, Because my wife will say stuff like, I was at work, And Christy was there, And she was wearing a blue shirt, And we were in the break room, And I think she had a pimento cheese sandwich, And she'll go through this whole story, And at the end, I'll go, What, What about the blue shirt?
She'll go, What about the blue shirt? What? You said she was wearing a blue shirt, She was wearing a blue shirt, She didn't spill pimento cheese, On her blue shirt or something, Like those details, Had nothing to do with the story, They were part of the story, Okay, Like you just have to, She gives too much information, I'm trying to hold it all together, Get to the end, And it was just that she was mad about something, It's like, Okay, I didn't need any of that, She tells this whole story, Maybe she summed it up, I'm assuming that it was pretty long, She tells this whole story, She tells the whole truth, She lays it all out there, Jesus doesn't cut her off, He doesn't tell her to wrap it up, He doesn't say, Hey, We're kind of busy, Like you're derailing something, I'm in the middle of, Like you feel the weight of, On the way to save a child's life, That's why ambulances, Don't stop at red lights, They got a kid in the back, They got a dad back there, They're doing everything they can, To keep him alive, And then they're like, You know what, I didn't know Taco Bell had a dollar menu, That's not how it works, Like you, He's in the middle, It's the same as an ambulance, Taking a child to go be saved, It's the same process, And he just stops everything, And he just listens, And he welcomes her, Some of us feel like, If we came to God, He'd be bothered by us, That he's got too much going on, He has no desire to hear everything, He just needs the bullet points, He's a little bit frustrated, With our neediness, And he is not, God is eternal, And outside of time, And even when he became, Finite, And was limited by time, Still had time, For everybody, Do you see that? He's not like your dad, Who was easily frustrated, Not like your husband, Or your wife, Or your boss, Or him, He stops, He listens, He cares, And wants to know all of it, Isn't that beautiful?
Now if you're Jairus, That was terrible, Wrap it up, Wrap it up, Wrap it up, Okay, Okay, She just said seven years ago, No, We need three minutes ago, Come, Can you feel, The anxiousness, The weight of, That's over with, Like it's happened, Y'all can talk about this later, We got, Jesus has all the time in the world, God responds to us, With great patience, And, He doesn't follow our schedule, See that perfectly in this story, Being crossroads here, He's not on your timeline, He's in control, He's good, Not on your timeline, Even though our timelines, Are.
So brilliant, That's what I have to talk to him, About all the time, God I've come up with a great plan, I really feel like, You're going off script here, And, You are confused about, Why, What we're doing here, So that's what Jairus is feeling, Jesus you're blowing this, Jesus you're messing this up, Jesus this isn't going to work, If you keep talking, Jesus you got to, She's got to stop, 34, And he said to her daughter, Your faith has made you.
Well, Go in peace, And be healed of your disease, While he was still speaking, There came from the ruler's house, Some who said, Your daughter is dead, Why trouble the teacher, Any further, Jairus is waiting, Hoping that this will wrap up, They're close to his house, Jesus is talking, He's being very gracious, And very loving, Jairus looks up, And he sees some people, From his house, They don't have to talk, He sees it on their face, Blood's gone, You can already tell, They've been crying, He knows they're not coming, To give good news, Your daughter's dead, Don't bother the teacher, Any further, He can go do other stuff.
Now, No sense in him coming with you, And his, His heart, That was holding on, To that last little bit of hope, That last little bit, Of a Hail Mary shot, Maybe we can pull this off, I left her, And went as fast as I could, Did everything I possibly could, For our one, Final shot, His heart drops into his stomach, Because everything he feared, Was going to happen, Happened, And it's over, You don't come back from that, It's not, She's getting worse, Hurry up, Your daughter is dead, Don't bother the teacher anymore, His last little bit of an option, Is gone, It's done, There's no returning from this, 36.
But overhearing, What they said, Jesus said, To the ruler of the synagogue, Do not fear, Only, Believe, So Jesus hears it, Jairus hears it, Right as he's responding, Jesus turns to him, And says, Don't fear, Only believe, Do not fear, Only believe, I don't know how that was received, We're not told, We know they go the rest of the walk, To the house, When it was absolutely final, When everything was done, When there's no way to come back from this, Jesus' response to Jairus is, Don't fear, Believe, Trust, Lean in, Don't believe them, Believe in me, Don't trust the finality of this situation, Believe me, Do you know how hard that would be?
It's done, They foreclosed, It's done, The court case, The ruling has been sentenced, The sentence has been laid down, It's done, The prognosis is what it is, It's done, It's final, We've packed everything, Repo's final, Foreclosure's final, Finances are final, Health is final, It's done, And Jesus looks at him and says, Don't fear, Just believe, Only belief, Just trust, Just lean in, Just look at me, Look at me, Let's go, And he allowed no one to follow him, Except Peter and James and John, The brother of James, Could have done that from the beginning, Turns around and tells everybody.
Okay, Crowd, We're done, Peter, James, John, Let's go, 38, They came to the house, Of the ruler of the synagogue, And Jesus saw a commotion, People weeping, And wailing loudly, Do you know how Jairus saw that, When he came around the corner, Everyone that he knows, And cares about is broken, And when he had entered, He said to them, Why are you making a commotion, Why are you making a commotion, And weeping, The child is not dead, But sleeping, Okay, Jesus, Gets to say ridiculous things, He walks into, Where a child has just died, And says, What's all this about, She's fine, That's crazy.
But Jesus gets to be crazy, He gets to say ridiculous things, He gets to step in, When everything looks like it's done, And say, Oh, Don't worry about that, Oh, This is going to work out okay, You're going to be alright, He's the only one, Who gets to do that, And it actually means something, 40, And they laughed at him, Okay, That's how ridiculous, His statement was, They went from weeping, And wailing, There was a commotion, And they all stop and laugh.
Because that's how ridiculous, His statement was, We, In our culture, Are pretty distant from death, Some people, Have certain jobs, Where they see death, Right then, Most of us, When we see, A dead person, They've been placed in a casket, They've been cleaned up, You can always tell, There's just something different about them, The life is gone, But we're not as familiar with death, As they were, They knew death, They knew she had had life, They knew it had left, She's dead.
So much so that they laughed, They derided him, But he put them all outside, And took the child's father and mother, And those who were with him, And went in where the child was, Okay, I don't know the process, Of putting all of them outside, I'm assuming, Because Jesus is God, He was able to suck the air out of a room, With his face, That his facial expression changed, And he said, Y'all need to leave, And everyone assumed, That's my best option, I don't know, I don't know how long it took, I'm just assuming, That's me imposing something, On the text there, I just know it says, He put them all outside, They went from.
Weeping, Wailing, To laughing at him, And then everyone decided to leave, 41, Taking her by the hand, He said to her, Talitha Kumi, Which means, Little girl, I say to you, Arise, And immediately, The girl got up, And began walking, For she was 12 years of age, Mark adds that in now, So that her walking isn't weird, If you were assuming it was an infant, She was 12, And they were immediately, Overcome, With amazement, And he strictly charged them, That no one should know this, And he told them, Give her something to eat, Little no fact about dying, It makes you really hungry.
Jesus walks in, Sends everybody out, Grabs a dead girl by the hands, And says, Little girl, It's time to wake up, The way a mother, Or a father, Would wake up a child, In the morning, He grabs her by the hand, And he says, It's time to get up, Gosh, She's just sleeping, Little girl, I say to you, Arise, It's time to wake up, She sits up, Begins walking, Life fills her again, I'm assuming, That there had to be an exchange, Power left him to heal, The lady, I'm assuming, More of his power, More of his energy, More of his strength, More of his life, Had to leave, We don't know.
Jesus is able to step into a situation, When it's completely final, And change it, Reverse it, Bring life back where there's death, Bring hope back where there's despair, We have two people in this story, Who are absolutely wrecked, And desperate, And have no hope, And no options, Except for Jesus, And their only hope is, Maybe what's been said about him is true, Maybe it's real, That he can bring life, That he can bring hope, That he can bring joy, Maybe it's real, That he can heal, Some of us may be in that same spot, I don't have good plans, I don't have good options.
But maybe all this stuff, That I hear about Jesus is true, Maybe what my friends have been saying is true, Maybe what we've been talking about, In community group is true, Maybe what we, People celebrate on Easter is true, That Jesus was dead, Now he's alive, And in him we can have life, And hope, That my brokenness can be taken away, Maybe it's true, Christians, We're going to set aside, The story for just a second, We're going to set aside, Those of us who are in, In the position that Jairus and the woman were, We're going to come back in just a.
Second, But for Christians in the room, For the church, Maybe you're not in this position, We're going to take just a quick second, And we're going to go through five things, If you take notes, We're going to run through these pretty quickly, Five things, Five ways that we as, As the church, Get to respond to people in this position, Get to respond to people who are desperate, One, Be there, Just be there, Jesus' response to Jairus, Was let's go, Didn't talk, Didn't say anything, He just went with him, He was just there, Sometimes that's all we can do, That's the best option we have, Is just be there, Just be around, Just love them, Just.
Be there, Number two, Be willing to be inconvenienced, Your timeline's going to get messed with, Your plans are going to get derailed, As you have real friends, And real family, And real loved ones, That are in this position, Jesus shows up, Immediately has to go with Jairus, In the middle of that, Has to stop and deal with this woman, Be willing to be inconvenienced, Go ahead and plan on it, Know that's how that works, Three, Don't be shocked by confession, She lays it all on the line, And his response is absolutely welcoming, His absolute love, Secret shame and guilt, And things in our closets, That's humans, Christians should be the least shocked, By sinfulness, The.
Bible's very clear, We're all busted, We're all broken, We all need Jesus, And so when someone says, This is how messed up I am, We should just be like, Yeah and Jesus is great, Yeah, Sin tricks us all, Yeah, Shame and guilt, Yes, We need Jesus, So she lays it on the line, And he had the opportunity, To respond, With condemnation, With don't you know, What you've done wrong, And he just says, Daughter you're healed, Four, You will have to sacrifice.
Jesus in order for these people, To receive healing, Had to give up power, Had to pour some of it, And he'll have to give himself out, And that's how it works, When we're around somebody, Who's drained of love, And energy, And hope, You've got to pour some of yours out, For them to feel loved, For them to regain a sense of hope, You've got to pour out, Some of your energy, For them to have some, We actually line up with Jesus, And we do this really.
Well, And we do that, And number five, Point towards faith in Jesus, Don't just give pithy statements, Don't just have some, Oh it's going to be okay, Help them see why it'll be okay, Because of the cross, Jesus ultimately was just, It was about faith in him, The whole time, And that's what he turns to Jairus, And says, Don't fear, Just believe, And we get to just say, Jesus is good, He's trustworthy, I don't know how this situation, Is going to turn out.
But I know that, And that's what we hold on to, Band's going to come back up, We're going to sing, To Jesus, If you're in the room, And you're Jairus, If you're in the room, And you're this woman, You're in a position, Where you have no clue, What the next step is, The only thing you can see, On the horizon, Is pain, Is brokenness, You honestly don't know, How life is going to continue, You don't know how you'll get back to normal, You don't know how you'll get back to happy, You honestly feel like, That's not going to happen, Your hope.
For joy, Your hope for fulfillment, Is gone, Let me say this very clearly, You can come to Jesus, And you can trust, Jesus, Not to work on your timeline, Not to fulfill all your dreams, Doesn't always work out, The way we want it to, But what we know, Is that Jesus is trustworthy, And his response to you is the same, Tell me all about it, Tell me what you need, Lay it all out, Don't fear, Just believe, Just trust, You see we can get a glimpse of it in this story.
Jesus has to give up power, He has to give up strength, For her to be made strong, For her to be made well, Eventually, Jesus isn't going to just be weakened a little bit, He's going to come completely weak, He's not going to give up just a little bit of life, He's going to give up his entire life, That Jesus is ultimately going to go to the cross, And lay it all out for us, All of his strength will be gone, All of his life will be gone, All of his power will be gone, That he joins us in our suffering, That he joins us in our pain.
Because of the cross, We know, Without a shadow of a doubt, That he loves us, And that he's trustworthy, He can be trusted, He went to the cross for us, We can bring him anything, We don't know how it will work out, But we know that he's good, And that he can be trusted, That we can bring anything to him, When we have no more options, No more hope, When everything seems final, And he can bring life, And he can bring healing, And he can bring hope, That's the.
Jesus that we rest in, That's the God that loved us so much, That he became a human, To take on our guilt, And our shame, And our pain, To take on our death, So that we can have his life, And his joy, And his hope, And ultimately we rest in him, So if you're in this position today, You don't have good options, You don't have a good plan, You've ceased trusting in yourself, And you've ceased trusting, And getting the situation to work out, Jesus' response to you is the same, Don't fear, Just believe, I'm the.
God that can step into these situations, And make them work out for good, When you see no way that's going to happen, And sometimes it's long, And sometimes it's painful, But he's absolutely trustworthy, God, We ask that your Holy Spirit would help us to lean into you, When we see no hope, When we see no light at the end of the tunnel, God, That you would, Through your Holy Spirit, Look at us, Look into our souls, And say, Don't fear, Just believe, Just lean into me, And that you would give us the ability to do that.
God, That you would grant us faith, That we can trust you, That we can place our hope, And our life in you, And we praise you, Lord, That you became completely weak, Completely powerless, That you didn't just give us life, But you gave yours up for us, And that we know we can trust you in all things, God, You're good, And help us to see that, And help us to trust you, And to have real faith, In you and you alone, In Jesus' name, Amen.
Grace and Superiority
Transcript
My name is Chet Phillips. I'm one of the pastors here. I'm excited to be back. My wife gave birth to a baby boy on March 17th. So his name is Archer O'Daniel Phillips.
It was going to be Archer Daniel Phillips, but he was born on St. Patrick's Day. So what are you going to do? And it's been interesting. This is our first kid, so I'm learning a lot. It's a weird responsibility having, like, now we have a son, and I've got to help him grow up and be a full-grown adult male.
And so there's a lot of weight there. I'm already trying to work with him on some stuff. So he, I was talking to him the other day. He's a baby, so he cries a lot. And he cries every time, like screams and cries every time he's gassy. And so I've been trying to tell him that's going to be weird if he doesn't outgrow that.
Because that's, like, an odd thing to walk through adult life with. So he's just, you know, I'm trying to coach him up and make sure that he gets ready for adulthood. But that's what's been going on in my life. It is Jonah. We're in Jonah chapter 4. And so we've been, for the past three weeks as a church family, been walking through one chapter a week in Jonah.
The book of Jonah, it's an Old Testament book, an Old Testament prophet. It's in middle-ish to a little bit to the right of the middle in your Bible. It's on page 503 if you have a Bible that looks like this. What we're going to do today is we're going to be in Jonah chapter 4, and we're finishing up this series before Easter next week. And so what we've said so far in Jonah, though, and what the story has been so far in Jonah is that it says that Jonah was a prophet, which means he spoke on behalf of God. And that God comes to Jonah and says, go to Nineveh, because their evil has come up before me, and proclaim against them, like preach against them.
And so, first of all, this is a little weird because Nineveh is a non-Israel, non-Juda city. It's not the people of God, and most of the time when there's a prophecy about a group of people that aren't Israelites, it's just about them. It's not to them. So it would have been more normal for God to say, hey, go tell Israel I'm going to destroy Nineveh. But it was weird for God to say, go tell Nineveh I'm going to destroy Nineveh, because most of the time God's prophecies through his prophets were to the nation of Israel.
And so Jonah gets the word of the Lord, hears what God says, and runs. It says he went to flee to Tarshish. So he tries to flee from the presence of the Lord, which we would think is dumb, because, you know, you would think that God would be able to catch you. Like, I don't know if he thought maybe at night God can't see as well. Maybe God will be paying attention to something else. I don't know how he thought this was a good idea, but he tries to flee from the presence of the Lord.
He gets on a boat, and God sends a storm, because God's in charge of everything, and that's very apparent in the book of Jonah. Jonah sends a storm and stops his boat. They figure out that Jonah is the reason there's a big storm, and they say, what should we do to you so that we don't all drown? And Jonah says, drown me. And so the people on the boat eventually, they don't want to at first, but eventually say, okay, God, don't be mad at us. You're the one who sent the storm, and they throw him in the water.
The storm stops, which is equally terrifying. So it's very obvious that God did want Jonah. And so all of the crew members switched teams, so they had other gods they were praying to, and they realized, oh, okay, this one's in charge of everything. So they begin to worship the real God. And then Jonah is drowning, and a fish swallows him. And so Jonah chapter 2 is Jonah praying from a fish.
And what we saw in chapter 1 is that God's willing to go further to chase us in our sin than we thought. That he's willing to chase after us more, that he's more in control than we thought, and he's willing to chase us more. And then in chapter 2, we look at this prayer of Jonah's, and it seems like Jonah kind of relies on himself more than on God. Like his prayer is kind of a religious prayer. And just so you know, if you're just hanging out with us, this isn't a religious place. Religion is basically the idea that do these things, don't do these things, and God will love you.
Like it's about the work that you put in. And that's not what Christianity is about. It's not about earning things from God. It's not about punching your ticket, and eventually you get enough hole punches, and then you make it to heaven. That's not how it works. The idea of what I do accomplishes something puts me, as Raz said the past couple weeks, in God's good books isn't true.
That's not how it works. And so Jonah, though, kind of seems like that's what he thinks it's about. It's about what he does. He even kind of promises. And he prays kind of like us, God, if you take this away, I just won't do this anymore. Or I'll do this in the future.
I'll be good from now on. If you'll just let this situation not work out. I won't date guys like this anymore. That kind of a prayer. Like he's praying about, I'm going to do this in the future. I'm going to be better.
And eventually, the fish spits him out. Jonah obeys. He goes to Nineveh. And he proclaims against Nineveh. He preaches against Nineveh. And his sermon is, you're all going to die.
That's a heck of a sermon. We're actually thinking about doing a series later this fall. This coming summer called the You're All Going to Die series. It's one week. The sermon is, you're all going to die. All right, now bow your heads and close your eyes.
That's his sermon. He goes and proclaims it to a city about the size of Boston. And he says, you're all going to die. And they repent. He doesn't even tell them that they should repent. He doesn't even give them like an option.
He just says, God's going to kill you. And they are all like, they genuinely repent. They genuinely are broken over their sinfulness. And they repent from king to cattle. Like they put sackcloth on cows. That's how genuine their repentance was.
The king declares, no one eats, not even the cows. And so if you're watching a cow, you put sackcloth on the cow. And if the cow tried to eat, you grabbed his face and you were like, no, you don't. You're an evil cow. You've been making evil milk for evil people. And you will not eat.
And the cow was like, you're right. And a little single tear ran down his face. I do have evil milk. And they all repented. There was genuine repentance, heartfelt repentance from king to cattle. Okay.
If Jonah, if the story of Jonah was the way I had always heard it, the way I had always seen it in cartoons. Some of you maybe grew up in church and you've heard the story of Jonah before. Some of you maybe didn't grow up in church and you just hear that the Bible has a story about a guy getting swallowed by a fish. And you're like, the Bible's nonsense. Okay. But some of you who grew up in church, you've heard the story of Jonah before.
You've seen the cartoon before. And here's how the story goes. God comes to Jonah and says, go to Nineveh. But Jonah's scared. He's scared. The Ninevites are evil.
They're twisted. They kill people. So Jonah runs. He's afraid of God's call on his life. So he runs.
As he runs, God chases him down. He gets swallowed by a fish. And he prays and he repents. And he says, God, I was wrong. I trust you. I see that you're in control of everything.
But if you can control a fish and you can control a storm, you can keep Ninevites from gouging my eyes out. I trust you. He repents. And then the fish spits him out. Because in the cartoons, the fish always spits him out. There's even like, if it's a drawing, it says like patui or whatever.
In the Bible, it vomits. But like, it doesn't write as well. So the fish spits him out. Jonah's genuinely repentant. And he goes to Nineveh. And he preaches to Nineveh.
Repent. And all of Nineveh repents. And then that's the end. And God's faithful. And we see how it all works out. And everybody's happy.
And that's the first three chapters of Jonah. If that's the way the story was, we wouldn't be doing chapter four today. There would be no chapter four. Chapter four would be, and Jonah and God jumped into the air, all slow-mo and high-fived. And everything turned technicolor. And it was like, yeah.
And then credits rolled. That would be, Jonah would be credits. Or maybe like catching up with Jonah in later life. Just letting us know how he worked out. Like, this is a terrible story if there's like the whole buildup and then the climax. And then it just contends for 25% more.
Like, that's just, that's terrible. Movies don't do that. Like, you don't resolve the conflict. And then, like at the end of Avengers, they sat and ate a meal. But that was like five seconds, just kind of seeing them eating a meal.
It doesn't make you last. Like, it's not 45 minutes of them eating. And just like hanging out and like Iron Man at his house working on his computer. Like, they don't do that because the conflict is resolved. So if the conflict was that Nineveh needed to repent, the story would be over.
But Jonah apparently is kind of like a Peter Jackson movie where you think it's going to end and then it doesn't. And we'll even find out that it's very much like a Peter Jackson movie because then it just ends when you think it shouldn't. Like, God says something and it's over. So Peter Jackson movie is like, oh, it's done. Oh, no, it's going to keep going. Oh, now we're done.
No, it's going to keep going. It's going to keep going. Oh, they walked over a hill. It's done. It should have kept going. What just happened?
The dragon just got out. How do you just end the movie now? Like, what are you doing? That's what Jonah does. And we're about to find out in chapter four that the story is a little bit different than we thought. So I'm going to pray and we're going to jump into chapter four and see what this is really all about.
God, we thank you. We thank you for your grace. We thank you that we have the opportunity to gather as a church family and study your word. And we ask that your Holy Spirit would teach us and lead us. Speak to us. And show us what you intended.
When you had your servant pen the book of Jonah. And it's been kept so that we can read it. And so we praise you and we love you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Jonah chapter four is on page 503 if your Bible looks like this.
We're going to read all of chapter four today and we're going to kind of wrap up the whole story. So, again, the conflict kind of seems resolved. We're going to pick up actually in, I know it says Jonah four, but we're going to pick up in the end of three. So that we can kind of see what happens here. The chapters were added later, so it would have just been written as a one big story. Chapters were added just for a quick reference to be helpful.
So verse 10, also added later. So this is chapter three, verse 10. When God saw what they did, and what they did was repent from king to cattle. Genuine, heartfelt, we were wrong. And we need grace, we need mercy from God. When he saw what they did, how they turned from their evil, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them.
And he did not do it. We should be very excited, first of all, that that's God's attitude. Should be very excited that when evil people turn to God and say, I'm wrong, and genuinely mean it, God doesn't say, sorry, too late, crush. But he wants to relent from disaster. He wants to not destroy people. He's not vengeful.
Okay, so God relented of the disaster that he said he would do to them, and he did not do it. Chapter four, verse one. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. Okay. What? Like, if it was just that Jonah was scared, it should have been Jonah was stoked and skipped home.
Because everyone repented. Like, he's a terrible preacher, by the way. Like, this is a city about the size of Boston. If God came to a normal preacher and was like, hey, I want you to go preach against Boston. And the preacher showed up and said, like, one thing. And then from mare to dog park, they repent.
Like, mare to ferret. All of Boston per pence. Most preachers would have been like, man, that was a pretty good sermon. Like, the Lord showed up. This was great. Jonah's angry.
And what's a funny thing that happens in the Hebrew text here is that it says this. Verse 10. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil. So the word evil. God relented of the disaster. It's the same word.
Same root word. Almost exactly the same word. So evil and disaster, almost the same word. So they turned from their evil. God relented of his evil. His disaster that he was going to do.
That he said he would do to them. And he did not do it. And chapter 4 says, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly. That's the same word. So what it says is this was great evil to Jonah.
This was a disaster to Jonah. This could not have gone worse to Jonah. This was a train wreck. So we're learning something about Jonah. It couldn't have been fear because him not dying would have been like a win. What it says is they turn from their evil.
God turns from his evil, from his disaster. And this was evil to Jonah. It was a train wreck. And he's angry. Why? Why is Jonah angry that God's not going to destroy Nineveh?
Verse 2. And he prayed to the Lord. This is Jonah talking to God. Oh Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish. All right.
So the author of this story did not tell us why Jonah ran earlier. We could only presume that he was scared, afraid of the call that God had placed on him, maybe afraid of the Ninevites. But the author intentionally held it till now. He in night shamalam'd us. Shamalam'd. He in nighted us.
Because there's a twist on the end here. The story's taking a turn on us. Jonah's been dead for 10 years. Like it's that kind of thing. Like the story's about to turn. He hadn't actually been dead.
But it's that kind of twist on the end here. So, okay. Is this not what I said? So we're about to find out why Jonah actually left. For I knew. So he says, okay, let's start over.
This whole prayer is crazy to me. And he prayed to the Lord and said, Oh, Lord, is this not what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish. For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, relenting from disaster. What? His prayer is, oh, Lord.
I knew it. I told you this before I left. I knew it. We talked about this. This is why I ran. This is exactly why I ran.
This is what I told you. I told you you were good. Like his complaint about God is that he's good, that he's gracious. I told you you were gracious. I told you you were merciful. I told you you were abounding in steadfast love.
And I knew you'd do this. I knew you'd relent from disaster. I knew you were just getting my hopes up. You told me, Jonah, go tell him I'm going to kill all of them. And I knew I'd get here and you'd kill zero of them. I knew it.
I knew that as soon as I got here, they'd be all, oh, we're wrong. And you'd be like, you're right, and not kill them. Zero. Goose egg. That's how many Ninevites are going to die. You know how embarrassing and terrible this is.
His complaint to God is that he's gracious and merciful and abounding in steadfast love. Do you know what we just found out about Jonah? He's kind of a racist. He's overly nationalistic. Like, you should like your country and your people. But Jonah is so far ingrained in his nation and his people and his race that the Ninevites not dying is a disaster.
You see, Hosea and Amos at this time are proclaiming that Assyria is coming and Israel needs to repent. And the word of the Lord comes to Jonah and says, go to Assyria. That's where Nineveh is. One of their chief cities. And tell them to repent. Or I'm going to destroy them.
Tells them I'm going to destroy them. And Jonah doesn't want to go because he wants Assyrians to die. Jonah so cares about his nation, his people, and his race that he cannot, this cannot be good. Verse 3. Therefore, now, O Lord, please take my life from me. For it is better for me to die than to live.
Jonah says it's over. This could not have gone worse. Just kill me. This is such a train wreck. This is so terrible. Just kill me.
And the Lord said, do you do well to be angry? So God responds to Jonah and basically says, are you right? Here, is your response correct? And Jonah doesn't answer. So Jonah prays and says, God, I told you you were good.
I knew you would pull this. And then says, just kill me. Okay. That's kind of confusing. There's a little bit of me that says, okay, I want to understand a little bit more. This is part of the reason we've given Jonah such a hard time throughout.
Jonah 2 and 3, when it's like, well, he looks like he prayed and he repented. It's like, yeah, Jonah 4 kind of shows us where Jonah's heart is the whole time. So it's hard to be like, yeah, he genuinely repented. Oh, but also he's a racist. And he wanted God to kill them all. It seems more like what Rask talked about last week is that he religiously obeyed.
He did what he thought he had to do so that God would keep loving him. He could keep earning it. Okay, but this is a little bit confusing. Because you would think that Jonah said his message, that they repent, that Jonah should be excited. Or you're at least looking at this going, Jonah's just so off here. And let me try to help you see what he's doing.
And in order to do that, we're going to look at the one other place that Jonah shows up. But it's in 2 Kings, and we're going to show it on the screen so you don't need to flip there because it will be hard to flip there and then find it again and come back. But it's in 2 Kings. If I can find it in my notes, I'll read it from here. Yeah. Chapter 14, verse 25.
If you want to write that down so you can look it up later. It's talking about a king. So it starts with he. He refers to the king. He restored the border of Israel from Labo Hamath as far as the Sea of Ereba, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he, that's God, spoke by his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai. So it's the same Jonah, the prophet who was from Gath Heifer, which, by the way, Gath Heifer sounds like a lovely town.
Okay, so what we hear about Jonah here is that he's a servant and a prophet, and he speaks on behalf of God. This is a perfectly normal sentence structure, that this happened according to the word of the Lord, that he spoke by his servant and prophet Jonah. That's a normal thing. The Bible says that all the time. What did Jonah prophesy this time? That it seems like there's no conflict about.
What did he prophesy? Something good for Israel. I bet when this one came in, Jonah was ecstatic. God says, I'm going to restore this border. I'm just assuming that Jonah was like, yep, I can do that one. Sounds good.
Hey, everybody. We've got good news for you. And he gets to go tell the king. I'm assuming that if God had come to him and said, tell Israel, I'm going to destroy Nineveh, Jonah would have been very excited and run out to Israel and said, guess what God just told me? He's going to kill the Assyrians. It was when God came in and said, go to Nineveh and tell them that Jonah runs.
And here's why. And here's why we can see someone like Jonah who has it together in so many ways. Throughout the book of Jonah, he is spot on with his theology. His complaint about God is very, very true. It's a beautiful complaint. It's the best way to argue, by the way.
You get in an argument with your wife, be like, I knew it. I knew you were so pretty and nice. I knew that this would happen, that you would just be kind and thoughtful. Like, it's a great way to argue because then it's like, you're mad, but I, okay, like, good. I knew that you smelled good the whole time. So Jonah's complaint about God is spot on.
He's gracious and merciful. He's practically quoting what God shows up and says to Moses in Exodus when he describes who he is. And so Jonah says, I knew this about you. Jonah, when they confront him on the ship, he says, I worship the God, the creator of the land and the dry land and the sea. He knows things about him. When he prays, he has spot on theology.
Jonah knows stuff about God. He's willing to obey. We see that in chapter three. Here, he's a legit normal prophet. What's happened? See, Jonah's way more like us than we'd care to imagine.
Like, I actually, when I start seeing this in Jonah, I start seeing myself and I can kind of get on board with him. That's why he's such a confusing character because he's like you. He's like me. He's a person. All the characters in the Bible are pretty confusing except for Jesus. And he's terribly confusing because he's just good the whole time.
The rest of the characters kind of have it together, don't have it together because it's real stories about real people. There are certain things that you just crush. And there are other things you're terrible at and you run from God over. And that's what Jonah does. See, Jonah has this one area where if God messes with that, it's not okay for him to mess with. Because Jonah is doing what all of us do.
He's looking to something and saying, you make me have value. He has a system in his head that says these are good people. Those are bad people. This is how the world works. So there are certain parts of his interaction with God that perfectly line up with him.
There are certain things you should read in the Bible. There are times I'm reading the Bible and I'm just like, God, you are so smart. Like with your wisdom, you are crushing it right now with this stuff. This is brilliant. And there are other things I read in the Bible and I'm like, I kind of wish this wasn't in here. If I'm honest, if the Bible always agrees with you, by the way, you're probably reading it wrong.
For the record, you're making it fit you as opposed to it making you fit it. But here's what Jonah's doing. He has something in his head. He knows that he's a Hebrew. What do we know about Jonah? He's Hebrew.
He's from the northern kingdom of Israel and he's a prophet. And it seems like all of those are messed with by being sent to Nineveh. He has to leave his hometown. He has to go say good things possibly for people that aren't Israelites. And they're bad people. Israelites are good people.
Hebrews are good people. Everyone else is bad. They don't know the real God. They're bad. If being a Hebrew makes you good, being anybody else makes you bad. It has to.
It has to make them bad or Jonah can't be good. Does that make sense? That's why people who are racist, which by the way is one of the easiest ways to be superior to other people. What I mean by easiest is you don't have to do anything. Like if you think that white people are superior, like if my family thought white people were superior, that would be really nice for me because I was just born white. I didn't have to accomplish that.
That's why people like racism and nationalism. They didn't have to accomplish anything. They just had to be from their place and speak their language. Does that make sense? Like you don't have to do any work. That's what Jonah is doing.
He's Hebrew. And if Hebrews, what makes you good than being anything else has to make you bad or being a Hebrew doesn't make you good. That's why he has to put them down. He has to crush them. They have to be bad. They have to be wrong.
He has to leave and go talk to them. And something good has to happen for people that are bad. And it's messing with Jonah's brain. And what he declared was going to happen doesn't happen, which messes with his status as a prophet. Because the Old Testament says whatever a prophet says will come true. And if it doesn't come true, then he's not a prophet.
So everything that he's been basing his existence off of is taken from him. And now it makes a little bit of sense that he tells God, just kill me. You see, all of us have something that we're looking to and saying, you make me okay. You make me good. You're what makes me valuable in the world. One of the things I've consistently leaned into is hard work.
Because I'm good at that. I can do hard work. I started working when I was 13 for my dad's businesses. I've been working. And that's when I played football. I wasn't really fast or really strong.
When I went to college, our first football coach just wanted people who were mean and tried hard. So I fit in well. Then he left. And our next coach wanted guys who were good at football. And I was suddenly terrible. Because he wanted us to be like fast and accomplish things.
The other coach just wanted us to show up and try to hurt people. And I was like, I can do that. I may not hurt them. I can try. But I lean into hard work.
And so what that means is that people who are lazy, when I look at guys who don't want any responsibility, who don't want to work, who can't show up on time for things, who have no desire to take on any responsibility, I need them to be wrong. I need you to see that they're wrong so that you can see that I'm right. I need them to be bad so that you'll know that I'm good and so that I'll know that I'm good. And we do this with anything. You can do this with parenting. If what you use to give yourself worth and value is your children, then you have zero tolerance for bad parents.
Because you're looking at your kids and saying, if you work out, then I'm okay. If this works out, if you're good, if everything's happy, if I'm a good mom, then I know I have value. If I'm a good dad, if I've just been a good father, I know this will work out. And then when you see a parent that isn't living up to the standard, you need other people to see them fail. You need to see them fail. And they have to be wrong.
And they have to be bad so that you can be good. Grades. Athletic ability. Open-mindedness. Tolerance. That's my favorite one because it's sneaky.
So some of you are saying, I don't do that. I think everybody's welcomed in. I think everybody's okay. Yeah. Except for bigots and closed-minded people. Intolerant people have to be wrong for tolerance to be right.
So you have zero tolerance for intolerant people. And they don't deserve tolerance because they're intolerant. So they're not in the club. Does that make sense? Do you see how we do this with everything? And so Jonah's world is getting rocked because what he's using is his grading scale for what makes him good and valuable and worthwhile is taken from him.
God's messing with it. And that's where that shows up in us, too, because there are certain things that God is not allowed to mess with you about. There are certain things he just can't touch. You'll follow him fine. Jonah followed him fine when it was saying good things about Israel. When it was give Nineveh a chance, Jonah ran.
There's some things that you just crush. Maybe you just serve. Anytime there's anything that takes up your time, you're there. You'll sign up. You'll show up early. You'll leave late.
You serve. You're gifted there. You love that. And when God says, hey, I also want you to surrender your finances to me. No. No, no.
Can't do it. I have no obedience there. Some of us are the opposite. Man, you give. When you hear a need, your wallet magically appears in your hand. You ever met that kind of person?
Like, I thought I heard a need. Here's 20 bucks. Like, I just, I drop hints around those kind of people. Man, I sure could use 20 bucks. Like, those kind of people. But then when it comes time to give up time, ah, I'm just so busy.
I have no time for that. Some people crush both of those areas. And then it comes to relationships. You start looking at scripture where it says that your relationship doesn't honor God, isn't where it needs to be. And suddenly God can't mess with you there. We have something that gives us value.
And if it's our boyfriend, if it's our girlfriend, if it's knowing that we're loved, and God shows up and says, this doesn't honor me. You don't need to be sleeping together. You don't need to be living together. You need to stop this. And we say no. What we've realized is that something has taken the place of God and something is giving us our value that's not him.
And that can be finances. That can be work. That can be success. Some of you could care less about being a good dad. Some of you had dads who could care less about being a good dad. Because what they were using to give themselves worth and value was punching the clock and making a name for themselves and being successful.
And they looked down on dads who, you're going to take time off to spend with your kids? Do you not understand what makes us valuable in this world? And so God starts messing with what it is that Jonah has built around himself to know that he's a good person and it's a train wreck. And here's why. Jonah's religious. This is why Jesus butted heads with the Pharisees so much.
Because the Pharisees knew everything and obeyed really well. But that had to be what made them good. Knowing stuff and obeying. So whenever Jesus hung out with sinners, they couldn't have that. Because they can't be welcomed in because they're wrong and they're bad and if they're welcomed in, our position's gone. And so Jonah's looking at God and saying, you can't relent on Nineveh because if they're not wrong and they're not bad, my position's gone.
And so when that's taken from him, he says, just kill me. That's why people jump out of windows when the stock market crashes. Because what they've built their life on just disappeared. Their identity went with it. That's why some of you had a career-ending injury. And suddenly, if I'm not a soccer player, if I'm not a baseball player, if I'm not a football player, I don't know who I am anymore.
You had something that was good, but your identity left with it. Some of you had a relationship that fell apart and you didn't know who you were anymore. And not only were you sad, normal sad, you just didn't want to live. Because what you've been using to give yourself worth and value and fulfillment was taken from you. So Jonah says, just kill me.
Because we all have something that makes people good and something that makes people bad. That's all politics is. Democrats, conservatives have to be block-headed, close-minded, bigoted, backwards, gun-toting psychos. Have to be. They have to be wrong so that we can be okay, so that we can be right. So we can be what's right with the world.
Conservatives, liberals have to be fluffy-headed, open-minded, nonsense, family-hating, constitution destroyers. For us to be okay. They have to be. Obama has to be from another country. Has to be. For us to be okay.
Do you see how that works? One of the reasons we constantly, people are like, why can't we all get along? Self-righteousness. Why can't we all just tolerate each other? Self-righteousness. That's why intolerant people can't tolerate bigoted people.
Because we're all building something up to make ourselves good and okay and self-righteous and self-saved and self-sovereign. And that's Jonah's problem. So here's the thing. That's our problem. I fit with Jonah. I see this.
So how does God respond to Jonah? And what we're going to see is this really crazy, divine, God-ordained object lesson where God bends to teach Jonah something. So all of Nineveh repents. The story should have ended. But Jonah has a fit.
And then God bends. He says, do you do well to be angry? Verse 5. Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself. A booth is just like a three-sided tent that Israelites knew how to make ever since Moses' time. They actually had a feast of booths where they all made booths so Jonah knew it was up.
He sat under it in the shade till he should see what would become of the city. So he prays and thinks, okay, maybe God will stop being gracious, which is evil to me. Maybe God will relent from this disaster, go back to his original disaster, and destroy everybody. And I want to see the fireworks, so I'm going to go sit on this side of the hill and just hope, fingers crossed, everyone dies. I'm looking at you, cattle. Take the sackcloth off.
So that's what Jonah's doing. He's waiting to see what will happen. Now the Lord God, this is verse 6, appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. All right, so he's got a little bit of, he's manic and depressed, like he's going back and forth here.
He's super pumped about this plant. And it's really cool because God shows that he's in charge of a storm. He shows that he's in charge of a fish, and now he's appointing a plant. So like God just appoints things, does what he wants. So I walk out in my backyard, and I'm like, I wonder which trees were appointed and which of them just grew.
But like he just does, he just tells everything to do what he wants. And so he appoints this plant. And it seems like Jonah knows that God did this on purpose because he builds a booth, and then overnight a plant just grows up. And so Jonah's very happy about the plant, probably feels like, okay, God's comforting me. God's showing me some honor. Maybe I'm okay.
Maybe I'm in a decent spot. Maybe he still does just love Israelites. That's what it seems like. But he seems like he's more excited about the plant than God. Seven, but when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm, again, in control of everything, that attacked the plant so that it withered. I love that part of the story because the worm wasn't sent to eat the plant.
He was sent to attack it. So God appoints the worm, and it's not, hey, go eat the plant. It's go destroy the plant. That plant must die. And so there's this worm sent on a mission from God, which is just really cool to me that God would do this with a worm, that he's bending this much, that he's kneeled and stooped this much that he would tell a worm to go attack it. And so the worm waits till dawn because that's the best time to attack a plant.
And so the worm's waiting, and he's like, hold, hold now. Yeah. Yeah. Like, that's just the way I see it, and he attacks the plant. This plant must die. Worm crushed it, did his job.
Worm attacked the plant so that it withered. That worm nailed it. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah. Which, if God's in control of the weather like this, I sometimes wonder what he's doing with South Carolina. Just 80, 40, whatever. It's better for me.
Sorry, okay. Some beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, it is better for me to die than to live. So this is the second time Jonah does this. So God sends a plant, and then he sends a worm to destroy the plant, which is just God teaching Jonah, bending over.
He's stooping to interact with Jonah personally. So we see that he cares about this whole city. We see that he's in charge of storms and weather, and then he just bends to deal with Jonah. And so he's giving him an object lesson. And so he has this plant grow up, and then he has a worm attack it, and then it dies. And then Jonah says, just kill me.
Because God's sending a scorching wind. It's dried out. He's cooking him. And now he feels like, okay, God's picking on me. He's messing with me. He's taking away my honor, my privilege.
He's teaching me that Jews aren't the best. It's kind of what Jonah, I think he's feeling here because we know that what he's based his life off of, what he thinks makes you okay, is to be an Israelite. He says, it's better for me to die than to live. But God said to Jonah, do you do well to be angry for the plant? And he said, yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die. Crushing it with logic, Jonah.
You ever do that, just shout something in an argument that you know no longer makes sense, but you're so entrenched in your point? That's what Jonah's doing here. Yes! I love the plant. You don't know anything about the plant. Just kill me.
And the Lord said, you pity the plant for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left? Okay, most scholars believe that means children. Don't know their left and right yet. So it could mean a bunch of people who don't know anything.
So 120,000, they know nothing. They're completely backwards. But most scholars believe that he's referring to there's 120,000 children there. Don't even know they're left from their right yet. Which means that it's about 600,000 to a million point two in the city is what people guess, which would be about the size of Boston. 120,000 people who do not know their right hand from their left and also much cattle.
The end. Best ending line in the book in the Bible. It's my favorite. He ends with and also much cattle. Question Mark. It's over.
Okay. Jonah runs from God. God prays a kind of piousy prayer in a fish. Gets vomited up. Obeys. And then throws a fit.
And tells God three times, just kill me. And God's response to Jonah is to just teach him and talk to him. And that is so encouraging. Because if I was God and I had a guy consistently yelling at me and telling me, just kill me. I think at some point, God, I would just be like, fine. Like, yeah, I can do that pretty easily.
Do you really want a piece of me? And God's response to Jonah is, you're confused. You're off here. Do you not see that you're wrong? And he just tries to teach him. And what he shows Jonah is the stuff you care about is so fragile.
The stuff you're basing your life on, the stuff that you're using to give yourself comfort and worth and value, is so fragile and easily taken that it can show up in the night and it can be taken in the night and a worm can destroy it. And I just want us all to hear that. The stuff that we're looking to, and some of you know this, you painfully know this, because you've had it snatched from you. And some of us in this room haven't had it snatched yet, but it can be gone in the night. What we're looking to, to give ourselves worth and value and to know that we're good and other people are bad can be easily taken from us.
And it's not worth building your life on. You see, Jonah, when he looks at God and says, I knew you were gracious. I knew you were good. I knew you relented from disaster. I knew you were abounding in steadfast love. What he's doing is he's the kid who raises his hand and says, you forgot to take up the homework.
The only kid who raises his hand and does that is a kid who's done his homework. It's the only time you raise your hand and do that. You're never in the back of the class being like, didn't do my homework, didn't do my homework, bell ring, didn't do my homework, didn't do my homework. You know what, I need to be honest. You didn't take up the homework. You don't do that.
It's the kid who's back there going, I spent 30 minutes on this. I have nice handwriting. I assume most kids who do homework have a nice handwriting. I checked the back of the book. I knew I was right. But I didn't check the back of the book until I had done all of them.
Looking at you, Carl. Like, that's the kid who raises his hand and says, take up the homework. That's the kid who does that. And so when Jonah looks at God and says, I knew you were gracious. I knew you were merciful. I knew you abounded in steadfast love.
What he is saying, even if he doesn't realize it, is I don't need those things. That's a character flaw in you. See, if Jonah knew he needed grace and mercy and steadfast love, he would not be mad about it. What Jonah is yelling at God is, I'm one of the good ones. Take up the homework. You'll see I did just fine.
Jonah wants God to take everybody to task because Jonah thinks he's arrived. And Jonah wants God to take everybody to task because he needs God to see that he's arrived and other people haven't. But when we realize that we need grace, then we want it for everybody. When we realize that we need mercy, then we want it for everybody. When I didn't do my homework, I want everybody to not have to turn their homework in. I want the teacher to say, you know what?
I'm not taking up homework today. Best teacher ever. I want the kid who did his homework. You don't have to turn it in. It's fine. You did it.
Whatever. Everybody got points. That's okay. I think she gave points to everybody. You got your points. But that kid doesn't want everybody to get points.
He wants himself to get points and you not to get points. Does that make sense? So when Jonah says, you're gracious, that's a problem, he's saying, I'm good, you should know. And he's missed the point. As we see this bigger story unfold of how God interacts with humanity, and it's such a baffling picture that the God of the universe would send a little plant and a little worm to teach a little man. Does that make sense?
Like this just seems so small. What we see is that he's actually willing to stoop further. That God would actually come to earth. That he wouldn't just send a begrudging prophet to say a message. That he would actually send his son to pay a debt. That Jesus came because God was willing to stoop way further and be way more gracious than we see in the book of Jonah.
That he actually died for our debt. The Bible is very clear. There are not good people and bad people. There are bad people and Jesus. It is not us and them. It is us and him.
That's it. And all of the things that we've put on our resume mean nothing. We all need grace and we all need mercy. Now here's the thing. We don't know how Jonah responds. It just ends.
The end of the book of Jonah is and much cattle. God's saying, Jonah, the cows repented, man. I just can't kill a cattle with sackcloth on. I'm just not going to do it. But the end of the book of Jonah is and much cattle.
And do you want to know why? We are all given the opportunity to respond the way we wish Jonah would. Every person in this room, you're given the opportunity because God has actually stooped further. In the book of Psalms, it's a prophecy about Jesus and it says, I'm a worm and not a man. And it's talking about him dying on the cross. It's a prophecy about the death on the cross.
And he says, I'm a worm and not a man. I have my life taken from me. And you see, God sends a worm to teach Jonah a lesson and he became a worm to rescue us. He took on sin and death and paid our penalty so that we can have life and joy and hope. That we can be set free and all of us have the opportunity to respond the way we wish Jonah would. Turn in your resume.
Tear up your homework. Put your hand down. And be thankful for grace. That Jesus was good on our behalf. And he took all of our bad stuff, put it on himself and died for it. So that we can be free.
We wish Jonah would see his sin and realize that he needed grace too. That's what he's missed. That his thing that he's looking to say, this makes me a good person. The stuff that you're looking at and saying, this makes me a good person. And God is asking you to throw that away. To realize that it doesn't.
To realize that you're all bad. All in need. All in need of grace. And run to him. And trust in Jesus to be a good person on your behalf. That's the invitation.
And that's the response we get to have. And when that happens, we want grace for everybody. When that happens, something changes in us. To where we want everybody to be invited in. And we realize that all the stuff we fall short. All the stuff that we mess up.
Just points to how good and gracious God is. So David, Matt, and Raz are going to come back up. We're going to sing and praise Jesus. Jesus, you get the opportunity. Let me be very clear. The story of Jonah ended very abruptly.
Don't let yours end like that. Don't let the story today end for you with God asking you a question. Are you going to hang this stuff up? Are you going to quit trusting in yourself and you not respond? Some of you will let it be that. And you'll just leave and there will be no response.
But we have the opportunity to respond the way we wish Jonah would have. To see our sin. To see all of the stuff we've piled up. To say, God, take up the homework. This is what makes me good. And to realize that all of us fall short.
All of us need grace. All of us miss the point. And all of us get invited in by Jesus. Who stooped way, way lower for us than God did for Jonah. And to be radically changed by that. To have that sink into our hearts so much that we can't.
Not love him. Can't not lean into grace. And can't not want it for everybody else. God, we pray. That your Holy Spirit would lead us. That you would help us clearly see what it is that we're leaning into.
To give ourselves worth. And to give ourselves value. What we're using to say, God, you can take up the homework. Because I'll be okay. God, you can weigh everybody out now. You can check everybody out now.
Because you'll see that I've accomplished something. God, I pray that you'd help us to see. What it is that we're using to give ourselves value. That can be so easily taken from us. That can in a night be gone. God, help us see the things that we wouldn't feel like we deserved life.
Or needed life. Or had life. Or an identity or self anymore. If it was taken from us. And God, help us to see so clearly the cross. That sets us free from all of that.
Jesus who came to die on our behalf. Lord, help us to repent as Jonah should have repented. Help us to see our sin as Jonah should have seen his sin. Should have seen how his religion. And his obedience. And his knowledge was getting in his way.
From knowing you. And being close to your heart. So that he could celebrate when you celebrate it. And God, help us to be so in love with grace. That we want it for everybody. We ask all this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
A Prayer from the Deep
Transcript
We're in week two of Jonah, and this week is going to be especially puzzling for us because we come up against an aspect of God's character that most of us have heard of before but never really get, most of us don't truly believe in our souls. We're going to come up against this aspect of God's character: his deliverance does not depend on our excellence or our behavior. Now when I use the word deliverance, I'm not talking about delivery as in delivering a baby, although pretty much everyone has that on their mind at the moment. I'm not talking about delivery as in two-day free shipping for Amazon Prime members, which is always on my mind. I'm talking about the kind of deliverance that's more like a rescue against all odds, something that no one expects to happen, something that seems to defy logic.
Like when your wife, trying to be sweet and nice, says to you, "Let's watch a movie together, a romantic movie," and you go, "No." Then she entices you, she makes it sweet, there's popcorn involved and hot chocolate involved, and you know that the night is going to be horrible anyway. You're looking forward to hot chocolate, but not a romantic movie. And then it comes on, and you know what? It's kind of cute. The movie wasn't so bad. It kind of, you know, that movie delivered against all odds.
But beyond that, we're talking about deliverance where the God of the universe, creator of the heavens, creator of the seas, the dry land, creator of land animals, sea animals, birds in the air, insects... I don't know why he did that... the creator of man says to one specific man, "I want you to do something for me." And that man says, "Nope." Then God sends a giant fish, of all things, a giant fish, and says, "I'm going to make you do what I told you to do." And the giant fish scoops him up, travels I don't know how far, and spits him out and says, "Get on your way." We're talking about that kind of against-all-odds deliverance, something that should never, ever have happened, that blows our minds, that doesn't seem to make sense in any way. And we're going to learn that when God does deliver, it's not based off of anything that we do, but purely on his grace.
Now, we typically oppose that notion. We don't really believe it. We think that on some level, in some capacity, I can do something that contributes to this transaction. Most of us on some level still think that if I just do something, if I just be good, that will contribute something to this scenario. And even people who don't believe in God say, "If God did exist, surely good people would be blessed and bad people would not." This whole human transactional understanding that we have of what's fair and what's not fair is that good people deserve good things and bad people deserve bad things. It's kind of just ingrained in us.
But today's passage is tough because Jonah is a guy who knows a lot of the Sunday school answers. Obviously his parents sent him to kids' church, and he learned it from a very young age. He knows how to say good things about God. But then when it comes down to doing them, when it comes to getting out there and doing what he's told, he bails and does the exact opposite. It's tough because Jonah's the guy, he's a prophet of God, he's supposed to be the one who knows what to do and does what God says, and then abandons that. So what happens? What happens when someone says one thing and does the opposite? What happens when someone knows what they're supposed to do and chooses not to do that? Does God still deliver people like this? Will he only rescue the people who actually deserve it, who do things to earn things from God? And what happens to someone who thinks they have it all right, thinks that they're doing the right things, thinks that they know things about God and that that will save them, but actually do the wrong thing? And could that be me? Could I be that person?
Go ahead and open your Bibles to Jonah chapter 2. If you have a Bible that looks like this, it's on page 502. If you have a different Bible, then it's right between Obadiah and Micah. You're welcome. Somewhere in the middle you'll find it. Jonah chapter 2. We're going to read the whole thing up front. We're going to make observations about it, so leave your finger in there. We're not going to do the thing where you read a passage, talk about it, read a passage, talk about it. We're just going to read the whole thing up front, so keep your finger in there. Basically, the whole time, it's Jonah praying, and that's why we would do this up-front thing. The whole time is Jonah's prayer. And what's interesting about reading other people's prayers is it gives you an insight into how they think. It gives you an insight into how they relate to God themselves, how they see themselves before God, and how they think God relates to them. And we're going to see that in Jonah chapter 2.
Father God, we praise you and we thank you for this morning. And we pray that you can reveal things to us from your word. And we pray that, most of all, we will grow in our love for you and not depend on ourselves to be saved. We know that we will come up short if that is the case, and we praise and thank you that that is not. Please be moving in our hearts this morning that we may learn from your word and put it into action in our weeks. In Jesus' name, amen.
All right, we're going to read the whole chapter up front. But we're going to start in the last verse of chapter 1. So chapter 1:17.
> And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
> Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying,
> "I called out to the LORD, out of my distress,
> and he answered me;
> out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
> and you heard my voice.
> For you cast me into the deep,
> into the heart of the seas,
> and the flood surrounded me;
> all your waves and your billows passed over me.
> Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight;
> yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.'
> The waters closed in over me to take my life;
> the deep surrounded me;
> weeds were wrapped about my head
> at the roots of the mountains.
> I went down to the land
> whose bars closed upon me forever;
> yet you brought up my life from the pit,
> O LORD my God.
> When my life was fainting away,
> I remembered the LORD,
> and my prayer came to you,
> into your holy temple.
> Those who pay regard to vain idols
> forsake their hope of steadfast love.
> But I with the voice of thanksgiving
> will sacrifice to you;
> what I have vowed I will pay.
> Salvation belongs to the LORD!"
> And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. (Jonah 1:17-2:10 ESV)
So Jonah got thrown into the ocean by the sailors in chapter 1. He got swallowed by a giant fish, and while he was living inside that fish for three days, this was the prayer that he prayed.
Now let's keep one thing in mind: Jonah got here by disobeying God. This wasn't just like a random thing that he decided to do. Jonah got here by disobeying God. He was told to go to Nineveh, and instead he planned to go to Tarshish. He was told, head east, but he headed west. The dude is now trapped inside a giant fish.
Most times when we think about this, and in fact most times when it's illustrated, when it's in a cartoon, maybe in a Bible story sermon series, it gets cartoonified. It gets made nice. There's theme music, like, trouble. And so the life of Jonah is summarized in disobedience, swallowed by a fish, delivered out on land, on your merry way. Let's time out and go back to the living-inside-a-fish thing for just one moment, because it intrigues me.
I've smelled a fish before from the outside. It wasn't very nice. It was okay. And then you put a knife in it, and you slide it open, and the guts fall out, which is gross. I know that. I'm sorry. But that doesn't smell any better. Jonah was inside those guts for three days. I have been on a boat before. I've felt this thing that I thought was imaginary called seasickness. Boats rock. I guess submarines would be even worse. They would go underwater and move around a good bit. Jonah's inside a fish. Those things wiggle, and then they jump, and then they dive down, and then they go up. And he's inside the thing, like floating, presumably in fish guts and water and nastiness. I assume he probably got seasick. I would. He probably vomited, and then it splashed back up on his face when the fish went down. Jonah was from the Middle East. He probably had a giant beard. He got fish guts in that beard. They don't come out real quick. I have a little itty-bitty mustache, and I get smells stuck in that, and it's right under your nose. Jonah was inside a fish with little fish-gut smells inside his nose. It cannot have been nice.
And what's worse is, I assume there's no light in there. I don't know if you've ever been in pitch black before. I have. It's terrifying. If you go down this hallway that way, the guys' bathroom lights are on a motion sensor. Do you know how stupid crazy that is? When you go to the restroom in the morning and the lights time out and you're stuck in pitch black in a restroom in a foreign school, you will never be more thankful for your iPhone in a moment like this. Jonah does not have an iPhone. He's feeling sick. He's inside a fish. But thankfully, this is the time when he chooses to pray.
Now, I know that's what I can be like sometimes. I wait until the final moment. I wait until life gets really tough. Maybe not that tough. But I wait until life gets tough, and that's the moment that I choose to pray. It's almost like when things are going good, things are going well, life, you're feeling healthy, you've got enough money to get through this week, you're feeling okay, there's not really any need to pray. And then as soon as you get chopped off at the knees, suddenly you're sick and you've got no money because you spent it all on medicine. Suddenly, now it's time to pray. And we've got a little bit of this urgency in times of need like that.
Now, in this whole story, the first time we hear of Jonah calling out to God is once he's been thrown off the boat. This is a time when he needs something to rely on. I don't know if they have this saying in America. I kind of grew up with it, at least in the church. Someone coined the question way back in the day: is Jesus your steering wheel or your spare tire? Do you turn to Jesus when you've got a flat on the interstate? Does he only ever come out when life is tough in the moment, and then as soon as the problem's fixed he gets put back in his little spot in the back? Or, alternatively, is Jesus your steering wheel, the one who guides the path at all times, gets you from A to B, completely relied upon for direction?
Now, it might be old, I don't know, that might be the first time you've heard it, but it's a valid illustration of what's going on in this situation. And you could say that, given that he hasn't prayed up until this point, he's left it until the very last of minutes. The time came for prayer earlier, and he didn't until he was drowning in the ocean. Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with calling out to God in times of need. In fact, definitely call out to God in times of need. I say that, I do that, the Bible says that. The question is in motivation and attitude in the whole situation. What's going on in the thought processes, and what drives you to pray in that situation?
We have a guy here who's done a serious wrong by God, that God's chosen to rescue anyway, at least physically in this moment, at this point in time, and regardless of his disobedience. You might expect this to be the time when Jonah starts to repent. That is, he acknowledges his own sin and apologizes for it, feels broken about it, and says, "God, forgive me." You might expect this to be a time when he realizes how disobedient he is.
And on the surface, when you read through this passage, there's a bunch of things that look really good that he says. A number of really good things. In verse 2 he says, "I called to the Lord." Good. You should do that. In verse 4, "I will look upon your holy temple." Good. In verse 6, "You brought my life up from the pit." True. In verse 7, "I remembered the Lord." You should do that. Remembering God is good. Verse 9, "I will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord." Good. Good. It sounds like Jonah's on the right track, at least that he's starting to get it.
But actually, what we see of Jonah's character up until this point, and spoiler alert, in the future as well, is that he has a very self-centered understanding of his faith. He has a very self-centered attitude toward how he relates to God. He thinks that things he can do are what govern his relationship with God. We actually find in this prayer the inner workings of a man who is so self-centered that he ignores his own sin the whole time. He believes that he deserves to be rescued. Now, whether he thinks he's entitled to it because of his position as a prophet, some people probably would feel that. Maybe he feels that he's entitled to it because of his heritage as a Jew. Most likely, he thinks he's entitled to it because of what he does. This prayer is all about Jonah because he thinks he's earned something.
Now, there's a difference between these two kinds of prayers. One kind of prayer focuses on self and the other focuses on God. A prayer that focuses on God, a legitimate, authentic, heart-changed prayer, would sound like this: God, please have mercy on me. I'm busted. I'm broken. I'm sinful. I can't do anything right. Please save me from me. Jonah's prayer, not so much like this.
Now, maybe I'm throwing you under the bus and lumping you in with my own sin here. We typically pray in a way that treats God like an exchange program. We typically pray in a way that says, "God, if you'll just give me this, then I'll give you that. God, if you'll just deal with this, then I'll stop doing that. God, if you get me out of debt, I'll stop using credit cards. God, if you help me get healthy right now, if I feel healthier by the end of the day, I swear I'm going to quit smoking. God, if you just get me a girlfriend, I promise I will stop playing video games until next week." And we treat the whole situation like it's a cosmic exchange program, like we have something to offer God. That's kind of how Jonah does it.
Let's read some of the things that Jonah says. He doesn't start with, "God, you rescued me, I'm a sinner." He starts with, "I called out to the Lord and he answered me. I cried out and you heard my prayer." I initiated this relationship. It's my turn to speak, and I've done something to earn your attention right now. Then in verse 3, when he should be recalling all the things that God has done for him, instead what he says is, "You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas and the floods surrounded me. All your waves and your billows passed over me." You put me here. This is your fault.
What Jonah's already forgotten can't have been more than a day later. What Jonah's already forgotten is that he put himself here. He was thrown into the ocean by the sailors who came to him and said, "What do we do?" And Jonah said, "Throw me overboard." Jonah disobeyed God, ended up on a boat where the sailors thought they were all going to die, ended up throwing Jonah overboard, and now he's saying, "God, you put me here."
Then toward the end of his prayer, right down at the end, in verse 8, he says, "Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love." Here's one of those cases where that is a true statement. Those who have idol issues, have idolatry problems, they do forsake the hope of steadfast love. But what Jonah does is he puts these people over here and separates himself from them. Jonah doesn't see himself as one of those people. He's talking about the pagans, the sailors, the guys who were on the boat who threw him over. He says those who pay regard to idols do not have your steadfast love. What he doesn't realize is he's a part of that group, and actually the sailors are less a part of that group because they renounced their idols, they feared God, and they made sacrifices to him. It's a true statement, but he doesn't understand what he's saying.
And then he says, "I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed, I will pay." Basically he's saying, I'm not like them. I have it right. And for the record, in the rest of the book of Jonah, there is no evidence that Jonah ever makes good on any of these vows. He never makes sacrifices, he never vows anything or comes through with any of this stuff. He might sometime in the future after the book ends. We don't know. But what we have here is a bunch of empty vows, empty promises. So while on the surface it looks like he's saying a bunch of good things, we actually have a guy who doesn't really believe the things that he says.
What Jonah doesn't see is that he's blinded to his own sin. What he doesn't see is that he doesn't think he's busted, broken, and disobedient. He thinks he deserves salvation. And even in his last-minute prayers to God, his emphasis is on himself, what he's done to earn that favor in the first place. And it's almost this half-hearted, last-minute, inside-the-belly-of-a-fish prayer to, yep, thanks for that.
Now, I know it sounds like a kind of a downer that we can be like that as well, that we think of this as a cosmic exchange program where we give him this and he gives us that, and it can sound bad to us that we can't do anything. It sounds really horrible that we have no power in this. But actually, if you see it in perspective, it's a massive relief. Because if God was a cosmic accountant and he had a list, a balance sheet of all your credit and all your debt, all your pros and your cons, all your good and your bad, your bad would be through the bottom. And you might be able to chalk up some good things, but you could never possibly tip that balance to the good-person status that we assume exists but doesn't. It's actually good news because we don't have a God that weighs us in the balance like this with a good and a bad list. We have a God who sets the list aside and loves us regardless. It means that we don't have to try to get more good than we do bad.
Now at the end of the prayer, the very last line of his prayer, he says, "Salvation belongs to the Lord," which is again a great statement of faith. You can't deny that he knows some good things. But what's interesting is this is a person reciting a textbook answer that doesn't understand what that means. It's like he studied for the exam but didn't understand the content.
Now, if you've passed high school, you're probably familiar with this concept of studying for exams but having no idea what's going on in that class. At least in Australia that was the case for most of us. For example, I took trigonometry. I can tell you the cosine rule. I'm pretty proud of it. A squared equals B squared plus C squared minus 2BC cos A. You impressed? Yeah. I even know the song. That's how I remember it. A squared equals B squared plus C squared minus 2BC cos A. And then you clap. A squared equals B squared plus C squared minus 2BC cos A. People in exams would clap in Australia. It was crazy. Thing is, I know it's to do with triangles. Something to do with sides. Cos means an angle. I know that. I have no idea how to use that. I may know the formula, but I still can't pass the exam. And it's the same thing that's going on with Jonah. He studied the formula but failed the exam. He knows things about God, but doesn't understand how that impacts life.
Now I reckon at this point in time God is pretty disappointed with Jonah. After the whole running-away thing, I can't imagine that he's in the good books, even though Jonah for some reason thinks he is. And I like to imagine the whole scenario. If Jonah's thoughts were right and God did like him, maybe it would be different.
We've established that being inside a fish is a gross way to do things. So if Jonah was in God's good books and God wanted to rescue him in a nice way, perhaps it would have looked differently. Perhaps it would have been he parts the sea and Jonah gets to walk back. That could have been nicer. Perhaps it could have been he's just back on land. But the funniest thing, and the best thing to me in this whole story, is that that's not how it happens. God kind of gives him a little slap on the back of the head, a bit of a bruise on his ego, and has a fish vomit him. That's the best.
God says, it says that God spoke to the fish, which I think is also funny because he... I don't know if it's a pet or if it's like, fishy, fishy, fishy. Fishy, fishy, go and vomit Jonah out on dry land. I just imagine the fish being like, woohoo, and then going off and doing that. It could have been even nicer with the fish. God can speak to fish, obviously. He could have said, fish, deliver Jonah to the dry land. Or fish, go and open your mouth on the beach and let him walk out. But instead God says, vomit him out. Make sure he gets the point that he's done something wrong. Make sure he gets a little bit of fish guts in his beard for the rest of the walk. I love it.
And that's how chapter 2 ends. Brilliant. Jonah walking on his way to Nineveh from the beach covered in fish guts and rancid smells that take weeks to go away. And that's the story of chapter 2. That's how Jonah got from in the ocean to a fish's belly, prayed to God, spit back out onto the sea.
Now let's pause for a second, set that entire story aside, and let's think for a moment on how it could have happened differently, what it could have looked like if Jonah actually got it, if Jonah understood from the start how it all could have happened. Option number one would be God says, Jonah, go to Nineveh, and Jonah goes to Nineveh. Yeah. Option number one.
Option number two: God says, Jonah, go to Nineveh. Jonah says, no, that sounds scary, I don't want to do that. Maybe I should. And then he goes back and goes to Nineveh. That's option number two. That's valid. That could have happened, would have worked. God would have been pleased with that. Option number three: Jonah, go to Nineveh. No, bump that, I'm getting on a boat, I'm getting out of here. Oh, this was a bad idea. Something's going to go wrong, I can just tell. Guys, turn the boat around, we're going to Nineveh. Turn around, go to Nineveh.
Option number four, this can go all day. Option number four: God says, Jonah, go to Nineveh. He says no, he gets on a boat, gets on the boat, goes to sleep, sleeping, sleeping, sleeping. The storm comes, the sailors come to him and say, Jonah, pray to your God. And he goes, I should have done that earlier. He prays to God, the boat turns around, they go back and they go to Nineveh. At any point in time in the story, Jonah had an option of repentance. At any point in time in the story, Jonah could have done something. The only thing he could have done is repent. He could have said, God, I was disobedient. And he chooses not to.
The entire time, he is strictly disobedient. He sets himself up in his prayer as someone who deserves to be saved, when the exact opposite is true. But that's exactly the point. He doesn't deserve to be saved, but he is. Our actions do not govern God's deliverance, because he doesn't choose to save people based on their individual merit. He doesn't choose to save, to rescue people from sin, based on how good of a person they are.
And yes, we have this sense that there's a little bit of Jonah in all of us. We have this sense in us that there are small things we can do to influence God in some way, small transactions we can make where he will bless us if we do good for him. And if we think that, then we're just like Jonah. And if you think you're off the hook and that you're not like that at all, then you've proven that you are on the hook, but you're blinded to the hook and you're a whole lot like Jonah.
What we see in the story of Jonah is the prayers of a self-righteous man, one who thinks what he does will give him credit against God. But he's blinded to the fact that he's a sinner and has something to atone for before God. Yeah, God chooses to rescue him physically, at least by means of the fish in this moment. But the fact that he was physically saved by a fish does not necessarily transfer over to spiritual salvation, spiritual deliverance. There's a difference in this case between physical deliverance and spiritual deliverance.
And honestly, we don't know about Jonah at this point. So far, he has yet to repent. He's yet to admit that he's a sinner and ask God for help. And so the jury's still out on Jonah. But here's something interesting. Seven hundred and fifty years later, when Jesus was walking around, he was on the way to Jerusalem and he was confronted by a crowd, and he spoke to an incredibly similar situation. He spoke to a situation where there was the group of guys who thought they knew everything, thought they had it all under control, thought that God liked them because of the things that they had done, and they held it over other people.
So I don't want you to turn there, but I'm going to read from Luke 18. This is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
> He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:
> "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
> The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men,
> extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
> I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.'
> But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'
> I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:9-14 ESV)
Seem pretty similar? The Pharisee emphasizes his own importance, his achievements, his credentials. He listed reasons why God ought to love him. And then he distances himself from other people. He distances himself from the tax collector. He distances himself from people who he thinks God doesn't love. He says, I'm not like them at all. And the tax collector, he beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
There's a massive difference between these two guys, and sadly Jonah's a whole lot more like the Pharisee. Only, at least the Pharisee actually did do some stuff. Jonah didn't do anything. So when it comes to spiritual deliverance, God chooses to deliver people not based on their merit, but by their faith and trust in him. God doesn't choose to deliver based on merit. He chooses because of his abundant mercy and amazing grace. That's what puts the tax collector, this guy who's lived a life of sin, miles ahead of a Pharisee who lives his entire life by the rules, trying to obey and do things to earn favor with God.
But Jonah did nothing to deserve being saved by God. He ran away from him and tried to escape him. So yeah, God did save him physically. We know that it's not because he deserved it. He definitely didn't. It's because God doesn't save on account of merit. He saves on account of his love and mercy. Now we don't know if Jonah even will be delivered spiritually. The jury's still out on that. But we know the truth that repentance and faith in Jesus are what grant deliverance.
I'm going to invite the band back up. We're all going to zoom out a little bit and try to land this plane. Let's distance ourselves from these figures, these characters, these stories. How do you picture yourself and your relationship with God? Do you picture God as the cosmic accountant, the one who keeps score of all the bad things you've done and weighs them up against all the good things? Or do you see God as a loving father who sets the score aside because he loves you?
When you pray, do you bargain with God as if you've got a stack of chips that he wants and that you can offer him things and that in return he'll give you things? Or do you praise him for what he has done in your life and beg him to forgive your sin? Do you see clearly your own sin and live rightly based on the merit of Jesus? Or do you point out the sin of other people and try to live by your own merit before Jesus? Is God the hero of your story, or are you the hero of your own story?
Do you trust yourself to make every good decision? Do you trust yourself with the steering wheel? And do you treat Jesus like the spare tire that only ever comes out when life gets tough? Or is Jesus your steering wheel, who guides every direction that you ever take? Do you know stuff about God like Jonah does? Or do you actually know God and understand God?
Jonah had one thing right. Jonah knew that salvation belongs to the Lord. But Jonah thought that his actions at least in some way affected what God does. We know that only faith in Jesus can save. Your only hope in salvation is trusting in God. It's the only way. The things that you do will not and cannot earn it for you. So trust in him, not in your own ability, not in your own talents, not in your own credentials. Trust in the God who laid his life down so that you wouldn't have to do that. Only he can truly save.
Let's pray. Father God, we thank you that you are the only way. We thank you that we can rest in your love, knowing that by the death of Jesus we can be saved. We thank you that you're not a cosmic accountant. We thank you that you do not give us a score based on the good and the bad that we do because we know that we can never match up. We thank you that you forgive us of our sins when we ask of it and that we can be saved through our faith in Jesus. And it's in his mighty name that we pray. Amen. Amen.
God's Response to Runners
Transcript
Well, good morning. We're going to be in the book of Jonah. You're going to go ahead and want to start flipping there. It's on page 502. If your Bible looks like this, it's really hard to find. If your Bible does not look like this, best of luck to you.
It's towards the end of the Old Testament with a bunch of names, Jonah, Obadiah, Amos. A bunch of just kind of names that sound like maybe they came out of Star Wars or something. But it will be 502 if you have one of these Bibles. What we're going to do is for the next four weeks, we're just going to walk through verse by verse, chapter by chapter, through the book of Jonah. And then it will be Easter. And on Easter, we celebrate.
We celebrate that Jesus is alive. And this Easter in particular, we're going to celebrate through baptism. So we're going to get together. We're going to celebrate that Jesus rose from the dead, that he is alive, and that he still calls people to himself, still makes people alive as they place faith in him. We'll celebrate with baptism in our Easter gathering. And then afterwards, we'll eat food, hang out, be church family, and just make a big deal out of the whole thing.
So we're going to walk through Jonah for four weeks. And then it will be Easter. And we'll have a lot of fun doing that. But so my wife is 38, 39, somewhere around in there, weeks pregnant, which means that at any point she could go into labor. So if she goes into labor this morning, I'm just going to tap out.
Someone else will come up and finish the rest of the chapter of Jonah, and I'm going to head on. It's actually not true. If she goes into labor this morning, she can just hold it. We're really close to the hospital. And first labor takes a long time anyway. And so she can just step out, wait in the hall, and we'll finish up.
We've got work to do in the book of Jonah. I'm going to pray, and then we're going to start in Jonah chapter 1. God, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for your word that we get to study together as a church family. And we pray, Lord, that as we look at this book that has been around for hundreds and hundreds of years, this story that has been around for hundreds and hundreds of years and been relayed for hundreds and hundreds of years, Lord, that you would help us to see clearly who you are through it and to see clearly your grace, your massiveness, and your relentless pursuit of those that you love in light of your will and your purposes.
And so, God, I just pray that you'd help us to see this as we study your word this morning. And we love you, and we praise you, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. So we'll be in Jonah chapter 1. So as we look through Jonah, as we study through this book, there's going to be some things that just are striking.
I've really enjoyed getting to study and read Jonah multiple, multiple times. It's a really short story, and we just get to see some clear pictures of God. And so as we look today, we're going to see a few things about God that I think we see as a part of his nature and character throughout Scripture. But Jonah just shows it to us really clearly. So some of the things we're going to see about God today as we look is that he's bigger than we think.
He's more personal than we think. And he's willing to go further to chase us in our sin, to pursue us when we run than we think. And so that's kind of what we're going to see this morning as we study this book. And so chapter 1, verse 1. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai.
Now that's not super weird. That's kind of a normal way that prophetic books would start. The word of the Lord comes to a prophet. And what we know is that Jonah is a prophet. He's mentioned in 2 Kings. So he was like a legit normal prophet who did normal prophet things.
So people would come, inquire of the Lord from him. He would proclaim things. He was a normal prophet. So this isn't odd, although it doesn't happen to a lot of different people in the Old Testament. But it was a normal thing for Israel.
And so as we look at this, I just want us to give us an idea of where we are in the history of Israel. So we've got this timeline that Raz made for us. So you've got creation at the top. It kind of comes down. You've got Egypt. You've got the promised land.
And then the kingdom is divided. So the kingdom of Israel was one kingdom for three kings. So Saul, David, and Solomon. After that, it busted apart. And so we're going to be looking over here in Israel. That's kind of where we are.
So there was Judah and Israel. We're going to zoom in on that. So Jeroboam was the first king. It's during Jeroboam 2 that Jonah prophesies. Hosea and Amos are prophesying as well to the nation of Israel at the same time. And we'll talk about what they were saying in a second.
And then Jonah was a prophet at this same time. And Assyria in some years is going to come take over the northern kingdom. And then it would just be the nation of Jerusalem and Judah. So it would be that nation after Assyria comes in. And so here's what happens. It says, The word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it.
For their evil has come up before me. Okay, so the word of the Lord comes and it says, Go arise and go to Nineveh and cry out against it. For their evil has come before me. This is weird. Because Nineveh is a very large city in Assyria. Most of the time, prophets prophesied to Israel.
They prophesied to the nation they were a part of. So they would proclaim to Israel. Now sometimes they would prophesy about other nations and other cities. But they were always giving their prophecy to Israel. Now there were times that other prophets had been carried away to other nations and would prophesy while they were there.
But Jonah is specifically told to go to Nineveh. Which is just weird. And at this time, Amos and Hosea are both prophesying to the nation of Israel, Repent or Assyria is going to come take you over. Repent. Turn from your sins. Stop it.
Or Assyria is going to come get you. And then God says to Jonah, Go to Assyria and cry out against them. Tell them basically the same thing. Because the generic prophetic message is, Repent. Turn. Destruction is coming.
That's kind of the basic baseline message. Now God would give them different ones at different times and be more specific. But it's really weird that he sent to Nineveh. Now, what we know about Assyria is that they were terrible. They were evil in a lot of ways. We've got historic accounts of a king who wrote bragging about when they took over a city how he skinned grown men alive.
They would show up and they would rape young women. They would torture young boys. They would kill and skin men alive. They would enslave people. They would just absolutely destroy stuff. They would dig holes, like post holes, and bury men in them.
And then pull their tongue out and stake it into the ground. And then let them die from exposure and bleeding out and mental anguish. They were bad people. And Nineveh was one of the primary cities. At this point it had at least 120,000 people that were a part of it. They had a 100-foot wall around it that three chariots could race on.
It was a big city. It could race along the top of it. And God says, go to them and cry out against them. Go to this evil city because their evil has come up before me. And here's something that Jonah learns when God says this. Jonah begins to see that God's bigger than he thought.
Because God primarily spoke to the nation of Israel and he was the God of the nation of Israel. So it's a little bit weird that God would just care about Nineveh. It's not in relation to Israel at all. It's just Nineveh. And so Jonah immediately would be going, okay, what does that have to do with us? Like, Hosea and Amos are saying these things.
Like, why would I be good? Like, he's got to have this running through his head is that God is involved in things that he would have, before this, probably didn't think he was involved in. Probably didn't see that clearly. He begins to see that God cares about Nineveh, has some paying attention to Nineveh, this Assyrian city. And he sees that God's a little bit bigger than he thought to send him to them. And so Jonah gets the word of the Lord, hears this, and we see how he responds to it.
So we'll start reading it from the beginning again. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. One thing I want to say there real quick. We, in general, our culture pushes back some when we see God acting as a judge in the Old Testament. Like, we have a little bit of a pushback there. Now we're not super upset here because he says that they're evil.
But even if we thought a country was evil, even if we thought a nation was evil. So let's just take the problem with nations that are evil is we still think, okay, but there's like women and children there. There's people who aren't involved in this. And so you can't just carpet bomb the whole place. You can't just nuke the whole place every time a nation causes problems. And so when we look in the Old Testament and God stands as judge over nations, there's just a little bit of us that goes, Ah, you can't really just kill a whole city, though.
I mean, there may be some bad people there, but you can't just destroy everyone. And, like, you'll even talk to people and they'll say stuff like, My God is a God of love. And if there is a God, he's a loving and compassionate God. That's true. But for some of you who maybe have that pushback, if that's you, if you sit in this room today and you're kind of checking out this whole Jesus thing, you're checking out this whole God thing, and your general disposition is, Okay, I believe there probably is a God because of some things I see through science and the way the world exists.
Like, I think there's probably a God and how. But if there is a God, he's a loving God and he's a compassionate God. And he wouldn't judge and he wouldn't destroy. The only thing I would ask you to do is to investigate a little bit as to where you got that idea. Just look in a little bit as to where you got the idea that if there is a God, he's a loving God. And what you'll find is you got that idea from Scripture because no other religion teaches that about God.
Buddhism doesn't have a personal God. Islam doesn't teach that. That concept of a loving God came from Scripture. And so, honestly, the only way we can reckon that there is a loving God is to study Scripture and understand what kind of loving God is and what that means. And here's the truth. He can't be loving and not hate evil.
He can't be loving and not hate sin. He wouldn't be loving. That's how love works. So, if I love my wife and you slap her, I can't just be like, hey, bro, don't do that. Like, stop it. Or whatever.
Like, you'd be like, man, I don't think you care much about your wife. Like, I don't think... Like, if you have children and something comes against them, you hate whatever comes against them. Whatever we love and however much we love it makes us the most capable of hatred and wrath. Does that make sense? So, if God is a loving God, then he has to hate evil.
And if your God is only capable of just love, nice feelings, then honestly, he doesn't really love. And, just so you know, just to help you out, if you have a God in your brain that only ever agrees with you, he probably doesn't exist. Like, if I said, yeah, I'm married and my wife only ever thinks I'm right. And only ever wants to eat where I want to eat. And only ever thinks that all my ideas are good ideas. You'd be like, bro, your wife is a figment of your imagination.
Like, she's not real. I'm going to need to meet her. Because real entities disagree. So, if God is real, we would just assume, it would be logical to assume, that he and I wouldn't be on the same page on everything. Does that make sense? Okay, so God says, their evil has come up before me.
And I want you to go to him. And so, here's what we see. Verse 2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So, he paid the fare, went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. That just sounds dumb. Like, if we're reading that, we're going, okay, Jonah, he's not the brightest crayon in the pack, right? Like, he just, God comes to him and says, I want you to go, he says, go east to Nineveh, and Jonah goes west to Tarshish. That's what happens.
And we think that's dumb. It says he's fleeing the presence of the Lord. So, the word of the Lord comes and says, go to Nineveh. And Jonah says, mm-hmm. Now, I'm going to go get on a boat, and I'm going the opposite direction. And we'll find out as we read the story later why he did that.
But here, doesn't it just seem ridiculous to flee the presence of the Lord? Like, we're looking at this going, shouldn't Jonah have known better than to run from God? Doesn't it seem like God could hawk you down? Like, don't you think, like, don't you think if somebody could catch you, God could? Like, I mean, if I was going to, in a foot race, I'm not racing God. I'd just be like, no, you got this one.
I remember when I was growing up, my dad's a big, intense man. And I was like, I don't know, I was eight, nine, something like that. And my dad was fussing at a German shepherd. And this was a big German shepherd. It was like as big as I was at the point. And my dad has a very love-hate relationship with dogs.
Like, he's going to have a dog. He's going to do what he wants it to do. Otherwise, he's not going to have a dog. Like, he'll just give it away or whatever. And so he was fussing at this German shepherd. And we were down kind of in the woods.
And we were in a field. And there were some woods. And the German shepherd was probably 10, 15 feet from him. And he was fussing at it. And it was laying down. And he used to do this thing when he was getting fussed at it.
It would just kind of slowly crawl towards him, you know? And so it's laid on the ground. And he's going, come here. Come here. And the dog's kind of crawling. And then the dog stops and looks over his shoulder at the woods.
And my dad goes, you better not. And I'm like, I don't know if the dog understands English that much, you know? He's like, come here. The dog looks at him and then goes, he goes, don't do it. And about that moment, that dog, boom, I mean, just took off. My dad did not flinch.
Took off right after it. So this dog takes off running. And my dad, just as fast as he can, is running after a dog. Just, I mean, dog runs into the woods. My dad runs into the woods. Me and my two brothers are just like, all you hear is, shh, shh, all through the woods.
Two minutes later, my dad comes walking out of the woods, holding the German shepherd by the back of the neck going, you going to run from me? You going to try to bite me? Because apparently they got in a fight in the woods. He's like, have you lost your mind? And me and my brothers, we learned something that day. We ain't running from our daddy.
If he can catch a German shepherd in the woods, I'm in trouble. So he used to do the same thing with us. He said, boy, and you just knew, stand still. And he said, come here. You came here. There was no, none of that was happening with us.
And you got to think that Jonah knows. You don't run from God. Like you would just think, Jonah's got to know he's a prophet of God. He's got to see this, right? He does not. So Jonah automatically is like, man, I don't know.
You ain't cooking with much. Like, I don't know what you're doing. Verse 4. Okay, so it says he fleed from the presence of the Lord. Verse 4. But the Lord, which I love that it says, but Jonah, and then there's a rebuttal.
But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea. And there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners, that's just sailors, that's the guys who were running the boat, who Jonah paid to give him a ride, were afraid. And each cried out to his God. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. Okay, so things, when the mariners are afraid, that's a problem because they're the guys who run the boat.
Like when the people who are running the boat get scared, like, you know, okay, we ought to be scared. When they start throwing the cargo out, like, they're like, man, we ain't going to eat. We ain't going to drink. We just going to hope we float around and survive. Like, they don't need the weight moving around. It says the ship was threatening to break apart, which means you're on this boat and it's going, like, you can hear it cracking and snapping.
And it's a bad storm. And we're about to find out how bad. To lighten them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had laid down and was fast asleep. So Jonah wasn't even, like, guilty.
He just, he's like, well, I'm running from God. I'm going to have a nap. Like, that's where he was. He wasn't stressing about this. What you would think that he ought to have been. All right.
This is how intense this storm got. Check this out. He was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, what do you mean, you sleeper? Arise. Call out to your God.
Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish. Captain of the ship. Best plan he's got working is have everybody pray. That's all he's got. If you're on an airplane in some turbulence and it's bouncing around and it's jerking and all of a sudden the captain starts walking down the aisles going, wake everybody up. We just need to pray.
Who's in the cockpit? Man, ain't nothing happening up there. Handle snapped off. We just we floating. You need to pray. Pray to whoever you got.
Wait, wait that fool up. He better be praying. Like, that's the best plan the captain has is cry out to your God. Maybe we'll live like he ain't holding that thing anymore. He's just spinning. It's broke off.
Like, best thing we got is you pray. Everybody pray. You an atheist. I don't care. Pray to science. Pray to Oprah.
Whatever you got to do. Like you pray. Just start calling out. Like, I don't care who you got. Call out to him. We got to get everybody here.
That's all we got working. That's what the captain's doing. So he's waking people up. Ain't you supposed to be captain? And this is all I got. This is my plan.
This is plan A. Plan B is drown. That's what we got. All right. Verse 7. And they said to one another, so it gets worse.
Come, let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. So they cast lots and the lot fell to Jonah. Okay, so casting lots was like a way. It was kind of like flipping a coin, but it was more, you know, had more spiritual backing to it. And it was something that ancient Israel used to do, but other cultures did too. But it was basically like if we were going to cast lots, we split the room in half.
Y'all are heads. Y'all are tails. Oh, it's tails. Okay. Split the room in half. Y'all are heads.
Y'all are tails. And it's a real quick way to just divide it down until you got to one person. And then it comes to Jonah, which I wonder if in this process Jonah was thinking, I wonder if this is about somebody else. Like you think Jonah was like, you think he was sweating or you think he was like, if it's not me, it's probably that guy. Like came down to the end. Jonah every time was like, me again?
I'm in the group every time. Like, but it's gotten so bad that the only plan they have now is let's figure out who to be mad at. We're all going to drown. We might as well know who we ought to be mad at. Let's figure out whose fault it is.
We ain't doing nothing anymore but floating. Let's find out who we should be mad at. This storm is terrible. God's bigger than Jonah thought as he tears this sea apart. He's bigger than Jonah thought. Eight.
Then they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you? And he said to them, I am a Hebrew.
And I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, what is this you have done? All right. You want to know why they're exceedingly afraid? God's at this point. Little G gods.
In their understanding, we're only over a certain piece of nature, a certain land, a certain area. God's at this point where they understood gods. They were local gods. That's why he's waking people up and saying, cry out to your God. Maybe he's close. Maybe he'll hear us.
Maybe he has something to do with water or with wind. Maybe he can help. So when Jonah says, I fear the Lord, the God of heaven. So in most cultures, the God of heaven was a big God. So immediately they're like, oh, okay.
This guy worships one of the big ones. He didn't just say the God of my field or the God of, he says the God of heaven. And then he says, who made the sea and the dry land. And they're terrified because he's bigger than the gods they were used to. So like in Egypt, there was a God of the sun and there was a God of the Nile.
And there was a God of like all these little gods, even in ancient Greece. Like you had Zeus was like the God of storms and the God of the sky. Poseidon was the God of the ocean and horses, which I have no clue how that worked out. Like, did they have a draft? It was like Poseidon's first pick. I'll take the ocean.
It's a good pick. Poseidon rolls back around. I'll take fire. Bro, you can't have fire and the ocean. Like they're opposites. Plus those are both pretty big.
Like you got to pick something else. All right, I'll take horses. You can't take horses and the ocean. Like you pick the ocean. Well, then give me fire. Okay, you can have horses.
Like, I don't know how it worked out. I don't know how you got the ocean and horses, but I bet in ancient Greek culture, seahorses were super cocky. Because they were the only thing in the middle of that Venn diagram. But that's how they understood gods. They understood that they were only limited to certain things. Like, I'm riding a horse.
You ain't got nothing to do with this, Zeus. Like, that's how they understood it. And so when he says, I fear the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land, they're terrified. Because this God they're just being introduced to is bigger. And there's no other God to call out to for help or hope. Because he's in charge of everything.
And here's what we begin to see with Jonah. And I want us to see. I want us to see very clearly with Jonah. You see, earlier, when it said, Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it. And then in verse 3 where it says, But Jonah rose to flee.
Every single one of us, our hearts should have skipped a beat. Every single one of us should have leaned forward in our chair. Because we suddenly became a part of the story. Every single one of us should have said, Oh, hold on a second. I want to find out what happens with Jonah now. Shush, shush, shush, shush.
We'll figure out what we're eating later. Shut your mouth. I've got to find out what's happening with Jonah. Every single one of us should have done that. Because when that happened, we all became a part of the story. When it said that Jonah knew the word of the Lord and then headed the opposite direction, all of us just became a part of the story.
And we should all be very interested to find out what happens to Jonah and how God responds to Jonah. Because for most of us, we have a pretty good handle on some of the things that God likes, some of the things that God wants from us, some of the things that He desires. Most of us, the word of the Lord is clear. In many, many instances, and we head the other direction. One of the things we do when we sit down with somebody and we're counseling through some sin stuff, one of the first questions I ask is, Okay, in this particular instance, do you understand that this behavior is sin? It's one of the first things I ask.
Eight out of ten times, the answer is yes. Okay. That's going to guide our conversation. The next part is, why don't you want to repent? If someone says no, then okay, let's study the word. Let's look.
You're ignorant as to what the scriptures say. But for most of us, and most of our sin, the word of the Lord is clear. And we've headed the other direction. We know what the Bible says about sexuality. And we head the other direction. We know what the Bible says about our finances, how we treat others, how we treat generosity, how we treat our money, and we've headed the other direction.
We know what the Bible says about being a husband or being a wife or being a father or how we're supposed to treat our parents. We know it. The word of the Lord is clear and we've headed the other direction. And so all of us should be going, what's going to happen to Jonah? How is God going to respond to Jonah? What is going to happen here?
Because I need to know, because it's personal now. Because most of us know about God, know who He is, and have headed the other direction. And here's what we see so clearly as we get to this section in Jonah. Jonah says, I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. Jonah did not have, he wasn't ignorant to God. He didn't misunderstand who God was.
He had very good belief. He knew stuff, but it wasn't here. There was something bigger that he cared more about, something that was driving his behavior more. See, Jonah knew stuff about God. He could have passed the theology test. He could give really good Sunday school answers.
Jesus, you nailed it again, Jonah. But he was heading the other direction, because it wasn't real to him. It wasn't actually true. It hadn't sunk in yet. So he knew the word.
He headed the other way. He knew God very clearly. As we read the rest of Jonah, we're going to see that Jonah understood who God was, but he didn't act like it. He wasn't acting on it, because it wasn't a real belief. He may have known it, but he wasn't, he wasn't here yet. And that's us.
Most of us have a good handle on who God is, what he's like. Some of us, maybe not. Some of us, maybe we're just learning some of this stuff. I'd say most of us, have a pretty good handle on what the God of the Bible is like. How big he is, how holy he is, what he feels about sin, and our attitudes, and our actions. And most of us, quite often, head in the other direction.
We see that, we feel that, understand that. Then the men were exceedingly afraid, that's verse 10, said to him, what is this you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them, God is bigger than we think. See, Jonah thought he could flee from his presence, which we all know at this point is nonsense. And God begins to bend nature to his will. It wasn't just that he set it up, and it just happened to be what was happening.
God bends nature to his will, because God is bigger than Jonah thought, and God's bigger than we think. We so often feel like, God doesn't care about this section of my life. Yeah, I do my church thing, but God doesn't care about work, or how I handle this part of my life, or God's not really paying attention to this, or God's not over this, or God doesn't care about those people. God's bigger than we think. And it's very clear as we look at this text. Verse 11, then they said to him, what shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?
For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. The sea's just growing worse and worse. Verse 14, therefore they called out to the Lord. Nope, I messed up. Let's see.
Tempestuous 12, and he said to them, pick me up, and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you. Jonah says, the only way to pay for sin is death. Jonah says, the way that I get out of this is death. The way that you get out of this is death. Jonah's right.
He understands God. He understands the nature of God. He understands sin, and he understands that sin leads to death. The Bible says that clearly. And so Jonah says, the way out of this is death. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not.
So they didn't want to kill him. They had showed compassion on Jonah, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. So it's getting even worse. Therefore they called out to the Lord, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood. For you, O Lord, have done it as it pleased you. So they picked up Jonah, they hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.
Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. So picture this. Jonah says, the only way out is for me to die. The only way for you all to escape is for me to die. I know it's because of me. And they don't want to do that.
But they weren't quick to kill him. And so they try to row, and then they can't. So they basically say, God, you're in charge of this. You chose. And so they grab Jonah. They throw him into the ocean.
The ocean swallows him, and then the sea ceases its raging. How terrified were these men? Let me tell you something. A storm is scary. When you feed the ocean a person, and the storm stops, that's terrifying. Just so you know.
Like there was a guy on the boat who was like, I'm glad it's been raining because I just wet my pants. And I don't want to be made fun of. Like that's how terrifying it is for the ocean to be tossing you about, and when you throw a man in it, it just ceases. And so what they did was they said, okay, you actually are God. I'm swapping teams. I'm not praying to that guy I was praying to anymore.
I'm praying to you. They make vows. They make sacrifices, and they say, you're God. You're in charge. The sailors see clearly who God is, and they respond appropriately, which is more than we can say for Jonah. 17.
And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Okay. That's weird. But God can do what he wants, and he's more in control of things than we think. So if you've ever been fishing and think, is it wrong to pray for fish?
Well, God is in charge of fish, so he can send one your way if he wanted to. But what we see is that God in this story sends this giant storm and then appoints a fish. He goes from this massive picture to this, hey, I got a job for you. Fish says, yes, sir. God's bigger than we think. He's in control of all of this, and the fish is grace.
It's grace to Jonah because it actually saves him from drowning. What we know is that God uses the fish to rescue Jonah. So the truth is, sin leads to death unless God intervenes. Sin leads to death unless God in his grace intervenes on our behalf. And here's what we see as we see this story. We see clearly that God's bigger than we think, that he's more involved in his world than we think, and we see very clearly that he's way more personal than we think because he's chasing after Jonah.
He's chasing after one man. So you think often, God doesn't really pay attention to me. He doesn't know what's going on. He doesn't really care what's going on with me. He's not really here. But you look at the story of Jonah where for God's purposes and his own glory, he's chosen to use Jonah and he's not going to give up on it.
For God's purposes and his own glory for Nineveh and for Jonah, he's not going to let him outrun him. This is beautiful because the answer to the question from earlier of how does God respond to us when we run from him? How does God respond to people when they know the word and they run from him? Grace. Unrelenting, unwavering pursuit in his grace. You see, it would have been God's judgment on Jonah to let him just go and use someone else.
But God wasn't willing to do that so he stops his boat, gets Jonah thrown in the ocean and swallows him with a fish because God was chasing him down. Because God cared about Jonah. You hear that? Like, I think we've gotten used to that idea, but God cared about Jonah. One man who was in direct disobedience. He could have just squashed him.
As we read the rest of the story, you're going to think, God, you should have just squashed him. But God chooses, chose us, mm-hmm, God chooses to chase him down because that's God's response to us in our sin, in our rebellion. And here's what's crazy. We read this story and we go, okay, big storm, big fish, a fish swallowed a dude and he was in the fish for three days. That's nonsense. This is ridiculous.
But you see, God's willing to go further than we think to chase us in our sin. God's willing to go further than we think to pursue us when we run. And the truth is, this is just a small picture of how far he's actually willing to go. You read this story and you think this is absolutely crazy that he would do this, but the truth is, the Bible has a more epic, more mind-shattering story that God's willing to go to more elaborate lengths to chase after us because he actually becomes a man, lives perfectly on our behalf in the person of Jesus and dies so that we don't have to. You think a big fish is crazy?
God died. The God of the universe who created, the God of heaven who created the dry land and the sea became a person who changed. The unchangeable God changed. The ever-living God, the eternal God, died. Ceased to exist. Was laid in a grave for three days.
And then he came back to life because Jonah is just a small picture of how far God is willing to go to chase us when we run. So the answer to the question, how does God respond to us when we rebel? Unrelenting grace. And he's willing to go to elaborate, mind-shattering lengths to chase us down. Bianca, Matt, and Raz are going to come back up. The appropriate response to this type of grace is repentance.
The appropriate response to God bending history and bending the world on our behalf is to turn away from sin and to run back to God. It's the appropriate response. I pray for some of you who know the word of the Lord and are headed in the other direction, I pray that God in his grace sends a storm. I pray that he stops you where you are. That he cares enough about you to wreck you. You see, when we love someone, we don't let them destroy themselves and I pray that God in his grace wrecks you to stop you and to bring you back to himself.
Some of you, you're in that storm. The appropriate response to God when he wrecks you is repentance because he's already gone farther for you than he went for Jonah. He's already done more for you than he did for Jonah. You think that fish is ridiculous? The God of the universe died. So that we could have life.
So that our debt could be paid for. Sin does lead to death and Jesus died in our place for our sin. So that we could have life. Some of you just needed to hear today that God's bigger than you think. More capable than you think. More willing to bend history on behalf of his people than you'd think.
Some of you needed to know that he's more personal. He actually knows what's going on with you and he actually cares. God cared enough about Jonah to chase him down. He knows where you are. He cares. And some of us absolutely need to know that God was willing to go farther than we'd ever think to rescue us when we run.
And our opportunity the grace offered to us is to stop running. To accept his rescue offered to us through the cross and to be given life that only he can give us. Let's pray. God, I pray that through your Holy Spirit right now you would draw people to yourself. That you'd help us to all clearly see that you went further for us than you went for Jonah. That you did something more elaborate, more crazy, more mind shattering.
God, I pray that you'd make that real to us. God, for so many of us where we know your word and we're running the other direction, I pray that you'd help us to stop and to repent. I pray that those who won't, Lord, that you'll send a storm in your grace to stop them. That you'll pursue them and draw them back to yourself. God, I pray for those in the midst of a storm that they would recognize it. Recognize that sin leads to death and that you died for us so they don't have to die.
They don't have to be destroyed. They can have life and salvation and hope. God, I ask that your Holy Spirit would wreck us. That we'd see your grace clearly and that those who need to trust you, place their faith in you, turn from their sin back to you, that they would. God, we thank you that you love us more than we see you here loving Jonah. That you love us as much as you loved him to chase him down and that you show it to us more clearly as you died for us.
You saved us through your own death. We praise you. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Groups that Multiply
Transcript
We're wrapping up our anchor series, and so what we've been doing for the past six weeks is just kind of walking through and looking at who we are as a church family, what we feel called to do and to be in this area. And so really what we've been doing is taking – we're a gospel-centered community on mission. That's what we say about ourselves. That's what we strive to be. And so we've just been taking that and saying, okay, if we're a gospel-centered community on mission, what does that mean? What do we mean when we say that?
What does that look like? How do we do that? Where did we get that from? Did we just make that up? We didn't. We got it mostly out of the Bible, liked the phrasing of some other churches and how they talk about things.
And so we stole some things from other Christians who are smart. But we really just wanted to help define who we are. And so that's what we say. We're a gospel-centered community on mission. And so in the anchor series, we've just been looking and saying, okay, what are we talking about? What's that look like?
So today is our last day in the anchor series. And the next week, we're going to start walking verse by verse through the book of Jonah. So I'm really excited that we get to do that because we like books of the Bible and we like going through books of the Bible. But today is our last day in the anchor series. And so what we're going to do is we're going to try to sum it all up, try to wrap it all together, put a nice bow on it. And so we've got our work cut out for us.
So what I'm going to do before we hop in, before we get to talking about what we're going to look at today, is I just want to take a minute to recap where we've been, what we've been talking about for the past six weeks, what we've been trying to articulate. And so what we did was the first three weeks, we just talked about the gospel. We talked about what does it mean for us to be gospel centered. So if we're gospel centered, if that's primary for us, everything else comes out of that. What is the gospel? And so we walked through the first six chapters of Romans because we're ambitious.
And so we took one Sunday and walked through the first six chapters of Romans and just kind of skipped around, but tried to get a really clear picture of what the gospel is. And basically what we saw is that God created everything and designed everything to exist in relationship with him as creator and creation. Just like a husband and wife would exist in relationship with one another. So if you were married and you acted like you did not have a spouse, that would make you a bad spouse just because of the relationship. So if I was hanging out with you and I was like, man, don't you need to like head home, check on your wife, like whatever.
And you're like, nah, man, I don't even act like that holds me down. I'd be like, you're a terrible husband. Like you aren't doing this right. And so the biggest problem that we have as creation is that we haven't existed with God in that relationship. We have removed God from the position that he ought to hold as our creator. And we've worshipped other things.
We've pursued other things. We've loved other things. And this is sin. And this is what leads us into all sin. It's when we begin to value something more than God. We begin to look at anything and say, you're going to complete me.
You're going to make me whole. You're going to fix me. If I can just have this, then I'll be okay. When we were designed to be fulfilled and complete by God, when we remove him from the equation and put anything else there, that becomes a fundamental issue. And it's treason of the highest type. And so it puts us in a bad spot.
So as we went to Romans, we saw that we've sinned, we've fallen short, and there's no way we can fix this. We can't moral our way back into it. We can't behave our way back into fixing this problem. That even in a lot of our morality and behavior-based stuff, we're just using that to put God in our debt. And so he's still not in the place of creator. And so what we saw was that Jesus came and lived perfectly on our behalf, did exactly what we ought to have done, loved the way we ought to have loved, worshipped the way we ought to have worshipped, related with other people the way we ought to relate with other people.
And then he was perfect. And in his perfection, he was killed. He was nailed to a cross. And he died in our place for our sin as our substitute. So that he took our execution that we deserved.
And when he did that, he took our death that we deserved, and he gave us his life that we did not earn. And so that through Jesus, we can be saved. We can be made right with God. So we're saved by Jesus's work, not ours. That's the gospel. And that's really good news.
We don't gather together as a church to celebrate that we can all behave well. That would be a terrible group of people to have to try to be a part of. I would be the worst at it. So we gather together to celebrate the fact that Jesus behaved, Jesus loved, Jesus worshipped in our place, Jesus did everything, and he took our punishment to set us free. So that's what we're centered on.
That's our story. That's the way we view the world. And so what we did was we took the next two weeks and just talked about, if that's true for us, then that affects how we talk to people. It affects how we respond to each other in our sin. So if I'm walking with somebody, and they're walking with me through life, and I'm struggling with being a jerk, they don't just say, hey, here's your problem.
You're a jerk. Which that wouldn't be a good, like they didn't need it. I would be like, cite your sources. Tell me how I'm a jerk. And then 30 minutes later, I'd be like, I get the picture. That's enough.
Like, I didn't realize you had, like, footnotes and stuff and, like, dates. Like, you ever get in an argument with your wife, and they're like, well. Because they've got, like, way more memory than you do. And they're like, well, four months ago, you said this at 7.15 p.m. on a Thursday. And I'm like, maybe. Sounds like something I might would have said.
I don't remember. But they wouldn't just say, she wouldn't just say, my wife wouldn't just say, or the friend just wouldn't just say, or we wouldn't just say as Christians, hey, here's your behavioral problem. Fix your behavior. Here's the behavioral change that needs to take place. Because that actually Acts as if we don't know that the gospel is true. Which is, not that our behavior fixed the problem, but that Jesus did.
And that our major problem isn't a behavioral one, but a worship one. And so actually, the way we respond to each other is with the gospel. Which is, you have a behavioral issue, but what it means is, and what it betrays is, that's just a symptom, but you have cancer. And what we're seeing is that you're actually not worshiping and loving God the way you ought to. You don't actually believe the gospel the way you ought to. And here's what Jesus did on your behalf, and that in that, our hearts can actually change, and then our behavior can change.
But the behavior is the smaller problem. And so that we actually respond to each other and point each other to Jesus, and that's how we change, and that's how we grow, and that's how we get life. And that's the story anyway. Not that we behave, but that he did. Not that we're good, but he was. And so we don't just try to behavior modification one another.
And then we understand in that, that our main problem is idolatry. That's our major sin issue, is that we're worshiping something other than God as God. And so we address that, that there's always sin beneath our sin. So that if I'm not generous, the major problem isn't that I'm not generous. The major problem is that I believe something about money that is fundamentally not true. Which means I believe something about God that's fundamentally not true.
And so we address that. So we spent three weeks talking about that, talking about the gospel, what it means for us to be gospel-centered. And then we talked about community. All right, so we exist in the context of relationships. We exist as a family because God, when Jesus died for us, he actually reconciled us to God, and we've been adopted. So the Bible is repeatedly going to say that we've been adopted into God's family so that we are in relationships with one another as an eternal family.
So that if your spouse at one point, if you're both believers, someday you will no longer be spouse and husband and wife, but you will be brother and sister forever because of Jesus. And so that we treat our church family as family. So that when a phone call comes in at midnight, we answer. When somebody's moving, we help. If you could ask your dad to come help you with something, if you could ask your cousin to come help you with something, or your brother or your sister, then you can ask church family to help with the same thing. That's how we relate to one another.
And then we said that in that, in that relating to one another, it's very difficult and painful, and that's part of how we get to grow in relationships and how we get to grow in the gospel. So that I actually get to understand how costly Jesus' forgiveness was when I have to forgive someone. I actually get to understand how great his sacrifice was when I have to sacrifice my time, my energy for someone else. And so that we actually grow and are designed to serve in those relationships. And then last week, Raz talked about that we, because of that, so because of the gospel is true and because we exist in relationships with each other, then we just normally in everyday life move on mission, that we invite other people into that, that we tell the good news, and that in normal everyday life, we make disciples by building relationships with people.
That's people in our church family and people who don't know Jesus yet. And so Raz specifically talked about what does it look like to make disciples, what are we doing in life as we do that, and that we're called to make disciples of all nations, which is just all ethnic groups, that everybody is invited in. And that's normal for Christians. That in normal life, we build relationships, we see who we're around, we pray for people, and we seek to share good news. And so what we're going to do today is we're going to kind of tie all that together. We're going to look at how that plays out in the context of us as our church family specifically and as Christians in general and why it's important, why it actually matters that we're a gospel-centered community on mission, why it actually matters that we pay attention to this, that we think about this, that we would take the time at the beginning of the year to remind ourselves of this.
And so what I'd like for us to do is, I know everybody's had to get here this morning. You've had to go through maybe a decent amount to get ready, to time everything right, to drive in the rain, to decide whether or not it was going to be freezing rain and whether or not you should even risk it. So you are all risk-takers. You love to live dangerously. That's what I know about the people that are here this morning. And you also understand that it wasn't going to be freezing rain because it's out in Carolina.
So what I'd like for us to do is to take just a second. If you've been here for that entire time, all the stuff we just recapped, or if you've been here for a couple of those or maybe this is your first Sunday, what I'd like for us to do is just take a second. And for Christians in the room, I want us to just, we're going to be quiet for about 60 seconds. I want us to just invite the Holy Spirit to remind us of all of that, to help us feel it and know that it's true. And then to help us as we look today to really show us what this looks like for us personally and in the context of our groups. If you're not a Christian and you're hanging out with us this morning, you really have two options for what we're about to do.
Option one is sit quietly for 60 seconds. Maybe daydream, pick where you want to eat lunch, something like that. Option two would be to actually pray, to just inside your head, ask God to speak to you, to reveal himself today. If you're here hanging out and checking us all out and you weren't dragged here, maybe you're checking out the whole Jesus thing. So you can pray and say, God, if you are real, help me see that today.
We would invite you to do that. At worst, that's a waste of time. At best, you talk to the creator of the universe and he might respond. And so we would invite you to do that. So Christians, we're going to pray that the Holy Spirit would remind us of this, of what we've talked about, help us to see it, to have it actually be real to us.
So let's do that now. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to spend a little bit of time in Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2. I got to speak at my home church, the church I grew up in this past Sunday, last Sunday night.
And we looked at Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2. And I told them, I was like, our church family looks at this passage all the time. Like if you grab a pew Bible or a row Bible, I guess we don't really have pews, but if you grab a row Bible at our church family and you go to Acts chapter 2, the words are all smudged because we've read them too much. And so, but this is one of the foundational things that helped us get started as a church family that we look at a good bit, that we remind ourselves of. And so we're going to be in Acts chapter 1 to start and then we're going to jump over to Acts chapter 2 and just get to see a really beautiful picture of what the church gets to look like as the gospel takes hold in the lives of believers.
All right, so Acts chapter 1 starting in verse 6. So when they had come together, they asked him. Okay, so they being Jesus and his disciples, and they asked him, so they being the disciples, asked Jesus. Now, that seems like a very normal sentence and it's one of the weirdest ones you probably have ever read in your entire life. Because the they that got together includes a bunch of random kind of hodgepodge group of guys that were brought together by Jesus in and around Galilee and Jerusalem in the first century. It includes them, but more than that, it includes a guy who had been dead 40 days earlier.
Not like on the table, heart stopped, clear, and he came back and he's like, I was dead. No, three days in a tomb, dead. Had been wrapped up. They were going to put some smell good stuff on him when it turns out he wasn't dead anymore and had come back to life. So that's a really weird sentence.
It says they got together and they asked him. They're there with a guy who had been dead, who had said all along that he was God and that he was going to be killed and then rose from the grave. So you don't get to say that sentence. You're not like, yeah, my uncle passed away, but in two weeks we're going to be going to vacation together. Or, yeah, I was just hanging out with my grandmother who died last year. Do what now?
Like, you should probably get some help. That's weird. I hope that she wasn't actually there because if she was actually there, that's even worse. Like, you should have buried her. Like, this is bad. So Jesus was dead and is alive, bodily, physically resurrected, alive.
And so they're with Jesus. He said he was God and then when he came back from the dead, they were like, oh, oh, for real though? Okay. No, no, yeah, we get it now. That makes more sense. All the stuff you had said about dying and coming back.
We thought it was like metaphorical and then when you died, we were all bummed and then now you're not dead and that makes way more sense. Okay. Verse 6. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. Basically, you're asking the wrong question.
That's not what we're going to talk about. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. Okay. So that got weirder.
He had died. Said he was God. Said he was going to die. Said that he was going to atone for sins through that. He died. Three days later, he rose again.
He tells them, here's what you're going to do. And then he flies. He ascends back into heaven and a cloud took him out of the way. He didn't like vaporize. Like he just, his whole body just took off. And I used to, when I would imagine that, I used to imagine it was like slow.
Like if you had like little wires or something, he just started to float. Do you know how long that would have taken? Like if it was slow? Like after a while, he'd have just been like, I mean, you'd have been enthralled because the guy was flying. But after a while, he'd be like, man, it's going to take forever until he hits that cloud.
Like he'd be waving or whatever. I think he just took off. He just said what he had to say. He said, here's what's going to happen. The Holy Spirit's going to come. You're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth.
And then he was just like, boom, dust. They looked up and then they just, it says they stared up there for a while like, oh, goodness. And then angels show up or some men show up. It doesn't tell us they're angels, but men wearing right robes go say, hey, are y'all going to go do what he said? But here's what he said.
And here's what I want us to see. He says, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, the ends of the earth, that the Holy Spirit's going to come upon you so that Jesus is going to leave and the Holy Spirit's going to come and empower his church to do this, to be witnesses. What are they witnesses of? What is he talking about? What is the church, us as believers? What are we witnesses of?
The gospel. We're witnesses to the fact that Jesus died and rose again. That's what they were going to go tell people. And here's the way witnessing works. Here's what a witness does. They just tell you what's happened.
That's all they do. They're just telling a story. They're telling about an event that happened. If a cop gets called up on the witness stand, he doesn't sit down and start explaining how to be a cop. His primary role as a witness is just to tell everybody what he's seen, what happened. If you're watching a news program and they have a cooking segment, the cooking segment and the eyewitness segment are completely different.
The cooking segment is here's what you do to receive these results. The eyewitness section is just someone holding a mic and telling us not a whole lot other than what they've seen. So, yeah, we're out on the scene and there's an ambulance. Uh-huh. Some tape. People were running.
It's like, okay, that's what we get to do as Christians. We just get to be witnesses to who Jesus is, to what he's done. Yes, there was a man who came from God. Turns out he was God. He lived perfectly and he died. And three days later he came back.
That was the story that they got to tell. And here's the thing. Jesus did that to save the world, to reconcile it back to himself. And then he hands that mission over to his disciples. That mission is handed over to the church. God's plan to save the world is the local church.
God's plan to save the world is the local church. We have been given this message to declare. We have been called to be witnesses. And it says where? Well, for them it was Jerusalem, where they were. Judea.
Samaria, which was a place they didn't like. A bunch of people they didn't get along with. They racially weren't happy with. And to the ends of the earth. That it goes to everyone. Everyone is invited in.
That's the church. Have been given the message to declare. To declare the gospel. That's why we're gospel centered. Because we're witnesses. We've been called to make much of Jesus.
In normal everyday life. We've been sent out by God to declare. So here's what happens. That's what they do. They begin to pray. The Holy Spirit comes.
Empowers them. And then they go declare this message. They go be witnesses. And so let's jump to Acts chapter 2. We're going to pick up in verse 36. And we're going to see what happens as they declare this message.
What happens as a group of people who believes this message begins to be witnesses to it. 36. So this is Peter. He stood up. The Holy Spirit comes. Peter stands up.
Begins to proclaim the gospel. Begins to tell this good news. And people are listening. And this is the very end of it. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ. This Jesus whom you crucified.
So Peter ends with it's your fault. The reason Jesus was crucified is on you. That Jesus was fundamentally in the gospel is a little bit of we have to respond because it's our fault. He had to die for our sin personally. So he says you whom you crucified.
So let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ. This Jesus whom you crucified. Now when they heard this. If you're thinking. Okay but hold on a second. He's talking to the guys that actually crucified him.
Maybe. The Romans actually crucified him. The Jewish people were culpable. But this is the feast of Pentecost. So there was people from miles around.
So it's the same message to us. That we're culpable. We're guilty. When it comes to the death of Jesus. 37. Now when they heard this.
They were cut to the heart. And said to Peter and the rest of the apostles. Brothers what shall we do? And Peter said to them repent. Which means turn away from your sin. Turn away from your brokenness.
Turn away from your need. Repent and be baptized every one of you. In the name of Jesus Christ. For the forgiveness of your sins. You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you.
And for your children. And for all who are far off. Everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And with many other words he bore witness. And continued to exhort them saying. Save yourselves from this crooked generation.
So those who received his word were baptized. And there were added that day about 3,000 souls. Baptism is just an outward showing of what's inwardly happened. So they trusted Jesus. Were saved. And then they were baptized.
Which means that they dumped them in water. The word baptized just means to dip. Or to submerge in water. And so that's what they were. They were baptized. Who responded?
Who trusted Jesus? Who became Christians? The first people to say. I'm broken. I'm needy. It was the people who saw that they were guilty.
And said I have nothing to offer. Nothing to bring to the table. What must we do? And he says trust Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. That Jesus is both Lord and Christ. Which means king and savior.
He's in charge. And he's the one who saves us. The only people who aren't invited in. Are those who don't think they have need. The only people who did not respond. And who walked away that day.
Were the people who did not believe this message. And didn't think they were broken. And that breaks down into people who don't think that Jesus is Lord. Don't think he's king. And to people who don't think he's savior. You see if I'm really moral.
I'm really good. I behave really well. I'm upright. I'm a good citizen. Listen. I'm a red state American.
Then it's very likely that I'll believe I don't need a savior. Because I'm good enough. That the way I'm saved is through my behavior. So in our culture they might be called closed minded. Might be called bigoted. But they'll walk away from Jesus.
Because they're believing that they can save themselves. That they can fix themselves. You know how else walks away from that? Everybody who's broken. Everybody who's needy. Everybody who realizes they have nothing to offer.
Gets invited in. It's only the people that exclude themselves. You know how else walks away from that? The people who think that they're on Lord. That Jesus isn't king. I'm open minded.
I'm free. Whose rules would I have to follow? Whose regulations? I can make my own decisions. All of that religious stuff. That's for closed minded people.
That's for ignorant people. I'm a true blue stated American. And I can rely on myself. You see both sides of that? Self reliance. Self salvation.
Self lordship. But everyone who realizes they have nothing to offer. Nothing to bring to the table. Nothing. They're invited in. That's why the church can't hold a position of moral superiority in culture.
Because we were the first people to say we're busted and we need a savior. That's why everyone's invited into the church. Oh you're prideful? Oh you think you have it all together and you're just realizing now that you don't? You're welcome. Come on in.
We got a lot of prideful jerks here. Who need Jesus? Jesus. Oh you're rebellious? Oh you've run after every type of flagrant sin you could possibly chase after? And you've just now realized you have nothing to offer and you need Jesus?
Welcome. We've got a lot of people who struggle with that here. We've got a lot of people who can't remember many nights because they were too drunk. We've got a lot of people who've realized their need for Jesus and have been invited in. The only people who aren't invited are the people who think they're already in through their behavior, through their moral superiority, through their intelligence. Everyone who realizes that they're far off, everyone who realizes that they're out gets invited in.
That's the church. So what happens in that group of people? What happens in us as we begin to believe the gospel and exist in relationships? What happens in this group of people who were the first to say, I need a savior. I need someone else to do this on my behalf. I'm not good enough.
I'm not smart enough. I'm not strong enough. What happens? 42. 42. And they, that's the 3,000 people.
That's all the believers. All the people who said, I realize I'm needy. I'm broken. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. What were the apostles' teaching? The gospel.
They were taking the Old Testament and they were saying, here's the gospel. And then as we get their teaching in the New Testament because it's the stuff that apostles actually penned. But that's what they were devoting themselves to was understanding the gospel, what it looked like to live in light of the gospel. If Jesus was actually God, how do we rightly relate to him? That's what they were doing. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship.
That just means, that's a fancy word for they were hanging out with each other. They were being church family. So, you know, like you hang out with friends and then you become a Christian. And so instead of saying like, oh, yeah, we had a really good time hanging out, you say, oh, we had a wonderful time of fellowship. That's where that comes from. That's why people say that.
Oh, bless this fellowship because it's just a fancy Christian word for us being together and being in a relationship. Okay? So if you want to like out-Christian somebody, throw fellowship around. It's real helpful. Anyway, sorry. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship.
They were church family. They existed in relationships with one another. And to the breaking of bread. That shows up in two ways. That's communion. That's celebrating that Jesus died for us.
Reminding ourselves of the gospel tangibly. It also seems like it just means they ate meals together. Breaking of bread. Breaking of bread. And the prayers. And all came upon every soul.
And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. They got together, realized the gospel is true, realized they were family. And suddenly they got to hold everything with an open hand. You need this.
You need to borrow that. You need to, like, we're family. And everything's already been given to me in Jesus. 46. And day by day, attending the temple together. So they got together in big groups.
And breaking bread in their homes. They got together in smaller groups and homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts. Praising God and having favor with all the people. The city was glad that they were there. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Okay. That last line's a little weird. You can just read over and not pay attention. But the last line's a little weird. Because how? How did the Lord add to their number day by day those who were being saved?
Those who were believing the gospel? Because it doesn't tell us. It just tells us what they were doing. And most of the way we respond in the church is like, well, what did they do? Did they go knock on doors? Did they have a program where they got people together and they sent them out?
Did they have some kind of thing where they were inviting people? Like, we don't. We're like, how? How did people become Christians every day? Love to see that happen in our church. How'd they do that?
Well, they just told us. They were devoted to the gospel and to each other. They spent time in relationships with one another, celebrating the gospel by breaking bread. And they prayed. And people become Christians. It becomes normal for people to become Christians.
Because they actually believed the gospel, which is good news. If you're here and you're a Christian and the gospel doesn't feel like good news to you, if it doesn't feel like it sets you free and gives you hope, I don't think you've believed the right gospel. I don't think you understand what's true about it. Because it's actually good news that Jesus saves us through his own work, not ours. And here's the thing about good news. We want to share it.
When that becomes real, when I understand exactly what Jesus has done for me, in those moments, I want to tell people. You ever had really good news? Like, we've had a couple of couples in our church family recently become pregnant. They're going to have children. They go around and they share that good news. They want to share that joy.
They want to have different groups of people to get together to share that with. We've had people, when they get a promotion, they want to throw a party. They want to share that news. The biggest way I do this on a regular basis is with restaurants. That's my favorite thing to talk to somebody about. Like, if I eat somewhere good, I want everyone to know it.
And that's how good news gets spread. So, like, if you're giving me directions and you're like, do you know where Tillman Street is? I'll be like, do restaurants. You'll be like, do you know where the Taco Bell is in West Columbia? Yep. I know where that is.
That's how I get around. That's how I get to know a city is I eat places. And if I ever eat somewhere good, I'm going to tell you about it. Egg Roll Station, it's on where Sunset meets State Street. It looks like a barn. And you have to have cash only, and it is amazing.
But anyway, that's what we want to share good news with people. And they had good news that Jesus saves, that he rescues, that he redeems, and that everyone's invited in. Everyone. Everyone. And people on a normal, regular, everyday basis start believing the good news and being invited in because they see the church being the church because the gospel was true. Have you had that?
Do you have those moments when the gospel is so true? When Jesus's generosity towards you is so real and somebody needs something, you have that moment where money's just money? You just have the opportunity to bless? Like you didn't even hesitate to grab your wallet and help somebody? Have you had that moment? Have you had that moment when Jesus's sacrifice was so real to you that when someone called and asked for help, you didn't even think about it because you got to just hop in?
That's few and far between for us, and that's why we spent a whole week saying we get to grow as we work in that. But even as we've walked through this series, if you had those moments where the gospel seems so real, so tangible, that you understand why we exist in relationships with each other as family. That's what was going on for them. It was so real, so rich, they could taste it, what had been accomplished for them on the cross, that they just lived it out in normal everyday life. You see, the plan to save the world, God's plan to rescue the world is the church. And there is no plan B.
And the way he does that is through normal everyday life. Certainly, some of them ended up moving far off. Certainly, some of them ended up saying, I feel specifically led to go to this area. But most of it happened in normal everyday life. And you know what happens when the gospel is real? The weight's lifted up.
We don't have to earn it. We don't have to achieve it. We're not burdened by being good. We want to be good. We have a desire for it because of Jesus' work in us, because the gospel is true, but we're not burdened by it. And everything suddenly has meaning.
There is no wasted day anymore if the gospel is true. So that was what messed me up in college. I started reading the Bible in the morning. I'd always read the Bible growing up. I didn't know. I grew up in a Christian home.
I didn't know people didn't read the Bible. So I just always read the Bible, start to finish all the way through. So I mean, I was like in middle school reading the book of Numbers. I don't know if I understood any of it, but I read it. I got to college and I started reading the Bible in the morning and drinking coffee. That messed up my whole life.
That's why I'm standing here this morning. Because it totally altered things for me. Because I started reading the Bible. I read sections like this. I remember distinctly reading this section in college and thinking, if the gospel is actually true, if what we're here saying we believe this morning is actually true, well, that changes everything. And it would actually change how I live.
It actually changed how I treat people, how I view the world, what I do with my time, my money, my energy, if it's actually true. If what we just read about Jesus coming back to life and then in bodily form ascending into heaven is true, that he is Lord and Christ, that one day he will return and he will rule and reign forever. And that the two options for his creation are you pay for your sin or Jesus pays for your sin. You exclude yourself or you get invited in. If that's actually true, I couldn't keep living my life the way I was. And that's what we see here.
That's why you read this in Acts and you go, why did they suddenly change? Why did this group of people in this, why did they, because it was true. Because they believed it and it affects everything. That's what we get to see and that's what we get to be as a church family. We get to be Christians in normal everyday life. We get to have normal jobs, but we get to have them with intentionality.
We get to go to school. We get to study physical health. We get to study to be an athletic trainer. We get to study to go be a nurse practitioner. And we get to do that absolutely wrecked by the grace of the gospel and absolutely invited in to be a part of God's mission. And so here's how that plays out.
What we see is that God added to them day by day, those who were being saved. I want us to read that again. 46. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. So again, the city was happy they were there.
And the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved. That's why we organize the way we do as a church family. That's why we get together in groups. That's why on Sundays, I remember we were meeting at First Baptist and Hope Bridge. I would stand up. Not Hope Bridge.
First Baptist. I lied. Hope Bridge, we didn't say this. First Baptist, I would stand up on Sundays. We would get together Sunday nights. I would look at everyone, all 15 of you, and I knew everyone was in a group.
And I would say, hey, if you want to get in a group, I remember doing that and people going, who's this fool talking to? Bro, we in your group. I'm going to see you Thursday. The reason we did it was because that's who we are. That's how we exist in relationships in life. And I want everybody to remember that, not get confused by what we're doing on Sunday.
And I wanted everybody to know if you get somebody to come hang out with you, somebody wants to come hang out with us on Sunday, we're going to tell them about how we exist as a church family. We're going to talk about it because that's who we are. We walk through everyday life together because we're trying to do this. Because we believe this is how we grow and this is how we have life and this is how we remind ourselves constantly of the gospel. We believe that's what we're called to. And here's what we're going to do as a church.
We're going to try to grow and multiply at all levels. It says day by day they were added to their number, those who were being saved. What we want to see is that people who follow Jesus help other people follow Jesus. That disciples make disciples. So I'm a Jesus follower so automatically I'm going to help other people follow Jesus because it's actually good news.
It's actually real. It actually gives me hope. It actually gives me peace. He's actually rescued me. That for our group leaders, we have community groups and we have group leaders, that they would train other people to be group leaders, which is just someone who's intentionally going to give some extra time to help pastor our church family, to help gather people together, to help be organized, go out of their way to do that so that group leaders would train other group leaders, that groups would make other groups. My group has grown to the point now at some point we're going to have to multiply.
We have this debate all the time. They're like, but isn't it dividing? It feels like dividing. They'll use the word split. I'm like, we're not using split. Like that's not, that's a bad word.
We're multiplying because we're gaining. We're growing through it. We're seeing more people get to hop in. Here's what's beautiful. None of us, you didn't know anybody here two years ago. And now you can't imagine life without them.
And there are people who are not here today that that's true for. It'll be true for them in a year. There's two real people. You don't know them yet. We'll call them Eric and Sarah. They're real.
You don't know them because you haven't met them yet. But in a year, you won't be able to imagine what it was like, what life was like without Eric in it because of how much joy he brings because that time he just sat next to you on your couch after your relative died and was just there. You'll be able to look back a year from now and remember the time that you screamed your head off when he was baptized. And you won't be able to imagine what it was like to be in a community group to exist as church family without Eric around. Sarah, you'll look forward to hearing her laugh because she has an infectious laugh.
She laughs at dumb jokes that aren't funny and makes everyone else laugh with her because the way she laughs is great. currently, the place that she sits regularly when she gathers with your group throughout the week, just a throw pillow sitting there. But a year from now, you won't be able to imagine what it was like without Sarah around, without Sarah in your life to call. That's why we get to be who we get to be because there are real people in this city who don't have hope, who don't know Jesus, who haven't been set free, who are lonely and have no one to call and haven't been invited into family. The reason why we get to be, the reason why we're a gospel-centered community on mission is because of us.
Because we didn't have that at one point. Because there's people who exist in our city who were like us two, three, five years ago. without hope, without church family, without Jesus. If you take a circle and just draw it around West Columbia, just West Columbia, not Columbia, not Irma, not Lexington, just the West Columbia area. It's like a four-mile radius. 60,000 people in that circle aren't a part of a church family and most likely don't know Jesus. A lot of them probably think they do.
But they think it's about behavior. It's about work. And that's why we do what we do. And that's why we're going to continue to multiply groups and continue to train group leaders. And that's why it's worth it. Because we get to be God's church.
And His plan to save the world is the local church. It's groups of people that actually believe the gospel. It's communities centered around the gospel on mission. That's us. That's what we're shooting for. That's who we get to be.
And here's why it matters. Flip over to the book of Revelation. So in the book of Revelation if you're not really familiar with it you've probably heard weird stuff about it. We'll be on page 666. So go ahead and get that out of the way.
It's fitting that that page would be in the book of Revelation. But we're in the book of Revelation. Here's what happens in the book of Revelation. There was a disciple named John. He wrote the book of John. He wrote 1st, 2nd, 3rd John.
I think there's a 3rd John. It's real short. Yeah, he wrote 1st, 2nd, 3rd John because I know about the Bible, guys. And he wrote the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is really old. He was exiled to an island.
He had already been boiled alive in oil but he didn't die. But he probably looked weird after that. But he was exiled to an island. The Holy Spirit takes him and shows him some future stuff and shows him some weird things and he just kind of writes down what he sees. At this point though he's getting a glimpse into heaven. He's getting a glimpse into eternity.
And so I just want us to take a second to look at that and see why this matters. We're going to be verse 9, chapter 7. After this I looked, that's John, he looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb. So God, the Father, is on the throne. The Lamb is Jesus who died for our sins as our sacrifice. Do you see what he just said?
Jesus in Matthew, chapter 28, what Razvalad read last week was, go and make disciples of all people groups. Jesus, so what we see right before he ascends in Acts, chapter 1, says, you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. God, God, everyone, everyone's invited in and everyone makes it. Not everyone on earth is going to make it, but God will not have a people group, a nation, a tribe not represented before his throne. And you know what's beautiful about that? When he looks out and sees them, he still sees people groups, nations, and tribes and languages.
Everyone's invited in and there is not one set culture for Christianity because God made everyone and every people group, every type of person shows and reflects some of his glory. Everybody gets invited in. That is going to be the best singing and worship that exists. I remember going up to visit Liberty University before I was going to go to seminary there and I walked in and there was two white dudes, skinny jeans and like flock of seagulls haircuts. Like, I mean, they just looked ridiculous. Um, like the, a super long version of like the Macklemore haircut or whatever.
Um, and I remember thinking, okay. And they both had, uh, acoustic guitars and they started just leading us in singing, uh, through worship. And I mean, I'm white and I was like, this is great. Like I totally got into it. Like we, I was able to worship because a white people can worship to two electric, uh, two acoustic guitars. Most white people can, can sing and praise Jesus.
That's some of our music. I remember last year we got together for Easter or one of the weeks before Easter. And we had like, uh, we had a violin and a, um, mandolin. And I mean, I was, we were, they were warming up and practicing. I was like, this is great. This is amazing music.
And it may be too white. Like if I'm liking it this much, it may be we've, we've overshot our goal of what we're doing. I remember gathering with a, um, a church in Lynchburg that was, uh, mostly African-American and a guy led worship from a drum set. And it was awesome. That was it. It was just a drum set and them singing.
It was great. And I had no clue what to do with that. Like, I'm like, do I cut? Okay. I don't like I, that's all I had. It was beautiful.
I just had to sit and listen, but I couldn't do anything with it. I remember in, in, uh, college being a part of a gospel choir. Um, and so it was Matt helped lead it, but it was, we were the only two white boys involved in this. And, uh, I remember I can, I can sing. Okay. If I'm standing next to somebody who can sing in the last day before our gospel choir, big showcase thing, we're, we're going over to the place to practice and aunt Frederick, uh, not aunt Frederick, uh, Antoine Thomas looks at us and says, all right, we walk in.
Here's what we're going to do. We're going to stomp, stomp, clap, stomp. And I was like, do what? You going to tell me this the last day? This is what I should have been practicing the whole time. They were like, what?
We go sing the same songs. I was like, what? We go sing the same songs. I got to stomp and clap while I sing. I'm not kidding you. And you can ask Anna for verification.
I could either sing the songs or I could clap and sway. I could not do both. And it was me and another friend of mine, he was on the end. And so I messed him up the entire time. We would run into each other because we were supposed to be swaying this way. And I was swaying this way and I'd be hitting him and he'd be looking at me like, dude, get together.
So eventually I just did this, kept up with the clapping and swaying. Didn't say a word because I didn't have it. I ain't got it. It just ain't going to happen. In eternity, we're all there. We're all welcomed in.
Everybody's invited and everything gets to be a part of it. And it doesn't get erased and it doesn't get washed over and it doesn't become, oh, only this culture, only this type of people, only this nationality, only this background, only this language, all of them, because God's God of all of them. And everyone's invited in. And we get to be his church in this city. Who gets to be a part of that? Who gets to be a part of looking like the kingdom of God already, going out of our way to invite everyone in because we want that throne room packed.
Let's read the rest of this because it gets good. We'll start back up at nine. After this, I looked and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. So what we're screaming out is the gospel. We didn't earn this. We didn't accomplish this.
We didn't make this happen, but you did. Salvation belongs to you. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying, amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders addressed me saying, who are these clothed in white robes and from where have they come?
And I said, sir, you know, and he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. There's going to be an eternity where we get to praise and worship Jesus that he cleaned us up through his own blood, that he made us right through his sacrifice, that we were all welcomed in because he was cast out, that we all get to have a real father, a true father, father because his for forsaken him, that we get to have a life because he died, that we're washed clean because he shed his blood for us. That's true. Eternity is real.
So are we going to go out of our way to multiply groups? Are we going to go out of our way to invite people in? Are we going to go out of our way to sacrifice? Absolutely. Because the gospel is real. Is that going to affect everyday life?
Absolutely. Why wouldn't it? Is that going to affect what we do with our money and our time? Absolutely. Why wouldn't it? Is that going to affect how we relate to our neighbors?
How we relate to our coworkers? Absolutely. Why wouldn't it? And we're Christians. We wouldn't have it any other way than to be family, to center our entire lives around the gospel and to see that throne room packed out with everybody. All those who knew they had need and ran to the king.
Everyday Mission
Transcript
G'day everyone, my name is Raz. This morning we're turning to our last chapter of Anchor Series. If you've been with us for the last little while, you'll know that we're talking about what it is that anchors us as a church. What it is that we turn to, what it is that makes us foundationally a church, and what we believe and how we believe the church functions as we're out in the world. And if you've ever seen anything that we've ever printed, t-shirts, cards, giant banners, you'll see that we use the phrase, a gospel-centered community on mission all the time. For the first five weeks of this series, we've talked about what it means to be gospel-centered.
The first three weeks, we've talked about gospel-centered. The next two weeks, we've talked about what it means to be community. And today we're kind of turning to what it means to be on mission. But immediately we've run into this problem when it comes to the word mission. And that's that lots of different people use a different definition of the word mission, particularly when it comes to the church. This is kind of common in English language in general, and particularly for me, miscommunication based on wording.
I'm from Australia, and I live in America, and so I say things different, and I get in trouble all the time. For example, if I learn something for the first time, or something makes sense for the first time, I might accidentally, this would be wrong, but I might accidentally say, ah, I just joined the dots in my head. Everyone knows you don't join dots in America. You connect dots in America. And for someone to suggest that joining is the same as connecting in this country is craziness. Similar confusions can also get you in trouble sometimes.
In America, you have a kind of footwear that is commonly referred to as the flip-flop. In Australia and other areas of the country, other areas of this country and other areas of the world, it's not called a flip-flop, it's called a thong. This can get you in trouble at times if you're not careful. Hypothetically speaking, and I'm not saying that this happened to me, but it might have, you might be away on a youth camp with a bunch of teenagers, explain a card game to them in which one of the rules is that when something happens, you remove your thong and slap the person next to you with it, and suggest that you are going to do that repeatedly to a 15-year-old.
It could happen to anyone. I'm not saying it happened to me. It was obviously a friend of mine. But the main problem that we have with this word mission is that different people use the same word to mean a bunch of different things. There's some people who think that mission means overseas. You've got to be out of here.
You can't be in America because that's not mission. You've got to go to China. You've got to go to Russia. You've got to go to Belarus, wherever that is. You can't do it here. You've got to be somewhere else.
And some people say that's trash. That's not the truth. What you've got to do is cross a cultural barrier. That would be talking to Chinese people who are here in America or talking to people who don't speak English. If you speak Spanish and you speak in Hispanic neighborhoods about the gospel, that would be mission. But other people say, no, that's trash as well.
Every time you leave your house and talk about Jesus, you're on mission. Some people say there's like this umbrella category of mission and evangelism is under that. But some people say, no, that's trash. There's an umbrella category of evangelism and mission is under that. And some people say missions and some people say mission and they get confused between the two of them because they're two separate things. And so you could be on a mission trip, but refer to it as a missions trip and people think you're weird.
And you're just like, I don't know if it's missions or mission. The problem is there's too many different people in the world who use the word to mean different things. There's too many definitions. So this morning, we're going to be looking pretty specifically at what Jesus said about it, what Jesus said about mission. And we're going to look at the great commission that he sent his church to accomplish. Ultimately, though, God himself has his own mission.
And that is to bless all of humanity, all of creation, to bless all nations and bring them back, reconcile them, bring them back to himself. And he does that through his son, Jesus Christ, who he sent to pay the penalty for our sins, to reconcile us to him. And then Jesus himself invites us into that work and sends us out into the world to continue it. And we're going to look at Jesus' words today on that topic and how that applies to us here in Columbia, South Carolina. Let's pray.
Father God, we praise you and we thank you for the work that you've done in Jesus Christ on our behalf. And we thank you that you've given us a mission. We thank you that you've trusted us with that mission. And we pray that we can do it to your glory for the rest of our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Now, if you've got a Bible, go ahead and open to Matthew 28.
If you've got one of these blue ones, it is on page 542. It's right at the end of the book of Matthew. If you get to Mark, you've gone too far. This is the very last little paragraph in the Gospel of Matthew. At this point in time, Jesus has come to the earth. He's been born as a baby in Bethlehem.
He's lived the first 30 years of his life. Then he was sent out and he preached the word for three years. He gathered disciples to him, preached. Then he died and he resurrected three days later, proving that he was God. And then we're going to step into the story in that period of time between when he was risen from the dead and before he ascended back into heaven. This is right in that period of time.
This is from chapter 28, verse 16. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, this is the Great Commission, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.
Jesus, he comes out swinging. He makes his point hard and fast. He says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. I'm the boss man. And so when you're at work and the boss man comes out and says, I'm your boss. I have the authority here.
You know he's about to say something that you have to do. And he's allowed to do that because he's got authority and you don't. Jesus comes out swinging. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. It means that whatever comes next is pretty important and he expects us to do it. But it's also really encouraging because he says, I'm Jesus.
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. You are my disciples. Go out and make disciples. Let's read. The Great Commission. It says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. It doesn't really leave a whole lot of room. His command is, make disciples. Make disciples of everyone. It says, make disciples of all nations. It's a translation from a Greek word, ethne, which really means ethnicities, all people groups.
It's not just saying all nations that we've given names to and have territories. It's not saying China, Russia, England, France. It's saying all people, all people groups. Everyone. Make disciples of everyone. And that's really it.
When it comes down to it, that's the basis for what we're talking about when we use the word mission. The mission is to make disciples. Make disciples of everyone. And the cool thing for the guys that Jesus is talking to is that they were his disciples. He's gathered his disciples together and said, go and make disciples. He's perfectly modeled to them for the last three years what it looks like to make disciples.
And then he sends them out and says, go and do for other people what I've been doing for you. Now, when we make disciples, what we're really doing is making followers of Jesus. That's what a disciple is. It's a follower of Jesus. It's taking someone who doesn't know Jesus and introducing them. But it's also taking people who do know Jesus and giving them next steps towards Jesus as well.
So they might already know him, but not be very good at knowing him. And we just need to teach them some more things about him and how that's involved in life as well. And we push people baby steps towards Jesus. And that's what it means to make disciples. Now, it might not seem super logical to us in the English translation. It is logical.
It's really logical once you understand the basis of how this works. In Greek, and if you want to geek out with me, I love this kind of junk later. So we can talk about this. In Greek, there is main verbs and supporting verbs. It doesn't work the same in English. We usually rely on sentence structure and word order.
But in Greek, there's main verbs and supporting verbs. And so in this sentence, the main verb is make disciples. And then all the supporting verbs tell you how to do that. So we're commanded, make disciples, and then told what it is you could do in order to make disciples. And we're told the other three verbs, the supporting verbs, are go, baptize, and teach. That's how you make disciples.
As you go, you baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. And you teach to obey all that Jesus has commanded. Let's look at go. What does it mean to go? Here's what it looks like. As we make disciples, we go.
It's not saying pick up your bags and leave. Go. Get out of here. It's saying as you go, as you go about life, as you go about daily life, as you go about your rhythms, as you go to work, as you go to school, make disciples of everyone. It's inherently movement-oriented. It doesn't imply that you can stay and do nothing.
You are supposed to go. But some people have twisted this word go. It's what causes most of the confusion with the Great Commission and what it means to be in missions in general. Some people say when it says go and make disciples of all nations, that's why you've got to get out of here. That's why, because he says go all nations. It's like, it makes a lot of sense to leave and go to another country.
But actually he's saying as you go about your daily business, be making disciples wherever you are. This is when definitions become important. And this is where I want to help us out a little bit by clarifying all the different types of missions. And I think all it usually needs is a helping word. Because people say the word mission and think of a bunch of different things, when if they had have just clarified, it would have made a whole lot more sense from the beginning. So let's clarify.
Let's talk when it means to go and make disciples of all nations, and you're thinking of get out of this country, go to another country, be a missionary, which is a perfectly legitimate life, a perfectly legitimate way to be in obedience to Jesus, to get out of this country, to go to China and make disciples over there. That's perfectly legitimate. Let's call that overseas mission. Let's call that overseas mission. And it immediately cuts the confusion. Overseas mission is when you leave your country to go to another country and make disciples there.
It's perfectly legitimate. But the thing is, the Great Commission is bigger than overseas mission. The Great Commission is bigger than that. Then there's another group of people that say, when it says go and make disciples of all nations, that's quite easy in the U.S. because all the nations have come here. Australia has come here. Chinese students have come here.
Indians have come here. Lots of Hispanic-speaking, Spanish-speaking, Hispanic countries, people have come here. It's easy to make disciples of all nations right here. And what they're talking about is what we're going to clarify as cross-cultural ministry. Taking the word to people from another area so that you can empower them to reach people from their area and the gospel spreads cross-culturally. Let's call that cross-cultural mission.
But the Great Commission is bigger than that as well. It's perfectly legitimate. Take the gospel. Go, all nations. Perfectly legitimate. But it's not the end.
It's not the end. Let's call what the majority of us aim for. What is also perfectly legitimate within the Great Commission. Let's call what we do everyday mission. That's what we're aiming to do. Everyday mission.
And the thing is, not everyone is called to overseas mission. Not everyone is called to cross-cultural mission. But everyone, if you call yourself a believer, is called to everyday mission. It's without exclusion. If you're a Christian, if you're a disciple, if you call yourself a Christ follower, you're constantly hanging on the word of God for truth, for life, for sustenance, for direction in life. Your job now is to make disciples of all nations.
And you can do that just here. It's to make disciples of everyone in daily life, in the normal goings about of what you do in your daily life. Make disciples. So this includes everything. The only thing that it really excludes, and exclusions are annoying, but the only thing it really excludes is laziness and apathy. So that would be 14 hours of binge Netflix by yourself, home alone, secluded from the world.
Video games until 4 a.m. by yourself. Maybe talking to people on a headset, but that's not the same. Beating people is not fun like that. The only thing that's excluded in going to all people is not going to anybody. So what does this really mean?
What are we supposed to do? What's the structure? How do we do the next thing? Well, the next instruction is baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Interesting you should mention that. Shameless plug.
We are having a baptism party in a couple of weeks. A baptism is what happens, what we do when a person who doesn't believe in Jesus becomes a believer in Jesus and publicly declares to friends and family and anyone who's there, I am now a person who completely trusts in Jesus Christ as my Savior and my Lord. And then we grab them by the face and power dunk them in water and lift them up again and we cheer because Christians are fun. And grabbing people by the face and almost drowning them is fun. Don't almost drown them. You get to hold your breath.
It symbolizes the death to the old life, the cleansing by Jesus, and then the raising to new life. And we do that as a representation of the work that Jesus has done, but also a public declaration of faith so that everyone in our family and our friends and in our lives know that we believe in Jesus. And we're commanded to do that. That's the second step in what it means to make disciples. It's beautiful. The last instruction says, teach them to observe everything that I've commanded.
This one, this one's a process. This is not like on the checklist of how do I make a disciple. Tick, done, tick, done, baptized, good, taught everything about Jesus. Tick, done. It's not like that. It can't be done so simply.
This is pretty much what we've been talking about for the last five weeks. It is teaching each other all that Jesus commanded is gospel fluency. It's speaking Jesus into every life situation whenever it comes up. It's repenting from our idolatry. It's understanding that we need to live in the context of relationships with other people. It's beating the gospel into our head repeatedly.
It's grabbing other people's heads and beating the gospel into their heads repeatedly. It's repenting and growing in community and teaching each other all that Jesus has commanded us to obey. It's a lifelong process that we do in the context of a gospel-centered community. And that's exactly what we've been talking about for the last five weeks. And so that's it. That's the mission.
That's what we're called to do. Make disciples. Make followers of Jesus out of everybody. As you go, we make disciples of everyone. We baptize them. And we walk with them in the context of community to teach them everything that Jesus has commanded.
That's the Great Commission. That's our mission. That's what it means to be a gospel-centered community on mission. And it seems like a heavy burden. Like a giant task. Make disciples of all nations.
It seems out of reach. It seems so intangible. Like you can't just touch it and feel it and do it. It's out of our reach. But notice how Jesus bookends the Great Commission.
If you look down, he says, He begins with, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Jesus has unlimited power to do as he pleases. Then he gives us the Great Commission. He says, Make disciples of all people. And then he says, And I am with you until the end of the age. We're not alone in this.
Especially if we do things in the context of community. We have teammates around us. You're sitting next to your teammates now. But also, Jesus is in us, in our teammates, in our communities, working his miracle magic to allow us to transform lives. You're not alone in this. And so, the burden is not so big.
What does this mean for us? What does it mean for us in Columbia, South Carolina? How do we make disciples? Well, you probably don't feel like a massive world changer. The normal structure of a day is wake up, make breakfast, shower, go to work, eight hours there, boring, go home, maybe stop at the grocery store to pick up some groceries, maybe work out if you're anyone but me. You might make dinner, eat dinner, watch some TV for a little bit, and go back to bed.
There's next day, same thing again. There's not a whole lot of time within that structure for world changing, for disciple making, for all the nations and all that jazz. So, what is it that we can do in the context of that? Well, it seems like making disciples is the job of someone else. Full-time pastors, full-time missionaries, people who get paid to do that kind of thing. Not necessarily true, or at least not as far as Jesus is concerned in the Great Commission.
Here's what's different about you, and here's what's different about your life. If you're a part of the church, if you're part of this church, if you're part of any church, then you're part of Jesus' plan. And if you're part of Jesus' plan, then he has empowered you with his mission to go and make disciples of all nations. And if you're sitting here today, you're surrounded by teammates on all sides. If you're sitting here today, you're surrounded by teammates. If you're in a community group, you're surrounded by teammates who all want the same things as you do, which is to make disciples of all nations.
And you have Jesus' promise that he will be with you till the end of the age. And he's there with you, and there with your community group, and that he has entrusted you with the message of the gospel, and there is nothing insignificant about that or your life. There's nothing insignificant about that. When you drive around Columbia, and I assume if you're here, most of you have driven around Columbia a good bit. If you drive around Columbia, do you see a city that is completely and utterly wrecked and transformed by the saving power of Jesus and his grace? I know when I drive around, that's not exactly what I think about.
When I moved here about two and a half years ago, I was coming here to go to CIU, a school just here in Columbia, and there was some vague statistics about the city on the website. They say that there's between 600,000 and 700,000 people, which I assume now that I'm here kind of includes the surrounding areas, and that there's 800 churches within that area. And my mind was blown. I'm from Sydney. There's like 800 churches in Sydney and 15 times that population. And so I was like, man, that's awesome.
This city is going to be amazing. It's going to be like the evangelical Vatican. There's going to be amazing angels singing on every corner. And then I got here, and I didn't have a car for a while, but when I got a car, I started driving around. And I was like, man, what are all these 800 churches doing? What's going on in this place?
And I stayed here for a bit, and not too long after I was here, the city tried to make homelessness illegal. What? This is a city with 800 churches, and they're trying to make poverty a crime? What? What? And then you learn a little bit more about the culture.
I didn't go out a whole lot, but you know that there's areas that you're not supposed to go at night. Everyone knows this. You don't go over there at night because, you know, guns. And I'm like, what? This is a city with 800 churches. That's like a church for every 900 people.
What's going on? And then I learned the most shocking statistic of all, and that's that there's seven Moes in this city and only three Chipotles. How on earth is anyone supposed to live in hope when Moes more than double a Chipotle in any given city? Crippling statistics. But seriously, what would it look like?
What would it look like in Colombia if every street, if every street had a gospel-centered community on it? It doesn't have to be a Mill City-sponsored community group. It can be any church. It can be any group of believers. What would it look like if this city had a gospel-centered community on every street or in every office building or a factory or school, if they had a gospel-centered community on every sports team? The city would be rocked and it would change everything.
What would it look like if people everywhere you turned, when you went to Walmart, when you went to get groceries, when you go to the downtown Soda City markets, what would it look like if everywhere you looked was people empowered by the Spirit to love, forgive, repent, and show mercy like Jesus did? We would be living in a very different-looking city. Here's our plan. If you're a note-taker, this is a good time to start taking notes. Here's our plan. Step number one.
Start by being you with all your interests, with all your desires, with all the things that you like. Start by being you, as a Christian, in love with Jesus. Start by being you, as a Christian, in love with Jesus. That's what we call being gospel-centered. Step number two is get in a community group. A community group is a group of people who are doing step number one.
A community group is a group of people who are being themselves, as a Christian, in love with Jesus. And they do it together. That's called being a gospel-centered community. Step number three. Go out into your life and invite people who don't know Jesus to do things with your community group. That's called being a gospel-centered community on mission.
Step number four, and this is the easiest one, it should go without saying, let Jesus do his thing. Jesus in the Great Commission says, and surely I will be with you until the end of the age. He's going to be there. He's going to be helping. Let Jesus fulfill his promise. You do what you've been called to do and let Jesus do what he said he's going to do.
And that's, he's going to change people. He's going to transform people. If you think it's your job to do that, you're wrong. Your job is to show them the gospel. As we go about our daily lives, we invite those we encounter to hang out with our community group and take next steps towards Jesus. That's what it means to make disciples of everyone.
But what does that look like for the church in general? What does it look like for churches out in the world? There's two main kind of categories, two main strategies that exist for churches and how they operate. The first one is what we're going to call a come and see mentality. Come and see the church. This is any church that typically has like, their main mode of operation is the Sunday service, the Sunday gathering.
Come and see what we have to show you. You've got to come to our event, our thing, our building. Come to us and we'll show you how to live, whatever that looks like. American culture has taken this to the extreme. They've kind of exploded it. You can watch it on TV.
You can watch it on the internet. You could go to an actual church building and still watch it on TV. You could hang out with laser beams and fog machines and like professional musicians and it's this big thing of come and see. Come and see what we've got to show you. That's one mode of operation. The second mode of operation is what we're going to call go and be the church.
So it's no longer come and see the church, it's go and be the church. Now if you haven't guessed, our primary mode is not come and see the church. And if you're here today and that's what you were thinking, then this is it. It's not the best thing in the world. It's okay. But we believe that we're primarily called to go and be the church.
And if you haven't experienced that before, it's actually, for us at least, a lot better than this. If you're here today and you're just coming to see the church, then you're actually missing out. And we're called to go and be the church. And to go and be the church, it means leaving here today and not thinking the church is over. Because church isn't just Sunday morning, church is Monday night. It's Tuesday at lunchtime.
It's Thursday when you hang out with your group. It's Friday when you walk the dog with friends from your community group. It's Saturday when you go and play with your Frisbee disc golf club or whatever you do on Saturday morning, Saturday night. Family doesn't cease to be family when they leave your house after dinner. And for some reason, we think that church does when we leave here. That's not true.
Church family exists all the time. We're called to go and be the church. Well, what do we do with this then? Who is the target audience, for lack of a better word? Who's this mission for? Who do I take it to?
Well, my question is, who are you already around? Who are you already around? Let's think specifically and practically about this. I think, I think there's two main categories, two main categories of people in our lives that this would include. There's friends without hope and there's strangers without hope. Let's talk first about friends without hope.
This is people you already know. This is not necessarily friends, but colleagues, workmates, family members, people who you're on a first name basis with have had conversations with before. This is friends without hope. It's not strangers without hope. What do we do with our friends that we already know who don't have hope? Well, it's actually pretty simple.
After all, you're a pretty normal person. Your friends are pretty normal. Hanging out with you wouldn't be torture, I don't think. It could be. You don't have to be weird and creepy about your faith. You don't have to slam Bible verses down people's throats all the time.
You get to be you in love with Jesus. Granted, you're in love with Jesus. You get to be you and do normal things anyway. And in the context of friendship, you can show other people what it means to be a Christian. Here's an example. You might work Monday to Friday.
You've got a nine-to-five Job. You work Monday to Friday. You don't know everyone there, but you know most of the people there. Actually, there's this one lady there who annoys you quite a bit. She's pretty annoying. And the annoying thing about annoying people is how annoying they are, which can be frustrating.
And frustration springs from annoyingness. And I'm a master of being annoying, but I hate being annoyed. And she's an annoying person, which is annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying.
Am I being annoying? That's the goal. Never mind. There's this annoying person at work. You don't know a lot about her. You don't want to know a whole lot about her.
You kind of just wish she would leave you alone, but you're stuck with her for eight hours a day. You do know one thing about her. She loves her dog. She doesn't have photos of kids and family up and around her desk. She's got photos of her dog. You know this lady is crazy about that dog.
And so you think, huh, how am I going to reach this lady? You go to your community group. You hate dogs, obviously, because you're an intelligent person. But you know there's some unintelligent people in your community group who like dogs as well. So you go to your community group and you say, community group, does anyone like dogs?
Does anyone want to start like a Saturday morning dog walking thing? And they say, yeah, sure, why not? And boom, perfect. You've got this avenue to invite this annoying lady from work to hang out with Christians. And the best thing about it is that once she gets involved, assuming she does, once she probably does, she likes her dog, once she gets involved, you get to put her in a group with your friends who get to do all the heavy lifting for you. You no longer have to deal with her.
Your friends do because they can bond over the dog thing. She'll probably rock up with her dog in like one of those tote bags for the walk. It might be weird, but you can get over that. People are weird. The heavy lifting is done by others. All you've really done is orchestrated a situation where someone that you know, a friend without hope, is hanging around with Christians doing things that they like doing.
Here's another example. You have a friend, he's a guy, he's been not around Jesus for a while. He's grown up in church, thinks he knows some stuff, but at some point in time, you don't really know what happened. He got burned by the church, doesn't really trust Christians, doesn't really trust the church anymore, doesn't hang around with anyone. You've invited him a few times, you've said, hey, come hang out with us on Sundays, and he's just not biting on that. He doesn't like that idea.
The thought of being around Christians, being judged, he's got some things that he's ashamed of, he doesn't really want to buy into anything like that, and you think, dang, hitting a wall. And then, one of the guys in your community group says, hey, let's all get together and shoot guns at a range, and you think, bing, perfect, he's a guy, guys like shooting guns, at least around here they do. And you think, this is perfect. I'm going to invite him to come and shoot guns. And he bites. You say, hey, do you want to come and hang out with some of my friends and shoot guns all morning?
And he says, yes, obviously. And all you've done is orchestrated a situation where a friend without hope gets to hang out with friends who know Jesus, and he gets to see that they're not that weird after all. He gets to see that they're just normal people who love Jesus and go about their lives in light of the fact that they love Jesus. It's not, you don't have to be a weird guy who dresses up in a suit and puts his bow tie on and carries a clipboard and a huge Bible and knocks on people's doors and says, would you like to know Jesus today? I mean, you could. There's no way to make friends.
Instead, orchestrate situations with your current friends your community group mainly where you can invite other friends easily to that and they're going to say yes because who doesn't want to shoot guns and walk dogs? One of the biggest hurdles for people becoming Christians is that they don't know what Christians look like. They think that you're weird Bible-thumping, praying, sitting in a circle, holding hands, singing Kumbaya. You could do that. That's weird. You're just you being in love with Jesus, doing it in the context of your community group.
And you get to do that and do fun things and invite people in. That's called being a gospel-centered community on mission. Dog walking, fishing, crafts, coffee, breakfast, football, soccer, which is actually football, frisbee, Pinterest parties, painting each other's nails, jams. Yeah. I know you ladies know what jams are and if you're a married man you probably know what jams are as well. I know you ladies love that stuff.
Invite your friends to that. It's fun. Jams, everyone. When you and your community group have this great commission outlook, every day is full of disciple-making moments. When you and your community group have this great commission outlook, every day is full of disciple-making moments. We meet people where they're at and we allow them to see Jesus through us and our community groups.
Now let's turn to that second group, the group called Strangers Without Hope. This is the category of people that you don't know. This is someone who when you saw them on the street you would not know their name or anything about them. Strangers Without Hope. I think, and I think I'm right in this because I think it, I think that the most underutilized, most overlooked, most underthought, most duh kind of people group that would fit this category in our lives is our neighbors. And it's interesting to me because I remember this guy called Jesus who said, the greatest command is to love God and love your neighbors.
But I know you guys, I know you're Bible scholars and academics and when he says that, he's not saying you're actual neighbors, he's saying love everyone, which is great because for some reason that means we get to ignore our actual neighbors. Despite the fact that he said the words love your neighbors. It cannot not mean neighbors when he says love your neighbors, even if he means love everyone. I've been reading this book recently, it's called The Art of Neighboring. My wife and I are planning to move into apartment community soon and we're just reading a bunch of things that's involved in that and how to make friends with your neighbors.
I've been reading this book called The Art of Neighboring and they have this diagnosis test in the book. It looks like this, it's a three by three grid, the middle square represents your house and so you put your name in your house. There's eight other squares around that and they represent the houses of the eight geographically closest houses to your house. So it's not Bob who lives down the street and three houses down around the corner, it's the eight closest people to your current house. The diagnosis test is this, step one, write the names of your eight closest neighbors. Write all their names in the boxes, each one represents another house.
Step number two, in the middle of the box, write some basic thing about those people. It can't be an observation that you could see from the street, it can't be that he drives a red car or that he gets up at seven in the morning to go to work, it has to be he's a carpenter, he likes fishing, something that you would only really know from a conversation, a basic level conversation, hey how are you going, picking up your mail, what do you like, that kind of thing. The third diagnosis, which you would write at the bottom, is some deeper level issue that's happening with that person at the time. Can't find a job, family member in hospital, that kind of thing, some deeper level something that's not just a basic conversation starter.
Now according to the book, and I think that these statistics are inflated, 10% of people can fill out the names of their closest eight neighbors. So in a room this size, it's probably seven or eight of us. And I think that's inflated. Maybe, I don't know. The second step, only 3% of people can fill out a basic something about those eight people. So in a room this size, that's maybe one or two.
Less than 1% can fill out an important something underlying life issue of all eight of their closest neighbors. Less than 1%. So in this room, it's probably zero. It might be, might not be, but it's probably zero. Now I'm not saying this to make you feel like a bad neighbor because I'm a bad neighbor as well.
I filled out three boxes and then guessed the name of the fourth box because I wasn't really sure. My point in this isn't that I'm good and that I know how to do this and you don't. My point is that none of us are really good at this anymore. And when it comes to this category of strangers without hope, our neighbors are an incredibly obvious one that we just don't put a whole lot of effort into. But what would it look like if Christians made a habit of getting to know their neighbors and caring for them, looking after their kids, helping them in times of need or even knowing when times of need exist.
Here's a crazy thought. Get your community group together. Throw a block party. They don't really exist anymore, but you can do it. Throw a block party. Invite ten of your closest neighbors.
How hard could it be? Set up a grill. Get some hamburgers grilling. Smoke up the area so that everyone can smell it down the street. Set up cornhole, can jam, frisbee, whatever you've got. Set it all out on the street.
Invite ten of your closest neighbors to come and hang out. And even if only three of them turn up, get to know them. Have the people in your community group. Get to know them and invite them to some stuff. Have a plan for what you're going to do the week after. Hey, we're all going fishing next week.
You want to come? Great. You know that field at the end of your street? Why not start a weekly soccer game there? Or t-ball game there? Or kickball game there?
Get all the kids from your neighborhood. If you don't have kids, don't do this. But if you've got kids, start up a regular game and you get to hang out with all these people from your neighborhood and it gets to be this regular rhythm that everyone gets to enjoy in the neighborhood. Why not start at work and get coffee with one person from work every Monday? Get to know them a little bit. Find out what they like doing.
Do something like that with them. Help the old lady next door taking her groceries. Take a buddy from work out to get wings. Get your group together and go to the markets. Either the nice ones downtown or the sketchy ones out on Augusta Road. Everyday mission is not as scary as it seems.
Making disciples of all nations doesn't have to be this heavy burden that we feel all of the time. It's not only for paid missionaries. It's not only for paid pastors. It's for us in the context of our community groups, our gospel centered communities who are out on mission. We can fulfill the great commission when we're intentional with the time that we already spend. It's not about freeing up time to make time to do this in excess.
We're already spending time anyway. Let's be intentional with the time that we already spend. We do it in the context of our gospel centered community. community, we have teammates who are there, surrounded by Jesus, who are able to help us out. So here's what we're going to do. Let me just explain everything and we're going to do it after I'm done explaining. Everyone should have a Mill City blue card.
If you don't have a blank one near you, you can get a blank one because there's some empty chairs. There's also some more at the back. Take out a blank card and take out a pen. We're going to write down the names of anyone who's come to mind throughout this entire time. Anyone who we know exists, who's a friend without hope. Write down anyone you work with who you want to reach with the gospel, who you want to invite to something.
Write down your neighbors. If you've got that annoying person at work, write that annoying person down. If there's a person that you don't like being around at work, write their name down. Then you're going to write down something that you know about that person next to it. It doesn't have to be important. It can be they like dogs.
It doesn't have to be super important. Write down whatever you can think of when it comes to that person. If the only thing you can think of is that they really annoy me, write that. Then we're going to spend some time praying for those people. We're going to play some house music and spend some time praying for those people. You can move around.
You can get people from your community group together. You don't have to stay where you are. And we're going to pray for those people. See if we can think up some kind of way to present to our community group that we can reach those people. Then on Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday, whenever you meet with your group, bring this list along.
This list is gold to your group. And in your group times, you get to talk about those people that you want to reach. You get to talk about things that you can do together, that you can make rhythms, fields that you can play soccer at, places you can walk your dog. Rangers where you can go shoot guns. You get to bring that list to your community group and brainstorm different ways that you as a group together can be a gospel-centered community on mission. So I'm going to pray.
We're going to play some music. Take some time to write some names down. Feel free to move around. And then after a few minutes have gone by, a chat's going to come up. This is it for us. We're going to spend time praying.
There's no more songs. Ted's going to come up later and close up with announcements and stuff, but this is what we're doing today. We're thinking about people that can be reached, people that we already know, things that they like doing, and we're going to pray for them. So I'm going to pray for us and then that's what we're going to do. Father God, we praise you and we thank you. We know that you can do immeasurably more than we expect, and we pray that you do that as a result of today.
And we know that you have the power to transform this city, and we pray that you use us to help do that. God, be showing us people in our lives that we can reach. Be showing us people in our lives who need hope. Teach us how to reach them and empower us with your mission. Pray that we can reach Columbia, that we can reach our friends, that we can reach our neighbors, and pray that you be with us until the end of the age as we do it. It's in your name we pray.
Amen.
Repentance and Growth
Transcript
My name is Chet. I'm excited to be here with you all this morning and for us to continue our Anchor Series. What we've been doing in our Anchor Series is looking at what is foundational for us as a church family, what we kind of anchor ourselves in so that what guides us and what leads us. And so that's going to be scripture, but it's going to be specifically how we understand that and how that plays out. And so what we've done so far is we've talked about kind of the gospel-centered portion of who we are. So we're all about Jesus.
We understand that it's about him changing us. It's not about our behavior. And so when we have sin struggles, we know that those are a symptom but not necessarily the root of the problem. And so we consistently apply the gospel to each other, point each other towards Jesus as it's him who changes us through his Holy Spirit. And then what we've moved into over the past two weeks is kind of the community section. So what we mean when we say we're a gospel-centered community on mission, what we mean by community.
And so last week Matt talked to us about church being a family, that we relate to one another that way. And so he went Galatians 4 where it talks about that we've been adopted. So Galatians is going to say that. Ephesians is going to say that. Romans is going to say that. Romans says that Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers.
And so we've actually been brought into God's family. John chapter 1 is going to say that we've been, through Jesus, given the opportunity to be children of God. And so then Matt was just talking about what that looks like and how that plays out and how we exist in relationship with each other. We looked at Acts chapter 2, which just talked about the early church and how they existed in relationship with one another. And so that's us. That's what we're shooting for.
That's why we do community groups, because we believe that the Christian faith has to happen in the context of relationships, that growth has to happen in the context of relationships. And so one of the things we say is that the content is always the gospel and the context is always community. So even when you're reading through the New Testament, most of the use in there are actually would be y'alls to us or use guys for like a handful of people that are part of our church family. But but it's y'all. It's written to a group of people. And so what we do as Americans is we immediately turn everything into rugged individualism.
And so we'll read even in the New Testament and we take it as this personal. This is what I have to do. And we do that to the exclusion. So we ought to respond personally, but we do that to the exclusion of relationships. We do that to the exclusion of this have having to happen in the context of real relationships with people. So we even see Jesus came to earth and spent most of his time with 12 guys.
Most of his time was spent with the 12 disciples and even more than that, a handful of three guys that he that he spent significant time pouring into and walking in life with. And so we often think that the spirituality and growth in spirituality is like a solo operation. Like it's like me on top of a mountain. Looking at a flower and weeping like we kind of feel like there's this we got to get away from everybody. And that's where that's where we'll grow the closest to God. So like when you're reading in Scripture, Jesus did that.
He went off by himself to pray. He went away by himself at times. But most of the time he was in relationship so that even when he goes and the transfiguration happens, which is where it's like this absolute mountaintop experience where Elijah and Moses show up and talk to God, which just just so you know, I don't know how legit your your quiet times are by yourself. But Moses and Elijah have never shown up and they don't show up and then talk to you. You may have read about them, but they don't show up. So Jesus does this has this absolute mountaintop experience.
And when he does, he's got three other guys with him. Because things happen and growth happens and life happens and discipleship happens in the context of community. So the next time you're talking to someone and they're like, man, I just need to spend some time, just me and Jesus, just some alone time. Just invite yourself. Be like, that sounds great. I'll come.
I'm just going to go to my cabin in the woods and just spend some time praying. Sweet. I love cabins. That'll be great. When are we going? Just invite yourself.
It's OK. It is OK to have some alone time, to spend some time absolutely fasting, praying, spending time alone. But I think too often we treat Christianity like it is a slow, solo operation and the Bible does not. And so what we're going to be reading here in Ephesians chapter three, as we get into this today, is Paul's going to be talking and he's just going to assume that the church is a family. He's just going to assume that we exist in relationships with each other. So every time it says you, it is it is the plural form of you.
It's it's written to y'all. He's writing to a church and he just assumes they have real relationships. And we'll see that as we go through. I'm going to pray and then we'll be in Ephesians chapter three. God, we just thank you for this opportunity. Thank you for who you are and what you've accomplished on our behalf.
And we ask, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would continually guide us to be church family. Help us walk through all the difficulties that come along with that. And that through that we would grow in a very real understanding of the gospel. In Jesus name. Amen. Before we get into this, I just want to highlight a few of the things I'd like for us to see as we spend time walking through Ephesians chapter four.
I want us to see that that it is understood that we would exist in relationships. I may have said Ephesians chapter three a couple of times, but I mean, I meant Ephesians chapter four. So. There you go. Ephesians three is good, but we're not going to be looking at it today. Ephesians chapter four.
As we walk through, I want us to see that for us as Christians, growth and discipleship happens in the context of community. That it has to we have to be around people and that in that we actually get to understand the gospel to a greater, greater depth. And so that's kind of what I want us to be able to see as we walk through this, as Paul walks through this entire section where he's writing to him. And so we'll see a few different things that he explains and points out to him. And we're going to be kind of moving kind of fast because we're looking at a whole chapter because we're ambitious this morning.
All right. Chapter four, verse one. I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord. So this is Paul writing and he's in jail. So he's like an actual prisoner.
He's not speaking metaphorically. He's in jail. I, prisoner. I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. And so what he's talking about there when he says walk, he just means your life. I urge you to have your life be worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
The calling that they've been called and the calling we've been called is to be Christians. It's a calling into Christ, into salvation. And so he's saying live as if the gospel is true. Walk in a way that makes sense in light of the gospel. Verse two. With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
Do you see what he automatically assumed as he told us to walk in life as Christians? He automatically assumes that we're in relationships with other people. And he automatically assumes we're in the type of relationships with other Christians that we're familiar with. Which is that we're a big, hot mess of sinners who love Jesus. Because what does he say we need? Humility.
Gentleness. Patience. You only need patience if you're around people for an extended period of time. And if they're annoying qualities, don't stop. Do you all understand that, right? That's what patience is.
So when you pray for more patience, what you are praying for is God, help this problem not stop. I don't pray for patience. I don't want it. I want the problem to stop. But that's what patience is.
It means that the problem continues. The frustration part continues. Here's what he says. With all humility, gentleness, and with patience. And Paul adds this in the list a good bit when he's writing these, and it's my favorite. Bear with one another.
He says put up with each other. That is so beautiful and freeing. Because what Paul doesn't write is, Dear church, as you become Christians, everything will be laughy and happy and rainbows and sunshine. And I don't know why he'd be like a weird English lady, but that's just how I assume if that's what he was saying. But that's not what he says.
What he says is be church family, and here's what you're going to need. Patience. And put up with each other, because it's going to be frustrating. And I can get on board with that. I'm like, oh man, he's been a part of my group. He's hung out with people like me.
I see Paul knows what he's talking about here. That's beautiful. He says humility, which is just if we all pull ourselves down a notch, if we all just assume other people are more important than us, that'll work out well. Gentleness just means graciousness to one another. And then patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Which means that we understand that we've all been called into the same church family, and we fight for unity.
So we don't put up with drama. We don't put up with awkwardness. We don't let situations just be like, ah, yeah, we kind of had a falling out. No, we don't accept that because we're eager to maintain unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Verse 4. There is one body, and as he talks about this, body means church family.
There's one body. We've been made a body in Christ. And so Corinthians is going to say that. Romans is going to say that. Ephesians is going to say that. That means that we exist with one another, the same relationship that your hand has with your foot.
You're on the same team. Something bad happens to your foot. That affects your hand. Something bad happens to your hand. You now have to pick things up with your foot. And it's a problem.
Like we exist in a body with one another. There's one body, church family, one spirit. That's the Holy Spirit that's come into our hearts as we've trusted in Jesus and been saved. Just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, that one hope is an inheritance that we have in Christ. It's an inheritance we have that we know that we've been saved by Jesus to spend eternity with him. That's our hope.
Our hope is an inheritance, in a calling to heaven through Jesus and through Jesus' work, not our own. Just as you were called to the one hope which belongs to your call, one Lord, that's Jesus, one faith, that's faith in Jesus, one baptism. That's baptism. That's pretty straightforward. One God and Father of all. So he's God and he's Father.
We are a church family who is over all and through all and in all. So we exist unified in the faith. Verse 7. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. In saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?
He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things. Okay, so he quotes an Old Testament passage and then he explains it and his explanation is kind of confusing. But all he's saying is this passage is talking about Jesus. Because it assumes that he ascended. It's talking about him who came to earth for us. And so what it says is that when Jesus left, he led a host of captives.
And as we read in other places in Scripture, those captives are twofold. It's the people he set free and the enemies he's taken captive. And that's the way kings would work. When they went and conquered, when they would return, they would lead a triumphal procession of those that they had freed and those that they had enslaved. And so it's both his enemies and those who've been freed. And he gave gifts to men.
So he gifts his church, says by grace that he gifts his church to serve. And we're going to understand why here in a second. 11. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ. Okay, so we're not going to spend much time, any time, in apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, teacher talking about what that is and how that plays out. That's going to be another sermon for another time.
But what we want to see as we look at this is two things. One is Paul says he's gifted us, which means that the church has been gifted. If you are a Christian, you have been gifted by God through the Holy Spirit to serve and that leadership and our giftings. So leadership in the church and our giftings have one purpose. 12. To equip the saints for the work of ministry.
And saints just means believers, those who are made right by God through Jesus. To equip the saints for work of ministry for building up the body of Christ. Leadership in the church and giftings in the church exist for one purpose. That the saints that the church might serve might do the works of ministry and in that the church would be built up. So that's affected how we exist as a church family.
So if you're a part of a church, if there's a church and only the leaders, only the pastors, only the people, the deacons or whoever they set it up, they're the only ones who can make decisions. They're the only ones who can come up with good ideas. They're the only ones who can lead any kind of ministry or service. They're the only ones. They've missed it. Because the role of leadership in the church is to equip saints to do ministry.
So when people talk about the person's a minister and they mean that they're the one who does all the ministry, I actually kind of missed the point. Because the role of leadership in the church is to equip church family to do ministry. And the role of giftings in the church is to serve church family so that everybody grows up. So just so you all know, if here is a part of our church family, if anytime somebody gets sick or has a problem or needs some counseling, and Matt has to be the one that comes and talks, has to be the one that comes and visits, which let's just be honest. If you're sick and having problems, you probably don't want me.
We want Matt. Like we want Matt to come hug us. We want Matt to come be nice to us. Like if I'm sick, I want Matt. I want Matt to come hug me and tell me it's going to be okay. But if that happens, we've actually missed the point.
Now, leadership in the church should do ministry because they are Christians. But the role of leadership in the church is actually to equip others and equip church family to do ministry. To all the things that the church is supposed to do. Serve and give and love and impact the city and pursue people with the gospel and help everybody grow. And actually when that happens, then the body grows. So one of the ways that we respond to this and one of the ways that we seek to apply this is in our community groups.
That that's where primary relationships happen. That's where pastoral care takes place. That's where people grow together and use their gifts to serve one another. It's in our community groups. That's why if somebody says, hey, I want to do this thing or the Lord's really been pressing on my heart that we need to go do a backpack ministry for BC Grammar. Awesome.
How can we help you? Like a lot of times we've we've outsourced ministry to the church and we try to run everything through church leadership so that someone feels called to do something. And they're going to go to church leadership and say, how can we do this? When the church leadership needs to respond with how can we help you do that? So just so you know, if you if you love the children at BC Grammar and you want to do a backpack ministry and you come tell me the Lord's been waking you up at night and calling saying we need to do that.
My response is going to be sweet. How can we help you do that? You say, well, our whole church needs to do that. No, our whole church is going to do a few things, which is community groups. We're going to gather on Sundays. And then our whole church has the freedom to do everything else as we serve and work together.
And if the Lord's been pressing something on your heart, it's because he specifically gifted you and calling you into that. And that's what gets to be beautiful as we all get to serve and work together. Does that make sense? You see how that's good? We'll get to see how that continues to play out. So to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
So as as the saints are equipped, the church grows, the bodies built up until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of God. As we all serve, as we all use our gifts, as we've all been specifically gifted to serve in the church, as that happens, we all grow. We all grow in unity and we all grow in our knowledge of the son of God. It's through serving that we better understand who Jesus is and what he's done. And it's through serving one another. You have been gifted by God to serve others.
See, I even think a lot of times in our talk of gifting in the in the American church, we think about it as a personal thing. So like, what are you gifted in? Where do you find your role? And it becomes about you. You're gifted by God for the for the benefit of everyone else. To build up the church.
Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of fullness of Christ. Mature manhood in the Greek just means full grown man, which I love that because every once in a while you meet somebody and you're like, that's a full grown man. Like there are men and they're like adult men and then there are full grown men. And so as Christians, we all want to serve and we all want to work so that we can be Christians with like big man hand, like man paws and beards and back hair. You know, spiritually. Like we want to grow to be full grown men in the church is what it what he says to the measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ that as we all serve, as we all work, as we all toil together, we all grow to be more like Jesus.
And that's beautiful. See, what happens is the more people serve, the more people use their gifts, the less it is about people and the more it gets to be about Jesus. The more it gets to be about all the ways that he blesses and works and gives his grace and his giftings to his church family so that the church builds itself up. And the more that that happens, the more it gets to be about Jesus. So that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
You know, it's beautiful about all of the church pulling together and striving together. It's not easily led astray. One person who can say things in a very articulate way can't stand up and lead a large group of the church off into nonsense because the whole church has been serving and working and growing together. It doesn't happen. So it's beautiful about our groups.
I get to show up to my group and say, I was reading this and I was thinking I was thinking it was saying this. And my group gets to say, there's no way it was saying that because Roman says this. And I get to say, you're right. What I thought was stupid. It's very helpful. Thank you.
We don't get easily led astray as we all grow together. 15. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ. We use that speaking the truth in love. A lot of times I think people use it as like, I'm going to say something mean to you. I'm going to speak the truth in love to you, brother.
You ought not sing in front of people. It's like, well, OK, we should say true things to one another and we should say it in a gracious, loving way. But really, the truth is the gospel. And so we speak in love. We speak the gospel to each other. We point each other back to Jesus.
And as that happens, as we all serve and we all work and we all use our gifting, as that happens, we grow up into Jesus. And it gets to be about him, not about us. Verse 16. from whom, from Jesus, from Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow. That's Jesus makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. When all of us pull together, when all of us use our giftings, the whole church grows. We grow into Jesus and Jesus helps us grow and we build each other up.
That's why community groups are important for us because we look at scripture and we don't see how we're going to do some of the things that it calls us to do unless we're in real relationships with each other. And in our community groups, we're designed to serve one another. So you've got somebody in your group that just relationally has way more friends than anybody should ever have. Like there's probably someone in your group that just, they can keep up with everybody. They know everybody. They're constantly introducing you to people they genuinely have friendships with.
Like it annoys you how many friends they have. Like you don't think they should have that many friends. Like no one person should have that many friends, but they're gifted that way. And so we get to grow together. Some of you hadn't made a friend since middle school. Not very gifted there.
God hasn't gifted you in the ability to just make a friend. Like you start a conversation, it gets awkward and you bail. Like you consistently are like, hey, this is a nice conversation. You run it into the ground and then you go, all right, this is good, good talking. You're not designed to do it, but in your group, you have something you're gifted to do. Maybe you are amazing in a kitchen.
Maybe you are amazing when it comes to service. You love not having to talk and having to be at the front of things, but you're going to make sure everything's clean. You're going to make sure everybody has what they need because God's gifted you to serve and to help. And the person who relationally connects to everybody maybe can't have a real deep conversation with anyone. It goes beyond ha ha ha ha and they're over their head. And there's just one person in your group that immediately can turn conversations and handle spiritual things and go towards the gospel.
Some of you, when someone's hurting, the best you've got is like, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there. Like that's what you got. But you can, you can show up and help them work. You can show up and help serve. You're going to take care of logistic things for them while they're dealing with problems. You're going to make sure that people bring food to their house, but someone else is going to be the person sitting on the couch crying with them.
You've been gifted by the Holy Spirit for your church family. And if we are not consistently figuring out how we've been designed to, to, to serve each other, we actually hurt the body because we're designed to use our gifts so that the body builds itself up. So we actually get to begin to pray about and ask God, how am I supposed to serve my community group? How am I supposed to serve my church family? What have you gifted me to do? And we're going to get to see how this helps us grow.
We already see how it helps the rest of our church family grow, but we'll get to see as we look through the rest of this, how it helps us grow. So, um, Paul in this next section, we're going to kind of read through it pretty quickly. What he's going to say basically is this, you used to not be a Christian. Now you are, you have a new identity in Christ, not you did these things and it made you a Christian. He's going to say, no, Jesus made you a Christian through what he's done. Now live like it.
So we, we can't get that backwards. You can't get it as you do stuff and get to become a Christian. And then you get to live that way to keep it together. No, it's Jesus did stuff. He saved us through his work, not ours. That's the gospel.
We became Christians and then we get to live like it as we have a new identity. Okay. And then he's going to explain kind of how that looks as we read through the rest of this chapter. So now this, I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles. And in this particular situation, it just means those who don't know Jesus in the futility of their minds. And they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart.
They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But this is not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. And so Jesus makes us new. He creates us in righteousness and holiness. And then we get to walk in that.
And so here's how he explains how we get to do that. And again, we'll see that it's all relational. It has to do with being in real relationships. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.
Let the thief work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come from out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Okay.
So here's what Paul says. Walk in the new life you've been given. And then he tells us what that looks like. And it's all relational. Don't lie to each other. Don't be fake.
That's an invitation. That's not a command. It is kind of a command, but it's an invitation. Just so you know, if you're in a community group, you have a couple of options. You can be a fake version of yourself, a pretend version of yourself, and people can like the pretend version of you, but that is tiring and very difficult to keep up. And it's not real.
What he says is be honest, be open, be real. And then you actually get to find that you get to be a messed up sinner that a bunch of people love anyway. You get to be the real, uh, non-fake, non-cleaned up version of yourself and get to see how freeing that is as a group of people rally around. I always, I always think it's funny when something happens in our groups and somebody like something comes out and it turns out that they're worse than everybody thought. Um, and they're usually like, I just don't want people to think, um, you know, and it's like, what a sinner? Braswell brought us together.
We knew you were a sinner. You've been having it together for too long. We all assumed you were faking. We're glad this came out. Now we get to actually begin to grow.
We get to actually walk this out like it's good and healthy. Our goodness didn't bring us together. Our sin did. So when we find out that we're broken, all it does is point to how good Jesus is. So he says, be honest, be real with each other.
Then he says this, be angry, but don't sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. You know what he assumes as you exist in relationships with each other? You're going to get mad. Isn't that nice? And he says, be angry, just work it out.
Like don't, don't linger on that. Don't let that hang out. Don't, don't go, don't let the sun go down on that. So he says, work out problems, relational problems quickly. Don't hold onto them. He says, uh, change the former man of your life.
So if you used to steal, don't steal anymore. Like he goes through this whole list and then he ends it with this, forgive each other. So he says, do this, do this, do this, do this, live like this. And then he gets to the end and he goes, okay, guys. All right, team, you're going to mess that up.
So forgive each other. Let me tell you something that is true about our church family. If you hang out long enough, one of two things will happen. And if you keep hanging out, both will. If you hang out long enough, one of two things will happen. If you keep hanging out, both will either someone in our church family will hurt you, will offend you, will fail you, will sin against you, or you will hurt somebody, offend them, fail them, or sin against them.
Either you will be sinned against or you will sin against someone if you hang out long enough in real relationships. And here's what's beautiful. We get to forgive each other. Through the cross, we've been forgiven. So we actually get to forgive as we live in real relationships.
And here's the thing. If you don't live in real relationships, you won't have to have patience. You won't have to bear with anyone. You won't have to forgive anyone. And you'll actually have a shallow understanding of God's grace towards you. Because it's only when I have to forgive someone that I realize how costly forgiveness is.
And I appreciate all the more the cross. And it's only the people that we exist in real relationships with that we have to have patience for. My wife, Anna, has to have the most patience for me than anyone else in the world. Because she's around me all the time. She has to bear with me than more than anyone else in the world. And the truth is, is we walk in real relationships in our community groups.
We get to have patience with each other. We get to bear with one another. And we get to repent. And we get to forgive. Hang out long enough and you'll be on both ends of that. You'll have to go to someone and say, I failed.
I sinned against you. I've been angry with you. And I hadn't talked to you about it. I allowed this awkward situation to get in between us. And we never worked it out. And I was wrong.
And I'm sinful. And I need you to forgive me. And then they actually get to apply the gospel, which is that Jesus forgave them. So they get to forgive you. And it's a process. And if you hang out long enough, you'll be on both ends of it.
And the truth is, in both sides of that, we get to remember the gospel and we get to grow in it. I want us to see one thing as we look in, as how he moves into this next section. Of course, the chapters and verses were added later. So I feel like this is the same kind of thought process. But therefore, this is chapter five.
Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children. So remember, we're a family. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. So here's what he says. Be imitators of God as children of God. Love one another.
Walk in love and realize that that Jesus gave himself up as an offering and a sacrifice for us as he loved us that much. Tim Keller, who's really smart. He's a pastor in New York, and he writes really smart things. He's kind of like C.S. Lewis, but he's alive. He says this when it talks about loving people.
And I just thought this was helpful. It's this whole section on how loving people is difficult, but he starts it off this way. He says, think about it. If you love a person whose life is all put together and has no major needs, it costs you nothing. It's delightful. There are probably four or five people like that where you live.
You ought to love. You ought to find them and become their friend. That's nice. He says, think about it. If you love someone who's got their life all put together, it costs you nothing. And it's nice.
It's delightful. Find those people and be their friend. And then he says, but the rest of love doesn't look like that. And he goes to this whole section and explains that all of love is sacrifice. And that's what we see in this chapter, this verse where it says, walk in love, just as Jesus loved us and was a sacrifice for us. Here's how this works.
My wife and I are about to have a baby in a couple of weeks. It's supposed to be like 30 days from now, but Anna's hoping that he comes early because she's getting really tired of him kicking her. I'm hoping he doesn't come super early because I'm enjoying like being able to sleep at night and stuff because he doesn't kick me. He doesn't keep me up. But here's what I understand.
We don't have any kids, but here's what I understand about children. Uh, cause I've been doing some research online and talking to people. Um, here's what I understand about children. Uh, they don't really pull their own weight for like some years. Like they're pretty useless when it comes to like chores and accomplishing things and like making money. I think it's like upwards of like seven years before you can like get them in the workforce and they start really, really pulling their weight around the house.
Uh, here's what we understand when it comes to love. It takes sacrifice to love somebody. It just does. Real love is going to involve sacrifice. It's going to involve sacrificing time. It's going to involve.
So as we raise our son, we're going to have to sacrifice. He's going to take up our time. He's going to, he's going to monopolize our time in a lot of ways. He's going to, I'm going to be involved in less than interesting conversations. Like he's going to be, I'm going to be like, bro, you're babbling nonsense. I don't even understand half of what you're saying.
And that show is dumb. I don't want to talk about it. Like, wait till you get something interesting to say, we'll talk. No, I can't do that. I have to be like, really? Wow.
You did what? Even if I can't understand what he's saying, like, I've got to do that. So he'll grow. I have to sacrifice so that he'll grow. I have to sacrifice time and energy and money and effort. And that's what love looks like.
And if I didn't do that, I wouldn't love him. Like if you saw parents that weren't willing to sacrifice for their children, you'd be like, there's something wrong in this situation because all love involves sacrifice. And we know that. Let's say you're in high school and there's a girl that's considered a geeky. And some people don't really hang out with her, but you notice this. And so you, you want to be your friend.
Like you want to go out of your way to be nice to her because life seems rough. So you do, you start hanging out with her, you start talking to her and I don't know, maybe a week into this, your friends come over and say, why are you talking to her? Why are you hanging out with her? What's happened? Her geekiness has rubbed off on you. You, you can't love her without taking on some of her qualities, without taking on some of what makes her unlovable by other people.
You have to pour out some of your coolness and take on some of her geekiness. But that's how love works. If you're in a community group and there's someone in your group that's just needy, they're hurting, life hasn't been good for them right now, they're just emotionally down, they're depressed. If you spend time with them, the only way for them to be undepressed, for them to be, come out of being down is for you to pour out your joy, for you to actually let them drain you. It's the only way to love them. It's through sacrifice.
It's through taking your time and your energy and your joy and pouring it out on their behalf to be a substitutionary sacrifice for them, which is what Jesus was for us. All love is sacrifice. We can't bear each other's burdens unless we carry some of the weight. The problem with the Christian church in America so often is that I'm going to bear your burden unless some of the burden gets on me, which doesn't make any sense. Like that's my favorite way to move things. Like in my community group, we have to move people all the time because they never stop moving for some reason.
The best is when they're moving far away because then you don't have to do it once. You just pack them up and you're like, peace. Just kidding, guys. These crosstown moves are killing me though. So I was talking to Logan the other day.
He's moving and he was explaining who was helping him. He goes, yeah, and we've got your truck. And I was like, bro, I haven't even told you how to help you yet. Like, I don't know why you're just assuming my truck. I'm like, are you going to drive it? I didn't say that.
I thought it. That's why he was laughing hard back there because I didn't. This is just things I think, guys. Here's the thing. If somebody's moving something and I'm going to help, I actually have to shoulder some of the weight. I can't just stick my hands under.
That's my favorite. It's like, just follow somebody and be like, I'm spotting you. You pull your back. I'll catch you. Like, no, you actually have to carry some of the weight. And as we walk in life together, we actually have to give up some of our energy, some of our joy, some of our, we have to bear some of our burdens.
We have to actually, to be generous, have to open our wallets to help someone else out. That's how that works. And if we don't do that, we miss out on the opportunity to grow because we miss out on an opportunity to align ourselves with Jesus and understand the depth of his generosity, the depth of his love and the depth of his sacrifice and how difficult it is to forgive. If we never walk in relationships, we miss all of that. Not only does our church family not get served as we pour ourselves out for them, but we actually miss out on understanding the reality and the weight of the gospel. See, too often we approach our groups and we approach churches by, what am I getting out of this?
And we miss the point. If you show up to your group and think, oh, you know, people talk to you and say, yeah, I just wasn't getting fed there. I just wasn't getting anything out of that. Or it just wasn't, it wasn't meeting my needs. They've missed the point because they were gifted specifically to pour themselves out. And real love is going to involve sacrifice.
And so when everybody in your community group starts showing up and saying, how can I serve? I exist for these other people. My gifts are here for these other people. I'm going to pour out for these other people. That actually gets to be a beautiful group. Everybody gets to grow and it gets to be about Jesus.
And it's beautiful. When we were about to plant a church, I was up in Lynchburg. I was going to school and I was talking to a pastor who's solid guy, has done a lot of stuff, was a pastor of a big church and his dad's like a brain genius. And, um, he was talking to me and he said, his dad had been a professor forever, actually like started a school. And he said to me, he said, um, he said, okay, you're going to do groups and that's cool to help people grow as disciples and stuff. Cause I was, you know, I had my plan for what we were going to do.
And, uh, he said, uh, but my dad's 80. He's been in the church forever. He knows the Bible backward and forward. He doesn't need to be in one of your groups. What does he need to do? Like, what would you have for him?
And so I, that was a legitimate, like I was thinking about it. I was like, okay. Um, and I was like, I don't know. So I spent more time praying about it. And then I realized that the whole understanding, the approach to that was just off. First of all, he's gifted for the benefit of others.
So actually he might think he doesn't need a group, but the group needs him to share wisdom, to point them out to where they're off in the gospel, where they're not understanding the Bible clearly. It needs him to teach and to lead and shepherd. And here's the other thing. He doesn't get to grow. If he's not in relationships, he won't get to forgive unless I get to take him off. He won't get to bear with someone unless he consistently is around me so that I can annoy him.
Like that's how that works. He actually gets to grow, even though we would look at him in our, in our culture and say, Oh, he knows everything. Yeah. But he doesn't get to apply it unless he's having to forgive, unless he's having to bear with people, unless he's having to have patience, unless he consistently has me sit down across from him and completely misunderstand what he taught me the week before. Then he needs patience.
Then he needs to bear with somebody. You see, we all get to grow as we have real relationships. And when Paul's walking through this and saying, we're gifted to serve one another, he's saying that you were designed to be in relationships with each other. This is just how it works. So don't miss that.
If you're not in a community group and you say, I'm a Christian, get in a group because it's how we grow. It's how we get to be around each other in normal life so that we can see how we ought to apply the gospel to one another, how we ought to walk through life together. If you're in a group, pour yourself out. Realize that all love is sacrifice and that we're empowered by the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross to actually love one another, to actually forgive. And that as we have to do that, we'll grow. We'll all grow as we pour ourselves out, as we go beyond how far we thought we could bear, as we deal with people that are frustrating, as we have to repent and as we have to forgive.
We'll come to love the gospel in a way that we never thought we could. And we'll become a part of a real family. And there's a lot of joy there. So we'll be messy. Yes, we'll be difficult. We'll be hard.
We'll be frustrating. Will you be absolutely worn out at times? Yes. But will it be beautiful and good? And will it make much of Jesus? Yes.
And as we do it, we'll all get to grow. So don't miss out. Josh and Bianca and Raz are going to come back up and we're going to sing as a church family together. And that's all I would say is to realize that you've been gifted by God to serve others, that you exist for the benefit of your group, not the other way around, that we're designed to pull together, to serve together, to grow together in all the ways that God's gifted us to do that. And if you're not, you're missing out. You're missing out on the beauty that comes from being in real relationships with real sinners who have a real savior.
So don't miss out. Let's pray. God, we thank you that through your sacrifice and through your forgiveness and through your love that we can have real relationships, that you have made us into a family and that it's our brokenness and our messiness that brings us together because it's your righteousness and holiness that saves us. So God, I pray that we wouldn't settle for surface level, that we wouldn't settle for fake, but that we'd be real because none of us through our good behavior saved ourselves. And as we're real, God, and as we're open and as we're broken and as we're frustrating to one another, I pray that you would empower us through the gospel to forgive and to sacrifice and to love in a real way.
We ask God that your Holy Spirit would move, begin to show us how we ought to serve, where you have gifted us, for those of us who don't know. That you'd help us to point out in each other where there's growth and where there's gifting. God, we just ask that as we all serve and as we all pull together and as we all do ministry, that you would build your church and that it would get to be all about you and that you would get all the glory from it as your entire family serves and works and uses the gifts that you gave them. We ask you to work in and among us and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Y'all stand, let's sing.
Church as Family
Transcript
It's good to see you guys this morning. My name is Matt. I'm one of the pastors here with Mill City Church. And it is an honor and a privilege to continue on with you guys in our Anchor Series. So we're in about the middle of it.
And the question that we've been seeking to answer is, what does the Bible say about the church? And then from that, how do we live that out as Mill City Church, as a local church body, as a gospel-centered community on mission? And so we've kind of taken it in those chunks. For three weeks, we looked at what is this idea, what does it mean to be centered around the gospel, the good news that Jesus saves? So we took one Sunday and just looked at the gospel message as we see it from the book of Romans.
We looked at Romans 1 through 6. And we see that we were created to worship God, but we choose to worship other things instead. We saw that we all fall short, and there's no amount of work that can fix this. But Jesus died to pay our debt and to make us right with God, so we're saved by His work and not ours. That's the gospel message that we're saved by Jesus' work and not ours. And coming out of that, it's the message, but it's also more than that.
It's how does that impact our lives on a day-in and day-out basis. So two weeks ago, we looked at the idea of gospel fluency. Since the gospel is the story that changes everything for us, it impacts everything. It impacts the way we think. It impacts the way we speak. It impacts the way we view the world and live in a relationship with other people.
And then last week, we just took that a step forward. Since the gospel applies to all of life, it actually applies to my individual life. And we talked about what it looks like to apply the gospel to our hearts, because our hearts are prone to wander and to drift. And when we speak that gospel truth back into it, it brings us back into right understanding of living in relationship with God. So today, we're switching gears just a little bit.
We're moving from this idea of gospel-centered to talking about what it means to be a community. And what we're going to see throughout the entire New Testament is that the way that believers grew in their understanding of the gospel, grew in their understanding of how to follow Jesus, was in the context of community, of living in real relationship with other people. And I think part of the reason that is, is that the society in that day, the culture in that day, was very communal. Like people had to live in a relationship with each other, which is actually very different than the culture that we live in.
We live in a very individualistic society, where most people are just kind of looking out for number one. So the money that they make from their job, or how they spend their time, or with their hobbies, is we live in an individual society where most people will say, you take care of you, you take care of your family, and then whatever else you have left, whether that be time, or money, or resources, whatever, you can use that to, to be in relationship with other people, or to bless other people. And so we see that. That's one way to think about it. I heard someone say that it seems like in America, the goal is for you to work a good nine to five Job, to get a good paycheck, to be able to go home, and not have to talk to anybody, watch TV for four hours, and then go to bed.
Like that's the individualistic American dream. And I don't think, I don't think it's because we don't want to be in relationship with other people. I really don't think that's it. I think we just don't feel like we need to be in relationship with other people. That people aren't a necessity. That relationships aren't important.
Don't enhance life. Don't make it better. And the culture of Jesus' day didn't see it that way. They needed each other. And as we look at places in scripture today, what we're going to see is that this idea of community, or relationships, it's expressly taught, some, but it's way more just implied in the relationships that people shared as believers, as they lived out this community together. That's what the culture was like at the time.
And Jesus shows up on the scene, and begins to preach a gospel to everyone, that salvation is for everyone. He's preaching to the Jews. So the Jews were God's chosen people that lived in relationship with him, that he said that he was going to love, and to bless, and to multiply. And Jesus comes preaching a salvation for everybody. And through his death and resurrection, he opens up access to God for everyone. And the entire New Testament is this beautiful story of all these different kinds of people coming together and figuring out what it looks like to follow Jesus in relationship with each other.
And the Bible is going to describe those relationships as a family. That's the word that's going to be used. So today, that's absolutely what we're talking about, is the idea of church as a family. And I just want to say this, before we dive into the scripture, I realize that family is not the easiest thing for everyone to talk about. So we all come into this room from different backgrounds, different experiences.
And in fact, when I said the word family, some of you went ahead and checked out, because you don't want to talk about it. The pain, the emotions, the feelings that you have, whether it be from a divorce, or some type of abuse, or just a bad home life that you grew up in, or are a part of now, you don't want to talk about family. And so what I want to ask you this morning is regardless of your background, regardless of how you walked into this room, I just want you to open up your mind and open up your heart to this idea of family that the Bible is going to talk about. Because I believe if you do, it will change everything.
Just like it did for Josh and Nadine, it will change everything for you. And I'm going to pray that God would help us to do that. So you guys pray with me. God, we ask that you would help us grasp this idea that you have made us into a family. God, it wouldn't just be something that we know or something that we recognize, but it would change us. God, it would change the way we live, the way we speak, it would change the way we lived in relationship with other people.
God, I pray for everyone in the room, regardless of the family background that we've walked into this room with, I pray that you would redeem that idea and you would give us a beautiful picture of what your word says you have invited us into. I pray that you would do that through your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so if you got a Bible, go ahead and grab that. And if you didn't bring one with you, look to your right or to your left, because this scripture isn't going to be on the screen. So just grab one of those Bibles that we have sitting on the seats.
We're going to be in Galatians chapter four. Galatians is in the New Testament. If you got the blue and white Bible, it's going to be page 623. And if you don't have a Bible, we want you to take that one with you when you leave. We have lots of these and we want everyone to have a Bible. So please take one of these with you when you go.
Okay, the book of Galatians is a letter that Paul is writing to a church that's in the Southern province in the Roman Empire. Okay, and what we know from the book of Acts about Paul is that Paul becomes a Christian. He becomes a believer and he starts going on these different missionary journeys. Yes. Well, and you know what? I'm a little dyslexic, guys.
I told them it was. So if you go to 623, I don't know where you're going to be, but if you'd like to join us in 632, sorry about that. But anyway, so this is a letter that Paul's writing to the church in Galatia. So when Paul became a Christian, he began to go out on these missionary journeys and one of the areas he ends up is in Galatia. Paul shares the gospel. People become Christians.
They begin to follow Jesus. He begins to teach them what it means to be a disciple and they start a church there. And then Paul moves on from that place. And we know that by this time, there are many churches in this area. And what Paul, the purpose of Paul writing this letter is to continue instructing them in how to follow Jesus in normal, everyday life as a church family. And that's important for us.
That's important for us to remember that Paul is speaking to a church family because I want us to listen to this as a church family. I want to hear this as a collective. So chapter 4, verse 4 on page 632, if your Bible looks like this, let's read it together. Verse 4, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law. Okay, let's stop there. All right, this is what we've been talking about for the last couple of weeks.
This is the gospel message. What it said here is that God sent Jesus, born of a woman, conceived of by the Holy Spirit, which meant that Jesus was fully God and fully man. So Jesus was God in human form. And it says that he sent Jesus to be under the law. The law, God gave the law to his people to tell them how to live in relationship with him and with each other. So it says that he sent him to be under the law.
But here's the catch. Nobody could live up to the law. That's what we talked about in our first week, is that no amount of work could fix this. Nobody could live up to it. And so it says that he sent him to be under the law to redeem those who were under the law, which is this beautiful picture that Jesus comes and he lives a perfect, sinless life. He perfectly obeys God's law, perfectly lives in relationship with God, and then he dies to pay for the fact that we never could have lived perfectly in relationship with God.
And in doing so, he paid for our sin. That's the gospel message, and that's important because Paul, before he goes into how this plays out, he just sets the stage again. He said, here's the gospel that Jesus came to redeem us, and then it begins to give us the practical outworking of what that means. It continues on. We'll read verse 5 again and keep going. to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. To redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.
And that's beautiful. That the reason that Jesus came wasn't just to save us, but it was to adopt us as sons. That Jesus, in doing this, was creating a new family that was made possible for those who placed faith in him. And I want you to think about this idea of adoption for a second. I want you to think about adopted parents versus biological parents. And this idea of adoption.
How many of you know someone who's gone through the adoption process? Okay, so kind of all across the room. It's insane what you have to go through to adopt a child. So you have to fill out a ton of paperwork. You have to have all these different background checks. You have to go through interviews.
They come to your house and look through how your house is set up. They not only interview you, but they interview your family. They interview your friends. And then when you add into that the cost, oh man, it costs a ton of money. Thousands upon thousands of dollars. And especially if you're adopting somebody from overseas, you have to pay for the adoption and pay for the plane ticket to go over there.
And a lot of times ending up in another country, you're just paying to fly out there for another interview. And then you've got to fly back and then they let you know and then you get to fly back over and you get to pay for another ticket as you bring your adopted child home. Adoption is very costly. And it's absolutely the same thing for God. It costs Jesus his life to adopt us into his family. And in an adopted family, and think about an earthly family for a second.
Biological children and adopted children have the same rights and same status within a family. But how much more grateful is the adopted child because they were chosen? The parents could have could have left them, not provided for them, not protected them, not cared them, just left them out on their own. But how much more grateful is the adopted child because they were chosen? And it costs a lot. And that's absolutely what's true for us.
That God was willing to allow his son to be murdered to bring us in to adopt us into his family. It gets better. It gets better. Keep reading with me. Go back to verse 6. And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying, Abba, Father.
So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God. I'm going to read that one more time. And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying, Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son.
And if a son, then an heir. So for those that have placed faith in Jesus to redeem them, it says that God sends his spirit into them to cry, Abba, Father. Just this beautiful picture of family. And we can kind of gloss over that and not catch it because Abba is actually the Aramaic word that means Father. but it's way more relational than Father is for us. It's much more akin to the word Daddy. How awesome is that?
I want you to think about that. The creator of the universe is allowing us to be brought into a family where the relational tie is where he's our Daddy. That's absolutely beautiful that we've been, as verse 7 says, that we're no longer slaves. We're not slaves to sin. We've been made sons. And God is our Daddy and not only sons but an heir.
The inheritance that we have as sons is salvation, is God himself. It's his presence. And the reason that it says sons and not sons and daughters, it's not trying to be exclusive. So it isn't just saying only the males. No, no, no. What God is showing us is actually the nature and the value of the adoption that Jesus' redemption brings us.
You see, in this culture, the way that inheritance was passed down was from male descendant to male descendant. It was passed from father to sons. And the way that females were blessed in this culture or taken care of was through the finances that were provided by the males. And what Paul is saying here is that men, women, and children alike are given the new standing as sons in this new family. Which means that all of us are heirs. And here's another thing.
Don't miss this. Not only are we given Jesus' right standing with God, we're also given his relational standing. not only does Jesus take care of our sin, but we're seen as sons. We're given his relational standing as well and it changes everything. What we're looking at is the theology behind this idea that we've been made into a family, that we've been changed forever, that our identity is no longer in ourselves, but it's in Jesus and in this family that he's invited us into. That's what we mean when we say that Mill City Church is a gospel-centered community on mission. That's what we mean.
It's a family and we're not just talking about it in means of the relationships that we're aiming to grow. No, no, no. This is a declaration of what God has made us into. We've been made into a new family for those that have placed faith in Jesus to redeem them. That's why the New Testament letters are written to brothers. It's a shout-out to this family of people that come from all different walks of life, all different backgrounds.
I want you to look around the room for a second. Not for real. Y'all still looking at me. Look around the room for a second. Okay. For those that have placed faith in Jesus, you have been made into a new family.
Just as much family as your flesh and blood family. real family. That's what Jesus has made us into. All right. So we're tracking. We're getting this idea. We're understanding.
Like we can see it very clearly from Scripture. This isn't just something that we talk about. It's absolutely true. It's what Jesus has done. He's made us into a family. So the question then becomes, okay, I'm on your team.
That's true. How does that play out in life? What does that actually mean? How does that affect me on a day in and day out basis? And what we're going to do is we're going to take a zoomed overview. We're going to zoom kind of through the New Testament here.
We're going to look at a little bit of Jesus' interactions with people. We're going to look at how the early church lived in relationship with each other as we see it in Acts. And we're going to kind of talk about the New Testament so that we can begin to see this idea of church as family. What does it look like? Because here's the deal. This wasn't so much commanded as it was assumed because of their culture.
You're not going to see Jesus sit down. You're not going to see two chapters in the gospel where it says Jesus sat down and told them how to be family. It doesn't say that. It just shows how they followed him in relationship with each other. It's way more fish than water. Y'all get that illustration, right?
No. That's why I'm going to explain it. Okay. If I was going to, so if I was going fishing and I was telling you about the bass that I was trying to catch, all right, you tracking with me? I'm going to tell you about that bass. At no point do I have to tell you that that bass is in water.
No point do I have to do that unless I'm talking to the part where I hooked him, battered him, fried him, and then we ate him together, which is the intended purpose of the fish's life. But if I'm telling you about the fish, if I'm telling you about what the fish ate, how it moves, how it breathes, at no point do I have to remind you that the fish is in water. And that's very much the way the Bible treats this idea of living in family. It's not, it's expressly taught some, but it's way more understood in the relationships that we're going to see. So again, if you're a note taker, you may just want to jot down some of the references rather than try to flip back and forth in your Bible because we're going to kind of go all over the place.
The first place I want to go is Matthew 12, 46 through 50. Matthew 12, 46 through 50. We're going to have it up here on the screen. It says this, while he, and this is talking about Jesus, while he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brother stood outside asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, who is my mother and who are my brothers?
And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, here are my mother and my brothers for whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Okay. So Jesus is hanging out with people and it says that his mom and his brother show up and someone says, hey, your mom and your brother are outside. And he said, who are my mom and brothers? It's not like Jesus forgot. He didn't just have a moment there because he then points to his disciples and he says, here are my mom and brothers.
Whoever obeys my father's will is my mother or, I'm sorry, I said father or mother, mother or brothers. Okay. Here's another one. This is another interaction of Jesus with people and this is going to come from John 19. Okay. This is at the end of Jesus' life.
He's giving his life. He's on the cross. It says this, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother.
And from that hour the disciple took her to his own house. Okay. So Jesus is on the cross and it says the disciple whom he loved, which is John, which is my favorite. Like John calls himself that. This is John writing the gospel. You know, it's a little cocky, John.
Take it easy. But it's true. He did. He did love John. And as he's dying, he gives the care of his mother to his disciple. And it's not that Jesus didn't have other brothers.
We just saw that in the passage before and we know that from other passages in scripture. But there's some amount of, but they didn't believe in him yet. We know that from, we know later that they become Christians and they follow him. But he hands care over of his mother to his disciple. So Jesus begins, is beginning to change this dynamic.
He's beginning to shift our understanding of earthly family and this new faith family that he's creating. And then Jesus rises from the dead and then he ascends into heaven. And so these believers, these disciples and others that he had spent time with, they just go into action. They begin living like the words, the things that Jesus had taught them, the things that Jesus had showed them. And we get a very clear picture of that in Acts chapter 2. We get to see this, this new family playing out.
Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 42. You might be familiar with this. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And all came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple, I'm sorry, and day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. It says that they shared all of their possessions, that they spent time together, that they prayed together. What you see there is a picture of a new family, that their understanding of family had been radically changed.
They realized that the only way that they could follow Jesus was in the context of these family relationships with other believers. And that makes perfect sense when you tie together with what we've already seen that Paul says to the church in Galatian, the Galatian church, they've been made into a new family and so they're absolutely going to live that way in their relationships with other people. But here's the problem with that. That messes with our Western minds, right? When I say that you should be living in relationship with other people and sharing your faith with them and that's actually how you grow, don't, don't, some of us just kind of go, really, I think I can handle it on my own.
In fact, the thought of Jesus ignoring his mom and his brothers when they came to visit makes most of us cringe. Right? Just a little bit. What about honoring our mothers and fathers? Isn't that one of the commandments is Jesus saying that I shouldn't obey that commandment? No, he's not saying that.
I mean, we see very much that Jesus has a deep love and compassion for his mother. He entrusts her to one of his dearest friends and his disciples. But what all of these passages are emphasizing is this idea that the new family is going to play as significant a role in our lives just as much as our earthly family. So is Jesus saying that we shouldn't spend time with our spouses or with our kids? No. But is Jesus saying that this new faith family is to be viewed the same way?
Same amount of love? Same amount of care? Same amount of compassion? Energy? Absolutely. Now, before mothers start to take off their shoes and hurl them at the stage at the thought of not being able to spend time with their children, it's not to the exclusion of our families.
It's an extension of it. Think about the entire New Testament for a second. Again, this is the zoomed out version. Jesus spent the three years of his ministry with twelve dudes. Some of them were fishermen. Some of them were tax collectors.
One of them was a zealot. And here's why that's funny. A tax collector basically worked for the Roman Empire getting money for them. A zealot was someone who absolutely wanted to overthrow the Roman Empire. So next time you're in a conversation in your community group, realize that the tax collector and the zealot probably wouldn't have had a whole lot in common too.
But, they learned to follow Jesus in relationship with each other. It was in relationships that Jesus poured into them and they learned to follow Jesus in relationship with each other. And then Jesus ascends and we see the early church doing the same thing. And now the barrier has been broken down. Salvation isn't just for the Jews, it's now for the Jews and the Gentiles which means it's for everyone. And this early church is learning how to live in relationship with each other because they've been separated for so long the door has been thrown wide open.
As you read the letter to the church at Rome, at Colossae, at Philippi, at Thessalonica, you're going to read through it. And what those letters are going to be is it's going to put the gospel on display and then it's going to talk about how do you live that in relationship with other people. In fact, more often than not when you're reading those letters, when you see the pronoun you, it's usually not singular. More often than not it's going to be plural. The idea that the letter is being written to y'all. It's not written in there like that but it is to y'all and it's to be understood and lived out in the context of community.
In fact, if you just read through the New Testament you're going to see a whole bunch of these things called one another's. Okay? Fill in the blank, one another. The greatest example of that is love one another. It doesn't say love yourself. It implies the fact that to grow in our understanding of love means that it needs to be between two people or a group of people.
Love one another. That's how we grow in our understanding of how Jesus loved us is with other people. And that's just one of them. And I just tried to brainstorm all the ones that I could think about and just kind of create a list. Listen to this. Love one another.
Pray for one another. Serve one another. Bear with one another. Encourage one another. Teach. Be at peace.
Be devoted to. Give preference to. Same mind toward. Edify. Admonish. Accept.
Greet one another. Have patience with. Speak the truth in love to one another. Be kind. Be subject to. And on and on and on.
This idea of relationship. And they got that. That the way they grew in their understanding of the gospel and how to follow Jesus was in the context of relationships. You see what the New Testament is pointing us to? Family. Real family.
And it's not to the exclusion of your earthly or your biological family. Instead of thinking of them as distinct and different, the goal is to begin viewing them as the same. Same amount of love. Same amount of compassion. Not that your children aren't going to get your time, but you're actually throwing open the doors of your family so that your children receive more love, more care. Now let me be clear.
I understand that not everybody grew up as a part of this idealistic, earthly family that I've been describing. Maybe you grew up in a home where your parents split up, in a home where there was abuse. I get that. And in fact, you're kind of cynical towards this whole idea of church family like I'm talking about right now. But all of us know what a good family should look like.
Every single one of us. Whether you have that, have that or not, we all know what it should look like. And all of us have this intrinsic desire within us to belong, to be accepted, to be a part of that. All of us want a father that instead of raising his fists, open his arms in love. All of us want a father that will speak words of love and care and not tear us down with abuse. And what I'm telling you is, what the New Testament is screaming to us is that you've been invited into that family.
Regardless of our backgrounds, regardless of whatever baggage we come in with, the New Testament is going to say is that Jesus redeems people into this family, which is really good news. You know why? It means that no person in that family is going to be perfect. That the entrance exam to that family is not, you've got your mess together. No, no, no. The entrance exam is, I don't.
That the reason we get to come and be a part of that family is because Jesus redeems us and brings us into relationship. And so, yeah, it's a messed up, jacked up family, just maybe like the one that you grew up in, maybe the one that you know, but here's the difference. The gospel changes us. Jesus works and he changes us and he brings us into real relationship with each other. And as we open up our homes and open up time with each other, it over time, as the Holy Spirit works in that, helps us grow closer to him. And there's a lot of love and there's a lot of joy.
And so that's what we mean. When we say that we're a gospel-centered community on mission, that we're a people redeemed by Jesus to look like and to live like family, and so we just act like it. That's how we express ourselves. That's how we grow in our faith is with other people. And so the question then becomes, okay, I'm with you, Matt. I'm tracking.
I understand that this is what the Bible says is what Jesus has done. That I see that this is how that plays out. How does that impact my life now? How do I begin living like that is true with the people that are in this room, the people that are in my community group? And so we're going to talk. I'm going to give you just a few practical, tangible handles for how this plays out.
But our community groups are going to talk about that this week too. And so I want you to be thinking about what would it look like for us to live in a relationship with each other. And the first way is this. The first way to begin thinking about how do I exist in family with other people is to ask the question, how do I exist as family with my earthly family? Seems pretty simple, right? Try to answer that question.
Okay, how do I relate to my family, my earthly family already? And so for me, the way that I'm going to answer that question is I'm going to think about Katie. I'm going to think about the way I relate to Katie. So Katie and I spend time together. We share meals together. We go to the grocery store together.
We read the Bible together. On Friday nights, we go to the grocery store and we buy cookies and we go home and we bake them and then we shamelessly eat all 24 within 24 hours. We go on walks together and it's the same way that you relate with your family. You fight and you forgive and you reconcile. You defend each other. You help each other.
You laugh together. You do Pinterest projects together. Yeah, I said Pinterest projects. You do it. You know, it's true. You pay for things for each other.
You give gifts to each other. You see how beautiful that is? It's not to the exclusion of the family you already have. You're just opening that up for other people. You begin to ask that question. It sets the stage for how we live in relationship with each other.
And I'm going to be really honest with you guys. This is absolutely from my heart. Katie and I moved to Columbia two years ago to be a part of helping start Mill City Church. And the only people we knew in the city were Chet and Anna and they had moved here three months before. We spent time praying and planning and asking God, what do you want this church to look like? What is this going to look like?
And then we started with our first community group meeting in a home and right off the bat I knew that something was different. It was real. There were real relationships. We spent time together. We shared meals together. We played spike ball together.
I began to love and care for the people that I was in a group with and they shared that same love and care for me. And then it went from one group to two groups, two groups to five groups and as we continue to grow as a church, that's our understanding. That's how we view ourselves in living in relationship together is in this idea of family. And Katie and I have this conversation every now and then. It's like, how did we ever exist without this? I never want to go back.
I never want to miss out. Life is so much better, has much more, I don't know, it's just better. I just love being in relationship with other people and it has changed my life. It has changed my walk with Jesus. It's improved. Like Katie and I have grown closer in our marriage.
It's changed everything. And so when you start to ask that question, how do I view my earthly family? It begins to answer the question, how do we relate to each other as church family? Let me give you a couple of scenarios. Think through this. Okay, if we really are family together, think through these scenarios with me.
You get a call in the middle of the night from somebody in your community group. It's not look at the phone and move it to the side. No, they're family, right? So it means I'm going to answer the phone and I'm going to run to help, whether it's something that's happened or their car's broken down or if they just need to talk, they're family. I'm going to answer the phone. Short on bills?
Can't pay their mortgage? Don't have enough money to buy groceries? Absolutely. I'm reaching for my wallet. Because they're family. I'm going to help.
There's relational drama in your group because of a fight. You're family. You're not running away from each other. You're going to stay and you're going to talk about it. You're going to be open. You're going to be honest.
You're going to forgive. You're going to reconcile. We've got college students who live with us, who live in this city with us but have family that live other places. What if you had a college student that didn't have money to travel home to see their family? What then? You're going to put them in the minivan and you're going to grandma's house and they're going to have to choke down the same terrible stuffing that you do.
Just part of it. When you start answering those questions, it begins to show us how we should relate to each other as church family. And I've got some examples of this. Tati and I have been putting hardwood laminate in our house. We're expecting our first child in May and wanting to do some house improvements. And so I told someone in my community group that I was going to be doing that and they said, I want to help.
Okay, we were going to be working on it on Friday. Well, that Thursday that person got sick. That Thursday night their child had to go to the hospital and it had to get stitches. And the next day he couldn't even go to work because he was so sick. But you know who showed up at my house that afternoon?
Drove an hour to my house to help me even though he didn't feel good. Stayed till nine o'clock on a Friday night and whose wife and children completely understood because we were family. We get that. He was willing to sacrifice. That's a beautiful picture of family. I have heard countless stories of people having trouble with their car.
I've heard stories of people riding with each other to go check out a new car that was an hour away. Of people stopping work in the middle of the day and going and taking care of somebody's vehicle. Of coming together to help people get a vehicle. Not only vehicles but like AC units. Like if there was something going on like an HVACalypse. People running to your rescue.
Absolutely. I almost died that week guys. I'm for real. But because I'm in church family came to my rescue. Helped me in my need. I've heard of stories of people trying to organize birthday parties and kids going I want church family there.
The people they're rattling off aren't their classmates. They're rattling off church family. Adults that they want to be there. People sharing in life experience together. Stories of people who have had to go to the hospital or had a family member that had to go to the hospital dropping everything in the middle of the day and just taking off. Because it's family.
It's real church family. Just as much family as our earthly family. See how beautiful that is? And that is absolutely the picture of the gospel. That Jesus opened up the door so that all of us could be welcomed in through his redemption. That we were offered forgiveness and grace and we've been made sons and heirs.
And so that's the way we live that out is as a church family. And I want to point out just a couple of groups of people where this is especially beautiful. The church has family for new Christians. For some of you when you placed faith in Jesus your old friends your family wanted nothing more to do with you. You might have had to leave old habits and old patterns behind. And what's beautiful about this is that the church steps in and helps and loves and serves.
That it's real family. It's real relationships. And so what you left pales in comparison to what you now have. The church is family for people who are single. Our culture says that the goal is to get married and have 2.5 kids and have a house with a white picket fence. Yeah, is the Bible going to say that marriage is a blessing?
Absolutely. Is the Bible going to say that singleness is a blessing too? Yes. But unless the church opens her arms unless we're opening our homes unless we're opening our tables to people what we're asking single people is to be alone. That's not the case when you have real church family that you're throwing open the doors and inviting and welcoming people in. And it's especially beautiful for people who come from broken homes.
If you come from a home where you didn't have a dad who was there or you had a parent who was abusive or you didn't have real loving relationships with people the church's family redeems that for you. Jesus invites you into a family where the entrance exam is Him. It's Him. He welcomes you in. He's the one who redeems you in. And the most beautiful and captivating part of this idea of church's family is this.
Is this last scripture that we're going to look at from Revelation. And I want us to read it together. And they sang a new song saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you are slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on earth. The striving that we put forth now together as a family is just practice for what we've been invited into. That one day all those that have placed faith in Jesus from every tribe nation language and tongue are going to sit at the table with Jesus our Savior and Lord and we're going to share a meal together and we're going to be together as a family for eternity.
You see, Katie won't always be my wife but she'll always be my sister so that when Katie and I open up our homes to people when we go out of our way to make time for people in our church family we're just getting a little bit of practice in for what eternity is going to look like as we share in relationship with Jesus forever because we know that our citizenship is in heaven just like Philippians says and so that when we open up our homes open up our time it helps us grow in our understanding of who Jesus is and it's just practice for the eternity that's waiting for us. Bianca's going to come back up and we're going to continue to sing this is going to be hard this is it's going to be messy we're going to have to fight everything inside of us our natural tendencies and the things that we think we're going to have to we're going to have to learn how to grow and how to sacrifice time and as we do so Jesus works in that and he brings us closer to him and he brings us closer to each other and he gives us real family and I say this all the time and it's absolutely true here it's messy it's beautiful and it's worth it and so we're going to stand and sing in a second and there are three ways that you can respond to this the first one is this you can become a Christian and you can be a part of this family so if you've been you've been listening the whole time like I want that I want that to be true for me but I know it's not it says that to be a part of this family is for those who place faith in Jesus that Jesus redeems them and saves us and brings us into this family so right where you are as we sing this next song just cry out to him place your faith in him for the forgiveness of your sin ask him to change you from the inside out and then tell somebody don't leave here without telling somebody that news the second thing is this join a group if you've been hanging out with us on a Sunday and you've been hearing us talk about this idea of community groups join a group that is absolutely where we grow and what this looks like on a day in and day out basis you can't become family with people in an hour and a half on a Sunday you just can't do it it's not possible and you don't want to miss out on that and the third thing is this if you're already a part of a group don't settle for anything less than the beauty of what we've talked about this morning let me pray for us God I pray that you would teach us what it looks like and what it means to be family that you've opened up the way for us to live in a relationship with you and in doing so you have invited us into a family God I pray that you would teach us what that looks like that we would grow in our understanding of you as you work through the relationships in our church in Jesus name Amen
Jesus > Idols
Transcript
How y'all doing? I'm doing well, Vicki. Y'all, let's turn to Romans chapter 1. That's where we'll be this morning. It's on page 610 if you have a Bible that looks like this. If you don't have a Bible that looks like this, it's going to be in the New Testament, kind of near the back, after the book of Acts, before all the other letters like 1 Corinthians and stuff.
So best of luck. At the front of your Bible, there's a thing that has all the names of the books, and you can look, and it'll tell you what page number it's on. I'm going to pray for us, and then we'll kind of hop in this morning. God, we just ask you to teach us and to lead us this morning, that your Holy Spirit would work in our hearts to help us see your beauty and your glory, and to help us to love Jesus more. We thank you and we praise you for all of the love and grace that you've poured out on us. In Jesus' name, amen.
So what we've been doing in the Anchor Series, and kind of the reason we called it that, is when I was in seminary and was learning, trying to grow in church planning, what that would look like, felt called to it. One of the things that we talk about is your church needed some sort of a mission, vision statement, and we in class had to write them out. And so you'll see churches a lot that'll have things like, I know one that was like, love God, love people, love life, which gets more epic at the end. It's just like, everything is great. So you love God, you love people, and then just, life is wonderful, and you're just hugging everybody.
But you would have these different things, and so there's like, seek, serve, send, and it's like, your church is saying, this is what we're going for. And there's like, no, grow, so, go, whoa, hey, ho. Like, it's just these things that people, mantras or whatever for churches. And so as we got into it, we were just like, ah, it's helpful for us to have something that's taken from Scripture. That's not just made up, but that's an idea of what we're shooting for as a church family, what we're going for. But we didn't want anything that was super out there or convoluted or complex.
And so all we said was that we're a gospel-centered community on mission. So we're just trying to define who we are, not what we do, but who we are. And so we're a gospel-centered community on mission. And so in our Anchor Series, all we're saying is that's kind of what we're tied off to. That's what holds us. And so there are some things that, man, wouldn't this be a good idea or wouldn't this be fun?
But they're outside of kind of where our anchor will let us go. It's like, yeah, that actually would work or would be a good idea, but Scripture says this, so we can't really, we can't go there. We can't do that. Or it kind of goes against how we understand we're supposed to look and be as a church family. So that's all we're doing in our Anchor Series.
So we've been kind of in the gospel-centered portion for the first three weeks. And so we're staying there today. And what we're talking about today lines up with the first two weeks and really lines up with last week where we talked about gospel fluency, which is just that since the gospel is our story, it's how we understand life. It's how we understand the world. And it's how we see the world and speak to each other. So we're not just giving each other good advice to adjust our behavior, but that we know that our fundamental issue is that we don't worship God, that we put other things in place of him and that we need the gospel to change us and to point us in the right direction.
And so that's kind of what we're adding on to that today to help us understand what we're going for and what it looks like for us to just operate as Christians. And so we're in Romans 1. We'll start reading verse 21 and kind of recap a little bit and then talk about kind of where we're going today. So verse 21 says, And so the big issue for us as humans is not that we that God has rules and that we've broken his rules, but it's that God is our creator and that we don't exist in a relationship with him appropriately. We don't treat him as the creator. And so we actually begin to look to other things to fulfill us, to bring us life, to bring us joy and hope.
And so we we move God from his rightful place and we put created things there. Now, created things is and the Bible is going to call that idolatry. But that's idolatry whenever we're we're putting something else in the place of God. And when it talks about created, they worship the creature rather than the creator. That includes everything. There's only one creator and everything else is created.
Everything else comes out of him. And so when we think of idolatry, I think most of the time we think of like a carving or we think of like a statue or we think of like a totem pole. And we'll even we'll get kind of smug about it. We'll be like, yeah, how ridiculous is that? People would cut down a tree, carve an image on it and worship it. We would not do that unless you flattened that tree out, made it green and the image was an old dead president.
Then maybe we think about it. We'd give it some thought. But it's it's anything. It's anything. And it can just be an idea. It could be love.
It could be acceptance. It could be relationships. But anything that we begin to look at and say, you'll fill me up. You'll make me happy. Life will be good if. Everything will work out if.
Anything that we begin to put in that spot is when we begin to have idolatry and we begin to worship created things instead of the creator. And so this this is a problem. And we all have something that we're looking to and saying, if that would just work out. If I could just reach this spot, if I could just have this, then life would be OK. I wouldn't be worried anymore. I wouldn't be bothered anymore.
I wouldn't be stressed out anymore. If I could just have this and we're all pointing to something and saying, this will save me. This will fill me up. This will make me complete. And that's that's that's how the Bible understands idolatry, that it's not primarily about and sin is not primarily about us breaking rules. But it's actually that we've swapped God out for something else.
So that's what happens in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, our first parents. That's what that's what they did. It wasn't that he just had a rule. It was that in that moment they wanted to be like God. They believe that God was withholding something from them and that they could, through their own effort, through their own actions, through some other type of savior, reach God level, that they could be happier, that they could have fulfillment and strength. And that's what that's what happened.
That's what the Ten Commandments, when Moses goes to Pharaoh and sings that song about letting his people go. And then and then they do. And the Ten Commandments, we think of that as those are God's rules. That's the rules God began to give the law that we follow. But it starts off with you will have no other God but me.
And the second one is you won't build any idols. You won't make any idols. You won't take anything. And when he says it, he says anything in the heavens, anything on the earth, anything under the earth, which could be anything other than God. You won't turn into something supreme. And so even the Ten Commandments begin with not here are my rules, follow my rules, but with object of worship, with I'm God and nothing else is.
And so the primary issue for us when we sin is not that we've done something bad or broken a rule or that our behavior is off. But first and foremost, we've broken the first two commandments, which is something else has become more important to us. Something else has become primary, that we've taken God out of his rightful place. And that's why we're willing to steal. That's why we'll commit adultery. That's why we'll lie.
Because something else has become more important to us than God. And so at its core, sin and rebellion and the fall is based off of not having God in his rightful place and not worshiping him as the creator. It's based off of us putting something else there, which leads us astray all the rest of the time. And that's what the Romans 1 is going to say is that's the issue, that they worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator. So we even see this as we move into the New Testament.
So when they're talking to Jesus and asking, what's the what's the primary commandment? He says to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. That's the commandment. It has nothing to do with behavior, has everything to do with our hearts and our love for God. And so as we talked about gospel fluency last week, what we were talking about is pointing each other not to here's some advice to change your behavior, but pointing each other to here's what Jesus has done and here's how that works in our hearts to bring about change. Because we're not trying to change our behavior.
We're trying to change our hearts. That's even what Jesus says. It's about our love for God. And then he says to love others. And somewhere I'm sure it says love life. Okay, so what we see first, though, as we begin to look at something and say, you'll fix me, you'll fill me up, you'll make me complete.
We're going to talk about surface idolatry. Bible doesn't use that phrase. It does use idolatry, but we're just using that to help explain this. So we're going to talk about the two major areas that idolatry shows up in us and in our hearts. So surface idolatry is when we begin to look at anything and say, you'll fix me, you'll fill me up, if I could just have this, if this would just work out.
It's what we daydream about. It's what we plot on. It's our biggest fear that we would lose this because we believe that it's going to fix us, that it's going to fill us up, that it's going to give us life. It's going to make us whole. And for most of us, that is something good. We've picked something good.
Most of us don't have really dumb idols. We've picked something good. We've picked something kind of intelligent. Just like you might put a lot of energy and effort into fixing your car up, get a new paint Job, maybe some sweet flames running down the side. But you're not going to do that to your trash can.
You're not going to put spinners on your garbage can that you roll out to the road once a week, get a sweet paint Job on it, some fire going up. Like you're not going to do that because it's a trash can. And so most of us, when we pick an idol, we pick something pretty smart, something that actually has value, that actually has worth, that actually has some beauty. And then because it has value, worth, and beauty, because it brings joy, we begin to believe that it actually can replace God. We're not usually tricked by something small and trivial. We're tricked by something good.
So even take an alcoholic. There's something in alcohol that brings some level of joy, some level of forgetfulness, some level of pleasure. At first, at least, and then it leads into worse things. But that's what begins to make someone believe this is actually what will fill me up, what will make me whole. Someone with sexual addiction, there's actually something beautiful there created by God for enjoyment, for pleasure, for life. And that's what begins to make us believe the lie that it will fix us, fill us up, make us whole.
Athletic achievement. It's good. It's designed by God for joy, for us to compete, for there to be some. And that's what begins to make someone believe, if I just get this, then I'll be fine. If I can just reach this moment. Parents, your children.
They're designed by God, given to you by God as a blessing. And that's actually because of the joy and the life that they bring. That's what actually can make you begin to say, if they just turn out okay. If they're just safe. If they just get the best of everything. If life just works well for them.
If they just end up the way the Bible says someone should end up. Then I'll know. Then I'll know I have value. Then I'll know I have worth. Then I'll know I'm okay.
And it's when we do that. When we begin to look to anything to accomplish that for us. We've swapped the creator out. And we've put the creature there. We've taken something creative. And placed it there.
And we've begun to put more pressure on it than it'll ever be able to hold. And we've begun to believe something about it that it's never going to be able to fulfill. Because it won't fill us up. And it won't make us whole. And it won't complete us. And it won't get rid of that nagging emptiness in us.
And so as far as surface level idolatry goes. We'll take anything. You name it. We can put it there. Money. Love.
Relationships. A particular person. This is what keeps us in bad relationships for longer. This is what makes us make a lot of the mistakes that we make. Is because we've begun to believe that something is fundamentally going to fix us. Fill us up.
Make us whole. And it won't. But I have bad news for us this morning. We're trickier than this. So some surface level idols you can see pretty clearly.
Like you've sat down with your friend and said. He is a terrible boyfriend. Like he is the worst. Get rid of him. And then they say something like. You just don't know him like I do.
No. You're right. He's never laid his hands on me. I don't know him like you do. But he's terrible.
And we can see that. Or you can see somebody chasing after money. And you can go. That's. That's. You.
I can obviously see this. But here's the problem. We're trickier than this. So Jeremiah 17 9 says this. One of my favorite verses in the Bible. Because it's just very true.
It's going to be up here. It says the heart is deceitful above all things. And desperately sick. Who can understand it? The heart is deceitful above all things. Desperately sick.
Who can understand it? Your heart lies to you. You have actually lied to you more than anyone else ever. And some of us just thought. No I haven't. But that's exactly what you would say.
Don't trust yourself. Your heart is desperately sick. It lies to you. If you're ever watching a Disney movie. And I always give this. This warning.
If you're watching a Disney movie. And. And a little bird comes out. And sings about following your heart. Or a. A grasshopper shows up.
Or a little cricket with an eye patch. Or no. Monocle. He didn't have an eye patch. That would have been creepy. A monocle.
Dragging a peg leg. I'm Jiminy Cricket. No. With a monocle. And begins to sing a song about following your heart. Don't do it.
It's a trap. It's a trick. Your heart is going to lie to you. It's going to lead you into bad places. And it's going to trick you. And so what happens is.
We can actually have deeper level idolatry. And so. Again. This is just a way to think about it. And to understand it. Deeper level idolatry.
Which actually begins to be the. The operator. Of our other idolatry. And so. I'm going to give us four. They're made up.
Just to be helpful. So if you think there should be more. If you think there should be less. Or you wanted them all to start with the same letter. Or something. Sorry.
There's four that we're going to talk about. And it's just to be helpful. So don't. Don't argue with the categories too much. Get the concept. Comfort.
Control. Approval. And power. These are just big categories. And it's to help us see. That we can have something else we're chasing.
Which changes. How we operate. Which changes how we manipulate our surroundings. Comfort. Control. Approval.
Power. Comfort is. I'll arrive. If I can just rest. If I can just. Have all the stuff I need.
If I can just be able to go on vacations. If I can just have what they have. If I can just have it to where I'm bored in the evenings. Control is. I don't have to worry about my surroundings. I don't have to worry about.
I'm in control of what happens. I'm in control of my destiny. I'm able to exercise authority over what's around me. I don't have to worry. I have security. Approval is just.
I know I'm okay if I'm loved. If people think highly of me. If people want me around. That if I can just be approved of. Then I'll be good.
I'll be okay. And then power is just the ability to exert. Authority over those around you. Over your situation. To just be the boss. To be in charge.
To have your decisions win out. So here. Here's. Here's why it's helpful for us to see this. Money. Some people say.
Oh that person just loves money. Or you might even be thinking. I think my. My surface level idolatry. I think what I chase after. What.
What I say will fill me up is money. Because here's the thing. Nobody just loves money. You don't. You love what money can give you. You love what money provides you.
But you don't just love money. Because. The reason I know that is. None of us. Have a bank account. That has monopoly money in it.
And none of us have a purse or a wallet. With monopoly money in it right now. Because it doesn't give us anything. Now when we're playing monopoly. We care a lot about those little yellow dollars. So much so.
We'll yell at our grandmother. And for the three or seven hours. That we play that game. Until our grandmother beats us. With a really smug attitude. We care about monopoly money.
But then we don't anymore. And the reason we care about money. Is because of what it gives us. And so I'm just going to walk through. Those four. Comfort, control, approval, and power.
And show you how money begins to be manipulated. By those. But you're not really seeking money. You're just seeking what money gives you. Comfort. Money is a great way to get comfort.
You can go on vacations. You can buy a jet ski. You can pay people to do work. So you can take a nap. Like. Money serves comfort very well.
Some of you. That's what your money goes to. Eating out. It's one of my favorites. Being able to rest. Being able to.
Like it just. Why would I own. Why would I have money. If my couch is uncomfortable. That makes zero sense. Why would I have money.
If my TV is not big. This is dumb. That's what money is for. Control. Oh. Money is a great way to have control.
You don't have to worry about the future. If you've got a lot of money. Something bad happens. We'll pay for it. Tire gives out. We'll pay for it.
You can just. People open their bank account. And just look at all this money. In their bank account. And just know. I'm okay.
It's like a big green security blanket. Approval. Oh. Money is a great way to get approval. Like if you want me to be your friend. Buy me lunch.
I will approve of you. I will be like. We are friends. This pizza is delicious. Like that's. I mean.
But money is a great way to give approval. You think. Oh my grandmother is so generous. Maybe. Maybe she just really wants to get the approval of her grandchildren. Because that helps fill her up.
And make her feel like she's okay. Power. Oh. Power is great. You can exert your authority over people. If you have enough money.
You can. You can. Sway the outcome of an election. But I know that. I know our crowd. We live in West Columbia.
In Columbia area. None of us can sway the outcome of an election. But. You can sway the outcome of where you're going to eat lunch. Hey man. If you go.
If we go here. I'll pay for it. That generous. Maybe. Maybe it's just that you wanted to be in control of where you ate. You just wanted to exert your power over it.
And money was a good way to do it. Here's why this is important. Our behavior can change. But at a core heart level. We're still chasing after the same thing. And the problem is.
That we've swapped out the creature. In place of the creator. We've taken created things. And we've put them in place of the creator. And when we do that. It leads us into sin.
It leads us into bad behavior. But the big issue is that our hearts are off. And God's after our hearts. Love the Lord your God with all your heart. With all your mind. With all your strength.
He's after our hearts. Our worship. Way more than our behavior. So. Our behavior can change. All of those idols.
Can actually have really good behavior. So if you're. If comfort is. You have a comfort idolatry. That. Yeah.
That can be laziness. Which the Bible clearly says is bad. You can be really lazy. You know what else? You can be a really good friend. You can be the most agreeable person.
Because you just don't want your friendships to be. The boat to be rocked. Makes you uncomfortable. So you agree really quickly. You're really nice. You let your friends have whatever they want.
Seems really nice. But your heart's off the whole time. Approval. We said it. Approval can show up in really. Drastic neediness and relationships.
But it can also show up in a whole lot of generosity. Which is nice. Which is good. The Bible says to do that. But the whole time we're chasing after something other than God.
And we're not doing it because we love God. And we love people. But we're doing it because we. We have to have this in order to feel complete and whole. Do you see that? So you can have a couple arguing over money.
The husband believes that why would we own money if we don't go on vacations? Like what's the point of me working hard if I can't have a bass boat? Like that's what money exists for. And the wife's saying no we need to save. And we need to plan ahead. And we got kids that are going to go to college.
And he's like our kids aren't going to college. And so like. And they have these struggles and they butt heads over money. But the truth is they're both just working to serve. What they ultimately believe will fill them up. So she seems more reasonable.
But she really is just seeking security. That's what makes her feel comfortable at night. It's what lets her sleep at night. Do you see that? So even though her behavior could be good or wise.
And the Bible would actually commend the behavior. The Bible worries way more about our hearts. So yeah we should have good behavior. And yeah those things are commendable. But the heart is the issue.
And so as long as we're chasing after other things. Other than God. Other than resting in God. We can get ourselves in trouble. So let's take a guy.
Power is his thing. So he just. First way he can feed that. Is through sports. So he gets real strong.
Works really hard. Seems really determined. And just is very powerful. Exerts his power on the field. On the court. But then as he gets a little older.
He begins to realize that chasing women. Is a good way to feel powerful. And that he proves his power. And his dominance. With every conquest. But as he begins to grow.
And he gets older. He begins to realize that one of the best ways to have power. Is through civil service. To be a politician. To serve the community. Because you get to actually affect change.
At a much larger level. So he completely quits chasing women. Comes very chaste. Very pure. But what he loves.
And what he's pursuing. Hasn't changed. And then he finds out. You know what? The ultimate power is found in. Jesus.
And the best way to have power. Is to be a Christian. Because Christians are the only ones that have truth. So he devours scripture. He's in your community group. And he just crushes people with Bible verses.
He has more knowledge than anybody. Because it's a way to have power. And at no point has his heart changed. Although his behavior has changed all along the way. It's a big deal for us to begin to look at. What is it that our heart believes.
Will fill us up. Will make us whole. Will complete us. So here's how this works. Our deep idolatry. A lot of times is going to be answered.
It's going to be how we answer the question. What does heaven look like? What would heaven be? What is it you daydream about? Oh if I could just have this. I'd be good.
I'd be set. Wouldn't be worried anymore. Wouldn't have problems anymore. What is it that you're looking at and saying. This will fill me up. This will make me complete.
This is when I'll be at rest. And then our surface level idolatry. Is whatever we think will get us there best at the time. It's our functional savior. It's what will take us from where we are. To where heaven is.
It's what will step in and bridge that gap. What will allow us to get from where we are. To where heaven is. That's a problem. Because we can change our constantly. Change our motivation.
Change what we're chasing after. What we think was going to get us to heaven. But our deep idolatry stays the same. What we're chasing after fundamentally stays the same. So take lying for example.
We all know we're not supposed to lie. It's one of the ten commandments. It's bad. Hurts relationships. So when you lie.
What do you do? You say. Ah. Don't lie. Shouldn't lie. Bad Christian.
Bad mother. Shouldn't lie to your children. Bad. Fix that. But here's the thing.
Why do we lie? That's the question. What is it you're trying to protect? What is it you're trying to defend? Through lying. So some of you would lie about how popular you were in high school.
You'd be in a conversation. And you'd kind of ham up how good you were at sports in high school. How popular you were. Because this person's never going to find out. Unless you're still in high school. Which is going to be a hard sell.
But go for it. No. I'm super popular here. Or you go back to your high school reunion. Or you bump into someone. And you're going to make it sound like your job's better.
Your life's better. Things are going better. And all you're seeking is you need them to approve of you. Even in this conversation with someone you're not going to see. Some of you. You would never lie about that.
You think that's a ridiculous thing to lie about. You straight up tell somebody. No. My life's pretty crummy right now. But you look like you're doing good.
Like you just wouldn't care. But you lie about something else. You'll tell somebody something starts earlier. So they'll show up on time. Oh. Did I say 845?
My bad. It's good to see you though. At 855. Got you here at 9. Tricked you. But you're lying about it.
Me. You call me on the phone. If I am asleep. I'm going to want to tell you I was awake. Doesn't matter. I think that's true for most people.
Like if I answer the phone and people go. Oh I'm sorry did I wake you up. I am going to want to say. No. I was awake. Doesn't matter what time you call me.
It could be 3 o'clock in the morning. No. I was up. I was up. Why were you up at 3? I was working out reading the Bible.
I had to do that one time in the middle of a conversation. We've been talking for about 10 minutes. I said hey man I need to tell you something. He said what? I said I was asleep when you called me. I lied to you when I answered the phone.
He's like it sounded like you were asleep. I thought you were lying. I was like yeah I was. We can continue with the conversation now. I just had to get that out there. Had to confess.
But the question is why are we lying? What are we seeking to gain from that? You see because we've all answered the question. This is what heaven will be for me. And this is what will get me there. Here's the problem.
The Bible says that where God is is where heaven is. That it's in his presence. That we're engulfed in his glory. Which glory just means that it has. It brings to mind the idea that you would look at something. And it would bring you joy.
Just by seeing it. Just by being in his presence. It's like when you're watching a sunset. And you just you get that moment where you're just like. I'm so glad I got to see this. I'm so glad I was driving on this road at this time.
Because it's bringing me joy. Just by seeing it. That's what heaven is. It's the presence of God. That heaven isn't all the nice things that you like and chase after. No heaven is God's presence.
Where we're completely satisfied. Completely fulfilled. Completely made right. Completely known and loved. And Jesus is the savior that gets us there. That it's his work not ours.
That rescues us. And redeems us. And takes us from where we are to where God is. So when we answer the question. This is what heaven is. And this is what will get me there.
We have replaced God. And we've replaced Jesus with something else. Something smaller. Something weaker. And something that will never provide. Never fill us up.
Never make us okay. So our idols and our hearts lie to us. And I want to show that to you. We look at 24. These are the two major issues when it comes to idolatry. What they do to us.
What our idols do. Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity. Let me just tell you this real quick. Some of us are chasing after things. Just so you know. Part of God's wrath is to give you exactly what you want.
What it just said was that God gave them up to their lust. To what they were loving. What they were chasing after. He actually handed them over to what they wanted. That's actually one of the worst things that can happen. Because then we've got our idol.
And we realize it never fills us up. It won't make us complete. It's actually a form of God's wrath. God is actually being very kind to some of us. But not letting us have the thing that we think will make us whole.
To the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. Verse 25. Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. And worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. The two things that happen when we chase idols is they lie to us.
And they enslave us. It says they worshipped and served. That they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. And they worshipped and served the creature rather than creator. Your idol is telling you. I will bring you joy.
If you could just have me. Life would be okay. You wouldn't have doubt. You wouldn't have fear. You wouldn't have restlessness. And it is a lie.
And they ultimately. Our idols enslave us. They cause us to worship and serve them. I had a friend of mine who was part of our church family for a while. He's moved. And he was an older guy.
Had been married at one point. Wasn't married now. And was doing some online dating. And just believed in his soul. That what would fix him. Was a perfect marriage relationship.
That that's what would fix him. To the point that even when I was having conversations with him. He like idolized mine and Anna's relationship. And I'd say something about. You know. How we were working on stuff.
Or we were having problems. Or I'd be like. Yeah man. It's not. And he would laugh. Like.
Like. There's no way that was possible. Because I was married. I had to be perfectly happy. Perfectly complete. And it's like.
No. We got. Anna married a sinner. And I married a sinner. And we got stuff. We got to work on.
And grow in. Like. That's normal. That's how. But he didn't see it.
It was. Sometimes it was like talking to. Like. Like he was a middle school girl. Or something. Like he.
He idolized it so much. And so. In his mind. Any girl he met. Any female he met. Any lady he met.
And began to talk to. That was his savior. That was who was going to take him to heaven. Perfect. Married land. So he would meet a female online.
Through talking conversations. And I talked to him. He'd be. I mean. Soaring. I met somebody.
She's special. That's good man. I'm excited. I just. I think. I think we got something here.
And he would begin to. Pursue way too quickly. Up the ante. Way too quickly. Because she wasn't just a female he'd met. And got to have conversations with.
But she was actually who was going to save him. And so. Inevitably. A couple weeks later. That relationship wasn't going well. They weren't talking anymore.
And he would just be. Crushed. I mean shattered. Because what he had lost. Was not. Reality.
Wasn't just a conversation. And a possible relationship with a female. What he had lost. Was what was going to save him. And what was going to take him to heaven. What was going to fix him.
And it was way worse. Some of us. Should he want relationships? Yeah. That's fine. Is getting married a good thing?
Yeah. Does everybody have to get married? No. Is that good? Yeah. But he had put so much else on it.
That it couldn't fail him. Some of us have those. We have something in our life. That this can't fail. Because if it does. I don't just lose this.
I don't just lose this relationship. I don't just lose this job. I don't just lose this amount of money. I don't just lose this position. I actually lose what is going to save me. What is promising me fulfillment.
What is going to fill me up. And take me to heaven. I lose God and Savior. And it's. There's way more tied to it. Some of us are.
Some of you in here. Are chasing after success. You've put in your mind. That if I can just reach this stage. If I can just be successful. If everything I put my hand to.
Can just work out. If I can just have accomplishment. If I can just. And you're. You're believing that. And you're chasing that.
But here's the thing. You become enslaved to it. Because you can't not be successful. It crushes you. When you fail. It eats away at your insides.
Because your God. Demands sacrifice. So you begin to spend more time at work. More time putting your energy and effort into this. When something's not going well. It's the only thing you can think about.
Because your God demands sacrifice. And will not forgive you if you fail. Some of you. You just have this in your moment. There's going to be this day when I arrive. When I no longer have to.
I'm not living paycheck to paycheck. All my debts paid off. I'm just. I'm there. I can rest. I can have peace.
I can just. Bring in an X amount of dollars. Then I'll be okay. But until then. You're a slave. And if you'll look back over your life.
You've bumped up. How far you have to go. Before you'll arrive. How much money you need to bring in. And you're a slave. And your God doesn't forgive you when you fail.
And it demands that you sacrifice. Advice. Some people in here. It's approval. You have to. Have people like you.
So that Facebook and Instagram. Become your temple of worship. It's not just a place to keep up with friends. It's where you. You go to seek approval. It's where you go to post things.
That people will like. It's where you go to get those. Little thumbs up. And little comments. About how your dress looked. Or how good that meal looked.
That you cooked. Or that you were about to eat. It becomes this. This is what I need. This is what's going to satisfy me. This is what's going to fill me up.
Now. Facebook. Until. Until you begin to realize. That you're forever going to be enslaved to that. That's why when a relationship is going poorly.
And you're at odds with a friend. It tears you up inside. You can't have someone not like you. Not because you want those relationships to work out. But because you have to have approval to be okay.
As long as we're worshiping something created. We're never free. We're enslaved. We have to make sacrifices to please our God. And our gods are not forgiving when we fail. What's the solution to this?
How do we get past this? How do we fix this? I want to read a quote from Thomas Chalmers. He was a. He lived in 1780 in Scotland. And he was a missionary pastor.
He says this. The heart's desire for an ultimate object. May be conquered. But it's desire to have some. Object is unconquerable. The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is through the expulsive power of a new one.
So I'm going to read that again. The heart's desire for an ultimate object. May be conquered. Which means that you can swap it out for something else. Like you can. You can chase after power for a while.
Or you can chase after money for a while. And then you can begin to chase after a political position. But it's desire to have some object is unconquerable. We're always going to have to have something in that place. The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection. Is through the expulsive power of a new one.
And this is why it becomes huge for us. That we always point ourselves and each other back to the gospel. Because as we kept reading in Romans two weeks ago. We saw that it's Jesus that steps in and saves us. My friend is not going to be free. From the need to have a successful relationship.
Until he realizes that Jesus has already provided all the approval. All the love that he'll ever need. Until he realizes that Jesus has stepped in and in his place. Given him the relationship. The perfect relationship with the father. Which is where heaven is.
That Jesus is his savior. Then he'll be free. And then relationships can just be relationships. You're chasing after success. Until you realize that Jesus steps in. And provided success for you.
Made you holy. Made you righteous. Made you blameless. Made you successful. In him because of his work. And that ultimate success is in him.
Found only in him. And that he forgives when we fail. And that he sacrificed himself for us. See our other gods don't love us. Demand sacrifice. And don't forgive us.
And Jesus loves us so much. That he sacrificed himself. And that he always forgives us when we fail. But until we see that. Until we're engulfed in that. We'll be a slave to success.
We'll be a slave to achievement. Until we realize that a rival doesn't come. Through financial security. But that ultimate security has been provided to us. And Jesus will forever be a slave. Until you know that approval has been given to you forever.
Through God who knew you perfectly. And loved you anyway. And through the cross. Gave you worth and value. Facebook will not be a way to connect with friends. It will always be a way to posture yourself.
Make yourself look good. And feel good inside. Your relationships will always be on the needy side. Of having to have someone else fill you up. And make you whole. Until you realize that Jesus has already done that.
Until Jesus becomes the ruling affection of our hearts. We will forever be enslaved. But Jesus didn't come to be served. But to serve. And to give his life as a ransom for many. Ransom means the cost it takes to buy back a slave.
Jesus doesn't enslave us. He makes us free. He is the truth that replaces all the lies. And in Jesus we have freedom. We have a God who sacrificed himself for us. Doesn't demand that we sacrifice to him.
To earn his love. To behave our way into his good graces. But came and lived perfectly on our behalf. And died in our place. To sacrifice himself for us. So that he could forgive us of everything.
Even forgive us of worshiping and loving other things. And thinking they'll fill us up. That's what we have in Jesus. That's why it's crucial for us as a church family. To always point back to Jesus. Because our hearts lie to us.
They deceive us. They run in all kinds of directions. And we need to remember forever. That it's Jesus who saves. It's Jesus who fills us up. It's Jesus who's holy.
It's Jesus who is our king and God. And the ruling affection of our hearts. And only then will we begin to change and be free. Band's going to come back up here. And we're going to make much of Jesus. It's like a man who got sicker.
And sicker. And sicker. Symptom after symptom kept cropping up. And he went to the doctor. And he found out he had cancer. And at that moment.
Symptoms no longer matter. The only thing that has to be gotten rid of. Is the cancer. Even if it causes more symptoms in the process. Our hearts. Are wicked.
Deceitful. And desperately sick. And changing our behavior. Only takes care of symptoms. But when we see that we've begun to love.
And worship something else. Other than our creator. That's when we begin to allow Jesus to work on the cancer. To begin to wreck our hearts. And to make them his. Through his grace.
And through his work. Not ours. We get to trust him. It's not in our ability to work hard. Or to make this happen. We get to trust Jesus.
And his ability to do this for us. To change us. And to begin to take over our hearts. That we're saved through faith. And God's grace. So as we see our idols.
The response isn't. Let me work really hard to get rid of that. No. It's let me begin to love Jesus. See Jesus more. And trust him.
And ask him to become the ruling affection of my heart. To begin to take over. To help me get rid of the lies. And begin to be free. From my slavery. And be free to follow him.
Father. We thank you. For your grace. We thank you for your love. And we pray that you would help us to see. Where it is that we're chasing after things.
That we've begun to believe the lie. That they'll fill us up. That they'll make us whole. That they'll complete us. Where it is that we've begun to. In relationships.
And in our jobs. And in our life. Put more weight on something. That was never meant to carry that. God. Where are we leaning into a good gift.
That you gave us for your glory. And asking it to be God. We ask that your Holy Spirit. Would begin to show that to us. And more than that. God.
We ask that as we see that. That you would show us yourself. That we would see the cross. Where you came not to be served. But to serve.
And to give your life as a ransom. To buy back slaves. And God. As we see our sin. That we would see the cross. Which so greatly outweighs our sin.
That we would so be engulfed. By Jesus. That your beauty. And your glory. Would so fill us up. That we wouldn't look to lesser things.
To make us whole. God. We ask that your Holy Spirit. Would press in. That you would expel idols. And that you would become the ruling.
And reigning affection of our hearts. And we ask God. That you would lead us as a church family. To continuously. Be anchored in the gospel. And pointing one another.
To Jesus' work. At all times. So that we might rest. In the grace that's been provided. That though we fall short. You save.
You always save. You always forgive. That you were our sacrifice. And God. We just ask that your Holy Spirit. Would lead us now.
The spirit of Jesus. In our souls. Would begin to work. You'd begin to cut out cancer. And help us to quit chasing symptoms. We ask this in your powerful name.
In Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
Gospel Fluency
Transcript
How we doing? We are in our second week of our Anchor Series, and so what we're doing, we are a church plant, and I think you kind of stay a church plant for like the first five years. I think that's kind of the rule. At least some organizations will say that, and after that you've kind of existed long enough to think you probably won't die. And so that's kind of how that works. And so we're a church plant, and what that means is as we continue to grow and as we continue to see more people hop in and be church family with us, we have to consistently re-remind ourselves, re-launch into who we are, what we're shooting for, what it means for us to be church family, and so that's kind of what this is.
That's what the Anchor Series is. And so what we're going to do is for the next six weeks, we're going to just be walking through what we mean when we say we're a gospel-centered community on mission, what we're talking about. So we put it on banners. We put it on t-shirts. And we're just going to kind of take some time to say this is what we mean. This is what we're talking about.
This is what we're shooting for as we follow Jesus. And so what we did last week was we just talked about the gospel. And so we just said, here's what the gospel is. We went from Romans 1, 2, 3, skipped 4, and went to 5 and 6. And so we just skipped 4 in case you had OCD just to make it where you can no longer pay attention. And we just kind of went through the first six chapters of Romans and said, here's what the gospel is.
Here's what the gospel story is. And so what we said was we were created to exist in a relationship with God, designed by Him to exist as creation in a relationship with Him as our Creator, and that we fell. And that fundamentally sin is not us breaking rules, but it is us swapping out what it is that is primary for us, that we swap our Creator for something else. And we begin to say, this is the goal. This is the hope. This is the dream.
This is what will fill me up. This is what will satisfy me. And that in doing that, we dishonor God. We run from Him. And so we were created. We fell.
But that Jesus redeems us. That He steps in and becomes for us our salvation. That He lived perfectly for us, died in our place for our sin. So that in Him, we do have that. He remakes that relationship back right with God. And then after that, we get to live in light of that, that we're restored.
We have a restored relationship with God. And then ultimately when we die, we'll spend eternity with God back in the perfect relationship we should have had had we not fallen. And that's the storyline we find ourselves on. Whether you're a Christian or not a Christian, that is the storyline of the Bible. And that is the storyline of the world. And so what we've said as Christians is that that is our story.
That is fundamentally where we are in the world, how we exist. And so since that is the gospel, since it's the gospel is that Jesus died on our behalf and we're saved by His work, not ours, and then everything else comes out of that. Everything else plays out of that. And so what we're going to do today is just talk a little bit about what do we mean when we say we're gospel-centered? Like that sounds cute or nice or it's some good Bible word goal thing that you put on that banner. That's nice.
What are we talking about? What does that look like? How do I do that on a daily basis? And so we're just going to try to be real practical for the rest of this series and just say if that's the gospel, then this is what we mean by gospel-centered. This is what we mean by community. This is what we're talking about when we say mission and try to help us all grow in, oh, okay, some tangible.
That's how we'll do that. And that's what that'll look like. So let's pray and then we're going to talk about some stuff this morning. God, I thank you that we are saved by Jesus's work, not ours. That we've been made right with you, not through our efforts, not through our work, but through Jesus's work on our behalf. Praise you that the Bible is not fundamentally about our behavior and it's not about our ability to fix the situation.
I pray that you would, through your Holy Spirit, lead us today, speak to us and teach us today and help us all to grow in what we mean of being gospel-centered. We love you. Praise you in Jesus's name. Amen. So we fundamentally all fall short and we all need Jesus to step in and save us.
And it's about his work, not ours, not our behavior, but his. And so Paul, the whole New Testament is about the gospel. And Paul even says that the, we read last week in Romans that the law and the prophets testify to this. And so what he said is the Old Testament, which is kind of the law and the prophets, that means that all of the Old Testament is pointing to Jesus and what he was going to do, that that is the story. And so Paul in 2 Corinthians, I'm just going to read this to you. He says, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
He said, that's it. That is all we talked about is Jesus Christ and him crucified. I decided to know nothing among you. And every time I read that verse, it reminds me of a scene in the office where one of the guys is getting fussed at and his boss looks at him and goes, do you understand me? And he stares him back in the face and goes, I understand nothing. Like real defiantly, but makes himself seem like a complete.
And that's us. That's us as church family. Do we understand anything other than gospel? We understand nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's us. That's, that is what the New Testament is about.
That is center for us. And so everything comes out of that. And so one of the ways that we talk about this, one of the ways that we describe this is the term gospel fluency. And so gospel is the story. It is that Jesus died for us, that he saved us. And fluency just means that we speak that language naturally, normally.
So I took Spanish in high school and in college and am nowhere near fluent. I passed and that's about it. That's all I got. And so like if I'm speaking Spanish with someone, I've got to translate the whole time. So if I'm talking to, I actually was over, we were in the North Brown area of West Columbia about a week ago.
And I was talking to, I heard somebody, we were talking with a guy who spoke Spanish. He was speaking English with us, but then he answered the phone. And so he was talking to his son in Spanish. And I'm just like, listen, and I'm trying to hear things. And I'm like, I think that means mama. I don't know what that is.
I think he said dog. This is a weird conversation. And like, I'm just trying to pick up on what he was talking about because I have to take the word he says to put it in my brain and I have to translate it. I have to say, okay, what's the English equivalent of that? So if I was in Mexico, I could walk over to someone and I'd say, all right, I need to know how to find the library.
Because this is one of the only sentences I know how to say in Spanish. So bear with me. Donde esta means like where is. So, okay, donde esta es la biblioteca. Yeah, because if I ever visit a Spanish speaking country, I really want to know how their libraries are. So I've memorized this phrase.
I will be able to get permission to go to the bathroom. I will not know where it is, but I will know that I'm allowed to go there if I ever find one, stumble upon it. But what I've got to do is I'm not fluent. So what I have to do is I've got to take the English word and I've got to pair it up with the Spanish word and I've got to figure out. So you say something to me in Spanish.
I've got to figure out what that means in English. I've got to take my English words, what I want to say, pair it up with Spanish words and speak back. But once you become fluent, so a native Mexican Spanish speaker is going to hear Spanish words, think Spanish words, speak Spanish words. That's fluency. So if you moved to Spain after a while, you wouldn't have to translate.
You would just know what was being said. You'd respond. You'd dream in Spanish, think in Spanish. You'd become fluent. And that's what we do with the gospel. It actually becomes our language because it is our story.
So I'm a Southern American. So I speak American, which is a form of English. I speak Southern American. And so I know what a crawdad is. I know what the term all y'all means. It is the most inclusive form of y'all, often followed by something derogatory, like all y'all can kiss my foot.
Like I just wanted to make sure everyone knew they were included. But that's my heart language. And that's what happens with the gospel is that it becomes our language and it actually begins to affect how we think, how we see the world. So our language shapes our worldview. I heard this and I don't know if it's true, but it was told to me like it was true that somebody was an English speaker was in a country in Africa and was going to be teaching them this group about self-sufficiency. And he was talking with his translator, but he wanted to talk about self-sufficiency or self-reliance.
And he was trying to get the translator. He was like, what's the, he explained the concept of the translator. And the translator said, okay, the closest word that we have for that concept is a mental disorder. That means that you don't believe you need your tribe, that you, you believe you exist outside of community because our language shapes around what we believe and our language shapes what we believe. And so for us as Christians, we become fluent in the gospel because that is our story, which what that means is when we sit with somebody and they begin to tell us, we begin to plot their story out, their life out.
When we're talking to them about creation, fall, redemption, restoration, we begin to look for where they're saying they fit in that story. We begin to hear through the lens of the gospel. And when we, when we talk back to them, we point them to the gospel. We speak as if the gospel is true. So I no longer hear as a happiness seeking American.
I listen in here as a gospel filled Christian, a gospel changed Christian. And when I talk back to someone, I speak back to them. I'm not just going to give them. Here's the advice. Here's what the world says. Here's what I've been taught as an American.
No, we're going to speak back in light of what the gospel is. And so that's what we're shooting for today is we're just going to talk about that concept and we're going to try to grow because the gospel is our story. And because it is the story, we're going to try to grow and what it means to be gospel centered. So if you'll flip to Colossians one, um, this is, this is a passage that kind of points this out to us, that shows this to us. And then we're going to just talk through some, uh, uh, how we see this in the Bible, because the new Testament is gospel centered. It is about Jesus and what he has done.
And so it's not going to be so much when you look through it, you're not going to see, oh, this is where they explained this concept. It's like, no, this is where they do this. This is where this shows up. So we're in Colossians one, uh, go to verse 27. So Paul's been talking about Jesus in the beginning of Colossians, how big he is, how massive he is, what he's done for us, that he, through his sacrifice has made us right with God and made us holy, blameless and above reproach.
And he's explaining all this. And we get into this text, he's going to say the mystery. Uh, and what he means by the mystery is this, this massive God, what he said in Colossians one is this massive God became a human. Lived perfectly on our behalf and swapped places with us that, that he gives us his goodness, his righteousness, his holiness, and he takes our sin on himself. And so that's the mystery he's talking about, that that is absolutely baffling. If you've been in the church for a while, you've been around Christianity for a while, you've heard that a lot.
And sometimes we can forget how absolutely mysterious and baffling that is. And the mystery of it is also that how is God going to handle sin? How is he going to make people pay for their rebellion against him? And, and the mystery that is revealed is that he's actually going to pay for it for them. And so that's what we're looking at. And that's what he's talking about when he says the mystery, he's really just talking about the gospel to 27 to them.
God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles, Gentiles are people who are non-Jewish are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And so it's the gospel and the fact that Jesus melds his life with ours, mixes his life with ours so that he's in us. And he is our hope of glory because of his work, not ours. And then 28, him, we proclaim Jesus, him, we proclaim warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this, I toil struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. Okay.
So what he says is it's Jesus that we proclaim. It's Jesus that we're talking about. It's Jesus that we're pointing to. It's Jesus that we're going to push towards, that we're going to point people towards, that we're going to focus on. And his reason is so that we can present everyone mature in Christ. If you are a Christian, maturity is not really an option for you.
It is your trajectory. It's where you're headed. Romans says that we're predestined, which means that he sealed it beforehand to be conformed to the image of Christ, to the image of his son, which means that all of us over time are going to slowly look more and more and more like Jesus who've placed our faith in Jesus. So if you feel like, oh, I'm not really growing, I'm not really, it's happening. It's going to continue to happen. It's slow and messy and painful, but growth is going to continue.
And maturity is the goal for us as Christians, that we want to grow in maturity. We want to repent of sin faster. We want to sin less. We want to see our sin more. That's one of the marks of maturity is not so much that you sin less, that happens, but it's actually that you just begin to see your sin more. Things you didn't know were sin start showing up and you're like, I've been doing that forever.
I didn't even realize I was off there. My whole thought process was broken here, but we grow in maturity. And the way to do that most of the time has been answered by the church as learn the rules. It's been, we want to grow in maturity, read the Bible and learn what it looks like to be a Christian. And it comes across as learn the rules. So you get told Jesus died for your sin and his work replaces yours and you're saved by his work, not yours, that he took your sin.
He died for it and he gives you his righteousness. And that's the gospel. And then somebody said, do you want to be a Christian? Raise your hand. And you said, that sounds like a sweet deal. You raised your hand.
Y'all talked or you had a conversation with somebody. You said, I've placed my faith in Jesus. And then they said, cool, now here are the rules. And you were like, what? I thought this wasn't about my behavior. I thought this wasn't.
And it feels a little bit like, I feel like we've changed the story here because we feel like most of us feel like the way to grow as a Christian is to figure out how to behave better, figure out what the rules are and follow them. But Paul says it's Jesus we proclaim. That we're going to consistently point back towards the gospel. So it's not that we grow out of the gospel. We grow into the gospel. Does our behavior change?
Yes. Is that what it's about? No. Is Jesus going to consistently make us more mature and grow us? Absolutely. Are we consistently going to see our sin, repent of it, change, grow?
Yes. But it's the way to grow, learning all the rules and trying to white knuckle them and trying to follow them. No, we grow in Jesus. It's him that is proclaimed. Growth comes through Jesus. And so just to help you with this, and I'm going to give you the references.
So if you disagree with me right now, I feel like this isn't true. I want you to just write these down. If you just like taking notes and writing things down, you want to look this up later. I'm going to give you the references. And I'm just going to explain quickly what Paul says. So we're going to see where Paul does this, where Paul sees the world through the gospel.
So 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11. 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11. Paul's talking about behavior and living correctly, what it looks like to behave, what it looks like to have a right life. And he goes through and lists this sin, this sin, this sin, this sin, this sin, this sin. Step away from it. Don't have it in your life.
And then he lands with, because Jesus has saved you, because you've been called out of this, because you used to be a part of this, but you've been rescued by the cross, because you've been rescued by Jesus. And so the reason that we behave is because Jesus has already saved us, already rescued us. In 1 Corinthians 6, 18 through 20. So later in that chapter, he specifically talks about sexual sin. He says that sexual sin is a big deal, that you should flee from sexual sin, because it's not, it's one of the only sins that's not outside of the body, but it actually is a part of your body. And the reason he gives is that you've been bought with a price, that Jesus shed his blood for you.
Your body doesn't belong to you anymore. It belongs to Jesus. He owns it. He paid for it. You've already been made right. So act like it.
Live that way. But the reason is the gospel. The motivation is the gospel. Not you're falling short. Not God's mad at you. Not live up to the rules.
Not you're a bad person. No, it's that Jesus already made you right. Live that way. When he's talking about giving and generosity to Corinthians again, but it's 2 Corinthians 8, 9, 8, 8, and 9. What he says is that they should be generous because Jesus, who was rich, became poor on their behalf. And so the reason for generosity, the reason we open our wallets, the reason we give to the church, the reason we help people pay light bills is not because it's good, not because it makes us right with God.
It's because Jesus has already given up everything and given us everything. We already have all the wealth that we could ever want. When he's talking to husbands and wives in Ephesians 5, 22 through 25, he says, here's how to be a wife. Here's what that looks like. Here are the rules for being a good wife. Here's how to be a husband.
Here's what that looks like. And the whole time, the reasoning behind it is because marriage is a picture of Christ's love for the church. And what Jesus has already done on behalf impacts how we live as a married couple. But it's always the gospel is the reasoning. The gospel is the motivation. And it's the gospel that empowers us to actually live that way.
That's what we're talking about when we say we're gospel centered. It's not, hey, come, let's all work to behave together. It's no, our behavior is going to change as we focus on Jesus, as we grow in Jesus. So this is how we talk to ourselves. This is how we think. Husbands, wives.
We'll pick on husbands. I'm a husband. We'll pick on them. Wives, this applies to you, but I'm going to fuss at your husband. So you're welcome.
Why do you serve your spouse? Why are you gracious to your spouse? Why do you go out of your way for your spouse? Now, if we're honest, a lot of husbands will say things like, well, if you just had this conversation with somebody, because it's good. Okay. Because you're supposed to.
Right. Because life's better when you do. Yeah. She fusses less. Mm-hmm. Bible says we should.
That's okay. That's a good reason. But we could rattle this stuff off. But eventually, there's a reason. That all runs out. The motivation for that runs out.
It makes me a good husband. Okay. But there's some days I could care less about being a good husband, if I'm honest with you. I just, I just, yeah, what would a good husband do? Probably get up and help. What do I want to do?
Sit on the couch. I'll just take a loss today. Perhaps a track record's probably good enough to be at least above 500. Like, I'm above 50% right now, probably. I'll justify. I did something last week that really probably counted double.
Covers this day. That your wife is happier. People will say, like, happy wife, happy life. If mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. Okay. Eventually, that runs out, too, though.
The only reason I'm doing good stuff is because it makes my wife not fuss at me. At some point, I just don't care anymore. This ain't worth the effort. Because I get fussed at all the time. Like, eventually, husbands, you're just like, ah, ah, ah, ah. Truth is, though, the reason that you serve your spouse is that Jesus served us.
That Jesus gave himself up for us. That we have been so absolutely served. So absolutely taken care of. So absolutely had someone sacrifice on our behalf. That it fundamentally changes how we behave. And then the reason I behave is no longer about me.
Because all of those were about me. All of those were about you. Makes me feel good. Makes me look good. Makes me happier. Makes life better.
She fusses less. All of that eventually turns in on itself and is just about you. That's why it breaks down. Because at some point, you've decided something else is more important. But all of those get to be about Jesus.
And they get to be about Jesus and not about your spouse. Not about making her happy. Not about she responding appropriately. It's only always about Jesus. And that never runs out. That motivation doesn't quit.
Yes, I've been served. Yes, I've sacrificed. She doesn't notice. So Jesus does that for me. And I take it for granted. And I don't notice.
And I don't appreciate it. And I get to grow. When I serve and do something I don't want to do. When you're doing something you fundamentally hate, you get to remind yourself, I bet the cross was terrible. Thank you, Jesus, that you sacrificed on my behalf. And that doesn't run out.
And it continues to change us. And it actually brings joy in that situation. Why do you work hard at your job? You can rattle off the list. Makes me feel good. People see me doing it.
Boss will notice. I'll get a promotion. Eventually, all that just runs out. But if it's that I worked fundamentally for God, that he sees me, that Jesus has already come and worked hard on our behalf, that he's already come and sacrificed on my behalf, that doesn't run out. Motivating yourself with the gospel and remembering that this is my story, this is who I am, that doesn't run dry. Why are you generous?
Jesus was generous. Why do you avoid temptation and sin? Because Jesus died for it. Because I've been made new. Because I'm holy and blameless and above reproach because of him. And then what happens is we get to turn this out towards other people.
There's not even just behavior. It's circumstances. You get fired from your job. Is that bad? Yeah. Do you wish that hadn't happened?
Probably. Although my dad had a friend one time who got fired during hunting season and they were going to be, he got to be on like unemployment for a little while and he was so happy. And his twin brother didn't from the same place. And so he went hunting every day while his brother was getting ready to go to work. And that was like the best thing. He's like putting on his camo and laughing or whatever.
But most of the time though, getting fired is bad. And you have to remind yourself that, yeah, this is bad. But God's trustworthy. He's proven that in the cross. And my worth doesn't come from my ability to work, my ability to provide, my ability to earn. That all of my worth and approval has already been sealed in Jesus.
Jesus. So it changes how we see the world. It changes how we react. And it changes how we talk to people. So this becomes our primary story.
It becomes our language that we're fluent in. And it becomes how we respond for the most part. Christians. If you're in here and you're not a Christian, you're off the hook on this one because you probably don't do this. Although you probably do give advice. But Christians.
A lot of times we memorize Bible verses. And then we use them like bullets to shoot people. All we do is we remove the verse, wipe the gospel off of it, which was the context in which it came. And then we just give the verse to someone and we think we're being helpful and we are not. Is that verse true? Yes.
Is the context the gospel? Yes. And a lot of times the way we apply it is not the gospel. So you're having a conversation with someone and they're like, I just feel like a bad wife. I feel like a bad mother. And you're like, well, Proverbs 31.
Boom! Feel good? Feel like a better mom now? Better wife? Let's read those verses together.
I just wanted to help you see how woefully you fall short. Happy Mother's Day. The gospel doesn't show up. It's out of context. You're not telling the whole story. I've really been struggling with lust.
I've really been struggling with, well, Job 31.1, Ephesians 5.3. Boom! You're welcome. I'm enjoying our confession time. Like, we just lay weight on people and we haven't told them the whole story. And so we actually get to respond out of the gospel.
Instead of just saying, yeah, you are a terrible husband. Yeah, you are. Yeah, you do fall short. We only give that half of it. The Bible's very clear. Yeah, you are a selfish roommate.
You are a jerk. Good point. I've been meaning to tell you you were a jerk. Here's how the Bible says you're a jerk. Like, we just end up shooting people repeatedly with Bible verses that don't help people love Jesus, don't help people grow, and don't help people see the gospel. And so what we do as a church family is we give good news before we give good advice.
And I'm going to explain what that means. Good news is the gospel, that Jesus died for us, that he rescued us. And it's an event that happened on our behalf. So, king goes to battle. I heard this story before. It helps me see this picture so clearly.
A king goes to battle, leaves his castle behind. He gets his archers together. He gets his chariots together. He gets all of his horsemen, all his foot soldiers. And they go to battle and they leave. And everybody, he leaves a couple of people in the castle.
And all the civilians in the castle. And they're waiting to find out what's going to happen. One of two things happens. The king goes to battle. And he wins. And what he sends back is good newsers.
All they're doing is riding back on a horse, laughing to themselves, feeling real happy and light inside, to go tell everybody, we won. King won. Victory's been won on your behalf. Throw open the gates. Get the band out. Bring out your finest meats and cheeses.
The celebration will begin. The battle has been won. And all you can do with that, because it is news, is live in light of it. So you feel better. You celebrate. You dance.
There's like freedom in that. Or he loses. And he grabs somebody on the horse and he says, ride back as fast as you can and tell them they're coming. They've broken our ranks. His army is scattered. He says, tell them to put the archers on the walls.
Tell them to seal up the gate. Tell them to bring in as much as they can. Close everything up. Seal everything up. Put all the women and children in the inner chamber. And here's the game plan.
Best way to probably defend yourself and good luck. That's advice. He sends good advisors who just show back up and say, here's what we have to do to hopefully survive. And that is not the gospel. The gospel is, here's what Jesus has done to give us life and to give us victory. And we live in light of that.
It changes our behavior. But it's not about our behavior. Our behavior isn't to fix the problem. It isn't to beat off the enemy. It isn't to win. It isn't to defeat those who are charging against us.
It isn't to have the victory. The victory has already been won. The king has already won. The good news is already proclaimed. And so as a church family, we give good news before we give good advice. And we like good advice.
Good advice is good. But we give good news first. We're going to talk about Jesus before we talk about you. Before we talk about your situation. We're going to talk about Jesus first because we have good news. So we give good news before we give good advice.
And we talk about Jesus before we talk about you. And it changes how we interact with each other. It changes how we speak to each other. And here's why it matters. If you sit down with someone for coffee and they say, I feel like I'm a terrible mother. I feel like I'm a terrible wife.
I just feel like I'm falling short. And all you say is, yeah. Here are the things I did to be less of a terrible mother. Super encouraging. Let me tell you my three tricks to being awesome. Here's what I did to be a better wife.
Here's what I read that Beth Moore says about being a good wife. Here's what all you're fundamentally saying. You're giving good advice. But all you're fundamentally saying is, This is about your behavior. And that is the opposite of the gospel. When I just give you good advice, When you sit down with coffee for someone, And you say things that you're hoping to be encouraging, Hoping to be helpful, And you leave Jesus out of it.
What you're saying is, This is about your behavior. The problem is your behavior. And the way to fix it is your behavior. That's what we're telling people. And here's why that matters. Parents.
You got kids. You got kids in, You grew up. So younger people, Maybe you came up through a youth group. Parents, Maybe you've got kids in a youth group. Well, not if you're here. We don't have one of those.
But maybe you've had one. Your kids were in a youth group. And here's the thing. With your children, You want them to behave. You want them to grow. You want them to have morals.
You want them to have standards. But here's the thing. If your child, Doesn't say any swear words. Doesn't drink. Doesn't smoke. Doesn't chew.
Doesn't date people that do. Only listens to family friendly radio. Like they're tearing up WMHK, Which is now K-Love. Like they're rocking on the way to school, To a Sandy Patty thing. If y'all know who that is. They iron their blue jean shorts, And tuck their shirt in.
They only wear, Or they only watch VeggieTales movies. If they do that successfully, Do they not need Jesus? If you successfully beat, These behaviors into them. Do they not need Jesus? No. They do.
They're just a goofy lost person. They're just an awkward sinner. That's all it is. Should their behavior change? Yes. Should you teach morality as a parent?
Yes. Should you pay attention to the messages, That your children are learning through music and movies? Yes. Should we all? Yes. Everything is preaching to us.
Everything is declaring a false gospel. Does that save us? No. In your community group, If you could just get everybody to behave. If confession time was, I only prayed for seven hours this week. I really wanted to hit 14.
And then y'all just hugged each other. Would you not need Jesus? No, you'd need Jesus. You'd need him to save you, To redeem you, To change you. You need his work, Not yours. And so when we look at someone, And you just say, Here's how to change your behavior.
What I have just declared to you is, It's about your behavior. And if you fix that, You'd be okay. And that is the farthest thing from the truth. So it makes a difference. It's a big deal. So we're going to, Give good news before we give good advice.
And we're going to talk about Jesus, Before we talk about you. That's how we as a church family respond. That's what it looks like, To be gospel centered for us. So when we talk to somebody, We're going to talk about good news, Before we give good advice. And we're going to talk about Jesus, Before we talk about you. Martin Luther says this, And this was, He said it in German, Way back in the day.
He's one of the guys that like, Had a fit and started the reformation. He's a pretty angry person. It's kind of cool. He also helped clarify some things, About the gospel and some of the stuff in scripture. But he said this in German, So it was translated into like, Old English.
So some of the words will be weird, And I'll try to skip. Where it says teacheth, I'll just say teaches. Martin Luther said this, Here I must take counsel of the gospel. I must hearken to the gospel, Which teaches me, Not what I ought to do, For that is the proper office of the law, But what Jesus Christ, The son of God, Has done for me. To wit that he suffered and died, To deliver me from sin and death. The gospel wills me to receive this, And to believe it.
And this is the truth of the gospel. It is also the principal article of all Christian doctrine, Wherein the knowledge of all godliness consists. Most necessary is it, therefore, That we should know this article well, Teach it to others, And beat it into their heads continually. And that's what we're shooting for as a church family. To beat the gospel into each other's heads continually. And a lot of times we think, I know the gospel.
I don't need to know the gospel right now. I need to know how to change my behavior. The problem is, Your behavior won't change, Unless the gospel becomes more real to you, More clear to you, More, You feel it more. That's what changes our behavior. And the truth is, You don't know the gospel. We function outside of the gospel all the time.
There are times Matt and I, We're getting this up, I'll need to repent, Or I'll be upset about something, And Matt will go, Let me tell you, Your approval doesn't come from that, That you completely whiffed on, And it was terrible. Your approval comes from Jesus, And his work for you. And the whole time he's doing that, I'm like, I know that Matt. Thanks. And when he gets done, I'm like, I feel better, That was really helpful. Because we need to be reminded, Of the gospel.
Flip over to Hebrews 3, So if you're in one of these bibles, It's going to be like, 11 pages to the right, On 649. And the author of Hebrews, Is kind of laying this out for us, What this looks like. And so I just, We're going to walk through this, And then we're going to talk a little bit about, Just practically, How do we share the gospel with each other, On a regular basis. Hebrews 3 verse 12, Take care brothers, So brothers and sisters, Church family, Take care brothers, Lest there be in any of you, An evil, Unbelieving heart, Leading you to fall away, From the living God, But exhort, And I'll explain what that means in a second, Exhort one another every day, Every day, As long as it is called, Today, See what he did there?
That none of you may be hardened, By the deceitfulness of sin, Sin lies to us, For we have come to share in Christ, If indeed we hold our original confidence, Firm to the end, Okay, Exhort one another today, As long as it's called today, Every day, As long as it's called today, Exhort just means special Bible encouragement, It really just means special gospel encouragement, That's what it is, That's what exhortation is, It's reminding each other of the gospel, Because that's our original hope, What was your original hope? That you were awesome? If that was your original hope, I have news for you, You are not a Christian, And you are not awesome, Your original hope is that Jesus, Was awesome for you, That he was good for you, That his work saves you, That's the original hope, And that's what we exhort one another in, That's what we remind each other of, Jesus is great, You aren't, You are going to fall short, That's the gospel, That's why a feel good, Ism, Feels so empty, You ever mess something up terribly, And someone trying to be nice is like, Oh it's okay, You'll be okay, It'll be alright, It'll all work out, That'll, Oh you'll be fine, It's great, You're great, You didn't mean that, You're a good person, Some of you, Maybe, You believe that, If you say that to me, I'm like, I'm not a good person, Like that's not, This isn't helping me at all, I don't think it'll all work out, I don't think, Like, It just feels so empty, Some of you who aren't Christians, You've been told that repeatedly, And you've really, Really tried to believe it, But you just can't, Something in you just won't let you, Fall in love with the idea, That it'll all be okay, And everything will work out, You know what warms my soul, Is when someone stares me in the face, And says, Yeah you messed that up, And that was terrible, And you failed, And Jesus steps in, And rescues, And redeems, And works, And it's because of your failure, And because of your sin, And because you fall short, That he gets to be your savior, It's your sin, That made his salvation possible, Then it's like, Yes, Thank you, So we can't do, Just you fall short, And we can't do, Just you'll be okay, We've got to connect them, With the understanding of the gospel, Which is, Yeah you fall short, But you'll be okay, Because of Jesus, Because he works on your behalf, Because he's saved you, Okay, Here's what we're going to do, Take just a second, To talk about, How we actually do this, What this actually looks like, As church family, When we talk to each other, So we've already said, We're going to give good news, Before we give good advice, And we're going to talk about Jesus, Before we talk about you, So, You're sitting down with somebody, And they confess, That they've been, Really struggling with lust, Really struggling with, They've been looking at pornography, It's just tearing them up, They don't want to, It's a Christian friend, I don't want to, I just, And every time, I feel so terrible, I just feel worthless, And I know that God's mad at me, And at some point, I just can't keep repenting, Of the same thing, At some point, He just doesn't listen anymore, I'm sure, At some point, It just doesn't mean anything anymore, When I confess this again, Normal response, Would usually follow, And fall in the advice category, Yeah man, That's a big deal, And it hurts you, And you think it doesn't hurt anybody else, But it does, It hurts all the people, That are involved in that industry, It's very similar to sex slavery, It can hurt your future relationships, It can damage those, The Bible says it's sin, Job 31.1, Ephesians 5.3, Maybe you should memorize those, And quote them out loud, When you feel tempted, Let's get a blocker thing, On your computer, Let's set it up, To where it will email people, If you fall, Let's meet once a week, And I'll ask you how this is going, Boom, Is that good advice? Yeah, Memorizing verses, Putting a blocker thing on your computer, Will it help change the behavior?
Maybe, Does it make him love Jesus more? Probably not, Because it's trusting himself, So let's rewind, Let's give good news, Before we give good advice, Let's talk about Jesus, Before we talk about him, Hey man, Yeah, That's sin, And Jesus died, For sin, And when he died for you, You were his enemy, You were weak, And he saved you, And he saved all your sin, Past, Present, And future, And if you fall again, It's already been paid for, You are covered forever, By grace, Let me tell you something, When you feel miserable for a few days, And you feel guilt, And you feel shame, And you're beating yourself up, You're not allowed to, Because once you've become a Christian, You don't get to atone for your sin, Jesus does, You don't get to beat yourself up, Your beating has already been poured out on Jesus, You don't get to be punished, Your punishment has already been met in Jesus, You don't get to feel bad, Your guilt and shame have already been taken by Jesus, You're free, And you get to praise him for his grace, That saves you when you're off, And when you're wrong, And when you're terrible, The gospel is more beautiful to you, Not on your days that you're good and you behave, But on the days that you fall so woefully short, And feel so much like you don't deserve it, That's actually what grace is, Undeserved favor, So when you feel like I don't deserve this, You've tapped into it, That's the gospel, You don't, And he gave it to you anyway, So maybe you should memorize some verses, And you and I can meet, And I'll ask about this, And we can talk about this, I know a guy who put a blocker thing on his computer, Which just helped him, Know that it was going to send out emails, And that can be helpful, But Jesus saves you, And you get to praise him for his forgiveness, And his grace, Now is that better? Does that feel better? Does that feel more real?
So maybe you should memorize some verses, And you and I can meet, And I'll ask about this, And we can talk about this, I know a guy who put a blocker thing on his computer, Which just helped him, Know that it was going to send out emails, And that can be helpful, But Jesus saves you, And you get to praise him for his forgiveness, And his grace, Now is that better? Does that feel better? Does that feel more real? More right? As a Christian, You start going, Yes, That's true, You're hanging out with one of your Christian friends, And they do this, They do the, I just, I just haven't been praying,
I haven't been reading the Bible, And I know I should be sharing the gospel with people, But, I just haven't been, I haven't been telling anybody, I haven't been intentional, I'm playing, You know, I'm spending more time, You know, Just doing other things, As opposed to sharing the gospel, As opposed to reading, What do we say? Ah, Man, Or lady, Friend, Sorry, Every once in a while, I call Anna man, And it turns into manna, I'm like, Hey man,
And Anna, So this could be a lady, I just may have called her man, Um, Hey, Set your alarm earlier, Get up 15 minutes earlier, And read the Bible then, Just do it first thing in the morning, That works for me, Um, Have someone else read through a book with you, So that you'll have someone ask, Hey, How's it going? Or, Did you read your chapter, And you'd say, No, I didn't know, Whatever, And yeah, We should share the gospel, Like,
We've been given the ministry of reconciliation, So we should do, If you don't tell them, Who will, So yeah, Normal responses, Heard that before, Said that before, I've said that before, It's one of my favorites, Set your alarm earlier, That's one of my go-tos, Just wake up earlier, Because I'm a morning person, So it just seems easy, Um, Now here's how we get to respond, Because we're going to give good news, Before we give good advice, We're going to point to Jesus, Before we point to you, Talk about Jesus, Before we talk about you, Hey yeah,
Let me tell you something, Your relationship with God, Is not based off of how much you pray, And read the Bible, Because you don't get to take that aspect, Of the gospel back from Jesus, Your relationship with God, Is that you've been adopted, Into the family, Because Jesus has given you, His position at the table, Because he reconciled us, And his relationship with God, The father has been given to us, Through the cross, So just read, You get to read, You get to study, Because it helps you grow, And helps you love God more, And helps you see the gospel more clearly, But it doesn't change, How God feels towards you, And we actually do have good news,
To share with people, Because it's not about, Our work or our effort, And guess what, Ultimately at the end of the day, You will save no one, So the pressure is off, Just tell people about Jesus, And if you mess it up, Talk to Jesus about it, Ask him to fix it, Go repent, Go tell him you're sorry, You said that wrong, Say I told you this the other day, And then I was reading in John, And man was I wrong, Here's what John says, And he said it better, So you get to share the gospel, But it's not, The pressure is not on you, To save or to rescue, Or to do any of this,
You're talking to a non-Christian friend, Works with you, Coworker, Friend of yours, Friend like you actually hang out with, Type friend, Who doesn't know Jesus, She comes in and says, Yeah I just found out my dad has cancer, We see the world through the gospel, That's terrible, I'm sorry to hear that, Pray with her, You hug her, She says, What am I going to do, How's this going to happen, And you get to say, I don't know what you're going to do, And I don't know how this is going to play out, But I'm a Christian, And I know this, I know that God is in control, I know that he's sovereign over everything,
And in these circumstances, One of the things that Christians know, Without a shadow of a doubt, Is that Jesus became a human, Suffered and died with us, And so when we face these kind of situations, We don't know how they're going to work out, But what Christians do know, Is that it's not that God doesn't love us, And it's not that he's not good, He's forever answered that half of things in the cross, He's good, He's for our good, And he loves us so much, That he would suffer and die alongside of us, How is this going to play out, I don't know, But we know he's good, And we know that he loves, And we know that he loves you more, Than you could ever understand, I'm going to pray with you, And I'm going to help any way I can, So we get to just respond,
Out of the gospel, And it's so much more life-giving, And it's so much more filling, And it's so much more true, That's why when we hear this, When we begin to talk like this as Christians, You begin to go, That's it, That's what we get to do, And then we give good advice, Here's how I quit being a jerk, It's helpful, But not until I know that me being a jerk, Isn't going to snatch me out of the hand of God, Because Jesus has already been not a jerk on my behalf, Which is beautiful, And here's what's cool about this church family, We're going to be terrible at this, And we're going to work to grow in it, So just so you know, You're sitting there going, That seems really hard to do, Yeah, And especially for those of us,
Who've been Christians for a while, That have been gotten used to, Just saying other things, Here's what's cool about this, And one of our group leaders pointed this out, He said it's like when you have a little kid, And it got me thinking about it, And it is like that, My brother has a little daughter, And she's like one now, And so I'm going to kind of make some jokes now, Because we're about to have a kid, And when we have a kid, My kid's going to be really special and smart, But, You ever been around parents, They're obnoxious about their children, They just are, Because their kid is the best, And he's the sweetest, And everything he does is the cutest, And so I'm hanging out with my brother, And they just, They love her,
And it's fun to hang out with little kids, And I like little kids, But every once in a while they'll do something, And the parents will get so excited, And it doesn't really make any sense, So they'll look at their little kid, And be like, She walked, Did you see her walk? She's walking, And it's like, She fell forward, Because her head is too big for her body, I don't know if that's walking, Or you ever see a parent, Like hold their kid's hand, And walk with them, And like, Look at them walking, It's like you're cheating bro, You're holding their hands the whole time, Or kids are learning how to talk, And they babble nonsense, All the time,
And then they say something, That sounds remotely close to airplane, And their parents lose their minds, She said airplane, Did she though? Is that real? Like, Get her to say it again, Get her to point one out in the picture, Like, That's what parents do, That's what we get to do as church family, That's what we get to do in our community groups, We're going to say stuff that doesn't make a lot of sense, We're going to mess up, We're going to just fall forward sometimes, And we're going to get to celebrate, Hey, That was kind of the gospel, Did you hear that? We talked about Jesus first, That wasn't just advice, Time out, Time out everyone,
I know you have a problem, But he just said the gospel, So we're high-fiving, And then we'll get back to your problem, Because we talked about Jesus first, Like that's what we get to do as church family, We get to celebrate the fact, That we're going to work, To beat this into each other's heads continually, Because we all need the gospel, We need Jesus, Over and over and over and over again, We need Jesus to fill us up, To remind us, To call us forward, To change us, So what we're going to do, Is Raz and we're all going to come back up, And we're going to sing, And we're going to praise Jesus, And as a church family, We are going to work and commit to, Giving good news before we give good advice, And talking about Jesus,
Before we talk about anything, Before we talk about your behavior, Before we point to, How you should change your situation, We're going to talk about, How Jesus has already stepped in, And fundamentally rescued us, Because that's the story we're a part of, Bow your heads, Let's pray, God I thank you, That we have the good news, And I pray, Through your holy spirit, That you would not let us, Let that get lost, And all the other stuff, That you would not allow us, To let that get, Just covered up, By all the other things, When we try to fix our behavior, And we want so badly, To change and to grow,
I pray that you would help us to remember, That we're going to change and grow, And we get to change and grow, But that that's, That we grow in the gospel, Not away from it, Not beyond it, Not above it, We grow deeper into it, Understanding grace, And understanding salvation, And being rescued by you, Help us to be gospel centered, Help us to be, Pointing each other to the gospel, In all things, Change our hearts to love you more, In Jesus, In Jesus, Daniel surgery Valentine's Day St. Seth
She's walking, And it's like, She fell forward, Because her head is too big for her body, I don't know if that's walking, Or you ever see a parent, Like hold their kid's hand, And walk with them, And like, Look at them walking, It's like you're cheating bro, You're holding their hands the whole time, Or kids are learning how to talk, And they babble nonsense, All the time, And then they say something, That sounds remotely close to airplane, And their parents lose their minds, She said airplane, Did she though? Is that real? Like, Get her to say it again, Get her to point one out in the picture, Like, That's what parents do, That's what we get to do as church family, That's what we get to do in our community groups, We're going to say stuff that doesn't make a lot of sense, We're going to mess up, We're going to just fall forward sometimes, And we're going to get to celebrate, Hey, That was kind of the gospel, Did you hear that? We talked about Jesus first, That wasn't just advice, Time out, Time out everyone, I know you have a problem, But he just said the gospel, So we're high-fiving, And then we'll get back to your problem, Because we talked about Jesus first, Like that's what we get to do as church family, We get to celebrate the fact, That we're going to work, To beat this into each other's heads continually, Because we all need the gospel, We need Jesus, Over and over and over and over again, We need Jesus to fill us up, To remind us, To call us forward, To change us, So what we're going to do, Is Raz and we're all going to come back up, And we're going to sing, And we're going to praise Jesus, And as a church family, We are going to work and commit to, Giving good news before we give good advice, And talking about Jesus, Before we talk about anything, Before we talk about your behavior, Before we point to, How you should change your situation, We're going to talk about, How Jesus has already stepped in, And fundamentally rescued us, Because that's the story we're a part of, Bow your heads, Let's pray, God I thank you, That we have the good news, And I pray, Through your holy spirit, That you would not let us, Let that get lost, And all the other stuff, That you would not allow us, To let that get, Just covered up, By all the other things, When we try to fix our behavior, And we want so badly, To change and to grow, I pray that you would help us to remember, That we're going to change and grow, And we get to change and grow, But that that's, That we grow in the gospel, Not away from it, Not beyond it, Not above it, We grow deeper into it, Understanding grace, And understanding salvation, And being rescued by you, Help us to be gospel centered, Help us to be, Pointing each other to the gospel, In all things, Change our hearts to love you more, In Jesus, In Jesus, Daniel surgery Valentine's Day St.
Seth
The Gospel
Transcript
What we're doing today specifically is we're just looking at the gospel. So as we get into the next several weeks, we'll be unpacking very practically what it means for that to affect us, for the gospel to change us and to affect how we live our lives. But today we're just looking at the gospel. And to do that, we're going to look in Romans chapter 1 through 6. Chapters 1 through 6. So everybody, put your big boy britches on.
We've got a lot of work to do. The reason we're doing that and the reason we're going to try to cover so much text is this. The gospel is the primary story of the Bible. It is the story of the Bible. And what happens sometimes when we talk about the gospel is we'll say, hey, everybody flip to 2 Corinthians. Everybody now jump over to 1 Timothy.
Everybody go to this passage in Luke. And it seems as if sometimes, if we haven't spent much time reading scripture, that the gospel is somehow hidden obscurely all around like it's like a little treasure hunt to find it. And it is not. And so what we're trying to do today is actually just go through Romans 1 is going to say this. Romans 2 is going to say this. Romans 3 is going to say this.
And move so that we all have a good handle on a linear walkthrough of a big understanding of the gospel. Now, when we say the word gospel, it sometimes gets confusing. We use the word gospel a lot, sometimes wrongly. Sometimes we're talking about the Holy Spirit. And we'll say, you know, the gospel changes you. And really it's the Holy Spirit changing you through the gospel.
So sometimes we'll use the gospel too much and use it in the wrong sentence. A lot of times we just say it's become buzzwordy for us, especially us as a church, where we'll say things like we'll press into the gospel, point each other to the gospel, walk in the gospel. Your community needs to be about the gospel. And after a while it's like I don't even know what you're talking about anymore. You just keep using that word. And it's not helpful.
And for some of us that maybe don't have a church background, when you hear gospel, you might even just think of a type of music. And depending on where you grew up, that may be southern gospel, which is like four overweight white guys telling a story in harmony with one another. And it may be the other type of gospel, which is going to be any number of 1 to 30 African Americans not telling a story, but saying the same thing over and over and over again. And we can argue all day as to which one's better. There is one that's better, and it's not the four white guys. But I'm just throwing that out there.
So we may even just be confused about what that word means. And so what we're going to do first is we're just going to really clearly try to explain where the word gospel comes from and what the Bible means when it says it, because it is a very loaded word. It means way more. It's a huge concept, and it is the story of the Bible. So the word gospel comes from the Greek word euangelion, or sometimes they'll English eyes at some and call it evangelion.
That's where we get the word evangelist from. And what it means is angelia just meant message. And so you would have news. That's what it means. So the gospel basically, ooh means good, and angelia means news.
And so the gospel very fundamentally just means good news. But it's not good news the way we use the term good news. So like I might see you and be like, I've got good news. Little Caesar's having a buy one, get one free sale. Wow. And you're like, that's great news.
But the way they would have used it is everything was news and only life-shattering, epic, this will change you news was good news. Was euangelion. And so everything was news. So you would have heralds and people that would proclaim news. And then there are certain things that were called gospel, good news. Like this is actual life-changing news.
And so there were certain things like there's the gospel of Caesar, which is saying this is the guy who got like our nation started, set it up the way it is. This is life-changing news for everybody who exists in the Roman Empire. It's the gospel of Caesar, much the way we have like the gospel of Jesus. Mark will start off with this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. There was the gospel of like Marathon. So there are certain battles that your army won.
So when the Greeks held off the Persians and defeated them at Marathon and people ran to the cities to proclaim that, what they were proclaiming was the gospel of the battle of Marathon, which is this is epic, life-changing news. We're not going to be slaves. This isn't advice. This isn't, hey, get ready. This isn't everybody run for your life. This is gospel.
It's epic, life-changing news. Everybody throw a party, pop the keg, start celebrating. We won the battle. That's what it was. That's what gospel was. And so when the Bible says gospel, what it means is the epic, life-changing news.
And that's why the Bible is going to call it the gospel. So they took that word that meant good news and epic news, and they just put this is the life-shattering, world-changing news. And what that news is this. And I'm going to try to just walk through this very simply, and then we're going to walk through it in a more complex way as Paul unpacks it, who's a guy writing the book of Romans. As Paul unpacks it in Romans. So God created the world.
So there is a creator God, and he made everything, and he designed it to exist in a relationship with himself. Much the way that a father wants to have a relationship with his children and fights for that and wants that because the father loves his children and because it's good for the children. Like if we see a four-year-old just living on the street, we're like, no, this kid needs a family. And that's the way God created creation to exist in that relationship with himself because he loves creation, and it's good for creation. Humans, your first parents, Adam and Eve, you may know of them. You've probably seen a picture of them somewhat naked, which I hope isn't true for all your ancestors but is true for Adam and Eve.
They existed in relationship with God in a garden, and they rebelled against him. So because they existed, they chose to love themselves more, to honor themselves more, to go after their own way and not to exist in that relationship with God. And when they did that, it was a train wreck of cosmic proportions. It absolutely shattered the very fabric of our world because now creation no longer exists in the relationship with the creator as it's supposed to. Then what happens is God begins to pursue humans again and begins to try to teach them what it looks like to live in a relationship with him.
He didn't have to teach them at first. They just did. Now he's having to try to rebuild this. So he chases after the nation of Israel. He gives them the law, which is just here's how you honor me. Here's how you live in a relationship with me, and continues on, and it goes from bad to worse, and it becomes to where no human is ever going to live up to and fix the relationship with God.
So God becomes a man, and that's the person Jesus Christ. And he lives a perfect life, does not rebel, exists in the relationship with the creator as he's supposed to. The Bible tells us that when we rebel, when we fall short, when we sin and dishonor God, we deserve death. So Jesus lives perfectly and does not deserve death. If he had sinned, if he had fallen short, if he had rebelled, if he had chosen to dishonor God, he would have deserved death, but he didn't. So then he trades places with us.
And Jesus, on a cross, dies the death that we all deserve. And then he rises from the grave three days later. Not spiritually, not an apparition, rises back to life, still has scars, eats food, touches people, scares people, rises from the dead. And when he did that, he gave us his life. And so that for anyone who places faith in Jesus, his life applies to your account. So that your terrible life, your failure of a life, that where you fall short, where you mess up, where you have sin, where you have problems, he applies his life to your account.
And where you have fallen short and messed up and had problems and disobeyed God and run from him, he takes that onto himself and dies for it. So he dies for our sin and rises to give us life. And that is the gospel. And that's what the Bible means when it says the gospel. It's that Jesus saves us through his work and effort, not ours. And that's what Paul is going to mean.
And that's what we're going to walk through today. And that's what everything is about. For us as a church, that's all we talk about. If you've been hanging around for a while, you're like, man, they only talk about Jesus. Yes. That's all we have to say.
We're a band with one song. We're like Brian Adams. We start with summer of 69. We close with summer of 69. We got nothing else in the middle. That's it.
That's all we do is we're going to talk about Jesus. We're going to talk about the gospel. And so we're going to walk through Romans 1 through 6 so that we can all have a very clear picture. And that's what we're walking through, this epic, life-changing good news as Paul unpacks it. So I'm going to pray.
And we're going to walk through Romans 1 through 6 at a hefty clip because we don't want to be here until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I'm assuming. I'm cool with it if y'all are. All right, let's pray. God, we thank you that the gospel is not obscure, but that you've made it evident and clear. And we ask that you would reveal it to us as we study your word today. Give us wisdom and clarity as we walk through.
May your Holy Spirit speak to us in a very real way. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So I just want to give a disclaimer. If this is your first time hanging out with us, maybe you're not a Christian. Maybe you got invited by your Christian friend to come hang out with their church.
They've been bugging you. You ran out of excuses. First of all, well done, Christian friend. Second of all, if you're here hanging out, I just want to tell you this is it. This is what we're about. This is what the church is about.
This is what Christianity is about. This is what the Bible is about. So they can't tell you, oh, he didn't really talk about it. You're going to have to come back. No, this is it. You came on the right Sunday to hang out with us.
This is what we're talking about. And as clearly as we can, we're going to walk through it. So we're in Romans 1. Now, Romans 1 starts off, it's a letter. So he starts off with like, hey, I'm Paul.
How y'all doing? How's your mom and them? And then immediately in 16, he jumps right into what he's talking about. He jumps right into the main point. So Romans 1, 16.
This is kind of Paul's lead. So if you write for a newspaper, the lead is the main part of the story. So it's going to be at the first sentence you have. Actually, the headline is going to be just the news piece. And then the first sentence will be the main point. And then everything else from that is just explaining the main point if someone writes a news story well.
So you should be able to stop reading a newspaper article at any point and all you would have done. You're not waiting for like, like news headlines aren't like, someone won the Super Bowl. Read page 4b to find out. Like it doesn't tell you the story and then you find out at the end. The headline will be Colts Win. I'm not making a prediction.
I'm just saying that's how headlines work. So like if you're angry about that, we'll see. It may just be Packers, whatever. Seahawks. Not making a prediction. But that's how it works.
And so that's what Paul's doing here in 116 is he's saying this is what the rest of this entire letter is about. The rest of it will be explaining it, but this is the point. 116. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, the epic life-changing news of Jesus, that he lived in our place, died in our place, and that we can be saved through him. That's the gospel. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
Salvation from sin, salvation from death, salvation from the wrath of God that we deserve as we've rebelled. It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. The reason he breaks that out, and we'll see more later, is the Jews were the people that God gave the law to, gave his rules to, gave his this is how you honor me to. And so he's going to talk about them in two separate groups. So those who don't know how to relate to God and those who did or do.
For in it, the righteousness, which means goodness, rightness, right standing, of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. So what Paul starts off with is, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, which is that Jesus saves us, he rescues us, and it's the power. The gospel is the power of salvation. That's where rescue comes from, for everyone who believes. Everyone who believes. Now he's going to walk us through this story that we just talked about.
He's going to walk us through the gospel. And so he jumps right in. 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Look, if God is good and holy, he has wrath. He has anger towards unrighteousness and brokenness.
My wife loves this show called Forensic Files, which is where they do like real crime stories, and then they say how they caught people based off of forensic evidence. And a lot of times it's like, 12 years later, we figured out how to use DNA. Because it used to just be like, this person bled everywhere. Gross. Clean it up. Now they keep it, and they can use DNA testing.
And so they'll find out way later. And I watch that show with her sometimes, and it creeps me out. So I have to like load a gun and sleep with one eye open after I watch a good bit of those shows. But I get so angry watching that show sometimes. So angry at the way humans treat each other and at the sick things that happen.
The terrible way that people interact with one another. The evil in the world. And I'm not that good. And I'm not that nice. And I'm not that holy. And to act like we have a good, holy, loving God who sits in heaven and doesn't care.
Doesn't have wrath for people. We very much misunderstand how much he loves. If we don't think he has wrath. And so it says that, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Verse 19. For what can be known about God is plain to them.
Because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.
But claiming to be wise, they became fools. And exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Okay, here's the first bit of our problem. We were created to worship God and we replace him with other things. Now as we walk through this, we're going to have some sentences come up on the screen.
If you take notes, I try to just make clear statements about the sections we're walking through. If that's helpful, cool, write them down. If it's not helpful, pay no attention to the screen behind me. I'm not a note taker person. It takes me a lot of effort to come up with sentences that are helpful. So there you go.
We were created to worship God. We replace him with other things. What it just said was that we know God exists through creation. And that's true. You make all the arguments you want to, but that's true. Because creation is way too complex for it to just have come out of nothing.
I'm sorry, it just is. It's like the human eye, the leaf. You know, all the work all our scientists are doing to come up with solar panels. They're trying to recreate the leaf. Because that thing is like this big and very, very efficient at turning sunlight into energy. That's why that car is called the leaf.
They're trying to make the leaf. And they can't because that is crazy efficient. And we're trying to figure out how to do it. But the way God designed the world is complex. Very complex. And it's got order in the midst of what seems like chaos.
And what it's saying is that we stumble upon creation and we should automatically know something intelligent was here and had something to do with this. Your brain is a chunk of meat that knows that it exists. Your brain named itself. It's the only organ to name itself. It named itself brain. And I've made this joke before, but I like it.
So I'm going to make it again. The brain really should have done better. It named itself like superpower lightning thought muscle or something like that. Like once you think about it, you're like, if I'm going to name myself, it needs to be something really sweet because the brain can do whatever it wants. That's complex. Like if you're walking through the woods, I don't know why you're in the woods, but you're walking through the woods and you come up on a little cottage.
And it's got a little thatched roof and it's made out of wood, you know, logs. And there's a little fireplace, like smoke coming out of it. You don't think, huh, I bet wind did this. I bet there's a whole lot of nature going on, made this little house. No, you immediately are like, oh, there's a human here and he's home because there's a fireplace. And I don't know why he lives in the woods, but he's probably weird.
Like that's immediately what happens. Like you're walking through the woods and you find a bird's nest. Immediately something intelligent had something to do with this. And this isn't even really complex. It's like sticks in a circle with a little hole in the middle. But you see it and you know this didn't just happen.
And so what Paul just said was with creation, God has made himself evident. He's made himself clear. You can't look at creation and be like, I bet wind did this. Like it's not how it works. Like a tornado never rips through a part of the country and builds a better city. This is not how chaos works.
So what he's saying is that it's clear that God exists and that we replace him. So it says that they replaced him with creatures, with creeping things. What we did was we took God as creator and we moved him out of that spot and we put other things there. We worship and care about and love other things. Something is going to be primary for us. Something is going to be what you spend your time on.
Something is going to be what you spend your energy, your sweat, your money towards. Something is going to be where you put your effort. Whatever that is, it's supposed to be God. It's supposed to be what you orient your life around. But you'll shift it.
It'll become something created. So it'll be money. It'll be sex. It'll be enjoyment. It'll be pleasure. It'll be your family.
Most of the time it's something good. It'll be your children. That's what you're going to spend your time on. That's what you're going to put your effort towards. But we've taken something creeping, something small, and we've replaced God with other things.
Now here's how this works. When the Bible talks about law, what it's really saying is that God exists so he actually has things that he likes and doesn't like. Things that honor him and don't honor him. So when he's primary, we'll orient our life around the things that he likes and doesn't like. Let me give you a very small example. It's kind of, sorry.
I made my, anyway, sorry. My wife, Anna. The reason I thought it was funny is because she's very small. So it's a very small example. My wife, Anna. She used to be smaller.
She's been putting on weight lately because she's really pregnant. She's going to have a baby here soon. But, man, I apologize, guys. My wife, Anna. So I care about her.
I love her. And so my life gets bent around her some. Like I begin to know what she likes and doesn't like. And I honor her through that. So like one of the ways that I would honor her well is like she comes home.
And I got home a little early. I started preparing. You know, I'm going to kind of, I'm going to show her some love. You know, so I wrote her a little note. And it's like, ooh, girl. Because that's a good way to start a note.
And it's like, I made you a cheeseburger with some blue cheese and a whole lot of ketchup for you. Because I've just been sitting at the house thinking about your curly brown hair, your olive skin, and your bright blue eyes. And I went to Redbox. And I rented you a DVD, the scariest one I could find, the best horror picture I could find that stars Vin Diesel. Now here's the problem.
That sounds nice. She doesn't have olive skin. She doesn't have blue eyes. She doesn't have curly brown hair. So I'm in trouble.
She doesn't like ketchup. And she's allergic to blue cheese. She doesn't like horror movies. And especially not anything with Vin Diesel in it. So when we talk about following and honoring and loving God, when the Bible talks about his law, what it's basically saying is a concept that we all understand very simply.
Is that because he actually exists, he has things that he likes and doesn't like. He has things that honor him and don't honor him. Because he's real. So when you're having a conversation with someone and they say, Well, my God would never. Time out. You don't get to choose.
Like I don't get to say, well, my wife would never be allergic to blue cheese. It's like she is, dude. Like she's real. So when somebody starts defining God in a way that he doesn't define himself, because he's real, he actually has things that honor him. So we have to ask questions like, how does he feel about children?
What's it mean to be a good father in relationship to my creator? Can I beat them? Can I get rid of them if they get on my nerves? Am I supposed to take care of them? What's he feel about the elderly? How does he feel about the way men treat women?
Are they property as they are in other parts of the world? Or are they have value in life and worth and are designed, made to be, designed, made to be cultivated and flourish and have giftings that they're supposed to use? Like how does he feel? Because he's real, he actually has ways that we follow him. So when the Bible talks about honoring God and loving him and following his law, that's what it's referring to in a very simple way.
Is that if he's primary, we'll exist as if he's primary. Now here's the problem. God is creator. We've replaced him with other things. If I have a wife, if you have a spouse, husband or wife, and you don't treat them as your spouse, that makes you a bad spouse. Very simply.
You don't treat your spouse like they're your spouse. You don't acknowledge them. Don't care for them. Act like you don't have a spouse. You're a bad spouse. You're a dad.
You've got kids and you don't treat your kids like they're your kids. You just, you ignore them like you don't have kids. That makes you a bad dad. If we are creation and we don't treat creator like he's the creator, that makes us bad creation. It's just a very simple concept. And so that's what Paul's saying.
Is that the wrath of God is shown against us because we've all replaced God with something else. All of us. Okay, jump to chapter 2, verse 11. We're going to read two things here, two verses, just to kind of clarify some of this. For God shows no partiality. That sounds nice.
12. For all who have sinned without the law. Okay, time out. We're about to find something out. If you did not know what honored God. So Paul just said that God made himself evident through creation.
But let's say you've never grown up in the church. You never spent any time reading the Bible. You never knew what honored God. You never got to know him to know what it was like. What he liked and didn't like. What would make him happy.
What would please him. It's about to tell us what happens to you. So if that's you. I never really read the Bible. I never really spent any time in church. I don't really know what God likes or doesn't like.
We're about to find out what it says. He doesn't show partiality. For all who have sinned. So that means disobeyed God. Run from God. Dishonored God.
Without the law. Will also perish without the law. Okay, that didn't go well for y'all. What it says is if you didn't know how to honor God. And you dishonored God. No excuse.
You'll perish without the law. You had no rules. You had no way to relate to him. You perish without it. And all who have sinned under the law. Okay.
Other half of people. Grew up in church. Read the scriptures. Understand a little bit about what it means to honor God. You know a little bit about the ten commandments. Like you can remember six out of the ten of them.
Know a little bit about what we're supposed to do to honor God. Let's find out what happens to us. I'm in that camp. I grew up in church. For all who have sinned under the law. Will be judged by the law.
Well that's not good. What it says is. Oh you knew it? You generous? You gracious? You loving?
Do you lie? You steal? Do you put other things over above me? It's just gonna. They just line up against us. And you're judged by it.
So. He shows no partiality. God's very fair. If you don't know the law. You perish without it. And if you do know the law.
You'll be judged by it. And God's wrath is coming forth for everyone. And all the unrighteousness in the world. Okay. Jump over to 3 verse 9. So what we've seen so far is that we have a problem.
We were created to worship God. And we replace him with other things. Chapter 3 verse 9. What then? Are we Jews any better off? And when he says Jews.
He means those who know how to honor God. Are we Jews any better off? No. Not at all. Sorry church people. People who knew the rules.
He says you're not any better off. He's specifically talking about the Jewish people. Who were given the law. But. Understanding how to honor God. Not any better off.
For we have already charged. That all. Both Jews and Greeks. Are under sin. As it is written. None is righteous.
No not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good.
Not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood.
In their paths are ruin and misery. How many of you that sounds like your path? In their paths are ruin and misery. And the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. So that just means that they haven't placed God.
In his rightful position as creator. They haven't honored him. Loved him. Served him. There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19.
Now we have known that whatever the law says. It speaks to those who are under the law. So that every mouth may be stopped. And the whole world may be held accountable. To God. He will judge everybody.
Is what that's saying. For by works of the law. No human being. Will be justified. That means made right. It's actually a word that.
It's a. It's a. Judiciary term. It means that you won't stand before God in his courtroom. And be declared innocent. So justified means.
For by the works of the law. No human being will be justified in his sight. Since through the law comes knowledge of sin. All right. Real quick. What that means.
Is that through the law comes knowledge of sin. Just means that if you didn't know what God liked. You could. You could dishonor him without knowing about it. But once you know about it.
It doesn't fix your ability to. To follow. It just means you dishonor him. And know about it. No one. Will be made right with God.
No human being. Raise your hand if that applies to you. Okay. Hands down. No human being. Will be made right.
With God. By works of the law. What that means is. If we all came in here. And studied what made God happy. What he liked and didn't like.
And we worked to live under that. None of us. Would do it. None of us could live up to it. None of us could be good enough. None of us would be able to stand before God.
And be declared innocent. If you thought. That the Bible. Was about a bunch of do's and don'ts. Do this. Don't do that.
And God will love you. Do this. Don't do that. And you'll be a good person. It is not. What it just said was.
No one. Will be justified. By the law. So if you're talking to a friend. You don't know much about the Bible. And they're like.
Oh the Bible is just about a bunch of rules. You don't know much about the Bible. But you can now say. No it ain't. What's it about. I don't really know yet.
But it's not about being a good person. Because the Bible very clearly says. No one's going to do it. No one's going to be good enough. We all fall short. No amount of work will fix this.
In chapter 2. Paul says that we will all be judged by our works. And then he goes into. And all of us will fall short. So our problem is that we were meant to worship God.
But we were replacing with other things. And the second half of that problem. Is that we all fall short. And no amount of work will fix it. Been pretty uplifting so far. Paul really starts this letter off.
With a nice little hug. Chapter 1. Get in here. Verse 21. But now the righteousness.
Okay look. That sentence starts with but. Which sounds really nice. Because the first two chapters have been. Like a beating. And so it starts with but.
Which means something different is about to happen. But now the righteousness. It means the rightness. The goodness. The holiness of God. God.
Has been manifested. Just means it showed up. Apart from the law. Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. That's just saying the Old Testament. It's called the law and the prophets.
It's saying it points to this. The righteousness of God. Through faith. In Jesus Christ. For all who believe. For there is no distinction.
For all have sinned. And fall short of the glory of God. And are justified. And are justified. Made right. Declared innocent.
By his grace. As a gift. Through the redemption. That is in Christ Jesus. Whom God put forward. As a propitiation.
That is a big word. And you need to fall in love with it. The word propitiation. Means that he diverted wrath. That wrath that we read about in chapter one. Where God's wrath is coming forth from heaven.
It was poured out on Jesus on the cross. In his excruciating. Painful. Bloody. Humiliating death. God's wrath was poured out on him.
And it diverted its course. From us. To him. That's what propitiation means. God put forward as a propitiation. By his blood.
To be received. By faith. By trust. This was to show God's righteousness. His goodness. His holiness.
Because in his divine forbearance. He had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness. At the present time. So that he might be just.
And the justifier. Of the one who has faith in Jesus. It means he's still a good judge. Because the guilty aren't acquitted. But he paid the penalty for us.
That's good news. That's the gospel. That's the epic. Life shattering. Time changing news. That changes everything for us.
We were created to live in an existence. With God. We removed him. And worship other things. No amount of work can fix this. And Jesus stepped in on our behalf.
And fixed it for us. That's good news. There's some movies I watch sometimes. I get pretty into movies. So I'll get amped up.
So like. It depends on what kind of movie I'll watch. But if I watch some movies. Like they make me want to work out. Some movies will make me like. Want to go fight someone.
Or whatever. Just depending on how good the movie is. But there's some movies that just get me really pumped. Really excited about stuff. Rudy's one of those. Like every time I watch Rudy.
I just want to go achieve something. Like I just want to spend four years. Chasing after one thing. And then just accomplish it at the end. And then like. Everybody picks me up.
And like I just. It makes me want to go try harder. That movie Unbroken. I hadn't even seen it. The previews get me amped. That guy's in that prisoner of war camp.
And he's like holding that stick. And that Japanese guy looks at him. And says don't look at me. And then punches him in the face. And then he looks down. And he looks right back at him.
I'm like. I best not see a Japanese person. I'll straight up look right at him. I don't even care. Like. There are certain movies.
And certain stories. And certain things. That just get you excited. They motivate you. All other religions. Are fundamentally doing that.
They're working to motivate. They're going to give you a good example. They're going to show you a way to live. They're going to say. This is what it looks like. To be a good this.
This is what it looks like. To reach nirvana. This is what it looks like. To be in a right relationship with God. And anytime you watch that. Anytime I watch Rudy.
Anytime I get motivated by something. It is certainly motivating. But it does not take weight off of me. It actually puts weight on me. Anytime someone gives you a rousing example. Of what it looks like to be a good.
Wife. Good mother. Anytime you read that. That mommy blog. It motivates. But it doesn't take weight off.
Anytime you. You find out. You look. And look at one of those. Before and after pictures. Of somebody who lost a bunch of weight.
It might motivate. But it doesn't take the pressure off. It doesn't lift that off of you. This. Good news of Jesus. Doesn't motivate.
It takes the pressure off. He came and took the weight for us. The pressure we feel. To be good. To be holy. To live rightly.
To prove ourselves. To earn it. None of us will. No. And Jesus showed up. To take the weight off.
To carry it for us. To die in our place. For our sins. And to give us. Righteousness. And holiness.
And to make us right with God. Jesus died. To pay our debt. And to make us right with God. We are saved by his work. Not ours.
Fundamentally. That's. That's. What we believe. When we say we believe the gospel. Is that we're saved by Jesus's work.
Not ours. That the church is not a group of people. Who got together. And try to be good together. It's a group of people. Who got together.
Because they knew they weren't. And they needed Jesus. To be good on our behalf. Romans 5. Paul's going to kind of unpack this. A little bit more for us.
Clarify a little bit more for us. As we dig further away. From. From kind of his lead. Romans 5 verse 6. For while we were still weak.
At the right time. Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die. For a righteous person. Though for. Perhaps for a good person.
One would dare to die. So what Paul's saying is. None of us want to take a bullet. For somebody on. On death row. None of us are going over there.
And saying. Hey you know what. That guy. Who. Who's in that triple homicide. Killed those little kids.
Let me take his lethal injection. Nobody wants to do that. But. For a good person. You might take a bullet. There's certain people.
That in your life. That you might would care enough for. To take a bullet for. That you might would. Lay your life down for. But God shows his love.
This is verse 8. But God shows his love. For us. In that while we were still. Sinners. Christ died for us.
Since therefore. We have now been justified. By his blood. Much more. Shall we be saved. By him.
From the wrath of God. For while we were enemies. We were reconciled to God. By the death of his son. Much more now. That we are reconciled.
Shall we be saved. By his life. More than that. We also rejoice in God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom we have now.
Received reconciliation. Which means he fixed that relationship. What it just said was. We were all on death row. We were weak. We were sinful.
We were enemies. And Jesus showed up. And died for us. Do you know what's beautiful. About that. You can't out sin God.
Because he never saved you. Because you were good. And after you've been rescued. And saved. How much more. Will he continue to save you.
How much more. Will his life be your life. How much more joy. Will he give. How much more. Will he fulfill.
His promises. How much more. Will he fill us up. He's not mad at you. You were weak. And sinful.
And his enemy. When he died for you. Some of you Christians. In the room. Need to hear that. He's not disappointed in you.
Does he want good things for you. Yes. And we're going to get into that. In chapter 6. That's where Paul goes next. Does he want us to change.
Yes. Is he mad at you. No. Is he disappointed in you. No. Is he ashamed of you.
No. Does your standing with him change. No. Does he change from. Declaring you innocent. Because of Jesus.
To guilty. No. That's some of the most. Encouraging passage of scripture. For me. Because I know that I was weak.
And sinful. And an enemy. When I was saved. That means I don't mess it up. I can't take it back from him. Chapter 6.
Verse 1. Write down the page. If you're on. If you're in one of these. What shall we say then? Okay.
So if that's true. What shall we say then? Are we to continue to sin. That grace may abound. If we can't out sin God. So that anytime I sin.
It just means more grace. Has been applied to my account. Should I just keep sinning. To get more grace? Like as a Christian. When you sin.
He's already paid for that sin. So should we just keep sinning. And get more grace? Paul says. By no means. How can we.
Who have died to sin. Still live in it? Do you not know. That all of us. Who have been baptized. Into Christ Jesus.
Were baptized into his death. We were buried. Therefore with him. By baptism into death. In order that. Just as Christ.
Was raised from the dead. By the glory of the father. We too might walk. In newness. Of life. Because of Jesus.
We're given a new life. Which means we change. Which means we grow. Absolutely all of our sin. Is covered by grace. He saves like a God.
And you sin like a human. All of our sins. Covered by grace. But we do grow. We do change. We do get a new life.
To walk in. So the sentences. Kind of. That will help. Clarify. Maybe some of that.
Is we can't be too bad. For God. But we will begin to change. Can't be too bad. But you will begin to change.
Okay. If that's. True. If that's the gospel. If the story. The epic.
Life changing story. Is that we were created. To worship God. But we replaced him. With other things. That we all fall short.
And no amount of work. Will fix it. If it's that. Jesus died. To pay for our debt. And to make us right.
With God. And that we're saved. By his work. Not ours. And if we can't be too bad. For God.
But we will begin to change. If that's the gospel. If that's the epic. Story of the Bible. Then it has very clear.
Impact on the church. It has a very clear. Impact on who we are. As a people. If that's the foundation. For us.
Because we can only build. Off of the foundation. That's been laid. So let me just clearly. Show a few places. For the church.
That that shows up. And we'll spend the rest. Of the. Of the series. Kind of unpacking. Some of these.
And drawing some of the lines. So we'll basically be saying. If this is the gospel. Then this is where it goes. And if this is true. This is where it goes.
So a few things. That are true. We worry more about our hearts. Than our behavior. Because the problem is. That we don't have God.
In his right place. And that's a heart level issue. We love. And worship. Something else. And that.
Affects our behavior. What that means. Is if you change your heart. Your behavior. Behavior will change. Just like.
We've all had a friend. That maybe started dating somebody. And as they. Started loving that person more. You saw them less and less. Their heart changed.
Their behavior changed. This is how it works. So we worry more about our hearts. Than our behavior. Because we can change our behavior. But no amount of work.
Will fix our problem. It won't change our hearts. It means that as the church. We aren't surprised. By sin. If everybody.
Falls short. If that's the entrance exam. For the church. Then the church. Isn't surprised by sin. Let me tell you something.
This is the best place. To be broken. The safest place. To fall short. The most wonderful. And dearest place.
To have baggage. And problems. And pain. And brokenness. And hurt. And to be messy.
The church is. Absolutely. The church is. And if we don't live like that. We don't believe our own message. Let me tell you something.
That is true. About every other group. Every other group. Every other people. In the world. Every other place.
That you will hang out. And be a part of. Every other social circle. You'll run with. They have a limited amount. Of things.
That can be wrong with you. There's a limited amount. Of deficiencies. That you can have. They'll put up with these. But not these.
You can be really immoral. But you better not be intolerant. You better not be self-righteous. Other groups. It'll be. No.
You can be really. Really intolerant. And self-righteous. But you better not be immoral. You better not say anything. About the.
The nuclear family. You better not. Begin to. To. Be. Socially.
Progressive. They'll have. A limited amount. Of things. That you can be. Absolutely deficient here.
You can be a terrible dad here. Absolutely. But you better not be a coward. You can be a terrible husband. But you better not be soft.
All other groups in the world. Are going to have a limited amount of things. That you can be best. Messed up with. And broken by. Except for the church.
We accept every type of messed up person here. Because we all need Jesus. You can be deficient in anything. All that does is qualify us for Jesus. Which means that we can't be judgmental. And self-righteous as Christians.
You can't look down on somebody. Because their deficiency is different than yours. That makes us the best place. To be broken. And to be open. And to be honest.
And to own your sin. And to confess. And to be real. Because that's what makes Jesus. Jesus. That's how he saves us.
That's how he rescues us. That's how we get his grace. Is by being messed up. And we know that we all are. If you're in a community group. And y'all consistently confess.
And someone never has anything to confess. Let me tell you something that's very true. It's not that they don't have anything to confess. It's just that they're not confessing. Because we're all messed up. We all have problems.
We all need Jesus. We all need to grow. We all need to change. That means fundamentally for the church. We're not surprised by sin. It also means on the other hand.
We're not okay with sin. And we have to hold those together. Which means that we do grow. We do change. We don't like sin. We're not okay with it.
It killed Jesus. It's what he died for. That's like loving the knife. That killed our brother. That's weird. So we all hate sin.
And aren't surprised by it. Aren't judgmental about it. Realize that everybody's going to have it. But work to change and grow. Which means that it's absolutely. The safest place to have baggage.
And brokenness. And pain. And hurt. And messiness. It's just not safe for your baggage. Your brokenness.
Your pain. Your hurt. And your messiness. Absolutely safe for you. But we're going to go to town.
And your baggage. Your hurt. Your pain. Your brokenness. And your messiness. Because we work to grow and change.
It means that we want. It means that everything is a gospel problem. If that's the foundation for us. Then it means laziness. It means that anger. It means that weakness.
It means that sin. It means that immorality. All of it's a gospel problem. We're going to point to the gospel and everything. It means that we have been made into a new family. We've been all saved and brought together.
And Romans 8 is going to say that we've been adopted. So we're a new family together. And it means that we want everybody to know this. Because it's actually good news. It's the only thing that is freeing. It is the only thing that is life-giving.
And it's the only thing that fixes our problem. So we will absolutely do everything we can to go out of our way to help everybody know this. For every person in here today, you're somewhere on that spectrum. You fit somewhere neatly in that line. You were created by God. You're not worshiping him as creator.
Some of us are there. And that was news to you today. Some of you have moved to step two, which is you realize that and you're working to fix it, but you'll never fix it. You figured out, oh, I messed up. And you're working really hard to somehow make up for that, somehow make your life count, somehow make everything mean something, and you're not going to fix it. Some of us, though, and for everybody in the room, we want you to move to step three, which is Jesus' work saves you, not your all.
That it is the power of salvation for all who believe. All who place trust in Jesus. It's not about earning it. It's not about working it. It's not even about the strength of your faith. It's just about Jesus.
That we trust him and know that he can take care of it. That he's good. If you're in here and that's you, just talk to Jesus about it. Tell him you want to have faith. Tell him you want to quit trying to fix the problem. Tell him you understand that you've removed him and that you know that he died for that.
Talk to him about it. And then don't leave this room without talking to somebody else about it. Grab the person you came with. Grab a stranger that seems nice. Say, I just met Jesus. I just want to talk to somebody about it.
I just placed faith and trust in him to rescue me from this pain and hurt and brokenness. And we'll say, good. So have we. The band's going to come back up. We're going to sing and make much of Jesus. We're going to praise Jesus because the gospel is true.
That we have life and hope and joy and peace based off of Jesus, not us. That the weight has actually been lifted. That our debt has actually been paid. That God actually loves us and adopts us and makes us right with him through Jesus' work, not our own. That's the gospel. That's it for all of us.
That's the story. And we're going to spend the next six weeks talking about how that looks for the rest of our church family and the rest of church life for us. And what that looks like as we walk that out as in a relationship with Jesus. And we'll pray. God, we thank you that the gospel is true. We thank you that every person in this room, whether they believe it or not, trust it or not, has had the chance to hear the good news.
And God, we pray that every person in this room would believe it and trust it and follow you. Quit carrying the weight themselves and let you take it off their shoulders. We ask that in Jesus' name. Amen.
Serve God or Money
Transcript
Good morning. How are we doing? We'll be in Luke chapter 16. It'll be page 568 if your Bible looks like this. If your Bible doesn't look like this, it'll be Luke chapter 16. So what we're doing is we're in our third week of our gift series.
And so what we've been doing throughout this series is celebrating Christmas, celebrating the fact that that Jesus came to earth to pay for our sin, to rescue us, to make us his. Celebrating that that's what we celebrate in Christmas, that that that that God became a human. And so that's what that's what we've been doing. But we've been trying to celebrate it in a distinctly Christian way to actually look at that and not get caught up in all of the consumeristic tendencies that we have as a culture. And I get caught up in just the the Christmassy stuff and miss out on what Christmas is about. And so we love Christmas, love singing Christmas songs, love celebrating Christmas, love traditions and the things that we get to enjoy with family.
Like we're big on that. I think it's all good. We like my family. Just we celebrated our Christmas yesterday. My extended family, so my parents very much are just like, let's figure out a time when all of us can get together and we'll celebrate Christmas, whether that's early or late. My family also, we do fireworks, we're in fireworks stores.
So New Year's is not a good time. We usually go before Christmas sometime because we're getting amped up to run fireworks stores and try to figure out when all the family can get together. And so we did our Christmas stuff yesterday as a family. And there's just a couple of things that I know go along with that, the way we celebrate Christmas. So I know there's certain foods we'll have, you know, that's just some traditions that we enjoy.
So we're going to eat sausage balls. We're going to have some coffee cake. I always usually take a weapon with ammunition whenever I go celebrate Christmas with my family because I know at some point we'll go shoot things. That's just part of how we celebrate Christmas together as rednecks. And so I'm assuming that you have different Christmas traditions that you get excited about, that you know are going to happen, that you're going to enjoy with your family. And but what can happen is we can get too caught up in that.
We can get too caught up in this being the perfect Christmas, making the best memories, getting the best gift, giving the best gift. And we can forget that the reason we celebrate Christmas is that Jesus came to earth as an infant. And that is the best gift of the world ever received, that that ultimate humility is shown when God becomes a human and ultimate generosity is shown when God becomes a human. The manger and the cross are the two pictures of the most complete humility and generosity and charity. That have ever existed. And so what we're doing in this series is we're taking some stuff that Jesus said because he is the standard for humility and generosity and charity.
And we're seeing what he has to say about our finances and about our possessions. So for three weeks right around Christmas, we're talking about money and not how to get more of it, but how to give more of it away. So we've all been having a blast. Like favorite series for everybody. I love talking about money. Everybody loves money.
Like if you can just talk about somebody's finances, that's a good way to make a friend. Just just when you're meeting someone, say, hey, my name is, you know, fill in the blank and say, can I see a copy of your budget? Maybe your last paycheck is pay stub like that's it's awkward, but we're we're taking what Jesus says seriously. And we're as as people who follow him seeking to apply the fact that he is the only eternal human who's ever come back from that side of eternity. So when we die, we all enter into eternity.
Jesus is the only one who's ever come out of eternity and into time. And so we're seeing what he has to say about money and our hearts and our finances. And so we'll be in Luke chapter 16. I'm going to pray and then we're going to let Jesus teach us today. God, we thank you that we get to gather as church family. We thank you for the opportunities that we have.
God, we thank you for how you've already begun to train us in what it looks like to handle our finances well. I would thank you for for the gifts that are on the front of the steps here that that will get to be shared with families in our city. And we pray that that today that through your Holy Spirit, you would continue to teach us the words that we have from Jesus that have been faithfully kept and written down for our sake as you have overseen it. And so we praise you and we thank you. And in Jesus name. Amen.
Amen. So this this passage has always been kind of confusing to me. So I'm excited that we all get to read through it together today and look at it and talk about it. And so we'll be Luke 16 verse one. And Jesus is going to tell a story. And so we'll just kind of talk about what the story is and then we'll talk about what it means.
And he follows it up with kind of explaining some different stuff. So 16 verse one. He also said to his disciples, there was a rich man who had a manager. So basically very rich man because he's paying another guy to keep up with his stuff. So he's got like a money manager, property manager.
This guy oversees everything. So rich enough that he no longer has to. He just pays someone to do it. Who had a manager and charges were brought to him. That's the rich man that this man. That's the money manager was wasting his possessions.
And he called him and said to him, what is this I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management for you can no longer be manager. And the manager said to himself, what shall I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. So there's two options.
I can go do real work. No, I can go ask people for stuff. No. No. And so he says, I'm ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.
So summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, how much do you owe my master? And he said, a hundred measures of oil. And he said to him, take your bill and sit down quickly and write 50. And then he said to another, and how much do you owe? And he said, a hundred measures of wheat. And he said to him, take your bill and write 80.
And the master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. All right. So we're going to stop there and we're going to pick back up. But I just want to look at the story because Jesus starts kind of explaining stuff in a second. So that's kind of an odd story.
Basically, the guy's super rich, has someone managing his accounts, his funds, his property, and realizes that the guy isn't doing a good job. We don't really know, but he's a dishonest manager. And so he's probably skimming some off the top, probably using some of it for himself, probably slowly padding his own account, probably just doing some poor decision making with it. And so he basically brings him in and says, show me your accounts that you've been managing and you no longer get to be manager. And so the guy freaks out because he's about to lose his job. And so he makes friends with the people who owe his boss money by cutting their debt down.
And so he knows now they owe him. He's got some leverage over them. And so he's been very intentional with the short amount of time he had left as a manager to set himself up for what was to come. So he knows he's got just a little bit of time to be manager left. He's about to get fired. So he takes it, says he sat down and wrote quickly, did whatever he could at that point, leverage everything he had at that point to set himself up for what was to come.
And so his boss just commends his shrewdness. So the rich man is very rich because he's probably very shrewd with his money and makes wise decisions. I don't think he liked it. I think he was just like, it's a smart decision given the situation you were in for your own benefit. You're still fired. Leave.
Like I think that was kind of the commendation for his shrewdness was like, see what you did there? Now get out. So it's not like Jesus is saying, so kind of steal and pilfer a little bit because that's smart. That's not what he's saying. He's just saying the manager said, he said to the manager, the rich guy said to the manager, well played, sir. You may leave now.
And so Jesus is then going to begin to unpack this for us. He's going to begin to just explain a little bit what he's saying. I do want us to see this. Whenever Jesus tells a story, he's going to be in the position of the rich man. He's going to be in the position of the master. He's going to be in position of the father.
Like he, whenever he tells a story, he's the chief head character who is in charge of everything. That's one of the reasons that the religious people didn't like him because Jesus would tell stories. And it was obvious that he was the main character who was in charge of everything. And so that's not always received well. So when you read a story like this, just realize if we're going to be in the parable for to understand the parable, we're going to be landing on the manager side, not the rich guy who's in charge of things.
Just in case you wanted to play that character, that's Jesus. He's in charge of stuff, not you. So just so you are aware. And so that puts us in a position with finances, with possessions, with money, where we are managing Jesus's stuff. That's the general tone of the story is that the things that you have. So just take a second, quickly take stock of the home you're renting, either from an individual or from the bank.
Maybe the home you own, your vehicles, the amount of money you have in the bank, the worth that you have from the job that you have, the possessions that you have. In this story, as Jesus is showing this to us, you're just managing his assets. So a little bit, when it comes to how we operate with God, we're kind of like the FedEx guy. We got a truck. We got nice stuff in it. It doesn't belong to us.
So like if you're the FedEx guy, you can't show up at someone's house and be like, hey, you got a Christmas gift from your grandma. I know because I opened it. It's this shirt. It doesn't fit me super well, but I'll make do. And there were some cookies in it that I thought were chocolate chip, turned out to be oatmeal raisin. So I threw them away because they made me so angry because I had mistaken them first for chocolate chip.
Because let's just be honest. This is a side note. Oatmeal raisin cookies are good. Only if you know they're oatmeal raisin cookies. But if you ever see them and think, this is a chocolate chip cookie, and then you eat it, it's like, what on earth?
Why would someone disguise oatmeal raisin as chocolate chip? It's pure evil. But you'd be a terrible FedEx driver. And you're like, please, could you just sign here? You're like, no, I'm not. I'm reporting you.
Like, you're terrible. And that's a little bit of the position that we have that some of the things that we've been given are not even for us. They're designed to be given to other people. And at all points, we're just a manager. God's super rich. And he's entrusted us care of a certain amount of what belongs to him.
And we are either going to handle that well or handle that poorly. That's kind of the situation we find ourselves as Jesus begins to explain this a little more. And so he says this. And this is where it gets a little confusing. So we're going to have to park here for a second.
The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. Okay. Stop for just a second. The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. Okay.
Big picture Bible. There are two types of people. And that's what Jesus is talking about here when he says sons of this world and sons of light. Sons of this world is not only, it's not just sons. It's not just males. Humanity, men, people, boys and girls, children, whatever you want to call it.
It's humans of this world and humans of the light. People of the light. People of this world. But he uses the word sons. And so that's how I kind of will continue to refer to it. But if you're a female, that includes you.
Just, there you go. For the record. So, sons of this world. The Bible is going to be pretty clear on how this breaks out. There are two types of people. There are those who have placed their faith in Jesus and there are those who have not.
That's the only two types of people that exist in the world. Those who have placed their faith in Jesus and those who have not. And here's how that works. Sons of this world. What it's talking about there is that's all the people who in this world, this is as much life as they will have. So when it says their generation, what it is referring to is this life.
Their generation, which is a generation. 50, 60, 80 years. Sons of this world. Sons of light. Their generation is eternity. Eternal life.
So I was at a funeral this past Thursday. I believe it was Thursday. And it was Thursday. And it was a co-worker of mine when I worked at Sears. And I was just standing at the funeral. And there was this moment where I'm just looking at the casket.
And I can see around it all the grave plots and tombstones and little cups with flowers in them. And I'm looking at the people grieving. And I'm thinking, that's where we all end up. That's every single one of us is going to be put in a box and lowered into the ground. Every single one of us is going to have a little spot of earth with a little plaque or a tombstone that says a little bit about us. Every person there grieving at some point will be in one of those boxes and have other people standing around grieving, myself included.
And what Jesus is saying when he says they're sons of the world and they're sons of light is that life, vibrancy, joy, enjoyment, fullness for sons of the world, this is it. The happiest, the happiest they ever are, the most peace they ever have is going to have to come in that 50, 60, 80 years. And that sons of light, when they die on this earth and are placed in a box, life has just begun. Because their generation is an eternal one. And here's why. Jesus Christ came to earth to be a man to save men.
To be a human to save humans. That's why he came. That's what we're celebrating at Christmas. Jesus Christ is that he showed up not to show us how to live, but to live for us. That he's not a God that sat at the top of the mountain and yelled down to us, figure it out, learn how to be good, learn how to behave, learn how to be moral, learn how to follow religious rules, find your way up the mountain. But no, he came down and went up the mountain on our behalf for us.
That when we look to the cross, what we see is that Jesus definitively declares for every person in this room that we have sinned, that we have fallen short, and that we need him on our behalf. That the cross tells us Chet Phillips is busted, broken, and needs a savior. The cross tells us that every person in this room, every person on earth has fallen short and needs a savior. If there was one human from Adam and Eve in the garden, Adam and Eve in the garden, all the way to the last baby that was just born, that just got smacked on the bottom by a doctor and just sucked in its first bit of air and screamed for the first time.
If there was one human from that span of time, if there was one human from that span of time that was moral enough, good enough, loving enough, generous enough, that walked perfectly with God, Jesus would not have come. Because all God would have come. Because all God would have to do is say, it's possible. All of y'all should have been like this person. This person is good enough. None of you are.
But since no one fits that description, Jesus showed up to be that person on our behalf. And so Sons of Light is the group of people that have placed their faith in Jesus, that have said, his death covers me. His cross is my cross. That when God looks at me, he doesn't see me anymore. He doesn't see my sin anymore. He sees Jesus.
He sees Jesus. You see, every single person in this room will be put into a box and will be lowered into the ground. And every person in this room will stand before God, just like this manager did. Stand before God, just like this manager stands before the rich man and he'll say, open the books. Let's look at the account.
Let's see how you handled it. And every person in this room will either, as a son of this world, defend themselves and say, this is why I should be okay. This is why I should be good. See, Sons of the World is going to include all the religious people who think through their good behavior and their morals, their hard work and their white knuckling, being just a good person. They can put God in their debt. It's going to include all of them.
It's going to include all rebellious people who have just said, God doesn't exist. I don't submit to God. He doesn't have any claim over my life. All of them will be standing before God and they will defend themselves. They will be their own counsel. But Sons of Light will stand before God and say, Jesus is my account.
His life was for me. His death paid my penalty. My faith is in him. My hope is in him. My life is in him. The Bible is very clear on that.
And so when Jesus says there are sons of this world, there are sons of this age, and there are sons of light, what he is saying is there are those who have had their account replaced by mine. There are those who have placed faith in me. I lived for them. I died for them. And their faith has covered them because I have covered them. And there are those who said, no, I'll handle them all.
So let me explain something to you very clearly. We are in this room because this is true. So we celebrated on Friday. We got our groups together. We had our family meeting. And Raz's group won on a technicality, really, if you think about it.
And by a really messed up arbitrary point system. There was voting and lobbying. It's a lot like the BCS. And so we gathered in this room and celebrated what God's been doing and who we are as a church family because, and we talked about a lot of the effort and the money that's gone into church planting and to getting this church started and all the stuff we've gone through and all the man hours that we've put in and all the service that's happened and all the group hours and all the stuff that we've done. And the reason we have done that is not because a group of people want to get together and say that we are good and holy and can behave and are moral.
The church is not a group of people who get together and say that we're going to behave together and we're going to be good together and we're going to be really nice church people. It's a group of people who raise their hand and said, I have fallen short and I need a savior. And we get together and do all of the things that we do because sons of light exist and sons of the world exist. Because my neighbors will be put into a pine box and will be lowered into the ground and will stand before a righteous judge. And if they haven't had Jesus pay for their sins, they will spend eternity in hell, which is a real place.
And this life will be the only life they have had and they will have eternal death that follows it. And that's why we do what we do. And that's why we care about what we care about. Because sons of this world exist and sons of light exist. And those who know what Jesus has done on our behalf are not okay with the fact that there are still people who are trying to make it on their own, trying to be good enough, trying to earn it, trying to run from God because we will all face a righteous judge and a righteous judge does not acquit the guilty. And so when Jesus says that sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are sons of light, what he is saying is this.
People whose life is only going to take up 50, 60, 80 years. And when they die and are lowered into the ground, eternal death begins for them. That the most life they'll ever have is here. They handle their money really well. That's what he's saying. People who don't know Jesus handle their money in a very smart way because the most they'll ever have something, the most they'll ever enjoy something, the most fun they'll ever have, the best adrenaline rush they'll ever have, the most laughter and peace and joy and comfort they'll ever have is going to take place inside of 40, 50, 80 years.
And so he says they're very shrewd with their money. They make wise decisions. The sons of this world, the sons of this age are very intentional with their money because they're planning for retirement. They're going out of their way to figure out to have 401k. They're making sure they've got some medical insurance so that if something happens, they've got liability insurance. They intentionally go out of their way to enjoy things here.
So they plan ahead. They plan vacations. They do a lot of smart things with their money because the most enjoyment and the most life and the most fulfillment they'll ever have is here. And then he says the sons of light don't handle their money in a very smart way because for someone who has placed faith in Jesus, this life is a small, sad picture of what real life gets to be like, of what eternal life with a great savior and king gets to look like. And when we're lowered into a pine box, those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus, life just began. Real life, true life, eternal life just got started.
And so when he says that they don't handle their money well, what he's saying is most Christians live as if they're going to live for 40, 60, 80 years. And you would not know that they believed they were going to live for eternity. And if they were setting up their accounts, they're really being dumb with their money because their money has eternal consequences that the other money doesn't. That's what he's saying. So when we talked about last week when he says, sell your possessions, give to the needy, provide for yourself money bags and treasures in heaven that do not grow old, that moths don't eat, that rust won't destroy.
That's what he's talking about. That's why he says sons of light aren't shrewd with their money. They don't make good decisions with their money because we actually get to have eternal things, those of us who place faith in Jesus. That boat is going to be a hole you pour money into, first of all. It's going to need upkeep. It's eventually going to get old.
It's going to rust. That new car is going to lose value when you drive it off the lot. That job that you're pumping hours into, that promotion you're working so hard for, that house is going to be put up on the market. There's going to be an estate sale. It's going to go to one of your children, or all of your children are going to fight over it. 40, 60, 80 years, it's over.
And every possession you have does not go with you, is not enjoyed by you. And if you are a son of this world, if you are someone who has placed no faith in Jesus, you are carrying your own weight of sin, you are standing before God to be your own moral, righteous person, or you're just saying that God doesn't exist, get a boat. Have a nice house. Set up for retirement. This is as good as it gets. Be shrewd with your money.
You got 40, 60, 80 years, if you're lucky. And the last ones aren't going to be so nice. So put some money in retirement. But if you're a son of light, none of that stuff is going with you. And eternal possessions begin the moment people toss dirt on that box your body is in. That's what he's saying.
And we're going to continue to go through and see some of the practical stuff that he lays out for us. So he says this. We'll go verse 8. The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness, for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation, so that's the 40, 60, 80 years, than are the sons of light. They don't handle their stuff well to deal with eternity. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
Okay, that's confusing. Because I think mostly we want to find out who are the friends we get to make, and what are the dwellings, and how do they invite us in. And I don't think that's what he's doing. I think he's just using the same language from the story he just told, as he continues his illustration. So it would be similar to if you sat down with a child, and you told them a story about a good little puppy, and a mean little puppy.
And you read through the story, and you told them all about it, and then at the end of the book you said, and you get to decide what type of puppy you will be. And you close the book, and the children say, German Shepherd. No, no, no, no, no, Dalmatian. It's like, no, no, no, no. The choices were good and mean, and it's not really a puppy. You don't get to be a puppy.
It's about behavior. I'm going to read the book again. And so, pay less attention to the pictures. That's what I feel like a little bit when I go, okay, well, who are the friends, and what kind of dwellings are we talking about? I think he's just using the language to say that the manager knew he was about to lose his position, so he did everything he could to set himself up for his next stage, for the place he was headed. And so when he says, make friends with unrighteous wealth, so they'll welcome you into eternal dwellings, he's just using the language that he said he made friends with himself, so they would invite him into their homes.
And so what he's saying for us is, take the time you have, be as intentional as you can be, to set yourself up for what is to come. So when he's talking about sons of light being shrewd, what that means is, what he says in Luke 12, give, be generous, be gracious, because all of that rolls over to eternity. Anything you keep here will be yours here for a short amount of time, and honestly it belongs to God, and you may be mismanaging it. But if you give it away, if you hand it over generously, if you help, if you pour out, all of that rolls on to eternity. That's the wise investment that the sons of light get to make.
That's what he's saying. Okay. So now it's just some practical stuff. One who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in very little is also dishonest in much. Okay. Very practical, and we don't believe that.
Just across the board, our culture doesn't, we don't click with that. We believe it on some things. So like, if I'm a terrible little league coach, and I tried to convince you I would be good in the pros, you would not believe that. Like, the terrible employee who works with you, who always says they'd be a great boss, you're like, bro, you don't even show up on time. You'd be a terrible boss. Like, you should get no promotion.
But, there are some things that we believe that. So it says, one who's faithful in little will also be faithful in much. That applies very well to relationships and to finances. So just, this doesn't have anything to do with money. It's just relationships. Just trying to be helpful.
People say things like, yeah, I'm not a real good boyfriend. If we get married, I'll be an awesome husband. No, you won't. And girls, ladies, friends, let me help you. If he is a jerk, and if he is lazy, and if he doesn't treat you well, and if he cares more about video games than you, and if he's always talking to and looking at other girls, do not say, well, I'll marry him and that will fix it. No.
He'll be married to a lazy jerk who likes other girls. It doesn't change that. So don't think, well, yeah, he doesn't treat me real good, but if we get married, then I'll have locked it in. Locked in what? Like, that's a terrible decision. Guys, if she's kind of crazy now, you ain't seen crazy.
I'm just trying to be helpful. Who's faithful in small things will be faithful in big things. And what that means, the way we apply that to money is all the time we say, I'm not real generous now. I don't handle my money well now, but I would if I had more. We said this last week. God says it's a heart issue.
Getting a raise doesn't change your heart. Statistically, in America, the wealthier people give away a smaller percentage than the less wealthy people. The higher education you have, the more money you make, higher income level, the less likely you are to be generous. Statistically. But we believe that if I had more, I'd give more, but that's not how that works.
We are just going to be generous because of our hearts at whatever level we are. That's how that works. So you're going to be generous at your level. And as your level grows, generosity will go with it. As your level grows, if there is no generosity, it doesn't just show up. I heard somebody say that, that if somebody says, yeah, I just, I just am in a spot where I can't be generous.
He said, he'll look at him and say, okay, so if you took a 5% pay cut next year, 10% pay cut next year, you would die? No, I wouldn't die. Okay. So you're just saying you don't want to be generous. Let's just be real.
Let's be honest with it. Because you can be generous at the level you are. Generosity doesn't have anything to do. There's a really good example. If you look it up on YouTube, it messes my head every time I've seen this. A guy walks around in a McDonald's, McDonald's, walks around in a McDonald's, walks up to people and says, hey man, can I have some of that?
Hey man, would you, would you help me get a cheeseburger? Hey, he just walks around and everybody's like, get, no, stop. They do what I would do. Stop. Go away. It takes a dollar to buy something like, get a job.
And then they walk outside, they hand a cheeseburger to a guy who's in a homeless situation. He opens it up, he starts eating it. That same guy who'd been walking around the McDonald's, walks over to him and says, hey man, can I get some of that guy? And the guy breaks it in half and hands it to him. And they sit next to each other and eat. Generosity has everything to do with our heart, and very, very little to do with the level that we are.
If you are not faithful with the money, the possessions, the finances that you have now, they are all on loan. One day, the master sits you down and says, let's look at the accounts. It is his grace towards us that he does not give us more to mismanage. It is his grace towards us that we get to be dishonest in a little bit, as opposed to being dishonest in much. It's grace towards us. Because if we're faithful in small things, we'll be faithful in big things.
You talk to somebody and you say, what's your budget look like? I don't need a budget. I don't have any money. That's not how that works. You need a budget now. You'll need a budget later.
Same thing with generosity. I can't be generous. I don't have any money. No, no, you can. You can be generous at the level you are. You can share what you have.
You can share what people give you. Generosity has everything to do with your heart. Very little to do with the position you're in. Your tax bracket. One who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much. And one who is dishonest in very little is also dishonest in much.
If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? This clicked in my head this morning. If you've not been faithful in unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? That only makes sense in light of eternity. Only makes sense in light of eternity.
Everything you own will be somebody else's. Or it'll be in a landfill. Everything you own is lent to you. It's being borrowed unless you're given something in eternity. Because there are no estate sales in eternity. Things don't wear out in eternity.
Moths don't eat things. Stuff doesn't go out of style in eternity. He says, who's going to give you something? If you haven't been faithful with what isn't yours, who's going to give you something that actually gets to be yours? Why would you show up to heaven if you are a believer in Jesus and you haven't been faithful with the small stuff he's let us borrow here? Why would we show up to heaven and him have given us anything that we get to keep for eternity?
That's what he's saying. And that's why he says, sons of light don't handle their money well. Aren't shrewd with their generation. Because our generation is an eternal generation. Which means that it's very small minded and very silly for us to be so focused on the next 40, 60, 80 years when we actually get to have real things for eternity. True wealth.
Something that actually belongs to us. That won't just wear out. That isn't going to go back to the dump or the yard sale or to people who are going to show up at our house and read our will and hand it off. And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's who will give you that which is your own. No servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Okay, that makes sense too. We said last week that you don't really love money. You just love what money gives you. So like Scrooge McDuck. You know him? He jumps in and swims around in a bunch of gold coins.
Okay, he doesn't actually just like the gold coins. He likes what the gold coins say about him. He likes that the gold coins provide him security and power. He likes that the gold coins make him feel good about himself. He's not just rolling around in gold coins because gold coins are fun. So like if the U.S. government came out, the U.S.
Mint Treasury came out and said we're getting rid of all of the $5 bills that we currently have and we're changing over to this different type of $5 bill and you can trade in or we're getting rid of all the money that we have and we're changing over to this type of money. You can trade in all the money you have for the same size note. So if you give us a 5, we'll give you a 5. If you give us a 10, we'll give you a 10 and we'll hand it off. Okay, so after the dead date on that, when our old paper money is no longer good and we had to change over to like the plastic money that they use in Australia that has clear holes in it and stuff and it's weird.
After that happens, you no longer like your old money. You put on a pair of pants that has a $20 bill in it, you are now mad at that $20 bill. You do that now and you're like, jackpot, this is my favorite pair of pants. I'm going to wear them next week so if they have another one. You pull out an old $20 bill, it means nothing anymore. You no longer like that because it no longer has the value, carries the weight that it used to.
And so we're either going to serve money for the reasons that, the things that it gives us or we're going to serve God or our money is going to serve God is another way to put that because he says you'll love one and hate the other, you'll love one and despise the other one. Let me show you how that plays out. If you serve money, the past three weeks has been very frustrating and all of us serve money a little bit. So it hasn't been super fun to sit and think about to last week here that Jesus says where our treasury is there, our heart will be so we can look at our bank statement and see what we love.
For any of us who sat down and tried to do that, not a fun thing. Anytime we hear, we'll say things about the church like all they want is your money. Anytime we hear these kind of things because anytime God speaks on money, he's chasing after what we love and we will despise that. We'll hate that. We'll be frustrated by that. We'll be annoyed by that.
We'll think that's aggravating. We'll make excuses for why we get to do what we do or we'll say, well, I serve a lot or I do all this or I would do that if this was different or if I could just have that promotion. We will fight against what he says about it. But if you're serving God, then you'll do stuff with money that only makes sense in light of eternity. And everyone standing around you will say, that was so dumb. But money will be despised by you.
And it doesn't mean you'll hate money. It's not like you're going to go home and grab your wallet and that's not what it is. Despising means over and against the other one, you're going to dishonor, disrespect, shun. So what that will look like is this. Let me give you some tangible examples of how our money gets to serve God. You will adopt some children for Christmas.
Your children will get less gifts. Your family will get less gifts because you despised wealth possessions in order to serve God. You will pass up on promotions because you'll go, no, everything's not about money and that's going to make me work this extra hours or have this, and I really need to be building with the people I'm building with and I need the time to be able to lead a community group. You'll have someone offer you a position and you're like, I can't move. I've got church family here and I've got too many neighbors that I've just gotten to where will talk to me, that I've just gotten to where I can hang out with and build with and I know that there are sons of this world who will face God and be condemned because they did not have Jesus pay for their sin and I know that I deserve to be condemned but have placed my faith in Jesus and he has set me free and I'm not okay with moving because of the relationships that I've built and you will despise a promotion and you will despise getting a raise because you understand eternity and everyone who is your friend and even people in the church at times will say, what?
You'll be like, no, I can't. I can't move. I can't do that. I can't have a house like that. I can't drive a car like that. My money's got to go other places.
The car just needs to get me somewhere. It's a tool. It's helpful. I'm not going to have it forever. And you'll despise money and possessions because your money and possessions will be serving God. Does that make sense?
And so when it says you can't serve God and money, either you're going to have a problem with every time God talks about money, you're going to have an issue with every time he says things about generosity because he needs to be serving your money. There are churches that gather together and say if you follow God, he'll make you rich because God serves your wallet and he wants to give you a bunch of treasure here. No. Maybe. It's not wrong to be rich. It means God has entrusted you to steward more.
He's lent you more to be generous with, to be intentional with. Nothing wrong with having nice things. Nothing wrong with having a new car. Don't hear that. We do need to know it won't be new forever. We can enjoy nice things.
God invented steak on purpose, made it delicious. Eat a steak. But sometimes, pass up meat and remember that the mission's bigger and that your wallet doesn't just serve you. Yeah, both. Let's do both.
Go on a nice date. Go to a movie. Skydive if you want to. Realize the adrenaline rushes in heaven will be better. Don't. Don't act as if all you get is 40, 60, 80 years because that is not true.
Your money is going to serve God or you're going to try to figure out a way to have God serve it. The consistent amount of our prayers our God help me have, help me have, that may be an indication to us of what we're shooting for. He's not black and white. There's no, there's no, he is black and white. There's no gray area there. You cannot serve God and money.
So it's really going to be one or the other, which is really kind of annoying when Jesus does that. I'm just going to be honest. You read that and you're like, dang it. What about, what about this? And he's like, no. And that's what he gets into next.
The Pharisees, 14, the Pharisees who were lovers of money heard all these things and they ridiculed him. It's exactly what he just said. You love money, you'll despise God. That's a case in point. The Pharisees loved money, heard all these things and they ridiculed him. They mocked him.
They said it was dumb. Same thing that'll happen if we're living intentionally with our money as if we have an eternity. And he said to them, you are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Okay. Two things there.
The arguments that we throw back up stop. The justifications that we give, we just get to stop. Jesus cuts right through it and says, God knows your heart and justifying yourself in front of your community group and explaining to your spouse and making yourself feel good by your clear articulation of why you live the way you live. Just stop. God knows your heart, which makes things easier and nicer just so y'all know. And it makes things way harder.
So we'll cover easier and nicer first because that sounds better to me. Makes things easier and nicer this way. Because it's a heart level issue, it doesn't have anything to do with our behavior. Which means that what he is not saying is go earn it. Go give a certain amount. Go be, no, it's a heart level issue.
So when that guy broke that cheeseburger in half, if he is a believer, eternal treasures exploded. Real things were just added to his account. Because it's a heart issue. It wasn't like, well, I guess he gets an eternal half of a cheeseburger that they forgot to put pickles on. That's not how it works. It's not level of.
It's heart. Which means that for someone who says, I don't have that much to give, doesn't matter. It's not earn it. It's heart. And it's not get out there, try really hard, white knuckle it, fight. No, it's a heart level issue.
Makes it way easier. Not check it off a list. And it makes it so much harder. Because wouldn't it be nice if it was just checking off a list? Do you see what I'm saying? Like, we don't have to go earn it, but there's something in us that feels like, but kind of we do.
And I really wish it was just like some do's and don'ts and some, you know, certain percentage or maybe some, if we could just kind of reach, like there would be this moment we reach and God would just say, good, you did it. Up top. You don't have to be generous anymore or you've already banked up enough. Just enjoy this stuff. Like, it's a heart level thing, which means that if we religiously follow into it, which is I'm going to go do this so that God will owe me, our hearts are off. We've gotten confused along the way.
So our justifications, save them. He sees your heart. And it is a heart level issue. 18. The law and the prophets, that's the Old Testament, were until John, that's John the Baptist. So he's the pre-runner before Jesus.
The law and the prophets were until John. Since then, the good news of the kingdom of God is preached and everyone forces his way into it, into the kingdom of God. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the law to become void. Okay, so he's talking to religious leaders and what he says is, the law and the prophets were until John and since then, the kingdom, the good news of the kingdom is preached and everyone tries to force their way and everyone's fighting to get into the kingdom. But I'm going to tell you, not a drop from the law will become void.
And what he's saying is this, your goal to earn heaven, to work really hard to live up to the law, to force your way in, which means that you would show up and you'd stand before God and you'd say, I've been good enough and his hand would be forced. Yeah, you have. You're in. Good Job. Good Job. What he says is this, not a bit of the law will be void, which means that every single one of us will be guilty because God is a good judge and none of us will be generous enough, none of us will be moral enough, none of us has the moral resume, the moral report card to show before the God of the universe and have him be impressed.
Not a drop from the law disappears. We all stand with the weight of the law of a holy God on our shoulders. And we cannot force our way in because we all fall short. The law is not void and God is a good judge and a good judge does not let injustice happen, does not acquit the guilty but holds everyone accountable for failure and upholds the law. That's what a good judge does. But the good news of the kingdom is preached.
And the good news of the kingdom is that the manger and the cross exist and Jesus' generosity gets to be applied to our account. That we will never be generous enough. We will never be good enough. The weight of the law will always fall squarely on our shoulders and must be upheld unless Jesus upheld it for us. That's the good news of the kingdom. That sons of this world do not move themselves over into the category of sons of light that Jesus does.
That we don't earn it, we don't merit it, we don't moral it, we don't get together as church family to learn how to be good so that God will love us. We get together as church family because God has loved us and was good on our behalf. We get to gather together, we get to get in our community groups and talk, we get to be the first people, Christians get to be the first people to say, here's my sin, here's how broken I am, here's where I've fallen short, and all other Christians go, yeah. The world thinks it's the opposite. Some of us in this room may think it's the opposite, that the purpose of the church is for us to get together and learn how to be good and show how awesome we are.
That is not the case. The purpose of the church is to get together as a group of people who realize that Jesus was awesome on our behalf, good on our behalf. That's the good news of the kingdom, that we have eternal life because Jesus gives it to us. So we're going to continue to sing, and here's what we're going to do. Here's what I want us to realize. If you are a Christian in this room, you get to be generous, and every bit of it is worth it.
Everything you give away is actually the only stuff, think about the stuff you've given away, that's the only stuff you'll ever keep. That's the only thing that ever gets to be truly yours, is the stuff we give away. And that Jesus' ultimate generosity has been applied to our account, that he paid for our sin, that he canceled our debt, and that he gives us life and freedom. And that generosity changes our hearts so that we can be generous. That his spirit changes our hearts so that we can view money in the right way, so that we can understand eternity. So if we're Christians, that's where you sit today. with an ultimately generous God, who has paid your debt, who has given you true riches, and invited you into eternity.
And if you're in here today, and I don't care if you've been around the church, I don't care if you grew up in a church, I don't care if you could beat everyone in this room in a Bible drill. If you think that you make yourself a son of light, if you think that you force your way into the kingdom through behavior, through good morals, through being a really good churchy person, you do not. everyone in this room is a son of light because Jesus has saved us and set us free, or is a son of the world because he has not yet done that. And we have not yet placed faith in him, and have not yet trusted him to pay our debt, and have not yet said that I know that I'm broken and I fall short, but that Jesus was righteous in my place. So if you're a believer, allow the gospel to impact your heart so that you can be changed by God's ultimate generosity, by the fact that an infant was laid in a horse trough, in a barn, and then hung on a cross, to be generous and charitable and gracious to us.
And if you're in here and you haven't placed your faith in Jesus, let's at least be very clear about this. This is not a place that is about behavior, not any of our behaviors, Jesus's. If it's about behavior, if it's about upholding the law, it's about Jesus doing that on our behalf. It's not about us being good, being moral, and realize that you are freely and forever invited to place your faith in Jesus and have him set you free. Does life get better? I don't know.
Maybe not. Eternity's going to be great. That's where real life starts for the believers. And we will guarantee you that you get a whole messed up church family to walk through this messed up life with. And at least you'll every once in a while get to look good by comparison. But if you haven't placed your faith in Jesus, we invite you to do that.
To trust him with your sin because he can handle it and you cannot. And if we're Christians in the room, don't let the generosity of Christmas be lost on you and be drowned out. But let the gospel change your hearts. I'm going to pray. Pray with me. God, we ask that through your Holy Spirit for those of us, for the individuals in this room who have not yet trusted you, not yet said that I know I can't hold my sin, but Jesus can, we ask that you would right now show them and call them and break them with your generosity and your grace.
God, that people would leave this room today as sons of light and their destiny for eternity would be changed through your grace and generosity. God, we ask that those of us who have already trusted you with our sin would continue to grow in trusting you with every area of our life, including our finances, including our generosity, that the gospel would so impact our hearts that being generous just made sense to us, that we would so clearly see the eternity that is given to us that everything here would pale in comparison and seem as small as it really is. we ask all this in your holy name. You talk to God, if you need to talk to God, do business with him, let him speak to you, and we're going to sing... Due to the Talent...
Where Your Heart Is
Transcript
Well, good morning. How are we doing? All right. It's my favorite thing to do. I do that all the time. I ask how people are doing, no one responds, and then I make fun of you.
It's great. It's a wonderful way to start off a sermon. So my name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here, and we are in the second week of our Give series. And so what we're doing is right around Christmastime, as our culture just kind of goes crazy with buying things, with Christmas in general, and sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a healthy, we're excited about Christmas way. More often than not, though, it's in a consumeristic kind of frenzy-ish way.
So, like, I heard somebody said that there was someone who was from another country. I think they were from England or something. They were here on Black Friday, and there was, like, people shooting and stuff at a Black Friday thing. And they looked at someone near them and said, is this normal? Like, do y'all usually shoot each other on Black Friday? Like, is this, should I have brought a gun?
Like, I'm not an American. What should I have done here? And so it turns into that, where there's this mob of people and this massive amount of weight and pressure that come with Christmas. I'm assuming y'all feel that, have noticed that. Like, there's this pressure for it to be magical, for it to be special, for this Christmas to somehow outdo last Christmas. There's this pressure to have perfect time with family.
There's this pressure for there not to be any problems or anything bad. Or, like, we just, no, no, no. It's Christmas. You can't be angry at Christmas. Like, my mom cried one time and told my dad he was ruining Christmas. And his response was, like, how?
What am I doing? And she said, I don't know. Because there's just this weird pressure of this has to be perfect. This has to be great. This has to be. And even when it just, when it's a really nice time, when it's a really special, it just, you feel this weight for it to be better, for it to be bigger, for it to be more magical, more special.
And so what we try to do around this time of year, and we've done it every single year for both years that we've existed as a church, is we try to intentionally be generous, intentionally try to reorient our hearts towards generosity with a series called Give. And we're not the only church in this area that does this. There are two others that we partner with and are good friends with. They do this as well. And it's just an intentional around Christmas. We're going to try to be generous.
We're going to try to remind ourselves what's really important, why it really matters. And so what we're doing for three weeks is we're looking at some tough sayings of Jesus on the topic of money and possessions. So what we're celebrating at Christmas is that God became a human. That's what the word Emmanuel means. So they said he'll be called Emmanuel, which means God with us.
We're celebrating that God became a human, took on humanity with the express purpose of dying on our behalf. And so when we read the words of Jesus, when we look in the Gospels and see what Jesus says, we're seeing what God says. The creator of all things. We're seeing what he says about marriage. We're seeing what he says about relationships with other people. We're seeing what he says for the next three weeks or for these three weeks on the topic of money.
We're seeing what he says about money and finances and possessions so that we know how we ought to think, how we ought to view this, where we see it incorrectly. So that's what we're doing. I'm going to pray and then we'll be in Luke 12, which is right where we left off last week. God, we thank you that we get to gather as your church, as your people to hear your word. We pray, God, that you would help us to follow, to not just say we're disciples, not just say we're followers of Jesus, but to actually follow Jesus. We pray, God, that you would, through your Holy Spirit, help us to see truth, to believe it, and give us, God, the grace that we need to repent and the grace we need to follow after you.
We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. We'll be in Luke chapter 12, and like I said, we're going to pick up where we left off last week. So last week we started in verse 12, 13, somewhere around in there, 13.
And basically Jesus is teaching. Somebody comes over and says, hey, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me. Jesus immediately starts teaching how this guy's kind of covetous. He turns it on, everybody. It'll be on page 566 if your Bible looks like this. If you don't own a Bible, take one of these with you.
We want you to have a Bible. This is our gift to you. Take this with you. And so what we talked about last week, though, was that Jesus tells us to be on guard against all covetousness. And so we tried to point this out and even jokingly some point how we're covetous and we don't even notice it. It doesn't even show up on our radar.
It's just normal to us. We were shooting some video stuff yesterday. And Charlie, one of our group leaders, came over to give something to Matt. And he came over on his motorcycle. And when he rode off on his motorcycle, I looked at Matt and said, I want a motorcycle. And Matt responded, me too.
And that's called covetousness. That's seeing something you don't have and then feeling like you need it. Feeling like somehow you're missing something by not having it. And desiring something that someone else is. It's innate in us. And we don't even notice it.
It doesn't show up. The other thing that he said at the beginning of this passage is that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. And although we've watched the Hallmark movies, we don't believe that. There's something deep in us that feels like, no, yeah, but yeah, it kind of does though a little bit. Like good point, but yeah, but not really. Like we feel that.
And I'll show you how this shows up. You're in your community group. You're walking with church family. You're praying about stuff. And somebody says, hey, I've got an opportunity for promotion. I just got promoted.
Automatically. Boom. Celebration. That's automatically a win. You're getting more money. It's a win.
Because life exists in that. We don't ask, well, does that mean you're going to have to travel more? How is that going to affect your ability to spend time with your family, to do what you're doing with like? Automatically it's a win. Somebody says, hey, I've got a better Job. I'm moving.
Oh, congratulations. We'll help you pack your stuff. We don't ask. Do you think that's what you ought to do as a part of church family, as a part of a Jesus follower? Is that like we just don't even show up? Because we believe somewhere deep inside of us that life exists in the abundance of possession.
So if you can get some more, if you can make some more, if you can rise up in the world, that's a win automatically. It's just not on our radar. And so Jesus goes through and he tells the story about a rich man who gets more wealthy and basically says, cool, I get to tear everything down. I get to be set for life. And that God looks at him and says, well, kind of, because your life's going to end tonight. And all this wealth that you've accumulated, whose is it going to be?
And then Jesus says that he's foolish, not wicked, not evil. He says he's foolish because he doesn't understand how to be rich towards God. He doesn't understand what it means to actually invest in something that lasts. And so that's where we are. That's what he just finished saying. That's what we're going to pick up today.
But we're going to do something a little bit differently. We're going to jump to the end of what Jesus says, kind of his summary statement, so that we have this in our head as we walk through. And this is one of my favorite passages on the idea of finances, on the idea of possessions, because I feel like Jesus just says it so clearly. And so it makes me very uncomfortable. And that's why I think it's good. Just so you know, when you're reading scripture and it makes you uncomfortable, you're reading it correctly.
If the Bible always agrees with you, you're reading it wrongly. Like if you read the Bible and you're like, told you, Jesus is a Republican. It's like, no, I think you may be off there. I don't think he automatically agrees with everything you think. And so this is one of the areas where Jesus just says something. He says it very straightforwardly, and it makes me uncomfortable.
So we're going to jump to the end. And we're going to kind of do, you know how you're watching movies sometimes, and it starts off like it just drops you in the middle of a scene. And there's like the main character is like sweating and holding a gun. And you look over, and there's some guy you don't know, but he's like bleeding out. And you can tell that they like each other or whatever. And then he like spins around the corner, and he's like, I guess you're wondering how I got here.
It's like a voiceover thing. He's not actually saying that because that would be weird and walking around saying it out loud. But it's like a voiceover. Two days ago, I was just your normal, average high school student. And then it like takes you back. So like you got to see where you're going, and then it takes you back.
And so you've got that in your mind the whole time you watch. That's what we're trying to do as we read the end of this passage. So like when you meet the character that's bleeding at the end, you're like, bro, I know you're worried about that math test on Friday. You ain't even going to. Don't worry about it. Don't study.
You might as well watch some Netflix. You ain't going to make it. That's what we're doing. We're going to see where Jesus is taking this. We're going to see what the ending scene is so that we can hold that in our brain for the rest of the time as we go through this passage so that we can understand more clearly. I think it's a helpful way to go through this.
So jump quickly to Luke 12, 34. This is Jesus, kind of how he lands this. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So what Jesus is going to say at the end of all this is he talks about money and possessions.
He's going to land in. If you want to know where your heart is, all we've got to do is look at where your treasure is. And he's talking about it specifically in the context of money and possessions. Like the passage before says, sell your possessions, give to the needy, provide for yourself money backs. He's talking about the concept of finances. So don't sit there and go, well, my treasure is my children.
That's not what he's talking about. What he's saying is where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So where you send your finances, where you put your possessions is showing you what you care about. It's going to indicate to us what we love. And we know this. We see this in our culture.
Like I was a business major. One of the things that you talk about a lot when there's a crime is committed, they're going to look at, well, where's money going? So like we have websites called Follow the Money that are going to tell you who gives to what political party. So that you'd watch a guy and see how he votes over and over again in Congress or something. You start seeing, well, who gives him money? There are different TV shows at different times that were Follow the Money.
Every time someone's killed, they're going to look and see, well, who's the beneficiary on their life insurance? Because we know that the money is going to lead us somewhere. And that's what Jesus is saying. He's saying, follow the money and you'll find your heart. But you'll get to see clearly what it is you actually care about.
I saw this about a year ago and I looked it back up today to make sure it's true. But it's a lady won a million dollars on Wheel of Fortune. Which I didn't even know you could do. It was apparently like a special thing. Three people now in all of history have won a million dollars. And I was watching it on like local news and they were like showing the clip of how she won.
She's all excited. And then the news anchor before they swap to the next story goes. And the lady said that she would spend all of her winnings on her upcoming wedding. And then they changed over to a new story. And I was like, do what? You're going to spend a million dollars on a wedding?
Like what are the party favors at this wedding? Leather jackets with diamond encrusted doves in the pocket? Like what? You've got to do work to spend a million dollars on a wedding. And immediately I'm like, that is absolutely ridiculous. Because if you gave me a million dollars, I would spend it on the things that I love, not the things that she loves.
That's all we're saying when we look at something and say, that's a dumb way to spend your money. All you're saying is, I don't place value where you place value. But Jesus says that you follow the money and you'll find your heart. That where your treasure is, that's where your heart's going to be. That's why it gets so tense when we talk about money. That's why conversations with people about money and how they spend money get intense.
Because there's an immediate connection between your wallet and your heart. So if I start telling you how to spend your money, what I'm telling you is, this is how you ought to have your value system line up. And immediately you're going to get defensive because your heart lines up with your money. So Jesus, he's getting in our business a little bit, isn't he? Okay, so that's where he's going to take it. That's where he's going to land it.
Let's jump back up to the top here in verse 22. And he said to his disciples, Therefore, I tell you. Just so you know, whenever you say therefore in scripture, it means you need to know what just happened. Because he's responding kind of in light of what was just said. So what was just said was, You're foolish if all of your money goes to you.
If you don't ever put any money towards long-term, eternal investments. You're foolish. Therefore, I tell you. Oh, and he says this to his disciples. So really, Jesus is talking to those who follow him.
So if you're in here today and just checking out this whole Jesus thing, this is something he turned and said specifically to those people who said, I follow Jesus. Now, the stuff is still true about your money shows you where your heart is. But some of where he's going to press us some today, specifically to those who say, No, I'm a Christian. I follow Jesus. I've had my sin paid for by him. He is my king and leader.
Therefore, I tell you, Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap. They have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?
And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?
And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried, for all the nations of the world seek after these things. And your Father knows that you need them. That's beautiful. Like, that's a very encouraging thing that Jesus says. He looks at these people and he says, don't be worried about this stuff. Don't worry about what you are going to eat, what you are going to wear.
Look at the ravens. Look at these birds. They have no intentionality behind what they are doing. Like, they don't have barns. They are not punching the clock. And your Father knows them and feeds them.
How much more value are you than birds? That's beautiful. Like, there have been times before where I've sat in my backyard in the morning and just hear tons and tons of birds. My wife and I recently had pet squirrels that we found. So they were baby squirrels and we raised them.
And then we kind of let them out into the wild. And as they got older, they just kind of quit coming around so we wouldn't see them anymore. I was in my backyard. Probably hadn't seen any of those squirrels. I mean, you see squirrels, but you don't, you can't tell. Like, we didn't spray paint them to know which ones were out.
I was in my backyard on the phone and I looked down and there was a squirrel at my feet and it just ran, climbed up my leg, sat on my shoulder, climbed back down as a full-grown squirrel and ran off. And as I was reading this today, I thought, you know, that squirrel was raised by humans so it really doesn't have much of a chance at being a good squirrel. Like, it's, like, God's really got to be on that. Like, we were feeding them for a while and then they quit coming around and we didn't know if they lived or died or whatever. And what's beautiful is that God knows about that squirrel, cares about that squirrel, has been feeding that squirrel.
You can sit outside and hear birds chirping and God says, I know each of them. Jesus at one point says not, there's not a sparrow that falls to the ground that God doesn't know about. He knows each of them, cares for each of them, provides for each of them. And some of us today, that's what we need to hear. Life's tough. Christmas just points out to us how short we fall on things, how far behind we are.
And you need to know that. You're worth much more than birds and grass and God takes care of all of them, provides for all of them. So when he was talking to this crowd, this original hearers, that's mostly what he was pushing in on them a little bit. Was you're concerned about, you're anxious about, you're worried about these things because you're consistently asking, where's my next meal coming from? Am I going to eat? Is this going to work out?
How am I going to stay clothed? How is this going to work? Because for the majority of history and the majority of humans, even on the planet Earth now, primarily you eat to not die and you wear clothes to not have the sun cook you or the weather freeze you. I guess pretty much for the majority of people across the world, that's how that works. But for the majority of Americans, that is not how that works.
So for some of us, he's going to talk to us in the same way that he was talking to them, which was saying, don't be anxious about these things. God will provide for you. But when it comes to our anxiety for most of us, our anxiety around food and our anxiety around clothing is in a completely different place. And so he's going to be talking to us in a different area. Because here's the thing. Most of us don't ask the question, am I going to eat later?
Most Americans are asking the question, what am I going to eat later? Most of us are not asking the question, will I have clothes? Most of us are asking what type of clothes, how much clothes, what brand of clothes. That's kind of where we land on things. Because in the past hundred years or so, we started being able to produce more than we actually can handle. So it used to be you had about the same amount of shoes as you had feet.
But now we can make shoes so much faster, so people have to convince us that we need different types of shoes. And that our shoes tell the world about us. Isn't that with food? Most of us aren't worried about, am I going to eat? It's like, we're a little bit like, I've got so many Doritos, I don't know what to do with all of them. I guess I'll just eat them until I fall asleep.
Like, when it comes to food, it's a little bit like, I'm happy, so I'll eat. I've got something to celebrate, let's eat. I'm sad, so I'll eat. I'm depressed, I'll eat. The TV's on, I might as well eat. I have the whole day to myself.
I want to nap on an empty stomach. Like, that's kind of how we treat food. We've got way more than we actually need and our anxiety with it is in a different space. Same thing with clothes. Clothes to us, you don't pay more because your clothes has more material to it for the most part. You pay some more for different types of material.
Most of the time though, we're paying for the label that's on it and the place that we bought it from. You're spending more because they put a little stitch thing on the front. Like, it's not like you walk up to somebody and be like, long sleeves. I bet that sets you back. That's not how that works. Ah, purple.
Didn't know you were rich. That's not, that's not how, it's way more what's on the front and what do your clothes say about you. And I'll give you examples of this. Like, if you watch advertising, you'll pick up on this pretty easily. So as you walk around doing your Christmas shopping and you're out, you're going to see two to three thousand ads a day, the average American does.
Uh, and as we're walking around doing our Christmas shopping and seeing different things, like some, all right, so, uh, you're watching TV and a car commercial comes on. There are some car commercials that are going to sell you on features. Most of them are going to sell you on what type of person that car makes you. So it's just like a cool guy riding around in the car and he hops out and he's got a tuxedo and he lights up a cigarette and you're just like, I want to smoke and drive that car. Or like, uh, legitimately, car advertisement is hamsters dancing. My wife drives one of those cars.
I have no clue what that tells us about her, what kind of a person she is. She's the type of person who wants to dance with a hamster. Like, I don't know, but they don't tell you anything about the car. It's just like techno music and hamsters dancing and you're like, cool, that's the type of person I want to be. Uh, one of the best examples of this, you're walking around Christmas, please, if you're at the mall, look for Hollister bags. I've said this before because I think it's the best example of this.
Look for Hollister bags. I used to work at the mall. People would come through with Hollister bags. Okay, so Hollister is a clothing company. That means they're a company that sells clothes. On their advertisement is a picture of a guy torso-ish up with no clothes.
He is wearing nothing as far as we know in this advertisement and they are trying to sell me clothes. They are not selling me on our clothes will keep the sun from cooking you. They are not selling me on our clothes will keep bugs from eating you. They're selling me on our clothes are so cool you won't have to wear clothes. I don't even like, I wish I could be like that guy if I had one of those Hollister shirts I'd have abs. Like, I don't know how that works.
But it's obvious that they're no longer selling us that when it comes to our anxiety around food and our anxiety around clothing it's obvious that it's no longer where he was talking to them about. See, here's what happens. I want to show you where he takes this. Verse 29 And do not seek what you will eat and what you are to drink nor be worried for all the nations of the world seek after these things and your father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Okay, that gets a little confusing if we don't know what the kingdom is. because it seems like he just changed subjects. He's talking about money, possessions, he's talking about this rich guy not being, only being rich towards himself, not being rich towards God and then he says don't worry about clothes and food because God wants to give you the kingdom. So it's just a little bit of like, what, is the kingdom filled with clothes and food? Like I don't understand what the kingdom is. The kingdom is this, that Jesus, that when God created the world we rebelled against him and that we're sinful, we're broken, we're off, we don't love God, we don't follow God, we don't want to be a part of his system and that Jesus came, that's what we're celebrating at Christmas, that Jesus came to die for our sin, to pay our debt and when he did that he invited us back into his kingdom where he's the king and our debt has been paid, we have been set free from sin and we have become God's children, God's family, citizens of the kingdom and here's how that impacts money.
To a Christian, money is just money because we've been invited into the kingdom. So here's what's true. You don't actually love money. We said last week that we liked money. You don't actually love money. You love what money gives you.
You love what money provides for you. That's actually why we like money. Nobody in here is like addicted to collecting Monopoly money. None of you would work for Monopoly money. The only time you care about Monopoly money is for the seven hours that you play that game until one of you gets so mad at your grandmother that you flip over the thing and walk out. But we don't care about Monopoly money because it doesn't give us anything.
The reason we like money is because of what it provides. And what I mean by that is this. some of us in here if given a million dollars we would invest and we would put it in the bank. And our standard of living wouldn't change a whole lot but we would feel so good at night going to sleep thinking nothing can mess with me because I've got a million dollars in the bank. Like if I mean I can pay off my house I can be perfectly secure and if anything comes up if there's any problem and so money for some people is going to be security and control. You get to feel like by having money by having possessions that you have a level of control over your life.
You have a level of I don't have to worry I'm secure because I have finances and that's actually going to show you where your heart is. That's showing you what you worship what you value what you love. Some of us it's going to be comfort and you get money it's gone. Well I have money when I could have a cheeseburger. Well I have money when I could get a hot tub. Well I have money when I could go like it goes towards just us enjoying life.
That's the purpose of money is to have nice things in our house to have a nice couch to have a big TV because money brings comfort. Money brings vacations. That's what it represents to you. Some of us it's going to be power. Money gives you authority over people and things so you get really rich you can actually influence how political parties work, who gets elected, what happens, how things happen. You can show up at the school and your kids are in trouble but you got a lot of money so you can get them out.
What happens, how things happen. You can show up at the school and your kids are in trouble but you got a lot of money so you can get them out. For some of us though we're not going to have that much money so it becomes more like this. I'll help you pay for this and you're just doing it not out of generosity not out of love but it gives you a little bit of
Power over somebody so you see parents be like I hope you pay for your wedding if I'll give you that small loan if or even there's no if they don't say if but it's an included if because it just oh yeah my money works for me to elevate me in power. Some of us it's really just approval that's what he says
When he says that Solomon in all of his glory didn't look like the flowers it's really just money helps people know my status helps people know where I am that I've arrived that's why we say things like man I wouldn't be caught dead driving that because that that vehicle would not articulate my status to the world appropriately that's why if you're out
Somewhere like you went to Walmart at two o'clock in the morning you didn't think anybody was going to see you so you're wearing like really grungy clothes you run into somebody and you're like dang it I'm going to be on people at walmart.com and you're embarrassed because of
How you dressed just because because clothes no longer are just how to cover you but it actually says something about you it tells the world your status and so when Jesus said it's God's good pleasure to give you the kingdom it eradicates the need for all of those other things
Because Jesus stepped in to pay for our sin and when he did status and approval were forever taken care of that the God of the universe approves of us because when he looks at us he sees Jesus standing in our place money cannot buy a Christian approval approval approval approval
Has been given by the shed blood of Jesus on our behalf there is no higher status than a son or daughter of the king of the universe and that's already been given to us by Jesus that's the
Invitation into the kingdom and that's why it's God's good pleasure to give it to us and that's why it eradicates our need for these other things comfort we have an eternity to spend with the creator of the universe in heaven
I don't know if y'all know much about heaven it's nice and there's nothing that comforts our soul more than knowing that we have been secured forever by God and that that's where we are going to end up because of Jesus
Not because of us security and control you're in the hand of God and your security has already been won for you forever by Jesus because you've been invited into the kingdom by his work not yours and the ultimate most powerful
Being on earth loves you cares for you provides for you works for you serves you in the cross to give you life and joy and hope and peace and you get to rest in his powerful controlling hands that's why
Money gets to be just money for a Christian that's why it means nothing else to us it doesn't buy us approval doesn't buy us power doesn't buy us status doesn't give us control those all belong to God they all
Belong to Jesus and they've all been given to us freely in the cross that's why we get to look like we're citizens of a different kingdom that's why he starts talking about the
Kingdom I was talking to Raz recently he's from Australia so he thinks about things differently so we have different discussions about guns we have different discussions on taxes and social
Issues like how the government interferes with and works in society with medicine we're always on different pages the most recent one we had was we were here at
Glen Forest they were having a basketball game we went into the side just because we're used to being around here doing stuff when we were leaving we realized that we had not paid
And we were supposed to we were there for a few minutes so we didn't turn around and pay which maybe we ought to have but I was like oh we didn't pay and Raz was like
Pay we didn't pay to get in the game he was like y'all pay to get into games at a high school I was like yeah he was like no
He's like who pays I was like parents you gotta pay to watch your kid play a sport I was like yeah he said no I was
Like how do y'all pay for stuff he was like school fees I was like I don't think we really have those private schools
Do I guess he's like oh well public schools don't have sports I have in heaven as citizens of king Jesus and it changes
How we view money it changes how we view relationships we are secondarily american citizens australian citizen that's secondary for us primary is citizen
Of the king citizens of heaven and that's why he says it's God's good pleasure to give you the kingdom and that's how that
Affects our finances and our hearts that's how that actually steps in and changes so that when we see what Jesus has provided for
Us we no longer trust money to do that when we see the generosity given to us and what we celebrate at Christmas and
What we celebrate at Easter we're no longer so caught up in what finances can accomplish for us because we know that they're secondary
They're smaller that money is just money you can be generous with it and you can be good with it yeah you can buy
Some food and clothes with it yeah but God's got all that God's going to provide and we actually get to leverage our money
For his kingdom we actually get to leverage our money to be generous to be good to others and that's actually what he says 31
Instead seek his kingdom and these things will be added to you I'll provide for you follow me fear not little flock for it
Is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom sell your possessions and give to the needy provide yourselves with money bags that
Do not grow old with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail where no thief approaches and no moth destroys those of
Us who say we are followers of Jesus I believe that many of us will get on the other side of eternity and will
Immediately see miss the boat I failed to see how money was supposed to work on earth because I did not fully understand how
The gospel applied to my wallet because he says give be generous provide yourself with stuff that's going to last you can buy a
New car it's not going to be new forever you drive it off the lot value drops it's going to rust out you're going to need another
One you can get a new house it's not going to be new forever value that's going to increase most likely but not forever you can buy some
New clothes you need some more and what Jesus says is no no make an investment that lasts forever make an investment that's there
Forever where moths don't eat stuff up in heaven people don't steal stuff in heaven and then he says this for where your treasure
Is there will your heart be also here's why Jesus is going to talk so much about money because he knows that it is
Directly linked to our hearts and Jesus cares about our hearts sometimes you hear church talking about money and you think oh goodness Jesus
Really need my money like is he broke he had a hard time paying rent in heaven I guess the expenses up there are
Pretty good it is a gated community you immediately get cynical but here's the thing Jesus doesn't need your money you Jesus cares about
Your heart and that's why he's going to go hard after finances because he knows that it's directly tied to what we value and
What we love and so he's going to come after you because he loves us enough to do that you ever notice that some
Of the people that are most willing to get in your face call you out on stuff that are closest to you care most
About you that's why Jesus is going to talk about money because he cares about us and he wants our hearts to change that's
Why the Bible so often isn't going to go after behavior it talks about behavioral things but it talks way more about heart change
Here's the truth some of us in here can be like I'm generous I give to the church I give to other people and
Honestly all we've done is our heart hasn't changed we've just said okay so if comfort and control or whatever it is I'm seeking
If the best way to get that is to pay God off let me do that you're saying if I give to God he'll
Bless me cool let me do that our heart hasn't changed we're just using God we're just paying him out to get what we
Want I'll be a part of this church thing I'll give as long as my kids are going to turn out okay I'll give as long as I won't
Be late on on payments and stuff because you say God will bless me heart hasn't changed that's why the Bible is going after
Our heart so often because our behavior indicates where our heart is and especially when it comes to money so specifically every month we have a
Limited amount of resources and where we're willing to put money shows us what we actually value what we actually care about very clearly
Very clearly here's how this ought to work here's how this does work and here's what it ought to look like if we took everybody in your
Social economic status same bracket tax bracket everybody in your neighborhood all of your co-workers that are around the same level as you and we begin
To show with no names exactly where everybody's money went over the past month over the past year it should become obvious to us
That's a Christian because you can see their heart and how their money spent should become obvious if you print out your bank statement and lay it
Down because you can go to Jesus and you can tell him all the stuff that you love I love you I love this
I love that he goes okay bank statement not because he wants your money could care less about it cares about your heart and
Where your money is where your treasure is where your possessions are is where your disciple of Jesus you ought to look poorer because
You automatically have places where you want money to go that your neighbor doesn't you automatically see the world you're investing in eternity your
Neighbor is not you're selling your possessions and giving to the needy your neighbor is not you're providing paying for mission and stuff taking
Place at local churches at local places that give things away you're paying for stuff it's just money because of what Jesus has provided
For you so Jesus says we want to know where your heart is let's look at where your treasure is let's look at how you
Spend your money that'll tell us what you love every time he doesn't he doesn't give caveats he doesn't beat around the bush he says
Where your money is that's where your heart is I don't want us to just move past this I want us to sit with
This for a second so here's what we're going to do and I'm going to come back up and talk about some other things
We're going to talk specifically about our give project this year I want us to sit and I want us to think just a little
Bit about what you're willing to spend money on there's some things that you spend money on you don't have to think about there's
A no brainer to you of course I'd spend money on that there are other things you've got to think about I don't know if I want to give money to that so there's some stuff in the past week that time to spend money on you didn't even cross your mind because you have value on high school I want us to just think for just a second, where's my money go? What's it say about my heart? What is it I actually love? Do I actually, if you looked at my financial records, would it say, would it scream? This person knows the gospel. This person loves Jesus. This person absolutely has had their heart wrecked by the grace that has been offered to them in the cross.
They know that everything's been given to them by Jesus. So I just want us to ask some questions. Sit and think. What am I most willing to spend money on? What am I least willing to spend money on? Some of the times we'll say things like, well, if I just made more, I'd be more generous. But the problem is making more money doesn't change our heart. Jesus does. It's actually good for us. It's God's grace to some of us who do not handle money well and use it to chase after things other than what we ought to. That God hasn't given us more. He's being gracious to us. He's allowing us to mismanage a small amount of money as opposed to a greater amount. So I just want us to sit and think. God, where am I most willing to spend money? Where am I least willing to spend money? What is it that you have to work with me on to actually give towards? And I'm going to come back up and we're going to talk about some other things.
But I just want us to think through our budgets. Think through how we allocate money and what that says about our hearts and what we actually care about. And I'll come back up and we'll talk about our gifts. Don't be afraid of God. It's true. Don't be afraid of Maharaj's помощь. The power of Yahudi and Eisenhower Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is one of the areas where most often the Bible is going to talk to us about your heart changes and then your behavior changes. And that's true. The Bible says our hearts are deceitful, they're messed up, and that Jesus is going to give us a new heart through the Holy Spirit and he's going to change us and that's going to change how we act. And you can see that in normal life with everybody. It's like he loves this now, so that's why his time goes there. When I started dating Anna, I quit hanging out with all my other friends because what I cared about had changed.
My heart had changed. And that's true. But this is one of the few instances where we can actually intentionally move our hearts. So we can start sliding our treasure over to a different place and our heart will go with it because where our treasure is there, our heart will be. Here's what that means. You buy some stock. That's the only little thing you're looking on on the ticker because that's where your money is. That's the one you care about. You bet on a game. If you're watching a game, like a football game, and you don't even care who's playing, bet. Put $5 on it. You will care. Here. I'll be like, all right, I got $5 on the team with the orange helmets. Syracuse? Okay, I'm a Syracuse fan now for the next two hours. Because when we start shifting where we send our money, where we put our treasures, where we have our possessions, it's going to move our heart with it.
It's one of the few instances that that's true. So that's why we do the Give Series the way we do it, where we're going to intentionally seek to be generous, intentionally go out of our way to follow some clear, direct teaching that Jesus has on being generous, on giving, on moving our hearts with our treasure. So here's what we're going to do. We announced this last week. I know some of us weren't here, and I'm going to have to say a good bit to make this clear. And like with everything we do, we exist in church families. So if something is confusing, as soon as we're done, you just ask somebody and we'll clarify. Here's what we're going to do. We went on Thanksgiving and handed out about 270 meals. We gave out 200 in the Gentle Pines apartment complex in West Columbia. And while we were there, we asked them, is there anybody here who needs assistance for Christmas with small children?
And we just prayed beforehand. We were like, God, send us the amount of people you want us to have for us to handle. And 77 children were signed up for us to help give assistance for Christmas. Majority of them Hispanic. And we got what we have on these. Each one of these represents a child in our city that needs some help. Their parents need some help for Christmas. We're going to follow what Jesus says, which is give to the needy. Give to those who need help. We've got over there on some of these. I wrote some of these down. There's a three-year-old girl named Jocelyn. She'd like a soccer ball. She lives in our city. And I don't believe outside of us stepping in and helping, that's going to happen. Does she deserve a soccer ball? I don't know. Does it matter? Absolutely not. We're called to be generous. We're called to love. We're called to share.
And our church is called to make our city better by being here. Because we're a group of people who've been changed by the gospel, which changes how we interact with everything, which makes us bless everyone that's around us as best we can. There's an eight-year-old boy named Christian, and he needs some shoes. And there's a six-month-old named Dana. They've asked for some clothes for her. And we, because we know Jesus, get to step in and help. Because Jesus paid our debt, we get to help with others. Because Jesus gave us the greatest gift we'll ever receive. Because Jesus completely turned our value system upside down. Money's just money to us. Everything's already been given to us. Nothing can be taken for us because it was given to us by Jesus, and it's kept by Jesus. It's held secure for us forever. So we get to step in and be generous because we're citizens of a different kingdom.
So here's what we're going to do. So we're going to continue to play some music. And I expect this to be loud because there are going to be some conversations that need to be had. You're going to need to talk to your spouse. You're going to need to look at one of your friends. You're going to need to say, you may need to call somebody. You might want to talk with your community group. But we're going to try to get all these children off of here. And here's what we're going for. Those tags over there have a couple of different things I need to explain to us. They're going to have a name, an age, and a gender at least. And if that's the case, it's basically, okay, it's a three-year-old boy named Michael. And I get to get him whatever I'd like to give Michael. I get to just be, what do I think a three-year-old would like? And you just get to be generous to this kid.
Some of them are going to have name, age, size, and a request for clothes. Some of them are going to have name, age, size, request for shoes. Some of them will have name, age, gender, request for toys or maybe a specific type of toy. And we're just going to go out of our way to inconvenience ourselves to bless other people, which is what Jesus did for us. So that's what we're going to get to do this year to celebrate Christmas as part of how we celebrate Christmas as a church. So what you're going to do is if you pick a child off of the thing, you're going to keep that because that's going to tell you how you ought to, what it looks like for you to bless them. You're going to grab one of the sheets on the table with some more specific information about what kind of gifts are okay, not okay. And then on that table back there, you're just going to write your email address and name next to the child that you picked.
And they're all numbered on the back. So the number on the back will match up with the number on one of those sheets, and you'll just write that down. And our church family is going to go out of our way to bless children this Christmas. And the goal for us is that we would bring the gifts back in some sort of a bag because we've had different people say they'd like to give one certain type of thing to each child, and so we want to be able to just stick that in their bags. Bring it back in some sort of a bag next week. So this week we want to try to get the gifts, and honestly, I hope that inconveniences us a little bit. Because the more I'm inconvenienced, the more I have to press into the gospel. I know that's true for me. The more I have to remind myself why it's worth doing and what Jesus has already accomplished for me. And then on our Christmas gathering, which will be the 21st, we're going to go over there.
We're going to load up some vans and go over there and give them out. And anyone in our church family who wants to go do that gets to go do that. So you want to just go help knock on doors, say Merry Christmas, hand somebody a bag full of stuff, which is a lot of fun. We want to do that. Come on. Goal being to spend about $15 to $30 per child because most of them are in sibling groups. The majority of the kids came from sibling groups, three to four plus per household. And we don't want to have a big disparage between like one kid in the house gets $50 spent on him and one kid gets $10 spent on him. We kind of want to keep it in the $15 to $30 range. And if you want to sponsor more children, do that. I'm going to pray for us. We're going to continue to play some music. Actually, we're going to continue to play some music. And go ahead and start having conversations.
Go ahead and start grabbing those. Go ahead and start writing your name down. And then I'll come up and pray for us and we'll close out. And then we can still grab names and children after that. So wide open for anybody who wants to go grab a name, grab a kid, write some information down. If you need to make phone calls, you need to talk to people, whatever you need to do. If you know you can't figure it out right now, you're going to be able to do it. But you want to talk and grab one later, we can do that as well. We'll be wide open for it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Charlie. If you wanted to sponsor a child and all the names are gone, just talk to somebody. Talk to somebody in your community group. Ask how you might be able to get a gift for a specific child. If you need to, if you need to, if for some reason you know you wouldn't be able to bring the gifts back by next week, even though that's our goal, just get with somebody.
We'll see if we can't have somebody bring it over for you. That sort of thing. God, we thank you. God, we thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That because of your grace. God, we thank you. Thank you. And because you intentionally planted us here. God, we thank you. That 77 children in our city are going to get gifts this Christmas that may not otherwise have been able to. That 77 children in our city, whether they know you or don't, are going to be impacted by what you've already done, are going to be loved because you love, are going to be given to because you've given to us. God, we thank you. We thank you that these small gifts pale in comparison to what you've given us. We thank you, God, that you will work in our hearts as we go out of our way to be generous to change us. God, I pray that this is one of the first very small steps for us as a church family, us as individuals, in stepping into what it looks like to be generous in a way that is completely impacted by the gospel.
We praise you, Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen.
What is it I actually love? Do I actually, if you looked at my financial records, would it say, would it scream? This person knows the gospel. This person loves Jesus. This person absolutely has had their heart wrecked by the grace that has been offered to them in the cross. They know that everything's been given to them by Jesus.
So I just want us to ask some questions. Sit and think. What am I most willing to spend money on? What am I least willing to spend money on? Some of the times we'll say things like, well, if I just made more, I'd be more generous. But the problem is making more money doesn't change our heart.
Jesus does. It's actually good for us. It's God's grace to some of us who do not handle money well and use it to chase after things other than what we ought to. That God hasn't given us more. He's being gracious to us. He's allowing us to mismanage a small amount of money as opposed to a greater amount.
So I just want us to sit and think. God, where am I most willing to spend money? Where am I least willing to spend money? What is it that you have to work with me on to actually give towards? And I'm going to come back up and we're going to talk about some other things. But I just want us to think through our budgets.
Think through how we allocate money and what that says about our hearts and what we actually care about. And I'll come back up and we'll talk about our gifts. Don't be afraid of God. It's true. Don't be afraid of Maharaj's помощь. The power of Yahudi and Eisenhower Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is one of the areas where most often the Bible is going to talk to us about your heart changes and then your behavior changes. And that's true. The Bible says our hearts are deceitful, they're messed up, and that Jesus is going to give us a new heart through the Holy Spirit and he's going to change us and that's going to change how we act.
And you can see that in normal life with everybody. It's like he loves this now, so that's why his time goes there. When I started dating Anna, I quit hanging out with all my other friends because what I cared about had changed. My heart had changed. And that's true. But this is one of the few instances where we can actually intentionally move our hearts.
So we can start sliding our treasure over to a different place and our heart will go with it because where our treasure is there, our heart will be. Here's what that means. You buy some stock. That's the only little thing you're looking on on the ticker because that's where your money is. That's the one you care about. You bet on a game.
If you're watching a game, like a football game, and you don't even care who's playing, bet. Put $5 on it. You will care. Here. I'll be like, all right, I got $5 on the team with the orange helmets. Syracuse?
Okay, I'm a Syracuse fan now for the next two hours. Because when we start shifting where we send our money, where we put our treasures, where we have our possessions, it's going to move our heart with it. It's one of the few instances that that's true. So that's why we do the Give Series the way we do it, where we're going to intentionally seek to be generous, intentionally go out of our way to follow some clear, direct teaching that Jesus has on being generous, on giving, on moving our hearts with our treasure. So here's what we're going to do.
We announced this last week. I know some of us weren't here, and I'm going to have to say a good bit to make this clear. And like with everything we do, we exist in church families. So if something is confusing, as soon as we're done, you just ask somebody and we'll clarify. Here's what we're going to do. We went on Thanksgiving and handed out about 270 meals.
We gave out 200 in the Gentle Pines apartment complex in West Columbia. And while we were there, we asked them, is there anybody here who needs assistance for Christmas with small children? And we just prayed beforehand. We were like, God, send us the amount of people you want us to have for us to handle. And 77 children were signed up for us to help give assistance for Christmas. Majority of them Hispanic.
And we got what we have on these. Each one of these represents a child in our city that needs some help. Their parents need some help for Christmas. We're going to follow what Jesus says, which is give to the needy. Give to those who need help. We've got over there on some of these.
I wrote some of these down. There's a three-year-old girl named Jocelyn. She'd like a soccer ball. She lives in our city. And I don't believe outside of us stepping in and helping, that's going to happen. Does she deserve a soccer ball?
I don't know. Does it matter? Absolutely not. We're called to be generous. We're called to love. We're called to share.
And our church is called to make our city better by being here. Because we're a group of people who've been changed by the gospel, which changes how we interact with everything, which makes us bless everyone that's around us as best we can. There's an eight-year-old boy named Christian, and he needs some shoes. And there's a six-month-old named Dana. They've asked for some clothes for her. And we, because we know Jesus, get to step in and help.
Because Jesus paid our debt, we get to help with others. Because Jesus gave us the greatest gift we'll ever receive. Because Jesus completely turned our value system upside down. Money's just money to us. Everything's already been given to us. Nothing can be taken for us because it was given to us by Jesus, and it's kept by Jesus.
It's held secure for us forever. So we get to step in and be generous because we're citizens of a different kingdom. So here's what we're going to do. So we're going to continue to play some music. And I expect this to be loud because there are going to be some conversations that need to be had. You're going to need to talk to your spouse.
You're going to need to look at one of your friends. You're going to need to say, you may need to call somebody. You might want to talk with your community group. But we're going to try to get all these children off of here. And here's what we're going for. Those tags over there have a couple of different things I need to explain to us.
They're going to have a name, an age, and a gender at least. And if that's the case, it's basically, okay, it's a three-year-old boy named Michael. And I get to get him whatever I'd like to give Michael. I get to just be, what do I think a three-year-old would like? And you just get to be generous to this kid. Some of them are going to have name, age, size, and a request for clothes.
Some of them are going to have name, age, size, request for shoes. Some of them will have name, age, gender, request for toys or maybe a specific type of toy. And we're just going to go out of our way to inconvenience ourselves to bless other people, which is what Jesus did for us. So that's what we're going to get to do this year to celebrate Christmas as part of how we celebrate Christmas as a church. So what you're going to do is if you pick a child off of the thing, you're going to keep that because that's going to tell you how you ought to, what it looks like for you to bless them.
You're going to grab one of the sheets on the table with some more specific information about what kind of gifts are okay, not okay. And then on that table back there, you're just going to write your email address and name next to the child that you picked. And they're all numbered on the back. So the number on the back will match up with the number on one of those sheets, and you'll just write that down. And our church family is going to go out of our way to bless children this Christmas. And the goal for us is that we would bring the gifts back in some sort of a bag because we've had different people say they'd like to give one certain type of thing to each child, and so we want to be able to just stick that in their bags.
Bring it back in some sort of a bag next week. So this week we want to try to get the gifts, and honestly, I hope that inconveniences us a little bit. Because the more I'm inconvenienced, the more I have to press into the gospel. I know that's true for me. The more I have to remind myself why it's worth doing and what Jesus has already accomplished for me. And then on our Christmas gathering, which will be the 21st, we're going to go over there.
We're going to load up some vans and go over there and give them out. And anyone in our church family who wants to go do that gets to go do that. So you want to just go help knock on doors, say Merry Christmas, hand somebody a bag full of stuff, which is a lot of fun. We want to do that. Come on. Goal being to spend about $15 to $30 per child because most of them are in sibling groups.
The majority of the kids came from sibling groups, three to four plus per household. And we don't want to have a big disparage between like one kid in the house gets $50 spent on him and one kid gets $10 spent on him. We kind of want to keep it in the $15 to $30 range. And if you want to sponsor more children, do that. I'm going to pray for us. We're going to continue to play some music.
Actually, we're going to continue to play some music. And go ahead and start having conversations. Go ahead and start grabbing those. Go ahead and start writing your name down. And then I'll come up and pray for us and we'll close out. And then we can still grab names and children after that.
So wide open for anybody who wants to go grab a name, grab a kid, write some information down. If you need to make phone calls, you need to talk to people, whatever you need to do. If you know you can't figure it out right now, you're going to be able to do it. But you want to talk and grab one later, we can do that as well. We'll be wide open for it. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Charlie. If you wanted to sponsor a child and all the names are gone, just talk to somebody. Talk to somebody in your community group.
Ask how you might be able to get a gift for a specific child. If you need to, if you need to, if for some reason you know you wouldn't be able to bring the gifts back by next week, even though that's our goal, just get with somebody. We'll see if we can't have somebody bring it over for you. That sort of thing. God, we thank you. God, we thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That because of your grace. God, we thank you.
Thank you. And because you intentionally planted us here. God, we thank you. That 77 children in our city are going to get gifts this Christmas that may not otherwise have been able to. That 77 children in our city, whether they know you or don't, are going to be impacted by what you've already done, are going to be loved because you love, are going to be given to because you've given to us. God, we thank you.
We thank you that these small gifts pale in comparison to what you've given us. We thank you, God, that you will work in our hearts as we go out of our way to be generous to change us. God, I pray that this is one of the first very small steps for us as a church family, us as individuals, in stepping into what it looks like to be generous in a way that is completely impacted by the gospel. We praise you, Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen.
Eternal Perspective
Transcript
Well, good morning again. I walked up here without a Bible and then didn't know what to do, so I'm just going to walk back down. This is important for what we do on Sundays. I need one of these. Good morning. Okay, so what we're doing, we're starting the first week of our Give Series.
Very excited about our Give Series. We'll talk more about that later. It is Christmas time. So I don't know about y'all. Most people, it's like you gear up for Christmas after Thanksgiving. So I know that my brother went to Bob Jones University, which if you're not familiar with it, imagine a Christian school and a military school.
And if they had a kid, it would be like a militant Christian school. And you're close. It's something like that. They had a rule in their handbook that you could not play Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. I think that's intense. And I also think that's a pretty good rule just for life in general.
But most people, after Thanksgiving, start gearing up for Christmas. Now, if you're in retail, it's like, oh, Halloween's coming. It's Christmas time. That's how retail works. But for most people, it is now Christmas time.
And I'm a huge fan of Christmas. I enjoy Christmas. I enjoy all the stuff that comes along with it. I like getting together and celebrating with family. I like the ridiculous decorations. I like Christmas trees.
I like real Christmas trees. I love the smell of Christmas tree. I get Christmas tree candles. And I light them. And I put them everywhere. And my wife, who is like over halfway pregnant.
She's whole pregnant. She's over halfway. I don't know the amount. Four months pregnant. Something like that. Five months pregnant.
She, apparently, it makes you smell better. Like you, you can smell. She smells good. That's not what I mean by smells better. She's good at smelling. And so the other day in our house, we had a Christmas candle going.
And she was like, are you trying to kill me? Turn, blow that out. Like apparently, I was just getting whiffs of it. And it was like crawling into her nasal cavities and trying to murder her. But I love, I love Christmas.
I love real trees. With an exception, my wife and I have a white Christmas tree. A white plastic Christmas tree that we got from the family dollar in Clinton, South Carolina. Unless you're from Clinton, then you call it Clinton. In Clinton, South Carolina, when we first got married. So we've had it for five years.
It cost us $20. It has now cost us $4 a year. So I feel like we got our money's worth. I love that tree. So it's white.
We cover it with colored lights and silver tinsel. Because we're classy. And I don't usually like fake trees. But I love my white tree. And I think the reason is it never tricks me. Like you don't walk in my house and go, oh, a Christmas tree.
Is that real? Is that a balsam? Like you don't do that. You don't walk over to that tree and smell it and see that it's plastic and get angry. You're like, that is fake and ridiculous. And I'm in the house of a redneck.
But what are you going to do? So I love my Christmas tree. I love Christmas things. I'm not one of these anti-Christmas people. I'm not going to stand up here and say that if you rearrange the letters in Santa, you can spell Satan. Like I'm not, I don't land there.
I do think, though, that in our culture, we can get swept up. And as Christians, we can celebrate Christmas in a distinctly non-Christian way. I think that is true. I think we can get caught up in all of the Christmassy, Christmassy stuff. And we can celebrate Christmas in a distinctly non-Christian way. And so one of the things that we shoot for, that we're going for every year around Christmas, and we are friends with Midtown Fellowship.
I did some stuff there. We stole this from them. But in the spirit of Christmas, they generously gave it to us. We received it. We take this series called Give, which is around this time of year, we're going to intentionally seek to reorient our hearts towards generosity, towards remembering what Christmas is actually about. And it's about the greatest gift that was ever given to humankind.
And we want to, as Christians, celebrate Christmas in a distinctly Christian way and reorient our hearts towards generosity. And so that's what we're doing in our gift series. That's what we're shooting for. That's what we'll be doing for the next three weeks. And so I just want to start us off with what we just read, what David just read up here. What we're celebrating at Christmas, and it gets drowned out.
Like we get excited about other things. What we're celebrating at Christmas is that God, the eternal God, became a human, became an infant, like had to be carried places, was dependent on other people to keep him alive. My brother has a one-year-old. She's not producing much. She's not really carrying her weight around the house. They pretty much have to follow her around everywhere to make sure she doesn't kill herself.
That's what God became an infant. And we just gloss over that. Like I get more excited that sugar cookie eggnog is a thing now. Like that comes out around Christmas. If you don't know about sugar cookie eggnog, it is amazing. I don't know why they print like the nutrition facts on the back.
I don't know why they do that. If you're drinking sugar cookie eggnog, you don't want to see that. But like a glass of that is the equivalent of like drinking a sleeve of Oreos. But it's amazing because it's eggnog that tastes like sugar cookies. And I know, I know that we've all been eating sugar cookies and thought, I wish there was a quicker way. There is.
It's called sugar cookie eggnog. You don't have to chew. You just swallow it. Now you can eat pie and drink sugar cookies. We get more excited about those kind of things. We get more excited about all the Christmassy stuff than what actually has happened at Christmas.
That God became a human with the intent on dying. Came to earth specifically to die for us. That the most miraculous, mind crushing thing happened at Christmas where God took on flesh and weakness. And we miss that. We gloss over that. And so what we're seeking to do and what we're going to do for the next three weeks is this.
Specifically knowing that Jesus is the eternal God. Creator of all things who stepped into history on our behalf. We are going to look at what he says about money and finances. So as we celebrate Christmas for the next three weeks, we're going to look at what the eternal God, when he became a human, what he had to say about possessions, about generosity, about how we view money and finances. Who's excited? Exactly.
Let me just tell you something. Can I say something? I love money. Can I say that? Can I tell the truth here? I think most people here are a fan of money.
It has intrinsic value. If you're thinking of a way to make friends, giving people money is probably a good start. Like I think that would be like, I know that would work for me. It's like, here's 20 bucks. I'd be like, I like this guy. He seems pretty alright.
Like there's just something about us that we like money. We guard money. We defend money. We defend our possessions. There's something in us that likes money. And so the eternal God becomes a human and he talks about money a lot.
He talks about possessions a lot. He does. Like he is the creator of the universe. Knows how we work. Knows how we view things. Knows where our hearts are oriented.
And the first most, the topic that he covers the most is the kingdom of God. But the topic that he covers second most is money. About 15% of everything he says is going to be on money and possessions. And the reason is, is because we don't view it correctly. It's become too big to us. It's grown too much for us.
And so what we're going to do as we walk through our gift series for the next three weeks, we're just going to look at what Jesus, who specifically came to give himself to us. Who is the ultimate authority on generosity, the ultimate authority on humility, and who is the eternal God, which makes him the ultimate authority on really everything. But in coming to earth and dying on a cross proves his love for us, his desire for good things for us, and his generosity and charity towards us. And so we just want to see what he has to say about possessions, what he has to teach us about finances. It's just a little bit of like when you're going to talk to somebody about money, you go to talk to someone who like has it and handles it well.
Like if you're working on a budget, you don't talk to the guy who's consistently getting his power turned off. That's just true. You don't go, hey man, I notice that you're always asking people for money. Can you help me set up a budget? You don't do that. You talk to somebody who seems like they mostly keep it together.
And so we're going to actually get advice on finances, the way to view finances, wealth, generosity, charity, through the ultimate authority on all of those topics. This is what we're seeking to do for the next three weeks. So I'm going to pray and then we're going to hop in. We'll be in Luke chapter 12. God, we thank you. Thank you for your grace.
We thank you for your love. We thank you for your generosity and charity towards us. And we ask that as we take this time of the year to intentionally seek to reorient our hearts towards generosity, that you would bless that, that your Holy Spirit would teach us, guide us, and point us in the right direction. Amen. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Okay, so Luke chapter 12, Jesus has grown up. So what we celebrate at Christmas is that Jesus came as a baby. We don't actually know when Jesus was born, but this is the time of year that we celebrate it. And so at this point, he's grown up. This is the eternal God, and he's just teaching people about a lot of different things. And so we're going to kind of jump into the middle of this story where he's teaching and see what he teaches on some of that possessions and finances.
So we'll be in Luke chapter 12. It's on page 566. If your Bible looks like this, it's on some other page, most likely, if it does not look like this. All right, so he's teaching and he's talking about a completely different subject. And then we jump into verse 13. And so it says, someone in the crowd said to him, teacher.
So he's talking about a topic. The guy raises his hand. Yes, the floor is yours. And he says, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. So basically, this guy is like, I'll go to Jesus because if Jesus tells somebody to do something, he should do it.
It's just a good general rule. I bring Jesus in. If Jesus agrees with me, I win. And so that's what he says. That's what he's going to do. So he goes and he says, I'll get Jesus to tell my brother to share with me the inheritance, which apparently is his brother's.
His brother received an inheritance. Parents passed away. Most likely his brother's an older brother went to him. So this guy doesn't have an inheritance or has a smaller inheritance and he wants his brother to share. And Jesus is always talking about being generous and sharing and stuff. So I'll go to him.
He'll say, share. This will work out really well. And so it does not. Verse 14. But he said to him, man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?
Which means like, why is this my business to hop in and play referee between you and your brother? And he said to them, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness. For one's life does not exist in the abundance of his possessions. That went poorly for that guy. So he raises his hand.
He says, tell my brother to share with me. And Jesus says, no. And hey, while we're on the topic, don't be like that guy. Like it just, it went poorly. Like Jesus immediately is like, oh no. Like I didn't see that playing out quite that way.
He says, be on guard against all covetousness. So covetousness is a word that we don't use very often. We would probably use the word greed or greedy. Although they do have different meanings. And I think Jesus specifically means covetousness. So covet is to want something that is not yours.
Specifically to want something that someone else has. So you want something that is not yours. Specifically something that is someone else's. And so he says, be on guard against all covetousness. And so what he just said was, watch out for your desire to want things that aren't yours. Specifically things that are someone else's.
So his response to that guy's brother's inheritance is, don't do that. Because that's what he was doing. He was coveting his brother's inheritance. He said, don't do that. I just want to point this out to us. Because Jesus does this all the time.
We want to talk to Jesus about something. And he changes the subject. And I think it's very rude. Although helpful. But you'll go to Jesus.
You'll want to talk to him about something. You'll want to pray about something. And immediately he'll be like, no, we're going to talk about this. You'll be like, Jesus, my boss is an idiot. And he'll be like, let's talk about your attitude at work. And you're like, I intro to the subject.
Let's not talk about that. And so I just want to help us all see this. And in this specifically what he did was he took this topic and he immediately, it says he addresses them. And so he turns it on everyone. And that's what Jesus does. He doesn't say, hey, you, look at that guy.
He says, hey, you, look at yourself. That's what he does. That's how he turns it. So as we talk about this, as we walk through talking about money and finances and covetousness today, it's really easy to think about someone else who has that problem and to not let it sit on you. It's more comfortable and very easy to do. Don't do that.
We automatically get defensive when we talk about wealth, possession, finances. We get weird when we talk about money. It feels very private to us. We get, we want to, you'll want to battle this the entire time. Don't do that. Just let it sit.
Let Jesus talk to you. Let him deal with you. It actually indicates something to our hearts. Just know that when we get defensive automatically about money, that indicates something about us in our hearts. So like if every time the chicken song came on, you know, I can't, I can't, I can never pull songs out of my head because I'm not musical at all.
But you know the chicken song where you do this or whatever. Yes, every time that came on, like if every time that came on, you like started twitching and crying. You have a problem with the chicken song that we need to deal with. Like there's something off. Like you had a bad experience. Like a chicken attacked you when you were little.
Like we need to talk about this. And there's something about us as Americans. When we start talking about finances, we immediately get like, don't do that. Realize that that indicates that there may be something a little bit off in our hearts because we're like that. And let Jesus actually speak to us this morning. So here's what he says.
Verse 15. And he said to them, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. So he's basically going to say two things. He's going to say, we have a problem. And then I'm going to tell you why it's a problem.
So this is the issue because. That's kind of how he's going to say it. So the first issue is covetousness. That we want things that aren't ours. And what he says is be on guard. We are not on guard against covetousness.
We aren't. Because our economy runs off of it. We don't call it covetousness. We call it advertising. Like you don't go to greed 101. You go to economics 101.
Like I studied business in school. I did honors research in economics. I love how it works. And the basic system of like capitalism is this. You're going to look out for you. So that if I sell a product and it's terrible, you're not going to buy it.
I'll go out of business. Some other guy who sells a good product will show up. You'll buy that. And the amount of people buying it and the amount of cost of the product. He's going to look out for himself. You're going to look out for you.
And that's how you'll figure out what the price should be. That's how economics works. Our entire system is based off of self-interest. And our desire to want things that aren't ours. And we do this all the time. And we don't notice it.
It's very simple. I'll give you two examples. From college. Simple ones. We went to school at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina. And there was hardly anything there.
But there is a KFC Taco Bell. Which is a beautiful restaurant. It is half KFC, half Taco Bell. Also a classy joint. That's where I got the idea for my white Christmas tree. But the thing about it was you can eat like a king at Taco Bell for like $5.
But you would go in there and see biscuits and it would mess you up. Like it was like I came in here to get four burritos that are wrapped in cheese. And now I see biscuits and I'm going to have to get biscuits. I could only get Taco Bell if I went through the drive-thru where I couldn't see biscuits. But they would show these late night like 69 cent burritos.
And we'd be watching TV at like 12 o'clock at night. And they'd be like, Taco Bell, open late. Five layer burrito, cheese, meat, beans. And we'd be like, Matt and I were roommates. And we'd be like, you want to go to Taco Bell? Yes.
What that was was coveting. We wanted the cheesy thing that we just saw on TV. And it immediately made us get in our vehicle and drive to Taco Bell. And that happened repeatedly. And the beautiful thing about Taco Bell is they can get your order wrong and you've still got the same thing. They only have five ingredients.
Just eat it. It's the same thing you ordered. So anyway, we would go to Taco Bell. That happened all the time. The other thing that happened to me in college was I had a roommate my freshman year. And he had a little like black tube television with like, I don't know, it was like a 20 inch thing, 10 inch.
It was somewhere. It was small. It was this size-ish, which is really helpful if you're listening to this on the Internet. And so we had one of those. And our dorm neighbor had a flat screen, but it was a big TV. So it was still like a tube TV, just the screen was flat.
I don't know if anybody remembers that awkward transition stage, but that was a thing. And so it was high def. And so we would go watch games in his room. We would play video games in his room. We would watch football games specifically in his room. And it was a much better TV.
And then I would walk back 10 feet to my dorm, and I would walk in, and I would hate the television that was in my dorm room. I'd be like, you are so terrible. You're the worst TV ever. My roommate moved, took his TV with him, and I went and bought the exact same TV that my dorm neighbor had. Because sometimes his door was locked, and I couldn't just walk in there and watch his television. So I got my own.
That's called covetousness. And that's what made me make that purchase. But that's normal to us. Later in life, I had that TV stay with me for years. Got invited to someone's house, and they had a flat screen television that was like skinny and wider. And I would go home and be mad at my television for how fat and stupid it was.
You couldn't tell. It was in a cabinet. But I knew it was fat behind the screen. I knew. Like it was embarrassing me. Like if someone broke in my house, they wouldn't even want to steal that.
And they couldn't unless they had a teammate because it weighed like 75 pounds. And I was ashamed and mad at my television. So I got a skinny one that's like 42 inches. And then you go to someone else's house, and they got like a 65-inch TV. And now they have the ones that like bend and like actually take you there. And like people spit on you.
And like if there's a fight, you get wet. Like it just is whatever. And immediately we go home, and we're like mad at our stuff. Like we no longer because we've begun to covet. We've begun to want something that is not ours. That's normal.
That's how advertising works. So you talk to someone about a sale. You see someone in some really snappy clothes. You ask them, hey, where did you get that? Oh, I got this at this place for $12. And if you get this, you can go get it.
Sweet. And you're there the next week. It's normal for us. You go to your friend's house. He's got Netflix. He explains how that works.
You go home. You get Netflix. Because why wouldn't you? And here's what he's saying. Be on guard against desiring things that are not yours. Have your radar up for covetousness.
And all I'm saying to us is we do not. That's not on our radar. It's not something we think about. We have community groups. We get together. We talk about sin struggles.
We pray with each other. We talk about issues that are going on. We're always on war against sin in our lives. But that one's never come up. Never been sitting around with a group of guys in my house talking about things we're struggling with. Praying with each other.
And had someone be like, guys, I just feel like I covet a lot. I just feel like I see things that I don't have. And then I want them. And then I get them. I feel like I get excited around Christmas because I know of some stuff that I feel like I need. And I want to ask.
It's not on our radar. We don't see it. And he says, be on guard against it. It just doesn't show up. And here's why, though. Here's what he's going to say.
Be on guard. Take care. Be on your guard. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Okay. One's life does not exist in the abundance of his possessions.
We believe that. Ish. Like, we can say that and we would all agree we would not. Yes, true. Super smart thing to say, Jesus. Like, we feel that.
Because we watch Christmas movies and stuff. And the whole time they're freaking out about getting the perfect gift and having the perfect Christmas. And Arnold Schwarzenegger is fighting somebody so that he can get a toy. And, like, we have that. We see that. And then at the end, it's like it turns out all we needed was each other.
Like, their house burns down. And then they're just hugging in the front yard. And it's like, Dad, all I needed was you the whole time. I didn't know that, child. And then they hug and music plays. And, like, there's a dog in the background.
Single-tier Rondo. And we nod. We're like, hmm, yes. We believe that. But we don't actually.
We don't actually. That doesn't sit with us. We don't really feel that. Anna was on Facebook the other day. And she said, Ted Turner just sold or put up to sell his private island off of the coast of South Carolina. I was like, really?
And she said, yeah. And then she looks at me and goes, you want to put a bid in on it? It's like, yes. I do. But we won't get it.
There is something inside of me, though, that believes life would be enhanced by owning an island. I believe that. It feels weird to say it to all of you. Because most of the time we don't voice those things to one another. But I believe that.
And in much smaller things, I consistently believe that. And we consistently believe that. That life comes from the abundance of things. And you hear it all the time. Oh, man. Must be nice.
God, I wish I could. Oh, if only I was one of the. And whatever we follow that up with is what we think in life so that we see. Man, if I could just. If we could just have two vehicles. If my family could just have two vehicles.
Because this one vehicle thing is killing me. If my family could just have three vehicles. Because now our kids are getting older. And this is. We can't keep. If I could just make 10% more.
If I could just have that position. That title. Man, if we could just be in a bigger house. If we could just have a larger yard. Like, across the board. We're saying consistently.
The opposite of what Jesus says here. Which is that life somehow will be found. In the abundance of possessions. If I can just get this new gadget. If I can just get this iPhone. But my iPhone doesn't talk to me.
And Matt's iPhone does. And so we're riding around. And Matt will just pull his phone out. And he'll go. Siri. Call Peter.
And Siri will be like. You want pizza? And it's like. No. So it doesn't.
I don't really want Siri too much. Because she never understands what he's saying. But. We do that. We consistently think that life will be enhanced. By just having a little more.
Just by getting a little bit extra. Because there's something in us. That every time we buy something. Like if we'll be honest. We're a little creepy. Every time you buy something.
You're like. Yes. It's so beautiful. And new. This will make my soul feel warm at night. Like we really get weird about like.
And you thoroughly enjoy it. The first time you wear that new jacket. You're just walking around like. Take that. Cold weather. Not only am I not cold.
But I look really good. And the next year. You're going to. You want a new jacket. Because I've had that one for so long. And the cold weather is no longer impressed with me.
We somehow believe that possessions. Will fill us up. Will make us whole. Will give us life. And it's just not true. And we do this all the time.
And we see it across the board. That's what Pinterest has been to me. So I don't have a Pinterest account. I just use my wife's. Sometimes to look at things. Because I'm a self-respecting male.
But that's. Like I get on every once in a while. To see like do-it-yourself projects. Because like we want to like. Redo our bathroom. And there's different things.
I like to build out of pallets. And every once in a while. I'm like I wish my whole house. Was built out of pallets. Although it doesn't make any sense. I want to do that.
And like. I get on there. And like looked at bathroom remodeling things. And all it is. Is just like me coveting. And believing that somehow.
Life would be better. If our bathroom looked remodeled. Because I don't like. And it gets weird. Like you sit there. And you do this long enough.
And then you walk into your bathroom. And you're looking around. And you're like. This stupid wallpaper. This is terrible. I hate having to pee in here.
This is so lame. Like you just get mad. And all it is. Is this lie. That Jesus. Because he is eternal.
And because he is gracious. And because he is loving. Is going to step in and say. Don't. Don't believe that. Don't let your heart chase after that.
Don't feel that that is true. Kids. Love. Face paint. They do. If you're anywhere.
And there's someone who will paint a face. And there are children. There will be children. With painted faces. Because they love it. There will be little princesses.
Or like Elsa looking blue. Swirls all over little faces. There will be a little boy. With like a Spider-Man face. And you're as a parent. You let your kid get his face.
Drawn up like Spider-Man. Because it washes off. But you would not let him get. A Spider-Man tattoo. On his face. Because that stuff.
Doesn't even look good on Mike Tyson. And here's why. You have a perspective. That your child does not. You know. That having Spider-Man.
Draw on your face. Isn't going to be cool forever. When he hits middle school. That's going to be weird. He's going to get some nicknames. That he used to think were cool.
In third grade. That are no longer cool. And you have that perspective. And so you're going to say. No no. You're going to guide.
How he views that. And what he does with it. You're going to guide him through life. And Jesus is the only one. With an eternal perspective. Who's going to step in.
And try to guide us. When it comes to finances. When it comes to possessions. When it comes to how we view money. He's the only one with the perspective. To say.
Hey guys. You're thinking about that wrong. The way you believe that works. Isn't actually true. And it's out of his love. And his grace.
And his goodness. Towards us. That he does that. And so. To help prove this to people. To help explain what he's saying here.
He tells a story. To help show what he's talking about. So here's what he says. Verse. We'll start back in verse 15. And he said to them.
Take care. And be on your guard. Against all covetousness. For one's life. Does not consist. In the abundance.
Of his possessions. And he told them a parable. Saying. The land of a rich man. Produced plentifully. So this guy was already wealthy.
He has land. It does. It produces. Plentifully. It's. It's.
He's very wealthy. And that would be. They were a mostly agrarian. Agricultural economy. So that.
What it means is. Like it's. Guy. Worked in the stock market. Was very rich. And was just booming.
It was working really well for him. Um. And he thought to himself. What shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. So he's got barns.
He's got silos. But they're full. And his. His crops do so well. That he's got to fill them up more. And he has no word to put it.
And he said. I will do this. I will tear down my barns. And build larger ones. And there. I will store all my grain.
And my goods. And I will say to my soul. Soul. You have ample goods. Laid up for many years. Relax.
Eat. Drink. Be merry. But God said to him. Fool. This night.
Your soul. Is required of you. And the things you have prepared. Whose. Will they be? Me.
So Jesus says. Be on guard. Against covetousness. Against greed. Against selfish desire. And he tells this story.
And he says. There was a rich guy. Who had. Great wealth. And he used his wealth. To make greater wealth.
And once he had accumulated. So much wealth. He said to himself. Self. Which I love that he said that. Like the guy's like soul.
And soul's like what? And he's like hey. So anyway. But he. Says to himself. Great.
Now I don't have to work anymore. Now I've made it. Now I've arrived. Now I'm set. Now I've found.
Life. And God. Says to him. Fool. Tonight your life's required of you. Here's what's very interesting about this.
And especially when we talk about this topic. He does not say. You wicked person. He does not say. You evil sinner. What he says is.
Fool. Fool. You just don't see it. You've missed it. Life doesn't come from that. So Jesus in coaching us up.
Isn't going to jump in and say. Stop coveting. Because it's super sinful. And it makes God mad at you. That's not where he takes this. Coveting is sinful.
It's in the top ten. Ten commandments. Coveting's in there. So we shouldn't. But the point that he's making here is.
You're foolish. You're not seeing it right. You don't. You haven't viewed it appropriately. Like he just failed to see. The reason he was blessed.
And why he was blessed. And what he could have done with it. He just handled it foolishly. So we look at this guy and say. Man he's done very well. He's very.
He's very smart about his money. And God looks at him and says. No he's foolish. And here's why. 20. But God said to him.
Fool. This night your soul is required of you. And the things you have prepared. Whose will they be? So is the one.
Which just means. It's the same way with everyone. So so is the one. Who lays up treasure for himself. And is not rich towards God. That's very interesting.
He calls him foolish. And says it's the same way with everyone. Who lays up treasure for themselves. But is not rich towards God. Which means two things. One.
Our treasure. Possessions. The things we're blessed with. Are not meant. To simply terminate on us. And.
There is a way. To be rich towards God. There is a way for us. To roll our money up. And to somehow. Give it to him.
To roll our possessions up. And somehow give it to him. And I'm going to steal a little bit from next week. Next week we're going to go through. The rest of what he says here. We're going to jump down to 33.
And it's going to be on the screen as well. I just want to help answer. What it means to be rich towards God. So he says. The sell your possessions. And give to the needy.
Provide yourselves with money bags. That do not grow old. With a treasure in the heavens. That does not fail. Where no thief approaches. And no moth destroys.
What he just said. Was there's a way for us. To be rich. Eternally. Eternally. And he's the only person.
Who can speak on that subject. Because he's the only eternal person. Who's ever returned. From that side of eternity. So we all go to eternity.
But none of us have ever. Been to eternity. And come back. Regardless of the books. That are out. So it was like.
When I was in middle school. And I dyed the top of my hair. Bleach white. That's correct. I looked as good. As you are imagining.
That I looked. And I had an older brother. Who's in high school. And it was so helpful for me. To have an older brother. Who's in high school.
Who would coach me up. And be like. Hey that's cool. Don't do that anymore. Before. And he would help me.
All the time. Because he was in high school. He'd been to high school. And he would tell me. Hey. Hey.
Yeah. Girls aren't going to like that. And I'd be like. Oh. Well I'd better stop. Because I like girls.
And I want them to like. The things that I'm doing. And he would. I would say a joke. And he'd say. That's not funny.
And he would help me. Because he knew. About this world. I didn't know about. Which was high school. And Jesus is the only one.
Who's come out of eternity. Stepped into history. And said. Hey. You're thinking about this. Incorrectly.
The way you think about finances. And the way that. Everyone else is going to say. Is good and smart. Is wrong. Because there's actually a way.
To be rich. Towards God. To be eternally. Wealthy. What does that look like? I don't know.
What is treasure in heaven? I have no clue. But I can tell you this. It's better. Than what we have here. What we have here.
Does not provide life. Does not fill us up. Does not make us whole. And what we get there. In eternity. For those who follow Jesus.
And have been saved. From sin. By him. There is eternal treasure. And you think. Is it selfish for me.
To be generous here. Just to get eternal things. Apparently not. Because that's what Jesus says to do. It'd be really selfish. For me to just get eternal blessings.
So I'll just spend money on myself. It's like. No. He's. It's actually good. Be eternally selfish.
And be radically generous here. That's what he says. That through giving. Away what we have. Through being generous. In another place.
He says that if you give. Even a cup of cold water. To someone who is his disciple. You will in no way. Lose your reward. So even in tiny things.
For people who are just. I'm going to bless this person. Because they're in ministry. I'm going to bless this person. Because they're a Christian. I'm going to bless this person.
Because they're part of my church family. And then here he says. Sell your possessions. Give to the needy. I'm going to bless this person. Because they need it.
He says it's actually. Sending it on the head. For eternal. Reward. Where nobody steals. Things don't get old.
Or go out of style. And you have it forever. And that's what he says. Is wise. Is it not. Foolish way to view.
Finances and money. We're going to keep talking about this. For the next two weeks. And here's what we're going to do. Matt. And Bianca.
And Raz. And Josh. Are going to come back up here. And we're going to. Sing. Here in just a minute.
As we prayerfully. Think about this. But I just want to. Help us see this a little bit. I just want to help us. Diagnose a little bit.
So he says. Don't. Be on guard. Against covetousness. And so the first question. I have is.
How do I do that? How do I start being on guard. Against that? I think. I think we have to start paying attention. To the things that we want.
That are not ours. Which would be most of the things. That we want. I mean. I like the stuff that I have. But I don't usually think about wanting it.
Think. That we need to be aware. Of the. Effect. That advertising has on us. The effect.
That certain people have on us. When we get around them. And they have things. That we don't have. But I think we also get to be.
Intentionally generous. So we get to intentionally. Try to turn our hearts. Towards the opposite of that. We get to intentionally. Start saying.
I'm going to send. Some of my treasure. On ahead. I'm going to start. Working for. Eternal things.
So I think one of the questions. We get to ask is. Does my treasure. He says. So it is with anyone.
Who's only rich. Towards themselves. Does all of my. Finances. Do all of my finances. Do all of my possessions.
Serve me. Am I the bottom line. When we look at our family's income. Does it just end with our family. Because Jesus is going to say. If that's the case.
We're foolish. If there's no. Area in our budget. Where we're being generous. Where we're giving of our possessions. If all of our treasure.
Just gets. Compiled. And piled up. And given to ourselves. We're foolish. And that we can be.
Intentionally. Generous. To try to turn this. And so here's. Here's what we're going to do. As a church family.
For our give series. So our give series. Again is. Every time. Every year. Around this time.
We're going to. We're going to pause. And we're going to try. To intentionally. Be generous. We're going to try to find.
Some need. Some area. That we can give to. That we can rally. Our church family around. To make a difference.
That we can bless. And here's what we're going to do. This year. This past Thursday. We. Went to.
The gentle pines area. North brown area. Of West Columbia. Which is just a. A lower income area. In our city.
Where there's some higher crime rates. And some. It's about 60% Hispanic. And so it's a good bit of people. That don't speak English. That live in.
Single unit housing. With just a bunch of families. In there. And so what we did. Was we just went. We got up early.
On Thursday morning. For Thanksgiving. Many of you were there. And we cooked. And peeled. A thousand potatoes.
I didn't count. But that seems right. And. Handed out. 201 meals. At first.
And then another. 60 or so later. With what was left over. After we ate. And so some other people. Just went around.
And went from house to house. And went into downtown. And so we handed out. About 270. Pre-boxed meals. Just because we wanted to.
To seek to be generous. On Thanksgiving. And I was. I was. Be proud of our church family. Because there was.
I think the mathematical term. Is a pile of people there. To serve. On Thanksgiving day. And it was just a lot of fun. To see all the people there.
That wanted to serve. And wanted to help. And I know other people have. Family and stuff. That you had to go do. And that's.
Not an indictment. Be excited. And so. But what we did. While we were handing out meals. Was we talked to people in that area.
And we asked. Can we help you for Christmas. If you have children. Usually Angel Tree. Goes around that apartment complex. They did not this year.
Angel Tree. Is the people that. Basically help. People in the area. Give Christmas gifts. And so we just ask.
As our church family. Is there a way that our church. Can help. This year. With you and your family. For Christmas.
If you have small children. We had 77 children. Sign up. So when we can. Just so we can actually look at it. So what we're shooting to do.
This year. As a church family. Is provide Christmas gifts. For 77 children. In the North Brown area. Of West Columbia.
If you are good at math. That is about the amount of people. Who are a part of our church. Which means that this just got serious. Because that's how many people signed up. And so what we're going to do.
As a church family. Is figure out a way. To reorient our hearts. Towards generosity. As a first step. Towards laying up some treasure.
In an eternal place. By just giving to those. Who need. Many of which were Hispanic. I know a little bit of Spanish. And one of the things.
We just basically said. Tell us age. Gender. Size. And if you have a small gift request. And the number one thing.
That was written down. Was zapatos. Which means shoes. The number one thing. Requested for Christmas. For the children in that area.
Was shoes. And yeah. We want to be a part of that. We want to be a part of being. Intentionally generous. Around Christmas.
Reorienting our hearts. To send treasure on ahead. Because Jesus says. That's what's wise and good. For us to do. You're not signing up for anything today.
We're going to begin praying about that. We're going to begin talking to our. Talking with your community group about that. And next week when we get together. We're going to give some specific instructions. On how we're going to go about that.
And actually let people begin. Signing up for. And saying. We'll take this many. Children. And we want to get gifts for.
So I'm going to pray. And then we're going to sing. Father we thank you. For your grace. We thank you. That in your wisdom.
And your love towards us. You didn't show up. And say it's wrong. To have nice things. It's bad. To do.
Nice stuff around your house. You're wicked and evil. What you just said was. No it's foolish. But you do bless us.
And you do give us good things. To enjoy. But you want us to know. And to intentionally reorient our hearts. Towards generosity. And God.
We ask. That your Holy Spirit. Would empower that. In us. That the gospel. Would impact us.
In such a way. To be generous. That you would change us. Because too many of us. Have normalized coveting. Too many of us.
Are okay with. The belief. The belief. The lie. That life comes from the abundance of possessions. We far too often think that's true.
So God. We ask that you would lead us to repentance. That you would lead us to change. And that ultimately. You would lead us to be generous. As you are generous.
Charitable. As you were charitable. Gracious as you're gracious. Jesus. We love you. And we praise you.
And we thank you. And God. We ask for wisdom. In our finances. In Jesus name. Amen.
The Fiery Furnace
Transcript
My name is Matt. I'm one of the pastors with Mill City Church and I'm really excited to share with you our message for today. I got the privilege to open up the Bible Story series and actually get to close it for us this morning. And I think it's been a fun and enjoyable series for us as a church. And the question we've been seeking to answer along the way is, who is the Bible actually about? Is it about us or is it about Jesus?
And along the way we've had to ask other questions like, okay, how do I read the Bible? Am I supposed to learn a moral or am I supposed to learn some facts? Do I insert myself into the story or do I kind of sit off as a third person just viewing what's going on? And as we've walked through this series, what we've been able to see is that the purpose of the Bible is to reveal God to us. It's to tell us about God, specifically through the Revelation of his son, the person and work of Jesus. And that's what we've been looking at.
As we've been walking through this series, we've been trying to answer that question, who is the Bible actually about? And as we've walked through it, another thing that we've been able to see is that because we know the end of the story, it impacts how we read the beginning of it. So since we know what God's ultimately going to do through Jesus, it impacts, changes how we walk through the Old Testament, how we read the Old Testament. It's very similar to the way that you'd watch the movie Titanic. Okay? We know the history of Titanic before the movie in the 90s came out.
We already knew what had happened. And so the whole time you're watching this movie, as you're watching Jack play cards for the tickets to get on the ship, and he's hoofing it. He's hoofing it to try to get on the ship, and he gets on, and you're just like, no, that's not going to end well for you. And he and Rose fall in love. The whole time, you know what's going to happen. You know that the ship is eventually going to strike an iceberg.
It's going to go down. Jack and Rose are going to end up in the water. Well, Jack's going to end up in the water. Rose was on the door that both of them could have fit on. Rose was super selfish. She looks at Jack.
She goes, I'll never let go. I'll never let go. And then she, like, wakes up from her cold stupor and pries his dead hand from hers and lets him sink to the bottom of the ocean. Rose was a liar, guys. But because we know the end of the story, it impacts how we watch the whole movie.
The same thing is true of the Bible. We know the end of the story, so it impacts how we read through the Old Testament. And as we walk through stories like Adam and Eve in the garden, as we looked at Noah's ark, the journey of Joseph, last week David versus Goliath, we've gotten to see how they each give us glimpses into different aspects of the gospel, what God is ultimately going to do through Jesus. We've seen righteousness. We've seen how sin can be taken care of. We've seen grace.
And we've seen victory. And today, as we bring our series to a close, we're going to be looking at one of my favorite stories in the Bible. We're going to be looking at the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace. And I'm really excited to share it with you this morning. But before we hop in, I just want to pray that God would use this Old Testament story to reveal himself to us.
So you guys join me. Let's pray together. God, we are asking that you would speak to us this morning. In our own ability, we do not have the capability to look at your word and understand on our own. And so, God, we are asking that by your Holy Spirit, you would speak to us this morning. God, that we would hear from you, that we would understand in a greater way who you are and how we are to live in relationship with you.
In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, our story from today comes from the book of Daniel, chapter 3. So if you've got your Bible, go ahead and grab it. If you don't have one, we've got the blue and white Bibles on the seats. It's going to be page 480. And you're going to want to have it today because we're going to read all of chapter 3.
Scripture is not going to be on the screen. If you're with us this morning and you don't have a Bible, we would love for you to take one of these with you. We have plenty of them. We want everyone to be able to have a Bible. So go ahead and grab one of those and take it with you.
Now, in our series, three out of the five stories that we covered came from the book of Genesis. So we could have called it Genesis plus two more stories, but we went with Bible stories. And last week, we made a pretty big jump from Genesis all the way to 1 Samuel. And I want to take a little bit of time because we're moving even further down the timeline to get from the story of David versus Goliath to the story that we're looking at today. So if you've got those Bible stories handout cards that Raz was talking about at the very beginning, go ahead and grab those.
They're in the seats behind you or directly in front of you. Grab one of those. Take that with you. That's a helpful study resource. Raz is one of our community group leaders. He's a seminary student at CIU.
Just did a wonderful job putting that together so that you could actually see the chronological timeline of the Old Testament because it helps you as you're reading through to know where to actually place the story in the history. So go ahead and grab that. All right. Let's see if I can do this for us. Last week, we looked at David. We looked at David and Goliath.
And David defeats Goliath. And eventually, he's going to become the king of Israel in place of a guy named Saul. And David was a good king. He's known as the quintessential king of Israel. And he had his own flaws. He had his own shortcomings.
But David was a good king that led the people in following the Lord. After David comes his son Solomon. Solomon's known for his wisdom. He wrote several books that we have in the Bible. Solomon also got the opportunity to build a temple for the Lord in Jerusalem where God's presence was said to dwell. So he was very wise.
And he had lots of riches. And he had a lot of wives. And I don't know how wisdom and wives work together. I guess that's where riches came in. I guess he was able to take care of them that way. But after Solomon, that's when things start to go south.
The kingdom splits in two. Splits between one of Solomon's sons and one of the commanders of his army. So we have a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. And as generation after generation passes, the people begin to abandon God. The kings lead them in worshiping foreign idols and making sacrifices to foreign gods. And God in his grace sends prophets like Isaiah, like Micah to come and to warn the people.
To tell them to repent and turn back to God. Or they're going to be conquered by another nation and sent out of their homeland as exiles. That's what the prophets were saying. And while there were some kings along the way that heeded that wisdom, heeded that prophecy, over time they become more and more depraved and move away from the Lord until eventually the northern kingdom is going to be conquered by Assyria. And then after that, all of the known world in that time is going to be conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire. And that's where we find ourselves in the story today is with these exiled Jews in the land of Babylon that survived the destruction and are now living in captivity.
Now, I want to take just a second to paint that picture up for you. Because when it comes to reading the Old Testament, it doesn't seem real to us. It seems tall tale-ish or like it's a fable. This was real. It's not just the Bible that supports this. Historical documents from the time tell us that this actually took place.
This actually happened. So just go there with me for a second. Imagine that you're an Israelite. You're one of God's chosen people in the promised land. And a bigger, badder empire from the east comes in. And they go into your holy city and they destroy the temple where God's presence was said to dwell.
Most of your family and friends, they're killed. And those of you who are left are carried off to a country with a culture you don't understand. A language you cannot speak. And God's that you do not serve. Welcome to Babylon. I swear these exiles are.
They're living in captivity. And the other side of the prophecy did say this. That there would come a time that after these Jews had been exiled from their homeland, there would come a time where they would repent and God would rescue them out. And they would get to return to their homeland. So that kind of gives us a little bit of the background.
And now we can jump into our story a little bit. So now in Daniel, we're going to look at chapter 3. In chapters 1 and 2, what we see is that this, as the exiles are coming into Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar wants to take all the best of the young people, all the elite people, and he wants to bring them into the palace. And here's what it says. This is like his gauge on what he wants coming in. He says, Youths that were without blemish, good-looking, skillful in wisdom, and endowed with knowledge.
So didn't you feel kind of bad that you didn't get to go to the palace? Like, oh no, not only am I not smart, I'm not good-looking either. But the reason that King Nebuchadnezzar wanted these youths was to train them, to teach them culture and language. This was an expansive empire, and he wanted people who knew different areas to be able to rule over them. And eventually what we see is that some of the Jewish exiles actually find favor in King Nebuchadnezzar's eyes. Daniel, who wrote this book, and three of his friends whose story that we're going to look at today, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they rise to power, and they're put over top of different provinces, those three specifically over the province of Babylon.
And while they're in the worst possible scenario for them, while they're in the worst possible situation, we see that God's still with them. God is still with them in this scenario. So Daniel, Daniel chapter 3, verse 1. A lot of setup for us this morning. Go ahead and turn there. Verse 1.
King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its breadth 6 cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Okay, we don't know a whole lot about Nebuchadnezzar at this point. This is kind of our introduction to him. But what we see is that Nebuchadnezzar has an image set up that's 60 cubits high, 6 cubits wide, and is made of gold.
The most powerful man in the known world at this time is flexing his muscles just a little bit. And we talked last week about what that measurement of a cubit was. It was a rudimentary measurement of fingertip to elbow, and it was about 18 inches. Or if you're me and have T-Rex arms, it's more like 14 inches. But the standard man was about 18 inches, which means that this statue is 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide.
It was made of gold. And this thing was real. There are Babylonian documents from the time that actually talk about this statue. This wasn't just a made-up thing. It was actually real. And those documents nor scripture actually tell us what the image was.
Some people think that it was an image from a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had back in chapter 2. Daniel actually interprets that dream from him. You can read that story. Others think it was an animal, which would have matched up with other religions in that area of the world at the time. But regardless, this image had an intended purpose.
And we get to see a little bit of it in the next verse. Verse 2. Verse 3. Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors. Okay, at some point, do you feel like Nebuchadnezzar's just giving out titles to all of his friends? I'm pretty sure he made satrap up.
That's not a thing, right? Like he's going around the room. He's like, okay, Frankie and Steve, you guys are going to be counselors. Johnny, you'll be a governor. And Rufus, you'll be a magistrate. What about Carl?
Carl? I didn't forget Carl. See, Carl is going to be a satrap. A what? A satrap. What's that?
Shut it, Carl. You're a satrap. I don't know. There's all these different titles within the provinces. But it continues on.
Continuing on in verse 3. The justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So the most powerful man in the known world summons everybody from every part of his empire. And it was huge. This empire would have stretched from the bottom of Egypt to the Persian Gulf.
It was huge. He summoned everybody, even the people with made-up titles. Everybody's coming. And I want you to imagine no expense spared Woodstock style. Because it says he set it up on the plain of Dura. He set this thing up on a level piece of ground so that as many people as possible could get to it, could see this image.
And now they're all standing. They're all standing in the shadow of this image. And it continues on. Verse 4. All right.
Time out. You guys know that I'm a musician. So that any time scripture expressly points out something about singing or about music or about instruments, I'm automatically drawn to it. And so you go back through this list and you're clipping along. Horn. Yep.
Pipe. Yep. Liar. That would have been like a stringed instrument, very similar to a guitar. Trigon. Don't know what that is, but it sounds cool.
Harp. That's an interesting choice. Bagpipe. Bagpipe. In the middle of all these Eastern instruments, who snuck the Scottish guy in? Wes William Wallace.
I'm really sorry. That's a terrible Scottish accent. That was terrible. I apologize. And speaking of terrible, this would have sounded terrible. I'm serious.
If you look, it was a horn and a pipe and a stringed instrument and a harp and a... I guess they were trying to scare them into submission to make them bow down. I don't know what the intended purpose was here. But all these different instruments, and in verse 6, And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe... Let's just call them the band, the really terrible band.
The band and every kind of music. All the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So they assemble all these people, and at the sound of the band, everyone's to bow down, or they're going to get thrown into a fiery furnace. Bow down or die. So all the people, including the Jews who had been exiled from their homeland for doing this same mess, have to bow down at the sound of the music to this inanimate object that's made by human hands.
The herald just said that King Nebuchadnezzar had it set up, which means that the elements would have been melted down and poured out by human hands, cast by human hands, shaped by human hands, lifted into place by human hands, could not move on its own without human hands. Bow down and worship. That's what's facing all the people that are standing beside this image. And it continues on. Verse 8. Therefore, at that time, certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews.
Okay, Chaldeans would be similar to southerners. It was a regional designation, so these were people from Babylon. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever. You, O king, have made a decree. You, O king, have made a decree. Lost my place.
That every man who hears the sound of the terrible band and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Okay, so there is likely some type of jealousy going on here.
Scripture does not tell us that. But these are hometown boys. And they are talking about the Jewish exiles. And this is a slap in the face to the king. Not only are they disobeying him, but these aren't even his people. These are conquered exiles.
These are people that he treated graciously and had them trained and gave them food and shelter and clothing. And now they're not bowing down to the image that he set up. And they're doing it in front of the entire empire. Nuh-uh. Not happening. And Nebuchadnezzar is hot.
Jump back with me. Verse 13. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage, commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now, if you are ready when you hear the sound of the band and every kind of music to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good.
But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? So Nebuchadnezzar brings them in and he's going to give them another chance. But it's an ultimatum. Either you bow down or you're going to die. Bow down or I'm going to throw you into a fiery furnace.
And verse 15, the tail end of verse 15 really gives us a picture of what's going on here. Basically says, if you won't worship my gods, which God do you think is going to save you from the fiery furnace that I'm going to throw you in? And we get to see how they respond. Verse 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace.
And he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. And I love that. Don't you love that? That's why it's one of my favorite stories in the Bible. The king says, I'm going to kill you.
And those guys aren't fazed by it. They simply answer the question to which God could save them. And they say, our God, our God can save us. But even if he doesn't, we'd rather die than serve your idol. Don't even bother striking up the band again. You're going to have to kill us.
We won't bow down. You see what these guys are saying here? Don't miss the beauty of what's going on. Here's what they're saying. They're saying, our God can deliver us. He will deliver us.
But if he chooses not to do so, we still trust him. Even if we are to die, he is still in control and has a greater purpose. That in the midst of the worst possible scenario, they have placed their full trust in God. And let me just say this. It's not because these guys had super faith. Nobody's arguing that these guys had incredible faith and courage and trust.
But it's not even that they had faith that everything was going to turn out all right. They have faith in God no matter what the outcome is. They trust him. Him. Period. And that goes so far beyond our understanding of trust and faith.
So often with us, our trust and faith is very circumstantial and can be very conditional. So a lot of times it goes like this. God, I place my faith in you if... Fill in the blank. God, I trust you as long as... Fill in the blank.
We have fill in the blank faith. It's circumstantial. It's conditional. That when things in our lives are going well, when we're up on top, God, I trust you. I have faith in you. And as things take a turn for the worse, as we're like these guys and we're facing death and we're facing suffering, our faith and our trust begin to diminish because we're thinking about our trust.
We're thinking about how much faith we have rather than the trustworthiness and the faithfulness of our God. And that's what we're seeing in the story. These guys look at Nebuchadnezzar and they say, he's completely capable. He's infinitely good and wise. And whatever happens to us, it's inside of his plan and control. We trust him.
Verse 19. Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace.
Now, it looks like Daniel is super fond of lists. Okay? But the Bible doesn't just throw out random facts for no reason. There's a purpose in that. We're going to come back to it. We're going to see it.
Verse 22. Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. Well, that didn't go well. These guys stood up for their God and they still get tossed into the fire. King Nebuchadnezzar was so enraged that he had the furnace heated seven times more than it could be.
I don't even know how they were supposed to measure that. That they had them bound in their clothing with ropes. And the mighty men of their army went to take these guys and throw them into the fire. And it was so hot that it killed the guys who were throwing them into the fire. And they're tossed in. And it seems like that should be the end of the story, but it's not.
Pick it up. Verse 24. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, Did we not cast three men bound into the fire? They answered and said to the king, True, O king. He answered and said, But I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire.
And they are not hurt. And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. Nebuchadnezzar's mind is blown because he looks into the burning fiery furnace. And instead of hearing screams of agony, of pain, seeing men riling around in pain on the ground, he sees men walking around. Unbound. Unharmed.
And he goes to count. One, two, three. How many men did we throw in there? And I'm looking at this man. He can't even describe what he's saying because he says, The fourth looks like a son of the gods. He looks like a divine being.
Verse 26. Pick it up. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace. He declared, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out. Come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire.
What else was he supposed to do? Nebuchadnezzar runs as close to the fire as he absolutely can. And he yells for him to come out. They're walking around inside. What else is he going to do? Come out.
Come out. And this is like a movie. It's like one of those movies where the hardcore guys go into the abandoned warehouse and they wreck shop and they're, you know, killing people. And they're coming out. And the warehouse is like blowing up behind them. And there's fire.
And there's smoke. And they're walking out with the gangster truck. And everything's blowing up. Don't act like that's not the music that's going on in your mind. When you imagine yourself in that story. And they come walking out of the fire.
Verse 27. And the satraps. Good. Carl's back. The satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not sensed.
Their cloaks were not harmed. And no smell of fire had come upon them. All the fire was able to do was burn the ropes off that they had used to bind them. When they walk out of the fire, they don't even smell like smoke. I think that's why Daniel included those details. Hats weren't messed up.
Garments weren't messed up. They didn't even smell like smoke. God had delivered them. And Nebuchadnezzar's reaction is priceless. Priceless. Verse 28.
Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrath, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him and set aside the king's command and gilded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any God except their own God. Therefore, I make a decree. Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrath, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other God who is able to rescue in this way. Nebuchadnezzar says, Bump that. I'm switching teams. I'm on that God's team.
And anyone who speaks a word against the God of Shadrath, Meshach, and Abednego will be ripped to shreds. Whoa, take it easy, king. Their houses will be leveled. Goodness. Moses. Holes cutting their favorite t-shirts and their favorite goldfish drowned.
How are you going to drown a goldfish? Shut it, Carl. You're a satrap. Figure it out. He loses his mind. He does a complete 180.
The most powerful king in the known world says, Nobody will speak a word against these guys. And verse 30. Then the king promoted Shadrath, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. And we get to the end of the story and we're pumped. What a story. These three guys in the face of imminent death placed their full trust in either God's deliverance or his providence.
And they're thrown into a fiery furnace. But that's not the end of the story. Nebuchadnezzar looks inside and he can't even explain what he's seeing. He goes to count. He says, one, two, three, four. One of them looks like a divine being.
One of them looks like a son of the gods. And we're getting a glimpse into what God is ultimately going to do in the gospel through his son as Jesus steps into the fire on our behalf. We get a picture of it. Right there. In the middle of this story. What God is ultimately going to do through Jesus.
And Nebuchadnezzar is puzzled and he's looking inside. He doesn't even know what's going on. He says an angel. The translation of that is a messenger. So whether it was an angel or a messenger that Nebuchadnezzar saw or something else completely, entirely different, one thing remains constant.
God is with them. And once again, we get a perfect picture of the gospel in this story. We're once again reminded that the Bible isn't about us. What we see, what we see in the story is that the God of the Bible, the one true God, the God of Israel, the God that these men refuse to dishonor and to disobey, he doesn't just deliver them out of the furnace. He joins them in it. We get a glimpse of his character here.
Why he's so trustworthy. He doesn't just keep them from harm. He walks with them in it. And as we continue to read, as the story of the Bible unfolds, this isn't a God that just calls for faith, that just calls for obedience, that sits far off and expects greatness from his people. No. He would join his people.
That Jesus would step out of heaven and step into the furnace. That Jesus would become a human. That Jesus would face temptation. That he would live and love perfectly. And he would go to a cross. And he wouldn't leave unscathed.
He was brutally murdered. See, what we see in this story is that three men step into an execution, and they're joined there by their God. And they're delivered. What we see in Jesus is that Jesus goes to a cross, and he switches places with us, and he dies. And we're the ones that walk out of the furnace free. We get a glimpse into the gospel in this story.
But the cool thing about it is that Jesus doesn't stay dead. Jesus walks out of the grave three days later to defy the furnace, to defy death and punishment and offer life. What we see is that these men have faith, and they're joined in the furnace, and they're granted life. And we're offered the same thing. We're offered the same thing. That we're offered to join a God who isn't unfamiliar with pain and suffering, a God who died in our place on our behalf, who took our execution.
The character of God is fully revealed to us in Jesus to show us that he is trustworthy, that he is faithful. And the cross ultimately proves that. Jesus stepped in, and through his death and resurrection, he proves that. And just like with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the purpose of their suffering was to bring glory to God. These three guys were in the face of death and suffering. And when they're thrown into the fire, they don't know what's going to happen.
But as they're brought out, Nebuchadnezzar makes a decree that no one can speak a word against the God of these guys. God's name is made known throughout the entire empire. And in the same way, in the suffering and the death of Jesus, God had a greater purpose. That through the sacrificial death of his son, the debt of our sin would be paid for. And that as Jesus dies on the cross, we who are sinful get to walk away. And so, how much more do we, on this side of the cross, understand God's faithfulness and his trustworthiness in the midst of our trials and sufferings?
How much more can we claim, just like these guys, that our God can deliver, he will deliver, and even if he chooses not to, in my present circumstances, we ultimately know that he delivers us from sin, death, and hell through the cross. That as we go through hard times, as we go through suffering, he doesn't sit far off. He joins us in it. And so, since we know that God is ultimately going to deliver, we get to face trials and sufferings, realizing that he might not change our present situation. You see, as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fire, it wasn't the strength of their faith that could save them.
It was the object of their faith. It was that God was faithful. God was trustworthy. And they knew that it might not mean that God would change their situation. And the same thing is true for us. He might not change the present situation that we're going through.
The oncology report might come back and you still have cancer. You may go through the third month and not be able to pay your bills. Work may continue to be a living nightmare because you have a boss that constantly demeans you. And what we see in this story is that God is faithful and he's trustworthy. That no matter what happens, our hope is not in our circumstances, but it's ultimately in the fact that God will deliver us. That he joins us in the furnace to walk with us through it and that in the end it brings glory to his name.
How much more do we on this side of the cross get to say, I know that my God's going to deliver me. It doesn't matter what I'm walking through right now. That I can endure suffering. I can endure trials because I know that he's faithful and I know that he's with me in it. He joins me in the suffering and ultimately it brings glory to his name. Raz, Bianca, and Josh are going to come back up.
The response this morning is to place your faith in Jesus and not in your present circumstances. Some of us in this room are walking through really difficult life situations right now. And you're asking the question, God, where are you? Where are you? I don't feel you. I don't see you.
Everything that's going on in my life is a mess. Where are you? Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were joined in the fire. We know perfectly how willing Jesus is to step into the furnace on our behalf. That ultimately Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego show us what it looks like to walk in relationship with Jesus because we have a God that endured suffering for us. And that we don't look at the flames.
We don't look at the furnace. We're not looking at our present circumstances. We're looking to the God who's faithful and who's trustworthy. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego look to the guy on their left. We look to the cross. The cross proves that God loves us.
It settles that so that no matter what we're walking through, we can trust God. And listen, I don't know why suffering and trials happen the way they do. I don't. I don't know why that situation may not change. I don't know why that relationship hasn't gotten any better. I don't know.
But what I do know is that God is good. And He's for our good. And He loves us. And He's got a plan. He's got a purpose in the midst of our suffering and our trials. And we look to Jesus as we walk through it.
Because He's with us. And ultimately, He delivers us. Place your faith in Him because He's faithful. Trust Him because He's trustworthy. We're going to stand and we're going to sing praises to Jesus. And I'm inviting you, if for the first time, to let go.
To stop looking at the flames and to look to the cross. Let's pray. God, we praise You that You are not a God who sits far off, that leaves us in this mess by ourselves, but You join us in the suffering. And in doing so, You swap places with us. That we can place our faith in You for the forgiveness of our sins and for salvation. God, I'm praying that all across this room, Lord, that You would awaken that within us.
Instead of looking at our present circumstances and our trials, God, give us a picture of the cross that proves Your love for us. God, awaken faith and trust within us because You are faithful and trustworthy. In Jesus' name, amen.
David and Goliath
Transcript
So my name is Chet, I'm one of the pastors with Mill City Church, and what we're doing, we're in our fourth week of our Bible story series, and what we're doing is we're walking through Old Testament Bible stories, stories that we've heard, stories maybe we've grown up hearing, or at least in our culture we're familiar with, and we're just looking at them in light of the rest of Scripture. We're looking at them in light of God's full story. So what we know about God is that He declares in the Old Testament, He says, I'm the God who declares the end from the beginning. And so when we think about history, we usually look at what came before an event to find out what caused it.
So like when you study World War II, you're going to look at World War I, you're going to look at the aftermath of World War I, and you're going to see how did this lead up to World War II. But when we look at the story as God unfolds it to us in Scripture, what we understand is that He in some ways is like an architect or like a city planner who is working everything out towards His given end, His desire for how things ultimately are going to work out. So when we look at an event in history, in biblical history, we not only look at what led up to it, but we also look at where God was going to take it eventually, because He's in charge of how everything plays out. And so one of the things we've said as we've gone through this series is that in some ways as Christians who have the New Testament, who know that God becomes a human, that Jesus comes to earth and lives on our behalf and dies and then rises again, that we have the end of the story, and so we can't ever read the Old Testament the same way again.
And so what we've said is it's kind of like the movie The Sixth Sense. Have you seen that movie? It came out in like 1999. If you haven't seen it, it's got a really intense twist on the end, and I'm about to ruin that for you. But the main character, Bruce Willis, is dead the entire time, and the kid can see dead people.
And so you don't know he's dead, though, until the end. And so if you watch The Sixth Sense the first time, it blows your mind. And then when you can never watch it the same way again. And so that's the same way we approach the Bible. We go through the Old Testament, and we're looking at its unfolding, and then we see how God's going to bring everything together. We see the twist on the end of the story.
And we can never read the Old Testament the same way twice. My wife and I, she had not seen The Sixth Sense, but she had seen a movie that talked about the end of The Sixth Sense, much like I just did here, where it says that the guy's dead the whole time. But she didn't realize it was Bruce Willis. She thought it was the kid. So we watched the entire movie, and I told her it was really good.
We watched the entire movie. We get to the end, and I was like, what did you think? She's just staring at the credits like, she looks at me and goes, the kid was dead the whole time? And I was like, no. But it messed up her ability to even watch it.
So it's helpful for us to know what the end of the story is, so that as we go through the text, as we go through these Bible stories, we get an understanding of what God's doing and how we're actually supposed to understand what the story means, what we're supposed to do with it, how we're supposed to understand it. So today we're going to be in 1 Samuel chapter 17. We're going to be talking about the story of David and Goliath. I'm very excited that we get to talk about David and Goliath together today. It's a story I think most of us are familiar with. It shows up all the time, even just in the way people talk about stuff.
They'll say, it's a really David and Goliath story, that kind of thing. And we just really just did the video just for fun. So if Christians can't get together and have a good time, I honestly don't know who can, because we've been rescued and redeemed by Jesus and we're set free. And so we want to have fun together as a church family. I'm going to pray. If you have one of these Bibles that are in the rows with you, it'll be on page 154.
And that's not a typo. We'll go through 1 through 54 on page 154. So, okay, I'm going to pray and then we're going to hop in and look at this. God, we thank you that we get to gather today to study your word. And we ask that you would speak to us. That as we read through the text, as we see this story, we pray that you'd give us the ability to understand more clearly.
That you would help us see vividly how you work in history. And ultimately what you were doing on our behalf. And so, God, we praise you. We thank you. And we love you. In Jesus' name.
Amen. Okay, so chapter 17, verse 1. Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at Soca, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Soca and Azekah in Ephes-Demim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side with a valley between them.
Okay, we're going to stop there for a second. Let's paint this picture up a little bit and get a clear understanding of what's going on. And the Philistines were a coastal people, so they were kind of near the Mediterranean Sea, and they were kind of where the Gaza Strip is. And they had consistently given Israel fits. And so where we left off last week, we went through the book. But we were in Genesis last week talking about Joseph.
And so we had spent three weeks. We had talked about Adam and Eve. We had talked about Noah. And we talked about Joseph. And so if you were kind of keeping track, we had only been in Genesis as we're talking about. We're going to go through the Old Testament and talk about Bible stories.
So maybe if you were doing math, you're thinking, it's going to be a 92-week series. No, it's only going to be like 73 weeks. I'm just kidding. This is the fourth of five. And so we've jumped ahead in history. And so where we went was Joseph settled his family in Egypt.
They multiplied. The Egyptians enslaved them. And then Moses shows up, and he sings this song about letting his people go. And God moves through ten plagues and sets them free. And then they wander in the desert for 40 years. This is all outlined on those sheets.
If you want to grab one on your way out that we've got that Raz made of the biblical timeline. But they wander in the desert for 40 years, and then Joshua leads them into the promised land. And they do a decent Job of taking over the promised land, but did not completely have autonomy over it. And throughout the course of the book of Judges, they just have people who are Judges who kind of lead over them, rise up at different points to set them free from enemies that have taken over. And you see them fighting with the Philistines throughout the book of Judges. And where we are now, they came and said, we want a king.
We want to have a king. We want to be like the nations around us. And they were really just some tribes that kind of lived together. And God was supposed to be ruling over them as a king. And he says, okay, you can have a king. And so they choose King Saul through a process where a prophet leads them through that.
And what we know about King Saul was he's just kind of a big farm boy. He was about a head taller than everybody else. So they liked that about him. But it wasn't a real, they like rolled dice to see who was going to be king. So it's an interesting process, but God kind of oversaw it.
And so Saul's king. And he's done a decent Job up until this point. But he's not a king the way we think about kings with like a castle and stuff. Because they were just figuring this stuff out. So they were basically like, okay, Saul, you're our king.
Sweet. All right, everybody go home. That's pretty much what they did. And so he wasn't set up with like. And so at this point, all he's done is try to fight a few times, lead a couple of battles. And what we know about the Philistines is that they outman the Israelite army.
They can overpower them. The Israelites didn't want to fight them in open country because the Philistines had chariots. And the Israelites were mostly on foot. But the Philistines had horses and chariots. And so when you got in open country in a battle, chariots would just ride through your ranks and tear them up. So one of the reasons they're up in the mountains in a hill country is because Israel is trying to fight a defensive battle.
We also know that in 1 Samuel 13, we're told that the Philistines would not allow Israelites to have blacksmiths. So they had some authority over this territory. And the reason they wouldn't let them have blacksmiths is because they said that they were afraid that they would make spears and swords for themselves. And it would be easier for them to rise up against the Philistines. And so when the fighting with the Philistines begins, we're told that Saul has a sword and his son has a sword. And everyone else is using farm equipment.
They're outmatched, outmanned, and easily overpowered by the Philistines. And they had won some victories. And so we can assume at this point that they've grown some as an army. More men have joined. They've been able to start getting some weapons together, but not much. And so what we see is the Philistines on one side.
And they're in Israel's territory. It says that they're in Soca, which belongs to Judah. And Judah was one of the tribes of Israel. So the Philistines have marched in on Israel. And Israel is trying to defend themselves. I think sometimes when we picture biblical stories, especially ones that have some fantastic things to them, we always picture them a little bit cartoony.
So it's like there's like happy little cartoon things going on. And so like even when you picture David and Goliath, Goliath walks out and he's like he's mean, but he's kind of cute, like cartoony looking. He's got a big head, you know, and so it makes it easier to hit with rocks. But this is real. This is real events that happen to real people. This was a tense situation.
There's an army on one side of a mountain. There's a valley in between them and there's an army on another side. So picture more along the lines of what you would view when you think about Braveheart, where the English were coming and they were more powerful, had more to them, and there was a ragtag bunch of people trying to defend themselves. That's kind of the situation we find ourselves in. And so there would have been camps set up, campfires, tense conversations, grown men ready to do battle. And that's where we are.
Verse 4. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath. So a champion kind of is one of their greatest warriors and at times would do what we're about to see that he does, which is he says, I'll fight on behalf of my army. You send someone out to fight me on behalf of your army and I'll fight on behalf of mine. So a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
So a cubit, they didn't have rulers and stuff. Cubits, fingertips to elbows, that's about 18 inches. Span is the width of your hand there. And so six cubits and a span, the guy was nine foot, nine inches tall, roughly, depending on how big the arm of the person who measured him. And you're wondering, how did they measure him? Well, it doesn't go well for him.
So he was just kind of laid out for a while and they were able to walk up and be like, how tall is this cat? How tall was this cat? Somebody put his head back on. Let's see. Let's see how tall that was.
Okay. So anyways, nine foot, nine inches tall. He had a helmet of bronze on his head and he was armed with a coat of mail. And the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam.
And his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron. And his shield bearer went before him. This is an impressive, scary man. He was a champion of the Philistines who were good at fighting, had a good sized army, which means that he was good at killing people. And he was a giant. Nine foot, nine inches tall.
So Shaquille O'Neal is 7 foot 1 and at playing weight. So not his Icy Hot commercials, but back when he was playing, he was 325. Andre the Giant was billed at 7 foot 4 and 540 pounds. So assuming that Goliath of Gath had a little bit of weight to him, nine foot nine, he was probably somewhere between 600 to 750 pounds. And he's a massive, scary man who walks out and declares that he'll fight on behalf of his army. It says that he has a shield bearer, which couldn't, I mean, I don't know how tall that guy would have been compared to him carrying his shield for him.
So we don't know if he was like had weak knees or something. Historians have postulated that he had really effeminate legs that he wanted to hide. That's not true. But so he has a shield bearer, comes before him, carries his shield for him. So here's what we see.
This is the situation for the Israelites. They're outmanned. They're in a bad spot because they're fighting against the Philistines who have more armor, more people, more equipment. And now there's a giant on the other team. Verse 8. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel.
So he walks kind of out into the valley, walks down the hill a little bit, looking up to the army of Israel. Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine? And are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants.
But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistines said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. One of the questions I've always had as I've read this story is, why didn't the Israelites just say, no, not going to do that. We'll just have our army fight yours.
And as I was studying this and reading about this, what I realized is the Israelites didn't want to fight, period. They were in a defensive posture. They're up in the hills. They're trying to defend their territory. They're outmanned by the Philistines. And so the Philistines have the position of power in this whole situation.
And they're basically saying, well, let Goliath fight on our behalf. And then less people will die. We're going to win regardless. But we might as well just let our champion fight and we'll get this over quickly. Less of our people will die and we'll have more servants and slaves on the back end of it. And so that's why they kind of sit in this stalemate for a while.
Because the Philistines are in the position of power and Israel really doesn't have the ability to just fight them and win. At least it doesn't seem that way. Wouldn't it be a real good tactical move? And so what it says is that when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. They knew this was not going to go well for them. They did not have anybody who could go out and fight.
They didn't have anybody that was immediately like, oh, we'll send our champion, Greg Akiah out there. Like that didn't happen. Called him Greg for short. Verse 12. Now David was the son of Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah named Jesse, who had eight sons in the days of Saul.
The man was already old and advanced in years. The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn and next to him Abinadab and the third Shammah. David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul. But David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
For 40 days the Philistine came forward and took his stand morning and evening. So when the Bible says for 40 days, that's an idiom. It can mean this happened for 40 days. Like exactly 40 days. But it's also just kind of a phrase they use that means a long time.
So like if I saw a friend and I said, man, I hadn't seen you in a hot minute. It actually hadn't been a hot minute. That's just a term I would use that means it's been a long time. Or like when you're talking to a really old country guy and he goes, boy, I've been chewing tobacco since I was knee-hide to a grasshopper. Which just means he started chewing tobacco when he was like six or something. He was never actually that short.
But we need to talk to him about his tobacco issue. That's really early. So it says for 40 days, it just means a long period of time. And so what we see though in this story is that we've now introduced a new character. We're talking about David now in this story. And so we already know about David if we've been reading through Samuel.
David already knows Saul. He comes and plays music for him. And David was musically gifted and wrote a lot of the Psalms that we have in the Bible. At this point though, David had already been anointed king. And so we don't know much about anointing. What had happened was Saul had led well for a time.
And then had kind of turned away from God and done some stuff like directly disobeyed some of the stuff God had told him to do. And so God basically said, well, I'm sorry I made you king. You're not going to be king anymore. And he says, I'm going to pick someone else. And so he chooses David. And David is anointed king.
It wasn't a big ceremony. It was something that a prophet went to his house. He was the runt of the family. They didn't even think he would be one of the ones. Like the prophet shows up and says, one of your sons is going to be king. And Jesse says, cool.
And takes his oldest, biggest boy and goes all the way down the line. He gets to the end. And they're basically just standing around like, you said one of my sons. And so Samuel said, do you have any other sons? And they're like, oh, yeah, David. Totally forgot he existed.
But he's watching sheep. And that probably he's not the king, though. And so they go get David. And he's anointed king. And so he's kind of like a president who's been elected but isn't president yet. But I don't even know if Saul knows that.
So that's who David is. He shows up. He's sent by his dad. So verse 17. And Jesse said to David, his son, take your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. Also take these ten choice cheeses to the commander of their thousand.
See if your brothers are well and bring some token from them. So he says, take this to your brothers and give their commander some cheese. I don't know if they're trying to get in with their commander. Be like, hey, man, remember when my dad gave you that cheese? Think I could have a day off? So I don't know.
I don't know what that was. He's just being nice, maybe. So 19. Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines. It means encamped, lined up for battle. And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went as Jesse had commanded him.
And he came to the encampment as the host was going to the battle, to the battle line, shouting the war cry. OK, so they've apparently been lining up in formation every day for a long period of time. And every day the same thing happens. Goliath comes out and challenges them and they all get scared again. So at some point you think their war cry is going to get slowly more lame over time.
Like the first day they genuinely were like, let's go do this. And then now they're like, ah. Did Goliath die in his sleep last night? He twists his ankle like waiting to see if this is going to work out differently. And it never does. And so they go to the line shouting the war cry, though, getting all hyped up and talking smack, but they don't have any ability to cash that check.
So let me see where I lost my place here. Where are we at? 21. And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. And David left the things in charge of the keeper of baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. As he talked with him, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before.
And David heard him. All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. That means every single man who was in the military, including Saul, who was supposed to be defending Israel, did not want to fight Goliath. They each and every one of them fled from him. And the men of Israel said, have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel.
And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. That means you don't have to pay taxes anymore. And David said to the men who stood by him, what shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him in the same way. So shall it be done to the man who kills him.
Now Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men and Eliab's anger was kindled against David. And he said, why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart. For you have come down to see the battle. And David said, what have I done now?
Was it not but a word? And he turned away from him toward another and spoke in the same way. And the people answered him again as before. So David shows up and he hears Goliath and immediately is like, who's this cat? Who's this guy that's coming out and defying the armies of Israel, the armies of the living God? So David has an understanding of God's on our team and God's not afraid of nine foot nine guys.
He really isn't. God doesn't even need a shield bearer. He's the guy who helps this dude breathe. So God's not afraid of him. Who is this guy? And he begins to ask, wait, what's going to happen for the person who defeats him?
So David immediately is like, I know how God works. What happens for the guy that steps in? And his older brother hears him. And we don't know much about the story between the relationship with him and his older brother. But I always just thought that was interesting.
His older brother hears him and immediately is like, hey, David, shut up. And David's like, what? I just asked a question. It just seems like brothers to me. It was just like, oh, that's cool. Like I remember when I hang out with my older brother in high school and he would tell me, hey, you can come hang out with my friends.
But here's the deal. You don't talk. And I was like, sweet. I can do that. And he actually helped me develop a sense of humor because I would mumble jokes. And if they were stupid, he would go, huh, like that.
And if they were good, he'd go, hey, say that out loud. And so he helped me practice. And since then, so that happened throughout high school. Since then, I've consistently wished that he was still around for me to run some jokes by. Because every once in a while I'll just pop off with something and be like, dang it, I wish Logan was here. He would have told me not to say that.
Anyway, so anyway, so you get to see this interaction between him and his brother. But verse 31 says this. When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul and he sent for him. So Saul, the king knows David, sends for him. And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
David doesn't even bat an eye. He says, I'll go fight. And Saul said to David, you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him. For you are but a youth. And he has been a man of war from his youth. But David said to Saul, your servant used to keep sheep for his father.
And when there was a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he rose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them. For he has defied the armies of the living God. And David said, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.
And Saul said to David, go and the Lord be with you. It was a convincing conversation. So David shows up and says, I'll fight him. And Saul says, no, you can't. And David says, I killed lions and bears, which is a really intense story. When a lion would come take a lamb from me, I would go hit him and get the lamb back.
And if that ticked him off, I would murder him. That's what David said. Like, if he wanted to leave, cool. Like, I hit him, get the lamb, we cool, we cool, all right. But if he came at me, I'd grab his beard and kill him.
And he's like, Goliath has a beard. He will die. Like, it's just a very intense conversation that he has. And so Saul says, okay. And David basically is saying that I know that God, I'm immortal as long as God is with me. As long as God's fighting on my behalf.
As long as God's working. He saved me from lions and bears. He can save me from a Philistine. Then it says this, and we're going to take a second here because I think this is often at least depicted incorrectly. So it says, then Saul clothed David with his armor.
He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. And David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them. So David put them off.
Okay. Every time I've ever watched a David and Goliath, like story, video, cartoon, every time I've ever watched it, I feel like they get this wrong. I feel like this scenario is played out in a dumb way. And so if you've never watched one, then this won't help you. But for the two people who've watched that and been annoyed by it, this is for you.
So when I watch movies and shows and stuff, I get really annoyed with stuff that doesn't make sense. So any of y'all watch The Walking Dead? Anybody see that show? Okay, just me, some nods. Okay. So in The Walking Dead, there's a guy who uses a crossbow to kill walkers, which is zombies.
Crossbows take forever to reload. And he just runs around being like, pating, pating, pating. And the other thing that annoys me the most, though, about that show is not like the never-ending ammo guns that they have, is how often zombies sneak up on people. It's obnoxious. Because every time they show a zombie in the show, they're dragging their feet and going like this. Unless you're in the woods and not looking at them.
Because they'll be standing in the woods, and I guess the zombies behind them are going like this. And as soon as they turn around, like, I don't know. So I watch shows and stuff, and I get annoyed. And every time I've ever seen this, this is what happens. They have this little runt David guy come in, and Saul's like, here, wear my armor. And puts it on him, and he looks like a dad, like a kid, and his dad's close.
Like, Saul puts this ridiculous armor on him. The helmet slides over his face, and Saul's like, go fight. If Saul wouldn't have done that, that doesn't make any sense. Like, Saul wouldn't have outfitted him with ridiculously oversized armor, and been like, best of luck to you, kid, where the sword's dragging on the ground. Like, it annoys me every time I've ever seen that. Saul was actually trying to help him out.
And he gave him armor. Now, if it was Saul's personal armor, they would have tightened it up and gotten it to where it fit. David doesn't say this doesn't fit me. What he says is, I haven't tested them. I'm not used to this. I feel clunky and uncomfortable.
I'd rather go the way I'm used to going. I'd rather go just the way I've always gone as a shepherd when I fought a bigger lion. So that's all he says. So don't picture that in your head. Like, Saul put this ridiculous armor on him, and he, like, fell over. And Saul was like, good luck.
That's not what happened. He actually tried to outfit him, but David just says, no, this isn't going to help me. So David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hands. So he took his shepherd's tool, and he chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch.
His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. Okay, now this just got crazy because they've got these two armies lined up, and the Philistines every day are lining up, walking out with some swagger as they send Goliath out in front of them to defy the armies of Israel. But this day, something different happens. This day, an unarmed-looking shepherd boy walks out. So the ranks of the Israelites separate, and they're like, something's happening.
Men begin to move out of the way, and then a shepherd boy walks out holding a staff and begins to head down into the valley. And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David with his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. So he's mad that he's young, and David was good-looking, which also ticked Goliath off. He's like, you're young and pretty, and I am mad. And the Philistine said to him, am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?
He can't even see how, like, you're not even worthy to fight me. This is ridiculous. And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the fields. So he said, you want to fight me?
I'll feed you to animals. Then David said to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear.
For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand. When the Philistine arose, the Philistine says, I'm going to feed you to the birds of the field. And David says, I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to feed all your friends to the birds. It's going to go worse. Like, just so you know, as you die, all your friends are going to die too. That's step two.
When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, so he got angry. He's like, all right, we're going to fight. He starts charging forward. David ran quickly towards the battle line to meet the Philistine, and David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him.
There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran over and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistine saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and Judah arose with a shout. This one sounded good. And pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shuram as far as Gath and Ekron.
And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. That took a quick turn for the worst for the Philistines. So just imagine that you're in the Philistines' army. You're in a pretty nice spot. You're really just waiting for the Israelites to make a move.
If they want all of you to join in in killing them, cool. If they'll let just one person die by the hands of Goliath, cool. At the end of the day, though, we're going to take over some territory, and we're going to gain some slaves. Goliath every day, you just line up. Goliath every day walks out and defies them. And we're here if something fishy happens.
And on this day, a shepherd boy comes out. At least something's happening, and this is not going to go well for the Israelites. Your champion Goliath charges forward and falls on his face, dead, before they've even met each other. They hadn't even gotten into a fight. Goliath is dead. David walks over, cuts off his head, holds it up, and everybody on the Philistines scatters, because they were not ready for that to happen.
And the Israelites pour down the valley and up the hill. Thousands of men charge forward with farm tools and begin to destroy the Philistines. Now, here's the way we're told this story. Here's the way, when you hear this story, when you read this story, here's what happens. Here's what we read, see, think about, and the way we seek to understand this story. We're told this.
You're David. And your problems, your struggles are Goliath. That you're David. And the issues that you're facing, that's Goliath. That's the giant that stands and defies you. You're debt.
You're rebellious children. Your relationship and your marriage that's not going well. Your need to be loved and accepted. Your need to have success in the workplace. That's Goliath. And if you'll trust God, if you'll be like David and have courage and faith and know that God is capable of all things, then you can go be victorious over all the Goliaths.
Whatever your Goliath is, whatever your struggle is, whatever your pain is, you get to be David. And as long as you trust God, the giant will fall and you will raise his head victoriously. The problem with that, when we look at this story, what if that's not what happens? What if your first stone misses? What if your second stone misses? What if your giant of debt doesn't fall and they foreclose?
What if your spouse doesn't repent and they pack their stuff and leave? What if you walk out on the battlefield with courage and faith and your kids don't stop rebelling and you don't even know where they are anymore and they won't answer your phone calls? What if you have courage and faith and it doesn't work out? You don't get your grades up. Your abuser doesn't stop. Did we not have enough faith?
I walked out into the battlefield. I said the stuff that David said. Did I not believe it well enough? I knew that God could fix this situation. I've seen him do it other places. Was my faith not good enough?
Did I not muster up enough courage? Because I stepped into the situation. Does God just not listen? Is he just not there? Is this a made up children's story? See the problem with trying to understand the story that way is that that's not how God's story plays out.
That's not the story of the Bible. Jesus doesn't show up and say come to me all you who are courageous and brave. All you who can be victorious. All of you who are willing to step in to the battle to be great. Now Jesus shows up and says come to me all you who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest.
You see in this story we see the Israelites terrified. Outmatched. Outmanned. and unable to fix the situation. And then we see that there's a champion for the Israelites. That a shepherd shows up doesn't look like he'd be able to fix this situation and he marches into the valley on their behalf as their representative and he defeats the giant for them. You see when you line that up with the story of the Bible I have very good news for you.
We're not David. Jesus is our David. Jesus is the one who showed up and slayed the giant on our behalf. He's our champion that goes before us as our representative to face the enemy that we couldn't defeat. You see sin stands in defiance against us. Death laughs in our face and our enemy our accuser Satan mocks us because we have problems we can't fix and we're weak and we're heavy burdened and we're afraid.
And Jesus shows up and says those of you who are weak and those of you who are afraid all you need to do is stand aside as I walk out before you as your champion. See the Israelites moved out of the way David walked down into the valley and he defeated the enemy of Goliath and the victory that he won was applied to them. They got to run behind him victorious and they got to loot the camp. That's us. We get to move out of the way as Jesus doesn't walk into a valley but walks up a hill. David took a staff and a sling Jesus carried a cross.
And Jesus died in our place as our champion to pay for our sin our shortcomings our weakness our failings our fear and then he rose again from the dead victorious. And the victory gets to be applied to us. We just get to run behind him victorious. Do you know what qualified the Israelites to have a champion? Do you know what allowed David to show up and win on their behalf? Weakness frailty fear It's the same for us.
When we see our sin when we see things that we can't overcome when we're faced with obstacles that look like giants to us when we have sin and death staring us in the face it's not muster up the courage to weigh into the battle. It's not go face everything and you automatically win. It's be weak and move out of the way as Jesus steps in who is strong and is a champion on our behalf. Matt, Megan and Raz are going to come back up and we're going to sing together and here's what I know some of us in this room feel like and maybe have even been told this by the church you feel like you're in a room with a bunch of people who are here because we're courageous because we get it right because we're moral because we have it together.
That's not what the church is. That's not the call that Jesus makes. See, we have a champion in Jesus because we're weak and we fall short and we fail because we haven't kept it together we weren't brave enough and we couldn't defeat the giant. That's why we're here. So I have very good news for every person in this room this morning.
Some of you are tired. Some of you are worn out. And the call from Jesus is not keep it together be brave enough. The call from Jesus isn't plan ahead be prepared make good decisions show up and you'll win. The call from Jesus is I already stepped in in one for you. The greatest battle you'll ever face has already been handed to you as a victory.
That's what we have in Jesus. Some of you are tired. Some of you are afraid. Some of you feel absolutely weak to face all that you're facing. You're qualified for a champion. that's all that makes it capable for us to move out of the way and let Jesus show up. And here's what we know.
Stuff doesn't always work out in our favor. Sometimes the quote unquote giants in life beat us. But what we do know is that we do have a champion who has already rescued and redeemed us and made us right with the God of the universe. by paying for our sin. And that nothing and no one can take that away. And that we are right where God wants us as he holds us in his hand as he's rescued us through Jesus. So everyone today gets to come to Jesus who are weak and heavy laden.
Who are burdened and afraid. We get to come to Jesus who's our champion who's gone before us and we get to rest. You get to charge out in a victory that's already been won. So we're going to stand up and we're going to make much of Jesus as we sing. And I invite you if you've never talked to Jesus about following him and allowing him to be your champion and your victor in your place. Do that.
I'm going to pray. God, I thank you that I don't have to be David. I thank you that I don't that the call of the Bible isn't be courageous be bold and you'll win. But that you've called us to step aside and to trust the champion that goes before us. That we like the Israelites don't put our faith in ourselves but we put our faith in the champion the shepherd who's already gone out. God, I pray through your Holy Spirit you'd help us to see that and to feel that today.
We love you. In Jesus' name, Amen. Y'all stay and listen.
Joseph
Transcript
Hey everyone. It's good to see you this morning. My name is Raz. And if you're here for the first time, you've come in at the midway point of a five-week series called Bible Stories. And in this series, we're looking at a bunch of Old Testament stories that everyone's at least vaguely familiar with. And we're zooming out and we're looking at the big picture of the whole Bible and what God's story says about those stories in the Old Testament.
Now, it might be your first time hearing this. If you haven't been with us so far in this series, it might be your first time hearing this. And I'm sorry that I might be the one to break your heart first thing on a Sunday morning. But the Bible was not written about you. I know that it's very easy to want to see ourselves in the Bible. It's very easy to want to picture ourselves as the hero of many stories.
But the Bible isn't about you. The Bible isn't about me. And I think I would be a great main character. But I'm not. And Jesus, luckily, is the main character of the Bible. And if anyone's going to be a better character than me, it may as well be Jesus.
Today, we're going to be looking at the Old Testament story of Joseph. The story is 13 chapters long. It cripples my soul. I'm a perfectionist. And it cripples my soul that we're going to have to skip bits. And it pains me to skip bits.
I love to dig into every individual word to find out what that word means in its context. But we're going to have to skip chapters at a time. We're going to have to summarize chapters. We're going to have to read just certain specific points. But we've got to power through because it's a 13-chapter-long story.
And we're going to cover it all today. So be aware that there's going to be summarized chunks. We're going to be skipping chunks. If you have one of these little timeline aid things that Chet was talking about earlier, if you don't, you can just feel free to go walk and get one now. There's a bunch of them up the back. Like, Joseph is kind of near the top.
Joseph is still in Genesis. And last week we looked at Noah. Noah's right up there under Adam. Joseph is 13 generations after Noah. So we don't know exactly how much time that was, but we know it was 13 generations.
And the biggest, most important thing that's happened between last week and this week, between Noah and between Joseph, is Abraham. Abraham made a covenant with God. You can read about it in Genesis 12 and Genesis 15. God promised Abraham three major things. He promised him he would have a big family, that his family would outnumber the stars. And that was a big promise given that Abraham was super old and had no kids at the time.
He promised the promised land to Abraham, which we know of as kind of the Israel area. And he promised that God's blessing would flow through his family to the nations. And as we look at the story of Joseph today, we're going to see a little bit of that blessing as it kind of sinks down through his family. Before we jump into the story of Joseph, I'm going to pray for us and then we can open up to Genesis 37. Let's pray.
Father God, we thank you that you have a great main character of your story and that we get to learn about him week to week in our community groups and on Sundays as we gather together. We pray in thanks that you love us enough to send a savior in the form of your son. And we pray that you can teach him, teach us about him today. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
Now, this first bit of the story is probably the most familiar. We're going to be looking at Genesis 37 to begin with. And this is, for you musical fans, the section where the whole Joseph and the Technicolor dreamcoat kind of kicks in. It doesn't stick around for very long, though, as we'll learn. We're going to start in 37 verse 2. It's on page 20 if you've got one of these Bibles.
If you don't own a Bible for yourself, these Bibles are kind of scattered around the place. You're free to take one of these. We want you to have a Bible. So if you don't own one, just grab one of these and go home with it. We won't mind. We're going to start in verse 2.
It says, These are the generations of Jacob. Jacob is Joseph's father, and he also has the name Israel. So in a moment, he's going to turn up and he's going to be called Israel. It's the same guy. It's Joseph's dad. Joseph, being 17 years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers.
He was a boy with the sons of Bilhar and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Okay, so we've got a weird family already. There's multiple wives. Joseph has 10 older brothers, and they're spread across all the different wives. And Joseph, our boy, brings a bad report of them to their father.
He is a tattletale. He's got 10 older brothers, and he rats them out to their dad. He's not starting well. Verse 3. Now Israel, that's his dad.
That's Jacob. Same guy. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made for him a robe of many colors, also known as a technicolor dreamcoat. But when his brothers saw that his father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.
So we've got a frustrating family. A family that most of us would not want to be a part of. There's actually four wives, four mothers. That would be tough. He picks favorite sons and gives them gifts that the other sons don't get. And the sons hate him for it.
This sibling rivalry playing a part. Joseph doesn't help his cause by being a tattletale. Kind of shoots himself in the foot there. He's probably not the most popular kid around, and we're going to read just now about how he makes his problem worse. Verse 5. Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more.
Good Job, Joseph. He said to them, Hear this dream that I have dreamed. Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field. And behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around my sheaf and bowed themselves down to my sheaf. His brothers said to him, Are you indeed to reign over us?
Or are you indeed to rule over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Nice one, Joseph. Crushing it, playing the younger brother card, and telling your brothers that they're all going to bow down to you, metaphorically from a dream. Killing it, Joseph. You're working yourself up.
It's just kind of sad to see him dig a hole that he's already dug even deeper. Now, Joseph, he has a second dream after this. We're not going to read about it. He does have a second dream. And the second dream is similar to the first one, except he dreams that the sun and the moon and 11 stars all bow down to him. And then he doesn't tell it just to his brothers.
He tells it to his whole family, including his moms and dad. And they complain to him. And they say, So what? You think that our entire family is going to bow down to you? And they rebuke him, tell him to can it, and to sit in his hole and be quiet. Now, time passes, and the ten older brothers are out.
They're shepherds. They're pasturing the flock. That means that they're out sending the sheep out and looking after them out in the wilderness or whatever. They're not necessarily close to home. They didn't really have fields like we do. And so they're out shepherding the flock, pasturing the flock.
And Jacob, which is the dad, sends Joseph out to check on his brothers, to see that they're doing okay, to bring back a report, let him know if everything's going okay. We're going to pick this up in verse 17. It's at the top of page 21. In these Bibles, anyway. It says, So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him from afar.
And before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him. And we will see what will become of his dreams. But when Reuben heard it, Reuben is his eldest brother, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, Let us not take his life.
And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit here in the wilderness. But do not lay a hand on him. That he, that's Reuben, might rescue him, that's Joseph, out of their hand to restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the Technicolor dream coat, the robe of many colors that he wore, and they took him and threw him in a pit.
The pit was empty. There was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat, and looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, myrrh, and they were on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him. For he is our brother, our own flesh.
And his brothers listened to him. Then Midianite trainers, Midianite traders passed by, and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. Joseph's brothers, his family, hated him so much they were ready to kill him. But as soon as the opportunity arose, they decided they weren't going to kill him.
Instead, it would be better to make money off of him instead. And so they sold him to be a slave in a faraway country. This is sibling rivalry to the absolute extreme. Joseph is stabbed in the back, square in the back, by his brothers, his older brothers, ten of them. The guys who are supposed to love him the most are the ones who betrayed him. Can you imagine what it feels like to sit in the bottom of a pit after your brothers have just beaten you and thrown you there and overhear their conversation about how and when they're going to kill you?
And then they pull you up out of the pit and decide not to kill you, and you're relieved. And then you're heartbroken again when they tell you you're going to be sold as a slave and sent to Egypt. Well, the brothers, they've committed this crime. They've committed this sin against Joseph. But they've got to do something about it to cover it up.
Joseph is the favorite child. Jacob is not going to be happy about his disappearance. So they take his coat, they take the coat of many colors, and they cover it in animals' blood. And they take that home to Jacob and they say, look, Joseph has been killed by a wild animal. And they convince their dad that Joseph is now dead. So they hate their brother, they betray him, they sell him as a slave, and they cover up what they've done by convincing their dad that he's dead.
And we're going to pick the story up with Joseph. He's now in Egypt. And we're going to skip to chapter 39. It's at the bottom of page 21 in these Bibles. He's now in Egypt, and he's been sold to a guy called Potiphar. Verse 1 says, Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had brought him from the Ishmaelites, who had brought him down there.
The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. Okay, that's important. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, even though he was a slave. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became successful. Now, Joseph, as a successful slave, impresses his master, Potiphar, and we're going to pick it up at verse 5. It says, From that time he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had.
The Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field, and he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, because, and because of him, he had no concern about anything but the food he ate, which is kind of interesting. You elevate this guy, who was a slave, and you say, You can control everything over my house, but you better not tell me what to eat. I'm going to eat candy for breakfast, and you cannot stop me, Joseph. That's what he says. Now, the plot kind of thickens.
It gets a little weird. Potiphar has an interesting wife. We don't learn her name, but she plays a pretty significant part of the story. In our society, we've kind of got a crass name for ladies like this. Cougar. Potiphar's wife is an incredibly blunt one at that.
Read on. It says, Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. He's 17. And after a time, his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, Lie with me. Subtle, right? But he refused and said to his master's wife, Behold, because of me, my master has no concern of anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge.
He is not greater than I am in his house, nor has he kept back anything from me except you because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her or lie beside her or be with her. Joseph is turning out to be an incredibly awesome dude. He's standing up under tough circumstances and sexual temptation, and it's possible that Potiphar's wife was hideous and that would be a good reason to reject her, but probably not. Potiphar was a rich guy.
He was influential. He had Pharaoh's ear. He probably had a cute wife. He was probably able to substitute her out for a younger model whenever he kind of got bored. What we see here in Joseph is actually that he's standing up righteously under really tough circumstances. Joseph's motivation might seem pure, and it is, and we read on.
Verse 11, But one day when he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house were in the house, she, that's Potiphar's wife, caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me. But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. So the cougar sets up a trap and pounces, and then Joseph bails immediately. But he leaves his coat behind. And this is a side note. This isn't important.
Joseph is the only guy in the Bible to lose two coats. Do not lend coats to Joseph. It's not important, but I noticed it, so I thought I'd tell you. Well, Potiphar's wife, she doesn't like getting rejected. She doesn't handle rejection well, and she actually accuses Joseph to her husband of sexually attacking her. And she's got his jacket, so she shows him his jacket as evidence.
And so she accuses Joseph of sexually attacking her. And so Joseph gets thrown into prison as a result. So we're going to read from verse 20. And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was there in prison. Now, that's got to suck.
Because Joseph didn't do anything wrong. In fact, Joseph did everything right, and not just to impress Potiphar, but he actually did it for the right reasons because he feared God. Now Joseph finds himself in jail for not committing adultery. It doesn't make any sense. Can you imagine how it feels at that point in time to be Joseph? Betrayed by your brothers and sold as a slave.
Finally, things look up and you're elevated to a reasonable status in that house. And then you get accused of something you haven't done when in fact you've done the right thing by your master and by God and you end up in jail. Verse 21. But the Lord was with Joseph, and he showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it.
The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed. When anyone else would be swimming in their well of bitterness, Joseph finds success. He seems like a trustworthy dude. He finds himself in prison, and even as a prisoner, the prison guards put him in charge of all the other prisoners because the Lord is with him. He's a prisoner with integrity, and especially for one who ought to be a bowl of tears, who is crying and whining because life has it out for him. Now this next little section, it all happens in chapter 40.
I encourage you to read it. I'm going to summarize it for us because it's a little bit wordy. Two guys end up coming to prison with Joseph. Joseph's in charge of the prison. Like, he's still a prisoner, but he's in charge of everything that happens in there. And two guys get thrown into prison.
One of them is the cupbearer to Pharaoh. A cupbearer's an important Job. He makes sure the Pharaoh doesn't get poisoned. And the other guy's a baker for Pharaoh. So the cupbearer and the baker get thrown into jail with Joseph.
And they start having some weird dreams. They're having funky dreams, and they don't understand them. They don't know what it means for their lives. And Joseph, who's in charge, notices that they're distressed. And so he goes up to them and asks them, and they say, we're having these dreams. We need someone to explain them to us.
And Joseph says, all right, I can explain them to you. So the first guy, the cupbearer, says, I've been having this weird dream. Tell me all what it means. And Joseph says, actually, the interpretation of your dream is positive. We really, this is good news. You, you're going to be reinstated as the cupbearer to the king.
And the cupbearer is stoked. He, he gets to go back to his job. He gets to go back to being in Pharaoh's good books, and he doesn't have to be in jail anymore. And Joseph says, hey, make sure when you get out there and you have Pharaoh's ear again, remember, remember what I've done for you. Remember me. I'm kind of wasting away here in jail.
Don't forget me. And then he turns to the other guy, and the other guy, the baker, tells him his dream. And, and things get awkward pretty quick. The baker tells him his dream, and, and Joseph suddenly starts like, loosening his collar, standing out of the sun, and says, hey, bro, I've got some bad news for you. Just as the other guy was elevated back to his position, your head is going to be elevated from your shoulders. And for some reason, he tries to make a weird, poetic kind of illustration of that to be a graceful way to tell the other guy that he's going to have his head chopped off.
Nice, Joseph crushing it again. He, he tells the other guy that he's going to, that he's going to be executed in three days. And lo and behold, everything that he predicts in three days times happened. The cup bearer gets elevated back to his status, and the baker gets killed. And then we read in the very last verse of that chapter, 40 verse 23, it says, yet the chief cup bearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. And it really begins to start feeling like Joseph is life's punching bag.
Because he does everything right all the time and gets the tough end of the stick. He's following his dad's instructions, gets sold as a slave by his brothers. He follows Potiphar's instructions righteously and chooses not to commit adultery with his wife and gets thrown in prison. And he does right by these two guys and explains everything correctly to these two guys and then he gets forgotten. Even though he said, don't forget me. Two years go by.
Joseph has been in jail for two years. And the pharaoh himself, the ruler over all of Egypt, he starts having weird dreams. And you would think the cup bearer who's right next to him would be like, hey, I know a guy, but he doesn't. The pharaoh calls all of the wise men of Egypt, he calls all of the magicians in Egypt, anyone who might be able to tell him about his dreams and calls them all into himself and he says, guys, tell me what these dreams are all about. And they all say, we don't know. And then at that point in time when Pharaoh's losing his mind, his cup bearer says, oh, yeah, there's this guy that I promised him I wouldn't forget about him.
It was a couple years ago. Pharaoh, he's chilling in the jail. Maybe he can help you out. His name's Joseph. And so Pharaoh says, all right, give him a chance, brings Joseph up and Joseph comes before the pharaoh himself. Pharaoh explains his dreams to him and Joseph says, I can tell you what they mean.
He says, you're going to have seven good years. Seven years of plenty is what he says. And in the seven good years, you're going to have lots of crops, going to have lots of water, going to have all your animals and cattle and livestock are going to do really well. Seven really good years. And then, after the seven good years, throughout all the land is going to be seven bad years. Seven years of famine is what they say.
So there's going to be no crops, no animals, no water. There's going to be seven bad years. And what you need to do, Pharaoh, this is what Joseph said, what you need to do is put someone good and wise and knowledgeable in charge during the seven good years so that they can store up food and they can prepare for the seven bad years that are going to come later. You need to be prepared for that, otherwise everyone's going to die. And Pharaoh says to Joseph, this is chapter 41, verse 39. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has shown you all of this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are.
You shall be over my house and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. So Joseph has gone from favored child to slave to ruler over Potiphar's house to prisoner to ruler over prison and now he is set second in charge over all of Egypt. It's a bit of a rollercoaster of a story but it's actually only now that the story gets super interesting. We're going to sum to summarize the next couple of chapters actually.
The next couple of chapters tell the story of Joseph's family. They're back in Israel. They're back in Canaan, kind of the area on the eastern bank of the Mediterranean and they've run into this seven years of famine. No one was prepared for it. They just had seven good years and then suddenly famine hits and no one was prepared. So his family, which is quite big at this stage, Jacob is still alive.
He's the father. There's about 70 descendants in the family. So his kids have had kids, have had kids and there's 70 people in total and he's trying to look out for his family and he's trying to buy food off his neighbors but no one in the area has got food and they hear that Egypt has some food. So Jacob sends the ten older brothers of Joseph down to Egypt in search of food. And then they come down to Egypt and Joseph is in charge. And so they come before Joseph himself to beg for the right to be able to buy food.
They beg Joseph for the privilege to buy food from him because Egypt is the only place that was prepared. They walk into a room with the younger brother they betrayed years ago and they don't even recognize him. They have no idea that he's the one standing in front of them. He's a whole lot older. He's probably decked out like an Egyptian. They sold him as a slave.
They think he's either dead or serving some master in a house somewhere. And they don't even recognize that this man in front of them this powerful man who has the ability to let them die or give them food they don't recognize that's their little brother that they betrayed. But Joseph recognizes them. Joseph was never going to forget his older brothers. The ones who betrayed him and sold him as a slave. How could he forget them?
I can only imagine what would be going through my head if I was Joseph at that time. Revenge. Look at these guys. They've come in and they're bowing before me just as I had predicted. They're weak. You're weak and you're pathetic.
I should crush you. I should do back to you what you have done to me. You have made my life miserable and here's my chance to pay you back. Now I'm strong. Now I have power.
You're weak and you're pathetic. I should crush you. I should do back to you what you have done to me. You have made my life miserable and here's my chance to pay you back. Now I'm strong. Now I have power. Now I have influence and I can do whatever I want to you and I can repay all the evil that you did to me. And we read we read about Joseph and the situation that he's found him in this bizarre tone of events where he can now crush his brothers
And we're cheering for him saying get him Joseph get him lay into him get him back they betrayed you man they stabbed you in the back kill him and then he he doesn't at exactly the point in time when you would expect Joseph to repay evil for evil he chooses not to and in fact he has nothing but forgiveness and mercy and compassion
For them he sends them back to get their whole family bring the whole family down to Egypt where he can set them up for life he hooks them up he not only forgives them he sets them up so they can have the good life from there on out we're going to skip a couple chapters we're now in chapter 47 starting at verse 11 it says this is now on page 27 in these Bibles it says then Joseph
Settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt in the best of the land in the land of Ramesses as Pharaoh had commanded and Joseph provided his father his brothers and all his father's household with food according to the number of his descendants Joseph had the power he had the authority and he would have been completely justified in that moment in punishing his brothers for what they'd done to him and yet instead
He does everything that he can to look after them now soon Jacob that's the father of the whole clan Jacob that's Joseph's dad he dies and with the death of the dad suddenly all the brothers get this renewed sense of paranoia they know that Joseph was Jacob's favorite child and so Jacob loved Joseph Joseph loved Jacob back and with the death of the father
They get this renewed sense that suddenly Joseph's going to change his mind and want to punish everyone and so they send him a letter the letter's not truthful but they send him a letter and we're going to skip to the end of chapter 50 this is now on page 29 this is right at the end of Genesis in verse 15 it says when Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead they said it may be that Joseph will hate us
And pay us back for all the evil that we did to him so they sent a message to Joseph saying your father gave this command before he died say to Joseph please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sins because they did evil to you and now please forgive the transgressions of the servants of the God of your father so they admit that they had done a whole lot of evil
To him and they expected it to be paid back Joseph wept when they spoke to him his brothers also came and fell down before him and said behold we are your servants but Joseph said to them do not fear for am I in the place of God as for you you meant evil against me but God meant it for good
To bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today so do not fear I will provide for you and your little ones and thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them now Joseph Joseph has perspective Joseph has righteous perspective and what I mean by that is that Joseph is able even in the midst of everything that's happened to zoom out
And see the entire story for what it is he sees the bigger picture and we get caught up in the details we get caught up in the pain and the hurt and the betrayal and we want we want to be justified in him taking that out on them we want justice in that and Joseph sees the bigger picture because he has perspective we would completely expect Joseph
To want to repay that evil that's our mentality we have this mentality of an eye for an eye and that's justice and yet Joseph has this higher perspective the bigger picture and he says you meant evil against me but God meant it for good it doesn't matter to Joseph that his brothers sold him as a slave because he realizes that that had to happen for him to end up in Egypt and he realizes
That once he gets to Egypt he had to rise to power and then end up in jail so that he could meet the king's cupbearer and he had to meet the king's cupbearer so that someone could tell Pharaoh that Joseph knows how to interpret dreams so that when Pharaoh has bad dreams Joseph gets to meet Pharaoh and he had to meet Pharaoh so that he could become second in charge of all of Egypt so that he could save everyone he doesn't get caught up
On the little details he sees that everything happened so that he could come to power in Egypt and keep everyone alive and this idea of perspective zooming out and seeing the bigger picture that's kind of our goal in this entire Bible stories series we want to zoom out from each individual story and see it in the grand scheme of God's story because the Bible is God's story and each one fits into it and so if we look at this story
With perspective it changes the picture see we're tempted at every stage in the story to want to be the hero we want to be we want to be like Joseph we want to stand up under sexual temptation even though that's not a reality for us we want to we want to be patient in affliction like Romans 12 says and yet that's not at all us we want to be merciful we want to have forgiveness we want to do all of these things
That we see in Joseph but it doesn't really reflect us at all and that's because that's not at all what's going on in this story if you think about it with some perspective if you zoom out like we've been talking about you see the bigger picture Joseph he suffered at the hands of those who were supposed to love him so that he could eventually save those people
Who betrayed him Joseph was able and justified in administering punishment to those people and instead shows mercy and kindness and grace to them Joseph was condemned but God required that for good and while we want to see ourselves as Joseph we want to see ourselves
In this story it doesn't sound a whole lot like us instead it sounds a whole lot more like Jesus but we still want to play a part in stories even though we shouldn't force our way into stories we still want to play a part but if we see it with this perspective if we
See it in this bigger picture we kind of play a role in the story if anyone in that story is us it's the brothers the ones who betrayed the guy who's ultimately going to save them that's us and it's it's sad it's not fun
To think about but we're we're Joseph's older brothers we betray the guy who saves us but chapter 50 verse 20 it's a game changer it's going to come up here it says as for you you meant evil against me but God meant it for good
To bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today is there a clearer picture of the gospel than that but Joseph and this whole story is just one little man in a little region thousands and thousands
Of years ago who saves his family it's kind of a small story on the grand scheme of God's story what Jesus does for us is infinitely bigger than the story of Joseph as Joseph's brothers meant evil against
Joseph mankind as a whole meant evil against Christ to our very bones we are rebellious we consistently place our own desires our own wants and our own thoughts above that of
God and we betray him day after day after day it was mankind that crucified Jesus it was under mankind's hand that Jesus suffered unrighteously unjustly sorry not
Unrighteously and and yet God uses all of that evil that mankind did to Christ so that he could eventually die on the cross to save mankind the evil that mankind did to Christ had to happen so that
God could save everyone to bring about the many people should be kept alive that's how God's sovereignty works that's what God's plans do they happen the way that he means them
To happen and sometimes in the case of Joseph and in the case of Jesus and in the case of many others suffering has to happen for them to get from A to B suffering is the way that God gets them from Canaan to Egypt to slavery to ruling over everyone so that they
Can save everyone else's lives Joseph he he mercifully rescued his own family from starving and Jesus is completely different he's completely bigger Jesus rescues all of humanity from the consequences of their own
Sin eternal death Matt's going to make his way back up here and as we kind of land the plane there's any number of beautiful responses that we can have to a story like this
This story is a massive picture of the gospel and we can respond in many ways but I want us to zoom out and see the bigger picture I want us
To respond in light of God's plan for all of salvation you see I think we're so exposed to the idea that we are
Sinful and that God forgives us and that Jesus paid for our sin on the cross we're so exposed to that it kind of
Just washes over us in a way where it doesn't hurt anymore we don't feel the pain we don't feel the betrayal we don't
Feel the agony of it and yet we read a story like Joseph's and suddenly it's a human character it's not God anymore it's
A human and we can relate to how it feels to be betrayed we relate to how it feels to be punished when you
Don't deserve it and then we suddenly understand how crazy it is to receive mercy we understand how crazy it is to receive mercy from the
Person that you betrayed most and yet we zoom out and we realize that our situation before God is immeasurably worse than the brothers
Before Joseph we've separated ourselves from God and creator who made us to live in perfect relationship with him and we sin against him
Daily and yet he offers the same mercy to us our sin and our betrayal is immeasurably worse and his mercy and love is
Immeasurably greater and so when Joseph's brothers are given blessing and freedom even when they don't deserve it how much greater is the blessing
And freedom that we receive even though we don't deserve it how much more blessed are you in light of knowing Jesus mercy know
That he has every right just as Joseph did to punish you for your sin every right to punish me for my sin every
Right to punish all of mankind for sin yet he chooses not to instead he chooses to free you from your guilt to free
You from all that you are struggling with in life there's no more pain there's no more burden and there's no more guilt because
Of the mercy that he's shown you and you get to live a life that is set up for success you get to live
A life as he plans as you respond to him the same offer that Joseph gives to his brothers Jesus gives to us and
I pray that we can accept his offer let's pray father God we know that we know that you are powerful beyond measure and that we've sinned
Against you we pray we pray we pray that we can live according to your will for our lives we pray in thanks that
You show mercy to us when we don't deserve it we pray we repent of our sin and we pray that you will continue to bless
Us in this life so that we can become more and more like Christ who pours himself out for us so that we can
Live and so that we can live the good life we praise you we thank you and we love you amen