The Supreme Court of Self
Transcript
Well, good morning. Grab your Bibles, go to Matthew chapter 26. That's where we'll be this morning. We're in our second week of our scandal series where we're looking at some of the things that happened to Jesus leading up to him going to the cross. So we're coming up on Easter and on Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, that he was crucified, dead and buried and that he rose again to life.
And so we're celebrating that as we come up. And what we're doing is we're just spending some time looking at the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus and how people treated Jesus. And then we're kind of as we look at that, seeing how we can see ourselves a little bit in that, even though maybe we don't want to. And what we're going to see today is actually one of the more appalling pictures, when we actually realize what's taking place, one of the more appalling pictures that we ever will see in Scripture. One of the most horrific events that ever took place in the history of humankind.
And so we're just going to spend some time looking at that today. I'm going to pray and then we're going to hop in. God, I pray that you would open up our hearts to hear your word, to submit to you, to understand more fully what you have accomplished for us and how much you absolutely love us through Jesus. And so we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. So Matthew chapter 26, we're going to be, it'll be on page 540 if your Bible is one of the blue and white ones on the row.
If you don't own a Bible, this is our gift to you. Take it with you. If you want a nicer Bible, wait until someone's not looking. Maybe grab their leather one. Do what you got to do. We're going to be starting in page 57.
Page 57, sorry. Verse 57. Page 540. It says, here's what we're picking up before we jump in. Sorry. Here's what we're picking up.
Last week we looked at where Judas betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. And so what we're going to be looking at today is they have come to get Jesus in the garden. It was nighttime. Judas leads a group of armed, basically says a cohort, which was like a large group of the soldiers who were part of the temple. So the Jewish temple had their own temple guard, so he leads them to arrest Jesus out in the woods.
He has to kind of help them see which one is Jesus. They would not have had like wanted posters of Jesus up. They would not have seen Jesus very often. He came around Jerusalem a couple of times. Some people may have seen him more often, but it wouldn't have been you necessarily just immediately recognized who he was when he was walking around. So it's dark.
Judas has to be the one to say, this is the one you want. This is actually Jesus. Help him identify him in the dark. He walks up, kisses him. Jesus says, you're going to betray me with a kiss. They arrest Jesus.
Jesus says, you came out here in the woods to get me at night. I've been walking around with you daily in the temple. And he's just kind of pointing out how secretive they're being about this, how much of an underhanded thing they're doing. And then they take him to a trial where the Jewish leaders have already gathered prepared to indict and convict Jesus. So that's what we're going to pick up.
Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. All right. So let me give you a picture of who this is. Caiaphas, the high priest and the scribes and the elders. In Judaism, they had the temple. And everything in their relationship to God kind of revolved around temple worship.
And in the temple, they had areas where Gentiles could be, non-Jewish born people could be. Then they had areas where you had to be Jewish. Then you had to be a priest. And then you had to eventually went all the way up to the Holy of Holies, which is where the presence of God was around the Ark of the Covenant. And only one person was allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies and only once a year. And only after he was wearing the appropriate clothes and had had the appropriate sacrifices done on his behalf.
And that was Caiaphas, the high priest. He is the person in Judaism who is supposed to be the absolute closest to God to the point that he actually enters into his presence once a year into the Holy of Holies. And the Holy of Holies was such a big deal that they had to tie a rope around themselves before they went in. Because if they hadn't done the sacrifices right, if they weren't wearing the right stuff, or even if they just their heart wasn't right. They had like a bad attitude when they went in. There was a chance God would just kill them.
So that's an intense moment if you're the high priest. You're like, okay, one time of year is a great honor, but let's go ahead and tie that rope around me. The reason they tied a rope was, if he goes in and God kills him, I ain't going in after him. They're like, in a way, I think he's dead, go get him. You lost your mind, you want paper, rock, scissors for this thing. This ain't happening.
And so they tied a rope to him so that after a while it's like, look, you've been in there too long. We're going to give it a tug. If you don't tug back, we're going to drag you on out. And then we're going to have, I guess, draw straws to see who has to be the next high priest. Like, we've got to figure this out because it didn't go well for you. So this is him, though.
Caiaphas the high priest is a big deal. And then it says the elders and the scribes are the people. So this is, in Judaism, in this time of history, in Israel at this time, we don't really have an equivalent for who this group of people is. It is kind of like if the Pope and the Supreme Court and the people you look to for just general practical life wisdom. So Dave Ramsey and Dr.
Phil, Dr. Martin Luther King in there. Like, that's who this group is. This is Stephen Hawking. Like, it's the people you look to for tell me how the world works in Judaism. This is the group, Caiaphas and the elders.
And they're going to have a trial in the middle of the night, early morning, of Jesus. But these were the people that you respected and you revered and you listened to and you cited in your term paper. Like, this was the little, Caiaphas says this. And it was like, oh, good point then. Like, that's how, this is a big deal. They have many leather-bound books.
Sorry. Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas and the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. And Peter was following him in a distance. Peter's one of his disciples. As far as the courtyard of the high priest. And going inside, he sat with the guards to see the end.
Now, the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death. But they found none. One, though many false witnesses came forward, at last two came forward and said, this man said, I'm able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days. Okay. Picture this for just a minute. They've captured Jesus in the middle of the night.
They brought him to the high priest's palace. It's a palace. It's nice. It's going to be kind of dark, though. It's, you know, they've got torches lit. They know, we know there's a fire outside.
One of the other gospels tells us is Peter's sitting around a fire. So they've got a fire lit. They've got some of the council. I don't know if it's the entire Sanhedrin was called for this. But some of them, at least enough to hold a trial, prepared, gathered, prepared, seeking for a way to kill Jesus.
Now, with the Sanhedrin, we know that some of them, some of the elders actually liked Jesus, were sympathetic to him, had built some form of a relationship with him. We learned that through some of the other stories. But they were a very small minority. There's another group that actually genuinely would be seeking what God wanted them to do. In a wholehearted but incorrect way, would be seeking what was God's will. And then there were some of those that were really just defending their position, just defending their corner of, their little corner of glory that they've kind of mapped out for themselves, the amount of people that loved them and revered them, because so many people had started to love Jesus and revere him and listen to him.
And Jesus, on a consistent basis, called the scribes and the Pharisees and the elders of the people. He just called them out on their made-up junk, really. And so they're actually just seeking the killing. But they've got to make the trial look legit. And so they have people giving testimony. And they've got to have two witnesses give the same testimony.
And that testimony has to be enough for them to kill Jesus. So they've got people that they've coming in to give false testimony, but they still can't even, under some cross-examination, make that make any sense or be enough to kill Jesus. And finally, these two guys say, Jesus said he'll destroy the temple. Now, I don't know enough to know whether or not that was a capital offense, like whether or not just saying you were going to destroy the temple meant they were going to kill you. I'm sure it made people not like you that much. But we get to this moment where these two people say, this man said, this is verse 61, I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.
62, And the high priest stood up. So Caiaphas stands and says, Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? So it seems to me, now maybe Caiaphas said this in a really calm way. Maybe he stood up and said, Have you no answer to make? It seems to me, though, this trial's dragged on for a while.
Jesus has responded to none of the accusations. He's just stood there, which is baffling. He's making no defense whatsoever. People would accuse him of false accusations. Jesus would listen to him, and then he probably would just turn and look at the council. And they're expecting him to defend himself, but he's not.
So finally, I think out of frustration, Caiaphas stands up and says, Aren't you going to say anything? Aren't you going to try to defend yourself? And then Caiaphas kind of takes over at this point and says this. But Jesus remained silent, and the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God. Adjure means like compel. This is kind of like a swear on the Bible kind of moment.
I adjure you by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. So the Christ was the Messiah, the promised one who was going to come. So these elders and the high priest had spent their life studying the Torah and studying the prophets and studying the writings. And they were looking for the Messiah to come. And so then they've got Jesus here who's posing as or pretending to be the Messiah because he definitely doesn't fall into the category of what they were looking for.
And they say, Tell us if you're the Messiah. I adjure you by the living God. Now don't miss this. Do you see the lunacy of what just happened? He looks at the living God and says, I adjure you by the living God. By your Father, by you, who in eternity past have existed trinitarily with one another in the Holy Spirit.
I adjure you by your Father, by you by the Holy Spirit. I adjure you by you who thousands of years ago bent down and out of the mud and the dirt molded a man and blew life into him. Spoke life into existence. Spoke the cosmos and the universe into existence. I adjure you by you who led the Israelites out of Egypt. Who gave the law to Moses.
Who through your Holy Spirit led them to write all the writings I've studied. Who promised over and over again that you would come. I adjure you by you. Now, if we're Peter and we're looking at this situation, it's frightening. We see Jesus who we love. A carpenter, a builder, construction worker for most of his life who's been doing miraculous things and has had some power and has had some teaching for the past couple of years.
We see him standing before the Supreme Court. The people that everyone holds as the leaders. We see him standing before them, powerless. Remaining silent in this situation. Wondering why he doesn't defend himself and knowing that we have no way to hell. We see him before Caiaphas.
One of the most powerful people in this moment, in this area. It's frightening. But if we could just for a second see what the angels could see, what we would see is actually terrifying. Because we'd see pompous, frail, short lifespan, weak, little, arrogant, dirt people who God formed from dirt and when they die will return to dirt and that God says their life before him is but wisps of smoke. They're like the flower on grass that's here and withers before him. And then we would see the ruling, reigning king of the universe in splendor and glory.
And it would be terrifying to be able to actually see what was taking place here where men, men propose to judge God. To condemn him. To question him. They believe they have some level of superiority over him. If we could see what the angels saw, it would, it's so idiotic as to almost be comical if it wasn't so absolutely terrifying that men would think that they could judge God if we could see what was really happening here. And so here's what, here's what Jesus says in this moment where Caiaphas stands up and says, the guy who's supposed to be closest to God stands up and says, I adjure you by God.
Are you the Christ? Are you the Messiah? Are you the one who was promised throughout all these texts? Are you the one who was to come? Are you the son of God? Are you the most important human who's ever going to walk on the face of the planet?
Is that you? 64. Jesus said to him, you have said so. This is the same response he gave to Judas which basically means you called it, you guessed it, you said it. You would have understood to be in the affirmative even if it's a little bit cryptic. But then he follows it up.
You have said so, but I tell you from now on you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his robes and said, he has uttered blasphemy. What further witness do you need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? And they answered, that's the whole counsel, he deserves death.
Then they spit in his face and struck him and some slapped him. Okay, so here's what just happened. Caiaphas finally, after there's no testimony, that comes up that automatically proves that Jesus needs to be destroyed, they haven't found enough people to say terrible things about Jesus, it's not going well, Caiaphas stands up and says, I adjure you by the living God, are you the Christ, are you the son of God? And Jesus responds, you have said so, but I tell you, from now on you'll see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Jesus answers him honestly and actually gives him some very helpful information, which we're going to talk about in just a second.
But he answers him honestly and Caiaphas grabs his clothes and just tears his robes and says, you've heard him! You've heard him utter blasphemy! What is your answer? And the entire Sanhedrin says, he deserves death. There's no other option here. This man just claimed to be God.
He just claimed to be the Messiah and obviously he's not. He deserves to be destroyed. It's over in an instant. They grab Jesus, they spit on him and they start hitting him and slapping him. Other gospels tell us they cover his head with a bag so that he can't tell where the blows are coming from. So they hit him and then they say, prophesy, tell us who struck you.
And here's what Jesus said to Caiaphas that caused that. Jesus answered him honestly. He said, Caiaphas, I'm in your courtroom right now. It's not always going to be the case. Caiaphas, there's going to be a moment, Caiaphas, when you see me seated at the right hand of power. There's going to be a moment, Caiaphas, when you meet me in glory.
There's going to be a moment when you know that I'm the ruling, reigning king of the universe, Caiaphas. And there's going to be a moment where I ride in after cracking the sky open on the clouds of heaven to crush my enemies before me and to bring my people home. home. Let me tell you something, Caiaphas. I won't be silent and humble forever. I only go to a cross once. That's what Jesus says to Caiaphas in that moment.
And Caiaphas has an answer he'll accept from Jesus, but it's not that one. And so they condemn him. Now we're going to pause this story for a second. And we're going to back up a little bit. You see, this is the first courtroom we're going to look at today. But we're about to move to another one.
It's lunacy when you see this, that men proposed to judge God and believed that they could. We're going to zoom out and actually look at us today and look at our culture and see where we do this. Where culturally we join in in this idiotic idea that we can bring God in front of us, that we can sit in the judge's seat and that we can question him and release him, question him and condemn him. I want to talk to us a little bit about how we do this culturally. We, every time you hear sentences like, I can't believe in a God who would send people to hell. I just can't believe in a God who would judge and condemn people based on what they, like I just can't believe in a God that would do that.
So I, I just can't. If there is a God, if there is a God, he's a God of love. If there is a God, he's a God of forgiveness and grace. If he exists, this is what he's like. But I can't believe in a God that would say this about gender.
I can't believe in a God that would say, I mean, half the stuff we just talked about in theology of sex. I can't believe there's a God who would say that. That would step in and say, you can't be with this person if you love him. I just can't believe in that. And if there is a God, here's what he's okay with. If there is a God, here's what he's like.
Every time we do that, we've climbed into the judge's bench, we've brought God in front of us and said, let me ask you some questions and let me tell you what you get to be like. Let me tell you what the answers can be and if these aren't satisfactory, you're dismissed. Let me help us out there a little bit. I used to work at Sears and there was a lady who worked there before I got there and she had a list and I think it was about 50 items deep on what her future husband was going to be like. Like these were the qualities and characteristics that he was going to have and it was detailed. I know they told me some of them.
The one that stands out in my mind that I remember most was that he was going to have a hairy chest. Like you would think, put something like honesty on there. No, she was straight up like he's going to be above six feet tall, he's going to have a hairy chest, this is what kind of skin he's going to have. Like it was just, and I hate to break it to y'all, she hadn't met him at the time of when I learned this. Maybe she's found this guy. But she made a list and said this is what my future husband will be like and I don't think it went well for her in dating.
But here's the problem with lists like that. Men actually exist and they have their own character and attributes. She doesn't just get to make it up. Now she can go look for them but they're either there or they're not. There's either a guy who actually exists in this central part of Virginia that's like that. Maybe she was using the internet to help and she said, hey I'm looking, you know, I like Long Walks on the Beach and this is my favorite movie and I'm looking for a guy who, and maybe there's a guy who's like, wow you just described me and I'm not creeped out.
But he either has to exist or not exist. If she goes on a date with a guy and let's say she finds out he doesn't meet one of the qualifications, like he doesn't have a hairy chest. Okay, I don't know how she found that out. Let's pick a different one. She finds out that he doesn't like the movie Back to the Future. Alright, let's go with that one.
She finds out that he doesn't like the movie Back to the Future and so she's like, okay I can't date this guy. She has the option of saying, okay we're not going to date. If you saw her after a weekend where she had a date and you said, have the date go and she said, he didn't meet the qualifications, therefore he does not exist. You might need to call the cops. I think she murdered him. He doesn't seek to exist because he doesn't fit your qualifications.
You cannot date him. When we say, this is what God is like and if he's not like this he doesn't exist, you realize that's nonsense. If God exists, he has actual character qualifications, attributes, like he's a real entity. You can say, if God is like this, I will not worship him and you have that prerogative. I'm going to urge you to reconsider but you can say that. You can't say, if there is a God, he's a God of love.
You can't, like, not in a way that actually lets you do the choosing. That's not how entities work. Like, if he exists, he has attributes and characteristics so you can't just decide he's like this or he doesn't exist. So, let me just help us out here for just a second. If you say, I can't believe in a God who Judges and condemns people, it can't be the judging and condemning that you have a problem with because you just did that to God. You're okay with judging and condemning.
You just did that to God. It has to be the standard that he uses. Has to be. Because you're okay with judgment and condemnation. So, it has to be the standard that he uses. So, I want to ask you a question.
You've now stated that my standard is superior to God's. I want to ask you where you got your standard. So, when we say things like, when I say, as a Christian, things like, women should not be treated as property, I believe that God created the world and that he has a standard that rules over the world whether you like it or not. And so, when I say women shouldn't be treated as property, I'm basing that off of a higher authority. When our culture who doesn't believe in God and says that everything came about by random chance stands up and says you shouldn't treat women like cattle, based off of what?
It's not the majority of thought process throughout history. You can say it's the majority of Western culture and I agree with it. I'm glad Western culture believes that. I think it's good. But I believe it because the Bible says it and because I believe there's an authority over the world.
If we were to go to another country where they had a majority that believed the exact opposite which is women or property, the best we could do is try to prove to them that they aren't based off of maybe some statistics of how it's good if they don't just gather water and make babies, how life is better if you don't beat them all the time. But we can't step in and actually with any amount of real authority say you're wrong other than to say our society is better than yours. When we say that you shouldn't as a nation just roll in and murder other weaker nations but we also believe that the world was bigger, faster, stronger, smarter, eats, murders, kills, takes over, smaller, slower, dumber, all the time and that's how we progress that it was good when the Egyptians took over and then it was good when the Assyrians took over and then it was good and fine when the Persians took over because they're advancing society. It was good when Greece came because they brought all this other good stuff and it was good when Rome came and then it was good when, like, if we argue that that's how we had progress into history, then at some point it breaks down when we say but you shouldn't do it now.
If there's a tribe that's completely backwards and you have more money and more guns you can't just roll up and take their land. I agree with you but all based off of I think there's a higher authority not just what we believe. So if you're willing to admit that your standards come from your time in history and your western culture, fine. I don't see how historically infused standards would trump God's standards if there actually is a God who exists outside of time who's big enough for you to be mad at but not big enough to actually be smarter than you. The only other thing I want to point out to you is when we say things like if there is a God he's a God of love if there is a God he's a God of forgiveness the only place that idea came from is here.
That idea comes straight out of the pages of scripture. The tools you are using to judge and condemn God came from him you will not find them in any other world religion. You won't find that in pagan religions you won't find that in Islam. God's a personal God he doesn't want to know you personally he exists as a person and he's not very loving he's pretty condemning and judging and you've got to earn it. Buddhism doesn't have a personal God they believe in peace and love but not a God that loves you when we say things like if there is a God he loves me personally and he cares about me and he wants good for me that idea came from here. doesn't come from dualism doesn't come from Hinduism the only place you've gotten that idea is when the God of love revealed himself to humanity.
That idea is when the God of love revealed himself to humanity. I'd love to talk with you more about this if you have questions concerns push back want to argue with me I'd love to do that I don't want to argue but you can argue I'll listen here's the last thing there if God exists and he only exists the way you have mapped him out
I would be inclined to believe that he doesn't exist I told you I had a wife he said what does she like and I said she only likes the things I like she loves eating Taco Bell at midnight we never argue because she always absolutely agrees with me you would be inclined to think that she was as real as Manti Teo's girlfriend like I'm
Pretty sure you made her up bro because she that doesn't that's not how things work so if you have a God and he only agrees with you and your political philosophy and your cultural perspective I'd be inclined to think he was imaginary and I just want you to consider some of those things
Now most of us in the room I would say the majority of us in the room are here because we are Christians and believe in Jesus and you're like thanks for that long stuff about nothing but I don't agree with any of that don't think any of that I'm here maybe don't
Like everything he says but I believe he's real and says things I don't like that's me I don't like everything he says but I believe he's real and that he's going to say things I don't like because he's not an American he's God so he's going to disagree with me
That's fine I know I need to submit to him but here's where we as Christians most often climb into the judge's seat we treat God's word like it was handed down from an inferior court so the way the law works in our culture is there's
A court they make a ruling you can appeal that it goes to a higher court a superior court it goes up and up and up until it makes it to the supreme court and most Christians are going to exist when they do this
When they take judgment over God when they bring Christ in and set him in the judgment seat for us to be able to question him we're going to do it from the position of a superior
Court here's what we're going to say we're going to say things like yeah okay but that only says that in the Old Testament we're going to say things
Like yeah but that was written a long time ago and we don't really know exactly what they meant with that one oh well that was written
In a different culture yeah Bible says that I'm supposed to lead my family as a man but my wife is way better at it than I am so
We're going to do that or opposite yes I realize absolutely Bible says as a wife I'm supposed to submit to the leadership of my husband but the
Problem is my husband is a moron and so that one doesn't really apply to us I've tried that and it just doesn't work
I give this person of this I know the Bible says we shouldn't live together before we got married I know the Bible says
This about sex I know the Bible says this about this type of relationship I know the Bible says this about but it doesn't
Really prove it to me it just says it we're in love the Bible doesn't really say in the New Testament how much we're
Supposed to give just that we ought to be generous now I'm not talking about genuinely questioning and seeking and coming to God as
He is on the judge's bench and asking for clarification and help and growing and getting things wrong through ignorance I'm talking about the
Times that we bring the Bible in we bring God in we set him before us we look at what he says and we
Say yeah court dismissed we have as Christians the audacity to think that this submits to us that Jesus can stand before me I
Can question him and I can say well I just don't like that one so I'm not going to do it not I don't
Like that one so I'm going to struggle and I need your grace Jesus and I need your help and I going to I
Have a hard time not that that's perfectly Christian but I don't like that one you didn't really explain it well enough I'm not
Going to do it Jesus wants us to know the same thing he wanted Caiaphas to know you see Jesus was being honest with
Caiaphas he actually answered his question Caiaphas just wasn't willing to hear it there's going to be a final courtroom there's going to be a moment
Where all of us throughout all of time and history are going to be brought before the king are going to walk into the throne room before
The judge are going to see Jesus seated at the right hand of power there's going to be a moment when you lock eyes with your maker
The Bible is very clear about that there's going to be a moment for all of us when all of this melts away and we
Face reality for the first time true eternal spiritual reality and here's what we need to see today before you enter into that courtroom
Take a look at this one take a look at the courtroom we see in Matthew 26 before you see Jesus as the true
Reigning high priest of all millennia see him in front of this small one who's defending his own little corner of glory and see Jesus humbled
And condemned before you enter into the throne room where we will be humbled and condemned or we will be humbled and saved you
See for every person in history the moment that we see Jesus for the first time is either going to be the most glorious
Joyous overwhelming exalting moment in our lives that we cannot stand it or stand under it or it is going to be the most terrifying
Soul crushing moment that has ever happened Paul says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
At some point it's no longer an option it's compulsory and you'll either come in that moment and you'll see your sin melt away
As Jesus took it for you on the cross and you'll know that condemnation does not fall on you because it already fell on
Jesus he already went to this courtroom this low pitiful man-made courtroom to die on our behalf and all your sin and all your shame and all your guilt
Will melt away and you'll stand before the king and you will bow your knee and you will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
Or you will come in under a sentence of condemnation your knees will bow and you will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord either
As a captive released or as a new prisoner of war Jesus Christ will be seated at the right hand of power he will crack the sky
Open and ride in on the clouds of heaven and before that moment happens we have the chance to see Jesus humbled and on
A cross dying to take our sin dying to make us his dying to set us free being condemned so that we Matt's going to
Come back up we're going to sing there is a final courtroom there will be a final judgment there will be a final sentence
Passed and if you have already seen Christ in this courtroom and already seen him to the cross and already placed your faith in
Him then that final courtroom will be a reunion with your king with the glorious eternal creator God of all history where you will
Be brought into his family and his home based not on your merit but his based not what you've accomplished but what he's accomplished
On your behalf or it'll be the moment when our pitiful man made arrogance and glory burns like chaff before the great glorious king
Of eternity it'll either be the moment when you are so engulfed by overwhelming love that your heart would not be able to stand
It were it not for his grace on you where you will be entering into an eternity before the God and king who humbled
Himself on your behalf to rescue and redeem you and make you his that you struggled your entire life to follow after in the
Midst of difficulty and it'll go away because Jesus was already condemned for you Jesus already took the penalty for you he already stands
Before God for you on your behalf as a high priest not a weak small one defending his own glory but a glorious one
Who laid his glory down so that we might actually have some later with him or you'll stand before the real true judge of
Your soul with nothing to base your defense on except for your own effort and work and it will fall short there's a final courtroom please
Please see this one first please see what we just read in Matthew 26 where Jesus stood and had a sentence of condemnation passed over him who did not
Deserve it did not earn it could have stopped it but had men manhandle him and slap him and spit on him so that you don't have to be destroyed please see that one
First we're all going to see the second one please see this one first so that we might be brought up together with the great king of the universe and set finally forever free God God God we ask for your help we thank you that
Through your holy spirit and through your cross you give it that you were condemned that you were put on trial that you were judged that you were crushed so that we don't have to be so that when we stand before you in faith the sentence of condemnation
Is already passed over us onto you not through our work but through yours God I pray for the souls of the city for every person that we meet that will stand before you as the great high king and high judge throughout all eternity I pray for the souls in this
Room who aren't ready for that day God for those of us who've trusted in you help us to continually submit to you as our king and our judge give us the grace to follow even though it's terribly difficult because we know that all the real difficulty has already been accomplished by you
God I pray that for those who sit in caiaphas's chair right now that they would hear what you told caiaphas that he was unwilling to hear this is the last time you judge me but there's a day when I'll judge you but I'm willing to take the penalty for you God we ask for your grace
Amen
30 Pieces of Silver
Transcript
All right, well, it's good to see you all this morning. My name's Matt. I'm one of the pastors here. And if it's your first time hanging out with us, let me be the first to welcome you. We are absolutely glad that you're here. Last Sunday, we finished up a seven-week series where we kind of engaged with what our culture has to say about gender, about marriage, about sexuality, about masculinity, femininity.
And then we went to the Bible so that we as Christians can learn how to follow Jesus well in terms of having a theology of sex. And I will say this for me personally. I think it's one of the most helpful series we've ever done. And I heard tons of feedback coming back out of our groups, just discussions, really submitting our lives to Jesus. And it was great. And now, today we're starting a three-week series because we've got three weeks leading up to Easter and celebrating our baptism party.
And for us, as we're approaching Easter, we're going to spend the majority of our time talking about Jesus. Surprise! But you didn't see that coming. We looked at Jesus' interactions. We're going to look at things that he said and things that he did. But we're going to go about it a little bit differently this year.
And here's why. The reason the cross is so beautiful, so compelling, is that on it, Jesus died for terrible sinners just like us. That the reason the cross is beautiful is because on it, Jesus died for sinners. That his death pays for our sin and he rose from the grave so that we might have life in him. That's why the cross is beautiful. And so what we're going to do is take three weeks to look at Jesus' specific interactions with some sinners that would kind of fall into this category.
Here's what we're going to try to do. That as we see their sin, as we see their denial, their rejection of Jesus, what we're going to see is that it actually is going to hit a little bit closer to home than we might care to admit. That if we're actually honest with ourselves, more often than not, we're like the people who mistreat Jesus than we are like Jesus himself. So that by looking at these interactions, by looking at these people that Jesus has conversations with, that their actions absolutely impact his own life. What we're going to see is that we're going to align with them. That we're going to see some of our own sinfulness, our own brokenness in them.
And as we see that, as we look at that sin and kind of come face to face with it, the hope would be by the time we get to Easter, we've actually got something to celebrate. We're more excited because we understand the cross of Christ so much more because on it, Jesus died to save sinners. That by the time we get to Easter, we can't help but shout and stand and sing the good news as people are going to be baptized and we're going to lose our minds and we're going to eat a whole bunch of fried chicken. Amen? Amen? I mean, that's worth, it's good news.
It's good news worth celebrating. And so we're going to take these three weeks specifically and try to look at our own sinfulness in light of some of Jesus' interactions with people on his way to the cross. And so to kick off the series today, we're going to be looking at a guy by the name of Judas Iscariot, who is one of the most negatively portrayed people in the Bible. And maybe you've never hung out with a church before. You may not know really anything about Jesus, but you have probably, in some form or fashion, heard about Judas and what Judas does to him. Judas betrays his friend Jesus.
He sells his friend Jesus out so that if you're, you could watch a movie or you're reading a book. Anytime someone commits treason or sells somebody out or is a snitch, you may hear them turn the phrase, man, such a Judas. What a Judas. And the reason being is because that seems so unthinkable that Judas would betray the Son of God after all that he had seen. But we're not so unlike Judas ourselves.
And though we may sometimes treat Jesus the same way that Judas did, we don't have to share his same fate. That though we may treat Jesus the same way that Judas did, we've actually been given another option. And so as we actually look at his story, his interaction with Jesus, my hope is that we would see our sin more clearly and that the cross would actually become more compelling. And so I'm going to pray for us and we'll kind of jump into the text and see what God has to say to us this morning. Let's pray together.
God, we don't have the ability to comprehend your word and I don't have the ability to clearly articulate your word outside of the move and work of your Holy Spirit. And so God, I ask that this morning as we, as we open your word, God, that you would be faithful. God, that you would help us see our own sinfulness, our own brokenness, and you would help us see Jesus for who he truly is. The savior of the world, the one who dies for our sins so that we might have life in him. I pray that would be abundantly clear this morning as you speak to us. In Jesus' name, amen.
All right, so grab a Bible. You can grab one of the Bibles on the chairs and go to Matthew chapter 26. That's going to be on page 539 in the blue and white Bibles. If you don't have a Bible, please just take that one with you. When we're done today, we want everyone to have a Bible, to be reading it, to be growing. And in fact, if you're looking for something to read, I would encourage you that in the coming weeks, in the three weeks or so leading up to Easter, to actually jump into Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and read from about where I'm going to begin summarizing because you'll get a picture of the last week of Jesus' life as recorded by four people.
I think that would be a great way for us all to just kind of prepare for Easter. But here's the background. Here's what we're getting into. Jesus has just come to Jerusalem with his disciples to celebrate the Passover. And the Passover is just one of the big Jewish festivals, one of the big celebrations that they had every year. And Jesus and his disciples had come to Jerusalem for the Passover before, but this time is markedly different.
Jesus' fame and renown had spread. He had been doing ministry for years now, for three years, and people had heard about his miracles and they had heard about his teachings. They knew who he was. And as soon as he starts coming into the city, the word begins to spread. People come out to where Jesus and his disciples are coming in, and they take their coats and they lay him on the ground, and they take palm branches and they wave him in the air, and they're shouting things like, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Blessed is the Son of David. Blessed is the Lord. And what all of these people are celebrating is that they believe that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah that the Old Testament is talking about. They're celebrating him. He's the long-awaited rescuer, the redeemer, the one who's going to come and save them. And they can't help but celebrate it.
But what we're going to see is that not everyone shares the same sentiment when it comes to Jesus. And so where we're jumping in, we're jumping in to chapter 26. This is a couple of days later. Things have settled down just a little bit, and we're going to find Jesus talking with his disciples. So we'll pick it up there.
Chapter 26, verse 1. When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, you know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. Okay, so it says that Jesus had just finished talking. He just finished saying these things. Jesus was talking with his disciples about what will the signs of the end of time be? What will be the signs of the end of the age?
And he kind of leaves that idea, and he comes back to the present, and he says, the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. And Son of Man is just a phrase that he used for himself on a regular basis. He says the Son of Man is going to be delivered up to be crucified. And this isn't the first time that he's told this to his disciples. The Gospel accounts tell us that he's been telling them this all along the way. But you've got to imagine.
Just imagine with me. Every time Jesus says that, that we're going to Jerusalem, and I'm going to be killed and crucified, you've got to imagine the disciples are kind of like, sure you will, Jesus. Yeah, right. Not really, though, right? This is one of those parable things, right, where we just don't understand, but you're telling us that this is actually. And the reason that was so difficult is that they had just watched the city erupt in celebration as Jesus and his disciples came in.
And now in a couple of days, he's going to be nailed to a cross. The most painful and torturous of Roman deaths reserved for the worst of criminals. And they just couldn't see it. But there's actually more at play. There's more at work here than meets the eye. And our passage kind of continues to show us that.
Pick it back up, verse 3. Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people. Okay, so time out. At the same time that Jesus is meeting with his disciples, talking to them, the religious leaders of the people have kind of convened a meeting together to figure out, what are we going to do about this whole Jesus situation? The Jesus thing has gotten out of control.
There are people standing in the streets within earshot of the temple complex saying that this guy is the Messiah. And these religious leaders have come together and said, the only thing that we can do is arrest him and he's got to be killed. And immediately we start asking questions because we're going, hey, time out, time out. All right, so there are people who believe that Jesus is the Messiah. And these people are the religious leaders of the people. Why in the world are they trying to kill Jesus?
That's a question that immediately comes up. And the truth is that this animosity between the religious leaders and Jesus didn't happen overnight. This has been going on for near three years now. The religious leaders have been in significant conflict with Jesus, warring with him over what faithfulness to God actually looked like. That Jesus showed up on the scene and he stepped into their territory and he began to challenge them on what they believed, what they were teaching the people, how they were leading, what their hearts were centered on. And as Jesus shared, he had the miracles to back up everything that he was saying because the religious leaders were tasked with teaching the people how to follow God.
And these guys had got focused on their own things. They were absolutely focused on outward appearance, the outward signs. They would go to the Old Testament law and they would take the law and then they would create rules that would keep them from breaking the law. But so that they didn't break those rules, they would make more rules on top of those rules so that they didn't even get close to breaking the law. And needless to say, Jesus showed up and didn't play by their rules. Jesus showed up and wanted to show people what does it actually mean to follow God?
What is the heart of God actually about? And so they would have conflict and debates about the things that Jesus did. They would get mad at Jesus for healing people on the Sabbath because they considered that somehow work and they were missing God's active work in the midst of them to bring about healing for people. They were missing it. They always wondered why Jesus would hang out with sinners and with tax collectors and the people that were ostracized from society because they believed that those people made you unclean. But what they didn't realize is that God was in their midst coming.
Jesus was coming to make people clean. The people who were supposed to be closest to the heart of God were convened in a room together trying to figure out how to kill God. Don't miss that. Don't brush past that. These guys knew the Old Testament backwards and forwards and some of them had even memorized it. But they were so concerned with their own power, with their own authority, their own way of doing things that they absolutely missed what was right in front of them.
And now they're huddled in a room ready to kill God. And so the story kind of continues on going into verse 6 where Jesus and his disciples go out to a certain area to share a meal with some friends. But we're actually going to kind of skip over that part of the story because I want us to follow the progression of events that has just kind of started with this meeting. We're going to follow that thread of people who don't see Jesus for who he actually was. And so we're going to kind of skip down over those verses and we'll pick it back up in verse 14. Verse 14 says this, Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?
And they paid him 30 pieces of silver. And from that moment on, he sought an opportunity to betray him. Okay, so we're used to this. For the majority of us in the room, you may be familiar with this story. But don't let your familiarity with the story take away from how shocking and how terrible this actually is.
Judas was one of the twelve, meaning Jesus' closest followers. And he just went to the people who were trying to figure out how to kill him about how he might turn them in. How he might betray Jesus to them. And I want you to just think for a second about Judas and all that Judas had seen, all that he experienced. We know that from early on in the Gospels, Jesus went up on a mountain to pray and when he came back down from praying, he handpicked twelve guys that he wanted to follow him throughout his entire ministry to serve alongside of him, to love alongside of him, to do ministry beside him and learn from him.
There was James and John and there was Andrew and there was Peter and then there was Judas. Jesus looked into the eyes of Judas and said, You. I choose you. Follow me. And he did. He followed Jesus.
He ended up with Jesus on a mountain where they were surrounded by thousands of people. Thousands of people who were hungry and the only thing that they had were two fish and five loaves of bread. Not near enough even to really feed one or two people. But Jesus took those elements and he blessed it and he handed it to the disciples and he said, Go pass this out. Go pass this out. And so Judas walked her out.
Judas walked around handing out food and handing out food and handing out food and handing out food until every one of those people were fed. Jesus had done the miraculous. He had fed thousands of people and then he said, Okay, go back with a basket and collect all the leftovers. And so Judas had to do that too. We know that Judas was in a room with Jesus and a whole bunch of other people and the house that they were in, the tiles, they started pulling the tiles out of the ceiling and these friends who were desperate lowered down their friend who was crippled into the room just hoping, desperate for Jesus to do something.
And at a word, the man was healed and he picked up his mat and he walked out. This was the real deal. This wasn't a gimmick. There were religious legal storm came down on them from the mountains on the Sea of Galilee threatening to capsize the ship. And Jesus walks up on the bow and rebukes the wind and the waves and everything ceases and the sea goes back to being calm. Even nature bent to his words.
He had watched as Jesus walked up to the front of a tomb in it, a man who had been dead. It was Jesus' friend Lazarus. He'd been dead for four days and Jesus said, Roll the stone away. Lazarus come out and a man who had been dead for four days had been brought back to life. It was amazing. Just think about all that Judas had seen.
And now here we find him walking into the palace of the chief priest ready to sell him out for 30 pieces of silver. And we know that at the time 30 pieces of silver was equal to about five weeks wages. Judas basically sold out the son of God for an all expenses paid trip to Disney World. 30 pieces of silver. And you start wondering, did Judas just miss it? After bearing witness to all that Jesus had said and done to betray him like this?
Did he really not understand who Jesus was? Story continues. Verse 17. Now on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying, Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover? He said, Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, The teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.
And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover. Okay, so the Passover was a week-long celebration, but there was also an aspect of it that was a meal. And so Jesus is going to be sharing this meal with his disciples. Verse 20. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me.
And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, Is it I, Lord? He answered, He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. Judas, who would betray him, answered, Is it I, Rabbi? He said to him, You have said so.
What happened here? This seemingly comes out of nowhere. There's no big story of conflict. It should be shocking to us when you get to this part of the story, you're going, this just doesn't add up. And so we find Jesus with his disciples in a room sharing this meal and I want you to take just a second. Jesus was fully God and fully man.
And so sometimes we forget that Jesus felt emotions. So I just want you to remember and think about what Jesus was feeling. Jesus knew of his impending death that was coming. He knew that somebody was about to betray him. and now he's here with his friends, the guys that have really been with him through thick and thin for the last three years. And he looks at him and he says, One of you is going to betray me. You see, the disciples knew that the religious leaders didn't like Jesus.
They knew that they were in danger any time they came to Jerusalem. and they know that Jesus has the ability to predict the future and so they just go ahead and begin to suspect themselves. They begin looking at Jesus and saying, I'm not the one who does that, am I? Is it I? Is it I? And then you get to Judas. Judas looks into the same eyes that three years earlier had called him to follow him and he says, Is it I, teacher?
And Jesus says, You have said so. Jesus basically looks at him and says, You guessed it. And you get to the end of that passage and you're still just left with this question, Why would Judas so easily betray Jesus? Did he just completely miss it? Did he just really not realize who Jesus was? Did he just really, did he really not believe?
Maybe Judas was like a lot of people at this time and they thought that the Messiah, when the Messiah came, he was going to be this conquering warrior king who was going to come in and lead a charge, lead a rebellion and kick the Romans out of their territory and reset up Israel's kingdom. There were a lot of people at the time that thought that's what the Messiah was going to do but this guy's talking about he's going to die? Well certainly he can't be that kind of king. Maybe it was that Jesus was profitable for Judas. We know that in their ministry people would give them money to support them.
They were away from their homes for long periods of time and we know that Judas was the person who was actually in charge of the money bag and so over time maybe Judas just slipped himself a few over time. Maybe Jesus was just profitable for him. Maybe it was something else. Maybe it was the prominence. Maybe it was just the sense of importance he got by being one of the twelve. Maybe it was the sense of adventure of getting to just go along with Jesus on this.
And while we don't know exactly why scripture doesn't tell us exactly why there's a couple of things at play that we can see in Judas' motivations a couple of realities that we can see in his actions and they're really similar but I want to parse them out for us. The first one is this number one Judas never ceased to be the king of his life. Judas never ceased to be the king of his life. That though Jesus had looked at Judas three years ago and said come follow me come be a part of what I'm doing lay down your own life your own wants your own desires and come follow me. Judas walked behind him physically and had completely missed out on the spiritual reality.
That instead of walking alongside with Jesus and helping others Judas was really just helping himself instead of serving people with Jesus Judas was just serving himself. Judas had never ceased to be the most important person in his life. Jesus was never king because Judas never stepped off the throne and it goes hand in hand with the second reality which is this Jesus was just a means to an end. That since Judas never ceased to be the king of his life Jesus was only a means to an end. Which means that Jesus was good only as long as he was directly benefiting Judas. And as soon as Judas had other opportunities he swapped out Jesus.
The reason he was willing to trade Jesus for 30 pieces of silver was because Jesus wasn't priceless to him. He had limits on Jesus' worth. I mean you got to remember he was the one who handled the money and he's calculating the whole time and if it had seemed that staying with Jesus would have been more beneficial would have been more lucrative he would have done it. And as soon as Jesus no longer benefited him he was off to bigger and better things that he could just swap Jesus out for something else. And this should be terrifying to all of us. That Judas could walk side by side with Jesus God in the flesh and completely miss out on what was right in front of him.
That he could be so consumed by his own passions, his own desires, his own ways that he would sell out the son of God for chump change. That somehow something became more valuable, more important to him than Jesus did. So the truth is for those of us in the room who would say we're Christians, Jesus has come to us and he said follow me and we responded to that call and we said okay I'll follow you. I'll follow you Jesus. But following Jesus isn't always easy.
There are tough times, there are times where we're going to face suffering and the truth is as we begin to look at the life of Jesus and then look at the life of Judas what we're beginning to see is we're actually a whole lot more like Judas than we care to admit. When we really let it begin to hit home we like Judas are willing to swap Jesus out for other things to use Jesus just as a means to an end. Even though we've said Jesus you're my king not all areas of our lives have actually been submitted to his rule and his reign. Let me show you how this shows up a little bit. So for those of us in the room who've said we're Christians we're trying to figure out what that means as a church and so we gather together on Sunday and we exist together as family in our community groups.
That you as a Christian you're trying to read your Bible and you're trying to pray. You're trying to look for opportunities to build with the people that God has placed you around. And then when life gets tough and things get hard and something seemingly better comes along we'll stand right beside Judas and we'll swap Jesus out for something else. Maybe it's something better that comes along. Maybe it's that we really were using Jesus as a means to an end. And we start looking at our life and we start going he's not doing it the way I want him to.
Jesus sure you're my king but you're not doing what I want you to do. We'll say things like this. Jesus how could you let me lose my job? You're supposed to take care of me. Jesus how could you let my girlfriend cheat on me? She's supposed to be a Christian.
Why weren't you protecting me? We say things like God I trusted God and he didn't come through. Which is basically saying I only trust in God as long as he does what I think is good and valuable and important. You see that? That he's not actually king. He's not actually king when we say that.
That I'm in only as long as my relationships are getting better. I'm in only as long as I'm still getting a promotion. I'm in only as long as my children are learning how to behave. I'm in only as long as it's about me. That's what Judas was saying. And the problem with that is that Christianity is not about us.
It's about Jesus. And what we've just revealed is that in these areas, in these moments, we actually weren't following Jesus because of our devotion to him. Our words and our thoughts portray that Jesus really was just a means to an end. That we liked Jesus and would follow Jesus only so far as he would do what we wanted him to do. That instead of serving Jesus as God, we want Jesus to serve us as God because we're the most important person in the equation. That we can say all we want to Jesus, you're my king.
But until he has rule and reign of every aspect of our lives, that's the thing that we're willing to swap him out for. That's the thing where we're using Jesus only as a means to an end because we've got limits on where Jesus gets to have rule and have reign. And it's obvious in Judas' life. And here's what the Bible is going to say about that kind of as a whole. From Genesis to the Ten Commandments in Exodus to Jeremiah to the words of Jesus himself all the way to Paul in Romans, the Bible is going to say that humanity's biggest problem is that we were created to worship God. God.
But instead of worshiping God, we've swapped him out and decided to worship something else instead. We've decided to worship and pursue lesser gods. That we moved God out of his rightful place and something else in our lives has become more important, holds more sway, holds more motivation for how we do things. And the Bible is going to call this idolatry. The Bible is going to take the stance that all sin is idolatry that we've swapped God out for something else. And Chet put this scripture on the screen and talked about it last week and I'm just going to summarize it for us.
Here's what Paul says in Romans chapter 1. He says, although they knew God, although they knew God, although Judas knew Jesus, although we know God, it says they did not honor or worship him as God. It says although they knew God, they didn't honor or worship him as God, but instead worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator. The Bible is going to take the stance that anytime anything begins to hold ultimate sway and weight in our lives, we have stepped into the realm of idolatry. The Bible says our biggest problem is that something else has become primary. Something else has become the most important thing.
And here's why that's so scary. Here's why it's so tricky and deceptive. It's not just the bad stuff that the Bible calls sin that can get there. We can actually take good things and put them in the place of God and we've got a problem. That something that's good, that is inherently good by itself, something that's a good thing can become a God thing and we're in trouble. And we've fallen away from God's original design, which means we have followed in to the sin that is every sin since the beginning, which we've swapped God out for other things.
And it's not just the bad stuff, it's the good stuff too. For those of you who have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, for those of you who are married, maybe it's your husband and spouse, let me show you how this shows up. Because it's hard to see. When a person, when your spouse or significant other has the ability to, when things are going good with them, your mood's up here. You're excited, you're happy, you feel like you're loved and blessed and that when things aren't going well with them, you kind of trickle down to the bottom and you're depressed and you're not feeling good. And your emotions, your whole well-being rises and falls with a person.
You have based your life on that person. They've become ultimate. It's in a relationship with Jesus. When Jesus is primary, that you're not swayed by your emotions because your identity comes from him, not from another person. You can begin to look at how do you spend your time? What's the thing that has the biggest grip on my time?
What influences my decisions? If the answer is not Jesus, watch out. It may be that that is something that we've set up as an idol. And again, it can be good things. And this shows up all over the place. Spouses do it with each other.
Parents, we do this with our children. We'll do this with our children who we're called to love and to protect and care for. But when all of life begins to revolve around them and around their schedule, they've become ultimate. They've become primary. And we've ceased worshiping and trusting Jesus. And we've put our trust in something else.
Athletes do this with their sports. Students, students, you do this with your majors and your job path. With your career path, you go, nothing, nothing else matters. I mean, I'm in school right now. I don't have time. I don't have time to hang out with a community group.
I don't have time to read my Bible. I've got to study. I've got to see it. Something that is not bad, that is actually inherently good when turned into a God thing becomes sin and ultimately will destroy us. With our bosses, with our work, with our dreams, with our desires, anytime they actually become ultimate, what we've done is we've walked into the priest's palace with Judas and said, what can I have for him? We're just negotiating for something different.
Judas wanted 30 pieces of silver. Maybe we just want our marriage to be good. Maybe we just want to get the job that we want to get so that we can make the money. And the Bible says that that's idolatry. So the truth is we're actually a whole lot more like Judas than we care to admit.
And Judas, we know that this night Judas leaves and the disciples leave eventually too and they go to a garden of Gethsemane but Judas leads the temple guards to the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is arrested. And then through that night and into the next day, Jesus is mocked. He's beaten. He's spit upon. He's given a sham trial. He's whipped.
And then eventually he's nailed to a cross where he would bleed out and die. And we've got this tendency to look at the situation and go, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I'm not like Judas. I didn't betray the Son of God. I didn't have the Son of God murdered.
Oh, yeah. Why did Jesus have to go to the cross? Sin. Who did Jesus die for? Sinners. Sinners just like me and you.
Even for those of us who have submitted our life to Jesus and say, I want to follow him. There are these pockets. There are these areas in our lives that we just haven't quite submitted to Jesus yet. Where we haven't allowed him to be king. Where we have a propensity to take good things and turn them into God things. That when it's not going our way, we'll just move Jesus to the side and pursue something else.
But here's the good news for us this morning. Here's the good news of the gospel. That though we may sometimes treat Jesus the way that Judas did, our fate does not have to be the same. That though we may reject him and deny him and swap him out for other stuff, Jesus has actually offered us another option. So I want us to jump back into the text, jump back into it.
Verse 26, because Jesus continues talking with his disciples after Judas leaves. And what he's actually giving us is a picture of what he's going to do. So let's pick it back up. Verse 26. Now, as they were eating, Jesus took bread and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat. This is my body.
And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. Okay, what we said earlier was that they were gathering to share the Passover meal together, but we really didn't talk at all about what Passover was and what they were actually celebrating. What they're celebrating is a tie back into Israelite history all the way back to the time in the book that's recorded in the book of Exodus where the Israelites were in slavery to the nation of Egypt.
But Exodus tells us that God heard the cries of his people and he goes to Moses and he said, Moses, I want you, I've heard the cries of my people. I want you to go and lead my people out. I'm going to rescue them. I'm going to pull them out of slavery. So Moses goes to Pharaoh and he asked for him to let the people go and he doesn't do it.
His heart is hardened. And so God sends terrible plagues, terrible plagues to show his glory and to ultimately motivate Pharaoh to let the people go. And he doesn't. He doesn't relent until the tenth plague, which would be the worst. The tenth plague was that God was going to send the angel of death, which is just an angel that causes death to go through all the land of Egypt and kill all the firstborn sons. That was the tenth plague.
But God says to Moses, Moses, here's what I want you to do. I want you to take a lamb, a spotless lamb without blemish or defect. And I want you to sacrifice it. And I want you to take the blood of that lamb and I want you to put it on the sides of the doors and over the top of the door. And when the angel of death comes through, I will see the blood of the lamb and I will pass over and your firstborn sons will be spared. Be inside your home with your sandals on, your bags packed, eating unleavened bread, because tomorrow you're coming out of Egypt.
I'm going to rescue my people. And so that night the angel of death comes through and any door that had blood on it, the angel of death passed over and there were many, all the firstborn sons of the Egyptians died and there was weeping and wailing. And the next day Pharaoh looked at Moses and Israelites and he said, get out. God had come and he had rescued his people and we know that he led them through the Red Sea and they spent time in the wilderness, but eventually they would make it to the promised land. Passover was a celebration that God instituted for his people to remind them of the deliverance that he had provided.
In the Passover, a lamb had to be sacrificed so that the firstborn sons could go free. Are you seeing it now? That the entire Old Testament was talking about this and the celebration of the Passover was ultimately finding its fulfillment in Jesus. Jesus is the lamb and the son who would be sacrificed so that we could all go free. The Passover finds its fulfillment in Jesus. And that's the good news.
That's the good news. That's why our fate doesn't have to be the same as as Judas is because we can trust in the lamb that would be slain. That Jesus would come and his body would be broken and his blood would be shed so that our sins could be forgiven. The cross is beautiful because on it Jesus died for terrible sinners and he just calls us to repent. And so he sits here with his disciples and he said, here's the bread that provides nourishment and sustenance and life. It represents my body.
My body that is broken for you. My body has to be broken for you. And then he takes the cup. He said this cup, this wine that was to represent the blood of the lamb that was placed over the doorpost. No, no, no. This now represents my blood that would be shed for the forgiveness of your sins.
That the forgiveness of your sins would be accomplished through his death. I'm going to be the Passover lamb. I'm going to be the one that swaps places for you. Swaps places for you even though you have a tendency to swap me out for other things. And that's the good news of the gospel. And that's why this morning as we think about this, as we see our own sin in relation to Judas, there's good news for us that our fate doesn't actually have to be the same.
That Jesus' body was broken and his blood was shed for all the times we swap him out for lesser things. Where we take a boyfriend and they become ultimate. We take a job and it becomes ultimate. And it takes the place of God. Jesus died for that. So that as we celebrate communion, which is what this is, this is the Lord's Supper.
And we know that in Scripture the church is commanded to take communion as a reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus. So that every time we as a church take communion, we're remembering our sin. That Jesus' body was broken for it. That his blood was shed for it. That he swapped places out for us. This is something that we do on a regular basis as a church.
And we're going to start doing it more. Because it's wonderful. It's wonderful to sit and to actually be reminded of our sinfulness and that Jesus' body and his blood, it was broken and shed for us, for our sin. The Bible just calls to us to repent. That's the invitation to the table. Was that Jesus was broken for you.
You just need to repent and place your faith in him. In fact, every time we take communion, it's our chance to confess in two ways. We confess our sin and we confess our Savior. We confess that I'm a broken sinner, but he was broken for me. We confess that I'm covered in shame, but now I'm covered by his blood. We confess that I've swapped him out for so many things, but Jesus swapped himself out for us.
And so we celebrate the good news of the gospel as we take communion. And we're actually going to do that this morning. We're going to celebrate communion together. And communion is for Christians. So in the room, if you have placed your faith in Jesus, you've already been invited to the table and you've accepted the invitation.
The Bible does call us as Christians that as we approach taking the bread and the juice, that we would remember, that we would examine ourselves, that we would look inward, that all of us have areas where we have a tendency to swap Jesus out or to not let him be king. And the Bible's called us to repent, to repent and then take of the bread and the juice. Maybe you've been hanging out with our church for a while and you've been thinking about who Jesus is. You've been hanging out with a community group and you've been wrestling with, is this true? That you've begun to actually look inside yourself and you realize, I am sinful.
I am broken. I am in need of a savior. Today would be a beautiful day for you to place your faith in Jesus and accept the invitation to the table. And if that's you, if you're going, I know this is me. I know I need a savior. We're going to take some time to pray here in just a minute.
Repent. Repent. Repent. Confess your sin to God. Confess your brokenness, your neediness, that you need a savior. And then ask him to be your savior.
Place your faith and your trust in him. And then go to the back of the room and take communion for the first time. And then tell somebody and then probably go to the baptism class, which would be fantastic. But there may be some of us in the room who are still just, we're skeptical. We don't quite understand who Jesus is. We're still wrestling with this.
And here's what I would challenge you to do kind of during this time as other people are praying. I want you to ask yourself the question, are the things that I'm chasing in my life, are the things that I'm basing my life on actually filling me up? Actually, actually giving me joy, actually giving my life, actually giving me life. And just consider, just consider what, what giving your life to Jesus might actually look like. So Bianca is going to come back up and, and here's what's going to happen.
Bianca is going to sing a song over us. She's going to sing a song called the power of the cross. And the words are actually going to be on the screen because I want you to see the beauty of what she's singing about. Here's what I want all of us to do. I want all of us to just take some time and pray. I want us to confess and to repent of all the things that we allow to get in the way of our total devotion and allegiance to Jesus.
I want us to spend some time repenting and confessing. And when you've had a chance to do that, then I want you to go to the back of the room and I want you to take the bread and I want you to dip it in the juice and remember, remember what Jesus did for you so that your sins could be forgiven. So we're going to take some time and we're going to pray. And when you're ready, when you're ready to go to the back of the room, you can do that. You can take the bread and the juice and remember what Jesus has done for you. And then I invite you to come back to your seat after you've done that.
We're going to, we're going to sing. We're going to praise the lamb that was slain for us because the good news of the gospel is true that Jesus died for sinners. God, I ask that you would help us to, to clearly see our sin. God, that we would see our brokenness and our neediness in it. And it wouldn't drive us to put up a wall, but it would drive us to repent. To repent of all the things that we've, we've swapped you out for, that we've put in your place.
Cheap substitutes for a mighty God, for a loving God. God, would you convict? Holy Spirit, would you move throughout this room? Would you lead us to a place where we would repent and accept the invitation to the table? Our invitation that was purchased by Jesus shed blood in his broken body. So as Bianca sings, I just want us all to sit and to pray, to ask the Holy Spirit to show us where we need to repent.
And then when you've had an opportunity to do that, I invite you to the back of the room to take communion. And you can return to your seat and sing praises to the lamb. Amen. Amen.
Hate-Filled Bigots and Hospitality
The Church has gained a reputation over the years as being intolerant, closed-minded, and bigoted. And to be honest, some of it is probably deserved. But what if there was a way to believe faithfully while still loving extravagantly? What if Christians were better known for the openness of their homes than the slogans of their picket signs?
This week's sermon comes with an added Q&A session with one of our Community Group Leaders, Jordan Surratt.
Transcript
Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We are in our sixth week, sixth and final week of our Theology of Sex series. I know many of you are thinking, man, I'm about sick and tired of talking about sex. So this is the last week.
We'll be spending any significant amount of time on that. But what we're going to say today really is a culmination of all the things we've said throughout this whole series. So this is more, maybe more than any other series. This series has kind of built off of what we said the previous week. Even the series where we walk just straight through books. This series has been basically we've got to get this concept so we can.
I'm going the wrong way. We've got to get this concept so we can discuss this concept. So we can discuss this concept. And we've kind of just built off of everything we've been saying. And so we're going to tag back to a lot of those ideas today as we talk through this issue. We're going to be discussing homosexuality and how we ought to respond and interact with that from a biblical understanding.
And so before we hop in, we're going to pray and then we're going to get started this morning. God, I pray that you would give us grace as we study your word. That you would help us to be gracious and loving to one another. And that you'd help us to really approach this difficult topic that is highly polarized in our culture. In a manner honoring to you and loving to others. And so God, I just pray that you'd bless us this morning as we as we seek to understand your will for us and your will for for your creation.
So God, we praise you and we thank you in Jesus name. Amen. So just just go with me for a second. Imagine remember back to middle school. For some of you that that's going to take a little more work for others of you. That was a couple of years ago, so it should be pretty easy.
Remember back to middle school and kind of just imagine for a minute that just kind of as as puberty began to hit you, which it hit people in different stages. And some people it was like it attacked them overnight and other people it like dragged it out for years. But just kind of begin to imagine with me for a second where you begin to just your body starts going through changes. So if you're a guy, maybe like your voice starts cracking. So like you're trying to talk and it just does that for no apparent reason whatsoever.
Which makes it really hard to like talk to humans without being made fun of and maybe maybe for girls like there's just maybe your parents began to let you I don't know like shave your legs or wear makeup. I don't know what happens with girls going through through all that. It was hard enough for me on my own. I wasn't trying to learn what was happening with y'all. But like you just you just begin to like the world just starts kind of changing around you.
And so for guys, maybe you spent way too much time looking at your armpits in the mirror to try to see if you were growing any hair like I don't I don't know. But just this stuff begins to change in you and you start realizing it's like in the movie Bambi where everybody gets Twitter painted in the spring. It was like suddenly in middle school all the guys started like you just started noticing the opposite gender. Like there was just this moment where it was just like there are girls here. And like I never really thought about how much that's going to impact the rest of my world. Like there was just kind of these moments.
But just imagine for a minute that when when that began to happen, when you began to have desires, sexual thoughts, when you began to have attraction to people in a whole new way, that it that it was the same gender. But just as that began to happen, you just began to find that I'm not attracted to what it seems like everybody else. Like I'm not I'm not experiencing the world the same way that everyone else is. So when I'm in the locker room changing and they're talking about the opposite gender, like I just I don't connect with that. And and I'm beginning to realize that my whole experience is just a little bit different.
And the amount of questions and confusion that would come along with that to begin to ask him, am I gay? What does that mean? Will I always be like this? Is there a way to to change this? Do I tell people what will they say if I tell them? How will they respond?
What happens to me if I tell people this? What happens to me if this is true? If this continues this way and just the amount of inner turmoil and pain? And confusion that just applies to all of life as you begin to try to just understand your place in the world, because because middle school and high school begin to be that anyway. Like you're trying to figure out who am I? Who am I going to be?
And you're basing that so much off of how people respond to you. So it's really interesting if you're around middle schoolers or high schoolers. They're a different person every time you meet them, because sometimes they're trying to be like, I'm going to be quiet and brooding. See how this works. Or I'm going to try to be a clown. I'm going to try to make everybody laugh and see if that works.
Like there's just this constant, I'll try to be really smart. I'm going to act like I don't understand anything. And you're waiting on your body to try to tell you, like, am I going to get really tall? Am I going to be athletic? Is this, like, what's going to happen here? And then add on top of that, I don't even understand my own sexuality.
And I'm beginning to realize that this puts me in a very small minority among everybody else around me. And then looking into our culture and realizing that it's so absolutely polarized. That on the progressive side, people who would refer to themselves as progressive, they're going to say, you need to just embrace your desire. You just, that's who you are. You found out your identity. You need to pursue that.
That's going to define you. And then on the other side of that, it's like this, maybe people made fun of you. Maybe people talked about you behind your back just based off of your mannerisms or the way you act in certain situations. And you begin to realize that there's not really a middle ground for you when it comes to culture. There's no way to just approach this in a non-polarized way. No way to process it in a non-polarized way.
And so when we begin today to discuss homosexuality, which has become absolutely polarized in our culture, we're talking about real people made in the image of God and loved by God. So absolutely loved by God that he would go to the cross and absolutely in a situation where struggling through. What does it mean to be safe? What does it mean to be me? What does it mean to be loved? What does it mean to exist with this?
And so as we talk about it today, I just want us to realize that we are going to discuss the logical end of it. We are going to discuss what the Bible says about it. But we also have to realize that we're talking about real humans, valuable based off of the fact that they were created in the image of God and that they're loved by him. And so we just want to be able to enter into it, understanding that. Now, the church has existed for over 2,000 years. Some would argue it was when Jesus kind of in Matthew 16 begins to say, I'm going to build my church on this, this proclamation of the gospel and those that proclaim it.
Some would say it specifically happened at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit filled 3,000 people and made them into the church. But it's existed for over 2,000 years and there has been agreement across the board with what the Bible says about homosexuality. Even as the church went Catholic and Protestant and there was Eastern Orthodox and like the church split at different times there, up until the last 30 years, 50 and maybe some really progressive circles, has there ever been any question of what the Bible has said about homosexuality? Now, there have been people who have outright rejected what the Bible has said throughout history and that's one thing.
But we've only recently begun to approach the text and say it doesn't actually say what we've always said it says. And so as we get into this this morning, I want us to realize that what we're going to do, I just want to walk us through what our plan is for today. We're going to lay some groundwork to try to even be able to enter into the conversation. We're going to spend a little bit of time talking about what the New Testament actually says about this and how we ought to understand that and some of the common kind of pushbacks on what the Bible says. And then we're going to spend a good bit of our time just talking to the church and how we ought to respond, how we ought to think and treat people.
But this issue has become massively polarized to the point that there's no way for me to say things in a way that everybody leaves happy. So welcome. It's not going to happen today. Do try to be a couple of caveats. I'm not trying to make any political statements. So if you hear some, that's just because it's become a very political conversation.
But I'm not making any political statements. I won't be endorsing any candidates or anything like that. Lord, help us with all of them. I'm not making any political statements. Anything I say will sound like I've said 12 other things. So just try to base it off of what I'm actually saying, not what it sounds like I could be saying.
And I've had to work really hard to just say what I've got here and not just things that pop into my head so that I can be as helpful as possible. Here's the other thing that we all have to realize. In our culture, on especially very polarized issues, what we're taught is if we disagree, you're against me. If we disagree, you hate me. Especially on this issue, this is dividing us. We're going to join teams.
And if we're not on the same team, then we're against one another. And can I just tell you, that's not helpful and it's not true. So we are absolutely able to disagree and still be friends. Absolutely able to disagree and still love one another. Still spend time with one another. Still hang out with one another.
And can absolutely disagree on very important issues. And still be gracious and loving to one another. And we even see in our culture where it's gotten to where if we disagree, I've got to call you a name. That we've just broken down what adult conversations should look like and how we ought to interact with one another. So, real quick, as we get started this morning, the Bible does teach that homosexuality is a sin. Now, we're going to go through and explain what the Bible teaches sin means so that we can better understand that.
But the Bible does teach that homosexuality is a sin. That homosexual Acts are a sin, more specifically. But before we hop in and start looking at some of this, I want us to see Romans 3. Because this is what we believe as a church. This is absolutely primary to us. So we're going to have it on the screen.
But you can jump to Romans 3, verse 23. It will be on page 611 if your Bible looks like this. Romans 3, verse 23. For all have sinned. Welcome. You're included.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No one measures up. And are justified, made to measure up, made to be okay. By his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom, that's Jesus, God put forward as a propitiation. Which means a blood sacrifice to turn away God's wrath by his blood.
To be received by faith. That is what we believe. That is the primary message of the church. Which is that all of us fall short. All of us sin. None of us bring anything to the table.
And all of us are only made okay and only made right by Jesus. Period. That's what we believe. That's what we're here confessing. That's why we started the church a couple years ago. That's why I'm here.
If this weren't true. If it weren't true that sinners could be saved by Jesus. I would be doing something else. Probably more lucrative. Just guessing. I went to business school and tried to make some money.
That's what I'd be going for. Just letting you know. I might not make money, but I'd try. That wasn't helpful. Anyway. That's what we believe.
That Jesus saves sinners and that's all of us. That what we bring to the table is essentially nothing. Just our sin that made us qualified for Jesus to save us and die for us. That's all of us. There's not one thing that the Bible doesn't say. These are good people and these are bad people.
Or these are the people that God likes more. And these are the people that God likes less. What the Bible says is all have sinned. All have fallen short. And all are made okay only through Jesus. And his work on the cross.
That's the primary belief that we have. And in order for us to even have a conversation about this. We have to understand that that's what we believe. That's ultimate for us. Okay. The Bible in that way is very progressive and inclusive.
Everyone is welcome. Because everyone has fallen short. And everyone is a sinner. And it's only Jesus that makes us okay. I now have seven quick points I'm going to try to make. And I mean quick.
Because I've got way more other points coming later. Our culture has a track record of being unloving. To those who struggle with same gender attraction. To the gay community. We have a track record of being unloving. Hateful.
Our culture just in general has not treated them well. And that is not okay. Especially for the church. Those who claim to know and follow Jesus. Those who claim to believe what we just read. Which is that all of us are only made okay by Jesus.
All of us have. The only thing that we've brought to the table. Is what should exclude us. There's nothing that brings us. Makes us included other than Jesus. The church should be the absolute safest place on earth.
Because there are no disqualifiers. Absolute safest place on earth. To struggle with anything. And so where the church has responded poorly here. We ought to repent. We ought to look different.
Because it's Jesus that makes us okay. Two. Our culture sees sexuality as identity. Just to be helpful. This is a bunch of stuff we need to say. It's not in any kind of particular order.
And it won't necessarily be like. How does one connect to two? It probably doesn't. Our culture sees sexuality as identity. Meaning that whatever kind of sexual desires you have. That's who you are.
So when someone says I'm gay. They mean that as a. This is who I am. This is my identity. The Bible doesn't treat your identity that way. Your identity actually transcends sexuality.
It's much bigger than your sexual desires. Three. The Bible does not really speak to sexual orientation. Does not really speak to having a desire for someone else. We'll see where it kind of. It talks about it.
But it's not addressing that as sinful. To have a desire for someone else. To have a desire for the same gender. The Bible is going to specifically say. That homosexual activity. Is sinful.
So the Bible is going to say that. Having a thought or a desire for the same gender. It doesn't ever really get into that. It does say that lust is sinful. Which is where we have a thought or a desire. Heterosexual or homosexual.
And then we actually take active work in our minds. With that. So Martin Luther put it this way. When he's talking about sexual temptation. That you can't stop birds from flying over your head. But you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.
And that's the difference between having a sexual thought or a sexual desire. And lusting. Where lusting is where we actually take kind of an active part in choosing to let those thoughts grow. And take action in them. But the Bible isn't going to address desire as much as it's going to address action.
So the Bible isn't specifically after someone who has same gender attraction. As much as someone who Acts on it. Four. Sin is not just the bad things that we do. So we are tempted to think that sin is just my bad actions.
Sin is actually searching for satisfaction in anything other than Jesus. That's why we read Romans when we first started. Where we said that ultimately our biggest problem is that we've put something above Jesus. And that's what leads us into sin. Most of the time it's something good. Something applaudable.
Something that we would see value and worth in. And then we've begun to pursue that over and against Jesus. Here's the other thing. Sin is actually born in biblically. Like we're born sinful. I have an 11 month old.
I'm not going to have to teach him how to sin. I didn't explain to him how to throw a fit when I take my iPhone from it. I didn't explain to him to love my iPhone like a psycho. Like he just sees it anywhere and he's like, he'll drop whatever he's doing. He picks it up. And if I take it from him, he's like, why do you hate me?
And he falls in a little pile on the floor. And I just step over him and walk away. Nobody had to teach him that. We're all born with certain sinful proclivities. We're all born that way. So when someone says, I was born this way, I've always only ever had sexual desire for the other gender.
Christians shouldn't respond with, no, that's actually perfectly a biblical idea where it's like, yeah, it just doesn't mean what our culture means by that, which is if this is my identity, if I'm born this way, then ultimately it's okay. So I'll give you another example. My family filled with loud, aggressive people. Willing to be violent. Anna's family filled with quiet, nice people. That won't, like Anna, if you call her the wrong name, if you're like, hey, Susan, come here.
She'll, she'll, she just comes. Like she doesn't, she's not going to go, my name's not Susan. Like I've been around her before where someone called the wrong name and I've had to be like, her name's Anna. And they're like, well, I've been calling her this for a long time. It's like, well, that's really on her, but I'm sorry. You're going to have to change.
So I've had to do a lot of work to make Anna want to like assault me. Like I've gotten her there. It just takes a lot of work. I've had to be really active in my pursuit of making her that angry. But other people don't have to do that with me.
Like just my natural proclivity, like you can get me to where I don't want to talk and I just want to punch you pretty quickly. And that's in, that's born into me. But what I don't say is, sorry, this is how I am. Like, I don't, I don't get to do that as much as I would like to. They're all, all of us have some natural proclivities, natural desires that are born into us that are not God's good design. And all of us have to fight against that.
So when someone says I was born this way, honestly, we ought to say, yeah, okay. That makes sense. But that doesn't change what the Bible says. Sin is a big deal because it is always harmful. And when God addresses sin in us, it is not because he does not love us. It is because he does love us.
The primary place where we see Jesus, we see God actively addressing sin is on the cross. That's the primary place where God proclaims actively sin is horrendous. Sin is destructive. And I love you enough to work on it. So we don't believe as Christians when we say something is sinful, that we're against someone or attacking someone.
We're being helpful. When my wife points out sin in me, as much as I sinfully want to argue with her, she's actually doing that because she loves me. She doesn't point out sin in people she doesn't care about. She points out sin in me because she cares about me. And that's the way the Bible treats sin. So when the Bible says something sinful, it's not mad at you.
It's helping. Secondly, Jesus' primary place that he addresses sin is on the cross, which is where he dies to save us. So we can't act like him addressing sin is somehow hateful. It's actually the most loving thing he does. There are people in our church family who have varying levels of same-gender attraction. They have helped lead groups, served on teams, led teams, been a part of groups, and have been actively following Jesus and repenting of sin.
Absolutely believe that you can struggle with same-gender attraction. And be a spirit-filled Jesus follower on his mission for his glory, 100%. I have no doubt in my mind. Culturally, you're going to kind of be forced to decide where you land on this issue. There's not really a middle ground. So if your response is, well, I just don't care, culturally, they're going to say, sweet, you've joined this team.
There's not really a place where you can just say, doesn't matter to me. Culturally, you're going to kind of be forced to be on a team. And so it's helpful for us as Christians to study the Bible and decide where we land and be, to be as helpful as possible. Okay. Now I want to kind of move to the current discussion we've got going on when it comes to this.
We're going to look at three specific passages in the New Testament. So people bring up Old Testament. When it comes to homosexuality, a lot of people use what they call clobber passages, which is they just kind of go to this one passage and they act like, see, there it is. And they call it a clobber passage because they use it to like assault someone. That's not helpful. It is helpful to know where passages are that point to things, but not to use them aggressively to like Bible bullets to shoot someone.
Old Testament does address homosexuality. It does address, it'll say not to lie with a man as you would lie with a woman. Give specific instructions. And so people a lot of times will say, well, yeah, but there's a lot of stuff in the Old Testament we don't believe anymore. A lot of stuff in the Old Testament we don't follow anymore. We cut the, we cut our hair, we can get tattoos, we can eat lobster.
So obviously the Old Testament is just kind of discredited. There's a very long, helpful answer to that, that we're not going to get into because the New Testament talks about it. So where the New Testament does release us of some things like the dietary laws, it specifically continues to address other things like homosexuality. So we're going to spend the majority of our time focusing on the New Testament passages. If you'd like to have a discussion about the Old Testament passages, I'm sure Raz would love to talk to you about it, but I'll also talk to you about it if you want to. One of the other arguments, before we even get into, this is the kind of a prohibiting argument before we even get into looking at the Bible.
People say things like, it's 2016, aren't we over this by now? Or haven't we just progressed? Like there's this idea that progression of time just makes us better. And that idea came from Christianity and then got kind of co-opted and changed. So one of the things that you'll hear is just like, come on, like that's last century.
We're moving on. And the reason that that idea came around, historically people thought that that history went in a cycle. Christianity showed up and was like, no, there's a God who created everything. He has a beginning point. He has an end point. And he's working it towards something.
There's a redemptive history playing out. And so it's a Christian idea. Then the Enlightenment took it and basically just moved God out of it and said, as long as we move forward in time, everything gets better. Which once World War II happened, we should have gotten over, but we kind of haven't. We should have, be able to look at World War II and just go, no, time doesn't just fix things. All we've successfully done is figure out how to kill each other more efficiently.
But people still make that argument, which is really just a disconnect from what a Christian idea that God is actually working to redeem history. Also, people say things like, well, of course, Paul would say, that's who wrote some of these New Testament letters. Of course, Paul would say homosexuality is a sin because he wrote that such a long time ago. Meaning that the further you move back in time, the more prudish people get. Like, it's like you just go back and at some point you just, everyone turns into like a Puritan or a nun. Now, anybody who studied history doesn't really make that argument because the Romans and the Greeks, the Greco-Roman world was way sexualized.
Like massively. The reason Paul addresses it is because it was actively a normal part of life for them. And so he's going to address it. He's not addressing it because of course everybody agreed this was sinful because they were all old. He's addressing it because it was an act of practice going on. Okay.
The Bible clearly, directly, and repeatedly states that homosexual activity is a sin. None of these address same gender attraction as sinful. But there's been throughout history no real question about these verses. Go to Romans 1. We're going to spend a little bit of time there and then we're going to look at the other two where the Bible specifically addresses this. And I just want us to study them for a second and try to learn a little bit.
So Romans 1. We read this when we started this series. We read this a lot because this actually encapsulates sin for all of us pretty clearly. So we'll be in Romans 1. It's on page 610. If your Bible looks like this.
We're going to start in verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them from 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, 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. So we're going to pause there for just a second to catch us all up. God made the world. We notice that there's a creator. He has designed the world to reflect him, to point back to him from the Grand Canyon to massive waves. It's to bring glory and honor to him.
And we reject him and worship other things. That's our primary issue for humanity is that we put other things above God. We'd rather have money. We'd rather have power. We'd rather have a relationship. We just raise up all these other things, pursue those as primary, pursue those as that is what fulfill me.
And that's the major issue. 24. Therefore, God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them two dishonorable passions. So it's now talking about passions, desire for one another.
Their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless Acts with men, receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error. One of the results of this, and we talked about this in week one, is that we become overly sexualized, overly led by our lusts when we've begun to place something else above God, because it's easiest for us to believe that another human will fill this void. Money's great, but relationships hold more promise because we were made in the image of God.
So that's one of the things we talked about in week one. Specifically out of that, Paul's going to address that they exchanged natural relations with one another with the opposite gender for relations with the same gender. One of the arguments made against this passage currently is, first of all, it was saying that they weren't being true to themselves, that they were, it was heterosexual people who denied their natural desires for one another and pursued against their own natural desires, relationships with one another. Meaning that the biggest problem is not being true to yourself. The problem with that argument is that Paul says they were inflamed with passion for one another.
They burned with passion for one another. So it wasn't just their activity changed, but their desires changed. The second thing that is argued here is that Paul doesn't understand the concept of soulmates. Not the concept of soulmates, concept of orientation. That really the biggest problem is he didn't understand that people could actually be oriented in such a way to only be a desire of the same gender. The problem with that is in Plato's symposium, he talks about the idea of soulmates.
And when he discusses the idea of soulmates, we talked about this the other day for those of you who are looking for your soulmate, that originally the gods made people with two heads and four arms and four legs and then cut them in half and then you spend the rest of your time looking for your soulmate. So the problem with you looking for your soulmate is that this is a myth and it doesn't exist and you'll never find them. You're as likely to find a unicorn or Nessie. But in that myth, some of the people were male-male, some of them were female-female, and some of them were male-female. They had the idea and understood that some men were going to spend their life looking for a man and some ladies were going to spend their life looking for a lady.
They already had the idea and understood the concept of some people are just going to be oriented this way, directed this way, whether or not they use the language. So it was a familiar concept to them, but Paul's still going to say that this was a problem. Here's the biggest issue with us because we elevate your desires. One of our only hero stories left is the, everybody told you you couldn't be what you wanted to be and then you went and beat it anyway. Like that's one of our hero stories. Have you all seen previews for Eddie the Eagle?
Anybody seen previews for that movie coming out? If you haven't, this is going to be really hard for me to explain. Anybody seen it? Okay. It's about a really goofy, uncoordinated kid in England who wants to be an athlete, wants to go to the Olympics. The problem with Eddie going to the Olympics is that he's a really goofy, uncoordinated kid.
So there's no like real way he's going to do that because most Olympians are good at what they do and Eddie apparently is not good at anything. See how that works? Like, well, I'm not like going to go do the high hurdles or whatever. It's just not going to happen. So that's his problem too.
He's just, he can't. Then he finds out about the downhill super long ski jump. That's what it's called. Look it up. And decides he's going to do that because all he really has to do is like, bend, I don't know. It's probably way more complex than this, but bend and then not be afraid of dying.
I think that's basically the two qualifications. And the whole movie is that nobody wants him to do it because he's goofy and uncoordinated, but he does and does it anyway. And you can watch basically the preview and know what the movie is. And I still want to see it because that's our hero story. People told him he couldn't and they told him he couldn't and they told him he couldn't and they told him he was ugly and that was why he couldn't and he was uncoordinated. But then he can go do it anyway.
He's going to, he's going to thumb his nose at all of them and go accomplish it. And that's why when it comes to things like this, when it comes to your own personal desires, our culture just rallies around you and says, follow your heart, whatever you want to do. And if anybody tells you to stop and anybody tells you that you're wrong, you found your enemy and you found the person you've got to overcome so that we can make a really amazing movie about you. That's our cultural story. That's what we celebrate. And so when it comes to personal desires, we just come along and say, if you desire it, then it's real.
Pursue it. And if anybody tries to stop you, they're wrong, they're evil, they're against you. And you now know who your enemy is. The problem with that is that the Bible says that our passions and our desires and our heart are part of the problem. That our heart is actually deceitful above all else, that you've lied to you more than anyone else ever has. You've tricked yourself more than anyone else ever has.
And the other problem is it's just a small view of what passions are, how we associate our desires. Like we're really just saying, find something that you like, but we don't realize that's culturally connected. So let's take two men. One of them is an Anglo-Saxon way back in the day when they were super aggressive and right around just killing people. And the other person lives in Manhattan today. So another man lives in Manhattan today.
Both of them have the same desires. One of the desires is when anybody mouths off to them or stands in their way, they just want to harm them physically. Overly aggressive, want to harm people. The other one is they have same gender attraction. Now, in Manhattan today, the man who has both of those desires is going to say, my desires to harm people and crush my enemies is not me. And I need to suppress that and maybe get counseling because that's going to stand in the way of who I'm designed to be.
But they're going to look at their same gender attraction and say, this is who I am. This is what needs to be welcomed. And this is what needs to flourish because of our culture. But the Anglo-Saxon man is going to do the exact opposite. He's going to look at his desire to crush his enemies and go, that's who I am. Because his culture celebrates that.
And he's going to look at his desires for same gender attraction and say, I need to suppress this. This isn't going to help me. And so when we say, whatever desire you have, that's ultimate, we actually are taking a really small view of what desires, how they actually work as if we don't have competing desires. We're not understanding that our culture affects that. And the Bible says at the end of the day, your desires are messed up anyway. So you don't have to think about the logical stuff.
Just know your desires aren't helpful. You need to trust Jesus. Was that helpful? Okay. 1 Corinthians. It's going to be 10 pages over if you're in one of these Bibles.
This is another place that Paul addresses this. This is actually, we're in 1 Corinthians 6. We picked up right after this last week where Paul's addressing sexuality. Verse 9. Okay. We'll keep going, but we're going to have to come back to this.
A lot of times these passages get read wrongly as if the only thing that was written there was men who practice homosexuality. That's a long list. And that's just kind of stuck in the middle. What Paul's saying is all of those pursuing active sin are disqualifying themselves from the kingdom of God. They're not trusting in Jesus. They're pursuing their own desires.
They're idolaters and adulterers and sexually immoral, which sexual morality, we talked about it last week, is everything outside of monogamous heterosexual marriage as the way the Bible is going to hold up as the standard. The problem with us is that we want to point out one thing and say, see, see how that's a big issue? But we're not repenting of our own sexual sin. I'm acting as if my own heterosexual sin is okay or somehow blessed by God or somehow more acceptable than someone else who struggles with something else, and that's nonsense. But the Bible is going to list it as a sin with other sins that people struggle with and that Jesus redeems us from.
That's how he ends. Such were some of you, but you've been washed and sanctified by Jesus. It doesn't disqualify you from his love. It actually is what qualifies you. For Jesus to redeem you is your sin. And it lines up in these categories.
Now, people will try to argue in this one and in, even though there's some different words used, and in 1 Timothy, where we're going to go in a second, that we don't really understand what that word means, that it actually is referring to maybe pedophilia, or it's referring to unwanted sexual contact, or it's referring to promiscuous homosexual activity. The problem is there's not really, you're having to do work to make the text say that when the writing's pretty clear. And there's other issues with that that we'll see in just a second. So go to 1 Timothy. It'll be on screen, but if you want to flip over there, it's to your right, and it'll be on page 642.
Starting in verse 8. Now, we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down, for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane. For those who, okay, so basically Paul's going to say the law is good because we're messed up. That's what he's, that's the point he's making. The law is good for all of us who are rebellious, because it helps us change. It helps us see our sins that will be pushed to Jesus.
For those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. It accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. Again here, it does specifically in 1 Timothy and 1 Corinthians, although Romans addresses it, it does say men. Romans does address female homosexuality. And the men who practice homosexuality was a much bigger cultural issue for them. That's why Paul's going to keep bringing it up.
Because women didn't get to do what they wanted to, but men could do whatever they want. So that's why Paul's going to keep bringing it up. But sexual immorality basically covers everything outside of monogamous heterosexual marriage, which is the goal. And here's the thing. I have a friend of mine. His name is Thor.
And he is a PhD in linguistics. Thor. Which means that, first of all, he's one of these guys who's like so smart. He's kind of, kind of can be awkward at times. Because he's so smart and he approaches everything like from a really like mental place, he can say things that other people can't say. Because it's like, there's no way I could say that without like laughing or thinking about the inappropriateness of what was just said.
But Thor can. Like he can just talk about whatever because he's just so academic. He was a PhD in linguistics and he knows language. And they were doing a discussion at Midtown Fellowship, which is where I was training there. He was a pastor in training there. And one of the things he said is he can go into all these verses and he can dazzle you, his words, not mine, with the Greek.
And make it say basically whatever he wanted to say. He struggles with same gender attraction. He struggles with this on a very personal level and says he's studied all the arguments against why the Bible doesn't say this. But none of them hold up. As much as he would like for them to be true, none of them hold up. All of them are weak understandings of the text.
And he said it seems as if people look at these passages and say these are the pillars holding up this argument. And if we can just knock down those pillars, then we would have the ability to basically pursue long-term, loving, homosexual relationships. And the Bible could be on our team. So they basically attack these verses. And so here's what he had to say. And this is a transcript.
So it's a terrible run-on sentence. Don't get caught up in the grammar. It's a transcript. If it helps you to read it, read it. But if you're a grammar person, maybe just listen because this was said out loud.
And so I'm going to read what he says, though. Even if you were to somehow take out those verses by reinterpreting them. He's talking about these verses. Or even if the Bible had never contained any verses that mentioned it. The biblical position on this issue is not resting on those verses. It's not resting on a few specific prohibitions.
It's resting on this gigantic tree trunk of the whole beautiful picture of why God put gender in the universe. And what gender and complementarity do. And how that runs through everything and all of creation. And his desires for intimacy. And his desires for life. It's this much, much bigger picture of what the Bible upholds.
And what the Bible says is the center. And what we should be running to is so unambiguous and so clear. So what he's saying is even if you took these verses out. The Bible's picture of what sexuality was meant to be. What we talked about last week is so clear. One of the things he says is because people think this is the pillars that I've got to knock down.
He said it's actually way more. It's held up by this massive tree trunk of God's good design for complementarity. God's good design for gender. God's good design for marriage. And for life together. And for creation.
And for the multiplication of the human race. And so he says it's this tree trunk of what God's woven into creation. He said it's actually more like you're climbing out on a few limbs and trying to saw those off. But in order to actually have the Bible agree with homosexuality as a perfectly fine way to live. You'd actually pretty much have to cut down the whole tree. And then you'd be left with no gospel and no Jesus.
And no real understandable picture of what it was designed to be in the first place. So the Bible is clear. And it holds up for us a good design that we ought to pursue and understand. Here's one of the major problems. We immediately say okay but what about love? What about long term relationships?
What if it's a committed long term relationship? What if they're good to one another? What if they love each other more than... Like there's so much messed up heterosexual relationships. And there's so many beautiful, loving, gracious, caring gay relationships. That why can't this be good?
Why can't we just look at this and say this is okay? Here's one of the reasons we make that argument. And here's one of the reasons that's so hard for us to respond to. Our culture says we've all bought into the idea that happiness is primary. That the purpose of life is personal happiness. That's the goal.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We've enshrined it. And then we've all agreed that the best way towards happiness is a romantic relationship. So if we've agreed to that, that happiness is primary and the best way to get there is a romantic relationship. The most cruel, harmful, evil things we can commit in our culture is to stand in the way of that. To tell anybody what we just said.
You can't pursue this type of relationship. That's not okay. The problem with that is that the Bible doesn't agree with either of those first two statements. Doesn't agree that your happiness is the point. You're going to have a really hard time forcing that on the text. I know people do.
I know someone who's stood up before. I had a friend who was a part of a church where they used to stand up and chant, money come to me now. Because God wanted them to be rich. And that was one of the prayers they would say. Read the New Testament. The call to Christianity is take up your cross, deny yourself, come die.
You're going to lose your friends. You're going to lose your family. This is going to go terribly for you. And then at some point after you've been tortured enough, you'll probably die. And guess what? It'll all be absolutely worth it.
Come take everything that has ever been a part of who you are and how you define yourself and lay that down for the God who died for you so that you might have a better eternity. You might have a real hope in something that absolutely matters. Everything matters. Jesus is going to tell stories about a guy who finds a treasure in a field and sells everything just to get that treasure because of how much more immensely valuable it is than anything else. That's what the Bible is going to say, that your happiness here is not primary. God loves you.
He's for your joy and your ultimate happiness, but that doesn't happen here through finances or relationships or anything else. And the Bible is also not going to agree with us that romance is primary, that it's the primary way to get to happiness. The Bible is pro-relationships. It's for love. It's not against it. I don't think it's primary.
It never holds that up as this is the way to pursue life. So when Christianity says, no, you actually should deny yourself, you should not pursue these relationships, we're not disagreeing with anything else the Bible says because we don't believe that happiness and romance are primary. Okay. Church. Four things for us and then we're going to do some Q&A. Four things for us that we have to realize in order for us to love people well and to act in such a way that someone who's a part of our church family who struggles with this can actually be loved, actually be welcomed, and actually live long-term pursuing Jesus.
Here's some things that have to be true. Number one, we can't keep pretending that happiness and romance are primary. As a church, the church in general can't keep buying into that idea. We agree to that, that happiness and romance aren't primary when it comes to someone who's struggling with same-gender attraction, but then we act like that's primary in all the other things we say. So every time you come up to a single person and go, have you found anyone yet?
Just keep trying. They're out there. Maybe you should lower your standards. Oh, I saw you talking to that person. Every time we do that, what we're doing is coming alongside someone and going, just remember where happiness is found. Just remember what life is about.
And it's nonsense. The Bible doesn't back you up on that. Perfectly fine for someone to pursue a romantic relationship with someone of the opposite gender, but it's not held up as supreme. Every time we say stuff like, well, I just know God wants me to be happy. How do you know that? Where did you find that?
You mean here? I doubt it. You mean long-term? Sure, yeah. And we see that on Jesus dying on the cross and calling us into a mission that matters so much more than everything else. That's his pursuit of our joy.
But I just enjoy my relationship so I know that God wouldn't want me to break up because I'm like, every time we say this stuff, we're not helping anything. And honestly, one of the major issues that those who struggle with same-gender attraction in the church face is not the sexual desire. It's that they're staring loneliness in the face. It's the emotional side of, I just want to be connected to someone. I want to be known and loved and cared about. And the church says your options are be celibate or pursue a heterosexual relationship, which to a lot of people who struggle with same-gender attraction, that's not really an option.
And celibacy just sounds terrible, not because of the sexual nature of it, maybe for some, but for a lot of them it's just that I want to be lonely forever. And here's what we're saying. Look, we know that happiness is primary and that romance is the only way to get there. I'm sorry. God's got rules. And then we're like, well, people are just going to keep pursuing this stuff and they won't repent.
And it's like, well, we pointed them to something that wasn't true. We kept holding up something that wasn't real and then acted like we were exempt from this. This false belief, this romance idolatry. All of us need to repent of romance idolatry. Some of you have stayed in really bad relationships for a long time or relationships that are really good but are outside of God's good design. And you're not repenting.
You're not changing. And we're all called to. And we honestly need to regain the biblical understanding of friendship. So one of the things that the, if you go to GayChristianNetwork.com, I think it's GayChristian.net. So the first website I said wasn't true at all.
It's the Gay Christian Network. One of the things they point to is they say, see, in the Old Testament the friendship between Jonathan and David was actually a homosexual relationship. The reason they're saying that is because we fall really short of the biblical idea of what friendship is supposed to look like. We're also approaching that in a very Western way, which is non-emotional. So like when David and Jonathan like cry and kiss each other, we automatically make that really sexual.
Whereas for Middle Easterners, that's not weird. Not sexual. Like it can happen in a perfectly non-sexual context. Did y'all ever see the pictures of George Bush walking down the street holding that guy's hand in Iran or whatever? Because that's how they indicate friendship. So he was with another leader and he held his hand.
And I was like, I remember seeing that when I was in high school. I'm going, that's super weird. I think we just have to go to war. I'm not walking around holding your hand, buddy. Like this is weird because I'm approaching that from a very Western mentality. But the truth is that the scope of emotion found in the Bible and the ability to love someone in a completely non-sexual way we've lost.
And so what we say is, yeah, the only real way to have actual friends is to get married. Like that's the only way you can really know somebody and really have intimacy and really over the term of life. And it's like that's foreign from the Bible and we have to redeem our understanding of friendship. Number two, we are all called to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus. So when you're living with your girlfriend but you're having a fit about someone who's struggling with homosexuality, it's nonsense.
When you won't repent of your sin but the gay's better, nonsense. It makes sense. The way that we get to grow together as Christians is all of us are called to take everything that we hold dear, everything that we hold in our heart that makes us us, all of our uniqueness and say, Jesus, you're king. All of us. And so then when we look at those, our same gender attracted brothers and sisters and we say, yeah, it makes sense because they see it. They see that all of us are repenting of sin.
All of us are fighting our own proclivities. All of us are fighting against our own sinful natures and all of us are seeking to pursue Jesus and submit everything to him. But when we act like, no, no, no, no, I'm okay. My porn struggle is not an issue. I am kind of fighting or whatever. But the fact that I'm really greedy, the fact that I'm really selfish, this doesn't really matter.
But you, big deal. I'm going to skip all the other things in that list. Big deal for you. Big deal for you. We have to all surrender and all deny ourselves. I have to all submit our sexual desires to Jesus.
The third thing is that the church has to actually be family. We have to actually care about one another and spend time with one another, relate to one another. Because honestly, it's the emotional side. It's the loneliness. It's the lack of friendship that makes it so untenable. When we say, you just got to be alone forever.
But if the church is actually what the New Testament holds up, where it's going to hold up consistently the church as family over and above nuclear family, then we begin to open our homes and invite people in to those who struggle with same-gender attraction or just our single brothers and sisters to come celebrate Thanksgiving with us. Come celebrate, quote-unquote, family time. Because ultimately, biblically, we're all going to die and we're going to be a part of a family. And I'm not going to be married to Anna anymore, but she will be my sister for eternity. And we get to celebrate that now, that we've been made into a new true family where God, through Jesus, has adopted us to be brothers and sisters.
And so one of the ways that we get to help those who struggle with this is by opening our homes and treating them like brothers and sisters, inviting them out to coffee, getting a conversation going, talking to them, being their friend, playing laser tag. We have an actual eternal family. Here's honestly, the LGBTQ community has been beating the pants off of the church when it comes to community, to friendship. In a lot of ways, it's really beautiful. It's what God designed it to look like, for them to care about one another, to love one another, to accept one another, not accept their sin as the church.
We would accept them and help them fight their sin the same way we accept everybody else in spite of their sin because it's our sin that actually qualifies us for Jesus to save us. But here's the other thing going on in the LGBTQ community. In the U.S., the most likely thing to kill someone who's a youth, get grades 7 through 12, anybody, is suicide. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are more than twice as likely to have attempted suicide than their heterosexual peers. This is according to the CDC. They did a study on 55 transgender youth and found that about 25% of them reported suicide attempts.
25%! The Trevorproject.com says that LGB youth are four times as likely as their peers and three times likely if they're questioning to attempt suicide. And we're the church saved by Jesus in spite of our sin. And they're not welcome here? Not loved here? We bring nothing to the table.
You aren't special. And then we're going to look and say, but my sin's different than yours. No. This has to be the safest place. The most welcoming group of people you have ever met. That's so wildly welcoming that it makes people uncomfortable.
That they don't know how to handle it. I know you disagree with me, but you've loved me more than anybody I've ever met. I know we're not on the same page here, but you won't stop calling me. You won't stop inviting me over for dinner. Stop being my friend. No.
That's what we're designed to be. The most absolutely overwhelmingly welcoming people because we know that nothing makes us special outside of the blood and savior. The blood of Jesus who saved us from our sin. So number four is we have to actually believe the gospel. You have to actually believe that it is Jesus who has saved you and has made you okay in spite of your sin. Not because of your specialness.
Not because of your good behavior. That your sinful desires aren't somehow different or better than someone else's. You have to actually believe that it's Jesus that saves us. And if we do that, if we actually believe the gospel, then we're free to love one another, to care for one another, to accept one another in spite of our sin. And then continue to confront one another in our sin because we care for one another. Free.
Okay. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to do some Q&A now. And I'm going to invite my friend Jordan Surratt. He's one of our community group leaders. He's going to come up here.
Help do some Q&A. Jordan struggles with same-gender attraction. He's going to help us as we talk about this today. So if you don't mind giving Jordan a hand. So this is my good friend Jordan.
He helps lead one of our community groups, the Pine Ridge group. Yeah. Jordan, real quick before we get into doing some of the other Q&A, I want to ask you a few questions just to help. People out here and talk about this a little bit as a church family. Can you tell people who you are, catch them up a little bit on your story, maybe just like the two-minute version of from when you were born to the moment you just sat down on that stool? That'd be great.
All right. Got to move quickly. All right. So I grew up in southwestern Virginia. It's kind of very super traditional, heart of the Bible Belt kind of area. And so I noticed that I started having same-sex attractions around seventh grade, so puberty time.
And I found myself just like, this is going to sound weird, but like looking at my teacher. And it wasn't like in a sense of, ah, I'm super attracted to him. It was more of like an interest. I didn't quite understand what was going on inside of me. And I noticed that like my peers, they would all be like starting to date girls. And I'm just like, I don't get that.
That doesn't make sense. But you kind of do. And so it would just be a little weird or whatever just growing up. But all through my middle school years, high school years, and even partly into college, it was just because of fear and shame and things like that, I wouldn't talk about it. And so the very first person I ever told, I think I was 18 and a half. And so I went basically the majority of my life.
I guess it is the majority of my life. Still keeping up with the half years at that point? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And the first person I ever told was my cousin. That was after I started going to church. So I was already involved in a local church for about five to six months or so.
And I was just broken. And I could just feel God being like, you have to tell someone. You have to tell someone. I'm like, okay, the next person who comes up. And lo and behold, my cousin pops down in front of me. She's like, I got to tell you something.
I'm like, I do too. And so she was the very first person I told. Went off to college in Lynchburg studying religion, pastoral leadership. And I started opening up a little bit more as the years would go by. And then I moved down here. And I've been open with my community group, open with my friends, with Chet, with Matt, with Raz, and everybody else here that I love.
So you may have said this. Became a Christian in college? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my second semester of community college, I started following Jesus. Okay. And that's, yeah, about that time.
And during all that, like, I never really pursued a relationship with someone. I struggled secretly, and so, like, I couldn't have imagined, like, someone else finding out by me flirting with them. But, you know, like, I just struggled with things like pornography and masturbation and whatnot. Okay. Well, help us out this morning. Or help.
If there's someone in the room struggles with same-gender attraction or identifies as homosexual, maybe is a part of our church family, what would you want to say to them? How would you want to address them? Cool. Cool. Well, part of this is going to depend on where you are at in your own walk and how open you have been already. I found one of the most encouraging and helpful things to me, even though it was super hard, was just beginning to talk about it.
And so it would take years for me to really build up that courage. And I've been lucky enough to have never really had any kind of, like, anybody lash out at me or whatever. I've had a lot of people just like, well, I don't understand, and I'm really confused, and I have a thousand questions. But through them asking those questions and through them talking about it, it actually even helped me. And so my encouragement to you would be, if you are struggling with that, to find someone here. I think there's a ton of people in this room who love you and care about you and genuinely welcome you as family, as brothers and sisters.
And I think you're safe and loved and cherished. Cool. Another thing on that that I just want to help everybody here, when it comes to hiding sin or hiding any kind of personal struggle, if we don't talk to people, any people whatsoever, we kind of disconnect our ability to actually receive love. Because we'll always, when someone tries to say they care about us or say good things about us, we'll always just kind of discount it as, yeah, well, if you only knew. If you only knew the real me. And so there is something, too, when we're in sin or when we have particular struggles or whatever, being able to be honest actually opens us up to have people really genuinely care about us and us to actually be able to receive that.
All right. Okay. So I'm in a community group or someone out here is in a community group and someone in my group talks about this now, confesses it, says this is going on or I struggle with this or whatever. Help me, heterosexual white guy, respond well. Like how do we love people well in church family if that happens, if they talk about it? Yeah.
Okay. I want to break that up into two parts. Okay. One is short term and one is long term. Okay. You have to do whatever you want to with the question asked.
Yep. We'll do. We'll do. So short term, don't skip over it because you're uncomfortable. Engage them. Ask them questions.
Talk with them. Be like, what was that like? Like engage emotion. That's one of the hardest things for me has been just the emotion behind it. And check kind of talked about that a little bit in his sermon was just like the thing that hurts me the most is not me not having some sexual outlet. It is me more than likely being alone.
It is me more than likely not having someone who genuinely knows me and cares for me and understands me for who I am, which sexual sin and homosexuality or whatever isn't my identity. I am much more than that. But there are still some amounts of me being unknown, even now at this moment, because I'm constantly changing. I'm a different person all the time. But so ask questions like genuinely engage them.
Talk with them. And if you do, this is kind of going back to the second question. If you if you do open up, be willing to give some grace to the people that you're telling. So whenever I told my dad, he was just quiet the entire time and it took him a day to process through that. And he called me back. He's like, OK, you know, I got a ton of questions and we had like an hour long conversation, you know, but we be willing to give them grace because they're having to process through this stuff as well.
So that's kind of the short term. Love them. Well, love them. Well, hug them. Don't be afraid of them because they're terrified. I'm terrified.
OK, so ask questions. Yeah. Bring it up later. Yeah, I think that would be very helpful. OK, which is kind of the long term. You know, it's just like how if someone is like, hey, I'm struggling with a drug addiction.
You're like, OK, you don't mention it. Don't mention it ever again. You know, see how that's going to go for you. You know, that doesn't make much sense. So long term.
Yeah. Don't make everything about that. You know, I'm much more than my same sex attraction, but I struggle with same sex. Sex attraction. OK. And so long term, that would be talking with them, talking with me, talking with us, I guess I should say.
Loving us well. Inviting them into a family. You know, that's that's we already you know, we are a family so long as our faith is in Jesus. And so you are my brothers and sisters. I think for the longest time, like I wrestle a lot with this just imagery, this this picture of I'm a sheep who's outside of the flock and I'm really struggling, feeling like I'm part of the flock. And so that just that just makes it so much more easier for wolves to come in and snack snatch me, you know.
But I think that is just very common in people who struggle with same sex attraction. I've seen it so many times in a lot of my friends who I've spoken with who struggle with the same thing. They're just like, I can't tell anyone. You know, they don't I don't know what to do. I'm afraid. You know, it's just a consistent, constant fear across the board.
Even people who are proud, you know, they call it pride for a reason because they're ashamed and they feel guilty. One of the things you talk about being family, one of the things Thor has talked about before is that Kent Bateman is one of the pastors. He actually spoke here recently about going to planting in Knoxville, went to Thor and basically was like, look, I know you're kind of kind of pursuing celibacy, but I know you also have some desires to to be a husband, to be a father. Like that's part of what goes along with this. It's not just the sexual nature of stuff. And he was like, man, if you ever just get lonely, just come live with us.
Like he was about to get married to his wife, Anna, at that point. He said, just come. You can come live with us. You can help me father my children. You can help be a part of this this family. And and so there is room for that as you begin to build genuine, real relationships to just invite people in, divide them to be around, to be a part of your family.
The other thing, I think one of the reasons we don't respond when someone confesses sin is we don't know what to say, which actually means that we probably when we do know what to say are saying unhelpful things. And here's what I mean. When someone confesses sin and I'm like, oh, I got this because I've experienced that before. Mostly what I'm blasting them with is good advice. And so when confesses something I don't understand and I'm quiet, it's because I don't have any good advice. Our goal as a church family is to point people towards Jesus, which means that you get to respond to any sin because Jesus is the answer to all sin.
So let me just help you out there. If you're like, I don't have anything. Jesus, just Sunday school it. It's Jesus. Jesus is the answer. Like, just write that on your hand.
And someone confesses something. Go, let me tell you about Jesus. Like that's realize that ultimately it's Jesus that saves us and Jesus makes us OK. And you get to do that. You get to point towards Jesus in all of it, even if you don't know how to to be the most helpful there. And then, yeah, you can always ask questions.
I think that's a very helpful thing to say. OK. Yeah, I think that's what we'll take some Q&A kind of here together. And then appreciate you. Thank you for sharing all that with us. And we'll look at what kind of what's been sent in.
When it comes to the theology of sex, are there topics that are simply off limits for Christians? No. Let me caveat that, though. The short answer is no. The long answer is what's the point of talking about it? If your goal is, so Paul at one point talks about people having itching ears.
And I just think that's a helpful. If your goal is it just feels good to talk about sex stuff, you probably should stop. Like you should confess that to your group. And we should work on that together. If your goal is like I genuinely have questions. I want to talk about this.
There are words that are used in dirty ways, but they're also used to describe things. So like Miss Libby came up to me last week and was like, it's just so refreshing to hear a pastor say orgasm. And I was like, that's so weird that we can talk about this. But we're just having a straight up normal conversation about an actual thing that exists. And we have to use words to describe it. And so there are things you can talk about.
What's the point of saying it? Are you going for a flashbang or this will be exciting or something like that? So it's really more of a what's the point? So they're okay topics. What's the point? What's the context?
Why are you talking about it? Is it okay to discuss your marriage bed with someone other than your spouse? Okay. Okay. Yes-ish. Again, big question.
What's the point? What are you talking about? Like, are you just wanting to tell stories? Are you wanting to gossip? Are they sharing? And so you feel like it's your turn?
Like, no. How does your spouse feel about that? Have you talked to them? Are you talking to your spouse about your marriage bed? You probably should be having some of those conversations. But it can be very helpful to have some conversations that are, I need to discuss this with you.
I need to, I wonder if my heart's right here. I need to have some of these conversations that aren't detail specific, aren't any kind of, let me tell you, like, it's just, I need to talk about this for my own sake, for my own sin, for me to grow. And I'm trying to get some clarity on this, and I think that's okay. Some of it is you need to talk to your spouse. You need to talk about what they're comfortable with. And you need to not, the goal can't be, let me share stories or let me do this because it's, I think it's entertaining or interesting or anything like that.
It's got to be way more of a, I'm wanting to grow and I'm wanting this to be healthy, and so this is worth us having a conversation. Kind of how I say that, so. Can someone be in a long-term, committed, same-gender relationship and still be a Christian? I'm going to take a shot in the dark and assume you've maybe thought about this more. So do you want to give an answer to that, and then I'll kind of fill in if there's any.
The hard thing is, is I want that to be so true because of what we were talking about earlier. I don't want to be alone. I don't want to not have someone, you know, that I can talk to, that I can trust, that I can lean into. You know, it's just like, God, there's just this deep desire to just be with someone. And obviously with my heart, like, I have no desire to be with a woman, which means that my desire is to be with a man. But I can't just for biblical reasons, you know.
But in regards to this question specifically, yeah, there's the emotional side of it, and there's the, well, they love each other, and they're committed to each other. But in regards to any sin, you know, homosexual, heterosexual, it doesn't really matter. If you are a heterosexual couple who is living in a relationship outside of marriage, you're in sin. And so I think the real question behind this is, can, let me read it, can someone be in a long-term committed, unrepentant sin and still be a Christian? And I think the biblical answer is no. So I'll read things like when Jesus says, why do you say you love me, but don't do the things that I've commanded?
Or John in 1 John when he says, you know, if you're continuously living in sin, then you actually never knew Jesus. You never knew God. The love of the Father is not inside of you. It's not what we want to hear. It's not what I want to hear. But it's true and actually better.
Yeah, thank you. It's a massively difficult question. I agree with that. I think it's where we try to gauge it, where we try to look into a situation and say, well, is this person a Christian? How long have they been sinning? Do they know about the sin?
Because there's, like, ignorance. And I've had friends who became Christians and continued doing very sinful things until they got to that place in the Bible. And then they were like, oh, this is no bueno. And I didn't know. Like, and that's one thing. It's a, is it an active, unrepentant?
I know what the Bible says. I just don't care. I had another friend who said, well, I'll become a Christian. But if I become one, I'm not going to do that no sex thing. He wasn't married. And it was like, you don't understand what becoming a Christian is because you get a king.
That's not how you show up with a, all right, king, here are my terms. That's not how it works. And so I think, yeah, long, long enough term, unrepentant, unwilling to repent, non-wrestling with it, just I'm just going to do what I want to do here. The Bible is going to say, well, you probably never were. But can you be a Christian in sin?
Yeah. Can you be a Christian in struggle? Yeah. Can you be a Christian in fall on your face all the time? Yeah, that's why we're Christians. We're the first people who raised our hand and said, I'm really messed up and I need someone to help me.
So, yeah, that's helpful. One more thing. I think it's very telling because if someone has an idol in their heart, which is what they worship to be God, and then God confronts them on that sin, and they're saying, no, capital God, I'm not surrendering this idol. I'm not surrendering this lowercase g God. Then that's idolatry.
And it shows that they're not even surrendered to God to begin with. At least that's the way that I process through that. I think the Bible processes through it the same way. Yeah. Can someone who struggles with same-gender attraction be in Christian leadership? You're a group leader.
You want to answer that? Well, I'm a group leader. So I'm a group leader. Yes, the more the merrier. Can someone who struggles with any sin be a group leader? I hope so.
Yeah. Yeah, for real. For real. We are really – That would be a real short list of groups. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's the question there.
So I think the key in that question would be the struggles with – so someone who's unrepentant, that becomes an issue. But someone who struggles with sin, that's every Christian in the room. Like that's everybody, every Christian should be fighting sin. And there would be no Christian leadership if you couldn't struggle with sin and lead. And so, yeah, I think the answer to that is are you fighting it, loving Jesus, hating sin, versus, no, just this is me. I've accepted it.
This is who I'm going to be, and I don't care what the Bible says. That becomes a problem. So, yeah. How should our beliefs on sexuality affect our politics? Okay, so just in general, whole theology of sex series and how should that affect politics? I said I wasn't going to say political statements.
I still don't intend to. I think you need to realize that your belief should affect your politics, should affect how you vote, should affect how you approach candidates, how you think about things. I think you need to also realize there is no political group that perfectly is backed up by Jesus. So when you read the Bible, you're going to see some things that are going to line up with our different political parties in different ways. And I think in America, especially during this time, we need to realize Jesus has an endless kingdom where he reigns supreme throughout all of eternity. And no political candidate is going to save us or fix us or make us whole or complete everything.
There was a Messiah. His name is Jesus. He will return and set up a kingdom that will last forever and you won't see a Messiah on any of the tickets. So, think about it. Have your beliefs affect your politics. If you're just like, no, I just don't even think about what I believe.
It's like that's a culturally given thing. That's foreign to the Bible. You should absolutely have what you believe affect how you vote. Christians are told, don't bring your Christianity into this room. And it's like, that's nonsense. Take it with you everywhere.
But realize that it's not ultimate regardless. But Christians should vote. And all the people you're going to vote for are going to have some things that are just completely messed up. Do you want to take this one? All right.
We're good. I'm going to pray. And Matt and Bianca are going to come back up and we're going to sing a little bit together. And so, I'll send it to you. Yeah, you can come on. No, we're good.
We'll move this and then I'll pray and we'll sing. Y'all thank Jordan again for hopping up here. Thank you. Father, we thank you that you're good. Lord, we thank you, Lord, that our sin qualifies us for you to be a very good and loving Savior. Pray, God, that you would help us to grow to be family.
To all of us repent of sin. For all of us to quit believing the lies about happiness and romance so that we actually, in our marriages, can just love our spouse well but without believing they're supposed to fill us up. That in our pursuit of relationships, we can love you more. And that in the midst of all of our life, we'll quit just believing the lie that you want us to be happy here in this moment right now. Rather than you want us to pursue you, which is an ultimate good. God, help us to believe the gospel.
And help us to love our city and our gay neighbors well. And all those in our church family who struggle with same-gender attraction. That they feel wildly loved and cared about and welcomed. Because you are our king. And we hold no other allegiances. In Jesus' name, amen.
Consumeristic Sexual Individualism
What is the purpose of sex? Should it be casual and convenient? Apocalyptic and ultimate? Or something different altogether? Is sex an appetite we satisfy, or a gift we enjoy?
Transcript
Well, good morning. We are in our sixth week of our Theology of Sex series, and today we are talking about sex. So if you are just now hanging out with us, that might not seem surprising. If you've been here for the other five weeks, you may be thinking, I thought that's what we were going to talk about the whole time. It's about time. Why have we waited so long?
It wasn't bait and switch. Really what it was is there's so many other things we had to say before we could ever talk about sex by itself, for us to even understand how God designed it and what his goal was for it and what his aim was for it. And so we had to kind of build a framework for God's good design for sex before we could ever even talk about sex. It's kind of like jumping right in and talking about trigonometry. If you don't know how to add and subtract, it's like we got to cover the basics first. We got to understand the framework here before we can we can talk about sex.
And so for five weeks, we've spent some time walking through different passages of Scripture, trying to understand gender, trying to understand God's design. And so I'm going to try to recap that a little bit, maybe using some different words to help us understand what we've been looking at for the past five weeks. So we talked about God created humanity in his image, that we were designed by God for his purposes. And what we're seeing there is that God, who is very different from us, makes us similar but different from him. So humanity made in the image and likeness of God is similar to God, but very different from God.
And hopefully we're all tracking with that. You're like God. You are not God. So just if you're confused about that, we can talk about it later. But you are not God.
You're like him, made in his image and likeness. And so there's this idea of similar but different. And then when God made gender, he did the same thing. He kind of followed the same pattern where he made both male and female similar but different. He designed us distinct from one another. And so it follows that same setup, that same paradigm of similar but different.
And then we saw that Christ's love for the church, Jesus' pursuit of the church in the cross, was his covenant love for the church. And that is where this very different being from humanity joins with humanity, makes himself one with humanity to join together in a covenant relationship and to make himself one. So the church is called the bride of Christ and Christ's body. So we're both his pursuit and what he loves and cherishes and also we're made one with him. And then we saw that marriage is actually a small picture of that. Marriage is these two similar but different beings coming together and becoming one and covenanting together with one another for a life of devotion and submission to one another.
And so we see that God designed humanity similar but different from him. He designed gender similar but different from one another. And then God through Christ makes a covenant with humanity and makes us one with him and that marriage is designed to be the same thing, to be similar but different brought together in a covenant relationship. And only in that relationship sex is designed to exist. So sex exists inside of this covenant relationship.
And so we've kind of walked through all of that. And now we're going to spend some time today talking about sex. So we're going to go to Genesis 2 real quick. You don't have to flip there. We're going to have it on the screen. We've gone there every week.
You should about have this memorized by now. This is vastly important for our understanding of who we are, how we were designed, and how we view and understand God and understand our place with one another and understand sexuality. So it says, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And so we spent time last week talking about this. This is the covenant relationship in marriage, that two become inseparably one. So Paul's going to go to this verse in Ephesians 5 and say, this actually gives us a small picture of the love that Christ has for the church, how he dies on her behalf, how he sacrifices to pour out his love and to just give and just to lavish love on his people.
And that's the design for marriage. And then Jesus is going to go there in Matthew 19 to say that whatever God's brought together, we're not supposed to tear apart. And so then it says, And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. This is the very beginning of Scripture. In the very first few pages, what we are given is that God creates humanity distinct from himself. He creates gender distinct from one another, and he designs them to be brought together.
And he sets them in a garden naked without shame. And then he tells these shameless nudists to be fruitful and multiply. It's one of the first commands that God gives in Scripture. And so from the very beginning of humanity, God designs covenant marriage and sex and sexuality to play a part in his good design for humanity. Now, in our culture, jump ahead thousands of years, we, you would not have to do much cultural research at all to see that we have begun to place a lot of value on sex. You can't stand in line at the grocery store without looking over at the magazine racks and seeing that we have concepts like sex sells, but you can't look at a magazine rack without seeing little on the sides.
It's not always the main thing, but they'll be on the side, this little article tells you what's going to be inside it, and you'll get five tips on how to wow your man. Seventeen tips to a sexier summer. Thirteen tips for making your bed the best place ever for sex or whatever. Like, there's just all of these kind of, and it's like, really, farm and garden? Come on, man. Like, take it easy.
But it really, we've overemphasized this. You can't watch a TV show, watch a movie, without some sort of message about sex and sexuality being pumped into our brains. And now we have the pornographic revolution that has come with the internet, and we are overly inundated with sex and sexuality, and we have some competing views in our culture where we both, we say things like, when two people love one another very much, and we act like sex comes out of this emotional, deep connection, and it's designed to be love, and we call it lovemaking, and it's supposed to be this meaningful thing. And then we also, at the same time, will say, it's also kind of like a game of checkers, like just a recreational activity for enjoyment.
And it doesn't really mean anything at all, and it just kind of depends on how you approach it. And so what we need to do is to grow in our understanding of what the Bible says about it, how God originally designed it, because He's the one who invented it. I heard someone put it this way. God created Adam and Eve, put them in a garden, naked. He did not come back later and go, Oh my goodness, what are you doing? Like, He came up with the idea.
He invented it. He made it for a purpose, for a reason. And God's design for sex was to exist inside of this covenant relationship and to be a covenant renewal ceremony. So throughout the Bible, God makes covenants with His people, and then He has physical Acts, physical, tangible reminders that they go through to remind themselves of their covenant. So an example of that for us is my wife and I got married six, seven years ago, and we stood up in front of people and we held hands and we like said things to each other and we repeated after this guy and then we had to keep holding hands while he talked and I would kind of forget what we were doing and let go of my wife's hands and she still fusses at me about that so that when I do premarital stuff with people, I say, Hey, hold hands the entire time or your wife will never forget it.
Because it was like it was just going on forever and I just kind of let go and be like doing like this. But during that, what we said was we were making an invisible commitment to one another. But then we said we're actually going to take something visible, a tangible reminder, and we're going to use this to remind ourselves and to show other people what our relationship is designed to be. We have an invisible, physical, emotional, personal attachment to one another, spiritual connection to one another, but we're going to take a symbol. And it wasn't this one because this is like I'm on my third one because I keep losing them.
But it was something very similar to this. And we put it on my hand. We put one on her hand. She still has the same one. And we celebrated that this is a physical reminder of this spiritual, emotional, invisible reality. And sex is designed to be that in marriage.
Now, it's not as public as this one. It shouldn't be. You're doing it wrong. But it is a tangible, physical reminder of your vows, of your covenant. It is a covenant renewal that is designed to be. It is a covenant renewal that is designed to say all of me belongs to all of you.
Everything I have, everything I am, everything I will be, I sacrifice and submit to you. That's celebration of the covenant that you have. And that is God's good design for sex. He made it as an intentional covenant renewal ceremony inside the context of marriage. So as we walk through the day, we're going to continue to talk about that definition.
We're going to continue to pull that up. And we're going to hold that up as our, this is what sex was designed to be. Therefore, this can't be correct. So as we walk through and look at these other things that we believe about sex, we're going to hold that up and keep saying, because this is true. So from the very beginning of the Bible, it lays that out as this is what sex is.
And so for the rest of scripture, anything that falls outside of a covenant marriage, anything that falls outside of any sexual activity that falls outside of that is considered sexual immorality. It's outside of God's good design. So that's why the Bible is going to treat so many other things as, no, you're not supposed to do that because God's good design for it was very specific. So we're going to actually find a lot of help as we study this in first Corinthians. So if your Bible looks like this, go to page 620.
I'll give you a second to get there. Then we're going to pray. And then we'll talk a little bit about what's going on here in this passage before we kind of dive in and begin to look at what Paul's saying here. Okay. Let's pray really quick.
God, we thank you for sex. We thank you for the good that it is. We pray, Lord, that we would rightly view it, rightly understand it, that we would see the beauty in your design for it in a way that might cause us to worship you. We pray, Lord, that married or single, we would rightly appreciate, view sex so that we might rightly love and worship you. We pray that as we study this today, Lord, you would give us clarity and wisdom and lead us to repentance where we've begun to believe lies about this good gift. In Jesus' name, amen.
So Corinth, think Las Vegas. So the city of Corinth was what happens here stays here kind of a place. It was a port city. They had a very lucrative sex slavery trade, sex trade, and a lot of prostitution. They had temples with prostitutes. They had other regular just prostitutes.
And then they had a very, people would come in. They would reload their ships. They would re-get supplies. And people would go visit prostitutes. And so that was a big thing in Corinth. And in the midst of that, Jesus saved some people.
A church was formed under Paul planting churches. And Paul's, in this letter, writing back and forth with the Corinthians and coaching them up. And so it honestly, it's a young church. It reminds us some of us, reminds me some of us, where we've got a lot of people who've just met Jesus. If we asked you a couple years ago, would you be following Jesus, you would have laughed. But now there's people who are repenting, following Jesus, and just trying to figure out what that means.
And so they're writing a letter to Paul, and they have all these questions about sex and sexuality because their culture has just bombarded them with how to think about it. It's kind of like this. If it's raining really hard, even if you get an umbrella, even if you put on a rain jacket, if it's just pouring, I mean sheets of rain, sideways rain, when you get inside, you are still wet. You did everything you could to cover up, but you're still wet. And Corinth's culture and our culture is similar when it comes to the concept of sex. We can do everything we want to to try to protect ourselves or guard ourselves, but some of it still soaks in.
Some of it still gets into our thought processes, into how we approach it. And so they're writing to Paul saying, isn't this true about sex? Isn't this true about sex? And Paul is going to be responding. And so everything we see in quotations, that's Paul saying, y'all said this. Here's your answer.
So it's a Q&A session with the church in Corinth. And surprisingly, they have a lot of the same thoughts and questions that we have. So we're going to go through and see what they ask and how Paul responds to help us better understand God's good design for sex. So chapter 6, verse 12. In quotations, he's quoting them. All things are lawful for me.
And then he says, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. So he's saying, okay, y'all said this, and it's in the context of sex. He said, y'all said this, and let me help answer that. So what they said was, all things are lawful for me.
And here's basically what their question was, what they were saying about sex. Question one is, isn't sex an individual and private matter? So when they say, all things are lawful for me, it's kind of like our phrase, well, it's a free country. What they're saying is, if it doesn't hurt anybody, if it's just my private business, why does it matter? Live and let live. If whatever I do in my own personal sphere doesn't matter.
And so sometimes this has been taught as what they were saying was, all things are lawful for me in Christ because Jesus has fulfilled the law for me. That's less likely because the Corinthian Christians weren't well-versed in the Old Testament and were significantly dealing with cultural issues. So really what they're saying is they're kind of repeating a cultural thing, which is, it's a free country. If I'm not hurting anybody, why does it matter? If it's my personal business, why does it matter? And so Paul gives a quick response to that and he's going to keep responding to it as he goes through the rest of the section.
But the first things he says are very helpful. So really, when we ask questions like this, there's an underlying belief system that makes us ask that. And so it's really the first lie that they believe and that we believe, because we say this same thing, is that sex is individualistic. That's the first lie that we believe when it comes to sex. That's what they were putting forth. Like, why does it matter?
It's just a private thing. Why does it matter what I do? Sex is individualistic. Now here's Paul's quick response to that. First of all, sex is an individualistic approach. Paul says it's not helpful.
And given the way he uses that phrase throughout the rest of his book, what he means is, nuh-uh. He's saying sex is not individualistic at all. It's not helpful. There are other people involved. So a quick recap of what sex is.
It's two people coming together. So when I say sex is just about me, then I'm doing it wrong because there's supposed to be two people coming together. It automatically means that there's someone else involved. So it can't just be an individualistic approach. It automatically affects other people. So Paul's response is no.
It's not individualistic. That's not a helpful way to approach it. Other people are involved. Other people, if you just approach it as what do I get out of it? If it's just a, it's about me and my enjoyment and my pleasure, then you've undercut and you don't even view it correctly. You're not approaching it correctly.
That's not helpful and that actually harms other people. And then he gives a response. So our immediate kind of pushback on that is, yeah, okay, sure, you can't say that sex with another person is just individualistic because other people are involved. But we've done a lot of work in our culture to make sex as individualistic as possible, primarily through pornography, that that can be enjoyed by yourself and does not harm anybody else. First of all, Paul's first response helps you because he says, no, it's not actually helpful in the context of community. Your life and decisions don't exist in a vacuum.
What you do does affect other people. And so when he says it's not helpful, he means it doesn't work well in the context of community, in the context of society. Looking at pornography creates a demand for pornography and pornography is videoed prostitution. It is videoed sex slavery. That's what the porn industry is. And studies are beginning to show that it seems that there's a link between pornography and an increase in sex slavery and sex trafficking because people are moving from what they're viewing to enacting that.
There's also a link now between males that view pornography and then how they treat a real female when they are with them in a very aggressive, domineering, physical, unromantic, unemotional way that is portrayed for them in pornography. And where young boys as early as 10 now is the average age of the boy seeks out pornography. At 12, most young men in advanced cultures that have the Internet have a significant exposure to pornography. A Canadian researcher went to do a study on porn use in college students, college males. When you do a study, here's how it works. You need the people you're studying and you need a control group so that you can compare them.
So if you were studying smokers of a certain age, you would need to find same gender, same age, non-smokers. The problem with his study was he couldn't find non-pornography users when he went to college age males. He could not find a control group large enough to use. So it would be like if everybody smoked and then you asked, does smoking affect you? And you said no. But then we also put out reports that said all humans get lung cancer by the age of 40.
It's just a thing that happens to humans. It's like, no, if we had a control group that showed non-smokers, we'd realize that wasn't a human problem. And so the problem with his study was he couldn't find people who had not been significantly exposed to pornography, and some of them for over 10 years. And here's what happens. That affects how they view females, how they approach females. It affects all the females who are looking at pornography, how they view males, how they approach males.
It becomes an unhelpful problem. But here's Paul's second response to that. But I will not be dominated by anything. When we approach sex in an individualistic way, specifically for our culture through pornography, it becomes very addictive. Sex was designed to be addictive anyway. It sets off the same pleasure sensors in your brain that other addictive drugs do.
So you were designed by God to become more addicted to your spouse. That was the way sex was designed. And inside the covenant of marriage, that's beautiful. Outside of it, that's kind of scary. Because it creates an addiction that is crushing people in our culture, that is crushing through pornography. There's a lady named Naomi Wolf.
She's just been doing some research on this. She was an analyst or an advisor to several different presidents, President Clinton being one of them. She wrote an article called The Porn Myth. And so here's what she says in that. But does all this sexual imagery in the air...
She's not a Christian, by the way. She's just been studying this. Does all this sexual imagery in the air mean that sex has been liberated? So we act like we're free, we're open about it. Sex is free. It's liberated.
Or is it the case that the relationship between the multi-billion dollar porn industry, compulsiveness, so addiction being dominated by it, and sexual appetite has become like the relationship between agribusiness, processed food, supersized portions, and obesity? If your appetite is stimulated and fed by poor quality material, it takes more junk to fill you up. But people are not closer because of porn, but further apart. People are not more turned on in their daily lives, but less so. Mostly when I ask about loneliness... She goes around to colleges and speaks to young adults a lot.
Mostly when I ask about loneliness, a deep, sad silence descends on the audience of young men and young women alike. They know they are lonely together, even when conjoined, and that this imagery, porn, is a big part of that loneliness. What they don't know is how to get out. Because of an individualistic approach to sex, which is not how sex was designed, it crushes our ability to have meaningful relationships because we only begin to respond well to pornography, and we begin to hold everybody up, every significant other, every person as a sex object, or we compare them to past relationships, or past videos that we have watched, and it begins to erode our ability to appropriately approach sex in the way that God designed.
I saw a guy doing a TED Talk, and he said that one of the problems with this, one of the problems with constant pornography viewership and then having real relationships, is that pornography viewership cuts out all of the beautiful stuff about sex, like conversation, laughter, touching with your hands, kissing, emotional connection. It turns it into this really male-dominated, aggressive, twisted, constantly changing to other things, and he said it erodes a lot of the beautiful... He said when he used to fantasize, this is not a Christian guy, he's just talking through this, that he used to think about having a conversation, and where that would lead, and how he... And he said once he began to view porn all the time, that wasn't there anymore.
There was no more intimate, emotional connection, because an individualistic approach to sex dominates us, becomes addictive, begins to control how we view it, and takes it out of what God designed it to be, which was not individualistic at all. So the major problem with this is this is a massive misunderstanding of what sex is. Sex was designed to be not just for personal pleasure and fulfillment, although that's a part of it, but it was to be complete surrender. It was to be you making yourself vulnerable and giving yourself to someone else for their pleasure and their enjoyment in the context of a covenant marriage.
Because it was a covenant renewal ceremony, because it was a pouring yourself out on behalf of another, the way you are in life in a covenant, in marriage in a covenant, sex becomes a gracious response and a gracious, humble giving yourself to someone else. And when it's approached in an individualistic manner, it's robbed of that. So this can be seen in dating, where someone just uses another person for sex. A person, a lot of times we see this as in males, but it can be anybody, just uses someone for sex, and once they have sex, they just move on, because that was the only goal. So they've treated a person with a soul, made in the image of God, like nothing more than an object.
This same individualistic approach can be seen in marriage, where somebody is just, I want to have sex right now. That's it. That's my approach. And you need to have sex with me, regardless of context, regardless of how you feel. And on the other side of that, someone who in marriage is never in the mood. So that as long as that's the hurdle, I don't feel like it.
And all that is on both sides of that fence is just sex exists for my individual pleasure. So if I want it, let's go. Or sex exists for my individual pleasure. So if I don't want to, no. And that's still the same approach. These aren't just problems for single people.
This is a problem with how we view sex in general. C.S. Lewis says that this approach to sex, that this idea of sex without covenant is like chewing food and then spitting it out without swallowing it and digesting it, which does not leave us more satisfied, but more hungry, which ultimately guts eating food of what it was designed for in the first place. Question two, they ask. So Paul's response to the first question, the question two, they ask.
He spends a little more time here because he's also still addressing the first question. 13. Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food. So they say, okay, Paul, food's meant for the stomach, the stomach for food, which what they're really asking is, isn't sex just an appetite? Isn't it just an appetite? Isn't it just like, okay, Paul, let me break this down for you.
I have a stomach. My stomach sends signals to my brain. It says I'm hungry. My brain sends signals to my hands. I grab food. I stick it in my mouth.
It goes to my stomach. My stomach exists because food exists and food exists because my stomach exists. And that's the same way that sex works. I have sexual parts and sexual urges and they exist in relation to one another. It's just an appetite. I love that this question is in here because we think we have progressed so far.
We are so far beyond all of those morons that used to live in history because I have Google. I'm so much smarter than everybody else who knew how to actually do things. I can just read about things and that makes me smart because I can buy shoes from Reebok. I don't know how to make shoes, but I can buy them. I'm smarter than all of these people. We just, history has just moved forward and progressed.
And here's the thing. We say stuff like this. We say stuff like, it's just a private matter. We say stuff like, sex is just an appetite as if we've moved on and outgrown. That argument's 2,000 years old. They have the same thoughts, same questions.
I got a stomach. I eat. I have sexual organs. I sex, right? Thank you, Paul. You are dismissed.
I have defeated you with logic. And so Paul responds. And this is really the second lie that we believe about sex comes from this, this idea that sex is just an appetite, is that sex is consumeristic. It's just a consumer good. It is designed for us to partake in however we feel because it's just an appetite. Now here, sex is, does have a desire that goes along with it, does have appetite that goes along with it, but it's not just that.
And it's not the same as eating food because if you don't eat food, you will die. And although some people in our culture might would argue that not having sex will kill you, it will not. Sex is not just physical. That's the argument being made here. It's just physical. It's just an exchange of goods, just a physical enjoyment.
And so Paul responds. One of the best examples of this in our culture right now, I believe, is the app Tinder. Tinder is an app, for those of you who are not familiar. It's on a smartphone. You take a picture of yourself and I think there's a little bit of information, but it's not like bogged down by information about the human. It's mostly just the picture.
And then you just swipe one way or the other to like the human or unlike the human. I don't know what it's called. It's just called swiping and it's become like a manic. People do this all day long, looking at people and swiping one way or the other they're based off of. And really what it is, this is a very advanced form of human shopping. It is a handheld brothel in so many ways.
Now, some people would say, no, no, no. You can make real, meaningful connections through Tinder. And that's what I'm using it for. Okay, maybe. The majority of people aren't. The person on the other side swiping your picture probably isn't.
And if you've been on Tinder for a while, via the text and pictures they have sent you, you might have picked up on that. It is a lineup of humans with souls that we have reduced to a quick ability to say, nope, don't like that one. Nope, don't like that one. Yes, yes, yes. Nope. Nope.
Yes. It's a brothel app. It's used that way. There's an article in Vanity Fair that is a very difficult read because of how painful it is to see how devastating this is. Now, you may say, okay, but hold on a second. Isn't that what people do when they go to bars?
Isn't that the same thing people have been doing forever when they showed up and looked around for a person to talk to? Yes. In a lot of ways. We've just become more efficient. In that article in Vanity Fair, they're talking to three guys and they say, why do you like Tinder so much? A couple of different things.
They said it was easy to meet Tinderellas. They said, it used to be you'd have to go to a place like a bar, put forth energy. You can only talk to one, two, maybe three girls a night. But on Tinder, you can be in 15 conversations at once and one of the other guys piped in and you don't have to spend any money. And they were like, yes, that's good too. Now, that's people shopping, but it grows out of how we've begun to approach sex.
It ought to be free. It ought to be easy. It ought to be simple. Humans exist for my pleasure. Sex is a consumer good. We ought to be able to line this up easily.
We ought to be able to get supply and demand connected. And so, Paul is going to respond to this, I have a stomach, it's designed for food argument. This sex is just an appetite. This lie that sex is consumeristic. And so, Paul responds with a couple of things that I find very helpful. Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food and God will destroy both one and the other.
The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. Okay, his first response is very helpful. First of all, sexual immorality, when you see that in the Bible, mostly coming from the Greek word pornea, which is just sexual junk drawer. It really means all sex outside of God's covenant designed for marriage, all sexuality outside of God's covenant designed for marriage. So, everything, if you're thinking, well, does it include this? Yes.
Yes, it does. All of the sexual activity outside of marriage because making a list would have taken too long and then we would have invented something new and said, that's not in there. So, it's just everything outside of God's covenant design. He says, your body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord. Here's what he's saying. Sex is not ultimate.
That does not sound profound. It's very helpful for our culture. You can live your entire human life and never have sex and be fine. I'm going to go over here and say that. You can live your entire human life and never have sex and be fully complete and fully satisfied and fully human be fine. Jesus came and was single.
He is the God as a human perfection held up for us and he lived his entire life, never got married, never had sex. This is so bizarre to our culture that we make up. Obviously, he had to have secret lovers. Obviously, he's got some lineage somewhere. Obviously, this effeminate drawing here is not a boy, but it's some kind of a girl who's not very pretty. But what are you going to do?
Like, sorry, that was a very Da Vinci Code stuff there. If you haven't, you don't know what I'm talking about, that's fine. I was like, that got weird. Yeah, it did. It did. Read it.
It gets weird. It's so bizarre to us, but the truth is your body does not exist for sex. You will not die. You are okay. You can live your entire life and never have sex. Sex is not ultimate.
You were given a body designed for God and His glory and His worship. You were made in the image of God to reveal what He is like to the rest of creation. And that doesn't have to be sex. That's very helpful and sadly profound for us. Next thing He says, so first of all, you don't have to have sex. You're okay.
You were designed for something else, something bigger, something better. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? He's talking to Christians. He's saying, don't you know Jesus' covenant love that He's already poured over you that when you place faith in Him, He made you His and He loves you. You are His bride and He's made you one with Him.
You're part of His body. You're members of Christ. Like, you know, like your arm is a member of your body. That's what He means there. Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Okay, so this is getting deeper than we understand.
So let's keep moving here. Members of a prostitute never, or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? Okay, two things we need to know. One is, prostitution was the big socially acceptable way to have sex outside of your marriage. That's why He refers to prostitution. That was the big Corinthian way, perfectly fine, socially acceptable way to have sex outside of a covenant marriage.
So people were married young and you weren't specifically interested in having a good sexual relationship with your spouse. Wives were not allowed to have sexual relationships outside of their marriage relationship or they were in big trouble, but men could do whatever they wanted to and going and visiting a prostitute was perfectly normal, sexually acceptable way to have a sexual outlet. So, when He talks about prostitution in our culture, that honestly includes most everything. There are really three things that our culture is going to say aren't okay when it comes to sex and sexuality, just culturally.
Anything forced? Not okay. Anything with children of a certain age? Like, we kind of have an age limit on it. Not okay. And the third one is cheating and that one's more of a gray area for people, but mostly frowned upon.
Cheating's not good. So, those are kind of the only three. So, when He says prostitution, He's talking about the way they would have approached sex outside of a covenant relationship. And so, for us, He really just means all the sexual things that we're kind of okay with when He's talking about prostitution. Does that make sense? Tracking there?
Some of you are. Cool. Okay. Okay. Do you not know this is 16? Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her?
Okay. That's not very profound if you just take it for what He's saying. He has to mean something deeper because what He just said is do you not know that he who's joined with a prostitute is joined with a prostitute? Yep. Like, if He just means physical, that sentence isn't helpful and doesn't make a lot of sense. But what He's doing is He's approaching sex the way the Bible always does, which it is much deeper than physical.
Much more going on than just the physical act. So when they say, isn't sex just an appetite? Isn't it just physical? Isn't it just a consumer good? Paul says, no. It's not.
There's so much more going on. The same reason that we in our culture know that there's a difference between physical abuse and sexual abuse. because there's more going on there than just a physical interaction. Paul's acknowledging that there's much more to sex than physical, that it's actually emotional, psychological, spiritual. There's a pastor in New York. He wrote a book called The Meaning of Marriage. In one of his chapters on sex, he says this.
I think it's helpful. The Bible says, do not unite with someone unless you are also willing to unite with the person emotionally, personally, socially, economically, and legally. Don't become physically naked and vulnerable to the other person without becoming vulnerable in every other way. Because you have given up your freedom and bound yourself in marriage. So Paul's point here is that sex is wrong and out of place in all other circumstances than inside of this covenant.
Because it means more. So the Bible's argument is not that you have too high a view of sex. The Bible argues that you have too low a view of sex. The Bible's going to push us that we don't believe enough about sex. That we don't have high enough view about sex. That's the Bible's point.
The reason we're willing to flippantly have sex, the reason we treat it the way we do is not because we value sex too much but we value it too little. We don't understand all that's happening there. This is, sex creates a deep connection. It's a symbol of an invisible reality. That's what it was designed to be. That's how it functions all the time.
So here's what happens. Let me help you out here. During sex, when you have an orgasm, your body fires off a bunch of chemicals like explosions in your head. They are designed to create addiction. Same pleasure centers we talked about that earlier. They're designed to bond you to whatever is causing that.
In your head. They are designed to create addiction. Same pleasure centers we talked about that earlier. They're designed to bond you to whatever is causing that. There's multiple brain chemicals that take place during this that are designed to connect you far beyond a physical interaction. Some of the same chemicals that are given off when a mother breastfeeds, the skin-to-skin contact stuff, it's become real big recently so they've been pushing for men to have skin-to-skin contact
With their babies because mothers get to and it helps you bond to the baby and so that was one of the things they talked about like in the hospital I should have some skin-to-skin contact with Archer and so when they first went to hand me him they were like here you want to hold him and I was like yeah let me take my shirt off first and they were like okay and I was like I'm kidding and they were like well a lot of dads do that and I was like I didn't mean to mock them
I just I was a joke I'm sorry just give me the baby not doing it I'm not stripping down to hug a baby it's not happening sorry if that's you you go for it bro that's great proud of you it was just one of my things but there's something to the chemicals there that take place with a mother bonding to a baby with the skin and it happens during sex and it is designed by God
Who invented sex to make you addicted to your spouse to make you more aroused by your spouse whatever is causing this interchange whatever is causing this explosions in your head it almost slows everything down for you to suck it all in so it becomes a smell it becomes the context of what's going on it becomes the person this is why this becomes so devastating
Outside of a covenant marriage so beautiful here so beautiful that God designed you to become more and more addicted to each other that is beautiful and it becomes almost horrifying when you take it out of that context because your body is designed to latch on to people and you have to begin to if you're having casual sex
With people you have to begin to harden your heart on that you have to begin to shut that off you have to begin to over time grow callous to that so that you're not hurt over and over and over again this is why relationships become much harder to break off once sex enters the picture it's why people stay in relationships with morons because they've begun to do something that happens
On an emotional psychological spiritual basis where God's bringing them together designed and they feel like they owe the person something the person owes them something they become beholden to one another and they shouldn't be this is why pornography addiction becomes such a problem because you're rewiring your brain
To be all the things that were designed for you to soak in and be aroused by it's now being alone looking at a screen clicking changing from image to image novelty whereas in marriage it's designed to be so many other things so Paul says don't you know when you have sex when there's sexual interaction with another person so much more
Is happening here Bible clearly teaches that sex is designed for the context of marriage and the reason that we approach it the way we do is because we have too low a view of it not that we think too high of sex but too little of it so or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her
For it is written the two will become one flesh so he's talking back Genesis he brings it up again and says this is this is why this is a problem because it was designed for something else but he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit
With him so he's saying you already have this relationship this fulfillment in Christ you don't need to pursue it other places and then he says this flee from sexual immorality every other sin a person commits is outside the body but the
Sexually immoral person sins against his own body or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God so he says flee flee from
Sexual immorality we're pretty terrible at this flee means be afraid and run as fast as your little feet can carry you that we should have such a high view of sex that we should run from anything
That would lead us outside of what it was designed to be we should flee from it for some of us practically that means putting some blocker things on your computer that means having a dumb phone that only receives phone calls and is
Almost useless that means having some very serious conversations with the person that you're dating about where you're going to go ahead and pre-build in some lines build some fences in your brains to protect yourselves that means that maybe
Netflix and chill isn't an option for you because chill becomes way less chill after a while that you just have to build some ways that we're going to run from this and that's difficult but the reason we don't run is that we
Believe lies about sex we don't understand what it was designed to be so we're willing to toy with it a lot more when it actually has a lot more power and a lot more value than we understand man then Paul says this which means a lot to them and I'm going to try to
Help us understand it do you not know this is verse 19 do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God you are not your own for you were bought with a price so glorify God in your body they were not far removed from the slave trade the way to gain freedom from slavery
Was to be bought out of it that was it you were enslaved or you were bought out of slavery so when he says you are bought with a price what he's referring to is that when Jesus Christ went to the cross and gave up his life on our behalf he paid our debt to set us free
From slavery that we do not have to be enslaved to anything but that we were bought with a price and owned by Jesus who purchased us by his blood and who loved us so much to pursue us so far as to go to the cross and die for us to make us his you're not
Your own if you're a Christian you've already been bought you've already been purchased by a much better slave owner by a much better king who set you free from everything else so that you might enjoy a real true depth of relationship with him when it comes to our approach to sex
Paul says hey you don't have to be a slave to it it doesn't have to own you don't have to be a slave to your appetites you don't have to be a slave to your own personal desires you've been purchased by Jesus to be free and only through Christ can we actually find freedom so then they
Move on to the next question which is kind of a reaction against the first two questions I can almost see the Corinthian church wrestling over this and people being like okay we'll put this in the letter put this in the letter and someone's like no put this in the letter and so he gets to this
Next thing he says now concerning the matters about which you wrote so he's saying okay now you've said this verse chapter seven it is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman okay so sex isn't just individualistic it's not just consumeristic there's a group in Corinth saying no no no no
Just no sex whatsoever right like shouldn't we just avoid sex whatsoever so the third question is isn't sex dirty like isn't it just kind of wrong like there's you see so much abuse of it you see this handled so poorly shouldn't we just avoid it that's the third question and it kind of lines up with the third lie we believe which is that sex is dirty or it's at best a necessary evil like sex is good because it makes other
Humans and we should have other humans but that's really it and this this I think has been taught in the church some some people could kind of sum up with what the church has taught at times not not it's we've been fixing this I think but there are some churches who basically taught sex is gross and dirty and wrong save it for your spouse and give them that gift when you get married that's so beautiful thank you so basically they're saying shouldn't we just react against this and avoid this and it best to just
Not have sex at all I remember when Anna and I were going through marriage counseling we just the the church has just kind of avoided this in some ways I remember going through marriage counseling it was like a one session thing and the pastor flipping through a book and talking to us about like do you have a budget just different things and he flips over in his book and like the heading said sex and he goes now when you get married you you'd be able to have sex do y'all have any questions about that
And I couldn't do it I couldn't bring myself to do it I really wanted to be like I have a lot of questions I hope you got a lot of time on your hands no I just we're just like no and he goes well good here's some books you can read and he just moved right along and the truth is this our culture has a lot to say about sex and the church has just kind of avoided it I know parents a lot of times Christian parents don't want to talk to their children about sex if you're not talking to your kids about sex television is their friends are the internet
Is at some point we got to step in and start redeeming this picture and so this response was isn't it dirty shouldn't we just avoid it and Paul begins to answer this question so here's what he says now concerning the matters about which he wrote verse one it is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman he says okay but because of the temptation to sexual immorality each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband what he's not saying is everyone has to get married because you may be tempted what he is saying is pursue marriage if you are overly tempted
Towards sexual things you need to reign that in but you can pursue marriage it's perfectly fine to desire marriage that is not wrong you should not feel bad it's perfectly fine to have a desire for sex that's that is it is a desire it is an appetite it's not just that it's not just a consumer good but he's saying yeah you can pursue marriage to keep you from sin each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband the husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights and likewise the wife to her husband for the wife does not have authority over her own body but the husband does likewise the husband does not have authority over
His own body but the wife does okay first of all don't get caught up on the word conjugal I know it sounds prison-y it's not he's just saying when you're married you should have sex and then he says something that is mind shattering in their culture he starts off by saying the husband owns the wife's body and there were people just not in the law correct that is true you are right Paul when I married her I own her now I can do what I want she does whatever I want and then he says the wife owns the husband's body and people got whiplash they were like read that part again in that letter where he said that crazy stuff because they didn't believe that they
Believe that the wife belonged to the husband that was it and what Paul says is no let me tell you a few things that you've misunderstood about sex first of all it's good you should have sex with each other and your marriage was designed to be a place where there was enjoyable sex so they would have approached it as you got married to have kids and then if you want to have enjoyable sex you would just pursue that outside of marriage what he's saying is no marriage is designed to be a place filled with enjoyable sex and for the enjoyment and pleasure of one another both the wife to her husband and husband to her wife and so then he follows that up with this for the husband should give his wife this is verse 3 husband should give to his wife
Her conjugal rights and likewise the wife to her husband for the wife does not have authority over her own body but the husband does likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body but the wife does do not deprive one another except okay so he's gonna give us the reasons why you can deprive one another perhaps okay except perhaps is like he's limiting this down by agreement okay this has got this is a lot of caveats here Paul for a limited time joke for real except perhaps by agreement for a limited time so Paul's not married he doesn't have anything to gain from this he's just explaining how this works so he says you you own her she owns you you should have sex with each other except perhaps if you both agree for a little bit of
Time so he like even if you agree we're gonna take a year off Paul's gonna say nope I don't care if you agree on that limited time that you may devote yourselves to prayer okay y'all you've been having so much sex you ain't praying y'all might need to take to agree to fast from it for the purposes of prayer what else but then come together again okay that was it that's the only one he gives but then come together again and he says this so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control okay that's massively helpful and sounds a little bit crazy to us and here's why that sounds a little bit crazy to me okay I it is odd I mean maybe odds not the right word doesn't happen often I guess that's another way of saying odd but for people to get married and have the same sexual desire on the sexual desire scale it doesn't always happen
So sometimes you have a wife who has more desire for sex a husband who has more desire for sex culturally we act like it's always the husband that would but that's not true like it it just kind of ranges and so here's what Paul says here's what I would have thought he would have said but because I have kind of a wrong view about sex but here's what I thought what he would have said y'all need to agree what works for both of y'all if one of you likes to have sex more than the other person should have more sex but one of you likes to have sex less than this person who likes it more should have less sex y'all should kind of come to an agreement and figure out what works for y'all and and mutually agree on that it's not what he says what he says is your body doesn't belong to you you give conjugal rights to your spouse and you do not deprive one another which sounds to me like that's not really fair to the person who doesn't
Like to have sex as much here's why he says it if sex is individualistic and consumeristic what Paul just said is wrong and harmful and kind of rude to the person who doesn't like sex as much but if sex is a covenant renewal ceremony that always means more and was designed for you to sacrifice be vulnerable and give yourself to another then what Paul says makes a lot of sense that you in marriage are designed sex isn't for your own pleasure so if one of you desire sex more the person who desires it less should give graciously servingly because sex always means more always accomplishes more it's not just a personal desire it's not just a if I want to if I don't want to or for my own personal pleasure it's for the other it's for the other person for a mutual service and sacrifice to one another and it always accomplishes more so in marriage when we act like if I don't feel like it we shouldn't have sex and you should calm down
To not want to have sex all the time and maybe you're more gracious than the way I just put that but when we treat it that way what we are saying is I still believe sex is individualistic and consumeristic now for the person who desires sex more in marriage you can still be approaching sex in an individualistic consumeristic way I want to have sex I enjoy sex I don't care what you say don't pull this out Paul Bible naked don't do that not helpful and you're wrong you should repent your approach is not sacrificially serving and pursuing your spouse so if you if you're in a marriage and one person desires to have sex more often than the other person both of them need to consider each other the person who desires it more needs to figure out how to pursue their spouse and the perfect person who desires it less needs to figure out how to serve their spouse and once sex becomes a way to give to one another a way to pleasure
One another that your focus is less on yourself and more on your spouse then it becomes very beautiful and exactly what it was designed to be that I'm giving myself to you the same way I've given myself to you in marriage I sacrifice everything I have belongs to you for your good and your enjoyment and when both of spouses are saying that and approaching it that way it can become very beautiful and very enjoyable and it takes a lot of work and it's very difficult but Paul gives something else he doesn't just say sex is given sex is poured out for the other he does say that give realize that in sex in a marriage you are giving yourself to another you're not taking from them it's not for your own personal enjoyment you are figuring out how to give them enjoyment Tim Keller in his book where he talked about sex he said once sex becomes what's the most enjoyable thing about sex becomes giving enjoyment to
Your spouse then it becomes what it was designed to be then it becomes very beautiful but here he says this too he gives another reason for this this is helpful for single and married people I'm in first Timothy for some reason so give me a second here we go I was like this doesn't look right do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a limited time oh you don't have sex you wanted to pray let's pray sorry okay anyway for a limited time to devote yourselves to prayer then come back together again so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control sex because of the covenant power that it has is actually a guard for your marriage against the enemy against a lack of self-control how the enemy works towards bitterness and anger and towards leading us away from our spouse let me tell you something about Satan's real we've talked about that
Before I could probably point you to a message that we've already said if you're confused by that or questioning that but Satan's real he's actively at work against us when Bible talks about Satan it's not just the main Satan guy it's always his forces in the world but here's how they work prior to marriage Satan wants you in bed because that goes against God's good beautiful covenant design and after marriage Satan wants you out of bed at least with your spouse because that goes against God's good covenant design so when I do premarital with couples and they're like yeah okay well we're struggling with sex right now but when we get married it'll be fine no that's a misunderstanding of how sin works what you're currently saying having sex prior to marriage is this is an area where we won't submit to Jesus this is an area where I'm going to hold what I believe above what he says and prior to marriage that
Means a lot of sex but after marriage that means a lot of withholding a lot of bitterness a lot of selfishness and a lot of not sex because the enemy works to bring us together prior to marriage and apart after marriage and one of the best defenses for your marriage is to covenantally continually give yourself to each other okay six finish here now as a concession not a command I say this what he's talking about is you don't have to get married because he says I wish all were as I myself am he's not married so he's saying I wish all of you could be not married and be okay so I'm not saying you have to get married I'm saying that if you do get married this is how it ought to work I wish all were as myself am but each has his own gift from God one of one kind and one of another the Bible is going to say that singleness is a
Gift and marriage is a gift and God graciously give some people with singleness don't use that against single people like what's a gift when they're like struggling with their singleness don't don't pull that out to like harm them like well just enjoy your gift why don't you shut up it's but it is a gift is God gifts singleness to some people the ability to be single and he gives marriage to some people and the only way either one of them works is for us to realize that Jesus bought us out of slavery with his covenant love to make us his when you are single it is so easy to believe if I just had a spouse I wouldn't be lonely I'd be full I'd be complete I could just get married I'd be okay and the only way to live single is to know the love that Jesus has for you and the fulfillment that is found only in him that he pursued you to the point of death on a cross to make you his and it's so easy when you're
Married to think you're supposed to fulfill me you're supposed to complete me you're not doing that right now and I'd be much happier if I could just be single or if I could find the right person you're obviously not it and the only way to exist in the covenant relationship that we're designed to exist in where we give ourselves continually regardless of what we're getting back is for us to be so filled up by Jesus and his love for us that we're free that we've been set free from slavery to our appetite set free from slavery to our individual desires to just love the person we're married to and just sacrifice and give John Donne is a poet he wrote he's lived in England during the Renaissance and he wrote a poem and he ends it this way he's talking to God take me to you imprison me for I accept you enthrall me never shall be free so he's saying God take me lock me up with you and unless I'm enthralled by you I'm going to be a slave to everything else unless you
Enthrall me never I never shall be free and then he says nor ever chased except you ravish me chased means sexually pure and so he says I'll never be sexually pure unless I'm so overwhelmed and filled up by you this is impossible and that's what Paul's saying here we've been bought with a price that God in his grace has gifted us and equipped us and the only way single people that you can remain single and have joy is to lean into Jesus and married people the only way you can remain married and have joy is to lean into Jesus then sex gets to be what it was designed to be not ultimate but a good gift from God for the covenant of marriage and we get to be free free from sex free from individualistic desires free from consumeristic desires and free to just love our spouses serve them be gracious towards them bands gonna come back up we're gonna sing and make much of Jesus who through the gospel went to a cross on our behalf to set us free who the God of the universe who designed
Things for our good for our joy for his glory some some single people in here you need to begin to you need to begin to flee need to begin to rightly view sex so that you're not putting yourself in compromising situations you need to be running from it for the sake of what it was designed to be as you glorify God realizing it's not ultimate need to begin to lean into Jesus and know know that it's his love that that sets you free and gives you hope and joy and fulfillment married couples needs to be some repentance over believing one of those three lies or some version of all three that sex is individualistic it exists for my pleasure until you treat your spouse like an object sex is consumeristic so if I want to or don't want to that's final I don't eat when I'm not hungry I eat when I'm hungry if I want to have sex we should have sex if I don't want to have sex we shouldn't have sex you need to pray about that and repent because sex was meant to be given and for those of you who have treated sex as a necessary evil in your marriage I
Pray that God would help you see the the beauty that he designed for it and how it protects your marriage and guards your marriage makes you addicted to one another need to have some gracious conversations so you might begin to have a sexual relationship as God lays it out he's not against sex if you believe he is read the Song of Solomon it's not against it he invented it was designed to be good and it's for us to graciously give and serve one another in a way that strengthens our marriages so I pray that we would see Jesus setting us free from selfishness and sin so that for single people there can be no sex whatsoever and you'd be fine for married people there can be a lot of sex that continues to draw you closer to one another and all of us realize it's not ultimate it's not where happiness comes from it's not what fills us up that we're free because Jesus sets us free let's pray God we thank you
That you're good thank you for your love for us that you give us hope that we don't need anything but you and that you give us other good gifts to enjoy that get to point back to you and glorify you in distinct and beautiful ways I pray God that you would work on our hearts that there might be repentance for the single people in here who've been wrongly viewing sex that you'd set them free that you'd let them run to you who've died for them to set them free that you're not going to crush them but love them and welcome them for the married couples in here who've been viewing sex wrongly
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American Marriage vs Biblical Marriage
Transcript
Well, good morning. Happy Valentine's Day. My name is Shet. I'm one of the pastors here. We are in Matthew chapter 19, so grab a Bible. We'll be in Matthew chapter 19 today.
If your Bible looks like this one, you'll be on page 534. If you don't own a Bible, take this one with you. That's our gift to you. We want everybody to have a Bible. We want everyone to read it. So we are in our fifth week of our Theology of Sex series, and we've just been walking through.
We spent the past couple of weeks talking about masculinity and femininity, what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman, that God intentionally designed gender, and he intentionally designed the genders different from one another, distinct from one another, for his purposes, for his glory, for the flourishing of humankind. I said something about Valentine's Day coming up to someone this week, and people are all over the place when it comes to Valentine's Day. Some people get excited. One person I was talking to this week said, oh yeah, the holiday that the greeting card companies invented to sell candy.
And I was like, why? Why do the greeting card companies want to sell candy? Like, did they invent it to throw us off their tracks? Is that why it's about? Like, I was really confused, but there's just people in general have different things. So whether you're mad at Valentine's Day or excited or could not care less, happy Valentine's Day.
We're going to talk about marriage today. We're going to talk about what the Bible says about marriage, what marriage is, what it was designed to be. We're going to talk a little bit about our American approach to marriage and then the biblical approach to marriage. As we hop in this morning, I want to take a second and just address single people in the room who heard the word marriage and checked out. Let me help you out here and tell you a few reasons why you knowing what marriage is is actually very helpful for you. First of all, our culture believes some really dumb things about marriage, which means that it is highly likely that you believe some very dumb things about marriage.
Most of us do. Even married couples believe some very dumb things about marriage, but they'll probably pay attention. Single people, you're believing some dumb things. You need to listen to understand what the Bible says about marriage so you can rightly understand it. Secondly, Christianity is the first major belief system in history. I recently read an article where a Duke historian, anthropologist basically was looking back and said, Christianity is the first major belief system in history that says, stood up and said out loud to people, it is perfectly okay to be single for your entire life.
That is a perfectly good, healthy, normal, celebratable way to walk through life as a human. First belief system that ever said that. Our God that we serve when he came to earth in Jesus was a single man who never married, never had sex. We worship and follow him. Being single is perfectly okay, perfectly healthy, perfectly celebratable way to be a human. And as we talk today, you'll actually get to see why.
Why you have a leg to stand on and be able to say, no, I'm perfectly fine in my singleness. I don't need another human to step in and fix me or complete me, regardless of what that movie says. Bonus reason, you're a part of our church family. In our community groups, we exist in our community groups. That's how we walk through life as a church family. And we believe that church is a family.
So we don't break up our community groups by gender or age. We just all kind of get together. And so you're most likely, if you're in a community group and you're single, you're in a community group with other married couples. And our culture believes a lie. That is, if I have children, you can't tell, and you don't, you can't tell me anything about having children. And if I'm married and you aren't, you can't tell me anything about being married.
And the Bible disagrees with that because two of the guys that talk about marriage and children a lot had neither a wife nor children. But it isn't helpful for you to pop off with your own, here's what I think, based off of my own opinions, based off of nothing. So we want to all grow in what it means, what a marriage is, what it was designed to be, so that we can helpfully and in a healthy way point the other married people in our church family towards Jesus, understanding what marriage was designed to be. So by learning what marriage is and isn't, you actually get to help serve the other people in your church family and in your community group in a healthy way without just giving them what culture's been giving you.
So I'm going to pray and we're going to hop in. We'll be starting in verse 3 of Matthew 19. God, we thank you for your grace, for your love, for your active pursuit of our souls. We pray that today we would clearly see your love, your love for us, what love was meant to be, and how marriage was meant to exist and thrive and flourish and what it was designed to be, God. And so we just pray that you'd give us wisdom and clarity as we study this together today. In Jesus' name, amen.
All right, so we've read this a couple weeks ago. We're going to read it again. We were reading it for a specific purpose, and now we're going to actually kind of read it in its context. So Matthew 19, verse 3, and Pharisees, Pharisees were just a group of a religious sect inside of Judaism. So it would be kind of like saying, and Presbyterians or and Lutherans walked over.
Like that's how they would have understood it. It was a group that believed a certain thing inside of Judaism. So Pharisees came up to him, him as Jesus, and tested him by asking, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? So I find this pretty interesting. They have a lot of questions like we have about marriage and divorce. They're coming over to him saying, okay, they're basically asking, how do you read this specific Old Testament passage, Deuteronomy 24?
Kind of how do you read it? What's your take on what Moses is saying there? He answered, Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife? Hold fast means be cemented to, sewn together. Hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. They said to him, Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and send her away? And he said to them, Because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wife. So notice the difference there. They said, Why did Moses command us to? And he said, No, no, no.
Because of your hardness of heart, he allowed you to. And in Deuteronomy 24, they are basically lying. Moses does not command them to. What he says is, If a man divorces his wife and gives her a certificate of divorce, and then he steps in and tries to protect females, basically. He starts giving some guidelines for like, Okay, if y'all are going to keep doing this, let me help out here. So it's a little bit like, If you get shot, here's how to dress the wound.
And then the Pharisees are like, Then why did Moses tell us to shoot each other? It's like, He didn't. He just was stepping in and trying to be helpful there. It wasn't a command. So Jesus steps in and says, No, he allowed it because of your hardness of heart.
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning, it was not so. So the way God designed it was not designed to be like that. And I say to you, Whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery. So Jesus says, No, no, no.
Originally, God designed it, one man, one woman, to be married, to become one flesh, to be cemented together, and to stay together forever, and not to have any kind of man-made anything that tears that apart. Now, in our culture, we have high divorce rates. We have a lot of people who have been divorced, or been divorced and remarried, and so we understand that this is broken. The ideal isn't worked out the way God intended it. But what we're going to look at today as we walk through is what God intends for marriage, for the marriage covenant, for all of us as we view marriage, at where we sit today, whether we're single, married, remarried, divorced, we can all begin to say, Okay, this is actually what God intended for marriage, and this is how marriage ought to work.
Even though sin has stepped in and messed that up, we can begin to hold up the ideal and then strive for it. So, the disciples said to him, So Jesus says, Stay married. It was designed for you to be married and stay married, and not to have this torn apart. And the disciples said to him, If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry. Which is really kind of mean, because some of the disciples had wives, and they're like, If we can't ever, like, send them away, you probably just shouldn't get married. Like, if marriage has to be forever, remember, that doesn't sound good.
And Jesus responds, which is kind of confusing, but when he finishes out his sentence, he said to them, Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. And basically, you don't have to get married. But if you get married, this is what marriage was designed to be. So the disciples and the Pharisees are basically having this discussion with Jesus about, Is a no-fault divorce a thing? Like, Can we, Can you get divorced? Can we just kind of, If it's not working out, and they're basically saying, Okay, But Jesus, What if like, What if I'm not happy anymore?
What if it's not good anymore? What if, What we originally intended isn't, Isn't working out anymore? What if, What if it's just not what we thought it would be? And Jesus' response is, God designed them to be married and to stay married. That's the way marriage is supposed to work. That we would hold fast.
That we would stay together. That's where, Ultimately, It works out and is good. And so what we see, Honestly, Is that the Pharisees and the disciples, So basically, This culture Jesus is talking into, Feels similar to the way We feel about marriage. So like, Our culture, When we talk about marriage, When we legalized gay marriage this year, Our culture is holding up, Basically, This definition for marriage. That marriage is a, Legally recognized, Expression of romantic feelings, That exists for our happiness. That's kind of our cultural definition of marriage.
It's a legally recognized, Expression of romantic feelings, That exists for our happiness. That it's good, As long as, There's romance, As long as there's feelings of love, And that it's good, As long as, We're mutually happy. I'm fulfilled, You're fulfilled, You're holding up your end of the bargain, I'm holding up my end of the bargain, We both are happy, Enjoying this. And that, Once one of those breaks down, Then it kind of doesn't matter anymore. You don't have to stay married, Because it's, For the expression of romance, For the purpose of happiness. And Jesus, In his answer, Basically is going to say, No, Those don't, There aren't qualifiers.
And so, Really, What we have, The way we approach marriage, Is kind of a consumeristic relationship. Um, So, I, I love Moe's, And I've had people try to talk me into, Loving Chipotle. They've tried to talk me into cheating on Moe's, Really, Is what they've tried to talk me into. Um, But I, I just, I, I can't do it. Like, I can't, I've been to, I've been to Chipotle, It's okay, I'll eat a burrito there every once in a while, But that's, It's, It's not, It's not for me. Like, They don't greet me when I walk in, They don't have queso, They don't give me chips, It costs more, It doesn't taste as good.
So, It's like, Why would I, Like, My relationship with Moe's is, I'm gonna give you money, You're gonna give me a burrito, And at the end of that, We're probably gonna be best friends. Like, This is how it works. And that's how a consumer relationship works, Is, I, I'm gonna do something, You're gonna do something, And then if it's mutually beneficial, We're good. That's a consumeristic relationship. That's why, Uh, Many of you are mad at Tom Warner, Uh, Cable, Twice a month. You paid your bill, Why is your internet's not working?
Yeah, That's the problem. Like, It's, I'm doing it. You're doing my side of stuff, Why aren't you doing your side of stuff? And if you quit paying your bill, Tom Warner will cut it off. Like, That's, That's how it works. It's, I'm gonna do my part, You do your part.
But honestly, We've just moved this into the realm of relationships, And said, I'm gonna do my part, You do your part, And as long as we're happy, And as long as we're feeling it, It's gonna be good. That's, That's our approach to relationships. And if I can find a better, So like, If they, If they make a Moe's 2.0, If Chipotle actually was better, I'd have left Moe's in the dirt, Wouldn't have cared. Just Chipotle hadn't done it. So like, Somebody else can, That's fine.
You got cheaper, More queso, You say hello better, I'm good, I'm in. And we approach relationships like that. I'm here as long as it's mutually beneficial, I'm here as long as I'm enjoying it, And if I can find something better, I'm out. We approach dating like that, And it just filters right into our approach to marriage. And the, The, Some of you, The truth is, We've also begun to lift up the idea of finding the one, Which adds into this. Because we have this idea of, You're gonna find your one, You're gonna find the soulmate, And once you do, Magic, Is gonna happen.
And you'll just be compatible forever, And you'll just feel it all the time, And so if you're, If you're with somebody, And you're not feeling it, And it's not magical, They're not the one. Let me help you out here. That idea, First comes up in what we, Historically what we can see is in Plato's Symposium, And what he's talking about is that there was a belief that Greek gods, When they originally created humans, All humans had two heads, Four arms, Four legs, And so the Greek God, I believe Zeus, Cut them all in half. And so now, From now on, All humans, Are running around on earth, Forever looking for their soulmate.
Because you originally had another person connected to you, That you were cut in half from. So, The problem though with myths, Is that they're myths. So, Whilst looking for your soulmate, Keep an eye out for unicorns and samsquanchus. Just be on the lookout, Because you're just as likely to find Bigfoot. They don't exist, You're not going to find a soulmate. Every wedding, I love being a part of weddings, I like getting to talk at a wedding.
It's kind of stressful, But I like getting to do it. And every wedding I've been a part of, I've said something along the lines of, Most recent one was Jack and Ashley, Part of our community group. We had it right here, On a Sunday in December. At some point, I usually say something along the lines of, This marriage, I have to hold my little book, And stand perfectly still in the middle. This marriage, This marriage, This marriage, This marriage, This marriage, Is going to be perfect, And would be completely set up for perfection, If it weren't for you, And if it weren't for you, The two of you are going to ruin it.
Like, Like something along those lines. And it's really fun, Because everybody sitting out there is like, What the heck is he talking about? Like, Dude, You don't know how to wedding, Like you're ruining it. But the truth is, This person is a sinner, And this person is a sinner. There are no soulmates. If you get married, You've married a sinner, And what you've said is, Here's all my sin, Want to share?
And they've said, Yeah, Here's all my sin, Want to share? And you're like, Yeah, Let's try to do life together. Like, That's really what it is. And so Jesus is going to step in and say, No, Like, It's designed to stay together regardless. Like, And our culture says, No, No, It's expression of romantic feelings, For the purpose of happiness. And honestly, If I'm real with y'all, 90% of mine and Anna's arguments, Have some form of, Hey, You're supposed to make me happy, And you're not doing that right now.
Somewhere in there, That's the baseline of the argument. Hey, You're designed, This is designed, You exist to make me happy, And either A, You're not effectively contributing to my happiness, Or B, You're standing in the way of it. You are actually making it harder for me to be happy. That's like 90% of our argument. There's another 5% that is, I haven't slept in a while, I want to fight about it, But, 90% is, You're not currently making me happy, You're not currently filling me up. And, Our, Our society, Loves long term relationships.
We believe in long term relationships. We celebrate long term relationships. You've watched the notebook, 17,000 times, Because it was this relationship, Where they grew old together, And it was magical. Like, We celebrate this, And we're terrible at them. And then, We kind of, As a culture, Have the audacity, To say, You know what? We're terrible at long term relationships, And it's not our approach, It's that we've outgrown long term relationships.
We're actually beyond this idea. Do you feel the arrogance in that? Like, You can taste it, And it tastes bad. Like, Our, Our approach to, No, We're just beyond this. And, And honestly, We know though, Our approach to relationships, And what love is, We know, That that's not what love is. It's Valentine's Day.
Come with me in this. Mentally, Just let's, Let's go on a journey together. It's this evening. You're with your significant other. You're at a nice restaurant. You know it's nice, Because you can't read the menu.
It's too dark. You're going to pay $30, For food that's all separated, And about this big on the plate. You had a living social deal. I know our church family. You aren't there just paying for it on your own. There's some candles, Some nice music.
It's also known as ambiance. You can feel it. You reach across the table, You grab their hands, Look into their eyes, And you say, Boo, I love you. This very moment, I love you. And I don't know about tomorrow, But I love you right now. And I'm going to be with you.
Unless something better comes along. Keep my options open. And I'm going to fight through everything, As long as I still feel happy inside. And if my happiness leaves, Well then, And a single tear just falls out of their face, Because that's the most beautiful thing, Anyone has ever said to them. No. This isn't going to happen, Because that's not what love says.
That's not what we know love to be. That's not how love works. It isn't. Love, As it naturally occurs in the wild, Love just blurts stuff out. Love just makes definitive statements, About what is going to be true and real, Because love is a real thing, That actually exists, And it goes way beyond, Our consumeristic approach to it. You want to know what love says?
This is what love says. I, Will always love you, That's what love says. That's why we gave Whitney Houston all the monies, When she sang that. We were like, Yes, Take money from my wallet, You are correct, That's what love is. That, Because that, That is love, That's it. I, Will always love you.
I, Me, All of me, Everything I have, I, Will, Purposefully, Dedicate, Decide, Work, Pursue it, Will, Always, Regardless, No matter what else happens, No matter what comes along, No matter what happens to you, What happens to me, Always, I, Will always love, With everything I have, Love, You, Singularly, You, No one else, To the exclusion of all others, You. We know, That's what love is. We know, That's what love just blurts out. It just runs out of your mouth. You just, It's, Well, There you go. Like, We, We just know.
We celebrate that. We know that love's supposed to conquer all. We know that love's supposed to last forever. And then we push it into this consumeristic relationship, And we're confused as to why it just breaks down. And so Jesus is actually being very helpful when he says, No, This is the way marriage was designed to work. So we're going to, We're going to look at some of the things that having this type of relationship, This covenant type of relationship that Jesus is talking about, Actually works on our behalf.
So, Verse 5, And said, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, And hold fast, Be cemented to his wife, And the two shall become one flesh. So, They are no longer two, But one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, Let not man separate. So here's the definition that Jesus gives of marriage. That Jesus says, Now this is the way marriage was designed to work. That two are to become one flesh.
We were reading in Matthew 19 on that. Sorry, We'll go there in a minute. It's the same thing. He's quoting that. That two will become one flesh. They'll be cemented together, And then they'll actually become one.
They're no longer two separate entities. They're one. So when I'm fighting for my happiness, It doesn't make any sense anymore in marriage. Because our happiness trumps my happiness. Our health trumps my health. Our desires trumps my desires.
Because we're one. It's the same thing with salt. Salt is sodium chloride. When it becomes salt though, It's no longer sodium and chloride. It's salt. It's NA and CL together.
And it's bonded together. It's not them two working together. It's them. They've made a new thing. And in order to make them not salt, There's a lot of tearing and breaking and stuff That has to happen. And science has to get in there.
And I don't know any of how that works. But it's not good for salt. And that's what he's saying about marriage. We were designed to be one and to stay one. That it's something. A new entity has been formed in marriage.
And we're not supposed to break it apart. And consumeristic relationships are basically saying, What I'm receiving from this relationship Is more important than the relationship. And a covenant relationship says, The relationship is more important than what I receive. That I'm actually designed to give, not receive, Regardless of how this works out. So, there are two major things that happen When we actually step into a covenantal relationship. Two things that covenantal relationship provide for us.
They set up a guard around what love is designed to be. The first one is, We have deeper, A deeper bond growth. We have a deeper bond When we enter into A covenant relationship. The only real covenant relationship That we still have, Kind of in our culture, Is the relationship between parents and children. We understand that one The way we ought to understand a covenant. It shows up every time, Whenever you see a parent That just disowns their children, Abandons their children.
The way we react to that, Because we know that's not how it's supposed to work. When a dad just says he's going to get cigarettes And never shows back up, Like we know that's not how it's supposed to work. Parenting relationships are, I give and I give and I give and I give and I give. And I know that that's, You're never going to pay me back on this. And regardless of how you act, You're never, Like it's not going to, I'm not even going to get my return, Other than seeing you grow and be healthy. Like that's the return I get.
You're not going to pay me back In how much you give to me. And through that, Through giving and giving and giving and giving, I'm actually going to love you more And have a deeper relationship with you Than I ever would have In a consumeristic relationship. That's the way a covenant is supposed to work. That I give and give and give Regardless of what comes back. That's what he's saying marriage ought to be. And we know that to be true.
We know that marriage is designed, Relationships and love are designed, For us to just grow old together. For us to just be together For as long as we can live. Like we know that that's true. We want that. Like one of mine and Anna's goals Is to be really old And creep our grandchildren out. Like I want to be known as Hansy.
Like I'm going for that. When we're old. Like I want to be so in love That it... And just be like... Like we just know this. They recently took a couple And they did like an aging thing.
They had makeup artists To make them older And they made them... They were like about to get married in a month And then they made them Look 30 years older and 40 years older All the way up to where they were 90. And they're looking at each other old And they're just... They start crying Because it's just this. This is what we want. I can't help but imagine All the life that we would have had together And all the things we know.
We want to be 85. If we've gotten married We want to be 85 with our spouse And they have changed in a thousand ways. They have changed so much. Their attitudes, their beliefs, The way they respond to stuff They've changed so much. And we've changed And we still love each other And we love each other in new ways. We love each other more Because of all the changes.
Like we know that's what love is supposed to be But if we're in a consumeristic relationship It doesn't happen. It only happens inside of a covenant Where no matter what We stick with it. We continue to give No matter how it works out. That's the I will always love you. Regardless of what happens. That's the covenantal The way it's supposed to work.
The second thing that it gives us is security. The second thing that marriage covenant provides for us When we exist in a I'm going to give and give and give And regardless of how this works out I'm in. It gives us security. You know why weddings are beautiful? Why we celebrate them like crazy people in our culture? Some of the reasons we celebrate them Is because we've placed too much weight there.
You know why weddings are beautiful? Why we celebrate them like crazy people in our culture? Some of the reasons we celebrate them Is because we've placed too much weight there. But another reason is That when the couple stands up in front of everybody And says I'm with you for richer or poorer In sickness and in health Until death do us part Like I'm in No matter how this goes If they mean it That's beautiful They really mean that If that's actually how that's going to work That's beautiful That this The bottom can fall out on this thing And I'm not going anywhere This can go really badly We can be really sick Or really poor Have nothing together
But I'm in There's a security inside of a covenant That just isn't provided In a consumeristic relationship In a consumeristic relationship You have to keep marketing yourself Not only to the person you're with But to other people Because you still have other options out there You may not need to This may not keep going Or you have to keep making sure That they're happy You've got to keep doing all this stuff To try to keep the relationship going And there's just It doesn't work That's honestly why When our culture steps up And says Okay What we ought to do Is Live with
With our significant other Prior to getting married That we ought to You ought to cohabitate Prior to getting married To kind of kick the tires It's like giving it a test drive To see if this is going to be a good idea The reason that actually doesn't work Is because You're practicing A consumeristic relationship To prepare for a covenantal one And there is no preparation For a covenantal relationship You're either in the covenant Or you're not You're either all in Or you're all out There's no practicing for it So stepping into A let's live together situation Where we might stay Might not stay
Actually doesn't help you prepare For a covenant And It just doesn't work that way And so you may be saying Okay hold on a second I'm not even going to say That cohabitation Helps you prepare for covenanting Cohabitation is basically Divorce practice Before getting married That's really what it is It just doesn't work Because it doesn't translate To what you're going for in marriage But you may say Okay hold on a second Bible boy I'm not saying That It's good practice for marriage I'm saying it's better than marriage We should just throw out marriage
And you can just live with whoever And then If that doesn't work Fine If it does work Great Like that's what I'm actually I'm going to make that argument The problem with that argument Is that that's not true either Facts don't back you up So there was a bipartisan study That was done And basically Let me just give you Some of these statistics Annual rates of depression Among couples living together Are more than three times What they are among married couples Cohabitating couples Report lower Lower levels of happiness Lower levels of sexual satisfaction
Than married couples Women living with their partner Are more likely to suffer Physical abuse And sexual abuse Than married women And children living With cohabitating parents Are eight times more likely To suffer abuse Than those living in homes With married parents So if you believe Cohabitating relationships Are better It's just not backed up There's no Biblically it's not going to say that And it's just not Science isn't going to say that It's actually worse for society And women And children And honestly
Just as a church family We should just begin to reject this As an okay thing We should We should just all In a gracious way Just not be cool With cohabitation Because it's actually just worse Even just based on math It's kind of like this My wife and I Have a We got a thing To go to the zoo All the time A zoo pass Or whatever It's like a year long thing So we get to go to the zoo Everyone's well I like the zoo I always get a little bit Bummed out
When I'm at the zoo Because You're looking like Especially at the lions They make me the saddest So I look at the lions There's this big male lion And this female lion And I just I know too much about lions I don't know much about lions But I know too much To just be able to really enjoy this Because lions are supposed to be in a pack There's only two of them So it's like Alright y'all missing some friends And In the wild They get to run all over the place They get to just tackle and eat stuff Sometimes they do that Just for the heck of it Because they're big and can
If you watch those nature shows They're just killing stuff all the time They don't get to kill anything at the zoo And when they do it's bad They like put them down Like It's just basically like Here's some food And the lion's like This is lame And they can't even run Like the enclosure isn't even big enough For them to get up to a full sprint And so it's like Here's a lion And it's like I kinda It used to be a lion And now it's not really able to function The way a lion's supposed to function That's wholly different From like a wildlife preserve Wildlife preserve is Here's a lion
And there's a bunch of stuff That can come in and harm this Let's build some fences and protect it Let's keep the dentists out of here Like that's what a lion A wildlife preserve is Like there's things that can harm this lion Let's build some things And so this lion Gets to be a lion Gets to fully exist in its lionness We've just put up some walls To help protect it The way love exists in the wild The way love just Blurts things out The way love is Just where it is Love conquers all Love never fades I will always love you When we put it in a consumeristic relationship We've taken love And put it in a zoo
It actually isn't going to be able to work And function And exist the way it was designed to But when we move love Into a covenantal relationship That's why That's why when he says This is what marriage was supposed to be It's because it's actually what works To foster love And to help love flourish And exist the way we know That it was designed to Genesis 2 It'll be up on the screen We'll look at it together So this is the passage that Jesus quotes Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother And hold fast to his wife And they shall become one flesh And the man and his wife were both naked And were not ashamed Here's what a beautiful thing about covenants There's no shame
In a covenant Covenant actually steps in And takes the worst thing And makes it the most beautiful The thing that We know that love is supposed to be You love me for me You love me for who I am I'm fully known and fully loved We know that's the way love is supposed to exist But in a consumeristic relationship We have to keep propping ourselves up Making ourselves look better That's not the way a covenant is designed to work There's a quote from the movie Meet Joe Black He was talking to one of the older men in the movie And he said The great thing about being married was She knows the worst thing about me And it's okay And that's what a covenant does In a relationship There's always deal breakers
There's always stuff that steps in And makes Makes it It's not going to work anymore This is a deal breaker We can't get past this And what a covenant does Is it steps in and makes that thing The most beautiful thing about your relationship Because it turns it on its head It becomes the thing where you've given the most love The most grace It's exactly what a covenant was meant to do To take the worst part of us To be fully known and fully loved And still stay together It redeems the most broken part of us We say that love conquers all And it should And in a covenant It gets to We get to work past The worst part And give grace and love there
That's actually where we get to show More love We're not In a covenant We're not bound by our feelings Or our happiness We're free We're free to give And we exist in this secure relationship Where even the worst parts Become the most beautiful And that's straight Out of how Jesus loves the church Let's go to Ephesians 5 We read this last week You can go ahead and flip there We'll be on page 635 We'll also show it on the screen This is talking to two married couples But then it ends in a very interesting way Husbands Love your wives As Christ Loved the church
And gave himself up for her So Christ is Jesus And the church is all those who believe in him That he might sanctify her Having cleansed her By the washing of water with the word So that he might present the church To himself in splendor Without spot or wrinkle Or any such thing That she might be holy And without blemish And in the same way Husbands should love their wives As their own bodies He who loves his wife Loves himself When we talk about love As just an emotion That makes that sentence really confusing When we talk about love As just a romantic feeling And Paul says Love your wife
The way that you love your own body It's like Well that just got weird Like No Love is actually way deeper And way more Than how I feel at this moment It's an active choice For no one hated his own flesh But nourishes and cherishes it Just as Christ does the church Because we are members of his body Therefore So now he's quoting Genesis 2 So it's what we read in Genesis 2 It's what Jesus quotes Paul's going to quote it here And he says Therefore a man shall leave his father And his mother And hold fast to his wife And the two shall become one flesh
This mystery is profound And I am saying That it refers to Christ And the church So Paul's going to say That way back in Genesis 2 God had in mind Christ's covenant love For the church Prior to ever creating marriage That one of the reasons Marriage is beautiful Is because it images Christ's love for the church The way Jesus is going to love the church When he pursues the church And goes to the cross for the church To rescue the church And to absolutely just give And give and give On behalf of the church So the church can actually have A healthy loving relationship That that's
The love That we're supposed to have The covenant relationship We're supposed to have in a marriage Is actually just a small picture Of the way that Christ loves the church Of the way that Jesus Laid his life down For the church To rescue the church And that's beautiful Because the church Those who place faith in Jesus Brought nothing to the table Except for our sin and brokenness And Jesus took the worst thing The deal breaker All the mess that we had Everything that should have Excluded us from his love And he makes it the most beautiful Because that's where he steps in And redeems And he puts us in a relationship
That we can't lose the relationship We can't get out of it Because it's based off of Jesus Pursuing us forever The cross is Jesus Definitively declaring I will always love you That's why marriage Gets to be beautiful Because it's a small picture Of what the gospel is And that's why Since marriage is about the gospel We actually can be in a covenant When we're terrible at them There's nothing in our heart That helps us do covenants Our hearts are broken and off And we're really good At consumeristic relationships Because I get to bounce out of those But covenants we're terrible at But when we see how Jesus loved us And pursued us
And continued to chase after us Even when we were broken We get to stay in a covenant And our marriage gets to be beautiful It's the same reason That you can be perfectly single Your entire life Because your fullness Isn't going to come From some other person It comes from Jesus Your health and joy And happiness Doesn't come from another human You're never going to find it in them You'll crush them if you try to It only comes from Jesus Francis Chan says That the way this works Is like If we go scuba diving And we only have one oxygen tank That's a consumeristic relationship One of us is breathing
The other person's hurting One of us is getting life The other person's losing it But that's a consumeristic relationship Either I'm winning I'm getting life Or you're winning You're getting life But there's no way for us both To be built up There's no freedom We're dependent on one another We need to suck from one another To get life To keep this thing going And that Jesus Being our primary relationship Gives us both oxygen tanks And then we're free Scuba diving with two oxygen tanks Gets to be a lot of fun Because you don't have to steal From the other person To be okay
What's beautiful about Jesus Being the primary relationship The covenant being The primary relationship Is that my wife Just gets to be married To a sinner Who isn't going to fix her Or complete her Or make her happy All the time It's not going to happen I'm not going to cure her loneliness All of that's found in Jesus And if it's all found in Jesus She can just be married To a guy who messes up terribly a lot And still be okay Single people You're not going to find a person Who's going to fill you up Make you happy Complete you Just cure your loneliness
It's not going to happen Only Jesus is going to do that It's the only way that works That marriage is first and foremost A picture of the gospel I want to close on Telling you a story That I think helps us see The beauty of Jesus' love for us And what a covenant Gets to look like What it was designed to be There was a A guy named Robertson McQuilkin McQuilkin We'll just call him Robertson Because I can't say his last name He was the He was in ministry A good bit in his life He met a lady named Muriel Asked her to marry him On Valentine's Day
She said yes They got married in August They had a great relationship Loved one another Enjoyed one another They even were They were missionaries Overseas for a while They were doing ministry together About 30 years into their marriage They were out to eat And hanging out with some friends And Muriel tells a story And they all kind of laughed About three minutes later She starts telling the exact same story And so they were like Um What You know you just told that right And she She didn't She didn't remember That she had just told that
And she was like Oh no Sorry I must have just spaced out And they were like Oh okay You know And they just They moved on But over the next several months She began to do this more often To the point that They went to a doctor And she had early onset Alzheimer's And so At first this was okay I mean they were just trying To work around it She would She would forget She It began to Affect her speech
She couldn't kind of Find the words That she wanted to use And so she had to Kind of step back From ministry But they were still Still Everything was going well I mean you know She just was Continually kind of Degrading mentally And Um Then it got to the point Where she was only Comfortable Around Her husband Robertson The only person She would be okay with The only person She'd be happy with
When he wasn't around She'd get really scared She just kind of Was confused Didn't know what was going on And she was only Comfortable around him And so he was actually The president of CIU Had been the president Of CIU For Years And he stepped down In his speech He actually said It was one of the easiest Decisions he ever made Um Because his wife Needed him And so He stepped down Quit doing ministry
Realized he just Needed to be full time Taking care of her And so he did At first this was okay They could travel some But then that That got Untenable Because they would go To other Other places And she would just Forget who she was And where she was And she would get lost And at one point He even had to call The police To help try to find her So they quit traveling And then it became They could kind of Grocery shop together
And that was one of the Things they did together But then that even Kind of broke down Because she would Start putting a bunch Of stuff in other People's carts And then just take The cart and walk off And so they had to Just kind of quit everything They just were homebound And he says She was fairly easy To take care of She was pleasant And they just kind of But she began to forget How to take care of herself So she He had to start Feeding her And changing her
And he would take her And get her hair cut And he started realizing That the way her hair looked After getting her hair cut Wasn't the way it used to And so he called Some of her friends And said You know What kind of shampoo Am I supposed to use After haircuts Because he wanted to Keep her hair the way She would have wanted it Even though she didn't know She didn't know anymore You know What she looked like And any of those kind of things But he just wanted to keep Taking care of her About this point
He read an article That was like A Dear Abby Kind of letter Right in a vice column And basically The article said I'm in a marriage But my wife Is no longer Meeting my needs What do I do? And the vice columnist Wrote back And basically said You're going to have to leave Like it's just It's just going to be over Like your relationship If they're not meeting your needs You really don't have any choice And he says He remembers reading that And just going
I'm so glad That my needs are met in Jesus So that I can just love my wife So I can just serve my wife And I don't have to take from her I don't need her to fulfill me And so it just kind of keeps going Eventually got to There's a story There was a guy over at his house At one point And his wife Really at this point Was mostly just in bed And he was having to do Pretty much everything for her And she'd even gotten Kind of confused As to what was happening And so there were times Where she would kind of Fight with him a little bit Because she just didn't know What was happening
When he was trying to feed her And change her His friend was over They were talking And he heard Muriel was awake And then he went into her room And he came walking back out And he was smiling And he went and got this little flag And he walked out To his front porch And he stuck a flag In a little flag holder And walked back inside And this friend The person visiting with him Said what was that about And he said well Muriel doesn't remember Who anyone is anymore Doesn't even remember Who I am And
But sometimes in the morning She smiles at me She smiles like she recognizes me And whenever she does that I want to be able to celebrate And I want my friends And neighbors to be able to celebrate So whenever she smiles I just go put a flag On the front porch Because today is a good day My wife remembers me He says in the last four years Of her life There were no more Smiling days But that was fun He even At the point When she started Forgetting who he was He had Some friends come to him And say hey
You've done a beautiful thing With Muriel But that's not her anymore She doesn't know who you are That's not your wife anymore It's not the same Muriel You can be done You can be done with this And his response was no Jesus doesn't give up on me I don't return his love The way I ought to He just pours love out on me I don't exist in a relationship With Jesus the way I'm designed to But he pursues me And never stops And he took care of Muriel For 25 years Before she passed away And he's written some books And some articles And he says that it's one of the He wouldn't trade it for anything
And not just because She was lovable And he wanted to Take care of her But that it was the best picture He ever had Of how Jesus loved him That Jesus absolutely pursues us Regardless That he loves us Regardless of what we bring To the table And that's what marriage Is designed to be It's designed to be This covenant That is so overwhelmed By the grace And the love of Jesus That we're perfectly free To continue to pour out And to give And to give And to give
Whether we're receiving or not And we're perfectly safe Where everything That would be a deal breaker Everything that would make Our relationship terminal Gets to be the most beautiful part of it Just like our relationship With Jesus God I pray I pray that we would be Filled up By you That we would be So overwhelmed By your love And your grace for us That we actually Would be able to To love our spouses well To be single well Knowing that completion And fullness come from you I pray Lord
That you'd help us to exist And Okay so We're going to take Just a little bit of time To answer some of the questions That you guys have had Throughout this series I appreciate You guys actually Sending in questions Taking the time To really wrestle with What does the Bible say About gender About marriage About sexuality It's actually been really good For us to wrestle with Some of the questions That you've sent in We've actually already answered With some of the sermons So if you've missed a Sunday
I would encourage you To go back and listen through And catch up And some of the things That you've asked Will be addressed In the weeks to come But just wanted to take A little bit of time And go ahead And answer Some of the questions Today So I'm going to kind of Walk us through our questions And we'll do our best To answer them So let's start with Question number one What are good principles For biblical dating Biblical Not Like I've heard your stories
So let's do biblical Yeah not Chet's Dating advice First of all Dating is a little bit Foreign to the Bible Because that's not really How they did stuff So there isn't like A chapter We're not going to be like Oh read Ephesians 2 That's the dating chapter It's not really there Here Some of the things That you need to just Understand Kind of fundamentally To help in Biblical dating One is Marriage is a covenant So the purpose
Of dating Is for marriage That's the The place that God has designed For romance And sexuality To play out Is in the relationship Of a man and a woman In a covenantal marriage So realize that Dating is To prepare for that Look for that Pursue that And not anything else So it isn't just for Fun While it should be It's not That's not the goal And since the last Two weeks
Since we've talked About masculinity And femininity Specifically within A marriage Those things apply But we all have Human relationships And so the things That men specifically Are called to Like cultivate Provide Protect And the things That women are called To Start working on Those now Regardless of Whatever that Relationship looks like So all of those Things still apply
To as well Within that Relationship Alright cool Let's do another one Why was it okay For bible figures To have multiple Wives but not Now Okay so That In the old testament There's a lot of Guys that have Multiple wives One of the reasons That question comes Out that way Is our assumption Is that whatever Is said in the bible Is some sort of a You should do this
Here's a command Here's a command To do and not to do The bible isn't Just that It's actually a lot Of stories Of a history Of a people And there are Commands And things Where it says Do this Don't do that This though Comes out of It's never a command To do it There aren't any Direct prohibition Against it Other than What we just
Looked at today Where marriage Was designed To be between One man One woman They were to Become one flesh And stay that way And if you Read through The old testament There is never One example Of polygamy That is held up As a good idea They all Go very poorly So a little bit Of when people Say well the People used to Have multiple
Lives in the Old testament They never Said it was Bad It's like if You watched Schindler's list Or remember The titans Depending on Age group here And what you've Seen and what You remember And at the End you said Why didn't Somebody come Out at the End of the Credits and Say hey Racism is
Bad Like why Didn't someone Tell me That It's like Dude the Story told You that Like you Saw it You saw That this Was a Terrible Idea So we See that God Designed it To be One way We see A bunch
Of people Carry it Out another Way And all Of those Are bad Like it Never works Out well It's never Like oh This polygamy Relationship Is great So and Then in the New testament There are Specific places A couple Different places Where it's Like this
Isn't okay And we see Where Jesus Steps back In in Matthew 19 And says No no no This is what It was designed To be So those Are really Just stories There's a lot Of really Messed up People Then the Question becomes Well why Does God Bless them If they're
Doing bad Stuff And the Answer to That is Who would He bless If he Can't bless Sinners Like if he Can't step In and work On behalf Of sinners You just Want him to Kill all Of us Right now And I Would vote No Let's not
Have him Do that Let's have Him work On our Behalf Even though We're Messed up And so All right Good next Question Why would Homosexuality Still be a Sin when Other old Testament Laws No longer Apply Okay so That is
Specifically Addressing In the old Testament Laws Leviticus Deuteronomy Leviticus 20 Specifically It says that Homosexuality Is a sin And then there Are other Old testament Laws like Don't cut The corners Of your hair Don't eat Shellfish Don't eat Pork And it's
Like okay I'm eating Pork Why are you Still holding Up this Other Why are you Eating bacon And telling me That homosexuality Is a sin First of all The old testament Law is broken Up into a Couple of Different Kind of Categories Ceremonial Law Moral Law
Civil Law So they Were a Nation So they Had civil Laws Like here's What to Do if Your bull Kills Another Bull Like the Way we Have road Laws And stuff And if You go to Australia And you
Ride on The same Side of The street That we Do you're In trouble Over there But over Here Does that Make sense Okay so Like there's Some civil Laws We're not In the Nation of Israel Anymore There are Some ceremonial Laws
That had to Do with The temple And cleanliness And then There are Moral laws And the Moral laws Are the Ones That we More Carry over Which is Like don't Date your Sister Like we Bring those Along with Us The other Short
Short answer To this Question is That the New testament Still says That homosexuality Is a Sin Now That's the Short answer To answer That question Homosexuality Is still A sin In the New testament And most Of the Moral laws Are still Going to
Carry over From the Old testament That's not A very Helpful Complete answer So let me Say a few Other things To be a Little more Helpful here One is As I Answer this Question And try to Answer it A little bit More fully If this Is something You actually
Legitimately Have a Question about Or struggle With I'd love To grab Coffee With you And have A conversation That it's Not going To be Answered Most helpfully Like this Second is Two weeks From now That's what Our sermon Is going To be
Mostly About Is how In Christianity Do we View this And approach This In a Healthy Biblical Way So I would Encourage you To be Back Two weeks From now Let me Say a Few more Things One is
Homosexuality Is listed In the Bible As a Sin Along With Other Sins It Also In the Bible Is treated As action So to Say men Who practice Homosexuality Not as Personhood Identity Orientation
Like it's Not addressed That way In the Bible Meaning That we Hold up Our sexuality As who We are In our Culture Because we Have begun To elevate Sexuality To a Place it Doesn't Deserve To be We believe That sex
Is ultimate That romance Is ultimate And so When we Do that We begin To say If I Feel a Sexual Feeling That Identifies Me We talked About this A couple Of weeks Ago So when We say Homosexuality Is a
Sin It actually Turns Into A personal Attack Whereas the Bible Is not Approaching It as A personal Attack Because the Bible Is approaching It as No It's not Orientation It's the Action That is a Sin
So when We act On So it's The same It'll be Enlist With perjurers And liars And the greedy And all this Kind of stuff And we'll spend Some time Looking at That next Week So it's Addressed As a Sin Action And is The same
As other Sins Is not Elevated As one More special Or deserving More of Aggression Or anything Like that It is a Sin Like other Sins And if Someone Struggles With that In our Church Family Or if You're here
And you Struggle With that Join the Club of Sinners Who trust In Jesus That's That's Who's here Yeah And that's Good I think Our last Question Has something To do With that How should Christians Interact With the
LGBTQ Community I'll answer That one Like Jesus Like Jesus Jesus Spent his Time With Types of People From all Kinds of Different Backgrounds Different Belief Systems All kinds Of Different Things And Jesus
Was loving And he Was Welcoming And he Was hospitable He went Out of His way To build Relationships And so If your Relationship With someone Who would Identify in This community Is just Based off Of their Sexual Preference Or orientation
I would Challenge you To grab A cup Of coffee And get To know That person On a More Deeper Level The church Should be A place Where we Welcome People Of all Different Backgrounds Where we Can lovingly Engage
With what Does the Bible Say How does The gospel Impact our Lives Specifically When it Comes to Areas Of sin And how Is Jesus Better than Those things And really That question Could be How should Christians Interact With our
Friends Who sleep Around How should Christians Interact With my Friend Who steals All the Time Like it It's Just a The Bible Is going to Treat that Homosexuality As a Sin Not as Any kind Of special Identifying
Marker That makes You a Certain type Of person But actually We just The same Way you Would love And be Gracious Towards Everybody Else So we're Planning to Do Q&A On the Last Sunday Of this Series as Well so If maybe
Some of Our questions Have sparked Other questions You can turn Those into The give Box or you Can do it Through facebook Twitter you can Do it online There's a ton There's a ton Of different Ways you Can do it That's Can do it I believe You can Rak
Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice?
Our culture puts an immense amount of pressure on women. So many women are crushed by the weight of having a perfect body, perfect kids, and perfect relationships. But is that really what it means to be a woman? What if femininity has nothing to do with wearing a dress?
Transcript
Well, good morning. We are in the fourth week of our series, The Theology of Sex, where we're just taking some time to look at what the Bible has to say about gender, sexuality, romance, marriage, masculinity, femininity. A lot of times, we love the Bible. I have a problem. I start multiple sentences and that wasn't going to work out well together. A lot of times, because we love the Bible, we just study straight through a book of the Bible.
We'll just open it up. We'll go straight through. We spent a good bit of time this past year in 1 Peter. Some people might say a little too much time, but we walked verse by verse through 1 Peter. Really, we like the Bible. We study the Bible.
We believe that it's Scripture that helps us grow, that changes us, that Jesus works through that, through the Holy Spirit, to move us and to change us. But we also like to take time to say, okay, we're confused about this or we're having a hard time with this in our culture. And then we, instead of just studying straight through a book, we'll actually just kind of go to the Bible and say, what does the Bible have to say about these topics? And try to dig in that way. And that's kind of what we're doing right now. We're just spending some time talking about the theology of sex.
So last week, we talked about masculinity. We talked about what it meant to be a man, what biblical manhood was. And this week, we're going to talk about femininity, what it means to be a woman, what biblical womanhood is. And in general, in our culture, we're a little bit more positive towards women right now in our culture. We, in general, celebrate women. We want to promote women.
And there's really good examples of women in the workplace. And just in our culture, we're trying to look for ways to promote, to highlight. We kind of agree as a culture that women are great, even when maybe culturally the jury's still out on men. We're kind of on board with the idea that women are good, like we're pro-woman. And that hasn't always been the case throughout history. And that really is kind of a small window right now where we're saying, no, we need to, women are wonderful.
Let's promote them. Let's highlight them. But just because the climate is different for men and women, I actually don't think it makes it easier to be a woman. I don't really know, but I don't think it does. Just because there's so much now where it's the cause for, you need to be free from a man. You need to be, this is where joy comes from.
This is where freedom comes from. And then you'll also have the, no, if you just find the right man, then you'll be complete, then you'll be fulfilled. Or freedom comes from a career, or you have these mommy blogs that are like, you need to raise your own chickens and grow your own kale so that your kid doesn't turn into some weird high fructose corn syrup blob of a monster. Like all of this pressure to be all of these things. And it just seems in general like it makes being a woman more difficult kind of in our culture. And we really need to have a good handle on what is femininity?
What is the essence of womanhood? Because it just seems like we've got kind of a cluttered message out there right now. When my wife and I sit down and watch TV in the evenings, mostly, I look pretty good. Like as long as I'm not like an overgrown boy, I kind of know my kid's name and talk to my wife and have a job. And in general, I'm not an idiot. I'm beating most of the people we watch on TV.
Like most of the characters in shows, I look pretty good. But my wife, there's a lot of like really good examples of women in these shows that just have everything together. They've got their jobs working out perfectly. They're the one that tends to the house. Whenever the kids have problems, they fix it. And it just seems like there's a lot of pressure on females to kind of be everything at this point.
And so we really want to just kind of get some handles on biblically. What is the essence of femininity? What does it mean to be feminine, to kind of stretch into and press into womanhood? And so a few kind of disclaimers as we get started. One, I am aware that I am a man and therefore not a woman. But like always, we're going to try to open the Bible and say, here's we're going to let Scripture teach us, God instruct us and try to to learn as best we can from the text and not from personal opinion or personal experience, which I have very little of.
So single ladies in the room, like last week, femininity is not based off of role. So you don't have to be a wife. You don't have to be a mother. It doesn't wait for those things. That's not the completion of womanhood throughout Scripture. Let me just say this to help the ladies in the room that that read the Bible on a regular basis, that you study the Bible on a regular basis.
You read the Bible on a regular basis and you just kind of like, I don't see a lot of single women in Scripture. You are correct. There aren't a lot of single women in Scripture. Reason being is two primary reasons. One is in the Old Testament, we're mostly following the story of a family. So God's working through a race, through a people.
And so most of the major characters are going to be people who line up in that family. And so we're going to follow a lot of wives and mothers when you when they enter into the story because it's a people group. God was working through a family leading up to the lineage of Jesus. That's why the New Testament is going to start off with lineages. And most of the women that were highlighted in the Old Testament line up in those lineages. The other thing is just culturally.
There wasn't a lot of room for females to go get jobs, to just enter the marketplace. Just culturally, it didn't work that way. Most people were farmers. Most females were married off at a very young age. And so just because Scripture gives a lot of examples of wives and mothers, it does not mean that it's wrong to be single. Well, actually, in the New Testament, Paul's going to say it's great to be single.
You do really well to be single actually affirms singleness and says that's a beautiful, wonderful way to live and to reflect the image of God. And that's that's good and wonderful. And people don't have to get married. So even as we study Scripture and as you study Scripture and you see a lot of mothers and wives, they're going to live out their femininity in the role they were given. And you're going to get to do the same in the roles that you have. So femininity isn't based off of role.
It's actually just going to express itself through the roles that you're given. And so don't have to be married. Don't have to be a mother. Femininity is much deeper than that. So as we go in, just remember that men in the room, I'm going to intentionally, overtly, maybe even at times a little bit aggressively go after some of the moronic stereotypes that we have of women.
And your role will be to repent of the ones that you have believed and anywhere that you have helped propagate those. And then actively in the future to tell people to shut up and to help them not continue. So that's that's what you get to do. Also, it's about a thousand times easier for females to to express and to step into their femininity when men express and step into their masculinity. For the most part, when men abdicate their role, women step in and begin to cultivate and provide and protect like we talked about last week. And it becomes dang near impossible for them to do both for them to pick up your slack and do what they're supposed to.
So one of the best ways that we love the ladies in the room is by actually being men. And so if you didn't hear the sermon last week, I would encourage you to listen to it and then seek to grow with us as we try to be men. Guys in the room, if you're single and feel called to get married and are looking to date, this is what you're looking for in a female. And this is if you're married, what you're encouraging and celebrating in your wife. OK, one more one more quick caveat. I am I want I want us to remember that what we're talking about, we're saying specifically this is essence of femininity.
This is something that is core to femininity. This is maybe an issue that maybe ladies struggle with more. When we say those things, we don't mean men can't do these things or if a man does them, he's wrong in the same way. We didn't mean that last week. So if you're like, wait a second, I'm not supposed to protect.
I'm not supposed to provide just because I'm a woman. It's like, no, we're not saying that. We're just saying that's essential to masculinity. So it's like I looked at my wife one time. We're about to leave and go somewhere. I said, I said, you look, I really like that shirt.
She looked at me and she went, you don't like my other shirts. And I was like, why would you take it that way? Why would that? Why would one compliment to a shirt immediately be like me attacking all of your other clothes? That's not what I. So if we say something in a positive way, this is for femininity.
Don't immediately turn it around and apply it to everything else because we're not trying to say that. So don't be like my wife, I guess, is the way that's supposed to work. So I didn't mean it quite that way. I'm going to pray because, Lord, I need help. And we're going to hop in and try to avoid more ditches. God, we thank you that you're good.
We thank you that you're gracious to us. And we pray, Lord, that in this that we would study your word and that we would grow in our understanding of what femininity is, how you designed humanity, both male and female, on purpose and with a good design that brings joy and human flourishing. We pray for the ladies in the room that they would press into you as they learn to press into and flex and grow in their God-given design. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we're going to be in Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2, and then we'll move around a little bit.
But we'll start there this morning. Genesis chapter 1 is on page 1 in this Bible. If you don't own a Bible, this is our gift to you. Take it with you. Genesis chapter 1, starting in verse 26, 27, and 28. We're going to read that real quick together.
We've read this about every week through this series because it's essential to us understanding gender and sexuality. Then God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them, such humanity, have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. And God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
So God in creation makes male and female in his image and likeness. That both masculinity and femininity are designed to reflect God to the world. That both are. So it has been wrongly taught and wrongly taught from this passage, from a poor reading of the text, that this is only that men are made in God's image and females are not. It has been wrongly taught that women are innately inferior to men, and that is garbage. It's not true.
It clearly says that male and female were made in the image of God, and that that was God's good design from the very beginning. That there are ways that masculinity images God and ways that femininity images God. I'm going to try to say womanhood from now on, because that's going to get harder and harder as the day goes on. Womanhood images God that masculinity can't. So God intentionally designed manhood and womanhood differently on purpose.
So there have been the wrong ideas of women are inferior to men. They need to be barefoot in the kitchen. They need to know their role. They need to know their place. And that that is completely backwards, incorrect and is a as a heinous, aggressive stare down in the face of God's good design to make women in his image. And we completely reject that.
And out of that has arisen, actually, a rightly began the movement of feminism, looked at that and rejected that idea correctly, correctly rejected that idea. But then went the opposite direction with it. So that feminism says women and men are the same. If not, women are better than men. They can do everything a man can do. They're designed to operate the same way men are designed.
And they can do all the same things. They're designed the same way and are even better and superior in a lot of ways. And it's like, no, actually, God, when he designed humanity, made them distinct on purpose. That it's more than a biological distinction over how babies are made. That he actually intentionally created a gulf and made masculinity a certain way and femininity a certain way, far beyond biology, that was designed to be lived out in a way that together imaged him. That they were not complete without him.
So that masculinity and femininity are designed to complement one another, to shore up each other's weaknesses, to make each other's strengths stronger. One of the ways that this shows up, he gives them the, he says, God blessed them and said, be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth. So the call to human flourishing is given to humanity in general, to males and females together, to work together, to subdue the earth. And it would not happen outside of both being there. Outside of masculinity and femininity playing out on a global scale, you wouldn't have human flourishing. One of the coolest examples of this, that's kind of in our own country, and I heard somebody talking about it recently and it reminded me of a Ken Burns documentary.
I don't know if you all know about Ken Burns, but that man can document stuff. And he does a lot of like PBS documentaries and stuff. And I watched one of the Old Wests. And when the West got started, when U.S. citizens started moving out that way, it was mostly just men. Men went, they were hunting, they were kind of trapping, getting furs, they were chasing after gold, they were chasing after land, they were being chased after by people. But they all just kind of moved out that way, and it was just men.
And there were a lot of like shanty towns and tents, and it was pretty terrible. But it was mostly just men that moved out there. It wasn't until the second wave when a large proportion of females went with them. And then suddenly, towns, laws, streets, like systems of government. Men by themselves could only take it so far. They were like, I'm here, there's a tent.
I use the bathroom over there. Got it. Like it was for some reason, masculinity only had half the picture. Like it could only handle so much. And then it wasn't until masculinity and femininity worked together that we began to see flourishing, began to see sustainable forms of life and growth. And honestly, that's kind of the picture we see at the very beginning of Scripture, where God makes male and female on purpose and says, this is how the world is going to flourish, is if you work together distinctly complementing one another.
So let's hop in. Let's look at some three essential ways that women image God to the world. And we're going to start in Genesis chapter 2. We're going to look at 15 and 18 to begin to see this. So Genesis chapter 2, that's one page over.
Oh, I jumped away too many pages. 15. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. That's what we talked about last week. So God takes the man and puts him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
And then he says something really kind of surprising in the text in verse 18. Then the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him. If you've been reading through Genesis 1 and into Genesis 2, every time it would say God said something, he did something, and he saw that it was good. And then God said something, he saw it, and it was good. And God said something, he saw it, and it was good.
This is the first time that God does something and then goes, that's not good. And it's not a slight on Adam. It's just that masculinity alone is incomplete. Manhood alone is incomplete. And so when God designs femininity, he intentionally designs it different. He did not make one generic human person.
It wasn't like, oh, he just needs a team. No, he specifically intentionally made femininity different from masculinity. Womanhood different from manhood in order to work together on it. And so it says that I will make a helper fit for him. So the first kind of essential thing we see, we're going to look at that word helper.
And so immediately you're going, really? Helper? That's what we're starting off with? Yes, helper is what we're starting off with. It's from the word azer in the text. And it's really kind of two words stuck together.
It's the word strength and rescue kind of smooshed together. So the idea of helper in the text is not the idea that we have where we'll say stuff like, oh, you're going to be my little helper today. It's not at all what we're talking about. It's kind of the same as I was at the zoo the other day and was looking at a tiger and the little things like, tiger is a part of the cat family. And it's like, yeah, but they're a lot different from cats though, right? And so when we say the word helper, we kind of hear cat.
And it's like, sure, technically, but think more tiger. So when it says strong rescuer, that word helper is used 21 times in the Old Testament. 17 times it's referring to God. It's always referring to this moment of like a last ditch. Everything was going to be terrible until help came, until rescue came. The Septuagint, which is the Greek version of the Old Testament, actually translates that word auxiliary, which would be a backup reinforcement unit in the military.
So when it says that God looked at Adam and said he needs a helper, he doesn't mean little sidekick teammate. He means he needs a strong, empowering rescuer in some ways. That if you were reading the text in the original Hebrew, you'd be going, okay, this isn't looking good. This isn't looking good. Ah, reinforcements. We're not going to lose this battle.
This is actually going to work out. And so when it comes to biblical essence of femininity, one of the things woven into the heart and soul of womanhood is this, to be a helper, to be an ezer, which is, think about the idea of foreign aid. When a country comes to another nation, they're torn apart by war and famine and poverty, and they approach a bigger, stronger nation and say, hey, we need your help. We need you to step in and lend us your strength. That's the concept here. That's the picture we're given of biblical femininity, which means this.
Your strength exists for the benefit of others. Biblical femininity is that you were given strength on purpose for the benefit of others. That you're designed to notice weakness. That you're designed to notice pain. That you're designed to see those who need help and step in and empower them and equip them and help them. To step in where there's brokenness and bring healing and joy and life.
That's the idea here. It's like a mother that, over time, pours out her life for a child that is going to take life out of her and take life out of her and take life out of her. And less and less and less over time until the child is a full-grown, capable adult. That's the idea. That you would come around everyone around you. And it doesn't have anything to do with role.
It doesn't have anything to do with where you find yourself. You're going to do this with your roommates. You're going to do this with your community group. You're going to do this with your husband, with your children. You're going to look and see weakness. You're designed to see weakness and pain and step in and realize that your strength exists to be on loan for others.
That your energy exists to be on loan for others. That your joy exists to be on loan for others. To empower them and equip them. So there's currently kind of a conversation going on where there's this movement for if anybody around you drains you. If anybody around you is needy, you just need to get rid of that person. You just need to get them out of your life.
They're just a leech. They're just sucking the life out of you. You need to get rid of them. That's actually very unhelpful. Because part of the design of femininity is to pour out your life and your energy for the behalf of others. To lend your strength for others to grow strong and to be healthy.
And so one of the ways that this can... It is designed for other people to grow, to be empowered and to be equipped and to be sent out. It's not designed to be codependency. To where you only feel valuable if you're needed. So there have been, and even like in situations where a husband is on drugs and having issues with drugs.
Where a wife will actually come along at some point when he's doing better and help him relapse. Because she only understands her role as being needed. And if he's not on drugs, she doesn't understand how she has value anymore. It's not that idea at all. It's not the idea that you have to be needed at all times. It's just that you notice, step in, equip, empower and send out.
We sometimes use the term woman's intuition. So like my wife and I will go hang out with people and when we'll leave, she'll go... So, what was up with Gary? What? What was going on with him? Nothing?
There was definitely something going on with him. No, there wasn't. Y'all didn't talk about it? Talk about what? The thing that was going on. There wasn't a thing going on.
Like, we have these conversations all the time. She's like, what was wrong with them? Or I'll go hang out with someone that I already know there's a thing going on. And when I come back, she'll go, so what did y'all talk about? I'll be like, nothing. What about that problem they're having?
Oh, yeah. Nope. Didn't come up. How did it not come up? He didn't bring it up. I didn't.
I didn't. I didn't bring it up. What am I going to say? How's that pain going? Like, I'm not. But there's just something in femininity in her for her to notice that, to be drawn to that, and to step in, to help, to equip, to fix.
And honestly, there's a little bit of, okay, but what about my strength existing for me? What about what I'm equipped with existing for me? But the truth is, this is a very biblical concept to its core for humanity, not just femininity. That Jesus is going to say, deny yourself. He's going to say, pick up your cross, follow me. He's going to say that if you seek your own life, you'll lose it.
But if you lose your life for my sake, you'll gain it. He's going to say that he didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give his life on behalf of others. And there's actually something very godly in a way that you image God by using your strength for the benefit of others. That it's written into your soul. You're designed to do it. To see weakness, to step in, to equip, and to help.
The second one that we're going to see, we're going to jump to 320. We're just kind of following along this story, looking at Eve and realizing that a lot of this is talking specifically about her, but we're just trying to see as a type, as the first woman, as the first essence of femininity, representative of all femininity on earth. How does this play out? What is she called to? And how does this continue? So verse 20 says, the man called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living.
Okay, this is actually really interesting where this shows up. It says he called his wife's name Eve. Eve means life because she was the mother of all living. This is prior to her having any children. So a lot of times, in a lot of cultures, not our culture, people are named names, given names based off of their characteristics, based off of their role, based off of who they are.
So in the Bible, there's a guy named Barnabas, which just means he's an encourager. They gave him that name because he was already encouraging. They weren't just like, hey, you seem like in the future you might encourage people. I'm going to start calling you Barnabas. It's like, hey, weirdo, don't change my name. It's like, but he was very encouraging.
So they just like, that became his nickname. That's what they called him. They changed his name to that. A lot of cultures still do this. My cousins, my parents, my grandparents were missionaries in Nigeria. I've got some first generation African-American cousins from Nigeria.
And one of my cousins married a guy named John. And it's really funny when I get to introduce them to people because I get to say, this is my cousin John. This is my cousin Iannu. Sorry, I messed it up. This is my cousin Iannu and her husband John. And John is aggressively white like I am.
He's got a big head. He's got kind of reddish beard like I do. And so immediately when I say, this is my cousin Iannu and her husband John, people like twitch because it's like, wait, I think he said that wrong. Because this is your cousin, the big white guy that looks like you. And so it's always fun. But this past Christmas, they sent from Nigeria, from their family, sent over clothes for all of them and had written their names in the clothes that they sent.
So they were going to have traditional Nigerian clothes and they've written their names in it. And John saw his and it said, John Oyinbo. And he looked at my uncle, my uncle Abel and goes, oh, Oyinbo, is that like my Nigerian name? And my uncle started laughing so hard he couldn't talk. Like he was like wheezing, couldn't get words out. Finally, when he caught his breath, he said, it means John white guy.
They also call you Okalawan, which is different person. But there's this idea in a lot of cultures that you get a name that goes with who you are. You get a name that kind of defines your. And so when he names her Eve, when he names her life and says she's the mother of life prior to her having children, there's actually this picture of not just she's going to be the mother of everyone, not just she is the mother of all life later, but also just this design in her, in femininity to bring life, to give life, to be a refuge is kind of the second idea we're going to look at this morning. So it's one of the ways that helped me understand this idea was I was reading a book by C.S.
Lewis and he was talking about his relationship with his father and his relationship with his mother. And when he was really young, his mother passed away. And after she passed away, he wrote this in this book. He said, with my mother's death, all settled happiness, all that was tranquil and reliable disappeared from my life. There was to be much fun, many pleasures, many stabs at joy, but no more of the old security. It was sea and islands.
Now, the great continent had sunk like Atlantis. There's just this idea that without his mother, there there wasn't the same amount of of a refuge. His home wasn't home anymore. It was certainly a place to go to when he was out of school, certainly a place to be. But he never would feel quite like he was just free, just at home.
It's kind of the idea of if last week we said manhood is like being four walls and a roof, then femininity is a fireplace. It's everything that makes life livable. It's it's it's and it's not your ability to Martha Stewart, your house or to Pinterest, the fool out of everything. It has nothing to do with that. It doesn't have anything to do with your craftiness and whether or not your house has anything on the wall at all. It doesn't have have anything to do with you own a home.
It all it is is that home is where you are. Family is where you are. And we've all known people like this that just set us free to be ourselves. You know, you have certain friends and maybe your family that when you get around them, you're just more you than you are anywhere else. You're just a little less guarded, a little more free. I'm like this with my brothers.
They already know everything about me. So it's just and they have to be my brother forever. Like I just if I took them off, it's like, see you later. You're still my brother. See you at Christmas. How do you like them apples?
Like there's no no getting rid of me. And then there are certain people you get around and they just do the same thing. Certain ladies you get around and they just completely make you feel at home, make you feel welcome, make you feel free. And that's the idea of that she almost the infemininity written into the soul of femininity is the idea that you're actually a little bit of a mother to everybody. And I mean that in the most beautiful way, like the idea that everybody becomes part of your family. Everybody is fully welcome and free around you.
I can remember when I was in high school, my mom, any any story I had to tell, she was interested in just because I was telling the story. Like all that mattered was I was one of the characters in the story and she was happy, just like if I thought it was interesting. So I didn't the threshold for what she wanted to hear when I came home from school was very, very low. So on the way home, I'd be like, all right, let me think of something I can tell my mom. And I come up with some story that was just really not even a story. It didn't have any plot twists.
It didn't even really have any kind of where it was going. It was just like a thing. And in the middle of these stories a lot, my dad would walk into the room and he'd go, what? And I'd go, no, nothing. And he'd go, no, what? What are y'all talking about?
Because my mom would be laughing. She would actually make this story that wasn't a story like sound good. She'd laugh. She'd ask questions. She'd be like, what was his name? How did that happen?
Oh, my goodness. A Pepsi Cola. Like she just would make it like it didn't have to have any point. And somebody would go, what? What? No, y'all are talking.
What is it? And I'd go, this guy at school, he didn't have his homework. Before the teacher was going to take it up, he freaked out. And my dad would go, that's a stupid story. And walk off. And this happened on a regular basis.
And he never learned that the story wasn't going to be good. I like, he has a threshold for what makes a good story. I know that. I don't tell these stories to him. But there was something about my mom that just made it free.
Made me get to be me in a way that nobody else does. And there's something in femininity that allows you to just lower everybody's guard. That you're designed to make people feel comfortable and welcome and free. And it doesn't have anything to do with personality type. My wife's very quiet, very reserved. Three of her best friends were, it was a girl her age, a girl that was her sister, four or five years older, and their mom.
And that group of, that family, those three ladies, they believe if they have a thought, they had it for them to share with you. If they have an opinion, it was designed for them to say it out loud. They are very flamboyant, loud, happy, loud people. And they absolutely are themselves and they make you feel like yourself when you're around them. It doesn't have anything to do with personality type. It has to do with the ability to, you're not being judged.
You're not being graded. You're not having to live up to a standard. Ladies, if you're consistently having to compare yourself to other people and having to jockey for position and posture yourself to look good, you destroy your ability to do this. Because people aren't free around you because you need them to build you up. But when you're free in Christ to just be open to everybody, to just be welcoming to everybody, you get to kind of step into this role where home is where you are.
Family is where you are and your circle of concern just extends to everybody around you. My grandmother is like this. She hasn't met a person that she hasn't just adopted into her family for however long she's known them. Whether that's they sat near each other on a plane or she knew them for a couple of years before she moved or they moved. Everyone around her, she extends her circle of concern and they are just welcome with her. They're a part of her family the same that everyone else is.
And there's just something distinct in femininity that allows that to happen, that allows you to welcome and to be a refuge to everyone around you. And it doesn't have anything to do with personality type, with role. It actually is just something that's designed in the nature of womanhood. The third one is kind of interesting. So we're going to jump back into the narrative here in Genesis chapter 223.
We're going to look at the narrative and then we're going to go to 1 Peter to try to understand this one a little bit better. 2 Peter to try to understand this one a little bit better. 2 Peter to try to understand this one a little bit better. 2 Peter to try to understand this one a little bit better. So God had put Adam on earth.
2 Peter to try to understand this one a little bit better. 2 Peter to try to understand this one a little bit better. 2 Peter to try to understand this one a little bit better. So God had put Adam on earth. He had had him name all the animals. So he brought animal after animal after animal by named all the animals and said there was no suitable empowering strength, no suitable auxiliary for him, no suitable helper. and so then he makes Eve and he brings him to Eve and then it says the man said this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called a woman because she was taken out of man so when Adam sees Eve we get the first poetry in history it's either poetry or song it's not great I know you read it and you're like Adam bro step up your game man like this isn't I don't even like it doesn't rhyme hopefully it rhymed in Hebrew this isn't really great but what he what he does it's a little bit of this moment where his his heart finds resonance with her he he feels like finally he actually starts off with at last it's like that song at last like he just he sees her and it's just like and and there's this idea in creation and in God God is beautiful he's designed to be captivating to be delighted in there's over and over in the Psalms where David and other psalmists are writing and saying I just want to look at you I just want to stare at you I just want to be caught up in you and God specifically designed creation to be beautiful and there's something about femininity that has some of that impressed in it and it is not physical beauty or at least not only physical beauty so let's jump to first Peter before this gets really confusing and we take this in the wrong direction first Peter three says this is first Peter uh some of y'all familiar with this we spent the time studying this last year uh do not let your adorning be external okay uh some versions are going to translate that do not let your adorning be
External only and the word adorning there is cosmos which really means world so we use the the world the same way that sometimes we will say uh his whole world is sports uh that family that like her kids or her whole world so what he's saying is don't let your whole everything around you your whole existence be external the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which in God's side is very precious God specifically in creation made things beautiful made them to have a a weight and a gravity to be delighted in and gazed upon and there's something specific to femininity that evokes that that God has impressed his own way that that women image the image God is through a captivating personhood through a soul-stirring beauty and our culture has twisted this and marred this and bulldozed this into some nonsense we have absolutely turned it into a physical only sham of what God designed it to be we we are we have held up as a standard airbrushed supermodels that don't even look like that like they've had so much photoshopping and airbrushing they don't even look like the standard that they're propagating we're holding up a unicorn culturally and saying that this is what beauty is and peter's saying no no don't let your adorning only be that there's something in femininity that is for beautifying beautifying the world beautifying yourself making things beautiful but don't let it be can you go back to first peter don't let it be external only let it be the hidden person of the heart let it be depth of soul that leads to beauty honestly as these first two things come together there can be an imperishable beauty that doesn't age that continues forever doesn't grow old doesn't need to have doctors step in later and fix things that there's a genuine depth of personhood that makes beauty that makes uh females a delight womanhood a delight to be gazed at there's some of you ladies realize this early and it starts early it's really interesting I was talking with josh pabone yesterday he's got four children he has two boys
And two girls his boys say this hey dad look at this hey dad look at this and they're like look at this and they're like hit their brother with a stick like look at this kick I can do look at this thing I set on fire look at this lizard I caught look look at me do this but it's always this look at this and his daughters he's got two daughters and they say dad look at me look at me look at me if they're even if they're doing an activity the thing is look at me do this activity the goal isn't to look at the activity is to look at me they'll get dressed up aren't I beautiful look at me they have this desire to be delighted in for themselves it's it's innate it's woven in and we have distorted it twisted it and marred it and traded it in for some nonsense we we sold out genuine soul-stirring depth of personhood we sold out genuine beauty for a cheap marred hollow expression of it we sold out soul level delight for a momentary lust heart stopping resonance for a heart racing momentary nonsense it's like we traded in a carnival roller coaster for a lifelong adventure it's not worth the exchange that you were designed to be beautiful to be captivating to be gazed upon to be delighted in but not just not a not just a physical thing but actually to have depth of personhood that is welcomed and loved and delighted in and and honestly out of this uh grows this desire so when he's talking about let your your world not only be external it grows this desire to build a veneer to to paint everything up as if it is perfect to paint up your whole life as if you have everything together and honestly perfection when it comes to a pursuit of perfection that's kind of just a a feminine thing ladies pursue perfection in a way that men do not that was there's a there's an article in the land at the atlantic recently that was talking about this it's talking about closing the confidence gap was the name of the article and they're basically writing saying that overqualified women still don't apply for jobs that they're overqualified for because they're not sure if they're quite qualified enough and that underqualified men apply in mass like have empirically the data shows this would be terrible you're going to break this in half and sink it and they're like I deserve a shot let me have at it I think I could do a good
Job like and it just it's it's baffling they said that um that women don't uh turn in reports until they've edited them ad nauseum that they've they just feel this weight of perfection that men just it just doesn't show up on their radar there was a they did a study at cornell in a in an engineering course where uh it was kind of a course where people would flunk out in the course is one of those courses that just you got kind of to the middle and it just created space in the school and they were doing a study on the the males in the class and the females in the class and whenever it got hard almost a hundred percent of the males uh reacted externally and this class is hard this professor's tough these tests just got ridiculous and almost a hundred percent of the females reacted internally I knew I wasn't smart enough to handle this I knew I wasn't I knew I knew I couldn't cut it there's this weight of perfection this weight of trying to build this everything's all right around me it seems to to specifically land on on feminine shoulders that's why uh barbie dolls we just now we have female shaped barbie dolls now so like we should celebrate like they're actually they've just come out with these uh but they made barbie dolls and there was this this is a standard of beauty that no one can live up to this is there's no way we can ever exist here there's no way this is crushing and then you can take like a he-man action figure and take the like most slouchy overweight guy and he'll be like I can kind of see me in that it's a little bit like me right here because there's just there's that weight it's just sitting there and there's this this push to be the the perfect mom the perfect daughter the the perfect employer the imperfect employee the perfect everything and and can I just help you out it's not going to happen it doesn't exist you're not you're not going to be perfect you're not you're not going to have it all together the ladies in in the u.s are three times more likely to attempt to commit suicide
91 Percent of women in the u.s say they're dissatisfied with their bodies uh... and and women are 10 to 19 times more likely to suffer from an eating disorder they did they did a study on uh... college students and they found that over half of the the females that were in whatever the the uh... correct weight range for their uh... body type or whatever were on diets even though they didn't really need to be adjusted like that for health reasons that need to be adjusting their diets like it was it's just crazy the amount of pressure and weight that gets put on and um... there's a there's a director over at midtown she's she helps head up their kid city area and she said that one of the things she feels this weight of um... proving that she's lovely so that she'll know that she's lovable she says she's felt that her whole life that if she could just prove that she's lovely then she'd know that she was lovable and the reason we're talking about this is that there is something in the design of femininity to be enjoyed to be captivating
But it's not it's not to be found in just a physical expression or just building these veneers around you to prove that you're okay let's go to Ephesians 5 this is a section that paul ends by saying that the true meaning of marriage is the way Jesus loves the church that the whole point behind marriage that we have now is to actually show us how Jesus loves the church and so he says this husbands love your wives just as christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her so that he might sanctify her this is the church this is his bride this is his people this is all those who place faith in Jesus he might sanctify her which means set apart having cleansed her by washing of the water with the word that he might present to himself the church in all her glory
Having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she would be holy and blameless ladies you were designed for perfection you were designed to fully live out what it meant to have your strength benefit others you were designed to fully be so comfortable and free in yourself that everyone was welcome around you everyone was free to be themselves around you and you were designed to be captivating to be loved to be delighted in and sin has wrecked that ever since eve in the garden first believed the lie that God was holding out on her that he had hidden from her what it meant to truly be made in his image ladies have believed that ever since
And Jesus stepped in in the midst of our brokenness in the midst of our sin and he went to the cross on our behalf and he has made you blameless and perfect and holy and spotless without wrinkle or blemish or any such thing it says that Jesus loved the church gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word that he might present to himself the church in all her glory having no spot
Or wrinkle or any such thing but that she would be holy and blameless he actually saved the church just to present her to himself just to delight in the church in his bride that he's rescued and redeemed and only through resting in Jesus only through finding this to be true so deep and so soul level will you ever be free to know that your strength is on loan like Jesus's strength was on loan where Jesus stepped in and used his strength on behalf of others you get to step in
And realize that you've been gifted and equipped and strengthened for the benefit of those around you and you'll get to see that because Jesus has welcomed you into his home and made you into his family that you get to welcome everybody into your home make them into your family that you get to make home and family everywhere that you are for every person you're around and that you were designed to be delighted in and that through Jesus you are
You're perfectly spotless and blameless and free to be delighted in and welcomed and loved and ladies you're not perfect you're broken you're weak you're busted and that's okay because Jesus didn't leave you there he didn't leave you on your own to fix it on your own to make it all painted up and pretty and look good so that you could display it to the world but he actually stepped in and fixed
Every wrinkle spot and blemish on his own washed you through his own blood and made you his that he might delight in you you already have perfection you already have freedom you already have love and delight and joy through Jesus and only as you step into christ and only as you trust in the cross and only as you know that this is already true for you can you actually begin to be all that femininity
Was designed to be the band's gonna come back up we're gonna sing and praise Jesus and we're gonna together as a church family seek to step into masculinity and step into femininity in a way that doesn't have anything to do with stereotypes doesn't have anything to do with role doesn't have anything to do with personality types but has everything
To do with our desire to image God to the world to encourage one another to see flourishing happen and to begin to use everything we've been equipped with and gift with for the good of others for God's glory for our joy as we get to follow after him and if you haven't trusted fully in what the cross has provided for you you haven't fully seen
Jesus hanging on the cross to rescue to redeem to fix you to take away every spot and blemish and wrinkle every bit of imperfection that he might delight in you he might lift you up and it says the church in all her glory that Jesus makes the church beautiful and then delights in her
I'd encourage you to trust in Jesus today for your satisfaction your joy and ultimately your freedom God we praise you we ask Lord that you would bless the ladies in our church family that they would in the roles they're given in the time they have with their roommates in the time they have with their
Spouses with their children with their employees with their employers to give them the opportunity to use their strength to sacrifice on behalf of others to welcome everyone to make freedom and joy exist where they are and God I pray that you would
Help them to see that beauty is far beyond surface level things and that you through the cross delight in them you have cleaned them perfected them to present to yourself and all their glory is you have saved them through the cross I pray God that we would continue to grow in what it means to be men
And to be women as we follow after you in Jesus name amen
Do you even know how to sports, bro?
We all know the stereotype: the sports-loving, beer-drinking, thick-skinned man. But what about the rest of us? In a world where men are judged on whether or not they can throw a perfect spiral, what is masculinity actually about? What if being a man has little to do with how often you go hunting?
Transcript
Well, good morning. We are in week three of our Theology of Sex series. So we've been taking a look at kind of our culture and how we approach sex and how we think about sex and trying to really develop a theological basis for how we approach gender and sexuality and masculinity and femininity. And so our first week, we basically just said we were designed by God, created in the image of God, to worship God. And that human flourishing comes from our worship of God, but that we removed God from the place of creator and began to worship created things. And that since humans were made in the image of God, we're the easiest thing to swap out for God.
So we're most likely to believe that a relationship, that friendship, that another human will fill us up, make us complete, give us purpose. And that ultimately, that is where we have begun to place sexuality and romance in the place of God, and it's begun to wreak havoc on our culture. We wanted to then jump in and say, okay, here's what biblical masculinity is, and here's what biblical femininity is. Here's what God's design for women is. Here's what God's design for men is. But we couldn't because in our culture, there's even just a discussion about, is that really a thing?
Are there just women and men? Is it not on a sliding scale? Can't we just kind of choose or pick? Isn't there some form of? And so we had to just take time last week to discuss gender and to talk about the fact that God has created us male and female in his image. And there are two primary genders that are male and female, and we were designed by God to image him as male and female, and that ultimately, because we were made in the image of God, we were designed to get our worth and value from God, get our purpose from God.
And so once we'd begun to put romance and sex in the place of God, we then started using sex and romance to give us our purpose. And that's why we come alongside people. And as soon as they have a sexual urge or a romantic desire, we just come alongside of them and say, yeah, that's who you are. Because we've placed romance and sex in the place of God where we were designed to get our identity, and so we've begun to draw our identity from that. And so we spent some time looking at that last week. Today we are going to talk about masculinity, what it means to be a man.
Today, as God has designed it, if there are male and female and he intentionally designed us differently, then what does it mean to be a man? So jump to Genesis chapter 1. We're going to read something we've read several times. This is going to be Genesis chapter 1. It's on page 1. If your Bible looks like this, probably on page 1, no matter what your Bible looks like, because it's right at the beginning.
So Genesis chapter 1, go to verse 27. We're going to look at Genesis chapter 1, 27 and 28. So it says, God created man in his own image. That means mankind. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them.
So we've read this several times. It says God creating man and woman. He makes them in his image. And then it says 28. And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply.
Fill the earth and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. So God makes male and female in his image. And he says, It's your job to have dominion over the earth. And he makes them separate. So that there's a way that men are designed to carry out this call.
And there's a way that women are designed to carry out this call. But the calling has been given to both. To work together. To subdue and have dominion over the earth. And so what we're going to look at this week. Is what's the specific way men are designed to carry that out.
What are the core elements or pillars to masculinity. And next week we're going to look at what are the core elements or pillars to femininity. So. This is a vital question for us. I actually have become recently more interested in this question. Of what does it take to be a man?
What makes a man a man? Because I have a 10 month old son. He is male. But he is not a man. His primary disposition at this point is he just takes. He consumes.
He doesn't bring anything to the table. He's not carrying his weight. He doesn't weigh much. But he's not carrying his weight. Like he doesn't. He's not.
He's not doing anything. The best thing he has done so far is dance. And we've posted that. That's pretty much all we've gotten out of him. He doesn't do much. But it's my job and my wife's Job to raise him to be a man.
As he's growing up to tell him. No this is. This is what men do. Boys do that. This is what men do. This is what you're designed to be by God.
And so it's helpful for us to begin to get some vocabulary here. And our culture is all over the place. So we don't live in a culture where when you turn a certain age. Boom you're a man. We don't live in a culture where when you turn a certain age. We take all the boys.
And they have to climb a mountain. And if they make it back. They get to be a man. We don't have any kind of set. I'm a man now. You can walk up to guys that are 30 in our culture.
And say hey are you a man. And that actually has become a difficult question. I mean yeah. I mean what do you think. Like I. Sure.
I guess. Probably. How are we defining it. Male. Uh huh. Like it's just become more of a.
But if you walked up to your granddad. When he was 30. And said are you a man. That's a very silly question. Of course I am. Now get out of my face weirdo.
Like. Might would even just be a little bit offended. Like we. We've lost some of our. Definition. And in that void.
We've begun to add a whole bunch of things. So. What does it take to be a man. Are we going for. For James Bond. Like you need to drive nice cars.
Dress well. Be able to choke a guy out. In the bottom of a stairwell. Like what. What does it take to be a man. Do you have to.
Do you have to be intelligent. And know economics. And be able to run a company. Be able to. To. To quote.
Old dead guys. Who are smart. Do you. Is it just. The ability to grow a beard. And punch things.
Like is that. Our definition of man. Like if you can clean a fish. And a gun. You got it. Like really.
Is it just. Can I quote Chaucer. Or. Or should. Can I just. Is it.
Does back hair suffice. Like what's the category. I just need a high testosterone level. Like is that all we're going for. Maybe if I'm just always aggressive. Can I do that.
Like is that masculinity. And so we've begun to. To kind of. Lose. Our ability. So is it just sports.
Or is it sports knowledge. Athleticism. Is it. Something altogether different. And so. This is a.
Vital question. For our culture though. Because nobody. Is arguing. With any amount of data. People may be arguing this.
But with any amount of helpful data. Nobody's arguing. That the world is better. Where men are lacking. You can't make that argument. Psychologically.
You can't make it sociologically. You can't make it economically. You can't make it spiritually. The world was designed to have men. And where men are lacking. Things crumble.
You look at the places. With the highest poverty rates. The highest crime rates. What you'll find. Is a. Very vast amount.
Of fatherlessness. You'll find a giant void. Where dads haven't been dads. And they haven't shown. Boys how to be men. And other people in gangs.
And different things. Have come along. And said. This is what it takes to be a man. And begun to fill that void. We've got major problems.
In our. In our city right here. Where we've got. High amounts. Of. Single mothers.
That's a man problem. In our state. Which is. Top in the nation. In criminal domestic violence. That's a man problem.
Across the world. The most amount of. Rape culture. And heinous crimes. And violence. Are perpetrated by boys.
From the age of 20 to 60. And we need to have. A working. Functional. Healthy definition. Of what it takes to be a man.
So that we. Together as a church. Can begin to spot it. Can begin to encourage it. Can begin to point it out. Can walk up next to someone.
And say. Yes. That's man stuff right there. Keep doing that. That's great. And you can look at other people.
And say. That's boy stuff. Do what this guy was doing. Like we. We need to begin to have a language. So that we can raise sons.
To be men. So that we can grow together. As brothers in Christ. And be men. And. So.
Quick caveat. Before we hop in. Wives. If you're a wife in the room. And your husband is here. If you're a wife in the room.
And your husband is not here. Let me say this. Where the ideal. Is lacking. If you're. A single mother.
If you. Have a husband. But he has. Rejected this call. Where the ideal is lacking. Grace abounds.
So God has designed it. To be a certain way. But where the ideal is lacking. He steps in. He works on our behalf. And grace.
Abounds. So don't. Don't hear me say you are wrong. But you. Along with everybody else. Want men to be men.
So let's encourage that. Wives that are here. If your husband is here. A few quick things for you. Or if your husband's not here. A few quick things for you.
Listen. So that you can begin to spot this. And encourage it in your husband. Encourage it. Not angrily demand it. To spot it.
And encourage it. To be able to say. That's it. That's. That's. That's wonderful.
That's what you should be doing. You can begin to. Graciously expect it. Don't. Try to be the Holy Spirit. If we talk about something.
That your husband's not very good at. Just eyes up here. The Hulk just lock in. Don't do this. It's not going to help. Don't do this.
The subtle elbow thing. Don't. Don't do that. It's not going to help. It's. It's.
It's not productive. So just. Eyes up here. You stay focused. Let. Let the Holy Spirit do his job.
Single. Women. If you are. You're not. You don't have to get married. You don't.
That's not God's design for everybody. Perfectly fine and full way. To. To love Jesus and not be married. If you are dating and desire to be married. One of our goals.
Whenever we talk about masculinity. Is that some relationships. Would just fall all apart. The best way for some single females in this room. Is to. To leave here.
And break up with your boyfriend. That's the best way. For you to apply this sermon. To. To begin to expect. The person you're dating.
To actually be a man. And to not put up with childishness. And. And extended boyhood. Because it's not cute. Dating a boy who can shave.
Is not a good idea. Okay. Cool. Go break up with your boyfriend. Follow Jesus. He's better.
All right. I'm going to. I'm going to pray. And then we're going to hop in. And start reading some stuff from Genesis 2. Okay.
God. God. I pray that by your grace. Our. Church. Would be home to men.
Our church would be a place. Where the biologically male. Can by your grace. Be men. That we can. Challenge other men.
To be men. And to follow after you. And that we can get rid of some of the unhelpful stereotypes. And begin to actually place. Our understanding of masculinity. Firmly in what you say it is.
We love you. In Jesus name. Amen. All right. So the good news is.
God gives us some helpful. Handles on what masculinity is. So we're going to be in Genesis chapter 2. Now. We just read in Genesis 1. God makes male and female.
We're now going back. We're going ahead in the story to Genesis 2. But it's actually. Further back in time. This is. Retelling the story in a more colorful way.
This is prior to the existence of Eve. So we're going to start in verse 5. It'll be on page 2. If you're in this Bible. Probably somewhere close. In any other Bible.
Verse 5. Verse 6. When no bush of the field. Was yet in the land. And no small plant of the field. Had yet sprung up.
For the Lord God. Had not caused it to rain on the land. And there was no man. To work the ground. And a mist was going up from the land. It was watering the whole face of the ground.
Then the Lord God. Formed the man. Of dust. From the ground. And breathed into his nostrils. The breath of life.
And the man. Became a living creature. And the Lord God. Planted a garden. In Eden. In the east.
And there he put the man. Whom he had formed. And out of the ground. The Lord God. Made to spring up. Every tree that is pleasant.
To the sight. And good for food. And the tree of life. Was in the midst of the garden. And the tree of knowledge. Of good and evil.
And a river flowed out of Eden. To water the garden. And there it divided. And became four rivers. The name of the first. Is the Pishon.
It is the one that flowed. Around the whole land. To Havilah. Where there is gold. And the gold of that land. Is good.
Bedellum. And onyx stone. Are there. The name of the second river. Is the Gihon. It is the one.
That flowed around. The whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river. Is the Tigris. Which flows east of the Syria. And the fourth river.
Is the Euphrates. Okay. We just learned a lot about rivers. Push that out of your brain. We are not going to talk anything about that. The Lord God.
Took the man. And put him in the garden of Eden. To work it. And keep it. And the Lord God. Commanded the man.
Saying. For you shall surely eat. Of every tree of the garden. But of the tree of the knowledge. Of good and evil. You shall not eat.
For in the day that you eat. Of it. You shall surely die. Okay. God makes a man. Puts him in a garden.
He makes a garden. Puts the man in the garden. So the whole world is kind of. Rugged. Unkempt. He makes a garden.
Plants a garden. And then he puts the man in the garden. And he says he's got a job. He's to work it. And keep it. This is prior to sin.
This is prior to Eve. The man's designed to have a job. Single. Single men in the room. Masculinity does not wait. For you to get married.
And have children. Some of you are not called to be married and have children. You're going to be like Paul and Jesus. Who were perfectly masculine. And were not married and did not have kids. So don't feel like.
Oh cool. I get to be a boy until I have a wife who makes me be a man. That's nonsense. He gave him a job before the existence of Eve. So. He tells him to work it and keep it.
And from there we're going to look at everything we talk about today. So. Work and keep. We're going to take work and break it into two helpful ways to distinguish it. And then we're going to talk about keep it. The words we're going to use are cultivate.
Provide. And protect. Cultivate. Provide. And protect. That's what he means by work and keep.
That he had a job. He was to work and keep. He was to cultivate. To provide. And to protect. So.
Cultivate. God takes Adam. He puts him in this garden. And he says. Work it. Cultivate this.
Help it grow. And as he later talks to Adam and Eve. He says. Make the rest of the world look like this. There is a call in masculinity. To cultivation.
To development. To making things better. It's deep in us. It's the idea of being a craftsman. So that whether that's.
It's taking raw materials and turning it into something. So a chef. Takes raw ingredients. And turns it into something. Cook boss. He makes the prettiest cakes.
And that is distinctly masculine. Is how he takes raw materials. And turns them into. Like. I saw like this triple layer cake. With like a cherry tree on top.
And you could eat the whole thing. It was amazing. Art. Design. Web design. Landscaping.
Hardscaping. The ability to. To farm. And to build. And to take something. Raw materials.
And turn it into something. Is what we're called to do. Deep. Deep. It's one of the pillars of manhood. And we're supposed to do it.
Everywhere. We are designed. To cultivate. Which really just basically means. We leave it better. As men.
We leave it better. When you go to work. Your job. Is not to just do whatever you can. To skate by. And get a paycheck.
You are there. To cultivate. You are there. To make it better. To make your job better. For having had you work there.
If you live in a house. If you rent an apartment. That place should be better. For you having lived there. It shouldn't slowly decay. Under your care.
It should be. Cleaner. And nicer. And more taken care of. Because you were designed. To cultivate.
If you have relationships. You're designed. To cultivate. To help people grow. To develop them. To take something.
And nurture it. And give it health. And life. So. Husbands. Your wife.
You're supposed to cultivate her. She should flourish. Under your headship. And under your leadership. And under your care. That you would go out of your way.
To help bring out. What is best in her. If you have roommates. And you're going to live with them. For a year. Or two years.
Or three years. You should be. Building into them. They should be better off. For having lived with you. They should look back.
On that time. And say. It was. It was good. And formative. And God's grace.
Towards me. That I lived with you. With this man. Because he. Cultivated me. They might not use that word.
Because that would be weird. Built into me. Challenged me. It's the way. It's the way we're designed to work. This is why guys can do.
Any little bit of a sport. And then go buy. Two hundred dollars worth of equipment. Because you're like. Wouldn't it be better if we had this? Oh this would be way better if we had that.
This is why you. You can't. You play a game. And you immediately go. Oh. I wish this game had this thing.
Because we're designed. To try to make things better. To try to cultivate. To try to bring out life. One of the people I have seen do this the best in my life was my dad. At all points he was working to make everything around him better.
He didn't sit still much. He can walk into. You can walk around with him. If you go stay in a hotel. If you go to a theme park. And after he's been there a couple of hours.
You can say. Okay. What could they do to make this better? And immediately. That's all he's been thinking about. Well they could do this.
If they'd have done 30 minutes more worth of work there. That would look twice as good. Like he. He does that. It drives my wife crazy. But Phillips is.
Change the rules to board games. We'll play a game once. And go. Okay. Next time. These are the new rules.
My wife's like. Why would you change the rules? Because it'll make the game better. That rule was dumb. We have whole sides of dice. That don't even mean anything.
It's like. No. If you roll that. You just do this. We're not doing that anymore. Throw those cards away.
That's not part of the game. Like we just. One of the ways my dad did this in us. Was he was always moving us towards manhood. So you were like five.
And my mom maybe cooked something you didn't like. And you were like. I don't. I'm not going to eat it. It's just. It's not going to happen.
I just. I just hate it. And my dad would look at you. And go. Hey. Boy.
Look at me. You going to grow up to be a man? Yes sir. The answer to that was always yes. You weren't like. I don't know what I'm thinking about.
And my dad asked you that. I said yes sir. He said okay. What if I came home. And your mom cooked something. That I didn't like.
And I walked over and said. I'm not going to eat it. And immediately. This was the most grotesque thing. You could ever see. Because my dad.
Throwing a fit. It's just ugly. You shouldn't see grown men. Throw whiny fits. So you're five.
And you were like. No. You should never do that. And he's like. Right. Come on.
And it was like. Okay. But he would help you see. Something that was happening. When you were five. That was going to.
Like you. You'd be afraid of something. Hyperventilating. Freaking out. I can't ride. I just can't get on this ride.
I can't get on this roller coaster. And he would look at you. And go. Hey. Look at me. You're seven years old.
Look at me. You want to have a wife and kids someday? That's a really heavy question. For a seven year old. Answer. Yes sir.
Like you just. You go. All right. Let me ask you a question. You're asleep. Sound asleep.
You hear a crash. Someone broke into your house. Are you going to go. Or are you going to do what you got to do? It's like. I did not know roller coasters had anything to do.
With burglaries. He's like. Hey. Get control of yourself. Let's go.
And it was like. Okay. I can ride a roller coaster. Because I don't want my kids to die. But here's what my dad was doing.
And sometimes he over applied that. And it got really intense and crazy over things that probably shouldn't have been. But what he was doing is. When you plant. Like if you plant a tomato plant. You go ahead and put that like weird green thing.
The cage around it. Why? Because it's going to grow. You have. You already have a plan for what it's going to do. You know what the goal is.
You're going to get tomatoes off this thing. My dad was looking at us when we were five. And saying. Your goal isn't to be a five-year-old. Your goal is to be a man. And I'm going to cultivate you.
To do that. And as men. That's our job. With everything. Under our care. We leave it better.
Something deep inside of you. Is calling you. To work. To cultivate. To cultivate. And the question isn't.
Are you cultivating? The question is. What are you cultivating? Because something is getting your energy. Something is getting your time. You are waking up and doing something.
Are you cultivating death? Are you cultivating laziness? Are you cultivating harm for others? Are you actually working towards something that's valuable and good and will last? So God took Adam.
He placed him in the garden. And told him to work. Half of that's cultivate. The other half is provide. So men are designed to cultivate.
They're designed to develop. To build. To be craftsmen. And designed to provide. And provision just means this. It's a couple of really simple things.
Off the bat. Have a job. You're supposed to work. Men are supposed to go to bed tired. You're supposed to. God designed it that we would work six days and rest one.
So if you want to say one day a week you can go to bed feeling rested. Go for it. Six days out of the week you need to go to bed tired. You should have a sore back. Some sore feet. Your brain should ache.
You should have been at work. If you're at school. Go to school. Work. Work at school. Get another Job.
Cultivate your friends. Don't think I only got two hours of stuff to do today. And I don't have to do anything on Tuesdays and Thursdays. No you're designed to work. To provide. It means you have a job.
It means if you have a job. Have a budget. To plan ahead. So the provision. When God put him there and said. Make this flourish.
Make this grow. He was to design everything so that it could flourish. So he was supposed to have systems for economics. He was supposed to have systems for when they harvest. When they don't harvest. He was supposed to have systems and design and plans.
For how this works. My wife grew up in Johnston. The peach capital of the world. So take that Georgia. Just because you called the name. Doesn't count.
When I'm riding down to go see. We go visit her dad or something. You're riding and there's like trees and stuff. And it's just woods. And then all of a sudden you'll. You just open up and there's just rows.
Of peaches. Peach trees. They're organized. Do you know why? Because they had a plan. They were designing this.
They were figuring out a way for it to best provide. There's never like peaches. And then cotton underneath. And a few rows of corns going this way. Like it doesn't make any sense. Like we're supposed to figure out and set up systems and provide.
And make ways for things to grow and develop and be healthy. So I just. Girls if you're dating a guy. And he has a budget. That's awesome. You should be excited.
If he's like. I can't do that right now. Budget's kind of tight. You should be like. Wait. You got a spreadsheet?
He'd be like. Yeah. And you'd be like. That's man stuff right there. This means that we as men are designed to do the hard work so that others can benefit. We're designed to do hard work so that others can benefit.
It also means that we go last. Your goal isn't to get the best parking spot if you can walk. You walk. Let other people have the good parking spot. If you're hanging out with your community group and y'all are throwing a party. That means you're going to show up and help provide some of the food.
You're going to show up and help provide some of what's there. And you're going to stay late and help clean up. It means if you and your family just had a baby. You're taking the worst shift at night. You're going to find a way for your wife to sleep. You've got work to do.
You're going to be the one who's tired. You're going to make sure everyone else has what they need first. If you have a roommate and y'all are both hungry. And there's only one Totino's pizza left. Your roommate gets it. And you figure out something else.
Or you go hungry. Because that's man stuff. We go last. We make sure everyone else around us has what they need. We provide what is necessary. We do the hard work so that other people can have this.
This means that we save money for the benefit of others. Some guys it means that you need to take on a roommate. Even though you don't need one. Because maybe they need one. And you'd have the opportunity to cultivate. To pour into them.
To help develop them. Doesn't mean. That your wife can't make more money than you. It just means it's not her job to. She's not the one who's tasked with providing for your family. Recently in my community group.
There was a guy named Jack. Who became a Christian last year. It was really an encouraging thing. As he began to follow Jesus. And his wife got sick. And they just had a baby.
And so they decided it was best for her to not be working. Because of some of the sickness. And some of them having a kid. And so you know what he did? He took on another Job. He gets up at 5 o'clock in the morning.
He goes to work at 6. He works till 2. When he gets off at 2. He goes to his other Job. He works till 9 or 10. When he's not at work.
He's helping watch the kid. He doesn't get to hang out with our group as much. Because he's always at work. And that's beautiful. We try to find ways to get around him. We try to find ways to hang out with him.
But that's what he's designed to do. Is to provide. To work. One of the primary things that distinguishes a boy from a man. Is that a boy's primary way they relate to the world. Is they take.
But men give. If you are dating guys. If you are dating men. Not if you're dating men. Men if you're dating. Stay focused.
You're either going to leave. The woman you are dating. Better. Or worse. For having dated you. You are either going to provide.
For her to flourish. You're either going to help cultivate her. Or you are going to take from her. And if your goal in dating someone. Is to. To see them naked.
To get to have sex with them. To get to. Partake from them. To get to. They exist for your benefit. That's boy stuff.
That's not what men do. You're designed. To cultivate. To protect. To provide. And to make everything around you better.
This also means. That you can't just be. Provision isn't just. Well I make sure that the bills are paid. And I make sure there's food on the table. If your wife is physically fed.
But spiritually famished. You're not providing. You're not setting up the systems. You were designed to set up. If you have a daughter. Who drives a Mercedes.
But doesn't know you. And you never pursue her. I can tell you one thing. We could line up. All the girls at the University of South Carolina. And we could say.
See some whose dad worked two and three jobs. And scraped by. To buy a beater car off a Craigslist. But pursued their daughters. Loved their daughters. Talked to their daughters.
And we could have some that. Their dad gave them everything they ever wanted. Except for him. And I'll tell you what. The ones with the beater cars. Wouldn't trade their dad in for a Mercedes.
And the ones with the Mercedes. Would trade it every time. You're designed to set up. A system to provide. And to cultivate. Those around you.
I heard one pastor put it this way. I thought it was helpful. This is specifically for guys who are married and have kids. When you go to work. That's first shift. When you come home from work.
You are not off work. You are starting second shift. Second shift is where you save your wife from your children. And on some days. Your children from your wife. But it's your job to be around your kids.
To roll around on the floor. To assault them in a healthy way. When your kids go to sleep at eight, nine o'clock. You're not off work. Third shift just started. It's time for you to talk to your wife.
It's time for you to pursue her. It's time for you to discuss with her. It's time for you. And you say okay. And then what happens? Well you probably go to sleep.
Because you're exhausted. What about me time? Wake up at four in the morning. That's me time. Or you don't get any. That's how that works.
You were designed to work. And to go to bed tired. Okay. Got to move on. Protect. So he says work it and keep it.
Work it. We talked about in cultivate and provide. Keep it. He means to defend it. The word there is like to be a shield. To protect what you have.
We as men are designed to protect. And universally this one is understood as manly. As what men are supposed to do. We don't have much push back on the idea of protection. In 2012 at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. At a midnight showing of the dark night.
A man walked in in a trench coat. Wearing a flak jacket. Threw out some gas canisters. Smoke canisters. And began to take an assault rifle and fire into the crowd. In that showing were two young men with their girlfriends.
Who pushed their girlfriends to the ground. And laid their bodies on top of them. Bullets ripped through their bodies and into their girlfriends. Their girlfriends were wounded. And both of those young men died. Worldwide they were heralded as heroes.
Because we understand that's what's supposed to happen. Men are supposed to take the fall so that others can go free. They're supposed to stick their necks out on behalf of others. That same year there was a, in Europe off the coast of Italy, there was a boat that sank. And there were reports that men were pushing women and children out of the way to get to the life rafts first. Universally, that was called heinous cowardice.
Because we know deep inside of us that men are designed to take a beating on behalf of others. Men are designed to take punishment on behalf of others. There's a seminary professor and I heard this story. He teaches his sons. He's got some sons. And he teaches them that boys take the fall so the girl can go free.
Boys take the fall so the girl can go free. And he teaches them this all the time. And he was in his office and he was watching his son riding a wagon down a hill. Hill. Watching him ride a wagon down a hill. And just completely out of control.
And so at this point there's nothing he can do but watch. He's just like, okay, let's see how badly this goes for him. And so the kid's just losing it, careening down this hill. And as he's getting towards the bottom, a girl about two years younger than his son, his son was younger at the time, comes riding out on a tricycle. And so he's like, okay, this just got worse. And he's watching his son.
His son starts rocking the cart back and forth as best he can. And just tips the whole thing over. And just makes it ten times worse. Just goes barreling down this hill. I mean, smacking his body, rolling. And his dad jumps up and immediately runs outside.
Knows that this is one of those, like, are we going to the hospital type moments. Runs up to his son. His son's bleeding and crying. He looks at him and goes, I did it, Dad. The boy takes the fall. The girl goes free.
And 100,000 times yes. That is what men are designed to do. We're designed to take a beating on behalf of others. Real practically. Periodically. This means periodically we'll hear noises at my house.
And the other night I heard a loud noise and I rolled over and tapped my wife. And I said, hey, you know how I'm really progressive and I don't try to hold you back. She said, yeah, boo. She's real sweet when I wake up at night. And I said, do you hear that noise? And she said, yeah, it's your turn.
Go defend the baby. No, that doesn't happen. I don't care if your wife is an army ranger with a black belt. You hear a noise, that's your job. Cover me. I got it.
I work IT. Somebody's going down. Like, I mean, that's just how it works. It's your job. Men are designed by God to protect. Now, this doesn't have anything to do with stature.
This doesn't have anything to do with testosterone levels. This doesn't have anything to do with what kind of Job you work. None of those do. We're designed to cultivate. We're designed to provide. And we're designed to protect.
We leave it better. We do the hard work so that others can benefit. And we go last. And we take the fall so others can go free. That's what masculinity is. That's what we're designed to do.
That's what God put Adam there to do. And then chapter 3 happens of Genesis. And in chapter 3, I'm just going to tell you this story and we'll look at a few verses. Chapter 3. It says, it tells us the story of a snake comes up. So Eve's there at this point.
A snake comes up and starts talking to Eve. Now, let's go ahead and give them a little bit of credit. Because first of all, you're like, snake talks to me. Situation is over. This was before sin. So they hadn't been tricked before.
They hadn't been harmed before. So, of course, snake talks to you. Right. You're getting out of there. But let's just give them some benefit of the doubt.
They didn't realize how really messed up the situation had just gotten. Snake talks to Eve and begins to lie to her about what God said. And tricks her into the verse we read earlier where God says, don't eat of this tree. Tricks her and deceives her into eating of the tree. And then the Bible says something absolutely crazy. Flip to Genesis chapter 3.
I want us to look at verse 6. Verse 6. This whole story is playing out of this conversation between Eve and the snake. And verse 6 says, So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. That's the first time he shows up in the story. He was there the whole time.
He absolutely abdicated what he was supposed to do. He absolutely backed out of his call to cultivate her, his call to provide for her, and mostly to protect her. He was just there. Then it says that this was sin, and this is what immediately caused a rift between them and between God. And then God shows up in the garden, and he calls for Adam. He's not looking for Eve.
He's looking for Adam. And then Adam, as God begins to question him about this situation, Adam says this in verse 12. The man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate. That's his response. It was the woman that you gave me. I think we can clearly see I had nothing to do with this.
And we immediately, in chapters 3, see three of the biggest issues when it comes to us living out biblical masculinity, our apathy, sinful aggression, and blame. Apathy. He was there, but he just didn't do anything. We were hanging out with our community group the other day, and my son, who's walking and tearing everything up all the time, was over in somebody else's house tearing stuff up. And so my wife got up and went and picked him up and took care of him, and then she walked over and handed him to her husband, who was with her. And that was the first time I showed up in that story.
Because of apathy. I just didn't want to get up. Because this is at work in me, and it's at work in all of us. And then sinful aggression. When Adam should have been aggressive towards the snake, he takes out his aggression by blaming others. It was her fault.
The one time he actually shows a little bit of some of the aggression God gave him that he should have used in a helpful way. It's only an aggression at those around him, not to help them, but to harm him. So the two major sin issues that we'll see in masculinity is apathy, where men just abdicate the role they were given, or when they wrongfully use their aggression and their size to domineer over others. And the third one is blame. It's not my fault. It was the woman's fault.
I mean, it's not me. It's my boss. It's not me. It's these daggum kids I got. If I'd have just had a different father, if I could have just gone to school, if I'd have just had that kind of Job, man, if I'd had that kind of money growing up, it's not my fault. The one that's the most bizarre to me but gets used so often is we blame our apathy.
Man, I don't know. I'm just apathetic. I would have done that, but, you know, I just, I don't know. I just don't, I don't feel like it. I don't have the energy. Like, that's a valid excuse.
And here's what I know about Adam. Here's what I know about us. You swap out any man in this room for Adam, this story plays out. At some point, we all get kicked out of the garden. At some point, we all abdicate our role. At some point, we fail to cultivate, provide, and protect.
None of us stay in the garden. Romans 5. Thankfully to God, that's the first bit of the book, and it keeps going. Romans chapter 5 is going to be on page 612. We're going to start with verse 12. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, who'd sin come through?
Adam. Who ate the fruit first? Eve. Who gave it to Adam? Eve. Who talked to the snake?
Eve. Who'd sin come through? Adam. Because of his apathy. Because of his failure to do what God had designed him to do. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.
This sin of Adam has spread to all of us and ultimately leads to death, but is working death in us all of the days of our lives. For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was of type of the one who was to come. Okay, so Adam prefigured someone else who was going to come. He was a type of someone else to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass.
For if many died through one man's trespass, so Adam brings death to everybody, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of the one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass, which is sin, brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. It means he made us right. For if because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Jesus perfectly fulfilled masculinity on our behalf. He was the better Adam. Where Adam apathetically stood by and didn't help, Jesus steps into a situation that was not his to fix, but only he could fix, and he steps in to make everything better. Jesus perfectly, where Adam was passive when he should have been aggressive and aggressive when he should have been humble and passive, Jesus was the opposite. Perfectly walking aggression and gentleness out, perfectly loving and pursuing and fighting against the real enemy, sin and death. And where Adam failed to protect, where Adam at the end pointed at his wife and said, it's her fault, put her head on the chopping block.
She should be the one to blame. Jesus stepped in and said, it's their fault. It's Adam's fault. It's your fault. Put my head on the chopping block. I'll be the one to blame.
Jesus is the ultimate man who took the fall so that we could go free and perfectly fulfilled masculinity for us and perfectly walked it out and showed us what it looks like to cultivate, to provide, and to protect. He did everything on the cross that Adam failed to do. He did everything on the cross that we failed to do. And our options as men, you're either in Adam, either have death at work in you, or you're in Christ, where you have life at work in you through Jesus' work on your behalf. You either have Adam's work on your behalf and your work joined in with him, or you have Jesus' work on your behalf that overcomes all the terrible work we've ever done.
And through Jesus, we can actually be men. Not to say that Christians can't be masculine. Not to say that men who don't know Jesus can't fulfill some of these things. But it'll never be complete. It'll never be fulfilled. And we'll be consistently looking for something to make sure that we have value.
Consistently looking for something to make sure that... I'm a real man because I can pick stuff up and put it down. I'm a real man because I got a good job that makes money. I'm a real man because I know how to shoot a deer. I'm a real man because I don't care about all those stereotypes. And I'm secure in my own mask.
Like, whatever. We'll begin to use that to put others down and to raise us up. Just like Adam looked at Eve and said, put her down, raise me up. She's the problem. As long as you see her as the issue, I get to be okay. And Jesus does the opposite where he takes the blame on our behalf, where he takes the fall so we can go free.
And in Christ, we can actually be made into real men. So by God's grace, this is what we're pursuing here. To be men who know that Jesus is the real man. Jesus is the one who works life in us, who paid for our sin and our debt and makes us actually able to be men. And then as we follow Jesus and as we fail, we trust in Jesus. But as we follow Jesus, we work to cultivate and to provide and to protect.
And we work to call men to be men here. And by God's grace, we will work and fight and go out exhausted. We'll go to sleep tired and then one day, we'll close our eyes and take our last breath, absolutely worn out, strung out, exhausted from living our life for the sake of others. Pouring ourselves out for the benefit of others, working hard, going out with our boots on because we've been at work. And we've been protecting and providing and cultivating just as God called us to. And everywhere we failed, we just leaned into Jesus who perfectly did it on our behalf.
That's our desire here. To have men, to train men, to turn boys into men, to take our sons and make them men and to follow Jesus the whole time. The band's going to come back up and play and we're going to sing. Men, where we've been failing at this, where we've been apathetic, where we've been blaming others, where we've been wrongfully exerting aggression on those around us to control our situation and make ourselves look better, we need to repent. We need to repent to those that we've harmed. Single men, you need to realize that while married men have a clear and direct example of those that they are harming through their apathy because their wife or their children walk around with them on a regular basis.
Just because you are single and the people that you are harming through your apathy don't follow you around, you're still called to cultivate. You're still called to make those around you better. You're still called to be active in what it means to be a man. And all of us are called to repent and to point to Jesus because when Adam looked around in the garden and said, someone has to take the blame for this, he just knew that he couldn't handle the weight of his own failure and he looked around and said, someone takes the blame and thousands of years later Jesus stepped forward. When Adam looked at God and said, it's your fault, Jesus in Christ says, yes, I'll take that.
I'll take the blame even though I don't deserve it and he stepped up and took the blame for us and so when we fail, we get to look at Jesus who's already taken the blame on our behalf, who's already taken the weight on our behalf and we get to repent, confess and know that Jesus ultimately handled it and we get to follow him and what real masculinity looks like. God, we pray that by your grace, males would be men, that we would love and serve and protect those around us, that we would humbly sacrifice and lead. God, we pray that we would cultivate, that everything around us would be better because we were there, because you were at work in us. God, we pray that we would put others first, that we would put ourselves last, that we would do hard work for the benefit of others.
God, we pray that you would help us to take the fall so others can go free and to stick our necks out for the sake of others. That you would work in us to perfectly cultivate, provide and protect. And God, I pray that we would follow after you, leaning into you and our failures and that the men in this room who have lived their life in Adam would place their faith in Jesus to be set free from all their failures because you took the blame for us, to be made new and that we might follow you as men. I pray that the women in our church family would encourage men to be men, would point it out, would welcome it.
I pray that the ladies in this room that are dating guys would not put up with boys that can shave but would follow after the true man, Jesus, until he brings along a man following after him. God, we ask for your grace and your work on our behalf. Pray that men will repent and follow you. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Gender, Bigfoot, and Leprechauns
The idea that gender is a made-up social construct is gaining widespread acceptance. But is that the most helpful conclusion? Does the idea of gender need be thrown out and left behind, or just seen with new lenses?
Transcript
Well, good morning. My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab a Bible and flip to Matthew chapter 19. That's where we'll be starting today. It's going to be on page 534.
If your Bible is one of the blue and white ones on the road. If you don't own a Bible, steal the one you're holding. Grab one of these and take it with you. We'll give you permission to steal. We'll absolve you of that. It's our gift to you.
We want you to have a Bible. If you are part of our church family and you've already taken five of those, just leave the one you're using here. Okay, so anyway, we're in our second week of our Theology of Sex series. We're just trying to have a better, more robust view of gender and sexuality, of masculinity and femininity. And so we're just taking some time to actually see what the Bible says about all these things because they're major cultural issues for us. So today we're going to pick up and start talking about gender specifically.
Let me recap for us what we talked about last week. So as we started this last week, what we said was that humans were created in the image of God. That God created everything and then he kind of pauses and then creates humanity in his image to mirror him, to show all of the rest of creation what he's like. Like a little bit of a self-portrait. Like humanity exists in relation to God and is designed to image him to the world. Therefore, all humans have dignity and value and work and purpose just by the nature of our creation, the nature of our design.
The problem is, our fundamental problem on earth is that we who are designed to worship God and exist in a relationship with him have swapped him out for other things. And what we talked mostly last week was that humans, because we are made in the image of God, are the easiest created things to put in the place of God because we hold the most promise. It's easier to believe that another person will fill you up, will give you satisfaction, will bring you fulfillment. It's easier to believe that romance and relationship and love and sex can fit in that and fill that void than it is for us to believe money can go there or success.
I mean we chase after all these other things, but the easiest one, because we were made in the image of God, the easiest thing to replace him with is each other and ourselves. And that this pour the fabric of creation and ultimately leads to destruction, pain, because we were designed to exist in a relationship with him. Am I cutting in and out? Okay, so do I need to cut this off and just talk really loudly? Alright, this is going to get on my... Okay, we're going to try to fix that, I think.
So I will try to talk loudly and rapidly so that I will not cut in and out. I will just talk like this the rest of the time, so be paying attention and make sure you stay focused because this is how we're going to go. Now we're in Matthew chapter 19. So here's what we're doing. We're going to have to cover a lot of ground today as we walk through this because we've got a lot of things to say for us to even be able to have the discussion we need to have. So we're in Matthew chapter 19.
We looked at last week at how we've swapped God out for other things. We were created to worship him, to find our joy and fulfillment in him. And that ultimately Jesus came to swap places back with us. Where we had swapped ourselves out for God. Jesus, who is God, swapped himself out for us. Where when we made the exchange, we got death and sin and pain and destruction.
Jesus made the exchange on our behalf and took our death and sin and pain and destruction so that we could be welcomed back in. And that's the foundation of everything else we say. We have to understand that God pursues us, created us, and loves us enough to go to the cross. Matthew chapter 19 verse 3 is where we're going to pick up. It says, And the Pharisees came to him, him as Jesus, and tested him by asking, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? Okay, so the Pharisees were a group of religious leaders.
And they asked Jesus a bunch of questions on a consistent basis because they're trying to trip him up, trap him, prove that he's wrong, show that he's ignorant, get people to quit following him. And they were well educated, knew the Bible really well, and so they're asking him this question to kind of trick him. They're going to have a discussion about divorce, but Jesus is going to say some very helpful things to us as we look at gender today. The Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? He answered, have you not read? Which is just a great way to answer Pharisees because they would have memorized the Old Testament.
So I think he does that just to bother them, which just makes me like Jesus a little more. But that may be some of my own sinfulness. But he's like, oh, I thought y'all don't read? Okay, I'll catch you up since you don't know. Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female? And said, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. So Jesus reiterates and reaffirms what we saw last week where it says God created male and female in his image. Jesus says there is from the beginning male and female. That there is a gender binary. That you are male or female.
So they said to him, why then, this is verse 7, did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and send her away? He said to them, because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery. So he's answering their divorce question.
We're going to keep moving because we're not talking about that today. We're looking at gender specifically, what he says about that. So the disciples said to him, if such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry. So the disciples jump in this conversation and they're like, wait, you've got to stay married forever? Probably should just not get married then. So just so you all know, their culture was a little closer to ours than we think.
So his basic response in the context is, eunuchs were people who were physically unable to have sex. They were physically unable to not have the sexual organs capable of having sex. So he says there are several types of eunuchs. We would refer to this as intersex now. Those who have been born this way. Those who have been made this way by men.
They would have captured men and castrated them to let them guard female chambers at this time. Those who have been made so by men. Or those who have chosen to be so. So they didn't physically do this to themselves, but chose to be so for the sake of the kingdom. So his basic answer in the context is, if you can't handle marriage or don't want to get married, you can be celibate for any number of reasons.
You can live your life without ever having sex for any number of reasons. But what's helpful for us is that in this conversation, Jesus, who is God on earth, confirms God at the beginning made them male and female. And he addresses there are some who are born without male or female reproductive organs. There are some who are born where it's not clear what they are, male or female. And those individuals would be intersex. And one of the arguments that's made against gender today in our culture is that because some people, so it's a small percentage of the population, it is very rare, because some people are born intersex, then gender must be fluid.
It must be on a sliding scale. And here Jesus gives us actually a helpful response to that, which is, no, there are two genders, male and female, and there are some born this way. And we take exception for those, and we care for them, we love them, and they are individuals that we know and care about. But it's an exception that proves the rule. It's not one that breaks the rule. Now, if everyone is thoroughly uncomfortable, we're going to talk about gender today.
Before we get into all of that, I've got a few things just to lay the groundwork for us and to kind of address some different people in the room so that we know where we stand. If you're in the room today and you identify as gay, if you identify as bisexual or transgender or bigender or any number of the current ways to identify yourself, I just want to say you are welcome here. We are glad you're here. I'm glad you're here. You are welcome to be a part of our church. You are welcome to be involved here.
We are not against you. You're not an issue to us. You are a person loved by God, and you are welcome here. To our more conservative friends in the room, any amount of pride and superiority that you hold when it comes to the issue of gender, any amount of today that you just feel like some of the things we're talking about are just unhelpful, we shouldn't even have to talk about them. I just want to encourage you to remember that the gospel eliminates pride and superiority, that the standard by which we are judged is Jesus and his holiness, not any other thing gets to be brought into the discussion as to what makes us special or good or okay.
And just a life tip, as a Christian who wants to be a missionary to our culture, you can't be a missionary and be dismissive, and saying things like God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, or I wish I was transgender and then I could go into ladies' locker rooms, are not helpful at all. So I would ask you to listen today with a bit of humility and grace as we walk through this, and hopefully grow in our understanding of how God cares for and loves all of us, even in the midst of some of this gender discussion. For our more liberal friends here today, I just would encourage you to hold on to some of that same humility and grace as some of the things we talk about today may seem asinine or barbaric or completely ignorant as we try to unpack what scripture says, that you would just approach it with the same humility and grace we just asked of our conservative friends, and that really you would just try to, as we try to gracefully say, here's what the Bible says, not a whole lot of rhetoric, not a whole lot of shouting, not a whole lot of personal arguments, but here's what scripture says how we ought to approach this, if you would just try to hear and consider the other side of what our culture is saying. Now, I feel a little bit trapped as we get started, because there's no way that I can say everything correctly.
Terms have changed very quickly, and people in the room are going to be all over the place with, biology determines everything, if this is how you were born, then go with it, or it doesn't matter how you were born, it's how you feel, or all of gender is fluid, and so as I go through, if I say something offensive, our goal is to not be offensive for the sake of being offensive. We have said that some of this series might be offensive, and that's just as we unpack the Bible, it offends us. As we talk about what scripture says, it doesn't always agree with our culture. But we're not trying to be offensive for the sake of some pop and zing, so if I say something offensive, just give me some grace.
I'm not trying to be other than, hopefully, all of us will be a little bit offended by Jesus and by the cross. I'm going to pray, and then we're going to hop in. God, I pray that in the midst of this, you would give us all some humility, all some grace as we approach you. You'd help us to grow today. You'd help us to grow in our love for each other and our love for you, and ultimately our love and our understanding of the cross and what that provides for us. In Jesus' name, amen.
Facebook has started offering three options when it comes to gender. So there's male, female, and custom. If you start typing into the custom box, there are 56 other options that it will autofill, or you can write whatever you want. Some of the other options, I'm going to read a few of them, are agender. This is people who don't identify as any gender. Bigender, this is someone who identifies as male and female at different times.
Pangender, this is someone who identifies as a third gender with some combination of male and female aspects. And there's 53 other ones. This is taught at the University of South Carolina like this, that gender is on a sliding scale. The poster person for this lately has been Bruce, now Caitlyn Jenner, who publicly announced that he was a female in a male's body and went through gender reassignment surgery last year. Won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award from the ESPYs. Won Woman of the Year.
And that was even some of what helped us know this was really helpful for us to discuss because when he won Woman of the Year, our culture really didn't know how to react. It was a little bit of like, is this good for women? Is this, how does this work? Should we be excited? We should celebrate? Like there was just a little bit of confusion.
But this is kind of how we've begun to approach gender. That it's on a sliding scale. There's not really two set ones. And I think before we even get into this conversation, one of the questions that comes up is, why does it matter? Like why does God care? If I'm not hurting anybody, if I'm just doing my own thing, if people are just minding their own business, like why does he care?
Why is he stepping in? Why does it even matter? Can't we just all kind of do what we want? We're going to continue discussing that argument in a second. But I think to help us out as we get started, I'm going to try to help you know why God steps in and why he cares.
You may not appreciate the answer to this, but this is why. When it comes to anybody stepping in on any issue with a friend, family member, anybody, there's really two main sliders, two main categories that gauge how much we're going to step in. And they are knowledge and love. So knowledge of the situation, of the circumstance, of the decision, of how it's going to play out, and love for the person making the decision. So your friend comes and says, hey, I'm trying to figure out what kind of Job to get.
Okay? You love your friend, but you don't know what kind of Job they should get. So you're going to help them because you love them, but you're not going to be like, you should be a plumber. Like you're not going to come really aggressively after one type of Job unless you know them really well, have a good, like you're just going to be like, hey, well, what do you like? You're going to try to help them figure it out. Let's say you have a lot of knowledge, but no real love for the person.
So let's say I'm walking into Walmart and a guy comes up to me and says, hey, I'm thinking about dropping out of school and doing drugs. Okay. First of all, nice to meet you, sir. Second of all, I have a lot of knowledge. I feel like I've got a pretty good knowledge of how that's going to play out for him, but I don't know him. I don't really love him.
So my response would be, uh, don't do it. Like if you're taking votes of people in Walmart's parking lot, put me down for a no, but I'm not going to follow him. I'm not going to have an intervention. I'm not going to go to his house and try to find his, his stash and throw it down the track. Like he's not, he's not my brother or something like the amount of aggression I'm going to have. I'll have some knowledge, but I'm not, I don't love him.
Maybe I should, maybe I should work on that. Mostly I'd be like, dude, I'm going into Walmart. Put me down for a no. Don't do it. I got stuff to get. Um, God, if you read scripture, if you just read cover to, to the, from, from one end to the other, and you're not a theology student, you're just reading it.
Two main things are going to jump out. Story after story, poem after poem, letter after letter. God is absolutely in control of everything. He is the king of the universe who created, holds everything in his hand. He is all knowing and all powerful. And he loves you.
He loves you individually. Absolutely loves you. So when we say, why can't he just leave us alone? We're asking, can't he be just loving or just powerful, but not both? That's what we're asking. And if you get just powerful, just knowledgeable, then he looks at us and sees that we're making some huge mistakes, that we've swapped him out for other things, that ultimately that leads to our own harm and destruction.
It's just not enough to get him off the couch. I've figured it out. Doesn't love us. Most of us aren't asking for that. Most of us want the opposite. We want him to love us, but not tell us what to do, not have any knowledge.
We want him to just come alongside of us and say, hey man, I care about you. Whatever you want to do. Do you think that'll make you happy? Go for it. We want him to kind of stand behind us and go. That's kind of what we want.
So the reason God cares, and the reason he's going to step in, and the reason he's going to wade into stuff we don't want him to talk about, is because he's both. The Bible's clear on that. If you want some other version of a God, you're not going to find that one in scripture. He's going to be both powerful and loving, which means that we get both the creator and the cross, where he steps in to love us, to rescue us, to bring us back to himself. Okay. Now, we've got to go, we've got to set gender aside, and go, go look at some philosophy, look at some ideology of our culture, before we can even get to gender, because we've got to understand that there's something really underneath, and behind the whole gender debate, and that is called what Robert Bella, he's a sociologist, calls expressive individualism.
You didn't know you were going to learn something today. Just bring that up in a conversation later this week. People are like, man, I don't know this person was smart. They'll be like, yeah, I'll take two tacos, because I was just, and just mumble it, you know, like, if we're talking about expressive individualism, just say it like that on the phone, people will be like, wow, smart. Here's what expressive individualism is. Here's the argument.
Look inside of you. That's where you'll find your purpose, your meaning, your value. That's how you'll know. Look at your dreams, look at your desires, look at your hope. That's what will define you, what will give you purpose and value. We look inwardly, and then we express ourselves.
That's expressive individualism, and it is all over the place. We have different words for it. We have, follow your heart, you do you, and just, just follow your dreams. Be true to yourself. Who cares what other people think? You just be yourself.
James Harden commercial starts off, it's real cinematic, there's a little voiceover by Harden, and he says, man, real talk, be who you are. Do what you feel, always. Because those that mind don't matter, and those that matter don't mind at all. And it cuts to him doing all these awesome athletic things, and when it's over, you're like, yeah, bump the haters, I'm going to be a professional athlete. Or play Xbox. New York Times article said, people must be allowed to be themselves, however they define themselves, and they owe the world no explanation of it, or excuse for it.
This is in pretty much every Disney movie ever. Cinderella, we talked about her last week. Her song, one of the songs she sings is, a dream is a wish your heart makes. No matter how your heart is dreaming, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true. The Little Mermaid, the point of The Little Mermaid is, follow your dreams no matter what, and then you'll be happy. Which is funny, because the point of the book, The Little Mermaid, is some of your dreams are really destructive, and you should listen to your dad.
Um, Tinkerbell the movie, she says, I want to be free to be who I am. Kung Fu Panda, doesn't matter that he's a fat, unathletic panda, he finds out at the end, that the secret ingredient was in him all along. The real, the real dragon scroll of life, is a mirror. Just look inside yourself. And some of you are like, hey bro, Kung Fu Panda's DreamWorks, not Disney. Good point, Disney owns DreamWorks.
Um, Frozen. Frozen. Uh, if I'm gonna, if I'm gonna pick on Poe, I love Poe. If I'm gonna pick on Poe, I also gotta pick on Elsa. You know the part in Frozen, where Elsa loses her mind, goes up on that mountain, makes that giant creepy castle sing into herself, and that big monster, and everybody's like, yay! You know what I'm talking about?
Uh, in that song, where she's completely lost it, she sings, uh, time to see what I can do, test the limits, and break through, no right, no wrong, no rules for me, I'm free. That's expressive individualism. No right, no wrong, no rules for me, I'm free. And it's not just Disney, it's all over the place. Jesse Jay has a song called, Who You Are. Dreaming is believing, sometimes it's hard to follow your heart, tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising, just be true to who you are.
The New Radicals, this whole world can fall apart, you'll be okay, follow your heart. Josh Groban, believe in what your heart is saying, hear the melody that's playing, believe in what you feel inside, and give your dreams the wings to fly, you have everything you need, if you just relief. It's hard to read that, not choke up. Um, how many movies do we watch that have this idea? Just look inside yourself, you were the answer the whole time. Dorothy, you had the shoes on the whole time, it's been you the whole time.
Poe, just look in the mirror, you're ready. Like how many people, movies have we watched where someone says, don't you ever let anybody tell you who you're gonna be? Don't you let ever, let anybody tell you what you can and can't do. You be you, you fulfill your dreams, you look inside, you muster it out of yourself, you pick yourself up by your bootstraps, and you can live your dreams. The way you can tell who the bad guy in a movie is, is who's the person who doesn't believe in this, who's our, here's our hero, who doesn't believe in their dreams, who doesn't believe they can accomplish the goal.
And either by the end of the movie, that person will have realized they're wrong and joined the team, or they were the bad guy. So here's what we learn. If I believe something in my heart, and you don't want me to do it, you're an obstacle. You're an enemy. You're a hater. And a hater's gonna hate.
Hate, hate, hate, hate. I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. Alright, shake it off. Here's the problem with expressive individualism, and I don't know if we, I don't know if we saw it. I don't know if we saw it coming, but here's the problem. When we all, when we get all aboard the expressive individualism train, when everybody climbs on to this idea that whatever's inside of you is right, whatever's inside of you is true, the last stop on the expressive individualism train is insanity.
If we follow the logic out, the last stop is crazy town. We lose the ability to step in and say, no, no, no, this isn't okay. We lose the ability to step in and say, no, no, no, no, this isn't healthy, this isn't okay for you to do this, because we've already seeded the point with whatever you think is right, whatever you believe is right. And so we lose the ability, and that's where it's headed, because we've already made all the logical arguments and already agreed to all the presuppositions, so when we get there, all we can do is say, well, I guess that applies here too. There's a guy, his name is Stefanke Walsh.
He's a 52-year-old man. He has seven children, and he decided that he did not want to be a father anymore, husband anymore, but that what was real inside of him was that he was a six-year-old girl. So he left his family and has found an adoptive set of parents that are grandparent-ish age who have grandchildren, and he stays over at their house and plays and colors with their grandchildren. This is a picture of him. So, this is expressive individualism carried out, and you can get online and there are people celebrating that he's being true to himself because he's looked inside and there's nobody can tell him this is wrong.
When we used to would have stepped in and said, no, you have a family, you are a man, you have certain roles and responsibilities, you need to carry some weight, you need to lead, no, we have to now at this point say, well, all the logic holds if it's really who he is, if it's really what his heart says, if it's really what his desires are. There's a thing called body integrity identification disorder. This is where individuals believe that they should have been born disabled. So they believe that a certain arm shouldn't belong to them or their legs shouldn't. There are people who have cut off limbs.
There are people who, there's a lady who believes she should have been born blind, so she blinded herself for a while and then poured bleach in her eyes. And is now blind. Because she believed that that's who she was, that's how she was born. She knew that the real her was blind. And every time we've said, just follow your heart, you gotta be true to you, you just do you, we, we climbed on the train. We, we've agreed with the, the logical arguments of whatever you find in you is correct.
Uh, Rachel Dolezal, y'all remember her? Uh, last year, this was an interesting one for our culture. She was the head of the NAACP in, uh, Washington, Spokane, Washington. Um, the problem was that she had been telling people she was black and she was not. And so this was, this is her, this was real interesting, um, because it was just interesting to see how we reacted. Um, so, uh, it's cultural appropriation at its worst.
She's, she's basically saying all this culture and history that, that plays into making a people a people, she just kind of assumes it and says this is me now, this is my culture now, uh, this is a picture of her parents and, uh, her when she was growing up. So people had a problem. They were saying, well, you're not black. You can't just say I'm black. Uh, there was actually, she was on TV, uh, talking to a panel of, of black women who were discussing this with her and she said, why can't I have the right to identify how I identify and I'll give you the right? And one of the hosts responds, Rachel, Rachel, I think it's kind of hard because you're not black.
Uh, and then on the Today Show and an interview, she says, I am deaf, I definitely am not white. Nothing about my being white, nothing about being white describes who I am. I am more black than I am white. That's the accurate answer from my truth. So here, here becomes the question.
How? We've already agreed to all the logic of expressive individualism. How do we step in and look at Rachel and say, no. Realistically, we can't. Realistically, we've already all kind of joined on board with whatever's inside of you, whatever you believe, however you feel, is right. Uh, let me tell you a few quick reasons why expressive individualism just doesn't hold up.
It just isn't helpful. First of all, that's not how freedom works. So the idea that no right, no wrong, no rules for me, I'm free, that's not actually how freedom works. You have the freedom to get in your car and go see the Grand Canyon. And there's a reason you have the freedom to get in your car and go see the Grand Canyon. Because we have roads and rules about how those are made.
We have vehicles and rules about how those are made. We have rules about what kind of vehicles can be on the road. We have rules about what you gotta do at a stop sign and a stoplight. And we got people in shiny cars with blinky little lights that ride around and enforce those rules. That's actually what gives us the freedom to do that. It's not road warrior outside where everybody rides around in a dune buggy and kills people they see and plays the guitar on the front of their car.
Because the guys with the blinky lights stop that kind of activity. That's where we have freedom. Freedom is actually the right constraints. So if you take a fish in a little goldfish bowl and put him in a bigger one, he's got some more freedom maybe. It's a little more expanded. But if we just throw him out on the ground and say, run free!
He's not free anymore because he needed some constraints. Like water would have been helpful. So it's not how freedom works for us to just have no rules whatsoever. It also, it undercuts our ability to, it's not real. It's not in line with reality. So first of all, it doesn't work on real simple things.
Like I can't look at my wife and go, you know, baby, I was looking in my heart and deep down inside I'm not a person who changes diapers. And you don't want to be married to some faker, inauthentic. So I'm going to head back in here because I'm a guy who eats Cheetos and watches TV. It doesn't work. You can't say that to your boss. I just realized that this job doesn't really, this project you have me working on doesn't really line up with who I am so I'm not going to do it.
Okay, you're not going to do anything here with you not having a job anymore. It doesn't work on a bigger scale either because it just, it undercuts our ability to help people with real mental disorders because traditionally that's how we have been able to tell if someone has issues. Someone has mental issues is that they have thoughts that are not in line with reality. So if I told y'all I had to wrap this up pretty quick because I got a game tonight because I'm Cam Newton and I'm pretty important and they really need me there, that would be cute as long as I didn't keep saying that. But after a while you'd be like, bro, you're like two foot too short, woefully unathletic and you know, we're just going to stop there but there's a lot of problems with you saying you're Cam Newton and we need to help you because I would not be saying things in line with reality.
So when you can be whatever you want to be, just look inside yourself, it actually doesn't play out correctly. The only other, one of the other things is oversimplified. I 100% of the time, when you just say follow your heart, that's who you are, 100% of the time only want to eat cheeseburgers with bacon, steak with bacon, tacos with bacon, biscuits with bacon, like 100% of the time. I have never in my entire life thought, man, some kale would really hit the spot right now. Never happened. Not even like if I was having fever dreams would that nonsense flit across my brain.
But, I also want to live to be past 45. Would like to be able to chase my 10 month old son around the house without getting winded and passing out. I don't want to constantly sweat bacon grease. I said constantly, I'm being realistic. I have, which one's the real me? I have opposing desires, which one's the real me?
We, a lot of times we don't even know what we want or it changes. So to say that whatever you find in your heart is real, go for it, doesn't actually work out functionally. And here's the, as Christians, we should have immediately have some red flags rise up in our mind as we talk about this because what expressive individualism says is this, be you, look inside yourself, find yourself, express yourself, grab everything you can and follow your heart. Matthew 16, 24, Jesus says this, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. So, love yourself, grab all you can and follow your heart feels like the exact opposite of that.
That as a Christian, Jesus is actually going to say, no, looking inwardly isn't what helps you. Getting everything you possibly can isn't what satisfies you and following your heart won't lead you to life and satisfaction. Here's one of the reasons why this becomes such a deep-rooted, believed, harmful truth, harmful idea in our culture. What we read last week, Genesis 127, I want y'all to see something and I think this will help us understand why this becomes such a heated issue. So, God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him.
Male and female, he created them. We were designed, we said last week, in the image of God so we automatically have worth and value. But it also means that woven in the very fabric of humanity, built into our actual design, is that we should get our purpose from our creator. We get our identity from our creator. We were made in his image so our identity is actually derivative. It comes from him.
As soon as we swap him out for sex and romance and self, we are designed to begin to get our identity from whatever it is we're worshiping. So as soon as sex goes there, we begin to get our identity from it. That's why in our culture, when someone has a sexual desire, we just come alongside of them and say, that's the real you. Because we've placed sex and romance and self in the spot where we're supposed to derive our identity. We're supposed to derive our purpose and our worth. That's why in our culture, like in our culture, like if we lived, if I lived a couple hundred years ago in some sort of tribal warfare setting and I just wanted to kill people all the time and anybody who disrespected me, I wanted to kill them.
People in my culture would come alongside me and say, that's the real you. Inside of you is a really brave warrior who murders people. They would completely affirm that because that's what we value. And now in our culture, if I want to kill people who disrespect me, suddenly I have problems and should go talk to somebody. But that's because our culture values something completely different.
And that's why when anybody has a sexual desire, we come alongside of them and say, that's the real you. Because we've begun to derive our identity from that. Okay. Galatians 24, Galatians 5, 24 says this, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires. We do not derive our identity from our passions, from our desires. That is not the sum total of who we are.
Jesus has actually set us free from that. This brings us to the idea of gender. There's a massive push in our society to say that gender isn't actually a thing. To say that gender binary isn't real and gender is fluid. And the Christian's first response to anyone dealing with gender dysphoria, which is the clinical term for someone who believes that they were born in a man's body but they're truly a woman. Or that they don't identify with their body in any sort of sexual way or that they were born in a woman's body but they're truly a man.
Anyone dealing with gender dysphoria, the response from a Christian should first and foremost every single time be compassion. Not anger, not yelling, not fussing, like compassion. because can you imagine being 100% convinced that you were not supposed to be in the body you were in? To be born in a man's body but be 100% convinced that you were supposed to be a female, to begin taking hormonal changes that affect your physiology, to have a surgery that completely changes your physical appearance and then to discover that you still don't feel complete. You still don't feel whole. You still haven't found satisfaction.
If somebody, one of your friends, someone you know is dealing with this, our response is love and prayer and a lot of meals together and a lot of late nights talking. We don't have to encourage the behavior. We don't come alongside and say follow your heart but we, we're not mad. We have compassion. It's heartbreaking and as we begin to talk about this I want to read from a guy named Paul McHugh. He has a Catholic background but he's not an active practicing Christian.
Here's his title. That's the University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. So he has four words before his like title. So it's University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. Johns Hopkins was the first university to begin doing gender reassignment surgery. The first hospital.
They began in the 60s. That's how far ahead of the game they were on this. So if you were born biologically male but felt inside like a woman they would perform gender reassignment surgery on you. This is a quote from him in a Wall Street Journal article. Policymakers and the media are doing no favors either to the public or the transgendered by treating their confusions as a right in need of defending rather than a mental disorder that deserves understanding, treatment, and prevention. I have witnessed a great deal of damage from sex reassignment.
The children transformed from their male constitution into female roles suffered prolonged distress and misery as they sensed their natural attitudes. This intensely felt sense of being transgendered constitutes a mental disorder in two respects. The first is that the idea of sex misalignment is simply mistaken. It does not correspond with physical reality. The second is that it can lead to grim psychological outcomes. So what he did was he went back to all those who were reassigned and he did a survey.
He sat down and talked with them. What he found was that almost all the males who had surgery now identified as lesbians because they were attracted to women as well as most children who struggled with gender identity confusion grew out of it. I'm going to read another quote of his. You won't hear it from those championing transgender equality but controlled follow-up studies reveal fundamental problems with this movement. When children who reported transgender feelings were tracked without medical or surgical treatment at both Vanderbilt University and London Portman Clinic 70-80% of them spontaneously lost those feelings.
Johns Hopkins after doing several studies no longer does the surgery. They did it for about 20 years. There is a new study in Sweden from 2011. It's only one of its kind and scope and magnitude. It tracked 324 people for about 20 years who had had transgender surgery. The study revealed that beginning about 10 years after having the surgery the transgendered began to experience increasing mental difficulties.
Most shockingly their suicide mortality rose almost 20-fold above the comparable non-transgender population. Their suicide rate rose to almost 20 times the average. At the heart of the problem is confusion over the nature of transgendered sex change over the nature of the transgendered. Sex change is biologically impossible. People who undergo sex reassignment surgery do not change from men to women or vice versa. Rather, they become feminized men or masculinized women claiming that this is a civil rights matter and encouraging surgical intervention is in reality to collaborate with and promote a mental disorder.
Okay. I realize that that is hard to hear especially for compassionate people seeking to encourage and go along with our current cultural narrative. He does give an example that I think is helpful. One of the things he is saying is that the way we understand a mental disorder is when someone's thoughts are not in line thoughts and feelings are not in line with physical reality. And so one of the examples he gives is that if someone is anorexic they believe that they are overweight whether they are or are not and anorexic people can stand in front of a mirror and be very dangerously thin and believe that they are overweight and can look at you and say look at how fat I am and he says we don't come alongside them and say if that's what you believe follow your heart.
We don't come alongside of them and help them by encouraging them we come alongside them and help them by saying what you currently believe is in in line with reality. and that's what he says is not happening for those in the transgender community. If you don't feel at home in your body if you feel like an imposter in your own flesh if you feel like you don't quite fit let me tell you something that makes sense because in Christianity we have this understanding that we were designed to exist in a relationship with our creator and that's where we find fulfillment and joy and satisfaction and hope and when that relationship gets broken everything gets broken in us. We are no longer at home we are no longer at rest we no longer fit where we're supposed to we don't feel right anymore because we were designed to find our purpose and satisfaction and identity in God. So for someone who says I don't feel like I fit in this body the Christian response is that makes sense.
The theological term for that is estrangement that we were supposed to be in a relationship with God but that relationship is broken. Augustine says it this way you have made us for yourself oh Lord and our heart is restless until it finds rest in you. So for Christians we shouldn't be surprised by gender dysphoria at all. It's just an acute sense of what we all know to be true which is outside of God outside of Jesus stepping in on the cross we all of us are going to have to find something to fill the void something to make us feel okay. Truthfully those with gender dysphoria just have a more acute sense and they're doing what we're all doing which is looking for something to finish the sentence if I just had blank I'd be okay or if blank was just true about me I'd be finally complete. the problem is every time we fit something in that blank that isn't Jesus it ultimately doesn't satisfy it doesn't fill us up and it doesn't make us whole.
So we agree with the problem. You don't feel at home in your own skin. Yeah. All of us feel like something is lacking and something is empty and something is broken and something needs to be fixed but the answer is that Jesus came swap places with us on the cross to take away our shame and our guilt and to welcome us back into the relationship that we need to have with him. That he crosses that massive chasm between us and God to bridge the gap through his own blood to set us free. The band is going to come back up here and gender dysphoria is at its root a spiritual issue that comes from us worshiping something that ultimately isn't going to fix us.
So as our culture has placed self and romance and sexuality in this massive void caused by the absence of God we've begun to try to derive our identity from something that's not going to be able to give it to us and not going to be able to complete us and not going to be able to fill us up. But as Christians we understand that and we know the answer to that. Which is that Jesus Christ came to fix that problem through his own work and his own merit and his own blood and not our value or work or not anything else we can fill in the blank with. God I pray I pray that you would help us to love your good design.
God I pray that you would help us to see that you are all knowing and all loving and be able to trust you in that as we get to see you on the cross which proves that you're for us and you're for our good. I pray God that you would help us. That you would eradicate pride and superiority. That you would eradicate this desire to prove ourselves or to fill ourselves up or to find in us meaning and purpose. And God I pray that we would look to you to find meaning and purpose. I pray that instead of putting ourselves in that place we put you there.
Help us to trust you and follow you. help us to love all of our neighbors and all of our neighbors that currently struggle with gender dysphoria and gender issues that God we would be so overwhelmingly loving that it would be palpable. That they would feel so welcome because we who don't deserve to be welcome have been welcomed in through the cross. God fill us with your grace so that we can share it with others. We love you. We praise you in Jesus name. Amen.
Y'all stand listening. God bless you in mother stews in Jesus. We love you in the heart of Noah. Thank you in her. We love you in the heart of Gary, is in the heart of my little deum with people love started to move with America.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Romance
As Americans we are convinced that the point of life is happiness. Through movies, advertising, and music our culture has told us that the primary avenue to happiness is romance. But what if happiness is too small of a goal? What do we do when both happiness and romance fail us?
Transcript
Well, good morning. We're about to have some fun for the next several weeks. So, we are going to be starting this the first week in our Theology of Sex series, and we're just going to take some time to look at gender and sexuality because, really, it's a big issue for us. It's a big issue for every culture, questions that you have to answer, and we're just kind of all over the map right now as a culture. So, let me give you just a quick kind of, here's where we're headed. Next week, we're actually going to spend some time just talking about gender.
Is it a social construct? Is there more depth and meaning to it than that? Or is it fluid? Like, we're just going to spend some time looking at what the Bible has to say about it. Next, the following week, we're going to talk about masculinity. So, what is it that makes you a man?
What is it that makes a man a man? Is it the ability to fix a truck and grow a beard? Or is it, should we throw off all of those kind of stereotypes about being able to do push-ups? And is it something completely different? Or is that just socially engineered as well? Is there actually something deep and real in masculinity given to us in Scripture?
So, we're going to look at that. Then, the following week, we'll be in femininity, looking at what it means to be a woman. And so, we'll have a man up here opening the Bible, teaching about what it means to be a woman. So, that should go really well. The purpose and God-given design for womanhood and femininity, especially with how much pressure is placed on women in our culture. We're just going to see what the Bible says that's supposed to look like.
Then, we'll go into the purpose of sex. Is it whatever you want it to be? Is it just for fun? Is it just for the propagation of humanity? Is that the only reason it exists? Or is there something deeper, more real to it?
And then, we'll talk about marriage, specifically American understanding of a marriage versus God's understanding of marriage. Is marriage primarily for fulfillment, for you being happy? Is it primarily to keep society going? We'll spend some time there. Then, we're going to talk about intolerance, bigotry, and hospitality when it comes to the church. And so, we should have a very good time, I think, as we walk through this.
We will definitely say some offensive things. The Bible is offensive to all of us. But before we get into all the really offensive things, all the stuff that we all have a lot of questions about, a lot of tension over, we're going to have to lay a foundation. We're going to have to lay a framework for us to even understand how we're supposed to view sexuality, how we're supposed to view gender, how we can even begin to approach this topic. We've got to lay the groundwork for our ability to even walk onto that playing field. Because we're going to come from very different places.
And so, we have to say, here's how we're approaching it from a biblical standpoint. And so, our culture and us, we like love stories. We like romance. We place a lot of value there. It's the stories we tell. That's what Disney has made tons and tons of money off of telling us love stories.
And even in the movies we watch, like if people start off not married, the movie ends with a wedding. And that's it. It's like, they say they're, like, sometimes you don't even have to hear what they say. They just run out and someone throws rice at their face and then credits. And you're like, oh, magic. Like, they ride away in a little carriage.
Like, I was watching Cinderella recently. And, and... Was that weird? Was that a weird thing to say? Anna, my wife, likes those movies. So, I watched them periodically with her.
And it was, like, destroying my soul as I watched that. Look, I can watch Cinderella. We're going to talk about masculinity in a couple of weeks. Don't throw your... No, I'm just kidding. All right.
Stereotypes on me. All right. They, they, I think, if I'm correct with Cinderella, though, they meet at the ball. They dance a couple of times. He chases her down. Her shoe, her foot fits in the shoe.
Obviously the same woman, because that's how feet work. He didn't recognize her face. It was just based off of the foot. Then it says they get, they get married. They're riding off in a carriage. And it's, like, happily ever after.
And I'm like, this is, like, their first conversation. That carriage ride is super awkward. Like, this is... And who knows, really? Like, they don't know each other at all. There's just, we tell these stories.
But, like, I'm going to share a few, just, these kind of stories. Because we, we find them compelling. We, we enjoy sharing them. I got a few from just my family. So I'm going to tell you how my grandparents on both sides and my parents met.
My grandparents on my dad's side met as a part of the same church. And began to date. It was right before World War II or during World War II. And my granddad was, had been through, I believe boot camp was about to be shipping out. But they started dating.
When they started dating, my grandmother told him, she said she didn't want to kiss anybody until she got married. Like, that, her wedding day would be her first kiss. And my granddad was like, yeah. That sounds great. I'm totally for that. That sounds wonderful.
And then he was like, but what if we just tried to see how close we could get our faces together without kissing? And apparently, like, talked my grandmother into it. She was like, okay, I don't think why that would be bad. Then he was like, like, they accidentally kissed. And he was like, oops. Since that happened, do you want to do that some more?
And that's like the only story I know about them dating that my grandmother just told me one time randomly. And I was like, I don't know how I feel about that story. Weirded out. Kind of proud of my granddad. Like, I don't know how to have an emotional reaction to this. But then he, they got married like a week before he shipped out to go overseas to World War II.
My other grandparents, my mom's side, my granddad was in medical school. My grandmother was, had just finished nursing school. They were doing, like, rotation or training at the same hospital. My granddad wasn't dating anybody because he felt called to go be a missionary, a foreign missionary. And so he was going to go be a medical missionary. And he just wasn't dating anybody because he didn't want to, that, to get weird.
He felt like this is what he was supposed to do. And my grandmother really wanted a family, children. Like, she really felt like that was something that was supposed to be. Like, she just desired it. But she also felt called, even from a young age, to be a foreign missionary.
And so she just one day was really wrestling with this. And she was praying. And she said, okay, God, I'll go. I'll go be a single missionary forever. I'll never have a husband and children and all that if that's not for me. If that's not what you want me to do, I submit.
I surrender. I'll do this. At the same time, my granddad was eating dinner. While she's praying through this in her, like, dorm room or how she lived with a couple other ladies, she, my granddad was eating dinner and having a conversation. And it came up. They never really dated anybody.
And he just said, I want to be a foreign missionary, so I'm not going to get into any relationships. And somebody was like, oh, there's a nurse around here that she's going to be a foreign missionary. And he was like, phone number. She comes out of the room from praying. And they're like, you got a phone call. It was my granddad.
He was like, you want to go on a date? Because you want to go to another country. And so do I. And that's why don't we just maybe go to the country together. And so that was how they met, started talking, started dating, and ended up being missionaries to Nigeria. My parents, last one.
My parents, my dad's, my granddad on my dad's side was a pastor. So my mom was hanging out at that church because she went to school near that area where he was a pastor. And my dad saw my mom, thought she was cute. So he walked over to his mom, kind of in the vicinity of, I think maybe his mom and my mom were talking. Walked over to his mom, put his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek and said, I just want to tell you how much I love you. And then just walked away.
And my mom's first thought about my dad was, if he's that nice to his mom, I wonder how nice he'll be to his wife. And it was all a trick. But there's just something compelling to us about romance, about relationships, about, there's something, they hold promise for us. Whenever anybody enters into a new relationship, there's just this, I don't know, I don't know how this is going to work out. There's just all these, like, it could just be so, and we have so many beliefs that our culture gives us about relationships and about sexuality and about love and about romance that are just pumped into our brains all the time.
Even without us really paying attention to it. I was riding the other day, I was been working on this and I had like a five minute car ride. And the first song I heard when I got in the car, listen to it, Steve FM or whatever, like random radio. The first song I heard was, don't hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself. If you're familiar with that song, it's a guy trying to get a girl to have sex with him and she doesn't want to until they're married. And that's the whole point of the song.
So high quality music there. And then the next one was the I'm at a payphone waiting for you. I've spent all my money trying to call you that song. Do you know what I'm talking about? I'm at a payphone waiting for you. That one, okay.
So I listened to that and he's, yeah, you're right. I should sing up here more often. And then the third one was Funky Comodina, which I'm not going to describe to you. But if you know it, all three of these songs, and this is what I'm riding around. I don't know all of them. I'm singing, you know, like Funky Comodina, like I'm riding around.
And this is what we're pumping into our brains all the time. I mean, there's just so much, we're being told so many stories, so many things to believe. There's just so much given to us. And honestly, it begins to just seep into us. And we really need to take a second and pull back and look at the big picture and ask this question. This is what we're looking at today.
We're going to see why this is so compelling to us. Why love stories, why this idea of people coming together, why romance, why it's such a big deal, why it really foundationally, fundamentally, even in scriptures, so compelling, and why it can be absolutely harmful and devastating. And just, if it gets in the wrong place, destructive. And so that's what we're going to spend some time doing. Now, we're going to get to talking about sex, but we've got to lay the groundwork first. So go to Genesis chapter 1.
All the way left in your Bible. It's on page 1. If your Bible looks like this, it's absolutely page 1, because it doesn't even say page 1 on it. You're going to have to find page 2 and go back a page. I'm going to pray, and then we're going to start at the very beginning of everything in the Bible and see kind of how we can lay a framework for how we ought to view this, why romance weighs so heavily on us, and why it can be so destructive. God, we thank you that you don't leave us on our own to figure this out, that really heavy, difficult, life-changing, heartfelt issues, like gender, like sexuality, like marriage, aren't left up to us, aren't left up to popular opinion.
God, I know that what you say and what we're going to see as we study through this over the next couple months is the opposite in a lot of ways of what we believe as a culture and honestly is in some ways offensive, I think, to everybody. I think we'll be surprised to see who and how we get offended as we walk through this, God. But I just pray that your Holy Spirit would work, that you would make us receptive to your Word, and that this morning you'd help us lay a framework and a foundation for how we're going to approach the rest of this. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
All right, Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. This is the very beginning of the Bible. In the beginning. Seems like a good place to start. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Okay, stop.
At the very onset of Scripture, we are met with a very powerful God. Francis Schaeffer, who's a theologian, says that this may be the most pregnant sentence in all of humanity. It's just absolutely so full of depth, bursting forth with life, that we can just miss it. So it says, In the beginning, God. God exists prior to existence. He exists prior to the beginning of everything.
Like, everything we do is time-based, time-bound. I saw, I see, I went, I run, Johnny runs, Johnny ran, Johnny goes, Johnny went, go, Johnny, go, go, go. Like, we, we, everything is, and God is prior to that. There's no way to even, just to describe it. He's prior to the word prior. Like, before our ability to say before.
He exists outside of time. In the beginning, God exists, and then he creates the heavens and the earth. God, out of nothing, out of himself, really, creates everything. So everything we have, created by God. So prior to existence, there was God.
This is what we're told in the Bible. And then, God, out of nothing, creates everything. And so, when Anna and I first moved here, we got, we bought a house, well, we rent it from the bank. And, we, it was like, oh, cool, it's finally our own spot. Like, we're out of apartments, this is going to be nice. And then, I didn't realize what this was going to do to my wife.
So as soon as we get a house, she's like, wouldn't it be nice if, like, she starts so many sentences that way now. And it's like, wouldn't it be, oh, shit, what if we got some carpet? What if we build a fence? What if we, like, it's all these things. And it's like, yeah, that sounds great. And then, every time though, we ask the follow-up question, how much is that going to cost?
We have a discussion where we look at our budget, and then we say things like, maybe next year. Like, unless it's like, wouldn't it be nice if we had another trash, can? Most of the time, it's like, maybe next year. Like, we have to, God doesn't have to do that. He, infinite power and wealth, like, he, out of his own riches, out of his own glory, he creates everything. And it says, he creates the heavens and the earth.
So heavens there has an S. This is written through a biblical author who is empowered by the Holy Spirit. So he's writing about something he has no idea about. At this point, all he really could do is like, look up, and then if he wanted to see a little better, he could squint. Like, that's all he had. And he's saying heavens, which is the explanation of what we now know is infinite space.
Like, we can't, we don't know if it's infinite, because we can't see the end of it. We're just like, it just seems to keep going. It seems like everything gets bigger. Every time we shine a telescope to the darkest spot of the sky, and then we just wait some years for it to catch light, we're like, oh wow, there's a whole bunch of other stuff. All we know is that there's galaxies and galaxies, and solar system and solar system, and in the middle of this, not very impressive galaxy, in the middle of this not very impressive solar system, there's this tiny little oddly shaped earth that God creates.
And when we originally started space exploration, we had like four criteria for what it would take to have a habitable planet. And we were like, oh, we're going to find tons. Let's go. And so we started looking, and then it started, it slowly grew from four criteria to over 200 now, and we're starting to look at the statistics and going, I don't know if we're going to find another one. And then people respond with, well, yeah, but there's so many planets, there's got to be some. But what we see is that statistically, earth gets off a degree or two, it gets a little too far away from sun, a little too close to the sun, like there's not much that's in between us, and melting, or imploding, or exploding, or freezing, like we're right in the little, the sweet spot for humans to exist on a tilt, that we didn't realize that was important, and then we found out, oh no, actually if it was like a degree one, two the other way, we'd be in trouble.
We're the only planet we know of that sits on an awkward axis like that. And, and so we started saying, well, it seems like this is true. It's, it's logical to say, all right, I see in scripture that it says there's a God who made the heavens, and then he made an earth, and he's playing out this story on this earth, and it seems like it's, it's at least logical. Now, you can say, well, okay, but, but in infinite space, in infinite time, with infinite multiverses, and all of the galaxies, like at some point, yeah, I see, you got to hit it, like, there's going to be a planet, and people say that, but we don't use that argument for other things.
So, if you were in the old west, and you, you were dealing poker, and you dealt yourself four aces, it's a nice hand, and then the next hand, you deal yourself four aces, and then the next hand, you deal yourself four aces, and then the next hand, you deal yourself four aces, the other guys at the table, are going to have a problem with you. They're going to stand up, they're going to pull out their guns, because everybody has a gun, and they're going to shoot you, because this is America, and, so they stand up, they pull out guns, and you respond, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, in the infinite number of universes, in time and space, in the infinite number of saloons, where people play poker, isn't it possible, that we just happen to be in the one, where I get dealt four aces, seven times in a row, you know what they're going to say, dang Clem, I never thought about that, you know Jessup, he's got a point, no you're going to get shot, because, while possible, it's actually more probable, at that point, that something else is at play, and that's kind of what we have with earth, while possible, that Yahtzee, we hit the lottery, it's actually, actually at some point, more probable, that there was some intention, there was some design, and that's what the Bible says, that we have a creator, who creates the heavens, and he creates the earth, and on the earth, he begins to play out this story, so, jump down, to verse 26, and we're going to read the last part, of this chapter, and what's happened so far, is God has, he speaks, so it says, God said, and then God saw, and then it was good, and that's what plays out, this whole time, as he creates everything else, and then verse 26, then God said, let us make man, in our image, after our likeness, and let them, so mankind there, let them, have dominion, over the fish of the sea, and over the birds, and over the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing, that creeps on the earth, so God created man, in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them, so it's not just man, the way we use that word, it's man as in, human, humankind, so God created man, in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them, and God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion, over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing, that moves on the earth, and God said, behold I have given you, every plant yielding seed, that is on the face of the earth, and every tree with seed, and its fruit, you shall have them for food, and to every beast of the earth, and every bird of the heavens, and everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has breath of life, I have given them, every green plant for food, and it was so, and God saw everything, that he had made, and behold it was very good, and there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day, so God playing out this story, he creates an earth, and then he begins to create, all the things on the earth, and there's suddenly this break, in the way that this is playing out, so it was God said, and then God saw, and it was good, so God said let there be light, and God saw the light, and the light was good, and that's how it plays out, the rest of the time, until we get to verse 26, and then the story kind of breaks up, because it says God said, let us make man in our image, that's the Godhead talking to himself, that's God the Son, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit, having a discussion about, we're going to make a relational, personal being, and as the pinnacle of creation, God makes humans, and he creates us in his image, so when an artist paints a portrait, the goal of the portrait, is to show what that person was like, what they looked like, and when God made humanity, the purpose, was to show what he's like, so from the very beginning, we see that we were made, by God, with purpose, that we have, we were made by God, and for God, in his image, so that in and of ourselves, we have dignity, and value, and worth, now for Americans, us as Americans, this is massively important, because we believe some things, are just undeniably true, they're true, whether you believe they're true, they're true, whether you think they're true, there are some things, that are just true, we hold certain truths, to be self-evident, I'm going to read this to you, we hold these truths, to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed, by their creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, okay, that's a nice sentence, all men are created equal, and are endowed, with unalienable rights, but here's the question, why? Why? Why are men created equal, why are they endowed with rights, you can't take away from them?
You can't take away from them? Because, for the majority, of human history, and the majority, of humans, that have walked on the earth, that has not been self-evident, that statement right there, has not been believed, what has been believed, is we're more powerful, so we get to do what we want, what has been believed, is people on the other side, of that border, are less than human, what has been believed, is if your skin, looks this color, or that color, mostly just not my color, you're less than human, what has happened,
Is holocaust, and forced slavery, and sex trafficking, throughout the majority, of human history, if you're old, if you're weak, if you're young, if you're small, if you're mentally deformed, if you're a woman, throughout the history, of humanity, we haven't believed that, this is massively important, there's a French philosopher, his name is Jacques Derrida, he's not a Christian, not a God fear, not religious at all, but what it says, it says he looks at human rights, here's what he comes up with, the concept of crime,
Against humanity, is a Christian concept, and I think there would be, no such thing, in the law today, without the Christian heritage, the Abrahamic heritage, the biblical heritage, so do you hear what he's saying, he's saying he's, he's a philosopher, and he's looking at law, and he's saying, there would not be, crimes against humanity, this idea, comes out of Christianity, because we don't see it, showing up other places, and it comes out of, Genesis 1, we were made in the image of God, with worth, with value,
Because we were created, by him, for him, for his purposes, and he's right, you wouldn't see that, you don't see that, showing up other places, outside of this heritage, and we don't believe this, for other things, so in Africa, every day, there's a wild pack of lions, that roams around, and prays on the small, and the weak, and the old, and the sick, eating cute little gazelle, zebras, elephants, not the big elephants, but the small,
Cute ones, just mows them down, doesn't even feel bad, and nobody riots, and nobody protests, and we don't have a hashtag, zebra lives matter, because they're animals, and they're different, than humans, there's a reason, why an animal, can kill an animal, and we're like, that's what animals do, but you can't get mad, at someone, and walk into a Walmart, and hit them in the head, with a shovel, like it's, there's a reason, because humans, have dignity,
And value, and worth, given to us, by our creator, and historically, anytime we get this wrong, historically, anytime we begin to, not believe this, we begin to elevate, animals, or we begin to, lower other types of humans, or all humans, this goes horrendously, wrong, it becomes horrific, we have forced slavery, we have racism, we have genocide, we have holocaust, every time we get this wrong, that we were created, by God,
For his purposes, in his image, so don't, don't lose me there, stick with me there, because you miss, you lose too much, if you miss this, let me, let me show you a few things, that this gives us, automatically, if God is God, and created everything, and made us in his image, here's what this gives us, it gives you the right, to be outraged, over things you should be outraged over, I read an article yesterday, about a tribe in Africa, that when girls turn 10, they take them, away from their families,
They take them, to a remote part of the village, and the older women, in their tribe, teach them, how to please men, and then they are told, when you get done with this, it's called initiation, when you get done with this, go find an older man, and begin having sex, 10 year olds, and that's how you become a woman, and that's what womanhood is, in that culture, and they try to stay away, from western people, because western people, try to come in and say, no no no no no no, this isn't okay, this isn't good for you, this isn't how this should work,
And without, this, we don't have a leg to stand on, without that we were made, in God's image, you actually don't have, any argument, other than a cultural argument, which is this is the way I feel, but when you have this, you have the right to be outraged, you have the right to step in, and say no you can't, you can't just kill people, because they're Jewish, no no you can't, you can't treat girls like that, just because they have no power, in your society, sex trafficking is not okay, we lose this, we lose crime against humanity, if we lose that we were created, in the image of God,
And designed for his good purposes, it also gives you automatically, you have value and worth, just by the nature, of being made in the image of God, you have dignity, value and worth, given to you, granted to you, placed in you, by God, it also gives you purpose, your purpose is going to be, ultimately found in God, satisfied in God, you will find ultimate fulfillment, in God, because you were designed by him, for his purposes, so let me give you, some helpful advice here, it's not work, you're not going to find your purpose, and value in work,
And every time we get that wrong, every time we begin to believe, that if I have this job, or if I'm just this type of person, if I make this amount of money, I'll be fulfilled, I'll be satisfied, doesn't happen, it's not going to be found, in other people's opinions of you, if I could just get people to like me, if everybody around me, knew how wonderful I was, if I could just have other people, like it goes terribly wrong, every time we seek our fulfillment, our value, our purpose in that, it's not going to be found in yourself, you don't exist for your own glory, and joy, and fulfillment, like you're not going to find fulfillment, if you just seek satisfaction,
It's not going to happen, it's a little bit like, let's say, hypothetically, but it doesn't have to be hypothetical, let's say, hypothetically, you invite me over to your house, to eat delicious food, because you found out, I like delicious food, and so you say, something along the lines of, Chet, do you like delicious food, and do you want to come to my house, and eat it, and I say something along the lines of, heck yes I do, and then we high five, let's say you invite me over to your house, you're preparing food, I'm hanging out, and then I look and I go,
No, you painted your walls the wrong color, you're going to think, well that was rude, but maybe, because I preach, I'm kind of a pastor, you'll let me slide on that one, you'll just think, well I didn't know he was a jerk, surprise, and then I say, ah, your coffee table's in the wrong spot, and then I'm like, I'll just, I'll move it, so I just like, start messing with your stuff, I'm like, dude you don't have a DVR, seriously, like eventually, you'd be like,
Hey bro, it's in your house, not your zone, not designed for you, and you would be very correct, and the truth is, every time we walk around on earth, like this was supposed to fill us up, we're just a whiny house guest in God's house, it wasn't designed for our ultimate satisfaction, it wasn't built around us, we are the pinnacle of creation, he pauses and makes us in his image, which gives us dignity and value and worth, we're not the point of creation, and we're ultimately going to find our satisfaction, and our joy in him, and that's actually, what makes romance so compelling, and so harmful, turn with me to Romans chapter 1, that's going to be on page 610, Romans chapter 1, it's going to mirror some of what we just read,
And it's going to help us diagnose, some of the issues that we have, when we begin to approach, gender, sexuality, why us being made in the image of God, created by a creator, who has creator rights over us, and us being made in the image of God, is actually what makes romance and love, so compelling and so harmful, we're going to start in verse 21, 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, 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, therefore God gave them up, in the lusts of their hearts, to impurity, to dishonoring of their bodies, among themselves, because they exchanged the truth of God, for a lie, and worshipped, and served the creature, rather than the creator, who is blessed forever, amen, for this reason, God gave them up, to dishonorable passions, and so we'll stop there, it's the end of a sentence, seems good to me, what that just said was, God was designed to be God, and then it says, but we, they,
Swapped out, the creator, for creation, for images, that look like man, that look like birds, that just any kind of created thing, gets put there, and here, here's what happens, basically what it's saying, is that, the translation where it says, they exchanged the truth about God, for a lie, some commentators will say, that actually should be the lie, they exchanged the truth about God, for the lie, which is that, something other than God, can fill us up, something other than God, can be our purpose,
Something other than God, can make us happy, something other than God, can fit in this spot, and that's the lie, ever since Adam and Eve, rebelled in the garden, and messed all of this up, and we followed in their tracks, doing the exact same thing, that's the lie, that something other than God, can take his spot, and here's what happens, when that happens, we begin to worship, and serve created things, so you don't just have, a lazy husband, you have a husband, who's rejected, his God-given design, you don't just have an, and he's begun to believe,
That his comfort, is above all, above all, and that's where ultimate satisfaction, and hope comes from, you don't just have an anxious wife, you have a wife, who's begun to believe, that security, is what will fill her up, that the ability, to control situations, is where ultimate, satisfaction will come, you don't just have, an angry tyrant dad, you have a dad, who's begun to believe, that he deserves, to be worshipped, that he deserves, to be submitted to, that he deserves, to be exalted,
I have a 10 month old son, I don't just have a son, who's learning, how to throw fits, I have a son, who believes, fundamentally, that the world, exists for him, and he can't say those words, but that's what he believes, and he started doing this, like you take something from him, and he does this, and he's like 10 months old, he can't even hold his head up, he's going to fall over, you have to like hold him, but what this is, is dad, I'm so sick of your garbage, right now, like how dare you, like he likes to dance,
So he's holding my phone, and dancing, because he was playing music, and I took it from him, and he just goes, and puts his head down, because that is his, now he touched it, and stuck it in his mouth, so he owns it, and you can't take it from him, because the world exists, to revolve around him, his little heart, believes that, that's how kids learn mine, is one of their first words, we were hanging over, hanging out with our community group, and there was two little kids, Archer had already picked up two coasters, and was walking around, we're pretty sure he hit them, before we left,
So we were like, I hope y'all didn't want all your coasters, to the person who's hosting us, and another like two-year-old girl, comes over, and she takes that from him, and she goes, this is mine, and my wife was like, it's not either of y'all's, you can't just walk into someone's house, and claim things, so my wife pushed her to the ground, I'm just kidding, my wife's in Kid City, so if you have children up there, I'm just kidding, she didn't push me, but I can say whatever I want, because she can't hear me, but that's what happens, we begin to believe, other things will fill us up, and here's,
See what it says in the text, don't, we can't gloss past this, twice, therefore, it's in verse 24, therefore, therefore, God gave them up, in their lusts of their hearts, to impurity, to dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 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, for this reason, God gave them up, to dishonorable passions, twice, it says, the outcome of this, the outcome of God being moved from his rightful place,
Is, sexual, that one of the major outcomes, is that romance, and passion, and lust, get elevated, and here's why, we were made in the image of God, and are therefore, the easiest thing to believe, will fill us up, and give us purpose, and give us a reason to live, the easiest thing for you to put in the place of God, is another human, because humans were made in the image of God, they are the second best, so a lot of people, like we place a high value on money, we believe that money will, like money and success, America loves that, but I'll tell you something,
That we also believe, every time someone's house burns down, but their whole family is okay, what do they say, it's helped me realize, what was really important, and we all go, yeah, you're right, people, yes, how could we forget, when we watch movies, sure, we like money, we like success, and if that could be thrown in, that sounds great, but what happens in the movies, the person gives up money, they give up success, to chase after their love, they're willing to go, go for broke,
They're willing to be poor, if they can just have this person, they're willing to quit their job, if it means they can spend time, with their children, because, humans, made in the image of God, are the easiest thing, to replace God with, because they come, so close, to giving us purpose, and filling us up, and giving us value, you're going to be able, to find that more, in your children, than you will be in a job, you're going to be able, to find that more, in chasing after romance, than you'll find it, in other things,
Because humans, are made in the image of God, and therefore, the easiest thing, to swap it out for him, but it becomes very, harmful and destructive, when we do that, and so what it says is, they elevated romance, they elevate passion, they elevate lust, they elevate sexuality, to a place that it shouldn't be in, and here's what happens, let's just take a second, to look at our culture, if we're doing that, if we've replaced God, with romance, with sexuality, with gender, I would expect, that you have a culture,
That looked like ours, we have a three billion, a dollar a year, industry in online dating, three billion a year, that's pretty big, we have a 51 billion dollar, industry, in the marriage industry, the wedding industry, 51 billion dollars, to give you a place for that, I think last year, the NFL had, was a 10 billion dollar, so 51 billion, in the wedding industry, the porn industry, which is really hard, to track Numbers on, because a lot of it's online, a lot of it's under reported, or unreported, but estimates put it,
Somewhere competing with, the NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA, ABC, NBC, CBS, and some of them, are going to say, it's actually more, than the NFL, the NBA, and the MLB combined, or it's more than, ABC, CBS, NBC combined, but it depends, on who's doing the study, and really what we just see, is that that's a major, industry for us, I think, you begin to see,
In our culture, where we just start assuming, yeah you're supposed, to get married, yeah part of your story, is a romance story, absolutely, and if you're not married, there's got to be, something wrong with you, like we begin, to believe that, we begin to say things like, I just want to get married, because I don't want to be alone, like our options, are marriage, or loneliness, because we've begun, to spread this information, you have, your great, your grandmother, every time you see her,
Your great aunt, every time you see her, says, met anybody yet, because we've begun, to believe that value, and worth, come from, another human, come from, a relationship, come from, romance, we've begun to place, value here, we, we would have movies, that say things like, you realize that trying, to keep your distance from me, will not lessen my affection, for you, all efforts to save me, from you will fail,
That's from the fault, in her stars, or I love you, you're my only reason, to stay alive, that's from Twilight, a lot of y'all recognized it, but we have, we have stories, that reinforce this, and we just hear it, and we go, yes, like you, you can't watch Braveheart, without his, his wife dying, that he married in secret, and then she dies, and you're like, absolutely, you want to kill all of England, makes sense, I'm with you,
Let's do it, because these are the stories, we tell, this is what we believe, this is where, so you have a book, movie combo, about an abusive relationship, involving bondage, and dominance, and submission, and masochism, that grosses, 500 million dollars, worldwide, it's one of the most profitable, movies of 2015, in Fifty Shades of Grey, that the song, that comes from that, with Ellie Golding's hit song, that says this, on the edge of paradise, every inch of your skin,
Is a holy grail, I've got to find, only you can set my heart on fire, or Tove Love's song, oh, that's the, touch me like you do, touch, touch me like you do song, the Ellie Golding song, Tove Love's song, that says this, you're gone, you're gone, and I've got to stay high, all the time, to keep you off my mind, which is basically, my sex romance, romance God failed, so I need to turn, to my drug God, to keep my brain, like we,
From One Direction, from every song, the song, I Believe in Miracles, that we sing all the time, one of the lyrics in that song was, I met you yesterday, and now you're in my bed, I believe in miracles, and, it's catchy, but, our culture, has begun to play, so much weight, here, and then I would think, if you see a culture, that's doing this, that's elevated romance, that's elevated sexuality, then you would start having, what we have, with just some serious,
Backlash to it, you'd have really high, divorce rates, you'd hear us saying, things like, she just doesn't meet my needs, he doesn't just, he just doesn't make me, happy anymore, well you need to find, someone who makes you happy, you need to find someone, who completes you, you need to find your soulmate, and we'd all just nod along, yes, correct, a person who can complete me, the one special someone, out there, and if this person, isn't working, if we're having some friction, obviously not the one special someone,
You'd have really high, sexual expectations, all the time, across the board, all you have to do, is look at a magazine rack, to understand that this is, rampant in our culture, have a lot of cynicism, when it comes to romance, and I believe, that you begin to see, what we're seeing, which is the ultimate sin, the unforgivable sin, in our culture, is, not letting someone, be with the person, they want to be with, that's unforgivable, you can't deny someone, the ability to be with someone, they want to be with,
Why, because we've swapped out God, and we've elevated each other, we've elevated romance, we've elevated people, who were made in his image, because we're the easiest thing, to elevate to that spot, and that's what we have, that's what's happening, we have, it's all over the place, and so, what do we do, how does this work, there's a, Danny Akins, a guy who wrote a book, and there's a story, about an anthropologist, that was hanging out, with the Hopi people, and he asked them, he said,
Why are all your songs, about rain, so he'd gotten to know them, they'd gotten to know him, they'd shared culture, back and forth, and so he asked, why all of your songs, are about rain, and the Hopi guy said, because that's life, for us, that's salvation, for us, without rain, we're dead, and then the Hopi guy said, why are all your songs, about romance, that's life, for us, that's salvation, for us, and without romance,
We're dead, would be the answer, so the question left, if we were made, by a creator, in his image, to image him, and to find our ultimate, fulfillment and purpose, in him, and then because of that, because of that, very beautiful truth, we're the easiest thing, to put in his place, so that we've swapped him out, for smaller, broken images, the question is, how does he respond, God, the answer, is that God, came to earth,
In the person of Jesus, to live out perfectly, what we should have done, that actually, Colossians is going to say, he is the image, of the invisible God, so we were made, in the image of God, but he is the image of God, so Jesus comes, and lives perfectly, what it means to be human, and what it means, for us to relate to God, that's what Christ was doing, and you know, what he didn't do, he didn't get married, he didn't have a relationship, he didn't have sex, he didn't chase romance, and this baffles us, to the point,
That we have things, like the Da Vinci Code, and movies, like the last temptation, of Christ, because obviously, he had to have, a secret romance, because otherwise, how would he be fulfilled, how would he be a person, it's got to be fake, if he doesn't, but no, he comes and lives, and he shows, that there's value, in being celibate, there's value, that romance isn't God, and then he lives, perfectly on our behalf, and swaps himself, out for us,
This is God's response, to us, swapping him out, we're going to read, 2nd Corinthians 521, we'll show it on the screen, for our sake, he made him, that's God made Jesus, we read this a lot, but God made Jesus, to be sin for us, to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him, we might, become the righteousness, of God, God made Jesus, to be sin, so that in him, we could become, the righteousness of God, that's God's response,
That the perfect image, of God, when we swapped God out, for broken smaller images, that the perfect image, of God, would swap himself, out for us, and what we tried, to receive, what we ultimately, chased after, when we swapped him out, was brokenness, harm, sin, death, destruction, and you know, when Jesus, swapped himself out for us, you know what he took, brokenness, harm,
Sin, death, and destruction, that's what he took, on himself, when he went to the cross, was our brokenness, our pain, our sin, our death, our destruction, so that, he could give us back, what we had exchanged, the first time, so that he could give us back, God, a real relationship, with God, and the ability, to enter into a relationship, through faith, and have our purposes, re-fulfilled,
That's what Jesus, did for us, we were made, in the image of God, and therefore, we're the easiest thing, to swap out for him, and then Jesus, as the image of God, swapped himself, back out for us, to reverse what we had done, so that we could be, welcomed back in, now, next week, we start saying, some offensive things, next week, God gets aggressive, when it comes to, how we view sexuality, romance, hopefully he's already started,
To help us see, where we're off, but if we miss this, if we miss, that we were made, in the image of God, if we miss, that God loves us, so much, that he invites us, into a bigger, more true love story, one of the reasons, that romance, love, finds resonance, in our soul, is that, the true story, of history, of humanity, is a beautiful love story, where Jesus, overcomes the odds,
To rescue his people, that's one of the reasons, we love that story, because that's what, Jesus did for us, in the cross, overcame all the odds, to bring us back, even when we were separated, separated, by massive separation, if we miss this, that you have a God, who created you, and therefore has creator rights, over you, therefore has a design, and you miss, that he loves you so much, that in the midst, of our rebellion, and brokenness, he was unwilling, to let us go,
But came to rescue us, if you miss both, of those things, the rest of it, will only seem, restrictive, will only seem, like it traps us, will only seem, oppressive, the rest of his design, for human sexuality, can only be seen, but when we know, that he has a design for us, and that he loves us, it sets us free, to follow him, so we're not afraid, to say the offensive things, we're going to say, but it mostly, we want to be helpful, and if you don't get,
That you were made, in the image of God, and have worth, and value, and dignity, and that Jesus loved you, so much to rescue you, you're going to miss, everything else, the band's going, to come back up, God I pray, that you would work, in us, to give us the grace, to follow you, give us the faith, to trust you, when you say things, to us, that we disagree with, help us to see, that you're the creator, and therefore have a,
Vantage point we don't have, and help us to see, that you love us, so much in the cross, that you're willing, to die to rescue us, that you are ultimately, trustworthy, with our lives, and with everything, God I pray, that you'd help all of us, to submit, our masculinity, our femininity, and our sexuality, to you, for your glory, as we follow after you, in Jesus name, amen, amen, amen, amen,
Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,
The Goodness of Gathering
Transcript
Yeah, I hope you enjoyed the holidays. Hope you had a good break. I know I did. Got to spend some time with family and all that kind of stuff. But after two weeks, I'm ready to get back together with people.
I'm like, where is my people? I'm ready to sing. I'm ready to see everybody. But we're kind of a young church, and so a lot of our church family has been traveling over the last couple of weeks, and they're starting to get back into a normal routine of things. USC kicks back off tomorrow, so some of our college students will be traveling today. So just keep them in your prayers.
College football playoffs have been going on. Go Tigers! Amen. That is not the response I was expecting. I'm excited. Did someone just say roll tide?
Get. Go. Okay. Well, there's kind of this lull this time of year between Christmas and New Year's where we all kind of just start reflecting a little bit. We start looking back on 2015 and saying, okay, well, I wish that could have been better. I would have done that differently.
You start looking at time with your family and stuff like that, and you look forward to 2016 and maybe some changes and stuff you want to make. But all of us kind of do this reflection. You're thinking about your family. You're thinking about all that kind of stuff. So hopefully you've had some time to do that.
Maybe you do resolutions. Maybe you don't. Even if you don't, it's still just kind of rolling around in the back of your mind thinking about last year and going into this year. And so over the break, I took some time and just wanted to pray over Mill City Church and just ask some questions. Ask, how are our groups doing? Are we training leaders?
Are we accomplishing the mission that we feel like God's called us to do in this city? Are we making disciples? And so as I pray through that and ask those questions, with that being said, I want to ask you a question, and I need you to participate and help me out. You're going to have to raise your hand. Okay. I need you to raise your hand if, from this stage, you have heard this statement or something similar.
Okay, you ready? We are our groups. If you're not in a group, you need to get in a group. If you're just hanging out on Sundays, you're missing out, get in a group. Hold them up if that's you. Good.
You can put them down. All right, that's actually a good thing. Some of you have heard that for years. You've heard it on repeat for years now. It echoes in your dreams. And the reason being is we believe that following Jesus is an all-of-life commitment.
So when you start following Jesus, it infiltrates how you think about work. It begins to influence how you live with your family. It impacts everything. And since that's true, being the church can't just be what we get together and do on Sundays. It's got to be more. And what we see is that the early church understood that, and all throughout Scripture, is that life is meant to be following Jesus in relationship with other believers on mission.
So letting the gospel impact your life as you're in a community on mission, gospel-centered community on mission. See what I'm doing there? See? See what I'm doing there? All right, you're smart.
Here's how I want us to start off this morning. We're going to put some Scripture on the screen in just a second. It's a foundational passage for us as a church. Some of you will be familiar with it. But we're going to be in the book of Acts looking at chapter 2.
And what we're seeing here in the book of Acts is what we have recorded of the early church. You don't have to turn there. We're going to put it on the screen in just a second. But what we're getting in Acts 2 is a snapshot glimpse into first-century Christians and how they were trying to follow Jesus. And so as Luke is writing Acts, he's not necessarily writing to tell us how we should do things. He's mostly just describing what he's seeing.
So it's not necessarily prescriptive. It's more descriptive. And this is a huge foundational passage for us as a church. And I think we're going to have it on screen. Yeah. All right, cool.
So Acts 2, 42 through 47. Let's read this together. 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 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. Okay, and as soon as you read that, if you're a part of a community group or if you've been hanging out with our church for a while, you're already seeing aspects of who we are as a church show up. Things that we're shooting for as a church family.
It said that they fellowshiped together, which meant that they actually spent time together. They broke bread in each other's homes. It said they were devoted to the apostles' teaching, which just meant that they were engaging with Scripture together. It said that they were praying together. It said they were selling possessions and giving them to those that had need. This was a group of people who were living this out together, and we absolutely want to see that modeled in our community groups.
But here's what I want to do this morning. I want to go back. We're actually going to look at another section that we just read and emphasize something that we haven't necessarily spent a whole lot of time talking about as a church family. But it's just as beautiful and just as important as the other stuff that we looked at. It's actually in verses 46 and 47. Let's look at it again.
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. So what we see in the early church right there in verse 46 is this balance. We see this balance in how they followed Jesus together. There was this collection of all of them together where they were attending the temple together as a big group of people. And then it said they gathered in homes.
So there's this gathering all together in the temple courts, and then there's gathering in homes. And so the church has kind of exploded at this point. There was about 120 followers of Jesus, and it has just grown to 3,000, which 3,000 is a logistical nightmare. A logistical nightmare that I would be happy to have, guys. I'm not going to say. So if you just want to keep inviting your friends and family, we'll figure it out.
I'll say that. We'll figure it out. We'll put people in classrooms. We'll get it all figured out. But the church grew, and what we see is this ebb and flow to their relationship where they saw value, where they saw merit in all coming together and then scattering as smaller groups into their home.
They all gathered together and then scattered as smaller groups. And so some of you have even asked us before, like, why do we call this a gathering as opposed to maybe how some churches call it a worship service? And that's honestly one of the reasons from these verses because we believe it's a better description of what we're doing when we all come. We're coming together. It's a gathering of the church. And worship is more than just what we do on Sunday.
Worship is what we do with our lives. And so as you look at that passage, you can see, okay, that's what our church should be shooting for. That's what we're shooting for, and we're accomplishing that in our community groups. And we talk about them all the time. We want people to actively be living out their faith in Jesus. But if we're not careful, what can happen is we can talk about our community groups and living it out so much that we begin to neglect this beautiful expression that God has given us.
That we can talk about our groups so much and emphasize them so much that we kind of push gatherings to the side, and they kind of lose time, and they kind of lose value in our eyes. And what we've said a lot from this stage is if you're just hanging out on Sundays, you're missing out. What we haven't said as much as if you're just hanging out with a group and catching the podcast before you hang out with them, you're also missing out. And I realize there are people in our church family whose work schedule doesn't allow them to be here with us on Sunday, and I'm thankful that we record our sermons.
But there's just something unmistakably holy and good about when the whole church gathers together, and we sing and we listen to the word, that there's something beautiful about that. And so after having two weeks off, we're back together. So that's what we're going to be talking about this morning is the goodness of gathering. The goodness of gathering all together as a church family. And here's the question we're trying to answer. We're going to put it up on the screen.
This is the question we're trying to answer. If being the church is what really matters, why is it important that we gather together? So in essence, if being the church, if living it out, if letting it impact you 24-7 is what really matters, why is it important that the church gathers together? We're going to talk about it in three different ways, and I'm going to go ahead and give them to you up front. I never do this, but I want you to see it. The church gathers to open the Bible.
The church gathers to respond to God and celebrate the gospel. And the church gathers to be sent out on mission. And we're going to focus on those three things. And what we're going to see is you can look at them and see we do those things in our community group. But we're going to talk about how when we do them on Sundays, there's something beautiful and distinct and unique about what Jesus does in us and for us when we all gather together.
So let's pray before we hop in. God, I ask that you would submit this in our minds and our hearts to understand the value and the goodness of all gathering together. Lord, of seeing your word laid open and having its truth applied to our lives and singing together and responding to you. God, there's nothing better than being in your presence and enjoying the relationship that you purchased for us through what Jesus did on the cross. And so, God, we pray that your Holy Spirit would lead us, would give us the ability to see what you're showing us in Scripture clearly today. In Jesus' name, amen.
All right, so grab a Bible. This part is actually not going to be on the screen, so I want you to grab a Bible. If you don't have one, grab one of the blue and white ones that we have in the seat. We're going to be in Nehemiah chapter 8, which is on page 258 in those blue and white Bibles. And let me go ahead and say this. If you don't have a Bible, we're going to be talking about how important it is and how good it is.
We want you to take that one with you. That's our gift to you. If it's your first time hanging out with us, you don't have a Bible. If you want a Bible, please take that one with you. But we're going to be in Nehemiah chapter 8.
And again, what we're trying to do today is talk about the beauty of the whole church gathering together. And why it's important and good and valuable. And again, today's not meant to be corrective as much as it is an encouragement into understanding why we do what we do. You know this. Anything that you're doing, when you start to put vision into it and people start to help you see the purpose and why, it just makes it more enjoyable. It just makes it better.
And so for us, my hope, my prayer for us this morning is as we look at this passage, we're going to be encouraged. We're going to begin to look at gatherings with new eyes, with a fresh attitude, with a renewed sense of the goodness of us all gathering together. And we're going to be looking at that in Nehemiah chapter 8. And most of the time when we're gathering on Sundays, we're in the middle of a series or we're walking verse by verse through a book of the Bible. We are jumping straight into the middle of Nehemiah. So let me give you just a little bit of the back story.
Okay. In Nehemiah 8, the people of God, the Hebrews, the Israelites have been taken captive. That God allowed them to be taken captive because they had stopped worshiping him. They started worshiping false idols and being like the people around them. And so God allowed them to be captured. And now God has rescued them and they're coming back into the promised land.
Okay. So this is the people coming back into the promised land. They're being led by Nehemiah, being led by Ezra. And they've been here for about a week at this point. And it's not going super well. Now, miraculously, they have been able to get the wall built back up to kind of protect the city.
But there's so much to do. I mean, this city has been desolate for almost 70 years. And they've got all this different stuff to do. And what's interesting is the people, one of the first things that they want to do is they want to get together as the people of God to worship God by listening to the word of God. They said all that other stuff can wait. That stuff is good and valuable and important.
But all of that stuff can wait. And I think even just as we're hopping in, there's a lesson there. There's a lesson there just to see that the rest of that can wait. We're going to gather to worship God. And we see kind of Nehemiah and Ezra. And what happens is all the people kind of gather into the square.
And that's a little bit of the picture of what we're getting right here in Nehemiah chapter 8. Let's look at it. Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 1. Let's read it together. And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the water gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.
So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattathia and Shema and we'll just say four of his other close friends to the right. And Padaiah and six other homies to his left.
Verse 5. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people. And as he opened it, all the people stood. So like I said, the city's been deserted for about 70 years and the people are starting to come back. And they need to rebuild the temple. They need to rebuild the city.
They need to reestablish life. And if you think about it, there's a ton of stuff that needs to be done. I mean, where's food coming from? Farmers have got to start planting so that there's food. They've got to figure out how fresh water is going to be in the city. They've got to clear roads.
They've got to set up systems for market and trade. And all of that stuff has to happen. But from early on, the people say, we need to all gather to hear from God. And that's important because the nation of Israel learned something while they were in captivity. The reason that they had to go into exile is that they lost that laser focus with their lives. They lost that focus that if God is supreme and God is the most important thing and God's our focus, then it puts everything else in its proper place.
Then work begins to make sense. The family relationships begin to make sense. And they had lost some of that focus. And so all the people gathered together into the square. It's awesome. There's like 50,000 people all together in the square.
And what it says, they said, they sent Ezra the scribe to go get the book of the law. And we don't know exactly who the they is. It could have been just the people who were also kind of on the platform thing. It could have just been all of them going, Bible, Bible, we want the Bible. I don't know if it was like that or not. But they sent Ezra to go get the Bible.
And it says he stood on the platform and opened it. And he read from it. And how long did he read? He read from morning to midday. He read from morning to, that's like eight hours. I mean, guys, you know I'm all about a long sermon.
I mean, but that's intense. So to illustrate this morning, I'm going to see how long I can go. So I pass out. I ate my Wheaties. I drank a Gatorade. I chased it with a Red Bull.
Let's do this thing. I mean, that's a long, that's a long time. And it says the ears of the people were attentive. They were listening. In fact, as soon as he opened it, verse 5 said the people just stood up. I don't know if that was like a collective.
Should we stand? Do you stand? I'll stand. One Carl stands and everyone else stands. I don't know. But the people were attentive.
They were hungry for it. They knew how desperately they needed the Word of God. And so that's honestly the first reason that we get together on Sundays is that we gather to open the Bible. We get together collectively as a church family to open the Bible. Now, immediately you're going, okay, well, I mean, I can read the Bible on my own at home. And most times when my group isn't playing Phase 10 or Catchphrase, we're opening the Bible too and studying it.
So I don't, what's the point? And let me say this, I want that to be a rhythm in your life. I want you to be opening the Bible and seeing the truth that's there and getting together with your community group and studying it too. Those are all beautiful disciplines. If that's not something that's going on in your life, if you're not diving into the Word, let that be your takeaway this morning. Hear that.
Just open the book and start reading. Let that be a part of your life. If you don't know where to start, I would love to talk to you after we're done and explain some different areas that you can go in and read. But, yeah, we do. We open the Bible at other times. We do it in our community groups.
But what we're trying to do in our community groups is more talk about how does it apply to our lives. We're going for application. Like, where is this leading me to repent? What does this mean for how I approach things? Where do I agree? Where do I disagree?
What does this person think? And we kind of wrestle with it all together. And when we gather as an entire church family together, there's something different about it. When we all gather together, there's something unique about having a posture of sitting and receiving and soaking something in that's being taught. I'm going to say that again. There's something unique about sitting and receiving and just soaking in something that is being taught.
And when I was in college, if I was in a class and I had a professor at the front of the room, unless I was given permission to ask questions or permission to speak, my posture in that class was listener and learner. There would be time when I got together with other people or a study group to be like, well, I didn't agree with that or that didn't make sense or I wonder if that's going to be on the test, but not necessarily in that moment. In essence, what I was saying in that classroom was, okay, I'm submitting to the authority of the professor, his education, and the content that he is teaching. And again, that's just an example to get us thinking along those same lines, but even that begins to break down.
Because what it's saying is there's something special about the professor, but when the church gathers, there's nothing special about the person who stands on the stage and opens the Bible. What's special is God and his word that he wants to communicate into our lives. It wasn't about Ezra. You want to know how I know that? Ezra wasn't the only person on the stage. There were a whole bunch of other people.
The stage wasn't for Ezra. The stage was for the word of God. So the word of God could be over top of all the people. And I think that's a beautiful picture of how we should see the word of God in our own lives. That we should see that God is over us and his word is over us in a way that we're not trying to take our life and justify it by the word. No, no, no, no.
We're running to the word to help us understand who God is and how we might live in relationship with him. So there's something, there's just something different about it. When someone's standing up and teaching something and you're just soaking it in and receiving it. And I'll tell you, in our culture, specifically with my generation, that kind of teaching is just kind of waning in popularity. It's not something that people are really excited about. They don't want to go and sit and listen to someone.
And some of that's because a lot of people in my generation are like, is there absolute truth or is it all just kind of relative? And we know that there are different styles of learning now. And so do we really need that type of teaching? That's why I think it's beautiful that we have gatherings and we have our groups and we're discipling each other in all of life. But there is something unique and special about opening the word of God and letting it be spoken into our lives.
And we see it all throughout scripture. Our God is a preaching God. That God uses his word to accomplish his will. From the very beginning, God stands up and he preaches. He preaches the world into existence. And then throughout the Old Testament, he uses prophets and he speaks through them into the lives of his people.
And then Jesus comes and he preaches repentance and the gospel. And then he raises up his disciples and sends them out to preach the message. And so when the church gathers together, what we're saying is we will sit under the authority of Jesus and allow it to shape our lives. And there's something beautiful about not just doing it by yourself, but doing it all together. Where we're collectively sitting in the room and you're looking around and people are head nodding and people are saying amen. And it's this beautiful excitement of saying, no, I'm not just doing this by myself.
We're actually getting to do it together. There's something unique about that. There's something beautiful about how the Holy Spirit uses that and works that in our lives. And in fact, the Bible talks about itself. The Bible teaches us about the Bible. And I want to read a couple of these things because it's awesome.
Here's what the Bible says about itself. That it's breathed out by God. You'll hear arguments of people, yeah, well, it was written by human authors. No, no, no. Hear this. It was breathed out by God and he just chose to use those authors.
And it's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training. That the Bible, that it makes man complete, equipped for every good work. That it keeps us from sinning. That it's a lamp to our feet and a light to our path and so forth and so on. The Bible just describes itself as God's word to do work in our lives. And there's something valuable about when we get to do it together.
And here's another thing that makes gatherings distinct. There are times when I'm sitting there and Chet's preaching or maybe Raz is preaching. And I am loving everything that is being said. I'm digging it. I'm being encouraged. I'm being reminded of my identity, being in Christ.
I mean, I'm just, I can feel myself getting excited because it's the truth of it. There are also times where I'm sitting there listening and I'm not so excited about it. And I'm going, ah, I don't want to do that. Oh, I'm not naturally inclined to do that. I'm actually being convicted. I feel like I need to repent.
This is really making me uncomfortable. And what I want to do is head for the exit sign. But I don't because I'm in a group of people that are collectively saying we submit to the authority of God. And in fact, those moments where you want to head for the exit sign or maybe it's rubbing you wrong and you don't understand and you don't like it. Those may be the times that you want to lean in and listen just a little bit more. Because it may be that the Holy Spirit is working and moving and trying to show you something completely new.
And when we're all gathering together, it's not just you having to figure out how to do it. You've got a group of people around you that are willing to encourage you and walk side by side with you to see you accomplish Jesus' will in your life. And so the church gathers to open the Bible. Verse 6, let's keep going. Verse 6. Sorry guys, I got the power this morning.
Verse 6. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also, Jeshua and Bonnie, and you can just skip on to where it says the Levites, helped the people to understand the law while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the law of God clearly, and they gave the sense so that the people understood the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God.
Do not mourn or weep, for all the people wept as they heard the words of the law. Okay, so as the word of God was being read, the people began to respond. We know that as soon as the Bible was open, as soon as the scriptures were open and they started reading, it says that the people just stood up. And I don't know exactly what that was like, but the people just stood up. And then it says they began to raise their hands. So I don't know exactly what that was like.
I don't know if it was any of this or any of this. Or maybe it was more of just a stretching out, like give me more. Or maybe it was more open hands, like let me receive this. And then it says they fell and put their faces to the ground. This picture of humility. Guys, remember, the city's not cleaned up yet.
We don't know what's on the ground. They don't care. It's this posture of humility as they hear. In fact, verse 9 says that some of them were moved to tears by what they heard. And so one of the reasons the church gathers, one of the reasons we gather, is we gather to respond to God and celebrate the gospel. So we gather to open the Bible, but the other thing we do is we gather to respond to God and celebrate the gospel.
So that as the word is proclaimed, we begin to respond. And the church, the people of God, the church throughout history, across people groups and tribes and languages, has always found this way to gather together and respond and to celebrate. Some people may do it with a whole bunch of instruments and a whole bunch of people singing and dancing. And this group over here may not use instruments at all. And then you've got this group who may meet in a building, and this group may meet out in a field. But the church has always found ways to respond to God collectively as a group.
And truth is, we do this in our community groups as well. We respond to God in our community groups. We talk about how it affects our lives. We wrestle with that together. We don't just say this is like information for you. It's information that impacts your life.
Like how do you live this out at work? How do you live it out in your marriage? How do we encourage each other to do it? We repent and confess to each other where we're off and where we're struggling. And in the midst of doing that, we celebrate the gospel. We celebrate the good news that Jesus came and he lived a perfect, sinless life, and he died on the cross so that we might have life in him.
And he rose from the dead. Like we celebrate that and we encourage each other with that truth because it's not just good news then, it's good news now. And so we remind each other, we don't just say you should love people. We say because he first loved you, we get to love others. Not just go out and serve, but we serve because he served us. He came and met us at our greatest need.
We encourage each other with the gospel. But when we all get together as a big church family, we get to respond in some different ways. It's kind of different. Maybe some things that you don't get to do in your community group all the time. We get together and we pray all together. We ask God to do stuff on behalf of our city to move and to work and to bring people to salvation.
There are times when we celebrate communion, where we remember the broken body and the shed blood. There are times where we give, where we give our finances to support what Jesus is doing in the city and doing through this church. We get together and we baptize people. And when we baptize people, we get fried chicken and we throw a party and we dunk people in water and we go crazy. So crazy that we can't talk.
I mean, I love baptisms. Just so you know, Easter, baptism, that is happening. So if you're trying to figure out whether you should be baptized, interested in being baptized, let me put that plug in. That's coming at Easter, so not too long from now. But one of the main ways that the church responds to God when we're all collected together is that we sing.
We get together and we sing. And y'all know, y'all know I love that. In fact, on the Sundays where I preach, I get really excited because we've got super talented musicians who love Jesus and are a part of community groups who lead us to sing truths about Jesus. And I love when I just get to be a part of that. But I also love the times where I get to be up here and I get to see your faces.
I get to see you sing. I get to see you raise your hands and then sometimes just sit and reflect on what's being sung. It's the best. And we live in a culture that highly values music. That's a big deal kind of in our culture right now is music. And maybe on the other side of that, maybe just more the entertainment side of music.
And some of that, like the value of that, has kind of seeped into our American Christian culture so much so that when people think about church and what the church is and stuff, what they've got in their mind is just what we get together and do on Sundays. It's an incomplete picture. So much so that you'll hear people say, I go to that church. What they mean is, what they're saying is, I go to that building on that street at that time on that day. And they're missing out on the fact that the church is the people who have been rescued by Jesus and it's all of life and that's just a picture of what we do.
But I kind of grew up with a similar type understanding. I kind of grew up thinking about Sundays as a really big deal, that that was kind of the pinnacle of everything that Christians did. I grew up in a church that had like a lot of music. We had all kinds of different musical stuff and there were choirs and there was an orchestra. I mean, it was crazy, a whole bunch of stuff. You kind of had to dress up to go there.
But it was good stuff. And afterwards, like any good kid, I would like run around and play tag with my friends. But there was always that little old lady that goes, Don't run in the church! And I just wish I knew then what I knew now. Because I would have turned around and been like, The church is people. And just like taken off running.
But our church valued Sunday. Sunday was a big deal. It was what was talked about. It was what was celebrated. So much so that we did it twice on the same day.
You went home and took a power nap to get ready because you're coming back. Like, we're doing this again. So the church I grew up in really valued Sunday. Then I got to college and I got introduced to my first mega church. And oh, buddy. Lights, lasers, smoke machines.
I mean, music that would like melt your face. Thousands of people just standing, singing. I mean, it was, whew! They cared about Sunday. I'm telling you. And I'm telling you, it was awesome.
It was beautiful to see all those people worshiping together. But even then, I'm starting to go, okay, is there, what else, what else should I do? And it's kind of like, oh, you can come back next Sunday. All right, I'll do that. But there's got to be more.
There's something more to it. And then I started working for a church while I was in college. And part of what I did was help plan. What did we do on Sundays? And all along the way, I'm trying to figure out, okay, how does, how does this work? Like, what is this?
Sundays are important, but it's not just Sundays. It's all of life. And as I grew in my understanding of the gospel and as I began to read in scripture, it's not a competition between Sundays and all of life. It's both. It's this beautiful ebb and flow, this back and forth of the church gathering all together and then scattering out. And it has just changed my understanding of why the church gathers and why it's important.
And one of the reasons we do that is so that we can get together and have good music. It's so that we can get together and sing at the top of our lungs and to raise our hands and to respond to the truth that's being said. Because God uses music in such a special way. Let me show you. It is highly unlikely that during the week you have walked around with the three main points of a sermon stuck in your head. Right?
I mean, most of us, by the time we're going to hang out with our community group, we're going, what were we talking about on Sunday? Sorry, guys. Maybe I should go listen to the podcast before I could hang out with our group, even though I was there on Sunday. But you have had a song stuck in your head. Right? We've all had that annoying song that gets stuck in your head.
Or maybe it's your favorite song. You just sing it on repeat all the time. Because music has that ability to stick with us. Let me prove it to you. Ready? Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm.
Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm. What song did I just hum? Hail the King. Right? Hail the King. I hummed Hail the King.
Okay, what were the words that I was singing? We have by faith through Jesus. It's only. That was, guys, if we were a choir, we blew it. But yeah, for the most part, you could recall those lyrics.
And sometimes, we sing that song a good bit. That song gets stuck in my head all the time. And do you see how beautiful that is? That in the middle of your work week, when you're at work and you just got chewed out by your boss, or you just had an argument with your wife, that song pops in your head and you're going, no, no, no, I've been justified. That there's a Creator God and I rebelled against Him. But He sent Jesus to die on the cross so that I might be saved, so that I could have salvation, not because of my work, but Jesus' work on my behalf.
That I could place faith in Jesus. And it's a gift of God's grace. And as I begin to remember that, it just reshapes everything. It has this beautiful impact on our lives. And so when we get together, we celebrate that truth. We're reminding ourselves.
And here's another thing. Here's something that's really important to point out. Our worship, when we get together on Sundays, is just a foretaste of what's coming later. It's just a foretaste of the future that is waiting for us. I mean, you can honestly just start thinking about Sunday as heaven practice. Go ahead and get that in your mind, like you've got to get stressed, get warmed up.
This is heaven practice for the eternity that we've been created for us. And we all know this. When there's something to celebrate, the phrase, the more the merrier, absolutely fits. When you're excited, when you want to throw a party, when you want to celebrate, the more the merrier. Let me illustrate. If I'm sitting at home and I'm watching the Clemson game by myself and they win, I mean, I'm excited.
I mean, you know, I may woo-hoo. And then I may change the channel and flip to another game. And the rest of it, I just go on with the rest of my life. If I'm watching the Clemson game at Charlie Earp's house, I'm like jumping up. And I'm doing like some of the fist pumping type stuff. And we're high-fiving and we're getting really excited.
And we're making fun of the people who weren't pulling for Clemson. Like, it's just this bigger celebration. If I'm in Death Valley with 80,000 of my closest friends, I'm storming the field. I may take my shirt off and run around. I have no, I mean, it's amazing when you get with a group of people and just celebrate it. And that's what heaven's going to be like.
There's going to be people from every tribe and language and tongue and people group. That have come to place their faith in Jesus. And we're all going to stand around the throne and sing and bring praises to God as we stand in the presence of our Savior. It's going to be awesome. And heaven's not just that. It's not going to be just that.
We're going to do other stuff as well. But it won't be less than that. I can tell you that. It won't be less than that. And there's this, I was at a concert with Katie a couple of years ago. And there's a Christian artist named David Crowder.
You may have heard him before. And before the concert they said, if anybody works for a church or is on staff for the church, come to the back. We want you to pray with David. And David Crowder prayed that night. And it was something like this. I just want to read this to you.
Let's see. He prayed, I mean, that blew my mind when he prayed that because it's absolutely true. Let our feet be lifted off the ground just a little so that we might experience what heaven is going to be like. It's going to be this amazing time of worship. In fact, there's this really cool scripture that I read in Zephaniah 3 this week where it says that Jesus is going to stand in the midst of his people. And he's going to sing over us.
Like a great choir master, he's going to stand in the midst of us and sing. And we're going to sing. It's going to be this beautiful time of celebration. And we get to mimic that. We get to mirror that as a church on Sundays. And let's kind of bring this thing to a close.
Let's jump back into verse 10. Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink sweet wine, and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready. For this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, Be quiet, for this day is holy.
Do not be grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them. So the church came together to sit under the authority of God's word. And as they heard the word, they began to respond to the word all together. And then what does it say that they did? It says they went their way.
It says they went their way to eat and they went their way to drink. Back to their families. Back to their work. Back to everything. Infused with the truth that they had been taught and what they had celebrated. The third reason that the church gathers is we gather to be sent out.
We gather to be sent out. We don't stay here. As good as this is and how fun is this, this is fun and good. We don't stay here. We're sent out. And we know specifically on this side of the resurrection, for those of us in this room that have placed faith in Jesus, we know that we've been sent out specifically on mission.
And so we gather to be sent out on mission. The mission that Jesus has given us, which is to go and to make disciples, to share his love with other people, to help them come to know his love and to begin to follow him and to place their faith in him. And yeah, we do that in our groups. We get together and we talk about the people that we're building relationships with and we pray over them that Jesus might work in their life. But there's something different about when we do it all together.
It's way more like General Patton and his troops. It's way more like Mel Gibson riding on a horse in front of the Scottish. You ever seen that movie? Oh man, it's amazing. Braveheart's amazing. It's this call to this is who you are.
Go and do that. This is who you are. He doesn't say go do this because of who you are. He says because of who you are, go accomplish the victory. And that's what's true for us. As Christians, our identity is seated in Christ.
And so out of who Jesus has made us, we are sent out. And so I hope that this morning you've been refreshed. I hope that you've been reminded of the goodness of gathering, that it's not this competition between whether you're in a group or whether you come on Sundays. It's this beautiful ebb and flow that we see in Acts 2 and we're seeing here in Nehemiah 8, that the church gathers together and then we're scattered out. And so just to kind of bring us to a close, we gather to open the Bible, to let it have authority to speak truth into our lives. We gather to respond and to celebrate the gospel.
We stand and we sing and we proclaim and we pray and we give. And then we're sent out all mission together, that we accomplish the mission of Jesus as this church in our community groups. And it's this beautiful expression of the church being one all together and then going out together all mission. The band's going to come back up. Here's kind of how I want you to respond with this. I want you to have fresh vision and fresh eyes for Sundays.
And I want Sundays to be an important part of how you follow Jesus, that you see how good and how valuable it is, that you begin to let this be an aspect of how you build community with other believers, that you stand shoulder to shoulder, you stand side by side with other Christians and you sing at the top of your lungs and you remind yourself of what's true and you pray all together and you give together and then you go out so that you're sitting with and you're seeing people that are in your community group and in other community groups and you're going, yeah, let's go out. Let's be who Jesus has made us to be. He's made us to be His church. And so what we're going to do now is we're going to sing a song that says that.
We will be the church to live out your heart. Oh God, arise up in us. We'll show the world how you love. Take heart. You have overcome the world. That's the message.
That's the message of the church. It's the message of the gospel. And we stand and respond and sing those things at the top of our lungs because they're true and there's something beautiful about getting to do them together. together all as one big church family. Let me pray over us. God, I pray that you would let that sink in or that the joy of gathering with your family and gathering with your people would culminate in Sundays where we preach the gospel and we sing songs at the top of our lungs for your glory and for your namesake and then we're sent out together on mission to see more people come to know you come to love you and place their faith in you.
And so God, I pray that your spirit would move in us to remind us of who we are as your people. In Jesus' name, amen.
God With Us
Transcript
Well, good morning. We are in our third week of our Give Series, and our Give Series is something we do every year, so we always have a series kind of entitled Give three years in a row. And basically what we're doing at this time of year is we're going to intentionally take some time to study the Bible and to remind ourselves. I said study the Bible. We don't usually do that. We're always studying the Bible.
But take time to remind ourselves of what Christmas is about and not just get caught up in all the consumeristic stuff that goes on in our culture. So as Christians, what is always happening is there are some things in culture that we can just kind of accept, that we can go along with, that we can celebrate. And then there are other things in our culture that we're going to have to at times push back on. And so one of the things we just try to do around this time of year is rally ourselves as a church to be generous to some specific causes, to not just have Christmas roll by and all we thought about was gifts and giving and receiving gifts, but we actually think about some more long-term or some more other ways to be generous and to be helpful.
And so this year we've got two gift projects, and we talked about it last week. We may have bitten off a little more than we can chew, and so I don't think so. But we kind of got our work cut out for us. And what we've done is we're partnering with City Church, which is a church plant in Knoxville, where we're trying to raise some money for them so that when they hit the ground, we helped add into them hitting the ground running when they all move to Knoxville and get rolling. And we are helping the Staley's, who are a family affected by the flood that live in northeast Columbia. And we actually had a group of nine people go over yesterday to serve and work at their house and got a lot done.
And we're taking another group this coming Saturday to have another day of work over there. And then in January we'll have to go back to do some rebuild stuff. So right now we're just trying to make a few rooms in their house that are unsafe safe, and then we'll go back and make them beyond safe and back into being like nice and actual rooms in their house. And so that's kind of what we're going for. So I don't know about you.
I like Christmas, and I like the Christmassy-ness of Christmas. And I know some people get annoyed with Christmassy stuff. I was talking to someone this morning, and they said, yeah, I'm already over Christmas music. Like I'm annoyed with it at this point. I'm done. And I'm like singing in front of them because I just love Christmas stuff.
But I'm also the type of person I will cut down like random neighborhoods I've never been in just to see like the people who've lit up their house and decorated. I really appreciate the people that do that because I like the shiny lights and the colors and the tackiness and stuff that goes along with Christmas. I string up lights inside of my house because I want to enjoy them. So if they're on the outside of my house, I only see them when I pull up. So I have like lights strung around like the green outdoor lights and tree lights just strung around my house because I just plug them in, and my house is just lit up with Christmas lights.
And maybe a redneck, but I like that. But another thing you see around Christmas a lot is nativity scenes. And so you'll see nativity scenes. And nativity, the word, we looked it up. It just means like dealing with birth or your birth or something. So you could take someone to the place of your nativity.
So wherever you were born, you could say, this is the hospital of my nativity. They would think you were weird, but you could say that. That would be a correct way to use that word in a sentence. And so really nativity scenes are just a celebration of Jesus' birth. So it's the place of his birth.
And so you see these a good bit. We've got a few to look at this morning. And this is one of those that's like just the outline stuff. They're just shining lights on it. You can see that like Jesus is glowing. They're praying to him is what it looks like.
Maybe they're just praying over him. You've got the star lit up. You've got an angel that's just doing like the Vanna White thing. Like here they are. I don't know how long the angel stood there just doing that. But all right.
So the next one. So that one, you've seen stuff like that. Then you've got this kind. This is like you'd set up at your house. The thing about this nativity scene is it has everything. It has like birds that just float magically.
It's got a shooting star thing going. There's a beagle over here because they hung out in the Middle East. But it's just a whole lot of stuff. You know, it's like a 47-piece set. All right.
So then there's other ones that are just like more stylistic. So these people like coordinated all their outfits together. They're like, Jesus is going to be born. Everybody got your red sash. Yes, I got it. There was one guy who didn't have it, and he doesn't get to be in the picture.
All right. So next one. Then you've got people who do stuff like this, which who knows how long it took to get this to work out right. And in the right corner, it says fleas, navi dog. So if the dogs dressed up wasn't offensive enough, let's just throw this in here.
All right. Then you've got people who just like look around the house and find random things. So that's like a volcano with Batman on top. There's a Lego Garfield. The Bears quarterback is there. There's Obi-Wan Kenobi.
I don't know how the dude with the overalls, he just gets to be there. Like I don't know. And Frankenstein. So that's more traditional, like what you're used to. It's like all this isn't. You read it in your Bible.
No, I'm kidding. All right. So then you've got like Peanuts. They do their own kind of thing. And I think this may even be in the show they do. The next one's my favorite.
It's made out of bacon and sausage. We've had a debate. I think that's long, like long stem rice, but someone else was saying it was hash browns. But if you make a nativity scene, do you feel bad eating it? Like are you allowed to eat? Like it seems like you just wasted time.
Just go ahead and cook the bacon and eat it. Don't take forever. But anyway, there you go. That's a ham, sausage, bacon nativity scene. But we see these all the time, and I think we kind of get used to them.
Yeah, that can go away. We don't need to stare at bacon forever. People are just going to start getting annoyed. It's like, oh, I need a biscuit now. We see nativity scenes a good bit. And it's – I think we've over – it's the celebration that Jesus, that God, became a baby.
And so we set these up in our yard, and we have like a live one, and like church put on a big one, and have to order a camel from somewhere and have them walk around. And we celebrate this, but honestly, it's a little bit bizarre, if I can use that word, that God would become a baby, if you think about it. It's just a little bit – it should make us think. It should make us go, okay, what was the point of this? Like if we're celebrating that God became a human, what – why? What was he doing?
And so let's turn to Isaiah 9. We're going to look at what we've been doing a good bit. Isaiah chapter 9, if your Bible looks like this, it will be page 369. But what we've been doing a good bit is looking at Old Testament prophecy, which is where – so like if you watch movies and stuff and people see a prophet, like prophets like their eyes roll back in their head, and they like utter like cryptic sayings sometimes, and like they don't even know they said it, or like nobody knows what it means, but it's a prophecy, or like they have to climb a mountain and go talk to someone who's blind. And that's not what prophecy is in the Bible.
Prophecy is that God speaks specifically through people. So it's a person speaking on behalf of God what God told them to say. Now sometimes they have visions. Sometimes there are a little bit of things that go on with it where he's giving them imagery that they're – but it's not them. It's God that is speaking. And they're not speaking on their own behalf or through their own power.
They're speaking through God. And so that's what Isaiah is. And we're going to look at a really small prophecy that he made, or a really small section of prophecy that he made that's talking about this coming Savior. But we're going to pray before we hop in. God, we thank you for the time that we have to study your word together. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us to grow in our appreciation for what you did at Christmas, what we're celebrating at Christmas, and what we're seeing when we see a nativity scene.
So, God, I pray that you'd help us to see that and to accept the invitation that you're making through being born here. In Jesus' name, amen. Isaiah 9, verses 6 and 7. This is a really pretty kind of piece of prophecy, but it's also – it puts these two images together that are kind of hard to hold together. So it says, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and he shall be called.
So we're going to stop for just a second. So he's saying there's going to be a child born, there's going to be a son given. And this theme runs throughout a lot of movies and stuff where there's this promised person coming, this promised son, this promised child that will be born, this destiny child. So there's like this thing that kind of runs through. Like we see it a lot as a theme, and this is actually what happens in Jesus. There's this promise that this son will be born, this child will be born.
So here's what it says. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. So he'll be in charge. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, and on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Okay, so there's going to be a baby born. And then Isaiah says some stuff that is not okay except for under one circumstance. He says some stuff that would not be okay to say except for under one circumstance. What he says is he'll be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father. That's not okay unless this child that is born is actually God. Those are not okay names to call him.
In Hebraic Jewish understanding, it's a very serious thing to – it's blasphemy to take on the name of God or to be worshipped as God or to be called God when you are not. That's actually why they kill Jesus later. They accuse him of blasphemy because he is taking on the name of God. He's being called God. And they're saying, no, you're not. But he is.
He is this promised son. And here's what's crazy. These two images do not fit well together. Everlasting Father. Mighty God. Little bitty baby.
Now I know in our church family a lot of people have recently had children. A lot of people will be having children soon. And I'm not specifically if you're a mom in here and you've recently had a baby or if you just had babies. I'm not talking to you. Your child is excluded. But I'm talking about every other child that has ever been born.
Babies are ugly. Not yours. Yours was precious. Precious little baby angel. All the other ones look like little greasy trolls. Like they just didn't come out right.
Like they don't – every time I've ever seen a baby and they're like, isn't it beautiful? I'm like, hmm. Look how small it is. Like I just try to change the subject. Look at how – like when you say that you mean like look how big its head is. But you mean like look at – you just have to – oh, your baby could be in movies.
And like you're trying – it sounds nice but you meant like Voldemort in the train station in the last movie. Like that's what it looked like. Like you just – you're like, oh, this baby is so precious. But like I had a baby and Anna's like, isn't he beautiful? And I'm like, not really. Like I know I was part of the team here but this – this ain't looking so good.
Like his head's kind of odd shaped and like his face looks like a frying pan. Like I don't know. It turns out okay. They get cute. And I didn't mean – not your baby. Your baby was an angel.
But other people's babies. Not yours. Other people's. All of the other people's babies. Not cute. And God became one.
Everlasting Father. Mighty God. Little mushed up funny looking baby. That happened. And we've tried to clean this up. We've tried to make it nicer.
There's the song Away in a Manger. Away in a Manger. That song – that should be on the singing team. Melody Squad. In that song, this is one of the lyrics. The cattle are lowing.
And lowing means making noises. But mooing didn't sound as good. That's why we don't sing the cattle are mooing. No, it's – they're lowing. The baby awakes. But little Lord Jesus.
No crying he makes. Mmm. The only baby that never cried. Jesus. That would be the creepiest baby ever. Like, that's how babies communicate.
They can't speak. So, like, it's not like – are we trying to argue that Jesus could talk when he came out? Hello, mother. Hello, father. I'm God. I'm going to take a nap now.
Like, that didn't happen. He was a normal baby. Like, if he didn't cry, that's how they communicate that they're hungry and stuff. Like, the cattle low. They're lowing. And he wakes up, but he doesn't cry.
So, he just does this. How does he communicate that he's hungry? Like, no. He was a regular baby. And here's the thing. There's a little bit of us.
At least it's in me. I don't know if it's in you. There's a little bit of us that's like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Calm it down. Like, I look at the bacon nativity scene, and I think a little bit – I would have a hard time eating that. Because it's like, well, this is a nativity scene.
You can't eat baby Jesus. I don't care if you made him out of a sausage. Like, this is weird. You shouldn't have done this in the first place. There's the one with Batman, and you're like, no, no. Batman doesn't need to be here.
There's a little bit of this where you're going, this is degrading. You can't say that baby Jesus was mushy and funny looking. The whole nativity is degrading. That's the point. God became a baby. That is absolutely degrading.
Absolutely humiliating. He humiliated himself. That's what humble means. He humbled himself. He humiliated himself. He wasn't even born in a palace or a nice place.
It wasn't like a mushy, weird-looking baby in a nice house. He was laid in a feeding trough. The whole thing is degrading. Every single of the prettiest nativity scene you've ever seen, even that one that had 42 pieces and a beagle, is degrading. Because God became a baby. And there's a little bit of us that's like, okay, but why?
Why would he have to become a baby? Why did he have to be born? Couldn't he just show up? Couldn't he just have walked out of the woods? Like just ripped open the fabric of the world and stepped out and like glowed and floated? Like when he's 30 or around there and goes back to his hometown and preaches, they don't even listen to him.
One of the things says, isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this the builder? Isn't this the guy who used to just work here? Why are we listening to him? He'd lived a normal, everyday life. Had to cut his hair.
Had to walk places. Had to get strep throat. That's humiliating. That's degrading. And the question is, why? What's he doing?
Galatians 4. Flip over there with me. We'll spend the rest of our time there. It helps us answer this question. Paul is talking about kind of who we are in Christ. He's writing this letter to the church and he helps cue us in on why.
It'll be page 632 if you've got one of the blue and white Bibles. If you don't own a Bible, just take this one home with you. We want you to have a Bible. I want you to read it all the time. We're going to start in verse 4. I love this.
When the fullness of time wasn't a backup plan. It was when the moment was right. He wasn't scrambling to try to figure something out. It was when the moment was right. When the fullness of time had come. God sent his son.
Born of a woman. This is Galatians 4 verse 4. 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, stop there. We need to talk about that phrase. Born under the law to redeem those who were under the law. We joked the other day when we started this series. That one of the arguments we make around Christmas time.
Is just that. It's Christmas. So like when you're getting an argument with your family. When you're hanging out and doing Christmas stuff. When somebody's bringing up some things. When someone's crying.
When somebody's like being a jerk. Your grandmother will go. It's Christmas. We do not have that here. It's Christmas. And all the argument is.
Is that you could wait two weeks and be a jerk. But you can't be a jerk today. Because Christmas is coming up. Like that's the argument. And that's kind of a funny weird argument to make. Although we all accept it.
The funnier thing that's kind of sad. Is that we can't hang out with our family for two hours. Without getting in an argument. That's the worst part. I was hanging out with my brothers. And my family over Thanksgiving.
And my younger brother and I got into it. Over a ping pong game. It was getting heated. Somebody else. Like it worked out well. That someone else came out.
And we were both a little bit embarrassed. That we were arguing over ping pong. And we had to like get in. So we had to figure out what the score was. And move forward. And really the biggest problem was.
He wouldn't listen to reason. Like I was pummeling him with wisdom and logic. And he would have none of it. But the truth is. I mean I'm getting. I'm really looking at my younger brother.
And arguing with him. And serious. Over ping pong. And I still feel right. Yeah. We can't hang out for three hours with family.
Without getting into it. There's a little bit of us. If we're honest. If we're honest. We look at the world. And all of us are going.
Yeah this is messed up. This shouldn't be the way it is. Like. There are things that happen. That are just wrong. They shouldn't happen.
If we're honest. We look at ourselves. And think the same thing. I'm not. I'm not really as loving. As I would like to make out.
Like I'm not really as kind. I'm not really as generous. Like I give myself the benefit of the doubt. Like I had good intentions. But really.
But there's a little bit of us. The whole time that thinks. If I just. If we could just. Teach the world. If they could just not be ignorant.
These problems would go away. If we could just. If everybody had good. Family situations. These problems would go away. If everybody just knew the rules.
If everybody was just informed. Over what was good. And what was bad. Like these would go away. If I just. If I just got another chance.
If I just knew the rules. That's the law. There's a little bit of us. When everything got messed up. That it was like. Okay.
But don't we just need to be coached up. That's what religion is. Can't you just tell me what's good. And what's bad. And then we can get it right. Nope.
You see. The world turned into a hot mess. Pretty quickly. After God made it good. And then God gives the law. Which is that idea.
Which is what we all want. A little bit. It's what we all. I can figure this out. If I just have the rules. You just coach me up.
And I can do this well. Just give me another shot. I can do it. I can figure it out. I can be good enough. I can accomplish it.
I just need to know. Kind of what rules to play by. And the truth is. Where the law comes in. There's just more broken laws. We just mess the rules up worse.
It wasn't just coaching that we needed. We needed something to get all together. Different. My dad went to Liberty University. Way back in the day. When it was more intense.
He was asked. Politely not to return. My uncle went. He graduated. I think. His oldest son went.
His middle son went. His third son went. Several of those were asked. It's okay. You're good. Just don't come back next semester.
My older brother went. He didn't finish up there. My younger brother went. He didn't finish up there. Several of them. It was just a formally nice request.
You're good. You're good. You don't have to come back. Then my older brother Logan. Went to Bob Jones for a while. I went to Presbyterian College.
And I didn't break a whole lot of rules. Do you want to know why? Presbyterian College didn't have a lot of rules. I broke one. You're not supposed to have a full size refrigerator. In your dorm.
But Matt and I were roommates. And that little refrigerator wasn't cutting it. So we went and talked to. Our RA. And he was like. As long as I don't see it.
When I check your room. You're good. We threw a blanket over it. We also had a pet squirrel in our room. Those were the only rules we really broke. There weren't a whole lot to break.
We could stand up here all day long. And just talk about rules. We could stand up here all day long. And just lay the law on top of ourselves. It's not going to fix us. You could be as coached up as you want to be.
You can know everything that you're supposed to do. It's not going to fix you. And so Jesus was born. When the time was right. He was born of a woman. Born under the law.
To redeem those who were under the law. See every single one of us fails miserably. Fails miserably. When it comes to the law. So Jesus had to be born into the system.
To get us out of it. He had to be born under the law. Into the system. So that he could live perfectly. Do what we can't do. To redeem us.
To buy us back. Born under the law. So that. So he was born. The reason he was born of a woman. The reason he was born.
So that he could be in the system. He could be under the law. So that. Those who were under the law. That's us. All of us have failed miserably before God.
All of us stand condemned before God. None of us will get to walk into the throne room of God. And say. Check out my track record. You're welcome. I crushed it.
Just here to get my high five God. You owe me. None of us get to do that. Even though we give ourselves the benefit of the doubt. We don't get to do that. So he was born under the law.
So that he could fulfill it on our behalf. So that he could rescue us. Redeem us. Buy us back. So that we might receive adoption.
As sons. And because you are sons. God has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts. Crying. Abba. Father.
So not only do we get to receive adoption as sons. But for those who place faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit helps us be sons. And the reason it says sons. And not children. Is that sons are heirs.
So you are no longer a slave. But a son. And if a son. Then an heir through God. So in their society.
Females didn't inherit anything. So it's actually really beautiful. That we all get to be sons. Because in that society. That means you're an heir. So we all get to inherit.
What Jesus earned on our behalf. Here's what's beautiful. When you see a nativity scene. As humiliating. And as degrading as they are. And as how much it's trying to wed.
These two ideas. Of this little screaming baby. Helpless baby. With everlasting father. And mighty God. Jesus was born here.
So that we can be born there. Jesus was adopted here. You see Joseph in all those nativity scenes. That's not Jesus' dad. Joseph adopted Jesus. Jesus was adopted here.
So that we. Could be adopted there. That's the nativity scene. Is that he was born here. So that by faith.
We can trust Jesus. And he will redeem us. And we're born again. We're not. We're made new. And we're adopted into the family.
Jesus was born here. And adopted here. He joined himself with humanity. So that we can be joined. With eternity. So that we can be adopted.
Into the family of God. So that we can be. Completely welcomed. By Jesus' work. Not ours. And that's what's.
Really exciting. About our. Our give series this year. So it's really exciting. About church planting. See Jesus left heaven.
And joined with humanity. He said. I'm going to. Take your problems on myself. I'm going to take the law on myself. I'm going to.
Fulfill for you. What you can't fulfill for yourself. And he. Lived a normal. Life. For most of his life.
Had a job. Lived in a community. Celebrated holidays. Completely fulfilled. The law. And then went to a cross.
On our behalf. And the truth is. Church planting. Is a small picture of that. It's. I'm going to leave my home.
That's what city church is doing. I'm going to leave. Our home. And we're going to go. Join with this community. We're going to go get jobs here.
We're going to go be a part of. This here. We're going to go. Be around in normal life. That's what our groups are. It's us walking in normal life.
With the city. With each other. There's something beautiful about. Jesus becoming a human. Which means that. All of the normalcy of our lives.
Has meaning. And matters. Jesus didn't just float in. Say some stuff. And float out. No.
He went to work. He walked around. Cooked food. Cooked food. And so that means that. As we walk in normal life.
We get to join in. It's actually. Made humanity. In some ways. Godly. Just to go to work.
Just to build a relationship. Just to be friends with each other. Because that's what Jesus did. So that he could redeem us. So that he could buy us back.
And we get to go do the same thing. So that more people can meet Jesus. So go to work. And realize that your goal. As Jesus went to work. To work perfectly.
Your goal is to see more people meet Jesus. To get bought back. To know that he. When he was born. Came to rescue them. That's why we're.
That's why we're. Partnering with the Staley's. To help their house. Jesus said. This isn't my home. And I'm going to make it my home.
And I'm going to make it better. We get to do that. This isn't our home. But we're going to come alongside of you. We're going to treat it like it is. We're going to make it better.
The band's going to come back up. And here's what I want us to remember. Here's the big question. That every nativity scene. Screams at you. You see.
Jesus was born here. So that we could be born again. And he was adopted. So that you could be adopted. And when you see a nativity scene. At your grandma's house.
Riding down the road. A plastic one set up at Walmart. The question is this. Have you trusted Jesus? Have you been born again? Have you been adopted into the family?
That's why he came. He was born of a woman. So that we could be born there. So that we could be redeemed. He was adopted here. So that we could be adopted there.
And the way that works is by us placing faith in Jesus. So when you see a nativity scene. Have you done that? And if you have. Remember that. And celebrate that.
Every time you see one. That God humiliated himself. He degraded himself. So that we could be exalted. He was an inglorious. Un majestic little baby.
So that we could have glory. And majesty. And share that with God for eternity. That's the nativity. That's the celebration of that. That he humiliated himself.
So we could be exalted. Exalted. So we could be welcomed. So that we could be adopted. So that we could be made new.
And we're not going to work it out. We're not going to fix it on our own. We're not going to know enough rules. We're not going to accomplish it. We're going to receive it by grace. And just be welcomed in through what Jesus did on our behalf.
And that's what we're celebrating at Christmas. And that's the picture we get to see every time we see a nativity scene. And if you see one that's cheeky. It's poking fun. Every nativity scene is degrading. And all the more that we get to celebrate.
That our God humiliated himself. So that we could be exalted. So that we could be welcomed. That he was adopted here. So we could be adopted there.
That's the God we serve. That's the Jesus who's welcomed us. And you don't have to earn it. You don't have to accomplish it. He came when the fullness of time was right. To rescue and to redeem and to make you his.
And that's the invitation. To trust Jesus. To be made right by him. Not by your own work. Not by your own. That's why he had to be born under the laws.
Because we've all failed it. God we thank you. We praise you. Pray that we wouldn't miss it. But that we'd get to celebrate.
What you've accomplished for us. God I pray if there's anybody in here. Who has not been born again. Who has not been adopted into your family. Who has not fully trusted. What Jesus accomplished through his life.
And on the cross. And as he rose again from the dead. Pray that you would. Through your Holy Spirit. Send it into their hearts. And let them cry.
Abba. Father. That through your Holy Spirit. You would grab them. And bring them into your family. You've already done everything.
That needed to happen through your life. And through your death. And through your resurrection. And God that I just ask. That your Holy Spirit would move now. To grab people.
And to bring them in. That God you would do. Your work of adopting. That you would do your work. Of redeeming. And making people yours.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
The Best Gift Ever
Transcript
Some people it's like control is your thing, like being organized, having security, like your bank account exists so that you can look at it and know I'm going to be okay because there's money there. And so when Christmas rolls around, it's like we need lists, we need timetables, if we're going to see your family and my family, we've got to organize that. We can't have this – like there's this – we've got to plan, we've got to know what we're buying, we've got to know how we're doing this. We've got to – some people it's just your life is based off of – like life is good if you're comfortable, if you can relax.
And so Christmas rolls around, it's like I'm going to have a little bit of time off. You start stressing out about the ability to relax. This is the thing for college students. It's like I've got two weeks to force all of the nothing into the time that I have. Like I've got to relax. Like I'm going to lay on my couch with one eye open so that I'm kind of sleeping but I can still watch Netflix.
And I'm going to get like a 48-ounce drink and just run a straw into my mouth. So that like there's this level of like I need to be able to see family and friends but I also need to be able to take naps. And I need to be able to have good food but I also need to not have people tell me when to be, where. Like there's just all this pressure that starts going into this weight that goes into. And so we have these moments over the next couple of weeks where you'll be in your car and you're about to get out. You're about to go see family.
And there's this, okay, am I not as bad as I was last year? Do I make more money now? Or you're getting out of the car and you're going, I'm still not in a relationship. There's this weight of like I need to put my best foot forward and I need Christmas to somehow make me feel okay. And when I get around my family I feel this weight of am I doing this right? So you've got your kids and you're trying to like lick their hair down because they're about to see family.
And you know your judgy aunt is there and you're like trying to straighten them out. And you're like what words do we not say at grandma's house? Like those are the conversations you're having because there's this weight of like doing it right. Or you're hosting something and you're like did I cook this well? Did I make this okay? Is everybody going to have a good time?
And then it's over and it's like was that it? Was that all the family moments we were going to have? Was that all the friendship joy I was going to have? Is this all that I'm going to get to do over this time? There's this weird pressure to force all this hallmark into your soul. Like you're like I need to make a memory.
Then there's like traditions which are great. Like you have family traditions. So it's like this is our tradition. But then even those start becoming like we've got to do this well and it's got to be as good and a tradition-y as it was last year. And it's got to feel the same and it's got to be the same as when mom made it. And it's got to be the same as when we had these moments and our kids need traditions.
Or young married couples. You have like the we, my, my, like it's not Christmas if we don't do this. And the other couple is saying well no, no, no. You don't do that on Christmas Eve. You do that earlier in the year. Or why on earth would you watch that movie?
Like you've got to, like these competing traditions or this weird need to make your own new traditions? We've got to have our own traditions. Like we're a family now. We've got to have these moments. And it's like how about yelling at each other about traditions? How about that?
How about every Christmas Eve I'll make you cry? How does that sound? Like there's just this weird pressure. Am I the only one who feels this? I had some people say yeah, you're the only one with that weird pressure. Like there's just this, this, I think we hit January sometimes and we're like did we mess it up?
Was it too fast? Did I not enjoy it enough? Did I not rest enough? Did I not have all the moments we were supposed to have? It was supposed to be Christmassy. It was supposed to be like our culture is bombarding us with all this stuff.
And it's not all bad but it makes us feel like this has to be special. It has to be magical. And I think we go into Christmas sometimes looking for it to make us feel okay. Fill us up. Make us feel whole. Fix us in some ways.
But there would just be, over the next couple of weeks, there would just be a few moments where you just feel perfectly satisfied. And I think a lot of times we roll past Christmas and that never really happened. So what we're doing is we're taking some time to look at who Jesus is, what we're actually celebrating at Christmas. And looking at some Old Testament prophecy where guys hundreds of years before began to tell us that Jesus was coming. And we're going to try to take some time to look at that and actually see how that helps us in this pressure-filled time of year. Actually have some joy.
Actually have some rest. And so let's pray. And then we're going to hop in looking at some stuff. God, we thank you for your grace towards us. We thank you that you do fulfill your promises and that you did come. You did join us in humanity to rescue us and to make us yours.
And so, God, we praise you and we thank you and we pray, Lord, that we would be able to see in your word some truth today that would help us feel some more freedom, feel some more joy as we walk through kind of this Christmas time. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen. We'll be in Jeremiah chapter 23. What we're doing is we're looking at some Old Testament prophecy.
These were guys, Old Testament, the Jewish scriptures prior to Jesus. And then you have the New Testament, which is here's who Jesus is, here's what he did, here's what he accomplished, and then letters that were written to churches. And so the Old Testament in the prophets, some of it's history where they're just saying this is what happened. But the prophets are people who, on behalf of God, spoke into their situation or about things that were going to happen in the future. And a lot of the prophecies were specifically about Jesus. And then they were fulfilled.
Many of the prophecies were filled, a lot of them were fulfilled in Jesus. And then we get to, on this side of history, look back at Jesus, how he fulfilled them, and at the prophecies as they were made and kind of see what they were saying, how that was fulfilled in Jesus. And so that's kind of what we're doing today. We're going to look at these prophecies that were made by Jeremiah that were fulfilled in Christ and how that applies to us, how that means something to us today. Jeremiah was a prophet to Israel, and he, one of the main things that God gave him to kind of speak into their lives was that they were chasing after things that were not going to fill them up.
They were looking to other gods, other smaller things, and saying, you'll make me happy, you'll give me joy, you'll fix me. And so he's speaking, and one of the things that Jeremiah does really well is he explains to them that it's like going to an empty well. Well, that looking to other things other than God to fill you up, to satisfy you, to make you happy is like drinking dirt. It's just, it's not satisfying. It's not going to fill you up. It's not going to be okay.
You're going back to that same empty well over and over again. And so he's saying, look, y'all love these things more than God. You're pursuing these things more to God, and they're never going to fix you. And as he's prophesying that, one of the things he prophesies is these two prophecies we're going to see today where he's talking about this coming Messiah, this coming Savior. And so in Jeremiah chapter 23, we're going to read verses 5 and 6. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch.
Okay, David was the best king Israel ever had. Like he was the king. Like if you had Israeli trading cards, you wanted the David card. Like it was the best one to get. Everybody, you know, like Samson was good or whatever, but you wanted the David. Like he was the best one to have.
Like he was the king. And so what he's saying is there was a prophecy made to David that he would eventually have a king come out of his family line that would be a king forever. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless he's an eternal king. So unless he can last live forever. So there's this prophecy made, and that's what he means by a branch, like on your family tree, one of the branches.
See how that works, like your family tree? Some of you grew up in South Carolina. It doesn't branch a whole lot, but you'll get it. Just think about it. All right.
Sorry. So I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called. The Lord is our righteousness. It doesn't mean that's actually going to be his, like, given name.
It just means, like, when you make a name for yourself. So it's saying this is what he'll kind of an office he'll fulfill. This is kind of a role he'll fulfill. This is the name by which he'll be called. The Lord is our righteousness. So put your finger there because we're coming back.
We're going to flip to Luke chapter 1, which, if your Bible looks like this, is going to be on page 555. Luke chapter 1, that's in the New Testament, so you're going to go right. And we're going to read about the birth of Jesus. We don't know when the actual birthday of Jesus was. The Bible doesn't say it was December 25th. It doesn't say that we should celebrate Christmas as a holiday.
We just do, at this time of year, celebrate that Jesus was born. And so we're going to read a little bit of that today where an angel actually comes to Mary and tells her that she's going to have a baby as a virgin, that God's going to give her a baby, basically. Verse 26. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. All right, so you see that?
See the significance there? He's in David's line. He's on that tree, the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, Greetings, O favored one. The Lord is with you.
But she was greatly troubled at this saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. I think that's a little bit of an understatement. An angel showed up. It's like she was wondering about what he said. It's like, this is an angel? She probably was pretty, this is an intense encounter.
Like, I know if I met an angel, I'd be paying attention. So, verse 30. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David.
And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there will be no end. So, this is that eternal king. And that's Jesus is the eternal king that is promised in Jeremiah. So, go back to Jeremiah. We're looking at an Old Testament prophecy that is fulfilled in Jesus.
So, when we celebrate Christmas, we're celebrating that Jesus was born. And we're celebrating that he fulfills these promises that were made by God for us. Jeremiah 23. We're going to read that one more time, and then we're going to read where he makes a very similar prophecy a few pages later. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.
And this is the name by which he will be called. The Lord is our righteousness. Okay, flip over to 429, if your Bible looks like this. Flip over to chapter 33. Jeremiah is going to make a very similar prophecy. Just a little bit is going to be changed, but he's making the same point.
Alright, Jeremiah chapter 33, starting in verse 14. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called. The Lord is our righteousness.
Okay, so, first time he says this is the name by which he will be called, the Lord is our righteousness. And then it says this is the name by which it, being the city that he's over, will be called, the Lord is our righteousness. So, the Lord is our righteousness is this beautiful promise made to us by the prophet Jeremiah that's going to be fulfilled by this coming king, who is Jesus. The Lord, that God, that this coming king, this coming Messiah, will be our righteousness. How excited are we? Well, first, what does that mean?
Sounds like a nice promise because it's got big words in it. But what does it mean? What's he saying? Righteousness really just means that we'll be made okay. Righteousness means to be holy, to be good, to be blameless, to be right. You ever get in an argument and you just know you're right?
Like you just know? Like you're going to make a bet and you know you are correct? My brother and I were betting the other day on whether it was Iowa or Iowa State that we're going to be in the, they were ranked number four. They're not ranked number four anymore, unfortunately, if you're an Iowa fan. I don't know why you would be. But we were arguing and I was saying it was Iowa State and I was incorrect and he was like, how much money do you want to put on this?
And I was like, dude, it's Iowa State. And the reason I was saying that was because I had just seen the ticker say that Iowa State was number four. But he had paid attention to the fact that that was like men's basketball or something or like ladies volleyball. And I was like, it's Iowa State. I just saw it on the TV. And he was like, how much?
How much do you want to bet? I got off on a technicality because Iowa State was number four. We did not specify football. So I was able to wiggle out of that. With video evidence. But he knew he was right.
That's what righteousness means. It means that you are right. You are correct. You are valid. A lot of us were walking through life trying to prove that I'm okay, that I'm correct, that everything is good. We're trying to use something to be able to verify that for us.
And this promise is that this coming Savior will be our verification. We'll do that for us. We'll complete that for us. That's the promise. So I've got an eight-month-old.
And one of the things you start doing as a parent, and I didn't know this, other than smelling diapers, like that's a thing that you start doing as a parent that I wasn't prepared for. You just have to like smell your child on a regular basis, which is really weird. But it's like the quickest way to be like, I don't know. All right, yeah, you're good. And people that don't have kids are like, that's weird. And it is.
It is weird. But other than that, one of the things you do as a parent is that you'll look at kids and you'll say, you're okay. Like you have to tell the kid they're okay. Like they'll fall, smack their face, blood will squirt out, and you're like, you're okay. It's okay. You're okay.
Like that's one of the things that you do as a parent is you chase your kid saying, it's okay. You're okay. And really, when your kid falls, because they're not used to this stuff. Like he's trying to learn how to stand, and then he just like is holding something and then just wants to grab something. So he just moves his hands, which you and I know if you're leaning on your hands, you can't just move them.
He doesn't know that yet. So his face just like picks up the slack. And he's like, I'll hold you up on the table here. And so one of the things when your kid does this, there's a range. Phase one is he didn't hurt himself and doesn't care and is still focused. And phase one is the best phase because he just like rolls and immediately hops back up and starts doing his thing.
And you don't have to parent at all. You don't have to do anything. He just fell over. You're like, and then he's just like doing something else. Like sometimes he just falls and completely forgets what he was doing because he sees something else. So he just falls, hits the ground, and he's like, ooh, something else I can stick in my mouth.
Like that's kind of, that's phase one. Phase two is he's looking at you to see, should I freak out? Smacks the ground and then looks. And if you go, oh, he goes, ah! Like I don't know why I'm scared, but you're scared. I'm probably going to die.
That's phase two. You have some control over phase two. And then phase three is he does not care. He has legitimately hurt himself. He doesn't need you to tell him that this is a problem. He is going to just cry.
And this sometimes will start off with the non-breathing cry where he just like smacks his head and then goes, and you're like, I think you're going to pass out. I want to smack your head again to get you to breathe. And then he just screams like a psycho. So phase two, you got some control. So here's what I've started doing.
When he falls, because I'm a great parent, I point at him and laugh. And here's my theory. If it is a phase two fall, he thinks it's funny. We're cool. The problem with that is phase three falls. When he is legitimately hurt and I'm his dad going, my wife thinks I am evil.
So like he smacks his head and he rolls over and I'm like, and then it's like a welt and there's blood. And he's like, ah, she's like, what is wrong with you? He's a baby. And I was like, I thought it was phase two. I'm sorry. I messed it up.
I'm miscalculating. I'm miscalculating. But he's judging whether or not he's okay based off of us. So like you run over, you're like, you're okay. It's okay. You're good.
That's all right. That's what he's doing. And there's this, you get told that throughout the rest of your life. You're okay. You're going to be okay. And sometimes it means more.
Sometimes it's more helpful. You're getting sued. You have to hire a lawyer. Your lawyer comes in, looks at the case and says, they have no ground to stand on. You're okay. That feels better.
Like that's a really good, you're okay. That's not the same as when someone breaks up with you and your friend says, oh, you're going to be okay. It's like, am I? Is it okay to die alone? Like you just feel that. Like that okay doesn't help.
But the lawyer's saying it helps. Like the doctor comes in, is looking at your charts and says, oh, you're okay. It wasn't what we thought. Like that insurance adjuster. That's what you want them to say. You're okay.
We got this. This is fully covered. You're good. Jesus being our righteousness is a cosmic, eternal, you're okay. It is a, at the highest level, at the most true, real center of reality, it is the God of the universe saying, you're okay. You see, because in the Old Testament, the big question was, how are we going to get out of this mess?
God is good and holy and we have rebelled. I know that I'm supposed to worship him, but I love money more. I know that I'm supposed to care about his opinion, but I care more about the people around me. I care more about what they think. There's this, I've rebelled. I've chased after other things.
And the question is, how are we going to be made okay? And there's this promise of a coming King who is going to be our righteousness. Who is going to be the one that fulfills for us everything that needed to be fulfilled. That's the promise of Jesus. So how does that help me when I'm turning the ignition off and I'm about to have to go be around family?
How does that help me when I'm sitting at my house this year and I've moved and I'm at school and I'm not going to get to see family. And I feel like Christmas won't be Christmas if I can't see family. How does that feel when it rolls back around and I'm still single? How does that help me? How does Jesus being my righteousness actually work in there? Well, the promise is that at the most fundamental and real level, you have nothing to prove.
If you've placed faith in Jesus, you have nothing to accomplish, nothing to achieve, nothing that you have to work out to point to and say, this makes me valid. This makes me okay because Jesus was born. Jesus lived perfectly. Jesus went to a cross to pay for our sin, to set us free. And he is what makes us okay. Second Corinthians 521 says it this way.
For our sake, he, the first he is God, God the Father, made him, that's Jesus. For our sake, God made Jesus to be sin. To be sin. Yep. To be sin. Who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus fulfilled this prophecy for us. Fulfilled this prophecy for us that we become the righteousness of God. So Jesus, when he went to the cross, became your sin. Became all the times you fell short. All the times you failed. All the times you came up empty.
All the times you messed up. All the times you were greedy and selfish and hurtful. He became that. He didn't earn it. He didn't deserve it. But he became it so that we who didn't earn it and didn't deserve it can become the righteousness of God.
That you are made blameless and holy. And guess what? Having a relationship at Christmas won't take away from that and can't add to it. Finding the perfect gift won't take away from that and can't add to it. Making more money this year than last year won't take away from that and can't add to it. So when you're about to turn the ignition off and you're about to go hang out with family and you feel this need to have the perfect children, to have the perfect life, to make yourself look better, to suck in your gut a little bit and strut a little bit more and make yourself sound like your work is more interesting than it is.
It is not. The reason, like when you feel all that weight, take a second. And remember that the reason you're about to go into this party, the reason you're about to hang out with your family, the reason you're about to go hang out with friends you haven't seen in a while is that you're celebrating Christmas. And at Christmas we're celebrating that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy. And you have nothing to prove and nothing to earn and nothing to achieve and nothing that will take place in that party and nothing that will take place in your life will add or subtract from the fact that Jesus has already made you full, already made you complete, already made you whole.
When you're at the store and you're trying to figure out last minute how to find the perfect gift, how to cook the perfect meal, how to have the right stuff, how to make your house look the right way so that people will feel, how to have the perfect memories. It's the weirdest thing to try to force yourself to have. Make a memory. Take a second. Remember that you're celebrating Christmas, which is that Jesus was born to fulfill this prophecy, to go to the cross for us, and that we have been made complete and full and holy because of him. That's what we're celebrating.
You're complete. You're okay in the most real sense possible. You're free. You just get to go enjoy all of the stuff we get to partake in. You get to have fun. You get to rest.
You get to hang out with family. You get to take a nap. You get to one-eyed watch Netflix and suck down a Slurpee. Go for it. But you don't have anything to earn from it.
You don't have anything to prove. You don't have anything to accomplish. And when you get passed into January, you didn't mess it up. Because it couldn't add to you. It couldn't take from you. You're good.
Because what we just celebrated was that Jesus fulfills this on our behalf. And we don't have anything to prove or to work out. We actually get to rest because God, when we place faith in Jesus, became our sin so that we could become righteousness. That's it. So at this time of year, we try to take a minute to press pause on some of the consumeristic stuff to push back on a little bit to all the pressure that we have around Christmas and to say we're going to do some things to rally as a church family to be generous.
Put our money somewhere else. Put our time somewhere else. And so this year, we may have gotten a little ambitious. Just so y'all know. We talked about it, prayed about it, and decided to do two gift projects and kind of wrote a check that we're then saying, all right, church family. What do we got in the account?
Like, what are we doing here? Because we're saying we're going to do two things. And really, we're saying we're going to do both of these and want all of our church family to participate in both. I think we can do it. I'm excited about it. But it is going to involve all of us hopping in, getting on board, and choosing to take some of this time to be generous and to give.
And so the two things we're doing this year. First one, we talked about last week, is we are giving to City Church, which is a church plant in Knoxville. And I am pumped about this opportunity. First of all, we love church plants. We are one. So we're for them.
In case you didn't know, we're pro-church plant. We love to see more churches get started, more people being on mission in more cities. And the really beautiful thing about getting to give to the Knoxville church plant is that we're going to get to tap into what God is doing in a city that we won't go. Like, unless Carolina has an away game there, and unless I suddenly have a change in my financial statement, I'm not going to Knoxville. I might one weekend, if someone gives me a ticket. That's it.
Like, that's the only reason I'm going to Knoxville. It's not to be on mission. It's to eat some food, watch a game, and come home. Like, we get to, by giving into City Church, tap into all the stuff they're going to do, all the times they get to serve, all the times, all the relationships they get to build, all the times that they have baptisms. And they celebrate that more people place faith in Jesus. We won't be there, but we'll have gotten to tap into it.
We'll have gotten to give into that. We're going to show a video of City Church, of Kent Bateman talking. He was here the other day. We're going to show that, and we're going to keep talking about them, and then we're going to talk about our second gift project. He's wearing a plaid shirt and has a beard. I trust him and think it's going to be great.
We know them. They're part of Midtown Fellowship right now, which is in downtown Columbia, and we're a part of the Grassroots Network to try to plant more churches. I'm very excited to be able to partner with them. Here's some of the things we've started dreaming about for them. They've got 25 people that are going to be moving there, and they're going to go ahead and start some groups because they're like us. They're groups first.
We love each other. We're on mission in the city together, and we believe that people will see that and come to know Jesus through it. And so what if we give enough for each of their groups? They start three groups. What if we give enough for each of their groups to have a $300 party budget, a $500 party budget? What if we get to tap into that?
What if our money goes towards bacon and fried chicken to help people meet Jesus? You know how beautiful that is? What if we're able to give enough for them to get a tailgating spot at Nylund Stadium? Nylund Stadium. I don't know how to pronounce it. Nylund?
I think it's Nylund. Yeah. What if we're able to give them a tailgating spot so they can throw parties all year long and get to build relationships with people and get to know people? What if we give enough for them to buy their own baptismal? We borrow Midtown Columbians, but that's going to be too far for them to drive. They're going to have to have their own.
What if we give enough for them to buy one? And we get to be a part of every single one of their baptism gatherings? I don't know. I don't know how much we're going to give. Here's what we're asking. That all of us will begin to pray and ask God, what does it look like for us to give?
You can write a check and put for City Church and put it in that box. You can go onto our website and through our Give link, you can click a drop-down tab and give specifically to City Church so that we can know this is how much we're giving them. We can write them one big check and we can celebrate together. This is how much we rallied to help your church get started. See, more people meet Jesus in Knoxville. And a bunch of those people from Columbia, maybe they'll help them become Gamecock fans.
But it's something that we get to be a part of. Something that we get to join in and we're very excited about. The other thing, that's why I said we may have bitten off more than we can chew. We're going to find out. It's going to be great. The other thing that we're going to do is there was a family affected by the flood, the Staley family.
Affected by the flood over off of the North Main area. The wife had just had surgery. They have three children. The husband was only able to pull some carpet out. And otherwise, they have left two rooms that were flooded untouched. Mold and mildew have taken over those rooms.
And they are now unsafe for their family. And so this coming Saturday, the 12th, and the following Saturday, the 19th, we're taking crews over there to make their house safe again. And then in January, we're going to come back and help them rebuild. That's the plan. And that's going to take manpower. The first one is going to take money.
This is going to take manpower. And we want everybody to be involved with both. Let me show you a few pictures of that house. This is the Staley residence. It's over in North Main. Kind of on out towards I-20.
This is Miss Staley. We met her and her daughter. And I do not remember her daughter's name, but it's like a Zola or Nola. It's got Ola in it. And I should have remembered that or not brought it up. But we are where we are now.
That's Miss Staley. And that's little Miss Staley next to her. That is their back patio room. That glass was broken prior to the flood, and the whole back patio just filled up. And they have not done anything in that room. And so show the next picture.
That room is filled with stuff. That chair, you can't see it in the picture. You can kind of see it looks speckled. That is completely molded out. That's the technical term. Molded out.
Everything in that room is covered in mold and mildew. And we are going to have to wear suits and masks and go in and very slowly bag it all up. There is now mold and mildew growing in the ceiling. We are going to have to spray everything with shockwave, pressure wash the inside of both of these rooms. They have completely locked that room off. They're not going in there, and everything in that room is getting thrown away.
That's what we're starting with on this coming Saturday. The next room is on the side of their house. That's the entrance door to it. The front of the house is here, so you're kind of walking up to the house here. This is actually the door they use to enter into their house, and they've got mold and mildew growing in there. So every time they walk through that room, they're tracking mold and mildew into their house.
The only thing they've done is pulled up the carpet, but there's still carpet over here that they're growing mold in and taking it inside. That whole room back there has a washer, a dryer, a freezer that we're going to have to clean out. We're going to have to pull all this stuff out. Show the other side of the room. There's mildew growing all in the corner. We're going to have to take everything out of this room, throw it away, pressure wash it, clean it to make their house safe again.
And that's what we've signed up to do. That's our gift project. That's what we get to be a part of this year. They're rolling into January. Their daughter, their other children can play in their house, and they don't have to. While we were there, the daughter was in the room.
She sat down one of her toys. There was an adjuster with like an assessor with us. She sat down one of her toys on the couch, and he said, you're going to need to throw that away. She doesn't get to have that anymore because that's not safe anymore. And they're walking through this every day. And so here's what we're doing.
We want to give to City Church.
Joy Has Dawned
Transcript
Well, good morning. Festive seasons greetings to all of you. I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving. I was invited early on in November to a Friendsgiving, and so I got to go eat Thanksgiving-type meal then, and then our community group had a Thanksgiving meal on Tuesday, and then we had a Thanksgiving meal at our house on Thursday, and then I went to my parents' house and had one on Saturday, and that was great, and I plan on doing that every year from now on. And I just wanted to throw this out there. If any of you are having Thanksgiving things and would like to invite me, I absolutely will try to come.
Eat turkey and drink gravy at your house. So I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving. I hope you got to spend some time with friends and family. I want to take a quick poll. I want to kind of see where we land in the room, because I think there's really three types of Black Friday shoppers. So I just want to find out.
I want to see who's in the room. So three types. The first type is this. Oh, heck yes. There's good deals. I'm going to shop for 24 hours straight.
I will camp out. I will buy an expensive tent just to camp out so that I can save less money than I spent on the tent. I will fight a grandmother over an Xbox. She shouldn't be out if she can't handle it. Stay home. This is Black Friday.
Who's kind of in that zone like you get into Black Friday shopping? Really? Nobody. Nobody gets into it. All right.
My brother, he camped out because a friend of his told him that Cabela's was giving away guns, and the least amount you could get if you were in the top 600 was a $100 gift card. So he went and slept outside. They gave him a $15 gift card. He looked at his friend and said, I'm going home. He actually went and slept in his truck and then went to work, and that was it. That was his Black Friday, but nobody camps out here.
Who is in the second category, which is I will Black Friday shop, but I'm going to sleep, and I'll go for a little bit if there's a specific thing I want, but I'm not trampling anybody. Who's kind of in that zone? You will Black Friday shop. Okay, the third category is nope. Yeah, okay. My kind of people.
That's the zone I'm in. Again, I know some people are like, well, I'm going to Cyber Monday shop. That's good. You do that. Use the Internet. But I just kind of want to see what had happened, who's already been kind of out there in the world shopping and doing stuff.
So here's what happens. We have Thanksgiving. We have this week, this moment of like everybody just appreciate what you have until about 6 p.m., and then let's go get more stuff, and let's like be aggressive about it. Like that's kind of like that's the tone. That's kind of our culture is like let's be thankful, but not for too long because we're going to get some stuff. Like so our stores are opening at 6 p.m.
Like Black Friday is immediately the day after Thanksgiving where it's like, did you say the stuff you were thankful for? Cool. Get new stuff. Throw that stuff away. You can be thankful for this stuff next year until this moment, and then you've got to get new stuff and throw that stuff away. So that's kind of the zone.
And so when we come to Christmas season, we always do a give series, which is intentionally reminding ourselves what Christmas is about, taking a few weeks to just remember what we've been given, what we've received from God, and then intentionally leveraging our resources, our time to be generous, to not just get caught up in the consumer frenzy that is American Christmas, but to actually take a moment, take some time, and appreciate what's been given to us, and then try to leverage our time, our energy for some generosity, for some things that will last and will matter. And it's one of my favorite things that we get to do every year together as a church family, and excited that we're getting to start that this week. I love Christmas. I love Christmas.
I'm not one of these, like, I'm into it. I love Christmas. I'm not anti-Christmas. I am anti-Christmas until after Thanksgiving. So I know some of y'all were like busting out Christmas decorations before Turkey.
Like, let's appreciate the day we eat food. Like, why are we skipping past this? It's a wonderful holiday. But after Thanksgiving, I'm listening to Christmas music in my car. Like, I love Christmas music. Like, my, we got Christmas coming up with my family, and Archer and I, Archer's my eight-month-old son.
We have matching, horrendously ugly, Ninja Turtles Christmas sweaters that we are going to wear at Christmas. Is that a waste of money? Yes. Will it be great? I think so. I think it was worth it for us to, just to be able to celebrate some Christmas with some ridiculous stuff.
And one of the things I love about Christmas this time of year is that collectively, our entire culture is like, peace and joy. Good cheer. Good cheer? When do we ever use that phrase? But people will be like, be of good cheer.
It's like, what on earth are we talking about? Like, we're singing that where, we have this, this collectively, we're all just, joy. Like, you go to Dunkin' Donuts, and I think now Starbucks, I think they caved, because people threw a fit, about their red cups. But, go to Dunkin' Donuts, you get a cup of coffee, and it just says joy on the side. How nice is that? Like, we just, you hang up in your house, you just hang up the word peace.
You guys, peace. Look, it's bedazzled. Like, this is kind of our, our cultural attitude, is like, joy, and peace, and hope, and forgiveness, and happiness, because it's Christmas. And what's really funny to me, be of good cheer, what's really funny to me, is that, if you got a cup that said joy on it, in June, your name had better be joy. Like, why is that on my cup? Like, if they give you that cup, and you're like, why, are these cups old?
Like, what it, y'all way ahead of the game, or way behind it, why does this cup say joy? I just want to drink coffee. Don't tell, don't tell me how to feel. Give, give me another cup. I don't feel joyous. It's June.
Like, we push that, like, movies, and your mom and your grandma, but we'll talk about movies first. Then we'll talk about your mom and your grandma. Movies. A lot of movies, Christmas movies, have this. Something terrible happens. Somebody steals.
Somebody hurts somebody. Somebody does stuff. And then at the end, they go, but it's Christmas. TV shows. Just horrible shenanigans and hijinks. And then, at the end of it, they go, but it's Christmas.
The person said they're sorry. Let's forget. And this, this happens with your mom and your grandmother. You're, you're at Christmas. People are getting aggravated, and they'll go, mm-mm. No.
None of that. It's Christmas. And this is a valid argument. We're like, oh yeah, good point. That's the argument. No, you made a good point.
No. Grandma's right. The calendar. That's the argument. It is this time of year. This, this two, kind of two, three week zone.
Mm-mm. Mm-mm. No, sir. No, sir. You can get drunk, and argue with people, and spread everybody else's business, some other time of the year. Not at Christmas.
You can throw a fit, and be really rude, any other time you want to. Not at Christmas. Or we'll just be like, you have to forgive. It's Christmas. And all we're really doing is saying, see the calendar? If you want to do this in January, perfectly acceptable.
Start an argument. Be mean to people. Don't forgive. Whatever. Sorry. It's in the two week window.
It's Christmas. Joy. Look at your cup. Look at it. Drink it, and shut your mouth. It's Christmas.
This is our attitude. And we all are like, mm-hmm. Good point. Why? We have collectively, as a culture, decided, this is the time of year we're happy. We've painted smiles on everything.
We've painted smiles on ourselves. It's Christmas. And then what really happens is, if you're not happy, it's like way more sad. Did you notice that? Like your cup says joy, which makes you feel worse, if you don't have joy. Like if you're sad.
Like, okay. If I eat Taco Bell, and watch Die Hard, on a random Tuesday, that's a good night. If I eat Taco Bell, and watch Die Hard on Christmas Eve, I feel sad inside. Because it's like, it's Christmas Eve. I should be doing Christmas-y things. Even though Die Hard is kind of a Christmas movie, you guys.
John McClain. Putting it out there for Christmas. Here's the thing. Culturally, collectively, we have all decided, this is the time of year we're going to have joy and peace. And we're going to have good cheer. And we're going to have forgiveness.
If you keep asking questions though, if you keep asking why, why are we doing that? Why do we have joy on our cup? Why do we have good cheer? Why? What? Why?
The answer, without Jesus, is, we've decided to. That is the answer. If you keep asking why, and you eventually pull the curtain back, there's nothing there. Just that, we collectively have decided this is the time of year that we say peace, and we're not hippies. Collectively, this is the time of year that we put joy on our cups, and our name isn't joy. Like, that's what, we've just decided that.
And if Jesus isn't behind the curtain, we're really not a big foundation for joy. Really not a big reason for peace, and for good cheer, and for good forgiveness. It's really just that culturally, we've all decided, sure, sounds good. We'll all be on that team. And that's okay. I mean, I think people can get on board with the cultural decision, but it ends up being a lot more hollow, a lot less real, if there's nothing behind it.
And so one of the things we want to do is take a few weeks to actually see where that joy comes from. To actually show that scripturally, biblically, for us as Christians, we have a real reason for joy. You can have it on your cup in June. We have a real reason for joy, a real reason for peace, a real reason for forgiveness, and good cheer. We can all be of good cheer because we have a real reason. And so that's what we're going to celebrate.
That's what we're going to look at. And so we're going to look at, over the next couple weeks, we're going to look at some Old Testament passages that point to this coming Messiah. Some Old Testament passages that are pointing to this coming Redeemer, this coming Messiah, and what He's going to do, and what He's going to accomplish, and then how we get to celebrate that at Christmas. So, I'm going to pray and then we'll hop in. We'll be, well, I'll tell you in a second, we'll pray. God, we thank You for Your goodness.
We thank You that we actually have a reason for joy, that we actually have a reason for peace, that we actually have something to celebrate as we gather here this morning. That it isn't just a smile painted on, that it isn't just the word joy written on a cup that otherwise would just be a cup. God, it is actually real joy, real peace, and something real to celebrate and to get excited about. And so, God, we praise You. Pray that You would help us to see how good You are and then join in the generosity and join in the love and join in the sacrifice as we try to get behind that opportunity this year in our gift series.
And so, God, we praise You and we thank You. In Jesus' name, amen. We'll be in Isaiah chapter 35. So, Isaiah chapter 35. Isaiah was a prophet to Israel and he would, prophets in the Old Testament do a couple of things. They speak to, they speak like into their time, into their culture, and then they speak about things that are about to happen, currently happening, about to happen, or are going to happen sometime further in the future.
So, they're speaking right into what's currently happening, what's about to happen, and then sometimes they're speaking into things that are going to be ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, ultimately fulfilled further in the future. And sometimes it's both. Sometimes it's about to happen, and there's a bigger, greater, later fulfillment. And so, there's a couple places in Isaiah. We read one where he talks about there's going to come a child unto us, a child is given unto us, a son is born, and on his shoulders will be the government, and he'll be called Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He'll be called God.
At one point, he says he actually will be called God, so it can't be just a human. It's got to be something bigger, something later. At one point, he says that there will be a virgin who gives birth to Emmanuel, and Emmanuel means God with us. That's what we just sang. We were singing, Emmanuel, O come, O come, Emmanuel. And that God is with us.
God has joined us. And so, these are prophecies that would be spoken into, and everybody in the culture started looking for, when's this going to happen? Is it now? Is it going to happen now? So, my brother's a really big South Carolina fan. I'm a South Carolina fan.
On Friday, he and I were hanging out, and I looked at him, because we were going to be hanging out as a family, and eating a Thanksgiving meal, and watching the game, and then hanging out with each other. And I looked at him, and I said, Vince, are you mentally and emotionally prepared for what is going to happen tomorrow during the South Carolina-Clemson game? And he was like, he goes, you and my wife. And I was like, what? And he goes, you going to pout all day tomorrow? You know?
He tears him up. So I was like, dude, you got to be prepared. South Carolina, look at my face. South Carolina is not going to win. I love South Carolina. Not going to happen.
And he looked at me and went, okay. And I said, and that little voice inside of you that just said, but maybe let it die. And he busted out laughing. And he goes, I did just think that. You know, it's a rivalry game, and it's like, no, none of that. But here's what South Carolina has done all year.
South Carolina has been just good enough to lose all year long. That's it. They've been just good enough to lose. They've lost by a touchdown. They've lost by a point. They've lost by, that was to the Citadel.
They lost by a field goal. They've been just good enough to lose. And so every game, they get your hopes up though if you're a Carolina fan. So I was telling everybody, don't get excited. They're just going to play well and lose. And then when we got within like three points, when it was 25 to 28, I was like, everyone get your hopes up.
Please. Like Carolina just wants to get you in that area so they can crush your soul. And here's what happens. Every time I watch one of those games, I'd be like, oh. I'd be telling people, don't be excited. But inside I'm going, maybe we'll do it.
Like every single time and every single time they were like, are you excited? No. None of that. That's kind of how the nation of Israel felt over and over again with these prophecies. There's this, is it going to be, is it coming? Is it this time?
Is this, is this the one? Is this going to be fulfilled now? Is it like, there was this national longing, maybe a little more dull, but definitely dragged out and definitely over time there's this, when is God going to come? When is this prophecy going to be fulfilled? When is this going to happen? Is it now?
Is this the time? There was this national, oh, is this it? Kind of thing going on. And it's because of prophecies like this. And so we're going to see some of the promises that were given to the people of Israel, some of the promises that were given about what the Messiah is going to do when he comes, what it's going to look like when God joins us. And so we're going to see four promises and then we're going to look at some of the implications for the redeemed, for those who are saved, for those who are rescued by this Messiah.
We're going to see four promises about the Redeemer and then we're going to talk about kind of some implications for the redeemed. So Isaiah 35, verse 1. The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it.
The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord and the majesty of our God. Okay, so the first thing we see, the first promise about this coming Messiah is that the Redeemer brings life. What it says is that the desert will rejoice and be glad. The wilderness will break out in joy and singing. So it's some colorful imagery to talk about how the mood, what's actually going to happen, where he's going to take desert, he's going to take what's dead, what's dry, where there is no life and it's going to be vibrant.
It's going to be overwhelmed with joy and singing. So the desert is going to break forth in singing. So it's just this colorful picture of when this Redeemer comes, areas that are depressed are going to see economic renewal, areas that are broken are going to be fixed, areas where there's just death and sadness and guilt and shame are going to be renewed, are going to be given life. One of the things that I think is beautiful here is he says, the desert will bloom with the crocus. This is the crocus. that's pretty. I mean, that's a pretty flower.
I consider myself pretty manly. When I look at that, I'm like, oh, that's a pretty flower. Let me show you, he says it'll bloom abundantly. This is a field of crocus and you can just Google crocus and there are pictures of fields after fields of just that. So that's what he says.
He's going to take the desert, he's going to take dry, broken, dusty land, he's going to take what's parched and dead and turn it into that. He's actually going to make things more beautiful. Or you're going to walk out and just feel renewed, feel life, so that the Redeemer, the first promise is that he brings life. The other thing it says is the glory of Lebanon, so he's talking about the desert and the wilderness, the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. So he picked kind of well-known places that were known for their economic activity or known for their beauty and says, I'm going to take the wilderness and turn it like that.
It would be kind of like Columbia, it's a nice place, I like Columbia, it's really hot and it's not the prettiest city. I like Columbia, but nobody's like, oh Columbia is so beautiful. People just don't say that about Columbia. They say other things about Columbia, but they don't say that. And so it would be like him saying, I'm going to take Columbia and I'm going to give it the prestige of New York, the beauty of the Rockies, and the life of New Orleans, the kind of celebratory life of New Orleans. So it's kind of, he's taking the wilderness and saying, but I'm going to bring this over because Lebanon was known for its cedars, Sharon and Carmel were known for their economic activity and one of them was these two mountains that were next to an ocean.
And so he's like, I'm going to make this beautiful. And so the Redeemer, when he shows up, the first promise that's made in Isaiah 35 is that he's going to bring life. He's going to bring vibrancy with him. Verse three, strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not, behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.
Recompense means repayment. He's going to come and make it right. Behold, your God will come with vengeance and recompense. What he just did was he looked and said, all of you who are weak, all of you who are outcast, all of you who've been pushed to the fringes of society, all of you who have no voice, no power, don't be afraid. God's going to come with vengeance and repayment. And so what the promise is is that God knows what's happening.
He sees it and the guilty will not get off scot-free. The oppressors will no longer be able to be oppressive to those under them, but he will bring vengeance and justice that this God will take up the sword when he comes. That wickedness will have no place in front of him. And all the things that have been stolen, all the things that have been broken, all of that that's been taken will be repaid, will be given back. And so the second promise that's given is that this Redeemer brings justice. This Redeemer, when he comes, is going to bring justice.
He's going to level it out. He's going to rescue the weak. He's going to defend against oppression and tyranny. One of the pictures I have in my mind is like every Robin Hood movie so if you, I mean, I'm talking the one with Kevin Costner, I think even the one, the more recent one was Russell Crowe, Robin Hood Men in Tights, if that's your thing. I think one of the best examples of this is the Disney version where it's like a fox is Robin Hood. One of the things that happens in these plot lines is King Richard is gone.
The rightful king is gone. And in his place is his whiny little brother, Prince John. And while King Richard is gone, Prince John starts abusing his power. He starts overtaxing people. He starts just everything he can do to oppress and to steal. And so that's where Robin Hood shows up as this kind of anti-hero where he begins to steal from the government to give it back to the people.
So he's stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. And he's helping level everything out. And what happens in those movies though is as soon as King Richard gets back, everything gets straightened out. As soon as King Richard gets back, there's this celebration where King Richard takes his brother John and gets him off the throne and begins to let equality reign again where he begins to not oppress people where the kingdom gets set back right. And that's kind of the promise here is that this Redeemer is coming. And when he shows up, all the false gods, false saviors, all the false leaders, all those who've oppressed, all those who have been tyrannical are going to be removed and justice is going to be there.
And he's going to reign and rule with justice. He keeps going. So Isaiah prophesying about this coming Redeemer. He says, Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand shall become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water. In the haunt of jackals where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. The Redeemer is going to bring healing. So he's going to take the desert and water's going to pour forth where the sand would burn anybody who decided to walk on it, anybody who dared ventured out in this desert.
He's going to turn that into an oasis. It'll be cool pools of water. But he says, The blind will see. The deaf will hear. The lame will leap like a deer. And the mute will sing for joy.
He's going to heal that that's unhealable. He's going to take what's broken beyond repair and repair it. That's a heavy promise. That's the kind of healing that this Messiah is going to bring. I watched a video recently of a deaf boy and he had to be, he was a baby, he had to be six months, eight months and they were able to go in and do some kind of a hearing aid implant thing and he heard his mom for the first time and it's the coolest video. It's really short but his mom starts talking to him and he looks at her and he goes like this and then he just starts crying and he's like a six month old baby.
I could understand an adult crying by being overwhelmed by hearing for the first time because they mentally know their deaf. Like they know there's something off and they know kind of, but this kid's six months old and you can tell that he's had this moment of this is how it should have been the whole time. There's something that he recognizes in that moment. He's not scared. He's like he just, he's like he can't handle what has just happened to him and that's the promise of this coming Messiah. That he's going to set it right so that there's moments for all of us where we go, this is how it was supposed to be the whole time.
This is what it was supposed to be like. You know that feeling that we all have that the world just isn't the way it ought to be. Even people who would say there is no God, there is no, they don't look at the world and go man this is great. We are crushing this right now. Turn on the news. You don't come away with that feeling.
If the news is not, turns out puppies are more snuggly than ever. Like that's not the news. We look at stuff and it's, we realize the world isn't the way it's supposed to be and this redeemer is going to show up and take what's broken beyond repair and fix it to the point that where it's the way it ought to always have been. Fourth promise of this coming redeemer. And a highway shall be there and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way. Even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. No lion shall be there nor shall any ravenous beast come upon it. They shall not be found there but the redeemed shall walk there. and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads and they shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. This redeemer is going to bring salvation.
He's going to open up a way of holiness. He's going to open up a highway and the redeemed will get to return. The ransomed will come back. When the Bible talks about a highway, so in this time they didn't have machinery so they mostly just had kind of paths that were worn out as people walked on. My mother-in-law recently moved to the northeast side of Columbia. She was talking to me the other day and Two Notch Road runs right past my house over in West Columbia and she lives on Two Notch Road in downtown on the other side of northeast Columbia and she said to me, I saw Two Notches over here.
Would it be just quicker and easier if I just followed Two Notch all the way to your house? And I was like, no. That would be terrible. That's a horrible idea because Two Notch I think originally started as like a path that people took their feet over and horses. Like, it's like we're going to go around the big tree and then there used to be a creek here so it just cuts and runs like this for a while and then that rock's really recognizable so we'll turn right there. Like, that's Two Notches this like old path that eventually just turned into a road.
We have highways now. You don't take Two Notch. You got I-20. Just hop, just come on around. Like, it just comes straight. Two Notch is like this windy and so that's how paths worked and then they cut highways which were the king's highways that they could travel armies over and what they do is they lower hills, they dig them out, they raise up the ground and they make a path that you can't get lost on.
It's not walk till you see the recognizable rock so that you're walking and going, is that a rock? That seems recognizable if you've seen it before. You should have had them draw me a picture. It's not that. Like, if I had to explain to her how to take Two Notch all the way here, it's not follow Two Notch. It's like, you gotta turn here and you gotta, like, they have highways now.
A way of holiness is gonna be opened up. It's going to be clear and evident and then it says the redeemed will return and the ransom will return. Redeemed means that he takes what's broken and he fixes it. He renews it. He makes it right so that people will be renewed and made right and then the ransomed means that he buys them out of slavery. That a price was paid for them to be set free.
It's like in Hunger Games where they have the, they draw the little names out of the hat on who's gonna have to go into the dome and die is basically how that thing starts off and they draw out that little girl's name and Katniss Everdeen, if you don't know anything about Hunger Games, she's the one on the cover holding the bow and arrow. She says, I volunteer as tribute because it was her sister. A tribute had to go so she took her place. That's the idea of ransom here. That a payment had to be made but that those who were going to be enslaved, those who were going to be crushed, those who were going to have to pay have been set free.
This is the promise that's given. That there's going to come a redeemer, there's going to come a savior who's going to bring life, who's going to execute justice, who's going to bring healing, and who's going to bring salvation and that promise is made over and over and over and over and over again. So there's this, this, is it now? When's it coming? Put your finger in Isaiah 35 because we're coming right back. Flip over to Matthew chapter 1.
This is your first time. You may be surprised. Turns out, this promised Messiah is Jesus. If you're a part of our church family, you knew we were coming to Jesus. We're always going to make it to Jesus. Matthew chapter 1, verse 18.
It's on page 523, if you're in the Bible, it looks like this. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph. So they're basically engaged. Before they came together, that means they had not slept with one another yet, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. So the way they did betrothal was you were technically married, like you couldn't just break off an engagement.
You had to actually go through like a divorce process, but you're not married yet. So betrothal was more intense than it is for us. And so he decides, because she's pregnant and he knows where babies come from, he decides, I don't want to be marrying you because that baby's not mine. That was his decision making. But he also cares about her, so he doesn't want to put her to shame or have her harmed because there were some rules, some very strict rules against that in their time.
So he just decides to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. That's the prophet Isaiah. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. Back to Isaiah 35. Jesus is God with us. He is the fulfillment of all of these prophecies. He is the fulfillment of all these things that have been promised over and over and over and over again.
And Jesus fulfills all of this. Here's what Jesus does. He lives a perfect life and then goes to the cross for us. That's where he bought us back and made us right. That's where the ransom was paid. That's how we are redeemed.
And so these promises for the redeemed and for the ransomed are for us who have placed faith in Jesus and are offered to everyone because Jesus went to the cross on our behalf. So let's look at this quickly and see how these promises are open to us and given to us through Jesus. So Jesus brings life, which means that in us, he takes shame, but he took it to the cross. And so now our shame and our guilt and all the things that had weighed us down and brought death to us, all of our depression and pain, because of Jesus, because this Savior did come, becomes glory. So he takes a desert and he gives to it glory.
Becomes glory because what it does is all of your guilt, all of your shame, all of your sin, all of your depression points to the greatness of Jesus as your Savior. The greatness of the salvation that's been given to us. So Jesus brings life to us. He takes all the darkest places in you and shines light on them, but not to shame you, to set you free from them. And so he brings life. He turns your desert life into that beautiful purple flower.
So Jesus does in us. He beautifies. He takes what's broken and he makes it right. The second thing he does is he brings justice. Read that again. Start in verse three.
Strengthen the weak hands. Make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, Be strong. Fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.
Say that to those who have an anxious heart, who can't stop worrying, who have let fear take up residence in their soul. Fear not. To those who are burdened with every possibility of what could go wrong and are continually asking the question, Does God know? Does God see? Does he realize what has happened to me? Does he know what's been done to me?
And what Jesus says is, Fear not. Fear not. Vengeance belongs to me. And repayment belongs to me. That's the promise given to us in Christ through the cross. He brings justice.
Jesus brings healing to us. The eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shall sing for joy. Waters will break forth in the desert. All of us have something in our souls that we think this will be with me forever. This will Mark me forever.
This is unfixable. I saw a commercial recently of, well not recently, some years ago. Sorry. In my family, we say the other day, and that means any time past yesterday. Could be seven years ago. The other day I was in first grade.
Like that's how we do that. I think it was during the Super Bowl, and it was a commercial about some kind of medical something, and Christopher Reeves, who was Superman, way back in the day, back when Superman could go around the earth backwards and actually reverse time. That Superman? He was in an accident. He was paralyzed from the neck down, and in this commercial, he rides his wheelchair up on stage, and then he stands up and walks across the stage. And that stuck with me because I was like, is that real?
And it was not. They were just indicating kind of where they were headed. The progress that was going to be made. That has not happened yet. We haven't gotten to that point yet. But there was this moment where you see him stand up that it's like, can that really happen?
And currently the answer is no. Not outside of Jesus. But all of us have stuff that we think this is permanent. And with Jesus, no it's not. He can repair the unrepairable. He can fix broken relationships that are beyond repair.
He can heal what is so broken in you, so dark in you, so hidden in you. Jesus can bring life back to it. That's the promise given to us on the cross because Jesus died and came back to life and he can heal anything. That's open to us because Jesus became a man and went to the cross for us. I love the fourth thing that is true for us. A highway shall be open there and it should be called the way of holiness.
That's in caps in most of the Bibles. That's because that's Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He's the way of holiness that's opened up for us that will get us back to God. The unclean shall not pass over it because Jesus makes us clean. It shall belong to those who walk on the way.
Even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. That is beautiful. It's my favorite verse in this whole passage. Jesus is going to do everything. Morons can't mess it up. Do you know how good news that is?
Some of you, that needs to be your life first. Write that in soap on your mirror. Even fools cannot go astray. You can't get lost even if you're a moron. For a lot of us, our past is littered with bad decisions. Horrible, I feel this in my gut, horrible gut calls that led to disaster, broken relationships, pain.
There hasn't been a thing that we haven't messed up. Even fools won't get lost. That's how big and beautiful this highway is. Get on the highway. Then what?
Keep going. When do I turn? You don't have to. Should I write this down? No. Just get on the highway.
That's all you gotta do. Jesus has done everything that needed to be done for us to be saved. We don't have to earn it. We don't have to religion it. We don't have to be good enough. We don't have to be smart enough.
We don't have to accomplish it. We don't have to climb the mountain. We don't have to meditate enough. We don't. Trust in Jesus because Jesus has paid everything with his blood and even fools can't get lost. And then it says that no lion shall be there nor shall any ravenous beast come upon it.
They shall not be found there but the redeemed shall walk there and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Because of Jesus joy is given to us. You can have it on your cup year round. Because of Jesus.
Because he was born as a man and died in our place to ransom us to redeem us to open up a way back to God that we can't mess up. This is not a book of rules for you to follow. It is a book about a coming savior that is promised over and over and over and over again in the Old Testament and then in Matthew 1 where it turns into the New Testament we get told that promise is fulfilled. This was this happened so that Emmanuel that prophecy could be fulfilled and God could be with us and accomplish everything he said he was going to. Jesus is our redeemer and we can place our faith and our trust in him and he takes care of everything and he gives us joy and sorrow and sighing aren't allowed.
When he eventually returns and calls us all home everything is made right and he's already done everything that needed to happen for us to be made right with him. So the first implication of who this redeemer is in Jesus is that he does all this for us. The second thing is that he does all this through us as his church. We actually get to join him in bringing life. Join him in executing justice. Join him in bringing healing and join him in bringing salvation.
That he actually uses his church to join in on this mission. So we get to bring life. That means digging wells. It also means making things prettier like those flowers. It means that we can Christians can be graphic designers and architects and can do things to just help life flourish. It means that we volunteer at clinics because we get to join him in bringing life.
Executing justice it means we take up the cause of those who don't have a voice. We're at the margins of society. We defend the weak. Bringing healing it means that we work to fix relationships. We should be counselors and people who make peace among our friends and nurses and doctors and people who work to fix what's broken. Rescue workers.
We get that opportunity as Christians to join in with all that God's doing on earth and bring salvation which means that we proclaim the gospel to everyone which is there is a way that's been opened through the cross and life is given to us through Jesus. So for our Give Series that's what we're celebrating. That joy and peace have actually been given to us. That's who Jesus was. That's why he came. That's what he accomplished for us.
That sorrow and sighing flee away because we have hope in him forever and we get to join him in that. So that around Christmas we don't just celebrate the things that we can get. We don't just celebrate trying to get the best gift for people in this consumerism stuff. We actually get to remember that joy has come in the person of Jesus to give us salvation and hope and that he gave everything to rescue us and that we get to join him in that mission. And so I'm really excited. We try to take around this time of year we pick some different things to just try to leverage our energy for and the truth is we could do the same thing every year.
In most cases we could pick something and just say we're going to do that every year. But we want to intentionally try to do some different things. Just pick something each year and say this is where we're going to pour our energy, this is where we're going to pour our time, this is where we're going to put our money and hopefully maybe God works in you and it's something you want to keep doing but we're going to pick something every year and kind of get to pour some energy in it. And this year we're doing two things. God kind of worked it out and we kept praying about it and looking at it and we decided there's going to be two things that we're going to pour our energy and our effort into.
And we're not a huge church so that means we're going to have to be on it to pull off two things. But here are the two things we're doing this year that's very exciting. One is we're part of the grassroots network where we want to see more churches planted. And two weeks ago or three weeks ago Kent Bateman was here and they are planting a church in Knoxville, Tennessee. And so as a church we want to leverage some of our finances to help them get started. And so we are going to be pouring money into City Church which is going to be in Knoxville.
And what's beautiful about that and I was thinking about the other day it feels like cheating. And here's why. We get to do different projects to help serve people on the marginalized people or people that need help or do different work in our city all the time. And we try to do this through our groups and we rally towards it at Give. If we give to a church in a part of the country that we aren't going to live or be or build relationships we're giving into all of the things that they'll get to do. All of the Give series that they'll get to have.
All the times that they'll get to serve. All the people that they'll get to build relationships that we never get to build relationships. All the ways that they'll get to bring justice and healing and life and salvation to that area of the country where we'll never be. So we can actually leverage some of our money to help them do that and basically make a down payment on eternity for people that we'll never meet. And that's really cool. And we love church planting because we think that Jesus works through his church.
That's plan A and there is no plan B. and so it is exciting that we get to help them get started by taking some of our money, some of our finances, some of our energy and giving it to them. So that's the first thing that we're going to do. We're going to try to rally to put some money specifically towards City Church in Knoxville and we've got a couple of different specific things we're working on that we're actually going to say this is what we're going to try to pay for for y'all. This is what we're going to try to accomplish. And so we're talking with them and we'll have more details as the weeks come.
The second thing that we're going to do is we've gotten in contact with the South Carolina Baptist Convention and some of the people who have been affected by the flood locally. We had some people give us money specifically when the flood happened for us to be able to help victims and we are going to pour some of our energy and our effort into doing some work for at least one family that we've already been working out with and talking to to go clean their house, help pull off some work that they wouldn't be able to pull off on their own. So we're going to give money to City Church and we're going to give sweat and energy to help them do some work here. We're going to give money too but we've already raised money for that to give to help work on somebody's house who had surgery right after the flood and has not been able to do any of the work that needed to be done.
Doesn't even honestly know what work needs to be done. And so we're going to say alright we're your team. And we're going to have people around and we're going to come work and we're going to come do stuff. And what's beautiful is that we all get to do both. Some people just got really excited about giving money. Thank Jesus for you.
Some people just got really excited about putting in some work. Some people got excited about nothing. You need to start praying. Jesus will work in you. You got excited because you think I think he's wrapping it up. Um.
Um. But the truth is we want to all do both. We want to all begin asking how can I work and how can I give. And even if it's just a little bit we want to all do both as we leverage some of our energy some of our effort. Let me tell you something. I'm going to buy Christmas gifts.
I'm going to celebrate if if uh sugar cookie eggnog is back this year. I wrote them a letter last year just so y'all know I don't usually do that. I sent them an email because they didn't have it last year because they want to have regular eggnog and I was like what you're sitting on a gold mine which is sugar cookie eggnog and y'all are making regular eggnog. Get it together. It was nicer than that and they gave me a really lame response. But if sugar cookie eggnog is back I'm going to that's like half my budget over the next month is going to go to sugar cookie eggnog because I got to stock up.
But that's not going to last. When the Bible says that we're going to spend eternity with Jesus and that only certain things are going to make it there. Sugar cookie eggnog isn't. Oh it'll be in heaven but me buying it now won't make it there. But the money that Anna and I sit down and look at our budget and intentionally give to City Church and the days that we spend going over and working with this family that's going to make it.
And we always want to take some time around this time of year to say I want to be a part of something that is beyond the next month. That makes it past the calendar moments where I have to be nice to my family. I want to give in to something that's going to matter and it's going to last and the truth is as we get to rally for a church plant. Every penny of that. And as we get to spend our energy and our effort and give up some of our time and take a day off from work to go do some work for somebody who can't get this work done on their own. Every second of that.
And all of it gets to be a celebration that this Redeemer came. All of it as we do this over Christmas and maybe even into January with some of the work gets to be a celebration that he brought life to us. That he brought justice to us. That he helped us when we were weak and we couldn't help ourselves. That he brought healing into what was broken and we didn't know how to fix it. And that ultimately he brought salvation which means that we have an eternity to celebrate with him.
Band's going to come back up and here's what we're going to do. We're going to sing again the song Joy Has Dawned. We just sang it a minute ago. But we're going to sing it as we remember that everlasting joy crowns us. That the desert breaks forth in joy and singing because this Redeemer has come. That sorrow and sighing flee.
That justice is executed because we have hope and joy given to us through Jesus and we actually have something to sing about and we actually have something to celebrate at this time of year. And you can have joy on your coffee cup for the rest of the year if you want. Because we have something real given to us through Jesus. Y'all stay and let's sing. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Stand Firm
1 Peter 5:12-14
Transcript
Good morning. Everybody have a good Halloween. I dressed up as Anger from Inside Out, thank you, which, I mean, wasn't too much of a stretch. I mean, I had to wear dress pants, but otherwise, pretty straightforward. I hope everybody had a good time, and good to see everybody this morning. So, time changed last night, and who's the person that was like, sweet, an extra hour of sleep?
I know it's really 8 o'clock, or I know it's really 9 o'clock, but I'm still going to bed. Who's the person that was like, a bonus hour? I better stay awake. Like, it's only 9. I better, like, yeah, okay. So, we've got a mix here.
But anyway, we're in our last week of the First Peter series. So, we've been in this series for the past year and a half. No, it's only been about 20 weeks or so. We've been walking through it. Most of this year, we've been in First Peter. And we've just been going verse by verse through the book of First Peter because we believe that all Scripture is helpful.
And instead of jumping around all the time and looking at different things, we actually just want to kind of walk through a book, learn from the book, see everything in context, grow in our ability to study the Bible together. So, we're going to be in First Peter chapter 5. The last little bit is on page 658 if your Bible is one of these. And what we're going to do is just kind of read this and just talk about it a little bit and kind of see how Peter wraps the book up. And so, First Peter chapter 5, we'll start in verse 12. It says, By Silvanus, that's a really sweet name.
It does sound to me like he makes TVs. But, by Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you. So, he most likely either Silvanus actually penned it while Peter talked, dictated it, and Silvanus penned it, or at least Silvanus is the one who delivered this letter. So, he would have traveled around to all the different churches and actually all at once read it out loud to everybody. So, by Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, as so does Mark, my son. And so does Mark, my son. She who is at Babylon is most likely a reference to the church in Rome. So, they would have used Babylon as kind of like a weird cryptic code word for Rome. I don't quite know why. And she just being the church.
So, she who is at Babylon, so the church in Rome also, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark. And that's most likely Mark, author of the Gospel of Mark, my son. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. So, we're going to spend most of our time today looking at greet one another with the kiss of love. So, we're going to talk about what kind of kiss that is, kind of the best practices on how to go about it, length of time, hand placement, that kind of stuff.
And then we're going to institute. No, I'm kidding. We're not going to spend any time there. Although, cool, kiss of love, great. We're going to spend most of our time looking at where he says, I have written briefly to you exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
So, Peter's finishing up his letter and he says, I've written briefly to you exhorting and declaring. So, declaring means I taught, I said it. And exhorting means I encouraged. I pressed hard into it. But, this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
And so, what we're going to do is we're just going to kind of take a, we've read through the whole book together. We've studied through the whole book together. We're going to zoom out and just say, okay, what is he talking about? What is the true grace of God? How do we stand firm in it? What is his, what's his main point?
What is the true grace of God? What was the thing that he was pressing on the whole time? What was he trying to get us to understand the whole time? And then, how do we stand firm in it? What does that, what does that look like? What's that mean?
And how do we do that? Um, you don't, in life, you don't have to know a lot of stuff. I mean, if you go do trivia nights places, it helps. But, but most people who do really well know one thing and are very good at it. They're, they're really good at it. So like you have a friend who's good at a handful of things.
And so you have like, you call them and you're like, I need, I need help with some plumbing and they can, they can get you only so far. But in certain problems, like you need someone. No, I just want someone who, this is all they do. They plumb. That's it. They are a plumber.
That is it. That's all they do. I just want that person. Not the person who can kind of do half of this. Get in the middle of it, take it all apart and go, yeah, I don't know. I've never seen that before.
Like, like just knowing something and being very good at it. And that's just kind of how life works. So if you know one thing or captivated by it, gripped by it, and really just make that it for you, then that actually can take you much further than knowing a whole bunch of stuff. And I'll give you an example. And this is kind of a rule in business in general. But I want to show you all.
This is Google's homepage. That's it. You've got Google search, which you can also just press enter. And then you've got, I'm feeling lucky. But you're only doing one thing.
Google is a search engine. That's what you're doing. That's why we say things like Google it. It's become a verb because that is synonymous with using a search engine. So we used to have like Ask Jeeves, which was a butler that Googled things for you.
And this happens now. You remember, and some of you are old enough to remember, and I'm in this. You remember before Google and before smartphones when you used to have to sit and think to remember something? You're watching a movie on your VHS. Yes, you would pause it and go, what else has that guy been in? And everyone in the room would go, uh.
And you would sit and think. And you would have to try to remember. And if you were good enough at lying, you could convince everybody. No, he was in Hook. He was in Hook because he was the guy. He was one of the pirates.
And you could like, if you sold it hard enough, you get everybody to move on. And they could never find out. Like lying used to be way easier before Google. But you remember, you just have to sit and think. Now this happens.
And this is a real thing. You will go, ah, who's the head coach there? Or did they win that game? Or what has this person been in? And you'll sit for about seven seconds. And someone will go, this is stupid.
I'm going to Google it. And what they mean is sitting and thinking is stupid. That's the point. It's like, why would we sit and think when we have Google? But Google, that's it.
That's what they do. Don't change that. Do you remember Yahoo? Some people still use Yahoo. I don't know why. Yahoo started off as a search engine.
This is Yahoo's homepage. They're a search engine, I think. There's a lightsaber there. Kendall Jenner wears $1,000 sweatpants to the airport because this is her life. I needed to know that. Yahoo doesn't even know what they're doing.
Look to the left here. Mail, news, sports, finance, weather, autos, fantasy. Weird screen dating, shopping, making parents. Makers parenting, sorry. Not making parents, that's weird. Health style, beauty, politics, movies, travel, tech, TV.
Google? Google? Yahoo. Yahoo. Okay. Having one thing.
That's why we Google stuff. That's why you're never like, I'll Yahoo it. Do that in a conversation this week just for the heck of it. Someone's like, I don't know what he's, I'll Yahoo it. So when we read the book of Peter, the first letter that Peter writes and sends it out to the churches, we're going to see actually as we look at the whole thing that it's way more Google than Yahoo.
That he's got one thing. I have written to you declaring and exhorting that this is the true grace of God. What I have said to you can be boiled down to that one thing. This is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. So we're going to pray and then we're going to look at what he's talking about.
God, we thank you for how good you are. And we thank you for the time that we've gotten to share studying this book that you authored through Peter. We thank you for how it has helped us. And God, I pray that we would see as we kind of look back over this letter, that we would clearly see the true grace from you. That we would clearly see what the main point is. And then God, I pray that you'd give us the grace to stand firm in it.
In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, so what's he been talking about? Flip back to 1 Peter chapter 1. We're going to kind of run through. We're going to jump around a little bit because we've got to see kind of what he's been saying. He starts off by calling them elect exiles.
So it's Peter and the apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect exiles. And then he lists off a bunch of places. Okay, that's kind of one of the main themes he's going to carry throughout the book. Is that he's writing to people who, because they are Christians, because they have placed their faith in Jesus, they are elect, which means they are chosen, they are loved, they are wanted, they are made into a people, they are gods. And they're exiles. Which means that when you became a Christian, you did not disapparate into the air.
Is that not what they do in Harry Potter? Disappear? You didn't get sucked up. You weren't beamed up, disappeared, your clothes became just a pile on the ground. That's not what happened. You're still here.
You're chosen by God. You belong to him. The Bible tells us over and over again that our home is in heaven, but we're still here. And so what he's saying is that you're chosen by God. You belong to him. You're his people.
But you're where you are on purpose. God has exiled you on purpose. Where you are. And then he goes into verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope.
Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Who, by God's power, are being guarded through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. So he says, you're elect exiles, and here's why. You've placed your faith in Jesus, and he was resurrected from the dead. He died. He was buried.
And he rose again. And the tomb is forever empty. And he is forever at the right hand of the Father. And you have an imperishable, undefiled, unfading eternity. A hope held for you because Jesus rose from the grave. The first 12 verses in this is one sentence.
It's like a crazy, amazing, run-on sentence of here's how amazing Jesus is, and here's what he's done for you. And here's how you have hope forever secure in Jesus. Hope forever secure in the resurrection. It's yours, and he has an eternity and an inheritance that's kept for you. Verse 13. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, thinking clearly, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
So our hope as Christians is set fully on the grace that will be given to us, brought to us, because of the resurrection. So Peter starts off, his main point that he begins with is, your hope is in the resurrection and an inheritance that is forever yours, and set your hope fully there. Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus returns. For Christians, when Jesus returns, what is brought to us is not condemnation, is not judgment, is not guilt, is not disappointment. I used to think about that. I used to think, when I actually meet Jesus, is he going to be proud of me, or is he going to be disappointed in me?
When I stand before the throne of God, is he going to be proud or disappointed? I used to think about that all the time. Is he going to look at me and go, I'll let you in, because you trust me. And that's about all I've got to say. Because you didn't, you just... And I used to, I would be so worried that he would be disappointed, but what he says is, set your hope fully on the grace that will be given to you.
That everything, when we stand before God, is unearned. It's not based off of your behavior, if you've trusted in Jesus. It's based off of Jesus' behavior. So that God welcomes us the way he would welcome Jesus. Our hope is fully there. Because of the resurrection.
Because we have an inheritance, imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us, through the resurrection. And we just trust. We have faith. We're guarded by faith. And we set our hope fully on grace. Okay, so if someone has their hope fully set on the stock market.
If someone has their hope fully set on being a professional athlete, what happens? You pour a lot of energy there. That guides how you think about things. How you walk through life. When I was in college, I played college football. I was mostly on the team, but I kept thinking, like, at some point, I'm going to play.
You know, you wait. At some point. Coach is going to see me, and he's going to think, good Job, in his head, and he's going to say it out loud, and then I'll get to ride on the bus, and I won't get car sick, which I always did. I'd get off the bus and be like, Coach, I need something. This is bad. I used to think that.
And I remember one time before practice, because football for me was, I had set my hope there. So it guided for me where I went to school, what I did with my time, how I made friendships, when I went to sleep, what I ate, what I did with my free time, was mostly set on football. I remember before practice one day, we were all out there before the coaches got out there. We were just on the field kind of hanging out, and I picked up a football, and I looked up a few guys near me, and I said, just a second, think about how much of your life has been devoted to this little leather thing. Like, how many hours of your life, or days when you add the hours up, has been devoted to this little leather thing.
And one of the guys who was an All-American linebacker heard me, his name was Antoine, and he goes, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, shh, hey, hey, shut up. Chet, say that again. And like, now there's like, everybody's listening to me that was over there. And I was like, how much of your life has been devoted? How many hours, and how many, when you add those hours up, how many days? When you think about workouts, when you think about practices, has been devoted to this little brown leather thing.
And it was like, the most profound moment that I think I've ever been a part of on a football field. Because there's not a lot of heavy thinkers out there. And their guys were just like, I mean, really, you could just see their brain like trying to do math. I'm like, how many hours am I going to be out here today? How many days have I done this? Like, people are just like, man.
And for all of us, you might could hold up something. Maybe it's not a brown leather thing. Maybe it's a relationship. Maybe it's, just pull out a dollar bill. How much time has been spent setting our hope there? How much time has been spent setting your hope anywhere?
And so what Peter starts off with is, Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. And you have an inheritance, undefiled, unfading, imperishable, kept in heaven for you. Set your hope there. His first sentence, we had to break up into 12 verses because it was just this. I have too many words to tell you how amazing what Jesus has accomplished for us is. Set your hope there, fully, on the grace that will be provided for you.
Then he goes into chapter 2. We're going to look at verse 9, chapter 2. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. So what he says, our hope is fully in the resurrection.
Our hope is fully in Jesus. Jesus is above all things, and our hope is in the grace that will be provided. And now, we've been made into a new people so that we might proclaim his excellencies, the excellencies of him who brought us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. that we were trapped, that we were enslaved, and that Jesus came and became enslaved, became trapped, became nailed to a tree, took our guilt, our punishment, our shame, took our beating, took our death so that we could be set free. So he just said, in the chapter before, he said, follow in obedience because you've been purchased, you've been ransomed by the precious blood of Christ.
That we were bought back through Jesus' sacrifice. We were enslaved, we were in darkness, and he's called us into his marvelous light. There's a movie with Brendan Fraser that is called Blast from the Past. And in that movie, he and his family lived in a bomb shelter because a plane crashed on their house, and his dad already had a bomb shelter because he was really afraid of the Cold War. And so he made his whole family get into this bunker. And then at some point, Brendan's like a little kid, and then he grows up, and then he's like, well, we're running out of food or something, so you've got to go out into the world.
And so it's a fairly entertaining movie, which is, you can't say for many Brendan Fraser movies. And there's this one point, though, where he spent his whole life in this little box underground. And there's this one scene in the movie where he sees the Pacific Ocean, and he just stares at it, and then he just runs into it. He's like fully clothed. He just, it just like captivates him. And I just have this picture that that's just a small glimpse of what it means for us to be called out of darkness and into his marvelous light.
The amount of now freedom and hope and massiveness that we just can't even take in, can't even really understand what that means for us to have been enslaved to sin, headed for death, headed for destruction, headed for hell, and Jesus rescued us and brought us into his marvelous light. Okay. Peter says, everything, banking on, hoping in, the gospel, that Jesus died for you, that he rose again, that your hope is secure because of that. And then, he says, so, so obey, even when you don't understand? And so one of the things we talked about when we talked about that was that when we come to something in the Bible that we just, I don't, it doesn't, doesn't give me enough.
Like I don't, I want it to tell me more as to why I should do this thing that it says I should do. I want it to tell me more as to why I should care about this. And one of the things we talked about was that if Jesus really died for us, then he's ultimately trustworthy. So, taken. We talked about this. There's a guy in taken, his daughter gets taken, and he has a select set of skills and he goes and gets her back.
And then she gets taken a whole lot more, I think. So he's not, his select set of skills is getting back, not keeping. But, in the second movie, if he calls her at the beginning, I hadn't seen the second movie, I saw the first one. He calls her, if you hadn't seen it, this is what happens. If you have seen it, this is hypothetical. In the second movie, if he calls her up and says, she answers the phone and he says, you're going to be taken.
Because that's what he says. He doesn't say kidnapped, he says taken. You're going to be taken. I need you to get as much money as you possibly can. I need you to set the house on fire. I need you to head north 50 miles and meet me out of Texaco.
Now, if you're his daughter, what do you do? You don't ask questions. You get as much money as you can. You burn the house down and you drive to the Texaco. Because he's trustworthy. And for Christians, when the Bible doesn't give us enough, we get to walk back to Jesus, the Son of God, who deserves honor and glory and praise forever, went to a cross for me to rescue and redeem me, to make me his.
He is ultimately trustworthy, even if I'd rather he explained this more. So Peter goes, obey. Then Peter goes, submit to authority. Follow the leadership of your country. Submit to those over you. Listen to your bosses.
And you're like, well, my boss is an idiot. He doesn't. Listen to your boss. Whether Trump wins or loses, whether Clinton wins or loses, whether Bernie Sanders, who is also the co-creator of Seinfeld, wins or loses, doesn't matter. Because our hope is not in the political system. Our hope is not in the authorities over us.
Our hope is fully in Jesus. And then he goes, so he goes, submit to authority. Then he starts talking to servants. And so he's basically saying that whatever you do on a regular basis with your job, here's how to do it. And when things don't go well, continue trusting Jesus. Then he goes to husbands and wives.
And he says, wives, even if your husband is terrible, submit and follow because your hope is not in your husband, but in God. And he says, husbands, realize that you need grace too, that both of you have to be rescued by Jesus and lead well, serve well, love well. Then he goes into suffering. And he talks about suffering for a long time. That in the midst of pain and heartache, we can trust in Jesus. That when people don't like us and when we're ridiculed and when we're made fun of and people say, oh, I didn't know you were into superstition.
Oh, you really believe what was written in a book. Haven't we grown past that? Aren't, isn't that so backwards? You're going to be on the wrong side of history. It's one of my favorite ones that I get to hear. And over and over you hear this and you keep thinking, are we?
And Peter's saying, no, in the midst of that, continue to trust, continue to believe, continue to hope because of the resurrection. Then he talks about what we get, how do we relate to each other in the church. So really, Peter says, everything's about the resurrection. Our hope is in Jesus. And then he just talks about all kinds of stuff. And it's like, I feel like maybe you lost your point, Peter.
Like, you talked to wives and you talked to husbands, you talked about submitting to authority and then you were like, honor the emperor and love God and then you were like, if you suffer, and he just kind of goes all over the place. You brought up Satan, just out of the blue. What's his point? Why does Peter start off so heavy here and then just talk about all kinds of stuff? Normal everyday life stuff, being married, doing your job, living in a country, having governors and people over top of you. Like, why does he do that?
I've heard recently people talking about asteroids hitting earth. So I don't know if y'all know this. We're on a rock that's on an angle. It spins really fast. And then it's constantly hurling in outer space in like an oval shape around the big yellow one and that's the sun. And there are other rocks doing this too.
And as far as we can see, there are other big yellow ones and other rocks swirling around and the more we look at it, the more we're like, there's more stuff out there. They pointed a telescope into nothingness and it was just a little, like a little tiny black thing and then they let it just soak up light for a really long time and then they were like, there's a whole bunch of stuff there we didn't even know about. Like, you can get on the internet now, I encourage you to Yahoo it, and you can, you can see all of these beautiful pictures of all of this stuff that's going on. And so we're spinning on this oddly shaped rock in an oval and there's these other rocks just like whizzing around.
All the time. Now they're not as big as us, but like, I don't know, stuff blew up somewhere else and then like gravitational pools like throw it and it's just whizzing around and so there's this potential for us to be spinning on our little rock around the big yellow one and then this other little rock just come flying in and our gravitational pool will be like, come on in! And then this rock just smack into us. Now, NASA's paying attention to these things and so they're most of the time being like, we're good, we're good right now, like I think you can ask NASA, anything going to hit us? And they're like, nah, not anything big, nothing to worry about, but they're doing studies and trying to figure out what would happen if it did.
And so I read a study that they did in New Mexico and they, I think it was like a mile sized rock if it hit, if it smacked into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. And what they said was that all the coastal areas would just be destroyed. One of the quotes is this, it says, the coastal lands would be devastated, not by the actual impact, some 1,500 miles away, 1,500 miles away, but by a relentless succession of colossal waves traveling at the speed of a jet aircraft and towering much higher than the Empire State Building. That if a giant asteroid smacks into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, there would be a colossal succession of massive waves bigger than the Empire State Building traveling as fast as an airplane that would just start pounding everything.
I've also read that if that happened, there would be enough dust and enough debris and enough problems that the whole climate would change and everything would be different for everybody if this happens. Regardless of where one of these big ones hits, everything is different. And Peter is saying, you're the Earth and the Gospel is that asteroid and nothing is the same anymore. If you are a Christian and you have placed your faith in Jesus, your little thing you had going is not the same anymore. There is nothing that is untouched by this. And whereas this is destructive, the Gospel brings life and meaning to everything.
And so Peter goes into all of this random, normal stuff because the Gospel goes into all of this random, normal stuff. That colossal wave after colossal wave of the Gospel has begun to wash over your life. And so some of you are struggling with a particular issue, you are hurting in a particular area and you went to Jesus and you said, help me. You saw the Bible said, yes, he helps marriages. Yes, Jesus works in relationships. Yes, Jesus works in the midst of brokenness and the pain and loss.
Yes, Jesus died for us and he suffers alongside of us and he understands and so you trust in Jesus and then you begin to realize everything is different. So first it was just, I realized I can't go to work the same way and then it's, I actually can't even view work the same way. I can't even view what my goal in life is the same way. I can't view my money the same way. Or I realized that this relationship, I can't think about it now without having the gospel wash over it. But then it actually affects how I relate to everybody.
People I like, people I don't like. It affects my marriage. You see, the gospel permeates every aspect of our lives and that's why Peter says, here's the gospel. Now, work, submission to authority, relationships, marriage, because the gospel impacts everything. Nothing is left untouched by the fact that Jesus Christ died for us. Do you know what we're saying we believe as Christians?
That we were rebellious against a holy, righteous God. That we were trapped in our sin, destined for destruction. That hell and heaven are real. I can go, I preach, I read the Bible and stand up and say things. I can go weeks without thinking about heaven or hell. In any kind of real way.
But what we're saying we believe is that there is a real place of eternal joy in relationship with God and there's a real place of eternal torment. And that Jesus came because he loved us so much and he didn't want us to get away from him. Didn't want us to rebel. Didn't want us to be destroyed. That he took our rebellion on himself. That he took our pain.
That by his wounds we are healed, Peter says. That we were ransomed, bought back with the precious blood of Christ. And that our hope is forever secure through the resurrection. And that our hope needs to be set fully on the gospel and fully on the grace that will be provided for us. That that is the one thing that should be the overarching thing for every person who says they believe in Jesus. That your hope is fully set on the gospel.
And that impacts everything. That's the true grace of God and it comes into every ounce, every bit of your life. There's not a second of your day when you were at work that does not now matter. There's not a millisecond of time while you travel down the road a mile that you go. There's not a conversation that you have that is not now infused with absolute importance and meaning because the gospel is real. Peter doesn't say exit the normal.
He says you're exiled into it. He doesn't say have set apart special times. He says no. Working. Marriage. Friendship.
It all matters. It's all important now because the gospel touches everything. The gospel impacts everything. And then he says stand firm. Don't forget. Don't forget where your hope is.
When you lose your job don't forget where your hope is. When you're at work and people don't recognize how hard you work and how important you are and how much you pour in and when your boss doesn't acknowledge the fact that you're working harder than anybody around you don't forget where your hope is. When you're in your marriage and it does not seem like there's any possible way that this could work out and your husband is not following Jesus and he's not repenting of sin don't forget where your hope is. Stand firm in the grace. Put your hope fully in the grace that will be provided for you.
Stand in it. Remember. Keep going. Keep remembering that your hope and your eternity is set secure in the resurrection of Jesus and so everything matters and all of the things that we chase after aren't as big and as important as they used to be. In light of the gospel everything matters and then all the things that we would say matters most no longer do. that we get to be normal Christians in normal life set free from the gospel by the gospel to follow after Jesus and have that be the thing the main thing for us where our hope comes from where our joy comes from and then we're untouchable in the midst of suffering then we're untouchable when work isn't going well then we're untouchable when marriage is hard.
Do you know why he covers all the difficult things? Because we need to remember in those moments that nothing has been taken from us that our hope stays secure when we're anxious we have someone who's rescued us redeemed us bought us back when we're worried when we're tired when we're sick when we're suffering when everything looks like it's not going to work out we get to remember that we've already been taken from darkness into his marvelous light and we already have our hope secure. Stand firm. Don't forget. Don't lose focus. Don't get caught up chasing after something so much smaller and so much more insignificant.
Stand firm in the true grace of God which is that Jesus has already done everything for us. Matt's going to come back up and we're going to we're going to celebrate by taking communion together and communion is a tangible reminder of Jesus' work on our behalf. So Jesus before he died before he went to the cross the next day he says this is my body that's broken for you this is my blood that was spilled for you and so one of the things that we do as Christians is we if you are a believer if your hope is in Jesus if your hope is fully set on the grace that will come to you we get to remind ourselves that all we need is Jesus. That our hope is there forever and so there's bread and there's juice and you take the bread and you can dip it in the juice and you can partake in communion which is a reminder a tangible reminder we need the gospel we need Jesus my hope is here forever and so I would just ask as we do this if you are a Christian and you go to take communion that you would just remind yourself of how good Jesus is and how much we need him and that you would ask God to help you by his grace and by his spirit to stand firm to not be caught up in smaller things to not be knocked off our guard to not be pushed around by normal life but to realize that the gospel applies to everything that there is not one square inch of your life that is not impacted by the fact that your hope is fully in Jesus forever and stand firm and praise Jesus that he's already done everything that needed to happen to rescue you to redeem you to bring you back and take communion I'm gonna pray and then we'll take communion together and then we'll sing God we thank you for your grace we thank you for your love we thank you for the hope that is ours fully and forever through Jesus and God I pray that the gospel would continue to wash over us would continue to permeate every single moment that there wouldn't be a moment in between heartbeats that was not affected by the gospel was not claimed by you and that God in all the normal things of life shopping exercising celebrating Halloween that God the gospel would be active that your Holy Spirit would be at work and that we would follow after you help us God as a church to stand firm in what's most important to not lose focus to not be knocked off our guard to not forget we praise you and we thank you that our hope is fully and forever in Jesus not in our abilities our goodness are mortals in Jesus name Amen
The Devil and the King
Transcript
Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We're going to be in 1 Peter. We'll be on page 658, if your Bible looks like this. If you have one of the blue and white Bibles from the Rose, we're on page 658.
We'll be in 1 Peter chapter 5. We've been walking verse by verse through the book of 1 Peter, and we're coming up on the tail end of it. Halloween is coming up this Saturday, and I find that when it comes to Halloween, you've got people kind of in different groups. We're going to take some—we're going to kind of figure out who's in the room this morning. So when it comes to Halloween, there is the group of people that are like, oh, yeah, Halloween was last week.
Like, you were at a place where, oh, look, there's bats on the wall. I guess Halloween's coming. Like, you just don't care. It doesn't even show up on your radar. You could care less about—couldn't care less about Halloween. That's the one that makes sense, that Americans say could care less.
Anyway, raise your hand. You just couldn't care less about Halloween. It doesn't show up on your radar. You don't care. Okay. Cool.
Yeah, we got a handful of people that are in that zone. Who falls in the—there's the other group of people that, like, care maybe too much about Halloween. Like, they're a little too excited. Like, to them in their brain, it's one of the major holidays. Like, it is the—it's a big deal. And so they're going to decorate their house a little prematurely.
They're going to—you're going to have some—when you throw a party, it's like a legit party. Like, people come over, and there's, like, cups with things bubbling out of the top, and they don't even know how you did that. And, like, you just—who's that? Who's that person? Cares a lot about Halloween, is excited about Halloween. Okay.
So I got two more questions that kind of fall along the same lines. If you're invited to a costume party, there's groups of people here. There are the people who get excited and show up, like, make the party good because they're there, because they know how to dress up. They know how to make it amazing. Who's that? Who shows up to a costume party just ready to roll?
Yes. Okay. Cool. I appreciate y'all. I like the people who go to costume parties dressed up. Who says no to a costume party because you don't want to dress up?
Yeah. Okay. I thought there were people there, too. Yeah. Who says yes, thinks they'll dress up, and decides not to, and just shows up anyway? Yeah.
Okay. That's the one I do. I'm like, yeah, I'm going to dress up this year. And then by the time I get there, I'm like, I'm my evil twin. Like, I'm the bad version of me. It's like, but you look the same.
Right. That's what I want to—I'm tricking you. Like, I'm my doppelganger. Like, that's how I go to Halloween parties. All right.
Last one. Horror movies. To be careful how I pronounce this horror. Raz, a friend of mine from Australia, he came over here. I think it was he was dating his now wife, and she asked him, you like horror movies? He's like, what?
He's from Australia, and he pronounces things. Like, actually pronounces things as opposed to Southern Americans who just kind of slur everything together. She's like, you know, horror movies. And he's like, no. Why would I like a horror movie? Why are you even asking me this question?
So horror movies. Who likes horror movies? Scary movies? Who likes them? Gets really excited. Yeah, I find people fall in different camps on these.
Like, they're like, you should see that movie. It's terrifying. I didn't sleep for three days. Why on earth would I want to watch that? I swear, when you get home, there's going to be a small child in your bed. Why would what?
No. You won't be able to walk alone for a week. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Who is the, I have no desire whatsoever to see a scary movie. Not going to watch it. Yeah, that's me.
Like, I do not want to see a scary movie. Unless it's Troll 2, I don't want to see it. Don't care about scary movies. Just don't. Well, we're coming up on Halloween, and we've come to this section in 1 Peter where Peter is going to talk about the devil. And in some ways, it's fitting because this is the time in our culture where everybody just, it collectively, we kind of think about these things.
Creepy things, demonic things, spooky things, ghosts, all that kind of stuff. And so what we're going to do is Peter's come to this section. He's talking about the devil. He's going to encourage Christians on how to respond to the devil. And so what we're going to do this morning, because I think we've been a church plant for going on three years now, two and a half years something, we've never taken a whole lot of time to talk about Satan. Never taken a whole lot of time to talk about the devil, talk about demonic things.
And so what we're going to do is just, in order to even understand what Peter is teaching us today, we have to understand who he's talking about. We have to understand who Satan is, how all that works, what demons are. And so we're just going to read what Peter says, and then we're going to zoom out and get a big overview on who Satan is, what he does, how he works, what the Bible says, big picture. And then we're going to come back to 1 Peter and say, okay, given that that's what, that's who he's talking about, that's what the Bible says about Satan, this is how we get to respond. And so this is going to be a little bit different than most of the time where we just read a passage and talk through it.
And if this is your first time hanging out with us, this is the first time we've ever spent any significant time talking about Satan and the devil and the demonic. So welcome. It's everybody's first time for this kind of a conversation too. So I'm going to pray and then we're going to, we're going to spend, we're going to read 1 Peter and then we're going to kind of zoom out and just spend some time talking about this. So God, we thank you that your word tells us what we need to know.
God, it doesn't always give us all the answers that we want to know, but it tells us what we need to know and we can be confident in you and in your word that you've provided so that we might study your word and know and be equipped with the information that we need so that we might be able to understand the world that we live in. And so God, we just pray that as we study this this morning, that we would learn what scripture says about the enemy and appropriately learn and that you would still get all the glory and it would still be about you. In Jesus name, Amen. Okay, so we're going to read 1 Peter 5, 6 through, no, 8 through 11 and then we're going to just kind of talk a little bit and see kind of big picture who Satan is and what the storyline is here.
So, be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Okay, so that's the section in 1 Peter, but he just says, your adversary, the devil, and so if we're not familiar with what he's talking about, it's like, well, what? Like, you just, you just going to bring him up at the end of the letter? Like, you just, I'm just supposed to know who you're talking about? So we're just going to take a second, zoom out, look at this big picture. I do want to read this. This is a, C.S.
Lewis was a theologian and an author in the 1900s in Britain. And this is, this is a quote he says about the demonic, and I think it's helpful. There are two equal and opposite errors in which our race can fall about the devils. There he just means demonic spiritual realm. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive, unhealthy interest in them.
They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight. So what he says is there's kind of two ditches on the road of understanding the spiritual realm and understanding the demonic. One is just, they don't exist. It's not a real thing. The other is to be way too concerned, way overly interested, way overly afraid of. The demonic.
And so, I find that in our culture, we have some people who are overly spiritual. You see some of this. You've met the person that everything is like some sort of a spiritual thing. Like Christians sometimes will over-spiritualize things or everything's an attack. So you'll be talking to somebody and be like, yeah, my car broke down, just locked up on me.
And I got out and I said, Satan, get out of my car. Or, because I knew Satan was after me. And it's like, when was the last time he changed the oil? Like, maybe you should just take it to, like if a mechanic can fix it, it might not have been Satan. I'm just saying, maybe, maybe he didn't want you to go to the grocery store. What were you doing?
Like, what? Like, I mean, you've met some of those people that are like, the devil's after me. Like, every time something's happening, oh, the devil's trying to get us, we gotta pray. Like, okay, there's spiritual things, but that's a bit too much. I remember my dad telling me there was a lady that lived kind of out in the country and on some farmland and she worked at their house helping watch them during the day because both of his parents worked. She told him one day, she said, last night, the devil was looking in my window.
And he and his brother said, the devil? The devil was looking in your window? She said, Satan himself. And they went, what did he look like? She said, a cow. They were like, you don't think maybe it was just a cow?
She's like, no, it's the devil. So, there's some people like that, that just everything is some sort of, most of us in this room probably are more on this side. Everything has an explanation. We can arrive at everything through scientific method, through reason, everything can be explained. And even for Christians, you take one step in and you say, yes, in theory, I believe, because I believe the Bible, that there is Satan and demons, but you just, on a real practical level, have no room for that whatsoever. So, you believe it, but actually don't feel like that ever really shows up in any kind of way.
Maybe in other countries or something, but not here, not really a thing here. And so, what we're going to do is just kind of walk through immediately, I think, some of our pushback, and the biggest ones I hear are science and reason why we don't need Satan anymore. Or why we don't believe in Satan anymore, or why we don't believe in this kind of stuff anymore, science and reason. Science is just basically, we have science now, so we don't have the God of the gaps theory. People used to believe, like, whatever they couldn't explain, they just needed God, that we just say, well, we don't understand that, so God must do it.
But now we have science, we've figured it out, we know that it's natural, there's processes, we can test things, we can study things, we know stuff. The problem is, the Bible doesn't have this separation between the spiritual and the natural, so when the Bible says that God sent a storm, or God sent a flood, or God, he does it through natural means, the normal storm system, the normal, he just, he works in it. People say that, like, the reason, when the Bible says that God is the one who gives children, God blesses mothers with children, that they said that because they didn't know where babies came from. But now we know, in the Christmas story, where Joseph is going to divorce Mary because she's pregnant, the reason he was going to divorce her is because he knew exactly where babies came from.
And he knew that one wasn't his. And so he's like, this relationship isn't working, like, we can't do this anymore. And so we, honestly, the Bible doesn't have this gap there. The Bible is very much, God works through natural means, but it's spiritual as well. The Bible's even going to attribute some spiritual, some natural things that happen to demonic things. And if we're willing to believe that there is a God, a good supernatural being, a good personal, real being that is good, it's not too much of a stretch to believe that there is a real personal being that is evil.
So if you believe in a good God, it makes sense that there could also be a spiritual being that is evil. The other one is reason. And when I say reason, what I mean is, not the science side, not the nature side. So what we would say is, well, people couldn't explain nature so they needed science. And then people say, well, people couldn't explain behavior, they couldn't explain evil, but now we have reason. We have, we understand dysfunction, we understand pathology, we understand family history, we understand nature versus nurture.
We can, now, we understand that ignorance is what causes all these things. So what they, would they just say, this person's evil, we don't need that term anymore, like we understand that everything has a cause. And there's a quote from a guy named Andrew Delbanco. He was a, he's a professor and a scholar at Columbia University. And he wrote a book called The Death of Satan. And in this book, he says he's a secular liberal.
He's not, not a Christian, not coming from a Christian book. But here's, in his book, The Death of Satan, here's how he starts it off. A gulf has opened in our culture between the visibility of evil and the intellectual resources to cope with it. A gulf has opened in our culture between the visibility of evil and the intellectual resources to cope with it. What he's saying is this, when we got rid of Satan, we lost the ability to explain a lot of the things we now see. So when we just talk about pathology, when we just talk about dysfunction, when we just talk about ignorance, and then we had Holocaust, the final solution, death camps, that came out of one of the most intellectual, civilized, cultural giants in the world.
We have genocide. We have just heinous evil across the board. And if we no longer can use the term evil and we no longer understand that the world has an evil presence active in it, we have a really hard time explaining serial killers. We have a really hard time being able to step in. And that's the point of his book is, when we got rid of Satan, we began to lose our ability to cope with how much evil there is in the world. That we have a hard time explaining death camps without being able to say, no, that's actually evil.
That's actually broken and there's actually something working behind it, active in it, for evil. And so honestly, the Bible's not against science and it's not against nature, not against reason, but it is going to say that the natural and the supernatural are much more blended than we know and that there actually is an evil being at work. And so one of the big storylines in the Bible is war. So there's certain storylines that just kind of go through the whole Bible and one of them is that there's a cosmic war. And so we're going to read a passage from Revelation 12 as we begin to start looking.
We're going to have it up on the screen. We're going to read a passage from Revelation 12 as we begin to start looking at who Satan is, where he comes from. And so this is, Revelation gets misquoted a lot and people take it out of context and they draw big charts, but this is just explaining with some imagery what happened a long time ago. So it says this, Now war arose in heaven. Michael, and that's an angel that is named a few times in Scripture, just apparently a powerful angel created by God. Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon.
And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him. And later on it says that there was about one third of the angels rebelled with him. And so we've got this picture of God created spiritual beings. So he created physical beings like us and he created spiritual beings that are angels and some of those angels rebelled against him led by Satan.
This is part of the storyline of the Bible that there was a powerful angel and a few places in the Old Testament are going to be where God's going to be prophesying to specific nations. It's going to seem like he's also talking about some of what happened in this epic battle, but there was a powerful angel that basically believed that he needed more power, more glory, became prideful and fought against God. Now he doesn't actually fight God, he fights more angels and they win. And then he comes to earth. So the idea of Satan hanging out in hell, like that's his base camp, it's not a real thing.
So I know you watch South Park and he's there with Saddam Hussein and that was hilarious or whatever. That's not a real thing. He's actually on earth because he's no longer allowed in the normal realm that he was in and he's kind of trapped in this area where he's been kicked out of and Jude 6 and 2 Peter are also going to say that the angels that went with him that did not stay in their proper place. So Satan led angels to rebel in heaven. That's one of the pieces of the story that we get from scripture. And all demons are just angels, spiritual beings created by God that did not remain where they were supposed to, did not do what they were supposed to, but rebelled against God.
And Satan is just a demon, an angel created by God that rebelled with them and the Bible kind of uses him as a figurehead or it would just say the devil referring to all of the demonic in general or talk about Satan referring to all of them in general, not necessarily just him. Sometimes it is specifically that one angel. But here's the thing. This is just kind of weird for us. Like we don't, we don't talk about this other places. Like the only two places I know that we, we even address this or think about this in our culture is pop culture.
So you have stuff like South Park is going to bring it up. We've got far side cartoons that are going to have jokes about it. You've got the movie Little Nicky where Adam Sandler is Satan's kid but he's the nice one. Like we just got that kind of weird. Then you got all your scary movies that go along with that stuff.
And then nobody else talks about it until you get to the church. And then the church talks about it because the Bible talks about it. You were never in a math class where your teacher was like, or a class in elementary school where your teacher was like, put away your multiplication tables and for the next 30 minutes before we go to lunch we're going to talk about demons. She wouldn't be a teacher very long. She's not allowed to do that. Some of you maybe were homeschooled and you never saw those multiplication tables but you talked about demons a lot.
Welcome. Sorry. That came out meaner than it was supposed to be. But no. Most of us in school we don't cover these things. We cover it in the church but here's the thing.
We got to take what the Bible says about these things and begin to form our picture. Not what pop culture tells us but what scripture tells us and begin to form our picture. And as you study scripture a few things start to come out. A few things start to become clear. First of all God created everything and he created Satan. God and Satan aren't yin and yang.
They're not equals. God is above Satan. Even in what we just read when Satan rebelled he did not fight God. He fought other angels and lost. Now there were more angels on the other team but he lost.
There is a time in the Bible where Satan fights God and that goes like this. It's later in the book of Revelation. So this happened a long time in the past and then there's another time where God fights Satan. It says Satan was released and he leads an army and here's what it says. Fire came down killed his army and Satan was thrown into hell. That's how that fight goes.
When God steps into the ring the fight is over. But at this point he rebels and the angels kick them out and they are sent to earth. Now the story moves. So this war that begins in heaven moves to a new battlefield which is the earth. And that's where we pick up in the book of Genesis. That's where we begin to see the ancient serpent shows up in the garden to lead humanity astray.
And he shows up and he tricks Adam and Eve into rebelling against God like he had. And then God shows up and immediately proclaims the first gospel which is he shows up and tells them there's going to be a male born of a woman. Now that's interesting because throughout the Old Testament genealogies are this man begat this man begat this man or this man was the father of this man was the father of this man was the father of this man. Every once in a while a woman's mentioned but she's always mentioned in relationship to a husband. But what God steps in and says is there's going to be a woman and she's going to have a son.
And he's referring to the only woman who ever had a son outside of a man being present which was Mary who as a virgin had a son named Jesus. And what he says is there's going to be a man who's going to come and you're going to bruise his heel but he's going to crush your head. And he proclaims the gospel over this rebellion that Jesus is going to show up and fix the problem. So Jesus shows up. He's born. As soon as he begins his ministry Satan shows up to tempt him because all he knows from what we can tell from scripture is just Satan knows who Jesus is and that he's got to mess him up.
He's got to keep this from working out. He knows that God is active. He knows that there's been some prophecies. He knows that this is coming and he's just got to mess it up. So he shows up and tries to tempt Jesus into rebelling against God because if he can get Jesus to rebel the plan's messed up.
And Jesus doesn't. Jesus withstands temptation and keeps going. So then Satan works actively through Judas Iscariot to kill Jesus because he's thinking okay Jesus will go to a cross not a throne. Jesus will get only crown he'll ever wear is a crown of thorns. Jesus will be destroyed. Jesus will die and he won't be able to fulfill his plan.
And so he works actively to kill Jesus and in the epic plot twist of all time in the most cosmic twist that God had worked up what Jesus did was he hid victory and defeat. He hid freedom in slavery. He hid life in death and on the cross undid everything Satan was working for. He Colossians 3 tells us that he disarmed Satan by going to the cross because what Satan's power was in sin and death and Jesus took our sin and our death so that it no longer has a hold over us. And so in the cross Satan was defeated because he didn't understand what God was actively after. He didn't understand how great power can be shown through humility.
He didn't understand how God had designed it for Jesus to come and not be exalted on earth but be exalted in eternity and to be exalted fully to show his glory fully through a cross not a throne. And so Satan is defeated but he's not gone. And so then we see how Satan now actively works to disrupt and cause problems until he is fully destroyed. So he's defeated in the cross but not fully gotten rid of until some future date. And as Christians when we became Christians we were invited into this battle. We were invited into this war.
Over and over again scriptures will say that our battle isn't against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spirits in heavenly places and that we're brought from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son that this is a cosmic battle that we've been invited into to see more people meet Jesus. So a few things we need to realize and understand when it comes to who Satan is. One is he's finite created being not more powerful than God not equal with God. He can't be in all places at once. He does not know everything. just the sheer fact that he can't be in all places at once.
Look I think you're wonderful. Did you know that? I think you're very special. I agree with your mom. I think you're special and like a snowflake. But Satan is probably not messing with you.
The actual being Satan himself is probably not messing with you. Now the Bible uses Satan as a covering or the devil as a figure head for all demonic evil activity. So we are attacked by biblically demonic activity but Satan is finite. He's only in one place at one time. He's somewhere on earth but he's only in one place at one time. But there are demonic spirits that work with him to lead to lie to destroy.
So let's start looking at what does he do? If he's already lost in the cross what's his goal? How's he work? What's happening at this point? And so a few things I want us to just kind of see as we walk through. So what we read at first in 1 Peter and we're not going to unpack this yet but we're just going to see one of the things that Peter's queuing us in on.
Lost in the cross what's his goal? How's he work? What's happening at this point? And so a few things I want us to just kind of see as we walk through. So what we read at first in 1 Peter and we're not going to unpack this yet but we're just going to see one of the things that Peter's queuing us in on. Be sober minded be watchful your adversary
The devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Okay so he's active and he's trying to seek someone to devour. What does that even mean? And so let's take just a second and just look at a few places in scripture where we begin to see how Satan actively tries to work to destroy to disrupt to deceive.
The first is through sin and disbelief in the gospel. So a few different places in scripture and I included a few references in our community groups this week we'll actually read a good bit just so that all of our information comes from not Little Nicky not South Park but comes from our scripture we begin to inform ourselves through scripture
But we'll spend more time studying these things but I included some reference for people who want to follow up but sin and disbelief in the gospel basically one of the ways that Satan is active is in just leading us to sin because sin is destructive sin leads to death and sin keeps us
From God sin is so he gives us what we want a lot he baits us entices us says no what you need to be happy is this no no your marriage isn't good but this person would make you happy oh if you just made this much money if you just did this like he just leads us
To sin leads us to chase after other things to believe that other things will fill us up bring us joy the other thing that Jesus says specifically is that he tries to get us to not believe the gospel so when the gospel is proclaimed
That Jesus sets us free that Jesus gives us life that Jesus paid for our sin that Jesus makes us whole Satan tries to disrupt that and take that away another one and I don't think we realize this or think about this much
One of the other ways that Satan works actively to lead us astray and to disrupt is through religion and self righteousness okay now when I say religion some people are always like wait I thought Christianity was a religion what we mean
When we talk about religion quite often the Bible does use it sometimes in a good light a lot of times it's using it in a negative connotation we're using it in a negative way to mean the belief that my behavior saves me my behavior is what
Makes me good my morality my actions because all of that is my righteousness my goodness comes from me and the Bible is clear our righteousness comes from Jesus so Satan is active in as long as you trust you that's fine with him so most
Of us think that Satan's only working in harmful things but actually he can work through generosity he can work through really good behavior he can work through morals as long as there's no Jesus that's fine so I'm going to read 2 Corinthians 11 13-15 it's one of the references
But for such men are false prophets deceitful workmen disguising themselves as apostles of Christ Jesus and no wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light so it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness
There are people who will even say the name Jesus and be pointing you away from him pointing you towards your behavior towards your actions towards your goodness as long as you're trusting you Satan doesn't care there are multiple times where Jesus
Is interacting with the religious elite and he calls them broods of vipers which means you're the child of the serpent he's saying you're sons of hell sons of Satan he says you go over land and sea to get one convert and then make him twice as
Unhell as you are what he's saying is your religion your good work your effort your memorization your hard work like they used to like connect the bible to their wrist and their forehead like you thought your grandmother was religious because her
Bible weighed 47 pounds these people had the bible strapped to them until your grandmother gets a backpack bible she ain't nothing he doesn't care we can be as religious as you want to as long as you're not trusting Jesus actively at work in that another one
Is so he's actively at work in leading people away from Jesus which makes sense actively at work in making people confused about the gospel which makes sense but then he if you become a christian genuinely trust Jesus with your life with your sin then the next thing
He works after is disunity in the church and ineffective christians he just wants you okay if you're a christian well I lost that one but I gotta keep you from helping other people become christians some of the ways he does this is through just letting us be really comfortable I
Think keeping us distracted some of the ways specifically that are mentioned are Ephesians 4 26-27 says be angry and do not sin do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil second corinthians 10 talks about forgiveness and he says if you forgive him I forgive
Him we're to forgive one another and we're not to be ignorant to satan's schemes one of the ways that he works is he he gets you mad at you and doesn't want you to talk to each other that as long as we're frustrated as long as we're infighting as long as we're not sharing the gospel
That's fine whatever we can do to keep us aggravated to keep us frustrated to keep our feelings hurt and to keep us from talking to each other and having unity and being on mission is fine okay satan's a created being who rebelled against God who was
Defeated in the cross and now actively works to keep people from Jesus actively works to keep us in sin actively works to keep us ineffective in sharing the gospel now let's go to first peter and see what he says about him how we're to respond verse 8
Be sober minded that means think clearly think correctly one of the ways that we do that is we have incorrect information that's what we're trying to do just a second ago is get at least some correct information so that we know what we're thinking about how to respond so
Be sober minded then he says be watchful so be on alert just have your radar up for anything that looks like it might be enemy activity so if someone comes and is proclaiming Jesus to you but the whole point is here's how you be good here's
How you behave here's how you be religious here's all the things you have to do have your radar up they're not preaching Jesus they're giving you morality they're giving you religion they're giving you behaviorism they're giving you performance ism but it's not Jesus and
So be aware another one is this say you're hanging out on a Sunday and you think huh that's the second week that person didn't say hey to me I think I just saw a look did I see a look I saw a look I bet they're mad at me why would
They be mad at me I guess because they're a jerk I'm special when mom told me that it can't be my fault and then you'll come up with some reason oh I bet it was this I bet this is what they're thinking I bet they're mad about this you know what I'll do I'll be
Mad at them boom accomplished as opposed to being watchful and going hold on a second one of the things that I know that Satan actively tries to do is get me frustrated I'll go talk to him hey are you mad at me no I'm not mad at you why didn't
You say hey I don't know why didn't you say hey oh good point that person didn't say hey to me did you say hey to them no jerk like that's how that works like have a conversation be watchful know what's going on
Know that these things can happen and have your radar up that's what he says be sober minded be watchful your adversary so he's against you the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking
Someone to devour so we talked about how he works to devour I want you to show you two of the things he does first of all he prowls he's intentionally sneaky people have said well if Satan was
Real why he'd just show himself because that's a terrible plan terrible plan do you know how many anti-gun people would be at the Walmart buying rifles if we confirmed that the zombie apocalypse
Had started I'm so glad I'm in America come on you foot dragon slobber monster like if we found out that werewolves were real you know how quickly we'd be producing silver bullets they're real full moon silver bullet time so as soon
As like if Satan just showed up was like I am Satan you know people would be here next week pretty sure Jesus wins that one didn't realize that was true so he prowls he's sneaky he doesn't want you to know where he's at work he doesn't
Want you to know where he's active he's hiding it which all right let's play a game you're on a safari but you're just walking around it's really tall grass you see a lion over here you do not see a lion over here which one do you run from
The one you saw y'all aren't good at this game you run from the one you see y'all were like I don't know I think you're supposed to play dead I don't think that works with lions they're like sweet I don't have to
Run you run from the lion you see that's how that works this one surprises you you run this way and go dang it hey buddy that's how that works so yeah he's sneaky because then you're not aware you're not paying attention
Your radar is not up you don't know he can be at work he'd love for you to not believe in him that's fine with him he'd love for you to believe there's only natural causes for everything everything can be
Explained he doesn't need you to believe in him one of my dad used to teach us how to fight and one of his pieces of advice was if you're fighting while the other guy is still talking you have a distinct advantage
He said if his mouth is still open when you punch it that's a good start and honestly the enemy's like that if he's already started the fight before you know it started he has a distinct advantage so one of the ways that he does this is he's sneaky and he prowls
Around the second thing though is that he's a roaring lion which I want us to see this clearly Colossians 3 tells us that Jesus has disarmed the enemy that those of us who placed our faith in Jesus he has no power over us anymore because his power was in
Sin and death and Jesus has taken our sin and taken our death and Satan has no claim over us no power over us no condemnation over us any longer so once you do believe in his existence one of the ways he works is through roaring
Hearing a lion roar is terrifying but the roar is actually not the scary part of the lion it's the power that the lion has so when I'm at the zoo and a lion stands up and roar I'm like that was scary but I
Don't run because it's that giant ditch thing like if the lion comes at me I should be like bro you didn't think that through there's a lion in the ditch face looks hurt so when with Jesus having already conquered the enemy one of the
Things he's going for at this point for Christians who believe in his existence is for you to be very scared of him so some Christians don't want to talk about Satan or demons they don't want to bring it up they feel like it
Jinxes them they feel like oh we shouldn't be talking and they're unnecessarily afraid we should be watchful we should be aware we should be sober minded we should think about it clearly we are not to be proud or arrogant the power and authority
Is not in us we are not amazing Jesus is but we're also not to be terrified one of the word glory has several different ways that can be described in several different meanings meanings one of them is weight is weightiness which just means that you
Give things glory by giving them weight or sway in your life so I recently shaved my face I usually have a beard I recently shaved my face and people feel the need to tell me they didn't like it or that I looked like I was 12 it's like oh hi you look like a child thanks good talking to you it's nice to see you too but I do that because my wife and I met in high school and she needs to see my face every once in a while she has more weight
In my life than every person who saw me and told me I look like a child I care more about what she thinks I'm sorry I do also like the beard so I keep it and this time I shaved and she went I see why people like the beard I was like yes we're making progress soon she'll just be like just keep the beard I've seen your face enough but she has weight and so one of the ways that we give glory
To something or somebody is by letting them have some weight some sway some leadership in our lives some ability to affect how we act how we behave and when we are terrified of demonic things terrified of Satan it keeps us up at night we can't talk about him it's like he who must not be named when we do that we're giving glory to a being that deserves none now sober minded watchful
Not prideful not arrogant but also not giving them weight not giving him sway over your life how you act how your emotions work so he prowls and he roars and he's seeking someone to devour so we have an enemy who wants to destroy us let's figure out how we respond that's a good question what do you do with a prowling roaring lion who wants to devour you resist him
What helpful advice Peter should do a self-defense class alright ladies if you're in a parking lot and a man attacks you here's your plan try to get him to stop just resist it's like what that's not helpful I need like show me how to hold my keys with my knuckles give me a whistle something like I need a plan now just just just resist that'll be 50 bucks class is over
Like so resist him how firm in your faith okay cool resist him trusting in Jesus what's our faith our faith is that Jesus has disarmed the enemy through the cross our faith is that sin once had a lot of power over us guilt once had a lot of sway in our lives death was looming over us but now we have been
Rescued by a savior who took our sin who took our death and who set us free and when we are faced with enemy attack we just get to step back and say no I trust Jesus I don't have to be amazing I don't have to be good I don't have to be moral I don't have to accomplish this I don't have to be strong I don't have to be smart I don't have to
Be the best I trust Jesus and we just get to stand firm in our faith which is that Jesus is the ruling reigning king of all and that Satan has already been defeated resist him firm in your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering now let me say this if you are not a Christian place your
Faith in Jesus you have a real enemy out to destroy you out to trick you into trying to be really good to prove something to God and to make him owe you out into tricking you into chasing after a million other things to find
Yourself to prove yourself to have value to be loved to find worth and you have a God who stepped in and rescued and redeemed you trust in Jesus trust the God who gave up his life
For you not the being that's after yours not the one seeking to steal your life but the God the creator of the universe who gave up his life for you he says knowing that the
Same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world what he's saying is realize you're not suffering you're not in this battle by yourself you ever exercise with a partner or go through something
Terrible with another person and you think to yourself I am I'm sorry that you're going through this terrible thing but man I'm glad you're here I remember in football camp watching someone else get cussed out and just being like I'm glad
That guy's here I'm glad I'm not the only one getting cussed at I'm glad I'm not the only one having to run after practice or being stupid there's just something about what he's saying just realize that
You're in a war and all of us are you've got a lot of teammates you're not by yourself the band's going to come back up here and we're going to sing and make much of
Jesus and we've got two more verses to look at here resist him firm in your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout
The world you're not by yourself you're not alone it's not up to you there are others in this battle with you and after you have suffered a little while the God of all grace all freedom all joy all hope all peace
The God of all grace that freely gives freely poured himself out for us the God who went to the cross shedding his blood and giving his life so that you wouldn't have to shed yours or give yours the God of all grace
Who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ he's talking to Christians and he's saying the God of grace that's already redeemed you already rescued you already called you into an eternity where there is joy and peace and happiness
And freedom forever where the enemy is ultimately and finally destroyed who's called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore confirm strengthen and establish you stand firm in your faith and trust that the God of grace is going to
Step in at the right time and make it all right it's going to step in at the right time and fix everything on your behalf to him be the dominion forever and ever amen one of the reasons we haven't talked a whole lot
About Satan one of the reasons we don't spend a whole lot of time on the devil is because the Bible is never about him he is never the focus he is never the point it is squarely on Jesus all the time Jesus is the one who gets the glory forever he's the one
Who has dominion forever he is the creator God that rules and reigns over everything to him be the dominion forever and ever amen to Jesus be the praise to Jesus be the glory to him be the strength to him
Be power to him be the kingdom to him be everything eternally it'll be him that's on the throne it'll be he that reigns and rules over all things forever it'll be him that makes his enemies his footstool it'll be him that is the king and glorious ruler of all
Because he hid life in death because he hid victory in defeat because he hid our sin on himself that he took it on himself so that we might be free so that we might be saved so that we might be rescued so that we might not have to walk around in fear of sin
Or death or Satan ever again it's to Jesus be the glory to Jesus be the kingdom to Jesus be the rule to Jesus be the reign to Jesus be the dominion forever and ever amen
Serve One Another
1 Peter 4:7-11
Transcript
Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We'll be in 1 Peter chapter 4. It's going to be on page 658. If your Bible looks like this, we're walking straight through the book of 1 Peter.
Football is the greatest sport that the world has ever created. And if you disagree with that, I just want to say welcome and that this is an okay place to be wrong. And I forgive you. Football is great. It is the best sport. And one of the great things about it is that I actually was recently talking to Raz Bradley.
He was up here earlier, gave kind of intro stuff, talking about who we are as a church family. He's from Australia. So if you thought he talked funny, maybe he had water in his mouth or something. He came over here and one of the things he said was that when he first got here, everybody loves what he would call American football. He still calls soccer football and I forgive him. But he said that he didn't like it.
Everybody liked American football and he just didn't appreciate it, didn't like it. And he said the more that he's watched it, the more that he's actually really started to appreciate it. And one of the things he said he loves about it is that in football, everybody has a different Job. And they really only need to be good at that job. They need that skill set and that's it. So in a lot of other sports, in basketball, yeah, they've got different positions.
But mostly, you've got to dribble, you've got to shoot. Everybody's got to be kind of good at the same thing. Same thing with baseball. The pitcher's the only one. They don't care about batting. But everybody else needs to be able to throw, catch, bat.
Soccer's the same thing. They have different positions, but you've really got to be able to do all the same kind of stuff. Everybody's got to kick. Everybody's got to run. But in football, you can have a football team.
There are guys on the team that don't even have to be fast. They don't even really have to be crazy athletic. Like, I'm going to talk about South Carolina because we won so we can talk about us for a week. Fry, he's the only thing we've got going right now. He's Fry, he's the kicker. He weighs like 87 pounds.
All he has to do is kick. And kickers just show up late to practice. They kick for like an hour. They goof off. They do nothing. Nobody cares as long as they can kick.
And I just saw a Tennessee fan and I'm sorry. But nobody cares as long as they can kick. Like, that's all they want. And then if they can't kick or they miss kicks, it's next week in practice. We care about you again. We need to talk to you again because all you need to be able to do is kick.
But they're like Tom Brady. He's one of the best quarterbacks the NFL's ever had. Sorry, Buffalo fans. But he's one of the best quarterbacks the NFL's ever had. He is like the slowest person in the NFL. He runs like a 7, a 40.
He runs like a 7 flat. He's not faster than anyone, but he doesn't have to be able to run. And that's the beautiful thing about football is that there are guys on the team that need to be really big. And they can be slow. There are guys that need to be really small and fast and can catch. Some people need to be able to throw.
Other people just need to be able to. Can you run your body into someone else's body? Yes. When you do that, do they fall down? Most of the time. You're on the team.
You did it. Someone else will line you up. You don't even need to really think. Just run into the person that's holding this. That's really. And so what's cool about that is that everybody has a job.
And they don't have to be good at everything. And nobody's worried if I'm better at this than you as long as you're doing your job. And there are a lot of things that work like that. Chick-fil-A works like that. If you go into Chick-fil-A. And there are only people who can take your order.
There's like 7 of them up at the front. And they're all talking over each other. And they're all trying to press the button. And nobody's cooking. That's the worst Chick-fil-A ever. It's like, hey, let me tell you all out.
I'm going to just help you out. Some of you need to get in the back. But if you show up at Chick-fil-A and it's only cooks. That would be even worse. Because you could see and smell the chicken. But there would be no one to facilitate.
Like all they could just sit back there. You'd be like, dude, thanks for cooking. They'd be like, my pleasure. No, no, no, no. Somebody needs to ring me up though. Like I need to be able to hand my money.
Somebody, we've got to have a difference of Job. A difference of role. And what we're going to see is Peter in this part of the Bible. As he's writing. And what he said last week was turn away from sin and turn to. And now we're looking at what he's saying to turn to.
What it looks like to follow Jesus. He's actually going to say that God has designed his church to operate in this way. That we're not all gifted in the same way. We're not supposed to be. We're not all designed to do the same thing. We're not supposed to be.
That it's actually a really beautiful picture of Jesus at work in his church. When we're good at different things. And we get to work together for the good of others. By doing what we were designed to do. And that in that way we don't get to be upset with each other. Because I'm good at this and you're not.
Or you're good at that and I'm not. We actually are all given something to do. And it works out really beautifully. And that way the church gets to be kind of like football. And that's really beautiful. I'm going to pray and we're going to hop in.
God we thank you for this opportunity that we have. To study your word. And to just to grow. And to enjoy being together as your people. And as church family together. And we pray Lord that you would work.
To help us see where you have gifted us. So that we might be able to serve one another. In Jesus name. Amen. So he's going to start off.
He's been saying this is how you turn away from. Sin. And so last week he. Listed out this. These are the things that you should be done with by now. These are the things that the time has sufficed.
You're you're done. And then he's going to say. This is what it looks like to submit yourself to the will of God. And so he starts off with. We're going to be in verse seven. The end of all things is at hand.
Therefore be self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers. Okay. So the way he started that sentence should make us all perk up. The end of all things is his hand. Okay. I'm listening.
What are we talking about Peter? Here. The biblical writers write as if Jesus will return at any moment. That Jesus has died. He paid the penalty for our sin. And at some point the next step is for Jesus to return.
For Jesus to come back. For judgment to take place. For him to welcome his church back home. And Jesus in the gospel says this over and over again to the disciples. I'm going to come back when you don't expect me. I'm going to come like a thief in the night.
I'm going to come back. Be at work. Be ready. So every once in a while in our culture. So they just had this running in their mind all the time that Jesus could return whenever he wanted to.
But every once in a while in our culture we get stirred up on some sort of a it's going to happen now. Like we have the Herald camping thing. People get out. They put out signs. There's a sign as you're going into Lexington right now. A billboard that's just some verse from Joel.
And it's like yeah that's in the Bible. Well that's a good verse. There are probably better more helpful ones that make more sense as you're reading them on a billboard. But okay. Yep. That's good.
But there's this idea that like Jesus is going to come back. There's going to be this thing. There are these signs. We've got to be ready. And mostly though the way we take it is like so have a lot of toilet paper. Make sure you've got some canned goods.
Get in your bunker. And that's not the biblical writers aren't saying that at all. They're saying hey Jesus is going to come back at some point. Be at work. Be helping other people meet Jesus. Because when he cracks open the sky.
When he returns. That's all that's going to matter. Don't hide. Help other people come to know him. Like be building relationships with your neighbors. Be.
And so that's what he says is be sober minded. Self controlled and sober minded. For the sake of your prayers. And so he even shows there. That how important prayer is. That we actually should change our behavior for our prayers.
So that our prayers would be more effective. So that we might pray better. We're actually going to spend. When we finish with first Peter. We're going to spend a couple weeks just talking about prayer. But one of the things I think that we see here.
Is when he says be self controlled. And he just came out of this passage. Talking about turning away from sin. Here's something that's real about prayer and sin. Sinning hinders our ability to pray. Not that God doesn't want to listen to us or talk to us.
But that when we do talk to God. That's what he wants to talk about. So when we are actively in sin. Pursuing sin. Not repenting. When we participate in genuine real prayer.
Where we actually talk with Jesus. That's one of the first things he's going to address. It's one of the first things he's going to go after in us. Is our lack of repentance. Our lack of trusting in him. Our lack of believing the gospel.
And this is. I know this to be true. So recently. I did some sinning. And I didn't want to talk to my wife about it. And I didn't want to confess it to anybody.
And I didn't want Jesus to lead me to repentance. So I was still praying. Because I'm a pastor and I'm supposed to. I was still praying. But I didn't really.
I was even praying one day. And I was like. Lord help me to have a good prayer life. And then I thought. But not so good.
That you make me repent. Because I know that if I actually get to praying. Really talking with Jesus. And the Holy Spirit shows up. One of the first things he's going to do is say. Hey.
You know that dark spot in your soul right now. You know that area you don't want to talk about. Let's talk about that. And I didn't want to talk about that. But I knew that that was one of the first things.
We'd have to handle as. As I began praying. And I think that's one of the reasons he says. Be self-controlled. So that we can pray about other things.
So that we can actually talk about other things. So that we can pray for mission. And for our neighbors. Same thing with sober minded. It just means think rightly. And so if we're thinking rightly about the world.
You'll be praying for your neighbors. You'll be praying. God I think I may be the only Christian on this block. I may be the only Christian. As far as the members I've met. In this part of the complex.
The apartment complex. And Lord I just pray that you'd help me to have an opportunity. I think you may be putting me here for a reason. I may be the only Christian on this floor. At work. We'll begin to see the world rightly.
Because we know that the end of all things is at hand. That Jesus can come back at any point. And so we'll be able to actually pray about mission. Actually pray about others. Because we'll turn away from sin. We won't have to talk to him as much about that.
And we'll be thinking rightly. Then he says above all. So he's laying down the trump card. Ace of spades here. Above all. Keep loving one another earnestly.
Since love covers a multitude of sins. Above all. Keep loving one another earnestly. Since love covers a multitude of sins. Now we take this out of context.
We'll take this love covers a multitude of sins. And we'll use it like. So the Bible says that's sin. But it doesn't matter. Because we're in love. Or if I'm a really loving person.
Then all of this is just covered by my love. That's not. That's not what it's saying. And you. You have to take it out of context. Because just before this.
Last week. We read. Where he says. This is sin. And this is sin. And this is sin.
Turn away from it. Run from it. Don't have that be a part of your life. So it can't mean. Oh if you're just a loving person. Go for it.
That's not. That's not what it means. What it means is. And this is what I think it means. Practically. Is that if we love each other.
We'll work past sin. That love will cover the fact. That we're going to hurt each other's feelings. That we're going to be selfish. That we're going to sin against each other. We'll give each other more grace.
If we genuinely love each other. It means that we'll talk to each other. So in our church family. One of the things. One of the ways that we apply love. Is that when somebody has offended us.
We go talk to them. That's one of the ways that love plays out. In my relationship with Anna. I just assume that she cares about me. I assume we're on the same team. I assume that what she's doing.
Isn't vindictive. Or intentionally to harm me. So I can go talk to her. And say hey. This hurt my feelings. Or this isn't okay.
Between us right now. And she gets to do the same thing. And we get to do the same thing. As a church family. We get to love one another. Which means that.
We'll overcome sin. We'll go say hey. I think I offended you here. I didn't mean to. Or hey. You offended me here.
We need to talk about that. And love will make it to where we actually. Can overcome sin. And if we do love one another. We'll have those conversations. That aren't fun.
But are good. The other thing that we need to know about the Bible. Is that it uses love. Love usually is a verb. It's just an action. It's how we choose to respond to things.
So we choose to love one another. We act on love. It's not just a feeling. So what it doesn't mean is. When you're hanging out with your community group. You just need to feel all warm and gushy inside.
Like it doesn't mean love one another. Like sit and look around the room. Be like. I swear I wasn't going to do this. I just love you guys so much. Now maybe that happens in your group.
I don't think I'll ever do that. When I'm hanging out with my group. But. That's not going to happen. But we choose to love one another.
By how we serve. By how we go out of our way for each other. By how we approach one another. And so. That's that's love is expressed through action. So above all love one another.
Earnestly. Since love covers a multitude of sin. And so Peter's just at this point. He's just addressing what it looks like. As we turn away from sin. And we start following the will of God.
What it looks like for us. As a church. As church family. Verse nine. Show hospitality to one another. Without grumbling.
Show hospitality to one another. Without grumbling. Grumbling. This means. One another means inside of the church. It means that inside of the church.
We need to have our. Our homes open to each other. And our lives. Open to each other. Without grumbling. We need to not be worried about.
People making messes. Or eating all our food. We can talk to them about it. If they do that. Every time you come over here. You eat all my food.
Next time. Bring some chips with you. Right when they're walking out the door. Hey. Hey. Time out.
Now. We're not cleaning up your plate. You can get back in there. I believe in you. You can put that in the sink. Like you can do that.
That's okay. But it means that our homes would be open to one another. That we would share life with each other. Share our lives with others. And this pushes against our westernness. Our American-ness.
Anna and I were at the house the other day. And doorbell rang. And I was like. We both just looked at each other. Like should we hide? Like what?
Do you think they've seen us? Like. I wonder if they know. Where our cars are. And what that means. See like.
So it was just like. We looked. And I got up. And I walked around the corner. And I was. And I looked back at her.
And said. Ah. It's just the UPS guy. Like. Sweet. We don't have to actually talk to a human.
He was just putting a box down. That's great. The worst is when he's like. Stands there. And I got to sign for it. Because now I'm going to have to talk to him.
And be like. Thanks for the box. Sir. But he left. And that was great. I just got to bring the box inside.
There's something about us that just feels like our home is our refuge. It's our escape from the world. It is where we go to watch television of other people having friends. And their friends are in their house. But nobody's in our house touching our stuff.
Breathing up our air. And making us have to clean. Like nobody's here doing that. And so. But what he says is.
No. Have your homes open to each other. Now some people are more inclined to do this. But all of us are commanded to. So some people are like.
Sweet. Yeah. I already do that. Other people. It doesn't mean have people to where they can just show up at your house all the time. But it does mean on a regular basis.
Have other Christians. Other people from your group. In your home. Have your doors open. Share some meals together. And here's one of the things that I think we miss out on.
We're called to make disciples as Christians. Which means that we're supposed to help other people meet Jesus. And then help everybody who knows Jesus. And then help everybody who knows Jesus. Follow Jesus. Follow Jesus.
In the normal everyday stuff of life. And if we don't include our home in that. We miss out on a major opportunity for discipleship. Some of us and most of us actually. The best place we have. For helping other people follow Jesus.
Is our home. That is the best tool we have for discipleship. And we completely rule that out as an option. So we'll meet with somebody every other Tuesday at a Starbucks. Talk about stuff. But we never actually.
And that's not bad. But we never actually get to see normal everyday life of following Jesus. We have people in our church family. Who are Christians. The best examples they have. The best thing they know about what they have seen in life.
Is that it was a bad example. That's the best they've got. So they have never actually seen. A family where a father and a mother. Were trying to raise children that love Jesus. And they're trying to raise children that love Jesus.
But they've never seen it. They're married couples who've never seen. What it looks like to be married and love Jesus. I was talking to somebody in my community group the other day. And he said that when he was abused as a child. After his dad would beat him.
He would make himself feel better by saying. This is just what it's like to be a child. This is how parents treat their children. He would just. That was what he used to console himself. Was all other kids are going through this.
This is what it's like. He knows that's not true now. But the best example he has. The best one he's seen up close. Is that. He knows it was wrong.
But he doesn't have a good mental framework. For what it looks like. For people to actually follow Jesus. And so if we don't as Christians. Open up our homes. How are we going to get to see those good pictures.
How are we going to get to grow. In the midst of that. So. Older couples. Invite younger couples over to share a meal with you. It doesn't have to be fancy.
It doesn't have to be a big ordeal. You don't have to clean up your house too much. Or at all. You live there. Just invite them in. We were going to be eating spaghetti.
We just cooked more noodles. We always cook more noodles. Because we don't know how to measure out. How many noodles we need. I saw a thing that said. The way to measure spaghetti.
Is guess how much you think you need. Wrong. That's the way to measure spaghetti. Just invite some people over. Invite some younger couples. So they get to see what it looks like.
For a couple that's 30 years ahead of them. Loving Jesus. Following Jesus. Parents with older children. Invite some parents with younger children. Over to your house.
There's some people in our church. Who have a daughter. That's six months old. Daughters that are four years old. They need to be at your house. When your 14 year old daughter.
Is texting a guy. And tells you. That he's her boyfriend. They need to watch you lose your mind. And repent. Or not lose your mind.
And handle it well. Like they need to be there. Because that's going to happen one day. And the best they've got is. I might lose my mind. They can at least kind of walk through that with you.
They need to be there. I've got a six month old boy. I need to come to your house. And watch you. Teach your five year old. How to play t-ball.
I need to watch you make him cry. I need to see your wife. Tell you you're being too hard on him. I need to see you wrestle with the idea. Of I'm trying to raise a man. But he's five.
But he needs to learn. How to hit a ball off a stick. I need you to handle talking to your wife. Which is like dear. Why don't you just go inside? Like I need to be there.
I need to debrief with you. I need to be like. Why did you say it that way? Why did. I felt like you were going to choke at somebody. But you didn't.
That was great. Like. Otherwise how will I know how to do it? Like how. How will we grow together. If we're never in real life together.
And this is just normal life. Going to the grocery store. Show hospitality. Invite people to be a part of that with you. Have them come over to your house. As you.
Maybe moms. You do the grocery shopping. Maybe you've got four children. You have to take them to the grocery store. Invite some other people in your group. To come be a part of that.
So they can see what that's like. Have them come over to your house. Have them see what it's like to load four children in a car. Have them see what it's like to go to the grocery store. To while you're talking. You're having to pay attention to four children.
While you're trying to look at your list. You're having to get that out of your mouth. You're having to pay attention to four children. And you're. You're having to. What?
No. No. No. We already got cookies. Put those back. And you're.
You're trying to just explain how. I said put them back. We have cookies. I realize there are seven different types of Oreo. Put them. Put them.
Put them back. Put them back. Where's your sister? Like. You need to have these conversations. She comes back up.
What is green on your face? Where's your other shoe? Like. You need somebody there to help you find the shoe. And to help you grow. And what it looks like.
To be in normal everyday life as a Christian. Trying to parent children that love Jesus. Trying to walk with your spouse and love Jesus. Trying to. Families. This means that we invite single people over to our houses for normal Tuesday night dinner.
It means that we invite people over to just watch a show. It means that. That on holidays. Family holidays. We invite some of the single people from our group. Hey.
If you don't have. If you're up here for school. If you're just living by yourself right now. And you want to come share some Thanksgiving dinner with us. Our table's open. That's what he's talking about.
And that's one of the best opportunities we have. To help people grow up. And what it looks like to love Jesus. Single people. This applies to you. Invite people to your house.
Invite married couples. Invite married couples with children to your house. I'll give you a suggestion. Don't invite them to your house like they're your other single friends. If you text them on Thursday. Want to come to my house and eat dinner tonight.
I'll answer that for you. No. Maybe. Maybe I want to. There's no way that's happening. Most people get married.
And they learn that they have to plan things in advance. For what reason? I don't know. My wife and I have to plan things in advance. I'll say. Hey.
We're not doing anything on Saturday. And she'll be like. I know. I'll be like. So we can go do this.
She'll be like. No. I planned that we wouldn't do anything. That's not a plan. No. But I wrote it down.
It says hang out with Chad. I'll be there. People have to. So if you're single. And you're going to invite people over. Every house.
Let me give you a few ways to do this. Go to them and say. What are you doing three Thursdays from now? You have no clue what you're doing two days from now. They know what they're doing three Thursdays from now. Or they may be like.
I don't know. And be like. All right. What about next Thursday? Just bring it in closer. Gauge it on the person you're talking with.
Do this. Hey. I'd like to have you all over for dinner. You tell me when is a good time to do that. Married couples. Families.
Say yes to those invitations. Figure out a way to be there. Realize. Realize. That if you invite one person over to your house. You went from four or five to six or seven.
Nope. That math doesn't work out. Four or five to five or six. That wasn't hard. You already made too much noodles anyway. If a single person invites you over.
And you bring you and your wife and your three children. They went from one. To a lot. Bring something. Show up with some food. Single people.
Let me know. Let me tell you this. I'll be done with this in just a second. If you invite married couples. Or married couples with children to your house. They may think about how difficult it is.
For them to ever leave the house. Ever. And they may just say. Why don't you just come to our house and eat. And then you can say yes to that. And you get a free meal out of the deal.
And all you had to do was bluff. Like you were going to be willing to feed them. Open your homes. Open your lives. It's one of the best opportunities you have. To grow.
In what it looks like to love Jesus. Married couples without children. Invite a couple of single couples over to your house from your group. And offer to watch all the children that are in your group. And just say hey. A couple of us are going to babysit all of your children.
We're going to have as many people over here as possible. So that we can have like three adults per child. Y'all go on a date. And we'll hang out and watch Kung Fu Panda together. But the goal being that we would have normal everyday life.
Where we would get to see clear pictures of what it's like to follow Jesus. And if you're sitting there thinking. Well I'm not the best husband. I'm not the best mom. My roommates and I don't get along. Right.
And the people you're inviting over. Aren't the best husband or won't be the best husband. Aren't the best mom or won't be the best mom. And they need to see somebody trying to follow Jesus. In the midst of that. They already don't get along with their roommates.
They'll look forward to come over to your house for a little while. And seeing how you handle it. And then you all get to grow together. I need people to be around my house. When you invite people into your home. They help you with stuff.
I had somebody in my house recently. And they were just walking around. They have kids. And they were going. Is that attached to the wall? No.
Attach it to the wall or get rid of it. It's like. Oh. I haven't even thought about that. Like he's. I should have.
But I haven't. Because I haven't had a child knock over everything in my house yet. Eventually. Everything will be screwed to the wall. Or be gone. Young couples.
You need to go to someone's house. And realize that your white carpet was a bad decision. Like. We need to be around each other. So that we can grow.
And so that we can address sin in the normal. In the everyday. Because we're all trying to follow Jesus in everyday. And if we don't open our lives to each other. We won't get to. So that's what he's saying.
Be. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. Let me just say this. The Pabones in our church family do this very well. They have people in their house five out of seven days. They invite people into their lives all the time.
When we moved to Sunday mornings and said. We were going to have Sunday afternoons for us to be around church family. For us to build relationships. They just said okay. Every Sunday people are welcome to our house. Now you may be going.
I can't have people in my house five out of seven days. That's right. That's probably true for a lot of us. But you can have people in your house twice a month to start. You can have people over every time you're watching a certain show. Have them be around.
We need to start figuring out ways to open our lives to each other. Okay. So he keeps going. As each has received a gift. Use it to serve one another. As good stewards of God's varied grace.
Whoever speaks is one who speaks oracles of God. Whoever serves is one who serves by the strength that God supplies. In order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Okay.
So as each has received a gift. Use it to serve one another. As good stewards of God's varied grace. What this means is that God in his grace has gifted us. But he didn't gift us all the same.
If you even just looked on the road that you're in. There's not the same gift set present. If you are in your community group. You have a different gift set than anybody else there. God in his varied grace. Which means he graciously gave you something.
But he didn't give you the same thing he gave somebody else. Has gifted all of us. And he says use it to serve one another. As good stewards. So a steward means that you've been given something that's not yours.
It's the same way we talk about money. All money belongs to God. And we need to steward it well. All of our money is on loan. It's the same thing with our abilities and our talent. It all belongs to God.
And we need to handle it well. We need to approach it well. And we need to use what we're good at to serve others. And then he basically says if it's speaking. Speak as if you speak on behalf of God. And it's serving.
Serve with the strength that God gives you. Everything comes from God. Is on behalf of God. And is used for the benefit of others. As God works in us through his grace. So a gift.
The way it uses it there. Is anything that you're good at. Anything that you're capable of doing. And it means anything. Can you bake? Are you good at conversations?
Do you have conversations with people on a regular basis? And they say. I've just never. I've never told anybody that before. Or you just sit down and have a conversation with somebody. And they just start.
I haven't said this to someone in so long. Like does that just happen to you on a normal basis? Are you. Do you make people feel comfortable or welcome? When you invite people. Do they just show up at stuff?
Can you fix cars or a washing machine? Can you build things? Can you play an instrument? Can you sing? Can you run fast? Like whatever you're gifted with.
Can you sew? Can you cook? Do you enjoy having people over at your house? Do you enjoy helping clean up? Do you enjoy anything? Whatever you have been gifted with.
Use it to serve one another. This is why. One of the reasons why. That community groups are primary for us. There is a limited amount of opportunity to serve on a Sunday. There's opportunity to serve on a Sunday.
And if you're interested in serving. There's opportunity to serve on a Sunday. But it's limited. And it's not all the time. So we've got people right now serving in Kid City.
That are gifted. Lord willing. To be around children. But they're going to do this once. And then not for a couple of weeks. So they're going to use their gifting today.
And then not for a couple of weeks. So they can be in here as part of a normal church family. We've got people that are going to show up and set things up. People that are going to help clean up when we leave. We've got people that are going to help host and welcome people. But they're going to do it on a rotating basis.
And there's a limited number of availability for that. It's actually in our community groups. Where we get to use our gifts all the time. In normal everyday life. All the time. So let me show you how this works.
This is your community group. And this is how this begins to play out in your group. There's a person in your community group. That has way, way too many friends. Too many friends. And they know all of their names.
So they might be a magician. You don't know how they do this. They have more friends than you have people in your phone. And you never delete Numbers. You don't know how they keep up with all these people. But they have way too many friends.
You've got someone else in your group. That when they invite someone to something. They just show up. They make the most mundane things seem fun. They'll be like, oh hey. Somebody's coming.
I met them at Walmart. What? You could be a murderer. Why did they agree to come? I don't know. We just talked for a minute.
They said it sounded like it was cool. They're coming. Okay, great. That person may not talk to them once they show up. They don't know how to have real long conversations. They just know how to be like, hey.
I want to do this thing. Sure. And then when they get there. They don't talk to them anymore. But you've got people in your group.
That as soon as they show up. They're going to make them feel comfortable. They make them feel welcome. You've got people in your group. They can have a conversation with the most awkward person in the world. In the world.
You don't know how they do it. They just keep the conversation going. They're talking to someone who kills conversations. And they just resuscitate the conversation. You're in these conversations with people. They kill the conversation.
And you go. All right. Like you don't know how to. And this person is just able to talk to anybody. You sit down. Oh, somebody else has already cooked.
Has already prepared food. Is good at it. You're the person who's like. I'm bringing cheese. Because you don't have to cook cheese. Just bring it.
I'm the Dorito guy. Like that's me in my group. Like I'll bring plates. Like that's all I got. Other people are going to cook things. They're going to cook things that taste good.
I've cooked a few things. I burnt it. My group makes fun of me. I don't cook anymore. I'm the cheese guy. That's me.
They're going to show up. They're going to have food there. So that when somebody's invited. They're going to show up. It's going to feel welcome. There's someone who hosts well.
Their home is open to people. You're going to sit. And as you start talking. Somebody's going to ask a really confusing question. And everybody's going to look to a certain person in your group. Because they're the person who helps with really confusing questions.
You're like that's a good question. And that person's gifted to answer the question. That's what they're good at. That's what God's designed them to do. They read theology books for fun. They're weird.
But God gave them that ability. You're sitting there. And someone starts talking about things that are going on in their life. And how much pain is going on. And they start crying. And someone else in your group.
Across the table. Starts crying too. And you're thinking. Why are you crying? Or did something else happen to you? It's called empathy.
You've never experienced it. But you're seeing it. This person gets up from the table. Walks over. Sits next to this person. Puts their arm around them.
And says. We love you. And we're glad you're here. And you think. I never would have thought to do that. That was great.
We do love that person. We are glad they're here. I would have never said that. You got someone else who starts hearing this story. And says. Hey.
I can help cook meals while that's going on. Someone else in your group. Who's really organized. And loves spreadsheets. Says. I'll make a spreadsheet.
I'll make sure we have meals for the whole two weeks. That this is happening. I'll make sure that we're organized. I'm not cooking anything. I'm spreadsheet person. This is what I got.
And it's great. And you're organized. And then someone else is going to be able to articulate the gospel. Into this situation. In a way that. You know that.
But you wouldn't have been able to put it into words. And someone else in your group is going to say. Let me just tell you how Jesus shows up here. Let me just tell you how Jesus shows up in the midst of our pain. And gives us hope. And grace.
And what's beautiful about this. As this plays out. As people begin to say. I'll come help serve. I'll come help clean. I'll come help fix that issue.
As your group gets to be what we're designed to be. Here's what he says. Start back at 10. As each has received a gift. Use it to serve one another. As good stewards.
Of God's varied grace. Whoever speaks. As one who speaks oracles of God. Whoever serves. As one who serves. By the strength that God supplies.
In order. That in everything. God may be glorified. Through Jesus Christ. To him. Belong glory and dominion forever.
Amen. Amen. If we all use our gifts. And we all serve. Jesus gets the glory. Because Jesus gets to show up.
You see. Jesus came. And he did everything for us. He loved perfectly. He had perfect empathy. He challenged perfectly.
He corrected perfectly. He taught perfectly. And he died perfectly in our place. To cover our sin. And to set us free. And Jesus now works.
In varied ways. Through his church. By his grace. To do exactly what he was doing. When he was here. But he spreads it out.
Amongst all of his people. And so. If just a handful of people serve. They might. We might mistakenly. Give them glory.
We might mistakenly. Give them credit. When it's actually. Jesus at work. And as all of us say. This is what I'm good at.
And this is how I'm going to serve. Jesus shows up. So it's in our community groups. Where we get to see. Everybody serving. Everybody using their gift.
Everybody working. That we begin to say. There's something different here. Jesus is at work here. And Jesus gets the glory. As we all serve.
So. I'm going to walk us through. Just a few practical things. When it comes to gifting. Just to try to be helpful. When it comes to your gifting.
If you're sitting there going. Well I don't really know. What I'm good at. I don't know. What I'm gifted at. The first thing you want to ask is.
What am I good at? If you're an English person. You want to ask. What at. What am I good? But if you're everyone else.
You want to ask. What am I good at? If you want to take the sheets. In front of you. There. There.
And just jot a few things down. Right. Number one. And just start thinking. What. What am I good at?
What do I. What do I do well? What are the things that I do. That other people say. Hey you're really. Like that was good.
You're really good at that. What are the things that you do. That other people. Like it. Destroys their soul. But you're just gifted there.
So you just hop in and do it. And it doesn't even bother you. You don't even think about it. The next thing you want to ask is. What do I enjoy? Sometimes these overlap.
And that's great. Sometimes you're good at this. And you enjoy this. That's fine. Write those down. Some of you enjoy singing.
You're not good at it. You just enjoy it. That's great. Sing in the shower. Some of you are good at it. And you enjoy it.
That's great. Like you want to figure out. What am I good at? What do I enjoy? So some people enjoy fixing cars.
And are good at it. Some of them are just good at it. They don't want to do it as a hobby. But they're good at it. So begin to think about.
What am I good at? What do I enjoy? And then you want to ask this question. How can I use that. To serve other people. Whatever it is.
How can I use that. To serve other people. And some of you may sit and think for a while. And you go. Okay. What am I good at?
I wrote math with a question Mark. And what do I enjoy? I wrote food and ping pong. But food isn't cooking. It's more eating. Okay.
Here's what we need to do. If that's you. If you're just like. I just don't know. Try stuff. And then ask those questions.
Try stuff. And then ask those questions. Number three can be other. Just try stuff. And then ask other people that. Was I good at this?
Church family. When you see somebody doing something that they're good at. Tell them. If there is anybody right now that you thought. Hey they're really good at that. But did not say it to them.
Go tell them. We often assume that people know what they're good at. And we are often wrong. Or we think somebody else has already told them. Or the reason they're doing it is because they know they're good at it. They may just be doing it.
And you need to go say. Hey I've seen Jesus at work here. I've seen God work through you when you do this. Hey when you answer questions. When you show up and serve. When you host.
You host really well. Like we just need to tell people. Encourage them. If someone asks you. Was I good at that? And the answer is no.
Find a gracious way to say no. Because what this says is that God has gifted us. They actually are good at something. It just may not be that. Find a gracious way to. Don't lie to them.
Let's not nice it up as a church family. And just be fake nice. And not be willing to say something. Hey. Man that was a solid effort. Stay away from children.
I love you. I want to set you free. To do other things. Be willing to say that. So that they can be free to do other things.
So that they can do something else. Try not to crush people. Some of you are like. Sweet. You need to work on that. Don't be excited about hurting people's feelings.
But if there's somebody that you've thought. Hey. This person does this well. And you haven't told them. Tell them. Encourage them.
That's how people find stuff out. If somebody comes to you and says. Hey. I want to tell you that you're really good at this. Let me tell you how to respond. Thank you.
That's encouraging. You can ask more questions. Don't try to downplay it. Don't be like. Well. It's just.
It's all about Jesus. I know it's all about Jesus. But he told us to come tell you this. Don't get on my nerves. Like. Yeah.
That's what he said. As people serve. Jesus shows up. That's. Got it. But you're good at this.
That's okay to say. So just. Thank you. That's encouraging. Ask more people. Hey.
This person said I was good at this. Am I? You see. As we all get to serve. As we all get to use our gifts. Which we are gifted.
As we all get to use them. Jesus shows up. And we're designed. To work this way. God in his grace. Has gifted us.
It's like the difference. Between going to a restaurant. And eating at home. So when you go to a restaurant. I get to just sit down. I have expectations.
About what's going to happen. I expect that. I'll have a server. I have mental expectations. Of how often they'll come by. If I make eye contact with them.
And then they act like they didn't see me. Oh. You saw me. Like I've got some. If they bring out mashed potatoes. And they're cold.
I just get to go. Nope. These mashed potatoes are cold. Can y'all. It seems like you microwaved them. But you didn't stir them.
Can you at least stir them. After you microwave them this time. I'm not that rude necessarily. But. I got to work on it. That's why y'all need to be.
Eating at restaurants with me. So when they leave. You can go. Hey you need to repent. But you can send it back.
I can't do that. Like when I was growing up. I couldn't do that at home. I couldn't just plop down at the table. I couldn't look at my mom. And be like.
Hey when's the meal going to be ready. Like. I've been sitting here for a while. When she sat down. I couldn't go. Nope.
My potatoes are cold. You want to hop back in there. Like couldn't do that. That's not how family works. Like you got to help set the table. You got to help clean up afterwards.
You got to go into the kitchen. And do some dishes. You got to take the trash out. There's some people. Who've been hanging out. With our church family.
And you're like. They talk about family all the time. But this doesn't feel like family. When was the last time. You took the trash out. When was the last time you served.
When was the last time. You looked at your gifting. And said. I'm going to use this. To serve other people. Because that.
Is what begins to make us feel like family. That's where we begin to show love. If you don't feel like you love anybody. It's not because you don't have these feelings. It's because you haven't been. Serving and working.
That's how you love. That's why. Marriages. A lot of times. Begin to love their children more. And families will grow old.
And they'll love their children. But that's a weird relationship between. Because they all began serving the children. And forgot how to serve each other. When we serve people. That's how we show love.
And that's how we get to be family. And that's how we get to grow together. And so. I would just encourage you. If you feel like. Ah.
Yeah. I don't feel like family. Are you using your gifts? Are you serving? Are you showing up to your group. With something to offer.
Something to give. Some way to participate. Are you trying to find ways. To help people. And to serve. And to use your gifts.
Band's going to come back up and play. Okay. What I would like to encourage us with. Is take a second. And as if there is anybody. That you have thought.
Man they're good at this. They're helpful when they do this. This is great. They're a part of our group. And they do this. Tell them.
Before you leave today. Tell them. Or make a note if they're not here. To tell them. Let them know. That God works in them.
So they'll do more of it. If you haven't been serving. If you haven't been using your gifts. If you don't know what they are. Sit down. Spend some time thinking about it.
We're going to actually do some of that. In our groups this week. Try something. Try to use your gifts. And realize. All of us are gifted.
And when we all serve together. People get to see Jesus. When we all pull together. We'll feel more like family. We'll realize. That we have love for one another.
And more people will get to see Jesus. More people will get to clearly see him at work in us. And that our hope is fully in Jesus. So we don't have certain gifts. We have to be good at. We don't have certain things.
We've got to accomplish. We don't have to get it together. We get to trust Jesus. And we get to know that. As we in a faulty way. Serve alongside others.
More people get to see him. Let's pray. God we thank you. God I just thank you. For when the Bible is just very practical. When you just take the time.
In your word. To just. Coach us up. And to help us out. And to help us see areas. Where we maybe need to.
To grow. Or to. To serve. God I pray that our church family. Would serve. That you would help us.
Through your Holy Spirit. To know where you have gifted us. That we might all use our gift. To serve one another. That God we might all know. That we are gifted by you.
And it is for the benefit of those. In our group. And for the benefit of those in this room. That we might use it for your glory. I pray Lord that you would help us. Remember.
People that need to be. Told. Where they're good. Where they serve. Where they do well. And be able to encourage them.
I pray Lord that if. If we're encouraged. That we would. Take that well. And realize that it's your grace. And not our ability.
God I pray that. As our church family. We would have our. Our homes open. To one another. And our lives open to one another.
That we might use our homes. As a tool for. Growth. And a tool for discipleship. And not just as an escape. And God I pray that we would see.
Many. Families. And singles. And couples. And. Just begin to invite one another.
And be around one another. And open their homes to one another. That we might all grow. In our love for you. That we might all clearly see. Our need for you.
We thank you Jesus. For being so good to us. In your name we pray. Amen.
Done With Sin
1 Peter 4:1-6
Transcript
Good morning. We're going to be in 1 Peter chapter 4. If your Bible looks like this, we'll be on page 658. There should be one of these near you where you're seated. If someone else tries to grab it first, smack their hand, take it from them. If you don't own a Bible, you do now, you can take this one with you.
It's our gift to you. So we're going to be on 658. We'll be in 1 Peter chapter 4. I was outside yesterday working on a fence and my neighbor came out and started talking to me. His name is Mr. Kirchdoffer and he is 80-something, mid-80s.
He's about this tall, real stocky. And I was watching him cut his grass the other day and I just couldn't help but think that I need to start exercising more because he might be in better shape than I am in. And I was just like really disappointed in myself because he's like 85 and you wouldn't know it. He like goes out dancing and stuff. But he's really cool.
He was in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. So he was in all three of those conflicts. He was what was Bomb Disposal in World War II. It's an EOD now. They changed their name. So what he did was bombs would land places or be put places and he would go take them apart.
And he did this for three wars. He was very good at his job. You don't stay in EOD long if you're not good at it. And so he said he was working on it one time and there was a soldier standing next to him kind of like guarding him while he had to work on the bomb. And he said the soldier was standing there and kind of watching him, standing there kind of watching him. And the soldier looked at him and said, what do we do if that goes off?
Mr. Kirstoffer said, I just busted out laughing. There's only one thing you do if this goes off and you won't know it. There's one option. I do this well or it's been nice knowing you. And so he – so I was talking to him yesterday and what I asked him was I said, hey, November 11th is coming up and I think that's Veterans Day.
And I said I think it used to be VE Day or Victory in Europe Day. And he said, I don't know. They move all that stuff around, he said. And I said, but I think it was Victory in Europe Day. He goes, yeah, I never really remembered that. He said because he was in Europe.
And he goes, but when Victory in Europe Day came, I was on a boat headed to Okinawa. So he was in Europe for a while until it started looking good. Then they sent him to the Pacific. And so he did both sides of stuff in World War II. And I said, but I said, not many people know somebody. And I don't think our neighbors know that you were in three foreign conflicts, what you have done to serve our country.
And I was just wondering if it would be okay with you. And that's why I wanted to ask you if maybe I let our neighbors know and we tried to do something just to kind of celebrate, appreciate you, honor you. And he was like, no, don't want to do that. And I was like, okay, that's why I asked. He said, I'm the type of person that really embarrasses more than anything. And I didn't really do anything.
He said, we buried so many guys over there. What I offered and what I sacrificed really wasn't that much. And on most of those kind of days, I go down to the VFW and we actually are going to be packaging up some meals and taking them to other people. And so there's just something about, and I think specifically veterans of World War II because of how massively destructive that war was. There's just something about those guys that if you talk to them, they'll tell you, I didn't really do much. I don't really deserve much praise.
I don't really deserve much honor. And there's just something that happens with the guys that have gone to war that it changed their thinking forever about their freedom. It changed their thinking forever about how beautiful America is and how much we were offered opportunity. If you talk to some of those World War II veterans, they just have this. It was imprinted on them forever and affected forever their thinking and the way they live because they have seen how costly it was and how evil tyranny can be. And what Peter's going to, what we're going to see that he says today that he wrote, we're going to see that he's going to say that it's a very similar situation for Christians.
That there's something that should have drastically changed our thinking, should have impacted us so deeply that we can't view the world the same way. We can't approach life the same way, that we have so clearly seen the cost of our sins, so clearly seen the weight of it, that we're different forever. And so we're going to be starting chapter four. We're going to look at the first six verses today. Again, it's on page 658. I'm going to pray and then we'll hop in.
God, we thank you that we have hope and salvation and freedom and joy given to us through the cross. We thank you that you suffered so that we wouldn't have to, that you took on pain so that we wouldn't have to. And God, we ask that you would speak through your word today to us as we study it together. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Okay, chapter four, verse one.
Peter's writing, he says, Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. For whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. Okay, so if you're familiar kind of with the New Testament, Paul writes a lot of letters, and when he uses the word flesh, he kind of means our sinfulness, our sinful nature. Peter, when he's using the word flesh, he means your physical body. It is not deep. He means flesh.
He's really shooting at our ankles here when he uses the word. So what he is saying when he says, since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, he means physically, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. For whoever has suffered in the flesh physically has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of time in the flesh, just your human life, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. And so what he says is that as Christians we have two options, or that everybody has two options on how they're going to live. They can live for human passions or the will of God. Those are your two options.
You're either going to live for your own will, for your own desires, for your own passions, for your own, this is what I think, this is what I think is smart, this is what I want to do, this is how I think life ought to be, this is what I get joy out of, this is what I'm chasing after, or you're going to submit that to the will of God. You're going to live for your will or his, your passions or his. Those are the two options. When he uses the word passion, he doesn't just mean the way we use the word passion, like I'm really passionate about saving orphaned puppies. That's not what he means. He means our inordinate sinful desires, like our passions that are either for sinful things or just that are too big, that we took something that was good and began to care about it too much.
And so, for example, we can do this with really anything, work. We take something that's good, work, God gave us work, and we begin to say, you're where my identity is, you're where my hope is, you're where my freedom will be found, you're where my joy will be found. If I can just make this work out, if I can just make enough money here, if I can just be well-known enough here, if I can just go to work over and over again, I'll prove myself, I'll have joy. If I can just reach this promotion, then I'll be full, then I'll be free. And we've taken something that was good and started expecting too much from it.
Isaiah says, or Jeremiah says that this is like coming to a well that is dry and lowering a bucket and bringing the bucket back up, and there's nothing in the bucket. And so, we lower the bucket again. And we bring the bucket back up. And there's nothing in the bucket. So we lower the bucket again.
But that's what this is like. It's us coming to a dry well and over and over and over again thinking, this time, it's going to have water in it. This time, it's going to give me life. This time, it's going to fill me up. And we do this with everything. So we do it with work, we do it with alcohol, we do it with sex, we do it with food, we do it with relationships.
This will be the boyfriend. Ho-ho, buddy. I'm going to give him a second chance. We do it with everything. We come back to the well over and over and over and over again, and we keep pulling it up empty, and we keep believing, we keep lying to ourselves that eventually this will fill me up, eventually this will give me life, eventually this will give me joy. And what Peter is saying is that because Jesus suffered, you now have an option.
Before Jesus, you didn't have an option. You're on your own, do your thing. But because Jesus suffered, we now have an option. We can live continually chasing after something that won't fill us up, or we can spend the rest of our lives living for the will of God. And so basically what he's going to say as we study it this week and next week is that the way we live for the will of God is to actually turn away from this, turn away from chasing everything that we can possibly chase to try to fill ourselves up, and turning to following him. So we turn away from that, and we turn to Jesus, we turn to our church family, we turn to what it looks like to walk in the Spirit.
And so that's how he's going to kind of unpack this. We're going to spend most of our time today looking at the turning away from, and actually how we can do that, and why we would do that. So let's go back up to the top, and let's look at how he's going to say we actually accomplished this. Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh. So when he says therefore, you have to look at and know that he's, why is it, what is it therefore?
That's kind of what you ask when you read the word therefore in Scripture. You've got to see what came before it. What he's saying is because Jesus, what he's been talking about was Jesus who was righteous died for the unrighteous. Jesus who was good and holy and pure died to save all of us who weren't, who didn't deserve it, couldn't accomplish it. So he's saying because Jesus suffered, was nailed to a tree, bled, died, since that is true, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.
Arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. And so what he's saying is look to Jesus, look at how he approached the world, and think the same way. Arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. So when we look to Jesus, what we see very clearly is he was going to live for the will of God, regardless of what it cost him. And he had his face set on the cross. He knew that was what was coming.
He knew that was the penalty for sin. And he was eyes set on the cross. And so what he's saying is that we as Christians get to arm ourselves with the cross, with the gospel. We get to put that in our brains. And so arming yourself, it's kind of like when you wake up in the morning and you have a routine you go through before you're going to hit the day. Some people, you bathe the night before.
Some people bathe in the morning. You're going to put some stuff in your hair. I do this. But other people put stuff in their hair. You're going to put on some deodorant. You're going to...
What he's saying is in that process, one of the things that we do is we arm ourselves with this. We should care about the cross and have it so set in our minds that we should care about it as much as we care about our cell phone. You ever walk out of your house without your cell phone? You ever get in your car without your cell phone? And you're riding and all of a sudden you're like, I don't have my cell phone. And immediately you think, what if something happens?
And then you think, what if I get somewhere boring? That would be even worse. Like at first you think, what if there's like a situation? And second you're like, what will I do without Candy Crush? This is a real thing that I do and have done on a regular basis. I'm walking out of the house and I always do like a pocket check to like make sure I've got all my stuff.
So like usually like a pack of gum, my keys and my cell phone. I'll be on the phone talking to someone. I'll be closing my door and I'll be like... And I'll tell the person, hold on a second. Because I'm thinking, my cell phone's not in my pocket. And I'm going, where's my cell phone?
On multiple occasions. I'm not very smart. And then I'll say, and they'll go, what? And I'll go, oh, never mind. I'm good. I was holding it to my face.
It wasn't in my pockets. But you know how you feel? And so that's what he's saying. Arm yourselves with this. Like you should feel lost if we as Christians aren't armed with it. But he actually uses...
It's a violent term. So most of us don't carry weapons all the time. Some of us do. Welcome. Most of us don't carry weapons all of the time. Some of us carry them some of the time.
I think most of us can relate more to the cell phone thing. But he's actually using a violent term. He says, arm yourself with this. That actually when the chips hit the fan... Chips hit the fan. That's a weird game of poker.
When the feces and fan interface... How about that? When it all goes down, what do you reach for? What are you going back to? What are you defending yourself with? What are you armed with?
How are you protecting yourself? And he's saying, arm yourself with it. And what he's hinting us to... What he's cuing us in on is something that he already said earlier. He said it in... It's going to be on the screen.
He said it in chapter 2, verse 11. And... Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. So what we talked about when we studied that was that some of us are being absolutely destroyed by our own passions and our own sinfulness because we don't know that they're at war with us. And the only reason you wage war is to destroy us, to murder, or to enslave. And that's what our sinful passions are doing.
And as he goes through this list in a minute, he's going to talk about some of these sinful passions. He's going to mention things like sensuality, which is our desire to just fill up our senses. Our desire to specifically with sexual sin. To just feel good. He's going to talk about drunkenness. And really, you can see in those two sins specifically how they enslave.
They wage war against our soul and they enslave. It becomes the reason you wake up in the morning, the reason you go to work, the reason you want to earn a paycheck, the reason you want to hit the gym, the reason you want to, is just to pursue sexual sensuality. The reason you want a boyfriend or a girlfriend, the reason you use those apps that you use, the reason that you log on to the internet, is just to pursue that. And eventually, that becomes the main thing that drives your decision making. Same thing with alcohol. Now there's an appropriate way to approach sex inside the confines of marriage, and there's an appropriate way to approach alcohol.
But drunkenness is what he's going to mention. And I have seen it. And know that it starts off nice and then can absolutely enslave somebody. I've known a person that it began as, this is why they went to work, and then it became why they didn't go to work, and then it became why they did everything they did, and they've gotten down to drinking rubbing alcohol because it was the cheapest, best way to get drunk fast. It was all they could afford. And it enslaves us, and it wages war against us, and for the most part, we aren't even paying attention to it.
We aren't arming ourselves. And so what he says is, arm yourselves with the cross. And so here's what we do as Christians. We have our mind so protected and defended and set with the truth that Jesus suffered. And this is the main point of what we're talking about today. Jesus suffered and died so that you can be done with sin.
Jesus suffered and died so that we can be forever done with sin. See, he died so that we wouldn't have to be condemned because of our sin. We wouldn't have to pay the penalty of our sin. He died so that he could take the penalty, so that he could take the pain, so that he could take the destruction, the shame, the guilt. He died to forever remove that from us. He also died so that sin would no longer have to control us, have to enslave us, have to rule over us, have to murder us slowly.
He was murdered so that sin couldn't have that power over us anymore. And he also died so that one day we can all be welcomed to him. We can enter into his throne room where we will be judged, and we will be welcomed because the righteous died for the unrighteous, and we will spend eternity where there is no sin. Jesus died so that we could forever be done with sin. He suffered so that we could be done with sin. And as Christians, we are to arm ourselves with that truth.
That's what he says in chapter 2, verse 24. It's going to be on the screen as well. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed. Jesus suffered and died so that we could be done with sin, so that we could look at sin. We could look at our passions.
We could look at these things, and we could say, I no longer believe the lie that this will fill me up. I no longer have to be enslaved to the idea that work or a relationship or future married version of me will be perfect and happy and fulfilled. I no longer have to believe that nonsense. Jesus died so that I would no longer put something in his place, and he died so that I would no longer chase after cheap thrills that lie to me over and over again. He died so I could quit coming to empty well after empty well after empty well. He died so that I could be done with sin.
By his wounds, I have been set free. I have been healed, and I can follow after him in joy and peace. That's how we arm ourselves, so that we look at sin and say, Jesus suffered for this. He was crushed for this. How could I continue to pursue it? How could I continue to love this?
How could I walk in my sin and arrogantly say, well, it's okay for me to do this, or I know the Bible says that, but I'm just going to keep rocking up in this. I'm going to keep walking in this and act as if I don't understand that Jesus suffered to set me free. That we are to arm ourselves with the gospel and that our motivation is to be the gospel, and that's actually how we'll turn away from sin. We'll actually be able to turn away from sin because we're armed with the gospel, and so here's what he says. Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.
So as to live for the rest of time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. So the section where he says, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. I think he's paralleling Jesus' suffering that sets us free from sin and how as a Christian, when we suffer for doing good, when we suffer for righteousness, suffer physically, mentally, emotionally to follow after Jesus, it actually only further breaks sin's hold in our life. That actually, as Christians, when we suffer for doing what's right, it actually makes Jesus more beautiful, makes salvation more sweet, and sin more bitter.
It's just the way it works. So he's saying that as you suffer to follow, it actually begins to break sin hold on you. It actually helps you cease from sinning, so as to live for the rest of time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices, which just means it's enough, suffices for doing what the Gentiles, and when Peter uses that word, he just means people who don't know Jesus. He's assuming there's a difference in the thought process between Christians and people who aren't Christians. He's correct.
For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. For the time that has passed suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. Now, I love that that's in this letter. Because Peter's writing to the church, and you know what his assumption is? The church is made up of the righteous, of the unrighteous, that have trusted in Jesus the righteous to pay for their sins. So he's writing to the people.
Read that list again. Sensuality, which would be pursuing all things that gratify our senses, specifically sexual in nature. Passions, which is just our inordinate desires for anything that is above God. Drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. So drunkenness, which is getting drunk.
And then he includes drinking parties, which is getting drunk with friends. And lawless idolatry. And how many of us as Christians that describes college, that describes high school, that describes the past 15 years of your life. He's writing to the church and saying, I know who's here. I know it's the unrighteous who've been saved by the one who is righteous. And here's what he's saying.
That's enough. All the time that's in the past has sufficed. You don't ever have to go back to that again. Those empty wells, you don't have to return to them anymore. You can be free from that. If you're here today and that's what you're walking in, that's your life.
That's a good description. of your weekends. Welcome. We've got a lot of church family that that was a good description of their weekends and who have been rescued by Jesus and set free from those empty wells. I love that Peter includes that. And here's what he's saying. You're free.
That's enough of that. That doesn't have to be how your life looks anymore. The time that has passed sufficed. That's enough. Meaning you never have to return to that again. You can put it down because Jesus suffered for sin and you can arm yourself with the gospel because you've been set free.
Jesus suffered so that you can be done with sin. You can absolutely put it down and walk away. The time that has passed suffices. That's enough. And some of you today, that's exactly what you need to hear. That's enough.
As you walk with Jesus, that's enough. Yesterday, sufficed. You've had enough of it. You've gone to that empty well. Enough. It has promised you things that it would never fulfill.
It has promised you. It has lied to you. It has told you that the next time would be better. And that's enough. You can be set free. You can walk in freedom because Jesus suffered to set you free.
As I was thinking about this last week, I had this picture in my brain. And here's what I think this is for us as Christians when we follow after this. There was a couple and they were married, had been married a while, had tried to have children but couldn't. But they had a lot of joy with each other, had a lot of fun. Just one of those couples that when you hung out with them, they made you feel happy. They made you feel good just kind of being around.
They were also the type of couple that when they ate near you in a restaurant, they made you feel sad because they were obviously having more fun than you were. So it's that kind of couple. If you knew them, they made you happy. If you just saw them, you were like, all right. They were that. They had a lot of joy together.
They were real gracious to each other and they prayed about it and decided that they wanted to adopt a child. They felt like there was a good response as Christians to how God had adopted us and so they went through kind of the foster system and were able to adopt a child. And they got a nine-year-old boy, but he was nine, but he had matured quickly. He was keen. He was sharp because he had gone through some group homes and some orphanages and some foster care and he was kind of cold, kind of rough a little bit, kind of withdrawn a little bit and he had had to, throughout his life, eke out his own existence.
If he was going to have anything, he had to get it himself. If he was going to have anything that he owned, he was going to have to steal it. He was going to have to hide it. He was going to have to fight for it because of how his life had been and on multiple, multiple occasions, he had just had the rug pulled out from under him. Every time he had gotten in a situation that he thought was going to work, he thought was going to fulfill him, this was finally going to be the family, this was finally going to be it, he was going to have the happy ending, it had just been jerked out from under him.
And so they get a nine-year-old boy who is mentally much older than nine, emotionally much colder than any nine-year-old should be. They go through all the process and he's fully adopted. He's theirs. Changed his last name, he is forever theirs. And over time though, they begin to realize that things just, more food is missing than he actually probably eats. And things around the house just turn up missing every once in a while and when they have to correct him or discipline him, he just shuts down.
They can tell that he's living in fear that at some point this rug is going to get pulled out from under him and that he's consistently living in the belief that he's got to still eke out his own existence. They go to his room and sure enough, he's been hiding food, things that he thought wouldn't spoil, some things that he didn't know would spoil. His room doesn't smell so great. They find dinner rolls that have turned really hard, pieces of cheese. Pop-Tarts. He got a lot of Pop-Tarts in there.
And they sit him down and they explain to him, you don't have to live like this anymore. You don't have to steal things for you to have something. You don't have to swipe food off the table. You don't have to live in fear that the rug is going to be pulled out from under you. You don't have to consistently believe that you're going to have to fix your own situation, your hours, and your forever hours, and everything in this house belongs to you and we are not going to withhold any good thing from you. We're going to look out for your joy.
We're going to lead. We're going to discipline. But we're not going to withhold anything that actually will bring joy and life and hope to you. You don't have to steal food. You don't have to save money up on the off chance that we're going to kick you out. And the truth is, as Christians, as we consistently run back to those sins, we've been adopted, but we're still living like we're orphans.
We're still trying to steal from the table because we believe that God isn't going to give us what we need. We're going to continue to believe the lie that if we had a spouse, we'd be happier. Or if we didn't have this spouse, we'd be happier because we have a God who obviously isn't going to take care of our needs, who obviously is at some point going to jerk the rug out from us. We believe that when we sin, that's it, He might just get rid of us. And what Peter's saying is, you can actually put all of that down because you have a good Father and you've been forever adopted because Jesus already suffered for and paid for your sin.
Everything that needed to happen has already happened and you've been welcomed in. And that you no longer have to live like your life and your joy and your hope is up to you. And you no longer have to live like you're going to be the one who has to accomplish everything. You're free. You see, when we as Christians run back to the same old sins, what Peter's doing is the same thing that that family did where they sat him down and said, you don't have to do that anymore. We're not going to withhold anything from you.
And you don't have to try to steal it. We're going to provide everything and everything's already been accomplished to make you ours forever. So what he's not saying is get it together, prove yourself, do these things. It's not a list of house rules so that we can stay in the house. It's not what it is. It's not a do these things and then God will love you.
What it is, is absolutely Jesus Christ already suffered to set you free. How much more will he bless us and give us all things? How much more will he provide for us? How much more can he take care of us? And how on earth can we run back to and live as if we haven't been rescued, as if we haven't been redeemed, as if this honestly still holds promise for us because it does not. Our inheritance is forever held in Jesus.
Our hope is forever in Jesus. Our life and our joy is forever in Jesus. How on earth could we continue to walk in these things? All of the past up to yesterday suffices. You're free. That's what Peter's saying.
And then he says this, With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you. But they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. Basically what he says is, After you've been welcomed into the family, your behavior changes. After Jesus has paid for your sin, your behavior changes because your heart changes. And your friends who haven't been welcomed in, who haven't been rescued, think you're weird. And they make fun of you.
That's what he says. You don't join in anymore chasing after the same things and they go, Really? You're a Christian now? So you can be good now? Really, you're a Christian now so you don't know how to party anymore? Oh, really, you're a Christian now so you've forgotten how to have fun?
And they're absolutely confused but you have the hardest time explaining to them, It's not that. I know how to have fun. I'm not trying to be good to prove anything. I don't have anything to earn. I've been set free and I don't have to chase after this stuff anymore. It doesn't hold the same promises for me anymore.
And that's all he's saying is that your friends, after you become a Christian, sometimes, will tell you you're not fun anymore or that you've become a prude or that you're lame because they really don't understand what it's like to be adopted and welcomed into the family. And then he says, But they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead for this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead and this is confusing but it's actually not. It's just the way he says it. That though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.
So what he's saying is, again, in the flesh, he just means physically and when he says, this is why the gospel was preached even to those who were dead, what he doesn't mean is like they went to a graveyard and what he doesn't mean is that some spirit realm stuff. What he's saying is, this is why the gospel was preached to people who became Christians and then died. The word dead there, they have a couple different words for dead which we don't so that would be helpful but this one just means corpse. People who were preached to and are now physically dead. What he's saying is this, the gospel says you're going to be given life and you're going to be given eternal life but it doesn't mean Highlander which is one of the greatest movies the world has ever known.
What it doesn't mean is that you will become immortal and live forever. Peter's not still walking around waiting for someone to like cut off his head like whichever one how it would work anyway because it wouldn't even be Highlander. You wouldn't be able to die. What he's saying is, it's not that. We are all going to be judged in the flesh physically the way people are. We are all going to die because of our sin but because of Jesus we can actually have life eternally in the spirit the way God does.
We can live eternally after death. So what he's saying is this is why the gospel was preached to people who became Christians and then still got cancer. Who became Christians and then still had an accident who became Christians and then still got really, really old and took their last breath. This is why the gospel was preached to everyone because our hope isn't that we'll live life eternally here but that our hope is that we'll live life eternally with God the way that God lives. That's what he's saying. That we'll be made alive forever because Jesus paid the penalty for our sin.
That we'll all be judged. Every single one of us will give an account. Think about that for a second. How many of you would like to go to your mother and give an account for your life? How many of you would like to go to your spouse and give an account for your life? How many of you would like to stand up here and give an account?
My guess is one of you and you need to repent of your self-righteousness. You need Jesus. All of us will stand before the King and our life will be laid bare. Every intention of our heart, every reason we did a good thing just so someone could see how good we are. You ever been in the middle of doing something good and thought, man, I'm awesome. Do you know how messed up that is?
Look at how good a husband I'm being right now. I bet people can see it. Let me smile real good. Look at my wife like this. I do that mess all the time. I'm way nicer when people are watching me.
And we're going to lay our intentions bare. We're going to lay our hearts out before God and here's what's going to happen. He's going to judge all of those right now who are alive and He's going to judge all of those who in the past have died and everything's going to be laid bare and we're going to give an account. And the one thing that is going to matter is who's going to pay for your sin? Who's going to suffer for your rebellion? Either you or Jesus.
Either He's going to die so that you can be made alive or you are going to be forever destroyed for consistent rebellion against the Holy God. Those are the two options and here's what's true for Christians and for everyone who will place faith in Jesus. He's already paid the penalty. He's already suffered. He's already died so that we can be done with sin. So that we can stand before God and our sin as it is laid bare only proclaims how beautiful the gospel is.
Only proclaims how good Jesus is. Our sin as it is tallied up as it is read before the King only works to provide proof that Jesus is glorious and He is good and He is a Savior and He is righteous and He died for the unrighteous. When they roll out my account all I will be able to do is praise Jesus that I don't have to stand condemned for my sins because He stood condemned for my sins. I can arm myself now with the cross because later it is the only defense I will have is that my sin has already been paid for. My debt has already been paid and I can be set free from the penalty and the condemnation and I can right now walk in life no longer going to an empty well after empty well but I can be free to know that my hope and my foundation and my identity is secured because everything has already been done on my behalf to welcome me into the family and I no longer have to steal from the table and I no longer have to eke out my own existence but that I can put on the cross and I know that one day when I stand before the righteous judge it is the only thing I'll put forward.
That's what Peter is saying. That we can be made alive because Jesus was murdered. That we can be set free from sin because he suffered for it and that one day we can stand before the judge and know that's the only thing we put forward. Absolutely I deserve to be destroyed but Jesus the righteous died for the unrighteous and he swapped places with me. The band's going to come back up and we're going to praise God. We're going to make much of Jesus that we get to be set free from sin and some of you in here today are not Christians and that passage rightly describes the goal of your life.
Some of you aren't Christians but the goal of your life has been to prove to everyone how good you are. To prove to everyone how much you can behave. That you will one day believe that you will stand before the righteous king and you'll say look at how good I've been look at how much I've served look at how nice I've been and you will be declared guilty. I'm begging you to place your faith in Jesus. To arm yourself with the fact that Jesus suffered for you and have that be your defense and that be your shield and that be your hope and to no longer run back to the things that lie to you. There's some people here who are Christians but you keep going back to the empty wells.
Yesterday sufficed. Because Jesus has died on your behalf sin no longer has to enslave you. You have a new king who already went to war on your behalf so that your passions no longer have to wage war against your soul. And today is a beautiful day to repent and to trust once again fully and forever in Jesus and to say I no longer want to believe that this will fill me up and I no longer want to believe that my hope will be found here and I no longer want to place my joy and my identity in popularity and I no longer want to place my joy and my identity in the future married version of me or the future unmarried version of me.
And I no longer want to place my joy and my identity in a relationship and I no longer want to place my joy and my identity in work. I want to live the rest of my life for your will and I need your help and I need the cross. I'd invite you to begin praying that right now. Jesus, I need your help and I need the cross. Let's pray.
God, we need your help and we need the cross and we thank you that because you suffered we can be made alive. And we thank you that because you suffered we can live our lives for your glory and for your name and for your will that we've been welcomed into your house where all good things are provided and we no longer have to run back to the empty things that lie to us. And God, we praise you for your goodness and for the joy that you've set before us through the cross and through the gospel. And God, I ask that your Holy Spirit would help Christians to repent and to quit believing lies. God, I pray that you would help them to see right now so clearly how empty the well is and how full you are.
And God, I pray that for those who haven't actually placed their faith in you that you would grab them and you would adopt them and you would change their name and you would make them yours. In Jesus' name, Amen. I want to invite you guys to stand and sing with us. In light of what we've just read and what we've just talked about, if you need to spend some time just praying and repenting, I would invite you to do that. And if you, once you repent of your sin, you get to praise Jesus and sing because you've been made alive in Him that all Christians get to celebrate that and that's what we're going to sing.
The Righteous for the Unrighteous
1 Peter 3:18-22
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet Phillips. I'm one of the pastors here. We are in our series. We've been walking through our Misfits series where we're just going through the book of 1 Peter. And we've been studying each passage as we come to it and just walking straight through the book.
And what we've been trying to see is Peter was writing to a group of believers in the Roman Empire where they were just kind of a minority. They were mostly non-Jewish believers, so they didn't have a huge background when it came to the Bible. But they had placed faith in Jesus, and he's just writing to them saying, Hey, you're going to look different. You're not going to quite fit in now with your culture. And just trying to help them see what that means. To not be angry at culture, to not be mad at the city around them, but to love, to serve, to submit to authority, to suffer for the name of Jesus, and to suffer when people mocked them and reviled them, and to not return that, but to just be gracious and loving.
So that's kind of the letter he's been writing, and we've been walking through it. Now, when we come to this passage today, one of the things we like about just studying straight through books of the Bible is that you get the context, so you kind of see what came after. You kind of know where you are as you walk through it. The other thing that we like is that it doesn't allow us to skip things that would otherwise we just probably wouldn't just pull out to teach. The passage we're looking at today is possibly the most confusing passage in the entire Bible. There are commentaries that are just kind of like, nah.
Like, I don't really know what this is saying. Like, there's just, if you look, like, I've spent some time reading some different thinkers, theologians, people who write commentaries, and they're all over the place with how you could understand this. They don't agree with each other. There are parts where they kind of, some of them will just say, here are your options, and that's kind of what we're going to do today. And so as we walk through this passage, I don't want us to miss the main things that Peter is saying, because all that, the part is confusing is an illustration he's giving. And so he, they say that if you make an illustration and you have to explain your illustration, you have to explain your analogy, you didn't do a good job with it.
And that's kind of the case we have here. And I think some of it has to do with our cultural distance. Maybe they understood what he was talking about. We do not know what he's talking about. There are some options. And so I get myself in trouble this way.
I make up analogies all the time on the spot, and sometimes it's helpful. But every once in a while, I'll just throw one out in the middle of a discussion, trying to prove a point. And then, like, you get way too focused on the analogy. So it's like, people are like, yeah, but who, wait, okay, so I'm a tree? It's like, well, you're not, like, but what about, like, in the fall when all the leaves fall off? It's like, okay, quit thinking about the tree.
I was just trying to make a point, and the tree illustration was terrible. Let's move on from there. And so that's kind of what's happened here. Paul, Peter gives an illustration that we can get really focused on and miss the point of what he's saying. And so we're going to kind of try to pay attention to the main things. We will address that section.
And when we get there, we're going to do something a little bit differently than we usually do. We're going to talk a little bit about how to even just handle confusing passages. So instead of just walking through, usually we just read it and talk about what it means. Since we really don't know what it means, we're going to talk a little bit about what do we do with passages that we don't know what they're talking about? Just kind of coach us up so that in our own personal reading, we're a little more prepared, and then we'll kind of talk about our options. So let's pray, and then we'll be in 1 Peter 3.
It's on page 657, if your Bible looks like this. And we'll start in verse 18. But we're going to pray, and then we'll hop in. God, we just thank you for the opportunity that we had to get up early on the first day of the week and to gather as your people to learn more about you and to sing, God, hopefully not just singing, but reminding ourselves of what is true, reminding ourselves of what you've done for us, and genuinely worshiping you. And so, God, we praise you for the opportunity, and we pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would lead us today as we study your word. In Jesus' name, amen.
Okay, so, again, the section that's confusing is a little bit later. He says some absolutely breathtaking things about the gospel, and so that's where we're going to start first, and this is really his main point. So he just uses the confusing thing to illustrate his point, which makes it not very helpful. But here's his main point, 18. That is why we planted a church. That is why Peter wrote this letter.
That's why the church exists. If you are here and it's your first time hanging out, maybe your friend talked you into coming, or you're just kind of checking out this whole Jesus thing, that's it. That is the point. That's the point of the Bible. That's the point of why we gather together. That's why you will see grown people singing to Jesus.
That as far as our culture is understanding, it was a Jewish guy who died 2,000 years ago. That is why you will see people change their lives to follow him. It's that sentence right there. That's the point. So if you're just kind of zoning in on this Jesus thing, just hanging out for the first time, just trying to check out what this is about, that's what it's about.
And so we're going to walk back through that one verse a couple of times to really help us understand what Peter just said. Because it is the point. It is what the Bible is about. It is why we gather together this morning. For Christ, that's Jesus, also suffered. Once for sins.
Okay. We know about suffering for sin, right? You lie and you get caught. You steal, you get caught. You cheat, you get caught. You run your mouth and you get punched in your mouth.
Like we know about suffering for sin. Like we understand that sin leads to difficulty, trouble, suffering, pain, that it does. That the things that we complain about is sin. The reason that racism is such an issue and causes such pain is that it's sin. We know that sin causes suffering. And so what it says is that Jesus suffered for sin.
But then his suffering, it's about to tell us, is wholly different from ours. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous. The righteous for the unrighteous. And we don't use those words very much. It could be the just for the unjust. The good for the bad.
The righteous just means that has right standing. Has good standing. It's actually, it could be a legal term. So we use the terms guilty and not guilty. So if you go to court, you committed a crime.
The evidence is overwhelming. And you would be guilty. The judge, if he's a good judge, will declare you guilty. Or the jury, if it's a good jury, will declare you guilty. And if you get off, like if you, the evidence isn't overwhelming or you didn't commit the crime, all they declare you is not guilty. Which is just to say, you don't believe you're innocent.
You just couldn't prove that you're guilty. So not guilty. But the word here, righteous and unrighteous, actually means innocent. Blameless. Pure. Holy.
Which holy means set apart, completely other good. And so what this says is that the righteous, the good, the holy, the blameless, the pure, the upright. It's talking about Jesus. Jesus is the one human who walked on the face of the earth, who deserves honor, who deserves praise, who deserves for people to bow to him, to follow him, who deserves to be king of everything, who can walk into the throne room of the eternal, magnificent, living God, and be welcomed. That's what righteous means. That he would stand in God's court before God's bench of judgment and be declared innocent, welcomed, blameless, faultless.
The righteous, Jesus, for the unrighteous. Unrighteous means guilty. The evidence is overwhelming. It means bad and wicked and weak and dirty. It means those who have lied, who have stolen, who have cheated, who are addicted to pornography, who have spent their entire life, every second of every day, trying to get people to just notice them and appreciate them and to love them. It means the selfish.
It means the petty. It means the angry. It means the small. The ones that would walk into God's courtroom before the throne room of the king and would be declared guilty and deserving of punishment and pain and death. That Jesus, the righteous, died for the unrighteous. And this is why we're here today.
That's what the church is. This is a beautiful gathering of the unrighteous. That what we brought to the table was nothing but our own sin. That what we bring before God is not our morality, our religion, our good behavior. We're not here to check off boxes so that at the end of our days we can stand before God and say, look! Look at all that we did for you.
Look at all the things I did in your name. Look at all the times that I served you. Look at all the times that I stood in that group of people early in the morning and sang songs and waved my hands. Look at it. Look at the stuff I did. You owe me.
Look at all the times I wanted to sin and didn't. Look at all the times I just sat at my house on a Saturday and behaved myself. You owe me. No. This is a gathering of the people who have sin, who have pain, who have brokenness. You see, the Bible says that the God of the universe created the world to be good.
To exist. That humans were to exist in a relationship with Him and in good relationships with other humans. That humans were to exist in a good relationship with Him and in good relationships with other humans. And that humanity rebelled. And we wanted to be the center of everything. And from this comes selfishness, racism, bigotry, hatred, theft, anger, murder, bitterness, pettiness, the desire to be esteemed as more important than other people.
That humanity is messed up, unrighteous, and when we enter into the courtroom of God, we would be declared guilty. And so what Peter just said should blow our minds. Christ also suffered, took pain, took punishment, took death, took wounds, took blows, nailed to a cross, once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous. People will tell you that if they've been to the Grand Canyon, you'll have people tell you that they just stood on the edge of this giant hole in the earth and they could not speak. That they stood over this canyon and just had no words because it blew the synapses in their brain because they did not know they could see something this big or this beautiful.
People who grew up in the middle of the United States and the first time as an adult they get to stand and see the ocean. They've seen pictures of it, they've seen it in movies, and they stand and see the ocean and there's just this, it's different than I thought. It's more captivating than I thought. There's a, when astronauts go into space and they see the earth for the first time and it's just this tiny ball hanging in the midst of nothing. And they talk about how small and how frail and how weak they realize how, how infinitely unimportant humanity is. Because everything we worry about and fight for is often the distance on this tiny little speck of rock floating through this vast nothingness that we can't even measure and every time we try to it gets bigger.
That's how we ought to feel when we look at this scripture. When we see this text, we ought to see and be so overwhelmed by what that says. That the righteous suffered for the unrighteous. It should, the weight of that should bear down on us with such beauty and such magnificence that we can't even think straight. If we stood in a courtroom for the Boston bomber and the families were arrayed around the room waiting for the sentence to come through and the judge gets the sentence from the jury and he says, I declare you guilty. Take him away.
And if one of the fathers of one of the children that had been crippled or killed in that bombing stood up and said, I'll take his sentence. Let him go free. And the judge said, I accept your deal and looked at the bomber and said, you're free to go. Immediately, we feel this sense of that's not right. That's not fair. That's messed up.
That shouldn't happen. And we read this text about the God of the universe suffering on our behalf and we have the potential to just walk right over it. When we are so small that if one worm can pile up more dirt or more dung, he feels better and superior to all the other worms and if he humbles himself just a little bit, he feels like all the other worms should notice it. He feels like everyone should praise him for his humility and we have the eternal, magnificent, glorious, holy, blameless, upright, loving, generous, gracious, righteous, beautiful God of the universe who humbles himself, lives perfectly as we ought to have, loves perfectly and dies perfectly in our place for our sin.
The righteous for the unrighteous. And we gather here today because we are unrighteous, unrighteous, not because we deserve something, not because we're moral, not because we're religious, not because we're good. We are here today to declare definitively that we need Jesus. That we need someone righteous to step into our place and here's what happens when the righteous died for the unrighteous. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. Jesus Christ who could walk into the throne room of God, who could stand before the judgment bench of the great high king, the eternal, glorious God who spoke the world into existence.
Jesus Christ who could walk in and be welcomed and favored and loved as a son, swapped places with us, who could only walk in in front of God and be declared guilty and have blame and weight weighed down on us because we have actively partaken in the rebellion of his good creation. We have actively been a part of making the world worse through our own selfishness, through our own pettiness, through our own abuse, through our own anger, through our own small-minded weakness, through our own dirtiness, we have actively participated in making his creation worse. And we who could only walk in and be declared guilty, Jesus Christ swapped places with us so that the great high king of the universe declared Jesus guilty and he suffered so that we can walk, and we read it earlier, with boldness into the throne room of grace. You see, the throne room of the king of the universe to Christians is a throne room of grace where it used to be a throne room of judgment, where we used to have had to walk in and been declared unrighteous.
We get to be declared righteous because Jesus Christ swapped places with us and that is why we are here this morning. And that is why we exist as a church. And that is why we go out of our way to love and to serve others and to go out of our way to gather in groups and to have more people invited in because we're not inviting them to come behave. We're not inviting them to come be good. We're not inviting them to come act like us and be like us so that God can love them. We're inviting them to be numbered with the unrighteous and to have someone who is righteous take their place so that the God of the universe suffered so that we don't have to.
He was abused so that abusers could be welcomed. He was hated so that we could be loved. He was cast out so that we could be brought in. Jesus Christ suffered as the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God. Don't miss that. God it's difficult for us to even imagine the disparity between us and God.
It is unfathomable how humble he was in being made unrighteous for our sake. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says that God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God so that those who are unrighteous can stand before God and be blameless and holy and welcomed and loved. And that's good news. If it was something else we wouldn't be here. I sure wouldn't be. If the invitation was come be good come behave come be religious come memorize some stuff come prove your worth the invitation is come you who are unrighteous you who are small you who are weak you who are broken who don't have it all together come gather together as my people because I paid your debt.
Come gather together in joy and in love be welcomed as a child of the king because your debt has been paid. And that's what we get to celebrate today. Okay. So Peter just said something completely and utterly glorious and captivating and breathtaking and then he illustrates it with something completely obscure and confusing. Transitioned right into some point that maybe made sense to his original hearers and we in the United States in the 21st century have no clue what he's talking about. So here's what we're going to do.
We're going to read it. I'm going to point out to you why it is confusing. Then we're going to talk a little bit about how to handle confusing passages. Then we're going to talk about some of the options that we have what Peter could be saying. And then we're going to finish out with what his illustration was intending to to make and the main point again so that we don't forget. For Christ also suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit in which or as such or by whom it can be translated a couple different ways in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formally did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through water baptism which now corresponds to this now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through water baptism which now corresponds to this now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Okay so the most confusing parts here that could kind of go either way and there's a lot of little options of how this could play out are being put to death in the flesh but made alive
In the spirit in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formally did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah. So it could be because it could also be when when they formally did not obey. Okay spirits in prison Jesus died in the flesh and then in the spirit went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison and so there's a lot of questions about
Who the spirits in prison are. I feel like Peter probably when people die and they go to heaven and they meet Peter like Peter oh my goodness you're Peter this is so great I got one question for you and he's like spirits in prison yes I just assume he's got eternity he can take the time to explain what he was intending when he said that but we don't know so that's kind of
The confusing part of this and there's some different options that we have but first when it comes to confusing passages because if you read your Bible there are confusing passages there are things that we don't understand there are things that we didn't really know what he meant when they said it like you read stuff and it's just confusing so here are basic steps for I just read something that's confusing in the Bible step one pray
God through the Holy Spirit authored scripture and if you're a Christian and you're reading the Bible the Holy Spirit is in you leading you so just take a second time out and pray I do this a good bit where I'm just like Lord that was confusing I have no clue what you meant I'm going to read it again if you want me to know help me understand if not good talk I'm moving on and so that's an okay thing to do don't be completely
Sold out on what you if you pray and read it again don't be completely that's exactly what it was because but just pray ask ask for wisdom and clarity second thing ask what is the cultural context all that means is who's writing to whom are they writing what are they writing about because it matters
Peter is writing to a group of Christians in Rome after the death burial and resurrection of Jesus which is different from the prophet Isaiah which is different from Ezekiel which is different from some of the writers of the Psalms it's a different context it's a different group of people it's a different time in history so just know a little bit about who who are we writing to is this to Christians
Is this to not Christians is this to people who need to know about Jesus people who don't know about Jesus is this to just write down some history so know a little bit about the context we're going to talk a little bit about our context here in a minute know the immediate context which just means don't just look at that one verse read what comes before it and what comes after it so we do this all the time
In political debates they'll be like this guy said this really inflammatory thing but then if you actually hear what he said before it or afterwards you're like oh less inflammatory although it sounded really offensive to women the first time made more sense in context and then you got some people in the political realm like George Bush that even in context
You don't know what he was talking about and he did say practice their love with women and it's just like this was weird why did you say that regardless of the context but you want to read what comes before it what comes after it you want to understand what he's talking about how it fits in the context of that passage that chapter that whole book and then you just want to know what you want to ask what does the rest
Of scripture say so this has helped by reading the bible more but okay a couple of things he says in this passage that Jesus went and proclaimed to spirits in prison that can't be that he gave a second chance of salvation to people who are already dead because there are multiple places in the bible where that is obviously not the case it says that baptism now saves you
It can't be that being dunked in water now saves you if that were the case we would always have the baptismal set up and we would trick people and we would bring them here and then five of us would grab them and slam their head in the water and we'd be like you'll thank us later now hang around we got ice cream afterwards like we would it can't be that
Because the bible is really clear in other places that that's not the case and he even clarifies it some in the passage so what's the rest of the bible say and then lastly you want to ask what do other people say now pay careful attention that does not say what does the internet say I realize it's other people typing things into the internet
That isn't just helpful so don't just google it don't go to yahoo answers when you have a bible question like it's helpful to have a handful of people that you trust now yeah you can absolutely use the internet because there's some really good resources if you have some questions about some good ones where they're
Pretty faithful people there's some different ones like the gospel coalition you can go to desiring God which is John piper macarthur's got some stuff where you just got some free commentaries of people who are pretty faithful read the bible a lot and then read a couple of them just to kind of see
What are other people saying so if you come to a really hard conclusion on something it's helpful to then look a little bit and see what other people say okay so we're going to kind of walk through this process today so first thing is to
Pray and so we'll pray again just to practice God we thank you that we get to study your word together and we pray Lord that you just give us wisdom and clarity as we study through this and help this be
Helpful as we study your word that we might all grow together in Jesus name amen cultural context one of the only things I think is helpful is peter's writing to christians in asia minor
He's going to he talks about noah they knew that story so much so such a popular story that even within about a hundred years of peter's writing there is a coin that has caesar on one side
And noah and his wife and an ark on the other side it's a very popular story and so peter it wasn't necessarily popular in that they knew the actual Genesis account but the story
Was popular because it had come kind of down through history to them because it was an actual event and they told this story and they had different point he's taking
Their already known knowledge to make a point kind of like I'll be talking to people sometimes we're talking about people have questions about satan periodically we'll actually get to
Study more about him in a couple weeks because Peter brings him up one of the things I'll say to people is that Satan and
Jesus is not like the dark side versus the light side it's not Luke versus Vader it's way people already know 100 200 years
From now people are going to be like Vader Bambi Godzilla what on earth is he talking about and some of you are like Star Wars
Will never die take it easy but there's this level of what point is he making and so he's tapping into something they already
Knew that we actually just because we're not in the cultural context don't know what he's talking about Noah so he's just kind of
Saying hey you're being faithful in the midst of a culture that's not you're a minority and people think you're crazy let me make
This point so that's kind of the context he's talking about suffering for doing well for being right and so that's kind of the
Immediate context and then as we go through we'll talk about some other places in the the I'm going to give us two options
That I think are okay the more I've studied it the more I've begun to like one over the other but we'll kind of
Look at two of them and then in our groups we're going to look at more of a bunch of smart people who say really
Good stuff except for Calvin who's very smart says some of the most confusing things about it and so Martin Luther even who helped
Start the reformation when he comes to this passage what he says I'll read this quote because Martin Luther is really smart and he translated the Bible
Into German from Latin and so he's a highly intelligent person this is what he says a wonderful text is this and a more
Obscure passage perhaps than any other in the New Testament so that I do not could be this if someone else thought it was
This that would be okay too and then moves right along like he does exactly what we're going to do today which is could
Be this could be that let's go to the main point so okay here's one of the options it could be okay so we're
Going to go through and just kind of teach it as this option and we'll go back and teach it again for Christ also
Suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but
Made alive in the spirit it could be that Jesus Christ died on Friday on good Friday and then was made alive in the
Spirit prior to his resurrection on Sunday made alive in the spirit in which so in the spirit prior to his bodily resurrection went
And proclaimed to the spirits in prison that could be shield which would be the old testament kind of holding place for people who
Died and it was kind of split into two parts the pit and paradise but it was a place for those who hell has
Not been created yet that shows up in Revelation the eternal fire the lake of fire that's later there's actually Hades or Sheol which
Is a holding place a prison a pit and paradise Jesus mentions it in Luke where he talks about the parable of Lazarus and
The rich man so there's some sort of connection but they can't cross over but they can talk to each other it's also called
Abraham's side so it's this place where faithful people who had trusted that God would provide a way for their sin in the Old
Testament were held not in the presence of God because their sin had not yet been paid for and Jesus goes and proclaims the
Gospel and his victory over those who are held in prison which spirits could be demons or people could be just demons could be
Just fallen angels could be just people could be both proclaims his victory and then takes the people to God's side which would make
Sense of Colossians where it says he led a host of captives so he took the people who had been being held to the
Presence of God when he rose so their sin has been paid for now he proclaims the gospel takes him with there some issues
With that but that could be a faithful understanding of what he says the other option which I have started liking more is this
In which so by the spirit so he was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit in which he
Went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because which could also be when when they formerly did not obey when God's patience waited
In the days of Noah and then he immediately goes into talking about the days of Noah so here's what it could be and
This makes sense with some of the other things Peter says it could be that he is saying that Jesus Christ through the Holy
Spirit proclaimed through Noah to Noah's contemporaries and so he's just illustrating Noah and saying that it was Jesus who spoke through Noah in
Noah's day which makes sense lines up with what he says in chapter one where he says Noah was a herald of righteousness which
Means that he proclaimed the good news and so what he's saying is that it would be like if I said that's what I
Told Mike who's in prison back when he wouldn't listen to nobody when we was on the streets together that's kind of what he's
Saying it's like they're in prison now but he told them then when they wouldn't listen back when they were disobedient so they're there
Now he's telling you who he's talking about but he's saying that Jesus Christ spoke through Noah then and then what he's saying is
The same spirit that spoke through Jesus the same spirit that was in Noah is also in you church and you get to be
A minority like Noah was and proclaim the gospel like Noah did in the midst moving on from the confusing part if you're still
Confused so is everybody else in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formally did not obey when God's
Patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely
Through water baptism which corresponds to this so baptism which kind of lines up with Noah now saves you not as a removal of
Dirt from the body so he says not just by getting wet but that's why we don't trick people into dunking but which would
Be easier if we were Methodist because you probably could just squirt them in the face but we have to get them all the
Way wet sorry but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ so what he's saying is
That your baptism where you were baptized and you said that I've placed my faith in Jesus in the resurrection is similar to Noah
Who got in the ark placing his faith in God so here's the illustration he's making Noah seemed like a weirdo had to have and that was
A main part of the story the way they told it was that he was telling people a flood is coming and they were
Saying good talking to you weirdo similar to your friends who say the only people who know about this the government don't want you
To know about it FEMA don't want you know about it NASA don't want you to know about it the only the internet really
Just the internets good talking to you weirdo similar to that here's what here's what Noah was saying to people God told me to
Build an ark what's an ark it's like a big boat bigger it's like a boat bigger there's no water around here there's going
To be lots of it see them mountains yep won't be able to see them they're going to be gone okay what are you going to
Do with the ark put lots of animals on it my wife and boys can I get on the ark nope maybe I don't know
We can ask God he's going to build the ark what are going to do with animals keep them why because they drowned otherwise these
Are the conversations he had to be having and he was a herald of righteousness so what he was saying was there's a flood coming get
Ready and people were like quit weirdo what are you going to do in the ark float around does it have oars no does it have
A sail no you going anywhere nowhere to go there won't be any land what are you going to do if you're hungry I
Reckon I ought to bring some extra animals that's a good thought I'll ask how long are going to be up there not a
Clue flood going to go away probably these are the and he's he's being faithful by looking like a complete weirdo to his culture
And what Peter's saying is hey God saved eight people out of the entire population of the earth and those eight people look like
Weirdos and you're Christians in the midst of this culture that ask you all these questions why on earth are you doing that you sound
Like my grandma you're doing what with your money you got bills to pay hold a second because you love Jesus you're not allowed
To touch your girlfriend Jesus sounds terrible wait wait wait wait you're going to stay in this Job that's terrible that you hate because you've built relationships
With people and you want to tell them about Jesus you got a Job for a promotion but you're not moving why you're doing
What with your life you're doing what with your major you and Peter is writing to them and saying you look like weirdos and
Sometimes that's what God's doing he's grabbing a small bunch of weirdos because that's his plan and your baptism where you were covered in
Water and you appealed to God through the resurrection is now your hope and so what you say to people as a Christian people
Looked at Noah and said you're doing what because of what I'm building a giant wooden thing that's going to float because all the water
Is coming I've said this to you three times you're doing what you're confessing sin because of what because 2000 years ago God became
A human and he died on a cross but he didn't stay the fact that there is a tomb that does not have a
Body in it Peter saying you look weird you sound weird your decisions are weird and God is faithful and good and your hope
In Jesus is the same as Noah's hope in the ark you know what was beautiful about the ark they climbed on the ark
God closed the door they had no rows no sails they were to float until God changed the circumstances everybody on earth has something
That they're placing their hope in Christians have all climbed into the resurrection baptism which corresponds to this now saves you not as a removal
Of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who has gone
Into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels authorities and powers having been subjected to him Christians have all said
My only hope is in the resurrection that the God of the universe who was righteous died for me who was unrighteous and that
He rose from the grave and now I have hope and life and that's what I'm banking everything on my only appeal is to
The resurrection my only hope is in the fact that Jesus Christ died and didn't stay dead I'm not hoping in my morality I'm
Not hoping in my religion I'm not hoping in my ability to keep it together I'm not hoping in my ability to be good
Or to love well or to serve well I am unrighteous Jesus is righteous and when I was baptized I placed all of my
Hope in the resurrection that he rose again and stands before the king on my behalf so that I have hope and I don't
Have oars I don't have a sail I'm floating around hoping only in Jesus that's it I saw recently because of this Kim Davis
Stuff in Kentucky there was a meme it was a picture of her face and off to the side it had all this stuff
That she's done so it because Jesus and what they were saying was the people who made it was look at how terrible this
Person is and everything is okay because of Jesus and I thought what a beautiful proclamation of the gospel you could put my face on
That meme and you could list out all this nonsense and at the bottom you could say that's okay because Jesus that is why
We're here that is the hope that we have that there was one person who was good and he was murdered for it and
Every other person deserves to be destroyed and we have hope and life and joy if we place our faith in him and in the
Midst of looking crazy we don't have to care because our hope is in Jesus and only Jesus forever Isaac Matt and Raz are going to come
Back up and we're going to praise Jesus because our hope is forever in the resurrection and if you're here today and you have
Not placed your faith in Jesus we would invite you to have a meme that's your face written in eternity that has a giant
List of all of the things that make you unrighteous and at the bottom say but that's okay because Jesus we would invite you to be numbered
With the unrighteous who have been made righteous solely by the blood of Jesus and have hope eternally because he lives eternally that's the hope that we have that's why we're here today
That the magnificent glorious eternal king swapped places with worms that brag about how much dirt they own that he took our punishment so that we could have a place at the table with the God
Of the universe that Jesus Christ suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God and if you're a Christian today
Remember your only hope is not in your Job your only hope is not in how well your marriage works out your only hope is not in your kids it's not in success it's not
In money it's not in being comfortable it's not being able to retire when you're 50 your hope is forever grounded in the resurrection of Jesus
That you have climbed into the resurrection God has shut the door and we get to float with no ability to control anything other than have our hope set firmly in Jesus and people are going to think you're weird
And that's normal and we invite you to come be messed up with us to be broken with us to be weak with us and to place all of our faith in Jesus Father
We thank you God I thank you that we can't even wrap our minds around that one small verse but God I thank you that
That's what the Bible is about I thank you that that's the news that is proclaimed by you not come behave not come be
This type of person not come earn it but come rest and come hope and come rest fully and forever in the resurrection that
Your sin has been paid for and God I thank you that that changes our hearts God I thank you that you died for
The unrighteous otherwise none of us would be welcomed in I thank you that that means we can't out send you and we can't out run
You and that we don't have to keep it together because you died for the unrighteous so we're forever welcome because when we sin and when
We fall short and when we're weak and when we go back to that thing we've run back to for the millionth time we're still just unrighteous
And the unrighteous that you God the holy and good God died for we thank you we praise you in Jesus name amen