Worry and Anxiety
Transcript
Well, good morning. My name's Jeff, one of the pastors here. Grab your Bibles, let's go to Philippians chapter 4. We'll be in Philippians chapter 4. That's on page 637, if you have a blue and white Bible. Today is our last week of our Killjoy series where we've been spending some time taking, taking some time to look at different things in our lives that just rob us of joy.
As Christians, those who follow Jesus, we've been given joy, been given life in Christ, and we have just some things that kind of play with us that we've gotten used to. And so today we're going to be talking about worry and anxiety, and we've kind of flipped this morning, so we're going to spend a little bit of time, but we're going to come out and spend a little time praying and singing, and so we wanted to have time for that, so I'm getting started this morning. And so we're going to get to Philippians in a second, but it's going to take us a second to get there, because I want to kind of lay the framework for us so that we can all kind of approach it the same way and know exactly what we're talking about when we're talking about worry and anxiety. We're going to use those terms interchangeably today as we walk through, and I realize that there's four of us.
We have things to actually be worried about, actually to be anxious over. So let's say, you know, it starts off, maybe you're in high school, and so you begin to, should I go out for a sport? If I go out for a sport, will I make the team? If I make the team, will I actually get to play? If I get to play, will I be any good? Will we win?
Should I ask somebody to a date? Should I go to that party? What should I wear? How's my hair? Do I smell okay? Like there's things to be concerned about.
Maybe it's not just kind of the social stuff, but you're like, should I, when I graduate, should I go to school? Should I get a job? If I go to school, where should I go? How many schools, how many colleges should I apply to? Because I really want to apply to enough so that I get into one, but not so many that I have to apply a lot. Like I don't want to have to write a bunch of essays.
So how much do I do that? Am I going to graduate? When do I graduate? What am I going to do? Let's say you go to college.
You do get into a school. Let's say maybe a couple of schools told you you could come. So now it's like, okay, I've got to figure out which one to go to. But you pick one, you go to college, then it's like, okay, well, am I going to make any friends here? How's that going to go? Should I go to that party?
Should I invite someone to the party? Should I go to the party and try to find someone there to invite to something else? Should I date? How's my hair? Do I smell okay? Like there's, you go back through some of this stuff.
What, I've got to pick a major, and I have an exam this weekend, or the end of this week, and it's in chemistry. Maybe I'll wait until after that exam to pick a major because it might pick for me. Like if I fail that, not chemistry. I'll pick something else. If you begin to try to think, what am I going to do when I graduate? Am I here to get a degree and find a job?
Am I here to find someone to marry? Am I going to get married? Do I smell okay? Like there's going to be, like you continually kind of have things to worry about. Let's say you do start dating.
Let's say you do graduate. When I graduate, are we going to get married? Am I going to start a job? Where? What kind of Job? Am I going to make enough money?
Do I go to graduate school? No, I'm tired of school. So I'm going to start a job. Find one. Finally find one. Let's say you do decide to get married.
Let's say you're in that spot. So you go to get married. Now you've got all some other stuff to be concerned about. How did I move in with one other person and suddenly our expenses tripled? How did that happen? How is that how math works?
Are we going to be able to pay our bills? Is my job going to be good enough? Am I going to do a good enough Job? Am I going to get promoted to it? Can I stay in this job for a long time? Is this a career?
Is this a job? Maybe if you've been married for a while and this is kind of you start thinking of, should we have children? Can we have children? Will we be able to get pregnant? If we get pregnant, will that work out? If it does work out and we have a baby, will that work out?
Will we be able to keep a baby alive? If we do keep it alive, what happens when it becomes a teenager? Let's say you have a girl. What if she wants to date in the future? What if she wants to date a boy? What do I do?
Should I buy a gun or a shovel or both? Which is scarier? A machete or a shotgun? You have things to be concerned about. Then your kids are going to go to school.
They get in high school and you start thinking, are they going to go to college? It starts over. Am I going to retire? Will my health last? Will this sickness go away? And for people who have anxiety and worry, it gets a compound on itself.
So for people who are anxious, who are worriers, you begin to worry about, will I worry? Will I get anxious? When you're anxious and you're worrying, you begin to worry, will this go away? You see, all of us have some anxiety. All of us have some level of worry. And none of us like it.
For people who struggle with anxiety and worry, this is an issue that you have. You don't think, yeah, no, this is good for me. I love my anxiety. I love my worry. I love my stress. I love that I grind my teeth when I go to sleep, if I can fall asleep.
I love that I wake up in the morning and think, will I get through the day without being anxious? That all of us who struggle with anxiety and worry, we really have one major overarching question, I believe, which is, what do I do with this? I know that it's an issue. I don't have legitimate things to be anxious over. But what do I do in my anxiety?
What do I do in my worry? So as we get into this today, I want us to know a few things. There are, worry and anxiety are both a mental state and a feeling. There's some form of physicality to worry and anxiety. Here's what I mean. You can't be worried mentally, so you're thinking about what could happen, what might happen, what if this happens, what if this is how this happens.
There's just a mental state, kind of riding in circles in your brain, thinking through all the things that could go on. But there's also a feeling to it. There's a pressure. There's some people describing like a balloon fills up inside of them or like they're being squeezed. Maybe your blood pressure rises, your heart starts beating faster, and they can go together, and one of them can cause the other. So you want to have something that you're thinking about that causes all of the feelings, all the physical feelings.
Some of us actually begin the physical feelings first before we even begin to think about what on earth is worrying us. It's almost like, for some of you, it's almost like you're a little animal in a cartoon, and the background music changes. So what was like happy little, I'm not, I'm a musician, but something like that. Suddenly the background music changes to like a, like violence coming in, there's some sort of theory, and you don't know what's about to happen, but you know it's not good. And so maybe that's what your anxiety feels like. You don't know what's going on, but suddenly it's like the background music changed, and your body is telling you something bad is about to happen, but you can't even think about what it is.
And so this anxiety, this tightness, this stress, this pressure, this balloon inflating inside of you makes you begin to run in your head. What could it be? What's going to happen? How is this going to happen? I want us to know a few things as we go together this passage. We have to see a few things clearly to understand what's going on.
One, worry and anxiety are not simply circumstantial. Not simply circumstantial, meaning that some of you are worried or are worried, how am I going to pay for this? You don't have money, so you're worried. How are we going to pay all our bills? How are we going to keep our house? How are we going to?
And then here's what happens, though. You can talk to anybody who has money. Getting money doesn't take away the worry. You just begin to worry about other things. How am I going to keep what I have? How am I going to get more?
You begin to be concerned over your possessions now. Worry is not simply circumstantial. It's not like you can move to a different circumstance and it goes away. It does have circumstances tied to it, certainly. And there are, for some of us, we are worried about, well, this is a specific thing I'm worried about. Of course you are.
But worry and anxiety are not merely circumstantial. So if you took away the circumstances, you'd be fine. Worry also tells us some truth. Our anxiety is telling us some truth. Number one, it's telling us that the world is not how it should be. Alan Tipping, a pastor at Midtown Fellowship, he laid this out.
He said, the worry tells us some truth. I thought it was helpful. So one, it tells you the world's broken. It's not as it should be. There are actual things to be worried about. Actual bad things that can happen.
There's brokenness and pain and sickness and death. They exist. There are real things to be worried about. Secondly, our worry tells us that there are actual things to care about. Real things that we should be worried over. Real things to love and to value.
That our worry tells us the truth. It tells us that our world isn't as it should be. And that there are actual things worth loving. Worth being concerned for. And thirdly, our worry tells us that we're not in control. So not only is the world broken, not only are there things actually that we should care about, but thirdly, we at times have no control over any of that.
No control over health. No control over wealth. No control over happiness. No control over relationships. We have no control over it. That our worry is telling us some truth.
It's not telling us the whole truth, but it is telling us some truth. So that for us, worry is not in and of itself. And I'm going to clarify this as we keep going. But worry and anxiety, this feeling, is not by itself wrong or bad. It means that you have no faith and don't love Jesus. That there is a level of physicality to it.
There's a level of blood pressure and heartbreak and real things to be concerned about. The Bible's question is, what do we do with our worry, with our anxiety? I want to read this from Luke 12. It's going to be on screen, so you don't have to flip there. I just want you to see this. This is Jesus talking.
And he's talking about the cross. I have a baptism to be baptized with. That's the cross. That's a baptism he's going to go through. He refers to it at some point as a baptism of fire. He's going to the cross.
I have a baptism to be baptized with. And how great is my distress until it is accomplished. So this is Jesus looking forward to the cross and saying, I'm distressed. That word also means hard pressed or squeezed. I'm bound. I feel it.
I feel like someone is putting pressure on me. I'm distressed until it's accomplished. Now, Jesus was not a worrier. He was not anxious. But he felt this distress for a legitimate reason, a legitimate purpose.
We see him in the garden of Gethsemane. In Gethsemane, before he goes to the cross, the night before he goes to the cross, he is sweating drops of blood. He feels in himself anxiety that he's on his knees praying and pouring himself out to God. So for the person in the room who struggles with anxiety, for the person who at times has panic attacks or anxiety attacks or maybe you're on some medication, what I want you to hear is anxiety by itself is not immediately simple or wrong. The Bible's question is, what are you going to do with it? And so that's what we're going to spend our time on today is actually beginning to ask the question, what do we do with our anxiety?
How do we respond? Because for us, it does rob us of joy. It does, it can derail us for you. A month. And you may be, you're saying, I have legitimate things to be worried about. Yes.
But what do we do in those legitimate moments? And what do we do in the illegitimate moments? What do we do with our anxiety? The other thing we've talked about as we've gone through this series and we won't have as much time to spend on it today is that we have three enemies. The flesh, that's us. The world.
All of everything outside of us in the devil. And as Christians, we should pray about all three. So Jesus says the normal prayer is, forgive me my sins, that's flesh. Leave me not into temptation. That's the world. And deliver us from evil or the evil one.
That's the devil. So that's a normal way for all of us to pray. And I would encourage every person who struggles with anxiety as a, this is a part of life for me. I would encourage you to pray those three ways about your anxiety. God, if this is me causing undue anxiety, I pray that you'd forgive me. I pray that you'd help me.
If there are ways that you can help me avoid situations and circumstances that make me anxious, temptation should be anxious. I pray that you'd help me there, keep me from it. And if the enemy is involved in my anxiety, he doesn't get to me. So if he's jacking up my heart rate or making me feel this extra pressure just in the name of Jesus, I get to be free from that. So if you've listened to the majority of this series, that makes sense to you.
If you're new today, probably doesn't. I'd love to talk to you afterwards. We're just not going to spend a lot of time on that today. This morning. So anxiety is both a mental state and a feeling.
I'm going to pray and then we're going to start reading Philippians 4. God, we thank you that your word helps us in our anxiety. We're as anxious as a society as we have, as medicated as we are, as worried as we are. I'm so thankful that your word talks about this. That you talk to real humans where they are. You need us where we are.
You begin to help us. Let's pray that through your word today we begin to learn how we ought to respond to our anxiety. And that we will grow in our love for you and our trust in you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Philippians 4, verse 4.
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. That means celebrate. Be happy. Have joy in it. Overwhelming joy.
So you say, have joy in the Lord. Rejoice. I'll say it again. Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.
It means Jesus is prominent. He's coming back. He's here. Verse 6. Do not be anxious about anything. Well, there you go.
You're welcome. Paul says, do not be anxious about anything. And if you just stop there, that wouldn't be helpful. Some of you who struggle with anxiety. When I say Philippians 4, you knew where we were going. You're like, yeah, here we go.
Okay, Philippians 4. Somebody, you've memorized this. Maybe some well-meaning person in your life used it as a Bible bullet to shoot you with. Shoot you with. Shoot you with. Shoot you with.
So you were trying to be anxious. You're welcome. Let me help you out here. First of all, Paul doesn't stop here. He's telling the truth. What he's saying is right.
Don't be anxious about anything. But he's going to tell us how. And he's going to give us some help. For the person in the room who has an anxious spouse or an anxious sibling or parent or roommate or friend. The Bible does say, do not be anxious. But it says a lot behind that that helps us out.
Don't just say this to people. Really anxious about my test. Well, don't be. Thank you so much. You fixed me. Some of you, maybe your spouse is anxious at what you do.
But you just tell them the reason why they shouldn't be. You give them a reason. You're like, no. You don't have to worry about that. You don't have to be anxious about that. Even the Bible says, don't be anxious.
And then you get frustrated with them. You have a very. For those people who do not struggle with worry and anxiety. There are a few things that can be as frustrating as being in a close relationship to a person who struggles with worry and anxiety. No amens. No anybody.
But just that's a real thing. Because if you don't think about it. If you don't struggle. If you've never experienced it. You've never had a panic attack. You've never.
Like any of those things. When somebody's freaking out. And it seems like for no reason whatsoever. It is very hard when you go. Okay. You logically understand.
Like nothing's going to get you. Yes. I'm still freaking out. Well, stop. That'd be like walking up some stairs behind a person on crutches. And yelling, go faster.
Repeatedly. If they could. They would. The only benefit of being the person with crutches is they can hit you with them. The person who's anxious cannot make you be anxious too. So.
Yes. What Paul says here is true. Don't be anxious about anything. But it doesn't stop there. So we're not going to eat it.
It's going to help us here. Alright. Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything. By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God.
Okay. As I was studying this. I got more and more excited about what I think Paul's saying here. Don't be anxious about anything. Don't let anything cause you anxiety. Don't let anything stress you out or overwhelm you.
And then he says, but in everything. Pray. Don't be anxious about anything. Pray about everything. Here's what I think we need to see. Very clearly this morning.
Because anxiety is both a mental state and a physical feeling. Paul says the way to immediately counteract worry and anxiety. Is to begin praying. If you are praying. You are not worrying. And you're not being anxious.
That's really good news. And here's what I don't mean by that. And here's what I don't think he means by that. The feeling immediately goes away. So you're anxious.
You're stressed. Your heart's pounding out of your chest. Or you just have a lot of things to worry about. You're worried about your children. Maybe it's not a whole lot of anxiety. Maybe there's not a whole lot of physical feelings going on.
It's just a mental thing. What he says is no. Start praying. Start making your requests known to God. Start taking the things that you're running around in your head that you're concerned about. Start just praying about them.
It's kind of like this. If I have work to do and I don't do it, I'm lazy. The second I start working, I'm not lazy anymore. But my circumstances haven't changed. There's still all the work to be done. So what he's saying is circumstances aren't going to immediately change.
Maybe your feeling isn't going to immediately change. Your level of anxiety isn't going to change. But as soon as you start praying, it's no longer anxiety. It's no longer worry. Because we're in anxiety are godless. They are aimed nowhere or at yourself.
You begin to act like you're the person in charge of everything when you are worrying, when you're anxious. What Paul says is no. Start praying. And that immediately makes you not worry and anxiety, even though the circumstances are the same and the feeling is the same. I think that can be very free for those who struggle with worrying and anxiety to be able to know, if I'm praying, I'm doing what I'm supposed to. If I'm making my request known to God, I'm immediately doing what I'm called to do.
Here's the thing about worrying and anxiety. Worry and anxiety are a call to action with no action to take. Worry and anxiety make us want to change something. Change the situation. Change the circumstances. Fix something.
Make sure something doesn't happen in the future. And the reason we're in anxiety is because we can't do anything about it. We have zero control. Biblically, worry and anxiety are a call to action and there is an action to take. Prayer. You immediately get to pray.
And here's what I want you to know. Prayer works. You get to talk to the God who's absolutely faithful and in control of your circumstances. For those of you who feel like I'm a warrior and this won't go away, maybe you need to stop praying, Lord, take away my anxiety. And you need to just realize you've been called to pray about what it is you're anxious about. You get to spend some time praying about your children, praying about your parents, praying about your roommates, your school, your job.
You get to go before God and we get to make some requests. That's beautiful. And that's freeing. Because you say, well, I want my anxiety to go away. It might not. But it immediately is no longer anxiety when you're praying.
You can change the word. It's to be concerned. Because praying counteracts anxiety. Because anxiety is the name of nowhere. It's godless. And prayer is the name towards God.
And it's worshiping. So the way to not be anxious about anything is to pray about everything. So if you're a person who says, I'm really anxious, well, you don't have to be. Because you get to pray about everything. Not to say that it'll fix it. Not to say God will do what you ask him to.
Not to say that you feel different. But it's not anxiety if you're praying. So some of you have been praying and you feel like you're praying about something and you feel like, I'm still anxious. Not if you're praying. Not if you're praying. You may feel the same.
It's not anxiety. Okay. So you've been called to do something. Here's what I want you to see. So here's what I think for people who struggle with anxiety.
And especially when it's a legitimate, like I'm anxious over this relationship. I'm anxious over this child. I'm anxious over this thing that's going on in the life that's coming up. It causes anxiety. Maybe it causes you more than other people. So all of your other classmates are also taking exams.
But you're the one who can't sleep at night. I want to tell you a story that Jesus tells in Luke chapter 12. I think this is so helpful. He's talking about prayer. He's telling them to keep praying and not to give up. And here's what he says.
There's a widow who keeps going to a judge who doesn't love God. He doesn't fear people or God. And she keeps going to him day after day after day after day after day after day after day. And finally, he gives her justice. The judge does what he's supposed to because she kept bothering him. Now, why does she keep bothering him?
She had a legitimate thing to be concerned over. She had a legitimate thing that was weighing on her mind. So what did she do? She took it to the person who could do something about it. And Jesus says this is a model for prayer. When you have something legitimate weighing on your mind and concerning you and something that you're bothered by, that actually drives you to God.
So I actually don't think the Bible wants to eradicate all of our concern. For some of us who are anxious over things, I would just wish it would go away and I would stop thinking about this. But maybe God in your anxiety is calling you to prayer. Not to worry, but to him. That's beautiful. I hope we have a lot of people who can't sleep at night so that they get up and go get on their knees before Jesus.
That would be beautiful. I hope there's a lot of people that wake up with legitimate concerns for their children and their families and people in their community group and people in our city. So they spend time before Jesus and their anxiety still presses down on them and they run to the one who can help. That's beautiful. Because when we're praying, we're not anxious. We're putting it to work.
So Paul's going to give us... So that immediately counteracts the mental state. You may feel the same, but you're actually going to put your anxiety, you're going to put your worry to work. And then it's no longer anxiety, it's no longer worry. But Paul's also going to give us ways to pray that begin to help, I think, specifically counteract our needless worry or our worry that is too great.
So you have a legitimate thing to be worried about. So some of you, you've got an exam coming. And you should have some concern over it. Enough to study. Enough to care. To look at your syllabus.
To show up to the class on time. Some of your friends who never worry, miss the exam. And that might seem great that they don't worry, but they didn't look at their syllabus. They showed up two days late. They thought they were there on the exam day and they're handing out grace. There's some level of worry that's helpful.
Some of your friends are dumb. Okay. You have something to actually worry about. But then, you begin to add layers on top of that. What if I show up late? What if it still says this, but it's actually a different thing?
What if it changed today and I didn't see anything? What if I get there and it turns out all the stuff I studied isn't on the test? What if I show up to the wrong class? What if I end up taking that exam because I don't notice the wrong class? What if this is the one thing that I fail? What if it turns out that everything I studied, even though I have a decent grade point average Job, and this is what I can make if I fail, if I fail this class, and then I won't graduate, if I don't graduate, I'm going to end up not being able to get a job, I'm going to go live with my parents, and that would be terrible, so I'll run away.
Even though I'm an adult, I'm going to pack a bag and run away. Like, you add on layer after layer after layer after layer of what if, what if, what if, and you have a legitimate thing to be concerned about. Some of you use your children. Some of you use the health of someone you care about. You have a legitimate thing to be concerned about, and you begin adding layer after layer after layer. I think what Paul's going to say in the next section on how we pray helps free us up a little bit.
So he gives us three tools for prayer. Supplication, thanksgiving, and meditation. We're going to go through these, but supplication, thanksgiving, and meditation. So the first one, supplication. So he says this in verse 6.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, lay your request, be made known to God. Okay, so supplication means a humble request. What he's saying is, in the midst of your anxiety, realize that God is both big and good. You know how when you're little, maybe you learn how to pray, God is great, God is good. Great means big. Good means good.
So we also use great to mean good. That's confusing. It means God is big, God is good. That's what supplication is. It's actually, I believe he's big enough, and he cares about me. So when I was little, and I would misbehave with my mom, after a while, she stopped spanking us because it didn't work.
She wasn't good at it. My father was good at it. He had lots of practice, I guess. I don't know. He practiced when my older brother loved me. By the time he came to me, he was a master.
He was an art form. He was spanking. He was amazing. He knew what he was doing. He was a pro. And so my mom would look at us, and she would say, you can sit over there and wait until your dad gets home.
Because she knew when my dad showed up, he could handle it. And some of us, that's what supplication is. We need to look at our worries and say, sit over there and wait until God gets here. See, we're so focused on our worry, our anxiety, that it's as big as a mountain. But yeah, that's a miniscule compared to the God who holds the emotion in his hand.
Some of us need to look at our worry and say, sit over there. And then begin to turn and talk to God and ask him, because he's big and because he's good, to step down in the back. To humble ourselves. To know that we're not the ones who are going to fix this. We're not the ones who are in charge of this. We have no control over this.
Some of you think, if I have control over how my kids turn out, yeah, a little bit. But God has more. I have control over what happens at work. Yeah, a little bit. But God has more.
And so we get to begin to go to him and ask, be at work here. Help me here. I believe that you're big and I believe that you're good and I'm humbling myself to actually help. That's what supplication is. It's a humble request. And he says, make your request known to God.
You see, when he says supplication, thanksgiving, meditation, this is how the Psalms work. If you ever pray through the Psalms, you'll realize they pray some bad theology. I may mess with you a little bit. There are times where the psalmist says things like, God, kill my enemies. And Jesus says, love your enemies. But what he says, this is what I want.
You get to start making requests to God. He may not give them to you. But you get to talk to him. You get to be real. You don't have to clean it up for him. You get to go say, this is what's stressing me out.
This is what's bothering me. This is what's on my mind. And you get to just lay your requests out there. And he'll begin to draw you to himself. And he'll begin to change you. But you get to talk to him.
You get to be honest. You get to humble yourself and make requests. Two, thanksgiving. So he says, do not be anxious about anything, but it's everything by prayer and supplication. So that's humble request.
With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Here's what thanksgiving does. Thanksgiving is past-oriented or present-oriented. What you're doing in that moment is saying, here's what you've done before. Here's how you've been good before. Here's what's going on in my life right now that I can appreciate.
That I can be thankful for. So for those of you who struggle with worry and anxiety, you start off by praying. You start off by making humble requests. But then you can just start, you can pause that and start saying, God, thank you for how you answered in the past. Thank you for all the times that I've been anxious over something and you actually worked. I'm here.
For some of you who've struggled with anxiety for a long time, you've had years of anxious things and you're here. You made it. God has answered. He has worked. I know you've moved from anxiety to anxiety, but he's answered his words. You get to remember.
You get to recount what he's done. You get to say he answered here and he answered here and he answered here. Some of you that says, God, I thank you that I'm alive. I'm sucking oxygen today. I'm thankful for the cross. You died to rescue me.
I know you have my back. For those of you who are worried and anxious, have you tried praising him? Have you tried thanking him? Have you tried singing and remembering all that he's done, all that he is? Thanks again. So, supplication with thanksgiving.
So, you want to make humble requests, but you also want to be thankful. Seven. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Okay. Okay. Here's how I've heard this talk before, and I think that it is correct, but I think it works two ways.
I've heard it this way. Don't be anxious. Don't be anxious. Pray. And you'll feel great. Don't be anxious.
Pray. And then peace, magical super peace. Peace beyond all understanding. Right? It's this, don't be anxious. Pray.
And then suddenly, you will feel like you are in a cloud. Right? Right? You've heard that. I think that that is true. I think that that can happen.
That God can so wrap you up in a cloud that everything else melts away. But I also think that's not the only way this happens. Here's what it says. A peace, the peace of God. So an eternal, cosmic, massive and glorious peace.
It's God's peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. For some of you who struggle with worry and anxiety, I think what Paul is saying is get on your list. Begin to pray and trust that God's peace will guard your heart and your mind. That he will clamp down on you and he'll keep you. And that a year from now, two years from now, it will make no sense that you stayed. No sense that you were faithful.
No sense that you still loved him. It will surpass knowledge, but his peace will have clamped down on you. And kept you in the midst of something that should have torn you apart. It should have ruined your marriage. It should have ruined your family. It should have ruined you.
It should have had you walk away from the faith. And Jesus' peace will guard your heart and your mind. He will protect you in the midst of all the things that attack you. See, we think that, okay, there are many situations that keep going, but I'll feel fine. And I'm not sure that's the case. I think sometimes it means he'll grab ahold of you and you'll make it through.
For some of you, you have in your mind, in times of anxiety, you have all of this that's attacking you and say, Jesus doesn't love me. God isn't real. This isn't okay. I'm not going to make it. I don't know if I believe in the cross anymore. And at that same time, you're going, Jesus, help me.
Help me to believe. Help me to trust in you. If I'm going to have faith, it's going to be you doing it. And I believe that's that moment where the Holy Spirit, on some sort of subterranean level, has reached in and grabbed you and just said, I know you have no faith right now. And I know you have no way that you understand how this is going to work out. But you belong to me.
And I'm going to guard your heart and your mind. And there's going to be a peace that surpasses understanding so that you'll still be mine when this is over. Now, feel free to pray for the cloud. But ask him, let me feel good. But trust in those moments if you're a Christian, that he's going to give you a peace that you won't understand, that you won't be able to see, and he's going to hold you and guard your heart and your mind, and he's going to keep you for himself.
Because it's a God-level peace that's beyond all circumstances. The third tool he gives us. See that? Just verse 7, real quick. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. He keeps you in Christ.
Beyond anybody's ability to understand, he keeps you. Okay. Hey. Third thing he uses is meditation. And I'm going to read this, and then we'll talk about the difference between maybe your picture of meditation and Christian meditation. So, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Let me read that again. Okay. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Okay, so we talk about meditation. If you're familiar with most forms of meditation, Eastern meditation, it is the clearing of your mind. You want it to empty your mind.
That is not Christian meditation. Christian meditation is you want to fill your mind with the things of God. So, you want to meditate on a passage of Scripture. You want to meditate on what's true and right. You want to sit and just think about the cross. You want to sit and study a section of Scripture and memorize it.
That's Christian meditation. David says, I hide your word in my heart. Meaning, I'm so engulfed in it. I've spent so much time in it that it's inside of me. So, what Paul says is, whatever. Whatever is good.
Whatever is lovely. Whatever is just. Whatever is commendable. If there is anything that is praiseworthy, think about these things. You know that song? I don't know how it is a Christmas song, but you're about to start hearing it on the radio.
The few of my favorite things. When the dog bites with these things. Think about my favorite things. I think it's a Christmas song because it says brown paper package. It's not up the street. I think that's the only thing I can think of.
It's from the sound of music. It's the only thing I can think of. But she says, basically, when I'm feeling bad, think about my stuff. So, Paul says, take a minute in the midst of your worry. And one aspect of this is just think about things that are good. Look, when you're worried and concerned and you're anxious, guess what?
Puppies still exist. They're out there. They're still fuzzy. Beautiful landscapes. The Grand Canyon. Like, you get to sit and think about things that are lovely and good.
Think about cinnamon. It smells great. It makes everything taste better. Think about biscuits. Think about cinnamon biscuits. You get to just think about some things that are good.
Some things that you love, that you appreciate. Anything lovely. Anything praiseworthy. Anything excellent. It also means that for Christians, it is a practice for us. It's something that we regularly do to find the things that stir our affections for Jesus and do those things.
Find the things that help us love Jesus. That's why Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your in-chain. Like, what we're called to do is to love him and focusing on what's pure and just and excellent and lovely includes Jesus. He is the truth. He is what is excellent. He is what is praiseworthy.
And we need to find the things that stir our affections. So for some of you, that's walking in the woods. As you walk in the woods, it's like you come alive to God and his creation and what he's done. You need to praise him. Like, one of the reasons we gather on Sundays to study his word and to sing is because it's reminding us of his good. It's stirring our affections for him.
I leave on Sundays. Sometimes we sing songs and I think that's true. You did die for me. You did rescue me. And it's like it imprints it into my mind. It pushes it down into my heart.
It takes things I know and it makes them real. We've got to find ways to stir our affections. Some of you that's being alone. Some of you that's hanging out with a bunch of church family and just talking about how God's good. That that reminds you of his goodness. It reminds you that you're not by yourself.
Some of you this is singing songs to, what's it, Caleb? On the radio. Find what it is. Some of you, if I asked you right now, what is it that stirs your affections for Jesus? You would have no answer. And if you were a Christian, my suggestion to you is start finding some things.
Serving. Giving away some of your money. That stirs my affections for Jesus. When I have to give up some of my money, it reminds me that Jesus is good and that he matters more than my money. It's painful in the beginning and then it reminds me of the gospel. Being outside.
Sitting in a pure stand. I think about Jesus. Like, find what it is. Reading scripture. Studying scripture. Memorizing scripture.
Focus on those. Meditate. Spend time on them. Okay. Here's the thing when it comes to meditation. Look down at, when it comes to action to all of these.
Prayers, supplication, Thanksgiving, and meditation. Verse 9. Well, you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. So he's saying, look, we actually, you were in life with me. You know what I'm talking about. But you've learned and received and heard and seen in me.
Practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. Okay. Practice these things. I love that he uses the word practice because it means two things. It means you're not going to be great at it and you get to continue to do this forever. It's a practice.
It's a normal part of life for you. So, any of y'all ever tried to learn a sport? Maybe you tried to play ping pong for the first time. Maybe that's low on your scale of sports, but I'm just trying to pick something here. Maybe the first time you ever played cornhole or pin jam or tried to do anything. Maybe some of y'all watched those videos online where people flipped a water bottle.
And you thought, that's easy. And then you tried. Okay. You weren't good at first. For those of you who struggle with anxiety and you think, I prayed, I'm not fixed. That's why it's a practice.
Keep doing it. Keep praying. Keep being thankful. Keep remembering what's good. And do it over and over and over again. You're not going to pray today and have your anxiety going.
You're going to pray today and tomorrow and the next day and all the days. Because it's a practice. It's what you continually have to do to remind yourself. You get to practice. This also means it takes time. The people who do anything well spend a lot of time on it.
There are very few people in the world who just are magically good at things. Most people who are here playing an instrument, you say. Did you practice? They'll look and you respond. Nope. I found the saxophone and I was good at it.
No. It's not what they say. It's not true. They'll say yes. Hours and hours. Hours and hours and hours.
Some of you should know the worry and anxiety. You need to start going to bed later. You need to start getting up earlier. You need to start finding some time. You need to work out something with your spouse. You need to watch kids.
Because you've got to close your computer. Get off of Facebook. Get off of Twitter. You need to have space and time to be unplugged without any kind of screen in your face slashing things at you. You need to take the time to meditate on God's word and his goodness. You need to take the time to pray.
Do you know how anxious our society is? I've tried to reasonably watch. I watched cartoons with my son. This is like one and a half or whatever. This is how cartoons are these days. It's like.
They're just. They're hyper. And then I tried to watch the old Mr. Rogers neighborhood. I almost died. I used to watch that growing up.
It was painful. He just like walks in. He's like. I'm going to take 25 seconds to take my shoes off. It's like. Who paid this cat for this?
Like. He's just stalling. This isn't television. We're so used to everything happening so quickly. We're so used to. If you're scrolling through Facebook.
Look. How many videos do you watch the first 10 seconds of? Like. You just can't. I'm not able to focus. I get on Twitter.
After I get off Twitter. I'm like. Everything is like 150 characters or something. I don't know. It's short. I just flip through.
I do that for 10 or 15 minutes. Afterwards. I'm just like. It's like. I just cranked my ADD up. Like.
We have. Yeah. When was the last time you sat? For 15 minutes. With nothing. Going on.
So we're sure you should have to propose. And it used to be when you waited for a bus. Or you waited in the doctor's office. And the best thing you could have is a magazine. Some of y'all. You're waiting.
Is now you watching Netflix on your phone? And then we wonder why we're hyper. And we have ADD. And we're anxious. We don't ever spend any time. Where it's quiet.
Where our brain gets to rest a little bit. Where we're doing something that's just creative. Or we're. Like. You've got to make time for. Practicing.
Supplication. Thanksgiving. And meditation. You have to have time. Anxiety and worry insert themselves into your life. Prayer and meditation do not.
You ever. You ever been riding to work. And suddenly just. You heard a pop. And now you had to meditate for an hour. No.
But you got a flat tire. You ever been to work. And it turns out someone was sick. So then you had two hours to break. No. But you had someone sick.
So you had to do twice as much work that day. Worry and anxiety are going to show up. Your child is going to run into your room. At two o'clock in the morning. And throw up on the floor. Prayer is not going to run into your room.
At two o'clock in the morning. And you're like. I'll spend some time. It's not going to happen. You have to make time for it. That's the one thing.
Like. In our anxiety. We've got to make some space. Which means you've got to say no to some things in your life. You've got to get your bummed down some. You've got to turn your computer off.
You've got to work out something with your spouse. Some sort of schedule. So that you can rest. So that you can sap it. So that you can have some time.
Because these work. And they'll go to work on us. But we've got to have time. Then you make some promise here at the end. Practice these things. And the God of peace will be with you.
That is the Christian promise. That is the promise we're given and kept in Jesus. Is that God is with us. He joined us. We don't have a God who's always stayed above the frame. We have a God that says I have a baptism to be baptized with.
And I'm distressed until it happens. We have a God that falls on his face before his father. And sweat pours off. And he prays. Lord help me. Take us away if you can.
And if not. Help me to be faithful. Your will be done. Romans 8. 32 says this. He who did not spare his own son.
But gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him. Graciously give us all things. You see. We have the Christian promise. Which is that God is with us.
That he joined us. That he went to the cross. That God gave up his own son. So that we can trust him infinitely. That in the midst of everything. We can lean into him.
And run into him. Because he loves us. If you're a Christian. The Holy Spirit dwells in you. God is actively with you. His peace is actively with you.
Jesus doesn't just say I'm going to send comfort. He says I'm going to send the comfort. I'm not just going to send you help. I'm going to send the helper. For those of us who are in Christ. The Holy Spirit dwells in us.
And works in us. And holds us. And guards us. And keeps us. And in the midst of anything you're going through. The God of peace will be with you.
That is the Christian promise. Confirmed and sealed. And forever ours on the cross. There's an indigent and fruit. There's a risen kingdom on the throne. And a helper and a comfort that dwells inside of us.
To keep us. And carry us on. That's what we have in Christ. So here's what we're going to do. Today's a little different. The band's going to come back up here.
We are going to spend the next bit of time that we have together practicing these practices. Because they're practices. So you have to do them. So rather than just talking about this. Talking about supplication and thanksgiving and meditation and living life. Go home and try to find a place to do that.
We figured you were already here. You'd already cleared your schedule. So let's begin to practice a little bit. Let's begin to go ahead and walk through some of what the opportunity we have is what Paul's called us into. So for the very first thing Paul says is to take your worry and take your anxiety.
Don't be anxious about them. But pray about anything. By supplication. So what we're going to do is we're going to take just a minute right where you are. And we're going to humbly ask God to work. You have things to be anxious over.
You have things to be worried about. We're not going to sit in our worry and our anxiety and have an ambulance. We're going to point it to Jesus in the midst of all the real concerns you have. You begin to just say, God, I need you. I need you to help me here. I need you to be at work here.
I need you to redeem here. I need you to step into this situation. I don't have any control of their health. I don't have any control of this relationship. I can't make them repent. I can't make them come back.
So right now where we are, I want you to just begin to take all the things you're concerned about. All the things you're worried about. Maybe short-term stuff that's happening this week. Stuff that's not going to happen. It's five years away. You can just ask God.
Move here. Work here. Let's do that now.
Whoops! We had some problems recording on Sunday. Unfortunately the best we've got is the recording from our iMac's internal microphone. Sorry for the sneezing!
Condemnation and Criticism
Transcript
All right, so we are in our fifth week of our Killjoy series. We've got this week and next week, and we're finishing it up. What we've been doing is we've been looking at there are certain things as Christians that do not have to be true for us, do not have to be normal for us, but that we've gotten used to, that have become normal for us. Today we're going to be talking about self-loathing. You can call that self-condemnation. Sometimes it goes under the name of low self-esteem, which I don't like.
I don't think that's helpful, but people use that term. We use self-loathing, self-condemnation, self-hatred. We're going to just talk a little bit about how that works and how it affects us and how it robs us of joy and what the Bible says about how we can be free from it. So I started playing football when I was like 11, and then I played through elementary school, middle school, high school, and some in college. And my sophomore year of high school, I sublexed my patella, which just means I dislocated my kneecap on my left knee. So I went to – actually, no, it was in my freshman year.
So my freshman year, starting in my freshman year, I got hit. My kneecap came out of place, and then every year after that, I had knee injuries. So over the course of the rest of my career from my freshman year onward, I dislocated this kneecap four times, strained in MCL, strained in LCL, tore fibers, and meniscus. I dislocated this kneecap three times, which I was at a doctor one time, and he goes, how many times have you dislocated? He's a doctor, so he probably said sublexed your patella. And I was like, this is the sixth one.
He goes, you know, it usually only happens to girls, right? I was like, bruh. I did not. I do now. Thank you. He was like, and just kept going.
Just gets to go about his day being a doctor, and I have some sort of girl knees. I don't know. No offense to all the ladies in here, but I took offense at that. But anyway, sublexed this one. Three times, strained in MCL, strained in PCL, strained in LCL, tore in ACL, and tore meniscus and fibers. I've gotten really good at taking naps in MRI machines.
My knees hurt. They started hurting when I was a freshman in high school. They continue to hurt. They still hurt. They make really terrible noises if I walk upstairs or carry things or walk forward. Went to a doctor recently.
I was like, it was just like a normal checkup because I'm getting older, and you have to start going to those. And so I was like, I don't need you to listen to my knees. And so I bent over, and he listened. And I was like, what do you think? And he was like, well, if you don't run a lot, if you don't go jogging or make that a thing. And I was like, doctor, I love you.
I just wanted to say. I always thought running was evil also. He's like, if you don't do that, you might be all right. So I was like, oh, okay. So if I don't make jogging a thing, I won't have to have surgery.
And he goes, oh, no. No, you're going to have to have surgery, but you could push it back by a couple years. I was like, well, great. My knees hurt. They hurt. They hurt.
They have gotten used to it. It's not like a really violent pain. It's a dull pain. They grind. They pop. It's normal for me.
It is normal for my knees to feel this way. So my wife's like, you should go ahead and get surgery. And I'm like, no, because that would feel like out of the normal type pain. Like, that's different. I'm used to this. I'm okay with this.
I want to keep my knees the way they are. Slight pain, but not continual aggressive throbbing pain or surgery pain. And for a lot of us, when it comes to self-loathing, when it comes to this internal dialogue, this internal monologue, we've gotten so used to it. We don't even notice it anymore. I don't pay attention to my knees hurting. That's normal for me.
That's my center of gravity for me. So for a lot of us in the room, you've gotten so used to speaking down to yourself because self-loathing in some ways is a voice. Your voice is somebody else's voice. It's kind of in your head as an internal dialogue. And so normal life looks to you like, I'm ugly. I'm fat.
I'm such an idiot. God, nobody really likes me. I made that conversation awkward. They don't really want to talk to me. These friends aren't really my friends. They just have to hang out with me so they're nice to me because they have to.
I'm going to ruin my marriage. I'm going to mess my kids up. I'm a terrible mother. I'm a terrible father. I'm a failure. I'm an idiot.
I'm horrible. I'm ugly. Nobody really likes me. I don't have any real friends. This is a normal thought process for you. So that when you go to do something and you mess up, you think, of course.
Of course I would mess up. That's what I'd do. When a relationship starts going poorly, you start going, yeah, of course. Because this is how all my relationships work. Because I'm such an idiot. I've been doing this my entire life.
I'm the one who derails everything. I'm the one who ruins everything. This has become a normal, everyday, for some of you it's a, I should just kill myself. I'm worthless. I'm a failure. Everyday.
It's not uncommon for these type of thoughts to be how you speak to yourself, how you think about things. And here's what we're looking at this morning. If you are a Christian, and if the gospel is true, then this internal dialogue, this internal monologue can't be. If the gospel is true, then these things that have begun to be normal in our heads can't be. Can't be true. That's what I want us to see this morning as we go into scripture.
And then I want us to, out of that, begin to know how do we respond. What do we do? So let's go to Colossians 1. We read this earlier. It's on page 638. If your Bible is a blue and white Bible, one of the ones in the rows.
If you don't own a Bible, this is our gift to you. Take it. But we'll be on page 638 looking in Colossians. This is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to a church in Colossae. Teaching them about Jesus. Teaching them about how Christianity works.
We're going to pick up in verse 15. The first word is he. That's talking about Jesus. And it'll be talking about Jesus throughout. He is the image of the invisible God. Okay, so Jesus, God created the world.
He exists in a spiritual realm. We don't get to see him. But Jesus lets us see him. Jesus is what God would be like if he became a person. So he's the image of the invisible God.
The firstborn of all creation. Now firstborn, when it's used in the Bible, can mean two things. It can mean, in this section, it can be the firstborn of all creation. That can mean that he was created first. But firstborn is also used to mean has preeminence over, is dominant over, because of the way they did lineage.
So he's either created first or he has dominance over. The firstborn of all creation for, so it's explaining this, by him all things were created in heaven and on earth. Okay, it means has dominance over. It doesn't mean he was created first. Jesus has existed since eternity past as part of the Trinity. He was not created.
He has dominance over everything because he created everything. Okay, Jesus created everything. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. So all nations, all countries, all rulers, all thrones, all dominions, visible and invisible.
So spiritual as well. Spiritual dominions and authorities and rulers, all of them were created by Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus. And he is before all things. And in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. I know we don't usually do this, but can somebody say amen or praise Jesus? Isn't that good? That he is massive. He's created everything. Everything exists in him and for him and through him.
And then he went to a cross to reconcile everything back to himself. That's who Jesus is. Okay. 21. And you. And you who were once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds.
All right. Let's look at those terms real quick. Let's explain them. Especially for the person in here who has that sort of internal dialogue. Alienated. Outcast.
Alone. Alone. Isolated. Unwanted. Unloved. Separated.
That's what alienated means. Alienated. Hostile in mind. Means that you are an enemy. You are far from God. You are against God and God was against you.
And it says in mind, meaning that you are completely laid bare before him. He can see your thoughts. He can see everything you've ever done. That God looks at you and knows exactly what is going on with you. You have nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run.
You are laid bare. You are fully exposed in front of him. And it says doing evil deeds. Meaning that we were wicked. Sinful. Failures.
Sick. Twisted. Broken. Horrible. People. That's what that means.
That's what that means. But. It says who once were. That once was. If you are a Christian, that once was true for you. You once were alienated.
Hostile. Now. Wicked. Sinful. Failure. Who's an enemy of God.
You once were. What's it say? 22. He has now. Okay. Because of how English works.
Once were. He has now. This is change. This used to be true about you. You used to be alienated. You used to be hostile in mind.
You used to be doing evil, wicked deeds. You used to be broken and sinful. But because of Jesus. He has now. He has. Jesus has done something now that changes that.
He has now. This is verse 22. So you who once were. 22. He has now. Reconciled in his body of flesh.
By his death. Reconciled means he brought you back. You're not alienated anymore. You're reconciled. That Jesus did that through his death on the cross. That those of you who feel like I'm unwanted.
I'm unloved. Nobody cares about me. Nobody wants me. I ruin everything. Jesus went to the cross. To pursue you.
To reconcile you. To make you his. Because he cares about you. And he loves you. Jesus tells his disciples. There's no greater love than this.
Than that someone would give up their life for their friends. That's what he did. The greatest love with which you've ever been loved. Was shown to you on the cross. When Jesus went to the cross. While you were his enemy.
To make you his. He has now through the cross. Changed. The descriptors for us. Some of you. If we had to ask.
How would you describe yourself. And you were going to write it down. You'd write. Unwanted. Damaged goods. Failure.
Whore. You would. That would be how you would write it. And what this just said was. You once were. But now.
Jesus has. And he changes. Your descriptor. Here's what it says. And now Jesus has reconciled you. I mean he's brought you back.
To himself. In order. To present you. Holy. And blameless. And above reproach.
Before him. He rescued you. Died for you. To present you to himself. To present you. Holy and blameless.
And above reproach. Before him. We're going to come back to those terms. Let's keep reading. Because I want to. Finish this thought.
And then we'll come. We'll define those terms. Spend the. The remainder of our time there. If indeed. It's 23.
If indeed. You continue in the faith. Stable and steadfast. Not shifting from the hope. Of the gospel you heard. Which has been proclaimed.
In all creation. Under heaven. And of which I. Paul. Became a minister. Okay.
So now we have an issue. When we get to the text. He says. You were this. Jesus has now. Made you this.
Holy blameless. And above reproach. If. Okay. So that's a scary word.
If indeed. You remain. Stable and steadfast. And not shifting from the hope. Okay. So that can mean.
One of two things. That if. Can mean one of two things. It can mean. This will be true for you. If.
You keep it together. That if. Can also mean. If this is true for you. This is what will happen. So it can be.
This is true. If you keep it together. Or it can be. If this is true for you. You'll keep this. This is what will happen.
You'll make it to the end. So let me. Explain. Put this in a different category. To maybe help you think about it. All right.
So when I was. Going into my freshman year. Of high school. We were at a. I grew up in the church. I was in a youth group.
We were in a. I was in the youth choir. Anybody else in the youth choir. High quality stuff. We're going to get. We're going to get youth choir started here.
It's going to be awesome. We're going to wear white gloves. We're going to do interpretive dance. I got big plans for you guys. We're bringing handbells back. All right.
So anyway. I was in a youth choir. We went to Florida. To sing a song. To make a CD. Or something.
I don't remember. And there were some guys there. From another youth. Thing. That were. Running their mouths.
And telling people. They were going to fight them. And it. It got to this whole big. Thing. And.
There was a point. Where. These two guys. Were coming towards. Me. And a group of other people.
Telling us. They were going to beat us up. And so I thought. That sounded like a bad idea. Because I don't know. I don't like getting beat up.
So. Ninth grade Chet. Thought. You know. One of the best ways. To not get beat up.
Is to punch someone first. And so. While they were walking this way. I jumped up. And I punched a guy. Who was closest to me.
And there was another guy. Who was bigger. But this guy was closer. Okay. Tracking with the story. All right.
My brother Logan was there. And he's older than me. Now. Now. A good. Older brother.
Regardless of the circumstances. Will defend. Their younger brother. In a fight. I'm making that as a blanket statement. A good older brother.
Will defend. The younger brother. In a fight. Now. I punch this guy. Big guy grabs me.
Older brother. Punches the big guy. It's beautiful. Might actually be. Don't read too much in this. I'm not making theological statements.
At this point. I'm just telling you a story. So. A big guy grabs me. And then. He gets punched.
In the side of the head. Now. We can. Then begin to argue. Because. My brother Logan.
Punched him in the head. He is a good brother. Or. Because he is a good brother. He punched him. In the side of the head.
See how this works. That's the issue. We're facing. In this text. Do you make it. To the end.
Because you are a Christian. Or. If you make it. To the end. You are a Christian. When you take.
The totality. Of the rest. Of the scriptures. Where it's say. That Jesus is the author. And the finisher.
Of our faith. That he who began. A good work in you. Is faithful to complete it. Where Jude says. I commend you to Jesus.
Who's. Who's going to keep. The only person. Who can keep you. From stumbling. What this text means.
Is. Jesus. You used to be. Hostile. And wicked. And evil.
Used to be. A rebellious. You used to be. All these things. And Jesus has now. Through the cross.
Made you. Holy. And blameless. And above reproach. And because he has done that. You will.
Make it to the end. That all of those. Who make it to the end. Were. Rescued. Redeemed.
And made that way. And brought there. By Jesus. Not by themselves. That's very important. Especially for people.
Who struggle with self-loathing. Because you will try to. As best you can. Wiggle your way out of. Jesus being this ultimate hero. Who rescues and redeems you.
And the text means. You make it to the end. If you're a Christian. If this is true for you. You'll make it to the end. And those who don't make it to the end.
Weren't actually ever saved. That's. And we can talk more about that. But I just had to cover that. As we went through this real quick. So what I'm saying is.
Because my brother was a good brother. He punched the guy on the side of the head. All right. You can ask him about that later. He's one of our group leaders. Pray for him.
He's got anger issues. All right. Let's go back. You once were. He has now. Let's look at these phrases.
He has now. Reconciled in his body of flesh. By his death. In order to present you. Holy. Blameless.
And above reproach. What do those words mean? Holy means. Set apart. For God. Cleaned.
Lifted up. And set apart for God. Some of you think you are separated from God. What this actually says is. No. You are separated.
For God. That he separated you from everything else. For him. That he brought you to himself. He made you. Holy.
That they were. Consecrated. Set aside. Utensils. They used to use in the temple. They were consecrated.
Set aside. Holy places. And that because of Jesus. We've been made. Holy. Meaning we've been consecrated.
We've been set aside. We've been brought to him. Holy and blameless. You're not at fault. If you are in Christ. You have no blame.
If you went before a judge. They would have nothing against you. You are blameless. Now think about that for a second. How many of us does that actually get to be true for? On our own.
Raise your hand. We're going to punch you. If that's true for you on your own. Because you're a liar. Okay. None of us.
None of us. None of us get to be blameless. Jesus makes us blameless. And then it says. Above reproach. I want to read you all the definition of a reproach.
It says to address someone. In such a way as to express. Disapproval. And disappointment. Disappointment. Or.
An expression. Of disapproval. And disappointment. That's what. That's what reproach means. And we're above.
Reproach. Meaning there is no. Disapproval. There is no. Disappointment. For those who are in Christ.
You cannot be. An idiot. A failure. You cannot be. All these names you. Label yourself with.
Or that other people. Label you with. You can't be. Not if you're in Christ. You're above that. There is no disapproval.
There is no disappointment. You have not fallen short. You have not failed. You have not let people down. Like not in Christ. You're above reproach.
Nothing bad. Can be said about you. Romans 15. Three. Says it this way. For Christ did not please himself.
But as it is written. The reproaches of those who reproached you. Fell on me. Now that's a. Kind of a clunky sentence. But here's what it means.
Everything bad. If you were a Christian. Everything bad. That could be said about you. Lands on Jesus. That's what happened at the cross.
That's why Jesus died on the cross. He did not deserve to die on the cross. He deserved to be exalted. And worshipped. And held high. And loved.
And respected. And welcomed. And cared for. But he traded all of that in. To swap places with us. So that everything bad.
That anyone could possibly say. About us. Lands on Jesus. And Jesus takes it to the cross. We could line up. Every Christian in this room.
And we could walk up this ramp. And you could walk up to a microphone. And you could say out loud. Every bad thing. That you could think to say about yourself. That someone else could think to say about you.
That someone could drag out of your past. And if you are a Christian. None of that would stick to you. Because it all. Went to Jesus. And he took it to the cross.
All the things that could be said bad about you. Became true of Jesus. And all of his righteousness and holiness. Became true of us. So that in Christ.
We are holy and blameless. And above reproach. Remember when you were a little kid. And you'd be arguing with somebody. And you'd call them a name. And they'd be like.
I'm rubber. And you're glue. Everything you say. Bounce off me. And sticks on you. Maybe you don't remember that.
That's a thing. They got the people wrong. If you're a Christian. You're rubber. Jesus is glue. That's how that works.
Everything that could be said bad about you. Everything that could be levied against you. As a complaint. As disapproval. As disappointment. Bounces off of you.
And sticks on Jesus. That's the good news of the cross. That's the gospel. So if you follow yourself around. With an internal dialogue of. I'm terrible.
I'm the worst. I'm going to mess my children up. I'm going to fail. I'm going to ruin my marriage. I'm the one who did this. I'll never be clean.
I'll never be washed. I've always. Have this in my past. I'll never be. Any of the things I've set out to be. I'm always going to be a failure.
I'm always going to fall short. I'm always going to be an idiot. If that's you. All of that. If you are in Christ. Bounces off of you.
And sticks to Jesus. Because the reproaches. The complaints. The disapproval. The disappointment. That would have come to you.
Go to Jesus. And then Jesus took him to the cross. And all of his holiness. And blamelessness. And everything that made him above reproach. So that no one can say anything bad about Jesus.
Comes to you. That's the gospel. And that's why. If you. If the gospel is true for you. None of this other stuff can be.
If the gospel is true. If you've placed your faith in Jesus. And he's died for you. And reconciled you. And made you holy. And blameless.
And above reproach. To present to himself. None of this other stuff can be true. One of the reasons we read. Verses 15 through 20. To show you how massive Jesus is.
And how much in control he is. And how sovereign and eternal he is. Is because I want you to know. That if Jesus says you're holy. And blameless. And above reproach.
You are. And you don't have an option on that. If you've placed your faith in Jesus. And he says. I've made you holy. And blameless.
And above reproach. You are. And secondly. If that is seated in Christ. If it's wedged in him. If it belongs to him.
If he's the one who keeps it together. It's not going anywhere. If it was up to you. To keep together. To be holy. And blameless.
And above reproach. You'd have a problem. But because it's based in Jesus. It's eternal. If you've placed your faith in Jesus. You will forever be holy.
And blameless. And above reproach. Because of what Jesus has done for you. And that's good news. Okay. So where does this come from?
How do we begin to be free from it? Well we said when we started off this series. That we were going to talk about your three enemies. As we went through. We haven't spent much time on them in the past couple weeks. But we're bringing them back up today.
You've got three enemies. The flesh. The world. And the devil. So I'm going to give a brief explanation of these.
And then we'll talk about how they work. But the flesh is you. You choose to sin. You actively pursue sin. So it's possible.
In this scenario. That this is your own internal dialogue. Where you're beating yourself up constantly. Maybe you think it'll help. There's some reasons why you might do it. Some of you are trying to motivate yourself.
So you say things to yourself. Like don't be lazy. Don't be an idiot. If you don't figure this out. You'll be a failure your whole life. You're trying to motivate yourself.
By giving yourself some tough love. Some of you are trying to keep yourself from being disappointed. So you apply for a job. And then you. She's more qualified than I am. She'll get the job.
They don't even really like me. I should just be happy if I don't get fired. No one likes you. You're not going to get invited to the prom anyway. Everybody thinks you're ugly. You should just be happy if people let you come.
And if anybody will dance with you. You just set yourself up to not be disappointed. Some of you. You're always surprised if something good happens. And it's because you have an internal dialogue. That's consistently telling yourself.
Everything's going to fail. Everything's going to be terrible. Everything's the worst. I'm going to break it. So when anything good happens.
You get surprised. Some of you. You can see it because you apologize for everything. Somebody gets angry. Somebody gets sad around you. You apologize to them.
Because obviously it had to be your fault. Feeling gets tense or awkward. I'm sorry. People are consistently looking at you going. What are you sorry about? I just.
I am. Sorry. I'm sorry that I'm here. Don't stop looking at me. There's this need to. Because you've already conditioned yourself to feel like such a failure.
Some of you spend a lot of time being focused on the things you did wrong. The mistakes you made. Rather than things you got right. Some of you spend all your time comparing your bad qualities to the good qualities of others. It's possible that if you struggle with this. It is just a fleshly.
You have gotten in the pattern personally of beating yourself up. Of using this as a tool to manage your life. To motivate yourself or to keep you from being disappointed. But if you're a Christian. Those things you're saying can't be true. They're true of Jesus.
Can't be true of you. The world. So we said the flesh, the world, the devil. The world could be any kind of outside force. Any kind of outside anything. So some of you.
The internal self-loathing, self-hatred, self-condemnation voice. Is your dad's. Or it's your mom's. Some of you. Have a jury of middle schoolers that follow you around. You got out of middle school 20 years ago.
And you're still whipping yourself with stuff that 13 year olds said. Some of you it's your ex-spouse. Why are you such a screw up? You'll never be able to. You'll always. You mess everything up.
You're the reason this is broken. You're the reason this is wrong. For you a lot of the stuff you say to yourself isn't I. It's you. It's some other voice coming into your head. It's your dad saying something to you.
It's your mom saying something to you. You've been conditioned. It's gotten so normal to you. This is the way you grew up. And so since you've been. Six.
Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten years old. This is how you talk to yourself. You're an idiot.
You're a disappointment. You're a failure. You're a failure. Not if you're in Christ. You were. But he has now made you holy and blameless and above reproach.
Some of you today in the name of Jesus get to evict a chorus of 12 year olds from your head. That's good news. 12 year olds. 12 year olds are the worst. No offense. If there are 12 year olds in here.
You'll get better. The third one. And this one's weirder for us. But we've got to spend some time talking about it. The flesh. The world.
The devil. We actually have a spiritual enemy. The Bible is clear that spiritual reality exists. That there's a God who's good. Who has angels that are good. And that there are evil angels or rebellious angels.
That are called demons or evil spirits. That actually exist. That actually cause harm. If you just read through the New Testament. And I know as Westerners we're prone to just kind of gloss over those passages. But Jesus interacts with demons.
It's weird. I get that. Here's the thing. The Bible is clear. Demons exist. They are real.
They do affect people. They can harm you. Mentally, physically. Like we see that in the Bible. The Bible is never demon focused or evil spirit focused. It is always fully and forever Jesus focused.
But we have to as Christians be aware. That this is a reality. And take that into consideration. So there is a possibility. That if you have some sort of a negative voice in your head. That it is demonic.
That it's actually the accuser. So the Bible calls Satan the accuser. That he accuses us. That he attacks us. That he comes and condemns. He says you're a failure.
You're terrible. He points out your sin. But then he uses it to say. This is why you're unlovable. This is why you're wicked. This is why you'll never be forgiven.
This is why God can't save you. He keeps bringing up what you've done. Let me show you a couple of verses. And then we'll talk about a little more about how this works. But Ephesians 6.12 says this.
For we do not wrestle. And that word wrestle in the Greek means hand to hand combat to the death. Sitting friendly wrestling. This is you ran out of weapons. And now you're in a ditch with somebody. And one of you is coming out.
We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. But against the rulers. Against the authorities. Against the cosmic powers over this present darkness. Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. That as Christians our main battle is not against political parties or nation states.
It's against spiritual forces of evil. At work in the world. Because there is a real eternity with a real heaven and a real hell. There is a reality beyond what we can see. Now for people who have grown up in the west.
Where we approach everything through reason, logic and science. Which there's nothing bad about any of those. All of those belong to God. Everything was created for him and through him. Reason, logic and science have their place. But there is something beyond what we can see.
The Bible is clear on that. And what it's saying is that a lot of our battle isn't against just flesh and blood. It isn't against our flesh or the flesh of others. There's actually spiritual reality going on. Now that's kind of terrifying.
To be honest with you. That you're in a hand-to-hand combat to the death with spiritual forces. And that would be absolutely cripplingly terrifying. If the Bible didn't say other things. So let's go back to Colossians 1.
It's going to be on the screen. Just to remind you. For by him, that's Jesus. All things were created in heaven and on earth. Visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
So it's specifically saying visible ones and spiritual ones. Keep going Colossians 2. So it's saying he created all spiritual things. For in him, that's Jesus. The whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Meaning he's fully God.
And you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. So Jesus is seated over every cosmic power. And you've been filled up by him. And keeps going in Colossians and says this. God made. He's talking about you.
He says, God made alive together with him. Having forgiven us all our trespasses. By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside. Nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities.
And put them to open shame. By trumping over them in him. The thing that rulers and authorities. That the enemy has against you is your sin. He accuses you of your sin. When Jesus paid for your sin.
And when he nailed it to the cross. The enemy has been disarmed. He has nothing to accuse you of anymore. He can come back and remind you of it. He can say, here's how you failed. Here's how you're evil.
Here's how you're twisted. Here's how you're broken. But guess what happens? All of those reproaches fall on Jesus. They're not true for you anymore. But it is possible for some of us.
Who have this internal dialogue. For it to be some sort of demonic thing. Now. I'm fully want us to continue to talk about this. I want to give you a few more ways to think about this. And then we're open for any kind of questions.
I'll just hang out afterwards. If you have more specific questions about this. But we don't want to spend all our time on it this morning. But a couple of things to maybe help you think about this. Now. Accusation and condemnation come from Satan.
Some of you think. You struggle with this feeling of guilt and shame. And you think. I can't. I can't go to God. I can't go to church.
There's this idea that if you go to God or go to church. He's just going to make it worse. All God's going to do is say. Yeah. Here's how you failed. Here's how you're terrible.
Here's how you're an idiot. And judge you and condemn you. But biblically. That's not God that does that. That's not Jesus that does that. That's Satan.
You just describe Satan. When somebody says. All God's going to do is condemn you. It's like no you just describe Satan. That's what the Bible says he does. He accuses and condemns.
God convicts. Which points out your sin. And then he goes to the cross for it. And offers you forgiveness and reconciliation and love. So the Holy Spirit in you.
If you are a Christian. Is going to convict. But the Holy Spirit uses a scalpel. Not a sledgehammer. So the Holy Spirit.
If you're a Christian. And you're convicted. He comes and says. You said this. You shouldn't talk to your spouse that way. You did this.
Like he. He goes right to the issue. He cuts it out like a cancer. And he leads you. Through. Through surgery.
Which is painful. Through conviction and repentance. Which is painful. To life and freedom. Satan doesn't do that. He hits you with a hammer.
Or he throws a blanket over you. It's just. You're an idiot. You're a failure. He points to your sin. But he doesn't.
He doesn't call for hope. He calls for condemnation. Some. Some of you. In your life. Have had.
And some of you have. Terrible friends. Some of you are sitting next to your terrible friend. Don't look at them. You've had terrible friends. They followed you around.
They. They made you feel bad about yourself. They called you names. They made you feel uncomfortable. They. They tore you down.
Some of you had friends that. That they could talk you into doing really dumb things. And eventually. Some of you grew up. And you got rid of these terrible friends. You moved on.
You were like. No. I can't. I can't hang out with you anymore. Because you make me feel terrible about myself. You.
You beat me down. And then you talk me into dumb things. Like all I ever do with you is get in trouble. Like this is. This is not a good friendship. This is not a healthy place.
Some of you. Potentially. If this is you. Who have. Struggled with self-loathing. May have.
Some sort of a demonic thing going on. That actually functions. Just like a terrible friend. That you don't realize is following you around. So you don't get rid of it.
All it does. Call you names. Give you bad advice. Bad suggestions. And because you don't realize. That this.
Maybe just be demonic. You don't tell it to leave. Now again. That may be super weird. But what Ephesians 6 just said was.
We don't wrestle with flesh and blood. But with. Spiritual forces. So let me tell you. If you are a Christian. If you're not a Christian.
I fully expect. All of this just weirded you out. We believe other weird things. We believe that God became a person. Died on a cross for our sin. Was laid in a grave.
Three days later. He rose again. And eventually. He's coming back on a horse. It gets way weirder. We believe all that.
Now. I'd love to talk to you about it. It's. It's. It's good news. It may come across as weird to us.
Now. For Christians in the room. Who aren't weirded out yet. You got to realize. We are actually at war. With spiritual forces.
Let me explain to you. What happens. When Christians go. Wait a second. Spiritual forces. Whoa.
And get really terrified. It is like. You were drafted. Went to boot camp. Went to training. Got sent down field.
Down range. So you are. You go on your first patrol. In Iraq. Or Afghanistan. You come back.
You go. I need to speak to the commanding officer. Why? I need to speak to the commanding officer. Right now. And for some reason.
They are not mean to you. And they let you do it. And you walk into the commanding officer's. Office. And you say. They are shooting at us.
They hate us out there. And your commanding officer goes. What? Get out of my office. Before I shoot at you. That's what.
When Christians go. Hold on a second. We are at a war. There is an enemy. Yes. The Bible is so clear on that.
We have just Americanized it out. Absolutely. The enemy wants to tear you down. And mess up your marriage. And keep you from following Jesus. Some of you.
When you open the Bible. And you start reading scripture. You hear things like. Jesus is an idiot. Like. You hear swear words.
I wasn't going to say them. But I was going to use a letter. But I feel like that might be inappropriate from up here. You hear. You hear swear words. Of.
This is. This is nonsense. This is garbage. Some of you right now in your head are saying. This is dumb. This is a waste of time.
I shouldn't be here. Some of you. Every time you try to read the Bible. You're overwhelmed by. Condemnation. And conviction.
And you can't even. We have an enemy. That does not want you to find freedom. And joy in Jesus. Does not want you to be active. And sharing your faith.
Does not want you to have life. And hope in him. A real enemy. And. We have a real king. Who's disarmed our enemy.
By taking our sin. To the cross. And by having everything bad. That you could ever say about me. Falls on Jesus. So we're free.
So what do we do? If this is you. What do you do? How do we find freedom here? First thing. You need to preach a better sermon.
For those of you who don't know. This is a sermon. We open the Bible. We say things about Jesus. Some of you. You.
Just so you know. Not some of you. All of you. You preach to yourself more than anybody else does. You preach to yourself more than anybody else does. You tell yourself more about what is true about life.
What's true about you. What's true about Jesus. Than anybody else does. And some of you who are Christians. Are preaching. Very terrible sermons to yourself.
All the time. Y'all know our sermons don't get good on Sunday. Until we get to Jesus. It's not a good sermon. Until we get to the point. Where Jesus shows up.
And saves all of us. Where Jesus is the hero. Where Jesus sets us free. But some of you are following yourself around. And preaching sermons. That I would get fired for.
And rightfully so. Your sermon just covers the first half. You're a failure. You're a sinner. You're terrible. You're an idiot.
Let's pray. That's a terrible sermon. Get to Jesus. If that's. If you were preaching a sermon. If you were.
Like you're following yourself around. Telling yourself theological truths about yourself. And if you are a Christian. You've got to get to Jesus. I was terrible. I was a failure.
My sin did Mark me. It did own me. But. Jesus died for me. And I'm free. And I'm holy.
And I'm blameless. And I'm above reproach. Everybody say that with me right now. If you're a Christian. I'm holy. Who.
That's enthusiasm. Let's go. I'm holy. I'm blameless. And I'm above reproach. That's true.
If you're in Christ. And that's a good sermon. That's real. Some of you need to get some passages of scripture. And begin to repeat them to yourself. You need to wake up in the morning.
And the first thing you do is you pray. And you thank Jesus. And then you start reading some scripture. And you start saying. I'm holy. And blameless.
And above reproach. That he who knew no sin. Became sin for me. So that I could become the righteousness of God. And I'm the righteousness of God. I'm clothed in Jesus.
I'm free forever. When I stand before the king. I will be welcomed. And loved. None of my sin will follow me anywhere. My sin will forever Mark Jesus.
And I will forever celebrate and praise him. Because I've been set free. And I'm a child of the king. Some of you need to begin to preach better sermons. And you legitimately. You really need to make a list of Bible verses.
Or truths about the gospel. We have some we can give you. To help you begin to know what is true. Because you from the age. Maybe some of you who grew up in homes. That were verbally abusive.
From the age of. I don't know. Three. Two. Whenever you started understanding language. Till you got out of the house.
You've heard verbally. Over and over again. You're an idiot. You're a failure. Look at you. No one could love you.
No one could want you. Like this is what's been beat into your head. And you need to begin to say out loud. Some things that are true. About the God of the universe. Who loves you.
And died for you. And came to rescue you. We need to preach better sermons. You need a better savior. Here's the best thing our culture can give you. The best thing they can give you.
Is you need to love yourself more. You need. A higher self esteem. You need to know that you're special. You're a snowflake. You're a magical rainbow pony.
You are. Repeat that after me. Magical rainbow pony. Like this is the best they can give you. You need to have self esteem. You need to know that you're special.
You need to. You need to forgive yourself. You need to learn to love yourself. Boo. No thank you. Part of the problem is that we're only looking at ourselves anyway.
And you're correct. When you look at yourself. And you come to the conclusion. That I'm terrible. That I'm a sinner. That I'm broken.
That I failed. Yes. The Bible will agree with you. But then it's going to say. But. But Jesus.
Some of you have been so focused on yourself. You need to get to. But Jesus. You need a better savior. You need the God that shows up. Not you.
Not more self esteem. Not more love for yourself. You need a God who gives you his esteem. Who forgives you. You don't need to forgive yourself. You need to be forgiven by Jesus.
You need to be redeemed by Jesus. Made much of by Jesus. You need to humble yourself before him. And then be given the confidence that the cross can give. That you're holy and blameless and above reproach. Not because of you.
But because of Jesus. And because it's because of Jesus. You can't mess it up. Every time you feel like I've failed. Yes. But Jesus.
We have a better savior than you. And your self esteem. And the way you feel about yourself. You get to have a self esteem that doesn't come from you. That comes from him. And it's a God esteem.
Where he lifts you up. Where he exalts you. Where he goes to work for you. Because he was humbled for you. We need a better savior. Galatians 2.20-21 says this.
I have it on the screen. I got it right here. I have been crucified with Christ. Meaning when I died. When Christ died. I died with him.
It's no longer I who live. But Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God. Who loved me. And gave himself for me.
See Paul is writing this. And he knows I was loved by God. And he gave himself up for me. He loved me. Then he says I do not nullify.
Which means treat like it doesn't exist. The grace of God. For if righteousness were through the law. Meaning rules. If righteousness. If I could be made right.
Be okay. Through the law. Then Christ died for no reason. When we're following ourselves around. And saying these mean things to ourselves. These hateful things to ourselves.
We're holding ourselves up against the law. I should look like this. I should be like this. I should be smart like this. I should have handled this better. You're holding yourself up to a standard.
And what he's saying is. If the standard could save you. Jesus died for no reason. But because Jesus died. We don't nullify. Or act like grace doesn't exist.
We trust Jesus. And let him live through us. That we died with him. All our sin died with him. And that he's alive in us. His righteousness is alive in us.
That we believe in grace. Which means we get all the benefits. Without any of the work. That we get to be holy. And blameless. And above reproach.
Even though we didn't deserve it. Because Jesus worked on our behalf. Thirdly. You need a better way to pray. Okay. So Jesus says this.
In the model prayer. In Matthew 6. So he says. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts. Or forgive us our sins.
Or forgive us our trespasses. Depending on your version. Forgive us our sins. That's what he's talking about. As we have forgiven our debtors. So help us.
Forgive us of our sins. As we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation. And deliver us from evil. So he specifically says.
It's a normal daily way to pray. To pray about the flesh. The world. And the devil. That's forgive me my sins. That's the flesh.
Lead me not into temptation. That's the world. And deliver us from evil. That's the devil. That's a normal daily way to pray. Some of you.
Only blame things on the devil. And you need to spend some time. Repenting of your own sin. Some of you. Most of us. Know that we sin.
Try to repent of our sin. But never get to the point. Where we say. And deliver us from evil. If the enemy's involved. He doesn't get to be.
Because you're the head of all rule and authority. And I'm free in you. And in the name of Jesus. Any enemy involvement has to go. So here's what we're going to do today.
We're going to actually pray through those three things. This morning. If you're not a Christian. If you don't pray. I would invite you to pray. I would invite you to begin to pray.
And ask Jesus to reveal himself to you. But also. If you're not going to pray. That's cool. You're welcome to hang out. With us at any point.
And be someone who's just checking this thing out. Who's even a little bit antagonistic to it. You're not going to offend us. You can ask us any questions you want. But I would ask that right now.
As we pray through some of this. You just be quiet and respectful. We're going to pray a little bit. For those Christians in the room. Who specifically struggle with this self-loathing. If we've been talking to you this morning.
We're going to spend more time talking about it in our groups. And for some of you may not know. You have this. There's a list we have in our Killjoy book. To help you identify it. We're going to pray about those three things.
The flesh. The world. And the devil. And here's how we're going to do this. Let's pray about the flesh first.
In just a second. We're going to pray. And you get to repent. For actively any participation you've had. In telling yourself lies. In preaching a false gospel to yourself.
You get to repent for unbelief. And then you get to remind yourself in prayer. Of what's true. That you're holy. And blameless. And above reproach.
That you're free. Some of us in our prayer lives. Need to get to the point. Where all we do is talk about ourselves. We talk about our friends and family. We need to start talking about Jesus.
In our prayer. Thank you Jesus. That you saved me. That you redeemed me. That you're king. And that I'm free.
So we're going to pray about the flesh. So just for a minute. I want you to take a second. And I want you to. If this is you. I want you to take a moment.
And ask the Holy Spirit to help you. To actually repent of. Any participation you've had in. Applying this to yourself. Lying to yourself. And then I want you to take a minute.
To just celebrate that Jesus. Frees you. Okay can we do that now? O Amen. Amen. Amen.
Now we're going to take a second to pray. Where he says, deliver us from temptation. Keep us from temptation. We're going to pray about where we're tempted to believe more about what the world says about us than what Jesus says about us. Some of you believe what your dad said about you more than you believe what Jesus says about you. Some of you believe what middle schoolers or your mom or some sort of a jury you've made up in your mind.
What they say about you, what you think people would say about you more than what Jesus says, which is your holy, blameless, and above reproach. We're just going to take a minute to pray that through the Holy Spirit he would let us not believe that. We would trust him more. That he would deliver us from the temptation. Keep us from the temptation to believe what the world says. That he would send unto you a gospel.
They would then satu liaby. And I believe what the Lord says. Those fruits and понимаю. Amen. Amen. Now in this third one, here's what we're going to do.
We're going to specifically pray that in the name of Jesus, if there's anything that's messing with your thought pattern, affecting how you think about yourself, that in the name of Jesus, it would have to leave. That the enemy does not get to speak into what's true about you or have any dominion in your brain in the way you think that you're free. You don't have to be, it's not, this authority isn't based off of you, it's based off of Jesus, his work on the cross, what he's already accomplished, what's already true. So you just get to right now saying in the name of Jesus, and Jesus, I pray that in the name of Jesus, that anything that is affecting my thoughts, that's not me or the Holy Spirit has to go.
Has no place in my thinking anymore. Take a second and do that. Amen. Amen. We said when we started this series that we were going to treat it a little bit the way we treat counseling, that I wish that we could have done this across the table. And here's what we always say when we get to this point when we're talking with people through this.
And just so you know, there have been many people in our church family who have struggled with this. And specifically when they got to the point where they got to tell something to just leave them alone in the name of Jesus, they felt free and clear. And it's not weird. We have an enemy that hates us, that wants to lie to us. You get to have freedom. Some of you in the room right now may have just thought when we got to that point where we were going to tell something to leave in the name of Jesus, you may have just gotten frustrated, fearful.
You may have begun to think, this is dumb. This is a waste of time. I'm not going to do this. That's not the Holy Spirit. It's not the Holy Spirit talking. It may be you.
And if it's you right now getting really frustrated, you can repent. But it's possible that you're being continually pressed to not tell something to leave in the name of Jesus. And I just want to encourage you, do. Because the Holy Spirit doesn't mind you saying that. He's active and at work to set you free. So we're going to take one more second to just pray and say in the name of Jesus, everybody in the room, in the name of Jesus, nothing gets to mess with me.
I'm free. Because I'm holy and blameless and above reproach because of the cross. Nothing gets to mess with my thinking. So let's continue to pray that just for a second. Amen. Amen.
Jesus, we thank you that you're good. Amen. That you who were holy and blameless and above reproach took everything that could ever be said bad about us onto yourself. That you became our sin. You became the worst of all of us. You became everything we could ever be accused of that would be true.
Everything we've ever tried to hide, you became it. And you were nailed to a cross and laid in a grave. And that you rose again conquering it. That we died with you and we get to rise with you. That it's you alive in us. So that we are now holy and blameless and above reproach forever.
Because you've accomplished that on our behalf. And that we get to be reconciled to you and presented to you. That one day we will be presented before your throne as holy and blameless and above reproach. And it will be a beautiful testament to your work on our behalf. That it will be a moment where you receive so much glory because you saved such sinners. And we'll be overwhelmed and tears will shrink down our face and we'll praise you, our God, for eternity.
Because you became our sin. So that we can be free. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Some of you, you need to go home.
You need to make a list. Bible passages. We can help you with that. You can talk to your community group leader about it. Some of you are going to need to do some follow-up with your community group leader. You have some questions.
Some of you, maybe we need to do some pastoral follow-up. That's kind of outlined in the beginning of our Killjoy books. Some of you are just going to need to be real honest with your group this week. One of the reasons we get to confess out loud is because everything we can say out loud bad about ourselves goes to Jesus. And we're above reproach. We're above reproach.
Lust
Transcript
Well, good morning. We'll be in Proverbs chapter 5. That'll be on page 341. If your Bible looks like this, go ahead and get over to Proverbs chapter 5. We've got a good bit of work to do today. We're going to be talking about lust in our Killjoy series and about how our approach to sexuality and our approach to lust has begun to rob us of our ability to have joy, to have peace, to rest in God.
And so we've got a good bit to go through. I'm going to pray, and then we're going to hop in. God, we thank you that you're good. Lord, we thank you, Lord, that your word speaks about topics that we need to learn. That you don't leave us on our own to figure it out, but that you speak to us, that you lead us, that you give us wisdom that we would not have on our own. And so, God, we praise you.
We pray that we'd listen and we'd follow. In Jesus' name, amen. Verse 1 and 2, I love how this starts. It says, My son, be attentive to my wisdom. Incline your ear to my understanding, that you may keep discretion and your lips may guard knowledge. First little thing I just want to throw out there for us as we get started this morning.
This starts off, it's Solomon writing. So he was a king and he was very wise and he's writing to his son. Later he says, sons, for the parents in the room, you need to have some conversations about sex that start off with my son, my daughter. You've got to talk to your children about sex. I came across some statistics this week I want to share with you. This is from the National Center of Biotechnical Information.
I don't expect you to know what that is. I don't know what it is. It had a.gov website, so it's important. They do good things, I guess. They basically took television shows and it says they coded them. They tried to see what kind of material was in them.
So, for example, a recent content analysis found, this is a quote, that 82% of episodes coded contained sexual content. However, only 2.9% of episodes with sex, so 2.9% of that 82%, contained messages about sexual patience and 5.2% had messages about taking sexual precautions. So 82% of the episodes they looked at talked about sex and only a very small portion of those talked about any sort of waiting or at least taking precautions. It says the American youth, and I don't know what age group that is, it just says youth, see 14,000 references to sex per year. 14,000. That's like 38 a day.
One source I saw said that about 156 of those, so right at about 1%, will actually be references to sex inside of marriage. So 14,000 references to sex, the average age that an American youth engages with pornography for the first time is 11. That's sixth grade. That's the average age that someone first sees pornography. Parents, you've got to talk to your kids about sex. You've got to talk to them about sex the way that Solomon does, which is both here's what's dangerous about it and here's what's good about it.
And I do want to give you some encouragement. The number one impact that they've studied, children growing up or whatever, the number one thing that has impacted them is parental conversations. That has the biggest impact. It's the biggest assigning factor on how they're going to view sex. They are hearing about sex. They are learning about sex.
It's not like you can wait until they're older and then be like, oh, let me explain this to you. They already know. At this point, they might know things you don't know. Like, I don't know. I mean, they're handing out iPads to sixth graders. Praise Jesus they never handed me an iPad when I was in sixth grade and told me to do all my schoolwork on it.
Like, we've got to start having some conversations, but parental conversations actually impact them, have an effect. Now, is it going to be awkward? Certainly. If it's not awkward, you didn't do it right. Like, of course, talking to your kids about sex is going to be awkward. I remember my parents sat me and my two brothers down, and I was in the middle.
So one was older than me. One was younger than me. I was pretty young. I don't know how young I was. I mean, like, eight or ten or something. And they're like, all right, you're hearing about sex.
Let's talk about this. And so it was my mom and my dad. They drew pictures. Not stick with me. My mom was a nurse. So they drew, like, what happens inside.
So, like, there's nothing that takes the mystique out of sex like phrases like fallopian tube. But, like, they talked to us about how everything worked. And then when it got a little more intimate, I don't know. Like, my dad just, he was like, he took the back half of the conversation. He was like, let me explain how this works. And I remember he's telling us, like, this is how, you know, you learn the science.
Let me explain what it's going to, you know, you're not going to be thinking about fallopian tubes. Let me talk about, you know, the other stuff that happens. And he got done talking to his three sons, and I went, no, that can't be right. Like, that is not correct. And my older brother, Logan, who is one of our community group leaders, hit me and said, shut up. He knows what he's talking about.
He's done this three times. Here's the thing. I grew up in the United States. My parents did not do a whole lot of governing what we watched on television. I'm one of the people who has seen 14,000 references to sex a year, if not more. And I remember very distinctly the four or five conversations that my parents had with me about sex.
Parents, we've got to start having some conversations that start off with my son, my daughter. We need to talk about something. Sure, it'll be awkward, but it's going to be very, very good. Secondly, as we get started, I love that it starts off with my son. This is God who cares about us through the Holy Spirit authoring this, and this is the conversation he's having with us. He's saying, my son, my daughter, listen to me.
I care about you. He's not bringing the hammer down. He's not mad at you. He's sitting us down and saying, let's talk. Let's have a conversation about this.
Now, in our Killjoy series, we're going to approach this a little bit differently. Our culture, every time we talk about sex, we have to say so much because our culture has already said so much. When we start talking about, in a couple weeks, when we talk about worry and anxiety, and we're like, hey, worry and anxiety are bad. Like, we need to work on this. Everybody in the room is going. When we stand up and say, hey, sex outside of marriage is bad, we're like, hmm, I don't know.
Seems kind of great. We just have to do more. We have to say more to help explain what we're talking about here. So we did a series at the beginning of the year called The Theology of Sex. I would really encourage you to go back and listen to it if you have questions about where we stand on things. We talked about masculinity, femininity, gender, homosexuality.
Like, we tried to do as best we could for seven weeks. Open the Bible. Here's what it says. Today, specifically, we're going to do a little bit of work to just say, here's what the Bible says about sex, and here's how we as Christians who are trying to follow this can find some freedom and some joy in what God's called us to. So before we jump in, I think we've got to take just a second to talk about what the Bible says is the framework for sex, what the Bible says positively about sex.
So the Old Testament sex ethic and the New Testament sex ethic are the same, and here's how it works. No sex of any kind outside of a covenant, period. All right? Let's talk. What's a covenant? Do we have a modern equivalent word for that?
No. Here's how a covenant works. A covenant is a relationship with a commitment. So it's a relationship with a legal commitment so that the relationship is actually better, made stronger by the legal commitment. What we're most used to are relationships and contractual consumer relationships where both of them are based off of what am I getting out of this. A covenant is the opposite.
A covenant is where I say, here's what I'm going to do, period. It doesn't matter what you do. Here's what I'm going to do regardless of how you respond, how you act. That's what a marriage covenant is. It's where a man and a woman say, I covenant with you to give myself to you, everything I have to you forever. That is where sex belongs.
In the Bible, sex is a covenant good, meaning that sex only happens inside of a marriage covenant. Now, that sounds crazy to our culture. And for us who've grown up and even like we've listened to the 14,000 messages a year, we're going, yeah, okay, I know that the Bible says that. Let me tell you a few things really quickly just about us as a church and why we open this every week and spend so much time talking out of it. This has authority over us. If we come to this and we get to pick and choose what we like and what we don't like and what's in date and what's out of date, we're in charge.
This isn't. And let me explain something to you. If we get to do that, if I get to approach the Bible with I'm in charge, let me say what I like and let me skip what I don't like, what we're doing right now is a waste of time. If we get to be in charge of the Bible, studying it is a waste of time. If the Bible is in charge of us, then it's absolutely valuable, although sometimes frustrating and difficult. Okay?
Is that fair? We believe that Jesus is in charge, so we spend a lot of time studying his word. What the Bible says about sex makes us seem crazy. Now, if you're a Christian and you actually believe the Bible and you're trying to follow it, I have good news for you. Christians have always seemed crazy when it came to sex. Does that make you feel better?
That's how it started. The original Christian sex ethic seemed crazy to their culture. We actually have a letter that was written where somebody was trying to explain, okay, let me try to help you understand Christians because they're a phenomenon now. They're all over the place now. The whole Roman Empire is crawling with these people. Let me start explaining to you why they're weird.
One of the quotes from that is he says, one of the things that's weird about Christians is they have a common table but not a common bed, meaning they'll share their table with anybody. You can go over to their house. You can eat a meal, which was completely opposite from culture because eating a meal meant you and I are on the same level. And they said, but they don't have a common bed, meaning that they only sleep with the person they're married to. Isn't that weird? That was the point he was making because in their culture it was the opposite.
You could sleep with whomever, but you didn't share your table with everybody. And Christians showed up and said, no, anybody can come to my house. Anybody can eat with me. We're on the same plane with everybody, but you leave my bed alone. So I hope it makes you feel better.
We've been weird for thousands of years. Let's, as a church, continue that and find out what it's supposed to look like. Here's the thing. We're used to consumer relationships, meaning that whatever I get out of this relationship matters. My needs matter more than the relationship. So some of you iPhone people, we have iPhone people in here.
Like raise your hand. You can participate. You got iPhone people. Okay. Any Motorola. What is it?
Nokia. What is it? What's the other one? Android. Not Nokia. Android.
Man, I miss my Nokia phone, y'all. It's like a brick that made phone calls. It was amazing. Android people. Okay. So some of you, you had an iPhone.
They keep updating it. Eventually, they made a new one that bends when you put it in your pocket and doesn't have a headphone jack. Now, you weren't like, no, I'm committed to iPhone. I've got to stick with it. Some of y'all realize that Androids have that little thing where you don't have to pick up your thumb when you're texting. Have you seen Android users' text where they just go, and it's like magic, and your iPhone keeps auto-correcting words to nonsense so it doesn't make any sense?
And so you were like, I'm going to get an Android. I'm going to get a Samsung Galaxy. And then it turns out that those are flammable. You bought an expensive Molotov cocktail. You didn't stick with Samsung anymore. Like you went and traded that one in.
You were like, good, y'all fix it. This one isn't going to catch on fire. And they were like, well, eh. And that one's still calling fire. And so you moved back. You went to a different one.
Some of you saw the commercials where you were with Verizon, but with Sprint you can cut your bill in half. And we've moved because our needs matter more than the relationship. None of us are committed to Samsung so much that even though they're recalling their phones and their washing machines, you're like, I'm sticking with it, even though it's going to set my house on fire and somehow harm my children. Like you're not doing that. We're used to consumer relationships where whatever I want, whatever I'm getting out of this matters more than the relationship. And that is not a covenant.
A covenant is the relationship, the commitment matters more than what I get out of it. And that biblically is where sex was designed to take place. In the Bible, the guardrails for sex are high and narrow. But once you're on that road, it's the Audubon. Go for it. That's the biblical approach.
That's why later in this chapter it's going to get a little intense. So let's read a little bit about what this says here. Jump to verse 15 because I still want to show us the biblical picture for picture for where sex is supposed to happen. And then we'll walk back through and talk more about lust. So 15 drink water from your own cistern.
Flowing water from your own well. So this is in the context of sex. What he's saying is be married. He's going to later say the wife of your youth. He says be married, have a husband, have a wife. And that's where you drink water.
Flowing water. Morning water. Evening water. Afternoon water. Drink some water. Should your springs be scattered abroad?
Streams of water in the street. That's a rhetorical question. The answer is no. Your water at your own place. Not out in the streets. Let them be for yourself alone.
Not for strangers with you. So, is this person my spouse? This is my husband. Is this my wife? That's the sexual question. If this is your spouse, then yes.
Go for it. Any other people. Any other strangers. Any other anything. Isn't allowed in there. It's just you.
Sex was designed by God to be a sacrament in some ways. A sacrament is a physical act that reminds us of a spiritual reality. When we take communion, that's a sacrament. It's a physical act that reminds us of the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus. When we have baptism, that's a sacrament. That's a physical act that reminds us that we were buried with Jesus.
We rose again. When you have sex, it's meant to be a sacrament for your marriage. Which is a physical act that says, I give everything to you. My whole life. My finances. My economics.
My social standing. Everything. We share everything. I'm completely vulnerable with you. Everything I have. Everything I'll ever be.
Everything I ever was. I'm giving to you. I'm committing to you. That's what sex inside of a marriage was meant to be. A covenant renewal. All of me belongs to all of you.
C.S. Lewis says that sex outside of marriage is like chewing food and then spitting it out. Sex outside of a covenant is kind of like bulimia. In bulimia, you eat food, but then you make yourself throw up. So what you want is the flavor.
What you want is the taste. But you're not committed. You don't want the calories. You don't want the trans fat. That's sex outside of marriage. When somebody wants to sleep with you, but not commit to you, what they're saying is I want your flavor, but none of your baggage.
I don't want any of your trans fat. A philosopher, Immanuel Kant, he's a central figure in modern philosophy. He said it this way. Sexual love makes of the loved person an object of appetite. As soon as the appetite has been stilled, the person is cast aside as one casts away a lemon which has been sucked dry. But that was never meant to be how sex worked because sex is in the Bible a covenant good, not a consumer good.
It exists inside of a covenant, not a consumer relationship. Keep reading verse 18. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely dear, a graceful doe. I love that he says that. He says the wife of your youth, the person you married a long time ago, that's your wife forever. That's your husband forever.
Let me explain to you. If you're married, let me answer a few questions for you. A lot of times in our culture we ask the question, is this person the one? Are you married to them? They're the one. You found them.
Good Job, you guys. So proud of you. If you're married to them, that's the one. That's your one. Stick with them. That's it.
You got the one. You don't have to keep asking that question. And what's your type? Well, are you married? That's your type. When you started, your type was athletic.
Now your type watches sports. That's your type. Your type's gotten bigger. You like bigger. Your type went bald. You love bald.
You're into bald. Your type got old. Your type got wrinkly. Your type changes its hair color every month. You change your type every month. Sometimes you got to check.
I don't know. I might be in the blondes. I hadn't seen her. She went to the thing. I don't know what I'm going to be into when she gets home. But when she gets home, I'm going to be into something.
Mom, that's how that works. You enjoy the wife of your youth, the husband of your youth forever. Verse 19. A lovely dear, a graceful doe, let her breasts fill you at all times with delight. Be intoxicated always in her love. People give Christians a hard time and they'll periodically say, you take the Bible literally, sometimes it has its benefits.
Here's what it's saying. Nowhere else. Nowhere else do you enjoy sexual relationships. Nowhere else do you go to find any sort of sexual fulfillment in the covenant relationship with a real person that you've committed your life to. A real person that you've committed everything you have to them. The person that still like cries at every sappy movie even if they've seen it a hundred times.
The person that's still secretly into 90s boy bands. The person who has road rage issues. The person who at the end of a hard day sits next to you and knows exactly what to say. Or always knows how to make you laugh. Or the person that consistently sticks their foot in their mouth. That real person that's going to change throughout your life, that's the person you're committed to sexually forever.
A real person that you know that you've committed everything to. There's a John Legend song that says, Because all of me loves all of you. Love your curves and all your edges. All your perfect imperfections. Give your all to me. I'll give my all to you.
I don't know if he had covenant marriage in mind. That's what he just described. Everything I have belongs to you. And sex out of that context is saying, I want your flavor. I want some of you. But I'm keeping me back.
I don't belong to you. You don't really belong to me. I don't want any of your baggage. I just want to physically enjoy some of this. And it's holding back. It's not giving.
It's not free. 20. Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? So as we go back through this, we're going to start back up in verse 3. We're going to talk about the forbidden woman. And here's the forbidden woman biblically.
Here's what lust is. It is a desire sexually for anyone who is not your spouse. A desire sexually for anyone. A covetous desire sexually for anyone who is not your spouse. So the New Testament is going to use the term porneia, which is translated a lot as sexual immorality.
It just means all sexual anything outside of covenant marriage. Jesus is going to say, don't look at another woman lustfully who is not your spouse. So it means any sort of desire sexually for someone you're not married to. That is the line that the Bible draws. Sex is supposed to be, I do forever, not you'll do for now. That's the Bible's approach.
Now our culture wants it to be a consumer good. It wants it to be just a physical appetite. That's what we're told over and over again. Go to verse 3. We're going to start talking about our culture a little bit. Try to understand where we are.
What we've been told, for the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil. Okay, that's imagery. That's a picture. Do her lips actually drip honey? No. Does she actually squirt oil out of her mouth when she's talking?
No. He's giving imagery. He's saying this is what it seems like. What he's saying is the forbidden woman, the person that you're not married to, seems amazing, sweet, healthy, enjoyable. She drips honey. Have you ever wondered why all the other husbands are not idiots?
You ever wondered why they do such a good job parenting? Have you ever wondered why they treat their wife so well? Have you ever wondered why this guy seems so great? It's because it's a lie. You ever wondered why their wives never talk to them like this? You ever been up until 2 o'clock in the morning arguing?
You got mascara running down your face and then at some point you get on Facebook and you see these pictures of people on vacation and you see, look at how magic that is. It's a lie. Nobody's taking a selfie at 2 a.m. after an argument. Hashtag exhausted. Hashtag 2 a.m. life. Hashtag depressed.
Nobody's doing that. The person you're not with, the person you're not married to, the person, and if you're not married, anybody you're not married to, they drip honey. Smoother than oil. The way they talk is like Barry White. Hey, baby. Like it's smooth, seems great, but it's a lie.
That's the point he's making. It seems wonderful. See, we're told that sex is just physical, but that's not why we go to it. It's not why we chase after it. See, we're pursuing sex to be free, to be loved, to not be alone anymore. I'm not alone, at least not right now.
I'm wanted. I'm desired. I'm approved of. I'm cared about. You don't go back to porn over and over again just for some sort of physical pleasure. You've got to be comforted.
You've got to be in control. You've got to have someone desire you and long for you. See, we're on a soul-level pursuit when it comes to sex. That's why Fifty Shades of Grey was the fastest book ever to sell a million copies. How many people read that book or went to that movie with this question? Am I missing something?
Am I missing out? What am I missing? Because we've begun to believe that sex gives life, fulfillment, satisfaction, and that we have to have it. But it keeps going. Verse 3. For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil.
But in the end, she's bitter as wormwood. Wormwood is just a plant, a spice that's very bitter. Sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death. Her steps follow the path to Sheol. That's the Old Testament word for the pit or the place of the dead.
So it's hell. He's saying her path goes to hell. She does not ponder the path of life. Her ways wander, and she does not know it. And I would argue that this is us in our culture when it comes to sexuality. We've been promised life.
We've been promised fulfillment. We've been promised honey and oil. And we're wandering off the path of life towards hell, and we don't even know it. We've been promised satisfaction and freedom. And we've wandered off, and we don't even realize it. There was a quote from a lady.
It's an article that went viral for a little while. It said her name is Jamie Varon. The article is called This Is How We Date Now. It starts off this way. They've always said there are so many fish in the sea, but never before has the sea of fish been right at our fingertips. On OkCupid, Tinder, Grindr, Dash, take your pick, we can order up a human being the same way we order up Pad Thai.
Those are dating websites or apps. I'm not saying those are wrong, but I am saying that our approach to dating has changed. That's the point she's making here, that we've begun to approach it as approaching a buffet. She says, if we commit, we are still one eye wandering at the options. We want the beautiful kind of filet mignon, but we're too busy eyeing the mediocre buffet because of choice. Our choices are killing us.
We think choice means something. We think opportunity is good. We think the more chances we have, the better, but it makes everything watered down. Never mind actually feeling satisfied. We don't even understand what satisfaction looks like, sounds like, feels like. We're one foot out the door because outside that door is more, more, more.
We don't see who's right in front of our eyes asking to be loved because no one is asking to be loved. We long for something that we still want to believe exists, yet we're looking for the next thrill, the next jolt of excitement, and the next instant gratification. Sex has offered us an endless buffet of satisfaction, and it's robbed us the ability to ever actually be satisfied because we've got one foot out the door, one eye on our options, and we've forgotten how to covenant. And we've taken sex out of a covenant relationship, put it in a consumer relationship, and it was never meant to be there.
The New York Times actually ran an article entitled The Downside of Cohabitating Before Marriage. They did some research, and they found that 20-somethings, half of 20-somethings agreed that they would not ever get married unless they had lived with someone first to see if they were compatible. And about two-thirds said that they believed moving in together before marriage was a good way to avoid divorce. And then the New York Times article goes on, and it's walking through this pretty well and trying to not get too far. It's New York Times. They've got to kind of thread the needle here.
But basically their point is that's not actually true. Cohabitating before marriage increases your negative statistics, increases the chance of divorce. And so they're basically looking at it and saying, okay, we know we have the cohabitating effect. That's what they call it. And they're like, why? What is living together before marriage?
How does that affect things? And here's one thing. This is a quote. One thing men and women do agree on, however, is that their standards for a live-in partner are lower than they are for a spouse. And that's because they're consumers. They've got one foot out the door, one eye on their options.
The lady interviewed said this, I felt like I was on this multi-year, never-ending audition to be his wife. They end the article with, a life built on top of maybe you'll do simply may not feel as dedicated as a life built on top of the we do commitment of marriage. See, sex in that kind of a relationship is marketing. It's a desire to keep someone focused on you. At best, it's you holding back while trying to take, but also trying to have enough sex so that you're on an audition. Sex has promised us security and love, and what it's given us is year-long auditions.
It's given us years of insecurity trying to keep someone when it was never meant to be in that relationship in the first place. Sex has promised us freedom. It drips. Honey, it's smoother than oil. It promises us freedom. But more and more scientists and neurosurgeons have come out, and they're looking at neuroscience, which is the study of the brain, and they've begun to understand about neuroplasticity, which means that your brain can change.
It can physically change. This is what happens in addiction. Your brain physically rewires itself throughout your life. One of the ways that it was explained in an article I read was if every time you hang out with your uncle, the first thing he does is give you a hug, and then he hands you an ice cream cone, and pretty soon your brain is going to rewire around my uncle is awesome. Because when you get a hug, your brain releases oxytocin. When you get ice cream, your brain releases dopamine, and your brain begins to set up, based on the circumstances, what caused this feeling, what caused this emotion.
When you have sex, your brain releases dopamine, oxytocin, vasopressin, endorphins, and it begins to rewire your brain. Oxytocin is a bonding chemical. Here's what that means. Here's what they're saying. Sex rewires your brain to be addicted. It works like a drug.
If you're in a covenant relationship, that's beautiful. That God designed sex to make you more and more addicted to your spouse. More and more addicted to them so that your brain actually rewires to where that's the person that I'm hooked on. That's beautiful. But if you take sex out of a covenant relationship, that's terrifying.
They actually said that sex becomes like taking a piece of duct tape and wrapping it around the hairy arm of a large man and then peeling it off. You get a lot of hair. You get a lot of skin flakes. Because sex was meant to bond. So it's like duct tape.
It's sticky. And then they said if you take it and wrap it around someone else's arm and then peel that off. This is in the book Hooked. It was written in 2008 by some neurosurgeons who were studying this. They said if you keep doing that, eventually the duct tape loses its stickiness. What they were arguing for is that brain science says – they're not Christians.
They're not arguing. They're just saying brain science says that sex with multiple partners actually makes you less sticky, makes sex work less the way it was supposed to. This is actually why pornography is so addictive. There's a website now called Fight the New Drug. They have a lot of really good statistics. Basically, pornography addiction works like a heroin addiction.
It changes your brain's chemistry so that pornography becomes the thing you're absolutely addicted to. It works with the same reward loops and the same addiction centers. Basically, what happens is your body during pornography and during sex releases a bunch of dopamine. So your dopamine receptors are overloaded. Eventually, if you keep doing this, your body takes away dopamine receptors. So you need more and different to continue to feel the same feeling.
That's how heroin works. That's how pornography works. You need more and different. And because your body has less dopamine receptors, your brain has less dopamine receptors, other things don't seem as good anymore. That's why pornography has become such a crippling issue. I saw a statistic that said one survey said that 50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women reported feeling addicted to porn.
I want to say this. Pornography is not just a man problem. One of the issues we have in the church is that we have females who are addicted to pornography and they feel this extra layer of shame that I can't tell anybody because this is a man's issue. It's not. It's a human issue. It's a sin issue.
And Jesus saves sinners. We need to begin being able to talk about these things. Here's the thing. Sex was meant to be addicting. And inside of a covenant relationship, praise Jesus, that's beautiful. But when we move it from the right context to the wrong context, it breaks down and doesn't work the way it was supposed to.
We were promised freedom. And it's enslaved us. One of the articles I read, it was absolutely devastating because sex has promised so much for us. It's promised security and love and connection. One of the articles I read is called Sex Before Kissing. They interviewed 600 females from the age of 15 to 19.
This was from Australia. They're asking these females from age 15 to 19, what's it like living in a world where all the guys are addicted to porn? That's the question. How does this affect relationships? How does this affect dating? 15 to 19-year-old girls.
This is a quote. Some see sex only in terms of performance, where what counts most is the boy enjoying it. I asked a 15-year-old about her first sexual experience. She replied, I think my body looked okay. He seemed to enjoy it. Many girls seem cut off from their own sense of pleasure or intimacy.
The main market of a good sexual encounter is only if he enjoyed it. Girls and women are under a lot of pressure to give boys and men what they want, to become a real-life embodiment of what the boys have watched in porn, adopting exaggerated roles and behaviors and providing their bodies as mere sex aids. Growing up in today's porn culture, girls quickly learned that they are service stations for male gratification and pleasure. We're wandering towards hell. We've left life and joy and fulfillment and satisfaction and security and love. We're not there anymore.
We've started wandering towards hell and we don't even realize it. What was supposed to be freedom? What was supposed to be so good? What was supposed to end repression? Seventh-grade girls are asking questions about bondage and S&M. Many of them have seen Fifty Shades of Grey and wonder, if a boy wants to hit me, tie me up, and stalk me, does that mean he loves me?
Girls are tolerating demeaning and disrespectful behaviors and thereby internalizing pornography's message about their submissive role. Sexual conquest and domination are untempered by the bounds of respect, intimacy, and authentic human connection. Young people are not learning about intimacy, friendship, and love, but about cruelty and humiliation. One of the arguments for pornography is that it teaches sex education, and I would argue that it does, but it's a bad education. It teaches about aggression, dominance, and bad sex. No intimacy, no love, no kissing, no talking, no friendship.
Teens who have had sex, this is a different article, are three times more likely to be depressed than teens who haven't. Female teens are three times more likely to commit suicide, this is in the U.S. Males are eight times more likely. That's not causation, that may be correlation, but we've got to start asking some questions. We were promised love, we were promised security, we were promised freedom, and we've gotten everything but, because we've left the path of life and we've started wandering towards hell. That's what the Bible says about sex, that it was meant to be beautiful and addicting and good.
You can't argue that the Bible is anti-sex. You cannot make that argument. It begins with a God who creates a man and a woman naked, brings them to each other. The man begins to sing or just make up some poetry, which seems like an appropriate response. God brings a naked man, a naked woman, brings them together, and the first thing he says to him is, be fruitful and multiply. And that's just how the Bible starts.
There are sections in the Song of Solomon, which is about the enjoyment of married sex, that every time translators get to it, they kind of shy away because they're given some imagery that's really graphic. And so they tone it down as best they can. But if you can read Greek, which I can't, but I've been told, it makes people blush. But we've been lied to. We aren't secure. We've got one foot out the door.
We keep having to sell other people on our benefits. We're not satisfied. One of the pictures that the New Testament gives for hell is a place of unending thirst. And that's where we are in the U.S. when it comes to our sexual desires. We have an unending, eternal, unsatisfied thirst. One of the things, if you look at magazine covers, they used to say you need to be having more sex.
Now what do they say? You need to be having better sex. Why? They sold us on more sex. Are we satisfied? No, we must be doing it wrong.
Sex hasn't led us to heaven. It's led us towards an unending, unsatisfied thirst and longing, which the Bible says that's hell. We're not free. We've been enslaved. We aren't loved. We're used.
We aren't known. We're sucked to dry and thrown away. Chewed up and spit out. Our progressive, free, enlightened approach to sex has not delivered. It's dripping honey, but it's as bitter as wormwood. It promised life.
It's leading us towards death. It promised heaven. It's led us towards hell. My wife, when she was in high school, the first time she ever filled up her car, she had a big Ford Explorer, and the first time she ever filled it up, it was on E. She was all excited. She was going to fill it up.
She filled it up. She drove across the street, and her engine stalled out and died. So her dad had to come, and they were like, does it have gas? Yes. Is it overheating? Like, it took them forever to realize she had filled it up with diesel.
Ford's floors are big. They're not that big. The reason it didn't work was because she put diesel in a gasoline engine. That's what we've done with sex. We've taken a covenant good and put it in a consumer setup, and it's not going to work. It's not going to provide.
It's not going to do everything it promised. So what do we do? How do we respond? If we're caught up in lust, if we're caught up in pursuing the person we're not married to, if we've already done this, if we're addicted to pornography, some people in the church have been addicted to pornography for decades. Began when you were 15, 13. It's been decades of lust.
Decades of, well, this is normal. This is the way guys are supposed to be. Or this is, every woman does this. Or this is how it works. And we've been told over and over again, 14,000 messages a year about how sex is supposed to work. It's robbing us of joy.
It's not freedom. It's slavery. There's a pastor in New York. His name's Tim Keller. He says that whenever someone comes to him and they say, a young person unmarried, and they come to him and say, I'm not a Christian anymore. I'm leaving the church.
He says his first question is, who have you been sleeping with? Immediately they're like, what? What does that have to do with anything? And his response is, nine times out of ten, the reason they're leaving the church is because they've been caught up in sex, and willful disobedience to the Bible makes God's presence unnoticeable, imperceivable. Some of us would say, I am a Christian. I follow the Bible, but when it comes to sex, we've bought in hook, line, and sinker to every message we've heard in our culture.
The Bible's repressive. The Bible's outdated. I follow it in these areas, but not this one. And it makes following Jesus joyless and difficult. So what do we do?
Solomon gives us some help. Verse seven. First thing we've got to do. Listen to what the Bible says about sex. Verse seven. And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
A lot of churches don't talk about sex. We've talked about sex a decent amount this year. We've devoted eight sermons to it, but you'll hear 38 messages on sex today. Eight isn't a lot. It seems like we talk about it a good bit, but our culture is pounding us with the ideas of sex and how we ought to think about it. It's aggressively telling us what we've got to believe, and we've got to start opening our Bibles and reading and meditating on what God says about sex because otherwise we're going to believe what our culture is telling us.
He says, listen, don't depart. That sounds crazy. It sounds prudish. It sounds restrictive. Yes. Yes.
But true freedom is found inside the bounds of healthy restrictions. That's how that works. Birds can fly because they're restricted by little body weight and thin little bones and wings. Fish are most good and okay in underwater. They're restricted by that, but that's where they find freedom. That's how it works.
Great pianist has only become that by practicing hours a day. They become free on a piano because they've completely restricted themselves. That's how sex is supposed to work. We've got some restrictions, but that's what leads to freedom. Verse 8. First thing we've got to do is listen to what the Bible says about sex, which means some of us need to open our Bibles and begin reading, trying to find out.
Verse 8. Keep your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house. We've got to take drastic steps. We've got to take drastic steps. Don't go near the door of her house. Keep far away from her.
The way Paul's going to say this in 1 Corinthians 6 is flee. The way Jesus says it, he says if you lust, pluck your eyeball out. That's crazy. He says cut your hand off. That sounds crazy, but he says it's better to have life and be maimed. It's better to have life and only one eye than to be led astray towards death and hell.
We have to take some drastic steps. Martin Luther says if your head's made of butter, stay away from the fire. We got a lot of butter heads in our church that are just sitting next to a fire and we need to make some good decisions here. Some of you, next week when you show up, you need to be showing off your new flip phone. Some of you need to save $9 a month and get rid of Netflix. When I counsel some of the guys in our church and they're struggling with pornography, one of the questions I've asked before is how many times, you got roommates?
Yeah. How many times have you looked at porn at your kitchen table? Zero. Good. That's where your computer stays from now on. On your kitchen table.
Some of you, your biggest temptations at night with your smartphone, put it out, put it out in the hall, sit on the table. Well, yeah, but I use it as an alarm clock. Walmart sells ones that just have red lights on them and they sound like this in the morning. Eh, eh, eh, eh. That will wake you up. Some of us need to take some drastic steps.
Some of you are in relationships. You need to break up. You need to move out. You need to leave their house at 8 o'clock at night. I heard one pastor say that he's got daughters and he tells them, don't believe anything a guy says after 8 that he doesn't say during the day. If he says it after 8 p.m. but he doesn't say it the rest of the day that it's not true.
Some of us just need to leave the house sitting up, watching a terrible show on Netflix until 2 o'clock in the morning that you're not really interested in next to your boo isn't staying far away from the door. Let me take some drastic steps. Now, that's not going to change your heart, but it can let you catch your breath enough to start trying to pursue Jesus. A couple of other drastic steps that need to be taken. Some of you, for the first time, need to tell your community group. You need to have someone in your group, some ladies in your group, some guys in your group that you say, I'm struggling with this.
You need to be honest. Sexual sin is sin, but it's just sin. And Jesus saves sinners. There's hope for us. 1 John 1, 6-9, we'll have it on the screen. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth, but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.
That we can bring things into the light. Sin grows in the dark, so what you've been told over and over again is you can't tell anybody this. You've got to win it on your own. You've got to fight this on your own. What if they find out? What if they know?
Bring it into the light so that we can have fellowship with each other and then Jesus can cleanse us of all sin. There's not a single thing that you can bring into the light that He can't handle. There's not a single thing, groups, when y'all get together this week and somebody confesses this, don't look at them like a lobster just crawled out of their mouth. We're together because Jesus saves sinners. sinners. Yeah. People in your community group struggle with lust.
Absolutely. In our culture, if you don't struggle with lust, it's amazingly difficult and you're special if this isn't one of your issues. Praise Jesus, but we've been bombarded with message after message about sex and sexuality and lust. And we need freedom, but Jesus saves sinners. Keep going. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Some of us need to have conversations, bring some things into the light and find some freedom. Quickly, and we've got to keep moving. Some of you need some friends. Not just friends you confess your sin to. You need that.
Some of you need some friends of the opposite sex. C.S. Lewis says one of the quickest ways to get rid of lust is to get to know a person. It's hard to lust after a person you actually know. Some of you need some friends of the opposite sex. Now, there's some wisdom to be applied here.
I don't do counseling with females alone. There's some things that you need to be aware of, but one of the teachings that has happened at least throughout my life growing up in the church is guys, you can't be near girls. Can't be friends with them. Sex. Girls, stay away from guys. Can't be friends with them.
Okay. If one of our problems is that we treat the opposite sex like an object, running away from them and being absolutely afraid of them because if we get alone with them, sex will magically happen is a pornographic fantasy and it is also still treating them like an object. We need brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. That's how Paul says to treat people in the church. If they're older than you, they're a mother. If they're older than you, they're a father.
If they're younger than you, brother or sister. You know what's beautiful about those relationships? Sex is completely off the table. If you are not married to them, they are a brother, a sister, a mother, or father. Dating relationships. If you are not married, brother or sister, mother or father.
If you need to know how that practically applies to your dating relationship, I'd love to talk with you about it. I'm serious. We can talk about it. We need some actual friends. We need some actual friendships with people of the opposite sex that we treat like a brother or a sister. brother. He keeps going.
He's going to say throughout 10 through 14, he keeps going back into, so he gives some advice, seven and eight, and then he keeps going back into some issues and struggles you're going to have. Get back to 15. We read this a minute ago. Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. Third thing we need is we need a better well. We need a better well.
Tim Keller, I quoted him a second ago. He says this about covenantal marriage. He says that in covenantal marriage you're given three things that you can't find in any other type of relationship. One is you're given a zone of security. You do not have to continue to perform. If you actually have a covenantal relationship, you are not performing to keep somebody.
Two, when you've committed to someone beyond your feelings, deeper feelings grow. The only other relationship we have like this is parents to children. You know how this works, right? Like you have children. They bring nothing to the table. They're kind of the worst.
I've heard comedians say that having a child and a really drunk roommate is the same thing. That's pretty true. Then they keep getting older and they keep getting older and you keep sacrificing and you keep giving and you keep loving them regardless of your needs being met. They aren't meeting your needs as like the most special amazing children. You're not getting anything out of this relationship. You're giving and you're giving and you're giving and you're giving and then when they turn 14 you tell them a rule and you say you can't do this and you know what they say?
You hate me and I hate you and you've never done anything for me. And so you choke them but you keep giving and giving and giving and sacrificing and sacrificing and sacrificing and it's one of the most beautiful pictures of unending sacrificial love that we have because when you are in a relationship beyond what your needs are deeper feelings grow and that gets to happen in a covenant marriage and in having children and that's it. When you commit to someone regardless of what you're getting out of it and you say I'm here no matter whether you're sick or healthy, poor, or rich, nice, fun, not fun, mean, I'm here you actually get deeper feelings that get to grow. The third one he says he says if you're you actually get freedom in a covenant relationship because in all other relationships you're a slave you're a slave to your feelings.
You have to feel it to stay. And he says that makes you a slave because you're not in control of your feelings. Sleep habits what you've eaten your body chemistry your physiology have a lot to do with your feelings. He says if you want to be free from your feelings make a promise and you can actually be free. That happens inside of a covenant relationship. Married couples you need a better well meaning that the Bible's going to say repeatedly that married couples should have sex.
They should enjoy sex. They should continue to have sex. They should have conversations with each other be open about it. Some of the married couples in this room the way to apply this sermon is to go home have a conversation be open and honest with each other repent of sin and selfishness repent of fantasies and lust and then have sex. That is a good way to apply this message. You're welcome.
That's what the Bible says. We need a better well. Healthy marriages is not just a gift to the people inside of them. It is a gift to the church. We need healthy marriages of people that love one another serve one another are committed to one another in a covenant relationship and that help the single people in our church see what that's supposed to look like and know what how to walk in one of those in the future. It doesn't mean you need to be real graphic or open about your sex life.
I'm not saying that. You don't need to be talking bad about sex. You don't need to be mistreating your spouse. You need to be open and honest and inviting single people and dating couples into your home to share a meal have an open table have conversations and help them begin to see what marriage is supposed to look like because our culture is telling them a whole lot and we as a church have to begin to model what this is supposed to look like. But all of us need an even better well.
We can't I don't know if y'all know this we can't talk about sex without talking about Jesus. If you've been a part of our church for a while you knew that was true. If you're here for the first time surprise Jesus is better than sex. Sex is just a poor representation of what we can ultimately find in Jesus. Jeremiah 2.13 says this for my people have committed two evils they've forsaken me the fountain of living water and they've honed out cisterns broken cisterns that don't hold water. A cistern's a big well that catches rain water and what he says is I'm a fountain where all of life and fulfillment and joy and satisfaction come from and you've dug a hole and you're trying to drink out of it and it can't give you water.
Here's what we've done culturally as Americans we've said sex is the good life. It's where joy and satisfaction and freedom and hope and life come from and we've been told that over and over and over and over again. It's how you know a relationship is good. It's how you know your life is good. You're missing out if you're not having this. We've been told this over and over and over again and we haven't quenched our thirst yet.
We're continuing to drink from a cistern that will never satisfy us because it was never meant to. Jesus is better than sex and ultimate freedom is only found in him. He is a fountain of living water that fills us up. The Bible steps in and says something to us that I think is so helpful for us as a culture. You can have a full fulfilling and complete life and never have sex and never masturbate and never be addicted to porn. You can have a full fulfilling and complete life without sex.
You can have a full fulfilling and complete life and never have sex. The Bible tells us that repeatedly because fulfillment comes from Jesus. The only thing we can ever look at and say I have to have you to be okay is Jesus. Everything else is optional. Romance, relationships, sex, money, everything else is optional. The one thing we can look at and say I have to have you to be okay and to be fulfilled is Jesus.
As we've been talking this morning some of you have had shame and guilt welling up inside of you. When we talked about the duct tape analogy you began to ask is that me? When we talked about pornography you begin to feel overwhelmed and enslaved. Sometimes when you talk about sex people begin to ask the question am I lovable now? Am I damaged goods? Am I broken?
There's so much pain that goes along with sexual sin and here's the answer to that question. Yes you are loved. Yes you are wanted. Jesus loves you and desires you so much so that he went to a cross to die for you. To cleanse you and to make you his. That Jesus is the fountain that both cleanses us and satisfies us.
There's a song we sing periodically that says this. There's a fountain. This was written in the 1700s. It says there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunge beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Jesus is the fountain that pays for our sins that sets us free and that satisfies us completely. But until we're satisfied in Jesus we will forever be stuck trying to quench our thirst in sexual sin.
You can learn all the rules. You can take all the drastic steps you want. You can get all the blockers on your computer that you want. Until you're satisfied in Jesus you'll continue to be addicted. Until you begin to realize that Jesus is the only one that can set you free. The only one that can give you hope.
The only one who loved you so much that he died for you. That he was buried in a grave and that when he rose again he conquered your sin on your behalf. You are loved. You are wanted. You are pursued. You just need a better well.
You are not going to find in sex what was only ever meant to be found in Jesus. I've got one more quote because why not? I've had a thousand today. John Dunn wrote this poem. I think it's helpful. But I'm betrothed unto your enemies.
He's talking to Jesus. Divorce me. Untie or break that knot again. Break up this relationship. I'm chasing after your enemy. I'm running after sex and lust.
Break that up. Take me to you. Imprison me. For I except you enthrall me never shall be free nor ever chased. That means sexually pure. Except you ravish me.
He's talking to Jesus and he says unless I'm so overwhelmed by your love, unless I'm so engulfed in you, imprisoned by you, enthralled by you, I will forever believe this lie. Matt and Raz are going to come back up and here's what we're going to take just a second to pray together. We're going to pray that we'll begin to believe that what the Bible says about sex is true and that we'll be so overwhelmed by the genuine love of Jesus and his death on the cross for our behalf that we won't chase after anything else. We'll be so satisfied in him that we can actually begin to truly in our hearts believe that we can have a life without sex and be okay.
Let's pray. God, we thank you that you save sinners. God, we hate sexual sin, but we thank you that it's still sin and that your blood cleanses us from all sin, that we can be free. God, I pray that we would be a church that you bless with healthy marriages and people that believe what you say about sex, that it's good. It's just not ultimate. It won't satisfy.
It won't fix us. God, I pray that we would see the cross and the empty tomb and your glorious throne in such a way that we'd be satisfied in you. We'd be enthralled with you, imprisoned by you, overwhelmed by your love for us, your death on our behalf. God, I pray that you'd help us to, in our groups this week, be open, honest, bring some things in the light and find some freedom. Confess, have fellowship with one another, genuine, true love and connection based off of truth and not hiding, based off of knowing someone and caring about them. God, I pray that you'd help us to find freedom from our lust and that we as a church would begin to tell a better story about sex than our culture has to offer.
We love you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Guilt and Shame
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We are going to be in Genesis chapter 2 today. We're going to start out there. So if you want to go ahead and grab your Bibles, we'll be in Genesis chapter 2.
If you're in a blue and white Bible, that's going to be on page 2. So you won't have to go very far. And if you don't own a Bible, take one of these blue and white Bibles with you. That's our gift to you. If you see a nice leather one laying around and you want to grab that one, that's cool. But that will be somebody else's, but you can have it.
We forgive you. We're going to jump right in this morning, and then we're going to talk a little bit about, after we read a little bit and kind of set up what we're doing today, we'll talk a little more about the series we're in and kind of how we're thinking about and approaching this. But we're going to be in Genesis chapter 2. We're going to start in verse 22. And what we're picking up on is God has created man, and he's now creating woman, and then he's going to kind of bring them together, and we're going to get to see this picture at the beginning of the Bible. So 22.
And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman, and he brought her to the man. Then the man said, This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, and she should be called woman because she was taken out of man. 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. Okay, so if you will, this is the first marriage in the Bible. God's created Adam and Eve, and he brings them together, and he brings them to each other, and they kind of have a marriage ceremony where this is, you belong to her and she belongs to you.
And what it says right there at the end of that chapter is that the man and the woman were both naked and not ashamed. And what that is, is a picture of perfect unity, perfect transparency, perfect openness, that neither one of them had anything to be afraid of. Anything that the other one would find out about them. Anything that they had to try to hide or cover up. That they could be completely themselves. That they were fully known and fully loved.
They didn't have anything to be worried that the other one would eventually discover. Nothing to be concerned about. Can you imagine that? Perfect and complete transparency. No amount of hesitation when it comes to, yeah, I'm an open book. Can you imagine?
Anybody can go home, talk to your parents, interview them, ask any question they like, and you have no concern. Anybody can flip through all your old yearbooks. Anybody can take your phone right now and flip through all the pictures in your phone. Some of you, you hand somebody your phone and you're like, hey, look at this picture of my dog. And then you see they start swiping and immediately your blood pressure is like, and you're trying to think like, maybe you don't usually take inappropriate pictures or anything, but you're immediately like, did I? Did I?
Could you imagine? Not having anything to hide. Not having anything to be concerned about. Anybody could go talk to any of your old relationships. Ask them any question they like and you wouldn't have any amount of hesitation, tension. They were completely, fully known, fully loved.
That's the picture we're given here this morning with Adam and Eve when they first come together. And what we're going to be talking about today is we're in our third week of our Killjoy series. What we've been spending our time on is basically talking about there's some things going on in the church, some things that we've gotten used to. Struggles and sins that have become normal. That it's just like, yeah, like some of us have begun to believe that this is just how life works for me. You've just learned to accept it.
Yeah, it's not great, but I'm used to it. It's kind of like after a while you don't notice the smell in your own house. Your friend comes over, they walk in. I mean, I think they do a whole series of commercials on this now, but this is a real thing. You can walk in someone's house and you're like, oh, y'all can't smell that anymore. I think the commercials call that nose blind.
And there's some of us who've become that with certain sins and certain struggles that we have. We've just accepted it. It's become a part of us. It's become so normal for us that we've just gotten used to it. And it's actually robbing us of joy. It's robbing us of the benefits of the genuine relationship that we have with Jesus as he's redeemed us and made us his.
And so what we're doing in this series, we've actually made some books where we're just trying to walk through and as best we can dig into that and then take it to Jesus to redeem it. So when we have in our books, if you hadn't grabbed one yet and we're walking through this with our community groups, I would encourage you to grab one of our Killjoy books, hop in a group. There's going to be inventories in there, something we stole from a recovery program. And then we've made some ourselves. But basically for the purposes of not just looking into our hearts and seeing what's there, but looking in and then taking it to Jesus to have him change us and make us new and go to work on us.
And so that's what we're doing in this series. Today specifically we're talking about guilt and shame. Guilt and shame. And for those of us who have just grown used to this, hopefully today we'll see how Jesus steps in and begins to interact with our guilt and shame and set us free. All right, so let's keep reading.
We're going to jump to chapter 3. God had told Adam and Eve a very specific tree not to eat from. It was the one rule he gave them. And they ate from it. And the moment they ate from it, sin entered the world and brought with it all of the evil and brokenness that's ever happened throughout humanity and brought with it guilt and shame. And so we're going to pick up on what it tells us here in verse 7.
So this is right after they've eaten the fruit. It says, Then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. So this moment that they ate of the fruit that they weren't supposed to eat of, it says their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked. It was that moment in your dream where you're given the presentation at work or you're up in front of class and suddenly you realize that you're naked. That shame and that fear washes over you.
It had to be terrifying for them because they'd never experienced it. This moment of overwhelming shame. And they feel so exposed. That's what shame does. That's what guilt does. You feel so exposed.
You feel so out in the open. You feel like you want to, you have those moments in life where you just want to disappear. If you could just disappear, that would be for the best. I remember in, I was in fifth grade. My teacher was up in front of the class, teaching, I guess is probably what she was doing. She was talking to all of us.
She was standing near my desk and so I was on the front row. Now, I don't know why I was on the front row. I don't know if that was, like she chose that or if I chose that. I don't really think it has much to do with the story, so just try to pay attention. But I was on the front row.
How I got there, irrelevant. I'm on the front row. She's talking and I dropped my pencil. Complete accident. Just dropped my pencil. Innocent thing.
I bent over to get it. Now, you have to know something about me. You know, middle school, fifth grade. I was, I was portly. If, you know, like, I mean, I wasn't, I wasn't like huge, but I did have to, I shopped, like all my pants said husky on them. Like some of you, some of you know about husky pants.
I was in that section. And so I bent over to pick up my pencil. And when I did, I passed gas. Loudly. And there was this moment where I just froze. Like I was bent over getting my pencil.
She's standing right here by my desk. And I just freeze. And you know, you're thinking like, maybe I'm the only one who heard that. There's a moment of dead silence, which, which just made it worse. And then the entire room just, I mean, erupted in laughter. And then, so like, I wanted, like, if I could have disappeared, that would have been for the best.
I was pretty sure, like, if I had been able to cut off the lights, I would have blown in the dark at that moment. Like, it was, it was terrible. And she, then the teacher, because she's going to be really helpful, starts talking about how that's natural. And everybody passes gas. And like, it was, it made it way worse. But guys, I feel uncomfortable just having told you this story.
So fifth grade me was mortified. Like, but that's what happened to Adam and Eve in this moment. They bit into this apple and heart rate starts racing and blood rushes to their face and they, they want to disappear. They immediately feel absolutely exposed. And the story I just told, and some of you have similar stories, that's embarrassment. That's, that is so far down on the scale of shame and guilt that they were overwhelmed.
So what'd they do? It says they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. Do you know how long it took to sew leaves together? First of all, they're inventing clothes at this point. So they don't really have much to go off of.
They're sewing leaves together. Do you know how long that took? Do you know how difficult that was? Me either. But probably difficult in a long time.
Like, this was a very intentional process. And here, here's what happens throughout the rest of history. All of humanity has lined up behind Adam and Eve in sin. All of humanity has lined up behind Adam and Eve with the guilt and the shame that comes along with the brokenness in this world. And all of us have lined up behind Adam and Eve trying to sew together fig leaves. Trying to do whatever we can to cover our shame.
To bury it. To hide it. To mask it. To misdirect. Like, if you've got shame over here, you want to be really good over here, you want to have everybody look this direction. We've come up with a lot of different methods, but it's all sewing together fig leaves to try to hide our shame.
To try to hide, to mask, to cover what's broken, what's wrong, what's messed up. Let's keep reading. So verse 7 ends with, they made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord called to the man and said to him, where are you?
And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. So, quick question. Adam and Eve naked? Adam says he is. He says, I was naked so I hid myself. But verse 7 said they made clothes.
I think one of the things that's showing us, and I think we all know to be true, is that any amount of work we do to cover up our shame ultimately doesn't work. That as soon as God showed up, they had to hide because they were like, I'm still exposed. You could see right through me. And this shame and this guilt has worked already in this perfect garden where there was a perfect relationship between a man and his wife and there was a perfect relationship between humanity and God and what it's done is it's worked to alienate. The man and his wife are no longer naked and unashamed but they're covering themselves because of their shame and they're hiding from God.
And all of us are like them. Some of us in here have spent years sewing together fig leaves. You've gotten really good at it. You have a very ornate fig leaf facade. But like Adam and Eve, let me ask you, do you feel comfortable?
Are you free? Because as soon as God showed up, they immediately felt exposed again. And for some of us, you've worked at it for years but it still feels so fragile, so fleeting and like it could easily fall apart at any point. I want to read a few definitions to help us understand guilt and shame a little better to help us picture this in our minds and then we'll spend some time looking at different passages in the Bible and trying to understand how God interacts with our guilt and shame and how we can ultimately be free from it. Guilt and shame are overlapping issues. So let's talk about guilt first.
Guilt is the condition. It can be one, the condition of having broken the law, not lived up to the standard or hurt someone. So it's the, I'm condemned for something that I did. I'm guilty for something that I did, for some behavior that I had. It can also be too, guilt can be the feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, transgression or harm that you've caused. And so what that means is it can be a state of being, you're actually guilty, you've actually broken the law, you've actually harmed someone, you've actually done something.
It can also be the feeling of remorse, of regret. So here's how that works. It means that you can be actually guilty and not feel guilty. Or you can be both. You can be actually guilty and feel guilty. Or you can just feel guilty, feel remorseful, feel like something is wrong but not have any real thing that you can point to to say this is exactly why I feel like this.
You can be haunted by something. And some of us in this room are haunted by guilt, crushed by it, followed around by it. Shame is the lingering sense that something is wrong with me because of something I did or something done to me or something I'm associated with. I'm unacceptable because of this. So some of you feel shame because of your family background.
Some of you feel shame because of things that have happened to you or things that have been said to you. Some of you have spent years just trying to get over things that your parents said to you, that people said to you, did to you. And you feel like there's something wrong with me now. There's something broken about me now. There's something marked now. I'm a failure.
I'm a reject. I'm damaged goods. I'm worthless. This idea that you carry around in yourself some form of Mark or scar. It can be broad and vague. It can be very specific.
Some of you, maybe you just feel like I'm just trying to get a win. Like I just, at this point, I'm just trying to, I'm just trying to get a win. And I heard one pastor say that that's shame at work. When you feel like I just gotta get a win. I just gotta, I just need to have something to show. Like I, I'm a South Carolina fan.
We beat Tennessee. That's the only game I wanna talk about for the rest of the season. Because I felt like I just want us to get a win. And the reason was I'm pretty ashamed of everything else. And some of you, that's what life looks like right now. It's a, I'm just trying to get a win.
I just need something that I can point to to say that I have value. I just need something that I can point to and say, this is working right now. And it shows up all over the place. Shame shows up for me when I, when I talk to a mechanic. Because I don't know anything about cars. Like if the car's broken down and the little, you know, the little things on E and that light's on, I'm like, I got this.
But otherwise, I don't, I don't, I can't do much. I can change the oil. I can call somebody in our church who knows something about cars. But when I talk to a mechanic, like shame shows up when I begin to pretend like I know what they're talking about. This mechanic can come out and be like, alright, look here. We had to retorque the TIG whistle on your chassis plate.
And I would be like, yeah, retorque that sucker. Shame is what immediately makes me want to tell y'all right now, I'm pretty sure a TIG whistle isn't a real thing. Like, I know enough about cars to say that. But, like, shame goes to work all over the place. For some of us, shame is at work when, it's the reason why you can't lose at a game. It's the reason why you care more about winning the game than the person you're playing with.
It's the reason why you throw fits over a game of spades or Monopoly. Monopoly's terrible, but other games. You can't lose. You have to prove that you're the best. For some of you, this is why you can't lose an argument. You can't.
You can't show weakness. You can't admit that you're wrong. You're arguing with somebody and they make a really good point and you just blow past it. You don't say, oh no, that's a good point. You got me there. Why?
Because you've got to prove that you have value. You've got to prove that you have work. You're trying to work away from where you're ashamed. This is why you pretend like you know stuff you don't know. This is why you wait in the conversations and just act like you have information you don't have. This is why, for some of you, if someone points out sin in you, your immediate response is, oh yeah?
Well, you did this. You can't just listen to what they say. You've got to point out how they're wrong. That's shame. See, we're all hiding. We're all sowing fig leaves.
We're all trying to mask what's going on. This is why we have, in our groups, we have like halfway confession. So we're talking about like we're going to confess some sin and people will be like, yeah, I just need y'all to be praying for me. You know how I got some anger stuff and I just have really been struggling. Or you see him later and you ask, hey, you told us to ask you about that. How's that going?
Yeah, it's been a struggle but I'm alright. That doesn't mean anything. You've said no words that mean anything. What's been a struggle? How are you alright? Yeah, I'm good.
This is halfway confess. We want to get as close to as close to being in the light without actually having to expose ourselves. Without actually having to let anybody see, I'm not okay. that's shame. That's guilt at work in us. It's that we feel not lovable as we are, not welcomed as we are, that we cannot be fully known and fully loved. We've begun to believe the lie that this is normal.
That this is how life is going to work. Some of you have been repeating to yourself over and over again, they can be known, they can be loved, they can be honest, but I can't. They can be real about who they are. They can confess. They can say how their marriage is going. They can say how their relationships have been.
They can tell their story about what's happened in their past, but I can't. I'm going to always feel like this. My life is always going to work like this because of what I've done or what's been done to me. And for some of us in this room, there's an overwhelming, crippling sense of guilt and shame and your life has been you working to overcome that. Every day feels like an uphill battle to fix something that you feel like is broken in you or to hide something that you feel like is going on in your life or something that's happened to you. There's a story and it's an intense, heartbreaking story from 2 Samuel and we're going to look at a quote on the screen here in a minute, but I just want to set it up for us.
King David has a bunch of children. He's king at the time and he's got a son and a daughter and they're both his children but he's got them for two different wives so they're half brother and sister to one another. And the text tells us that the son falls in love with his sister or his half sister and so he devises a plan with one of his friends on how he can rape his half sister, how he can take her to himself. And so he decides to get her to, he pretends to be sick and gets her to make food for himself so that he can take her and make her his. When she comes to feed him he's going to ask her to cook and when she comes to feed him then he'll have his opportunity and there's this passage where it tells us what happens when he comes to her.
And 2 Samuel 13, 11-13 says this, But when she brought them near, that's the food she'd made, near him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, come lie with me my sister. She answered him, no my brother, do not violate me for such a thing is not done in Israel. Do not do this outrageous thing. As for me, where can I carry my shame? And as for you, you would be as one of the outrageous fools in Israel. She looks at him and she says, where would I take my shame?
Where would I carry my shame? If this happened to me, what would I do with the shame? And she says, and if you did this, you'd be an outrageous fool. And for those in the church who feel the way she felt, what am I going to do with my shame? I want to say a few things. First, I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry that what happened to you, that you feel like you've been marked or scarred. God, I want you to know that that was not God's original intent and plan for humanity, that he hates sin, that he's sovereign and good, but he hates sin, so much so that he was willing to die for it. And you are not to blame for the sins of others. But the question still is there, what do I do with my shame? Where do I carry it? And for those of you who feel guilt for something that you've done, and she says you'll be an outrageous fool.
Some of you maybe think, yeah, that's me. Maybe you wouldn't use those words. Maybe you'd say I'm a terrible person. I'm a complete idiot. I'm absolutely worthless. What do we do?
What's the Bible's answer to this? How does God respond to Adam and Eve in the midst of their guilt and shame? And then how does he respond to us when we say I have nowhere to carry this? I don't know what to do with this overwhelming guilt. I don't know what to do with this shame. The beginning of the answer is found in Genesis and how God responds.
And we're going to move from this point, we're going to spend a little bit of time in Genesis and then we're going to move through a couple of different passages in scripture to help us get a complete answer to how God responds to our guilt and our shame. And before we do that, I want to take a second to just pray for us. So let's do that now. God, I pray that in the time that remains, that your Holy Spirit would be at work to help us to see how you respond to us when all we want to do is hide. how you responded to us when the best plan we could come up with was to cover ourselves and run. And I pray that through your Holy Spirit you would make your response more real, more palpable to us than it has ever been.
And you would cement in our hearts and minds today your overwhelming love for us in the midst of our guilt and shame. In Jesus' name, amen. Back to Genesis. We already read some of this in Genesis chapter 3. It says, they heard, this is verse 8, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees in the garden.
But the Lord God called to the man and said, where are you? The first thing God does to us in the midst of our guilt and our shame is that he pursues us. Because our guilt and our shame makes us want to hide. Some of you feel like there's no way I could talk to God right now. There's no way I could pray right now. There's no way I could be brought in front of him right now.
There's no way I could even talk to people in the church or talk to people in our community group. There's no way. And God's immediate response is to pursue. It's God that seeks out the first contact with the man and the woman. And then verse 21, God talks to them about the effects of their sin and the issues that are going to follow this. And then he sums it up with this in verse 21.
And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. He made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Okay. Skin is not just lying around. Fig leaves are. Fig leaves are what we have access to.
But skin has to come from somewhere. And what we see in this text is that God kills an animal to make a better covering for Adam and Eve. His response is not, no, no, no, don't worry, this isn't a big deal. No, no, no, no, you can be completely uncovered. No, no, no, don't worry about the shame that you're feeling. His response is, no, you do need a covering, but I'm going to give you a better one.
That's how he responds to Adam and Eve, and ultimately throughout time turn to Isaiah 61. We're going to read, this is what we read earlier. Isaiah 61, it's on page 401. As we continue to see how God responds to us in the midst of our guilt and our shame. Guilt for what we've done, sense of having failed, shame for what's been done to us, or the fact that we can't be lovable as we are. This passage, I love this passage from Isaiah because it's what Jesus, when he comes to one of the synagogues in the book of Luke, he takes this out, he opens this scroll, he reads the first section, he sits down and says, that's been fulfilled in your hearing, meaning I've come here to accomplish what I just read.
So what we're reading is when Jesus steps in, he says this prophecy that was made by the prophet Isaiah, I've actually come to fulfill this, I've come to accomplish this, and this is how he responds to guilt and shame. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, so this is Jesus, this is fulfilled in him, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. Jesus says, I've come first and foremost to take those who are broken, those who are hurt, who feel like they can't ever love again, or be loved again, and to bind them up.
To fix their hearts and to set them free from the guilt and the shame and the sin that's been marking them and holding them captive, that's been keeping them in a prison, all the walls they've built to hide, I'm going to bring freedom and liberty, and I'm going to work in those that are broken hearted. So for you, if you say my heart's broken, it'll never love again, it'll never work again, I've been harmed, I've been hurt, he says I'm here for you. And I'm here for your heart. Verse 2, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. I'm here to sit with you while you weep, I'm here to sit with you while you hurt, I'm here to put my arm around you, every person who is broken and hurting, I'm here.
To grant those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes. When they mourned, they would take ashes and they would put them on their head. And what he says is no, no, no, no, you're not wearing the clothes of someone who's lost someone, you're not wearing the clothes of someone who's failed, I'm going to give you a headdress, which is what they wore on a wedding day. He says instead of a widow's garment, I'm giving you a bride's address. I've come to take away your guilt and your shame and what you think your mourning is lost, forever gone, never to be recovered, and I'm making it new and I'm covering you with a wedding dress.
The oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planning of the Lord that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations, they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. He says what do you think has been devastated? What do you think has been ruined? What's a total loss for you? It's going to be rebuilt.
I'm going to work for what you think has completely been destroyed. The parts of your soul, the parts of your heart, the parts of your past, I'm redeeming them and fixing them and rebuilding them. That's what Jesus has come to do for humanity and it's what he's come to do for us in the midst of our guilt and our shame. move to verse 7. We won't have time to walk through this whole thing. Verse 7, Instead of your shame, there should be a double portion. Instead of this honor, they shall rejoice in their lot.
Therefore, in their land, they shall possess a double portion. They shall have everlasting joy. You know the shame that follows you around? You know the shame that's overwhelming you? He says I'm giving you a second helping of my goodness and my grace. There's going to be everlasting joy.
Instead of shame, you get a double portion. Verse 8, For I the Lord love justice, hate robbery, and wrong. I will faithfully give them their recompense and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Move to verse 10. This is the response. So the first is what God's going to do, what Jesus is going to do.
And this section in verse 10 is how we get to begin to respond. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall exult in my God, for he has closed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. You see, Genesis began with this man and woman brought together who were fully known and fully loved.
And Isaiah says that's how we get to respond to Jesus. Jesus. That he wants us like a groom wants his bride. That he desires us. That he loves us. And that Jesus knows everything about us but he's gone to work to cover us, to clothe us with his righteousness and to make us his.
Jesus loves you, pursues you, desires you, and wants to make you his the same way that a groom wants to take his bride and have her belong to him and have her to cherish. That's Jesus' response to the church. How? How does he do that? How does he get to respond to us in the midst of our brokenness, in the midst of our filth and our dirtiness and in the midst of all the things that have happened to me and all the things that I've done? How does he respond to me that way?
The answer is the cross. And on the cross he does two things that counteract and go to work on our guilt and our shame. The first one we're going to look at is because we have to ask how does he handle my guilt? 2 Corinthians 5.21 We're going to have the verse up here. For our sake he, that's God, made him, that's Jesus. So for our sake God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
This is the same thing Isaiah just said. He clothes us with righteousness. God took your sin and placed it on Jesus. Jesus became your sin. For those of you who have harmed somebody who have abused somebody who have still feel the lingering guilt about how you've treated your children and how you spoke to people and what you did in high school and college and what you did to your first wife what you did like those of you who have this lingering over you he became that and went to the cross. He became our sin.
The worst in all of us was placed on Jesus and he became our sin was nailed to a cross and when he did that we became his righteousness. He clothed us with all that was good in himself. All the love that he deserves all the grace that he deserves he's clothed us with. Yeah but what about what happened to me? I know he I know he pays for guilt I know he forgives sin but what about what's happened to me? What about the shame that I have?
What about even though I'm forgiven what about this shame that I carry around? This embarrassment this feeling of being exposed. We're going to turn to Ephesians 5. Paul in Ephesians 5 is writing a letter to a church and he's explaining to husbands and wives how to love one another specifically in the section we're going to read he's talking to husbands and the way he does it is he points to Jesus and he points to the church and he says this is how Jesus has treated us and he says husbands this is how you ought to treat your spouse. So I just want us to look and see how Jesus treats us.
Ephesians 5 we'll pick up in verse 25 husbands love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Christ is Jesus the church is all of those who he's redeemed who he's saved who've placed their faith in him. So if you are a follower of Jesus if you are a follower of Christ you are in the church. So what he says is husbands love your wife the way that Christ modeled for us and so we're going to take a minute to look at what Christ did. He says Christ loved the church so much that he gave himself up for her meaning that Jesus came on a specific rescue mission for those he was redeeming for those he was saving for those he loved and he died to redeem us to make the church his.
Redeeming for those he was saving for those he loved and he died to redeem us to make the church his. He died to make you his. Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her verse 26 that he might sanctify her that means clean and set apart make her special is a way to say that 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 blameless and without blemish. Jesus died on the cross to take the church and to present her to himself spotless without wrinkle without blemish that if you are in the church you stand
Before God before Christ completely covered completely free without spot or blemish or wrinkle or anything like it he says or any such thing you name it it doesn't make it there you name what you think it would be that would come with you and it doesn't make it there there is no spot or blemish
Or wrinkle he's redeemed you to present you to him as a husband presents a bride to himself that he's covered you completely now I know you well enough and I've been a pastor long enough it's not been real long but it's been long enough to know that some of you who know enough theology are trying to argue with me and so let's argue you're saying in your head yeah yeah yeah but that's that's the church
That's big C church that's not me specifically yes I'm a Christian but that's what he's saying is he did that to the entire church what he he did that to all of those who belong to him that the whole church gets to be presented and to himself and what happens is you try to push it off on the church and act like it doesn't somehow apply to yourself and so it somehow doesn't count
To you that yes he I get like swept up with the church but I'm I'm on the tail end I'm on the fringes I'm kind of loved because Jesus loves all of them and I can hang out with them and he loves me but here's what you're saying just so you know when you're making that argument you're saying yeah yeah he does it to the whole church
But in the midst of the whole church I'm a spot wrinkle blemish no such thing no such thing not in the church not because of Jesus not because of what he's done for us that Jesus the God of the universe has died to present the entire church without a spot without a wrinkle without a blemish that we stand before him completely clothed in white that's how
That's how Revelation pictures this for us it shows the throne of God and it shows all of the saints all of the church all of those who've been saved by him dressed in white before God that when we stand before God we're clothed in the righteousness of Jesus that if God right now said okay church it's time to take you to task okay I'm calling you in front of me present yourself
You get to walk in front of him blameless because of Jesus righteous because of Jesus because you've been clothed by Jesus some of you are saying yeah but I I can't get rid of this I don't I don't know how to get rid of this scar I don't know how to get rid of this Mark I'm stained by this Jesus dies he goes to the cross he goes to the grave he rises again he's glorified at this point he's back to being healthy
He's back to being alive he rose from the grave then he meets Thomas and Thomas says I won't believe unless I see holes in his hands a scar on his side and Jesus still has holes in his hands and a scar on his side and he shows him to Thomas and in the book of Revelation it says look the lion of the tribe of Judah and John's writing this down and he says I look to see the lion of the tribe of Judah which would be Jesus and he says I didn't see a lion I saw a lamb
That looked like it had been slain the marks of your guilt and your shame exist into eternity they're not on you they're on Jesus the marks of what I've done the marks of what have been done to me exist forever in eternity on the lamb that was slain but I get to wear white you get to wear white what was said to you what was done to you Jesus has washed you he's clothed you
He's wrapped you in a garment of righteousness and he's presented you to himself as without a blemish or a wrinkle or a spot because he took all of our wrinkles and our stains and our spots and our blemishes and our sin and our shame on himself the answer to the question in 2 Samuel where do I carry my shame is I carry it as far as I can to get to Jesus and once it's at Jesus he carries it on his back up a hill
Onto a cross into a tomb and he carries it into eternity and he's sitting right now this very moment on a throne next to the creator of the universe where he holds the marks of our shame where he holds the marks of our guilt on himself and everyone who belongs to the church is covered in a robe of righteousness and Jesus sits next to the father where he makes intercession forever and he says you can't blame them
They have no shame they have no guilt it's right here if you are in the church your guilt and your shame have been nailed to a cross have been laid in the grave have risen again and sit next to the throne of God and when we walk in front of that throne the marks of our guilt and shame are there and we're covered in righteousness and then we'll spend eternity praising the lamb who was slain because we didn't
Have to be because our shame doesn't have to follow us around because our guilt has no hold over us anymore because we have a God who loved us so much that he clothed us in righteousness and made us his Bianca's going to come back up here's how we're going to respond here's how we get to respond believe that believe what the Bible says is true take your shame and your guilt
To Jesus and believe that he pays for it trust him the way you begin to do that is you get to start praying specifically over the things that haunt you and you get to say Jesus I don't have shame for this anymore when they said this it's not true anymore when I did this this guilt is gone you get to start naming it specifically
As you pray to him and you praise him that he's paid for it that he's covered it you get to read these passages and remind yourself I wear white I'm clothed in righteousness the way we respond is not to do something not to earn something because Jesus has already done it and he's already earned it the way we respond is we get to take it to him and say you've covered it you've paid for this I've been made new because of you secondly you get to respond as you walk through
The killjoy books by showing up to your group and maybe being honest for the very first time you get to walk into your community group this week and you get to lay your fig leaves down because they don't make you righteous they have no power to save they have no ability to cover you but Jesus has made you righteous he's clothed you in a garment of salvation he's wrapped you in a robe of righteousness and you get to say hey this would have
Crushed me this would have destroyed me I should have been destroyed by this but Jesus has paid for it Jesus has covered me and I'm celebrating the righteousness I have by being able to be honest and not ashamed open but not smothered by guilt and then your community group gets to respond by saying yes isn't Jesus amazing that he stands before God and he intercedes for us that he went to the cross
For us and that we're all covered that you don't have to feel shame for that you don't have to feel guilt for that that we get to respond by believing the gospel and being set free that he really does set captives free and right now this morning we get to respond by taking communion where the church celebrates by partaking in the broken body of Jesus and his spilled blood and reminding ourselves
That that is what makes us okay not our ability to hide not our ability to put on a mask not our ability to be good to go back in time and fix something or to do so many good things now that we can pay for it but that Jesus' death on the cross his resurrection saves us clothes us makes us his and so that's for the church if you're a Christian you get to celebrate that way
If you're not a Christian here this morning there is no answer for 2 Samuel for you you have nowhere to carry your shame you have no way to not be an outrageous fool outside of Jesus only Jesus can take your guilt can take your shame and can set you free only Jesus you're not going to find that anywhere else you're not going to find that in any other religion you're not going to find that anywhere but Christ and anywhere but the cross and anywhere but the empty tomb
So I'd invite you to place your faith in Jesus today and take communion for the very first time let's pray God we're righteous we wear white because you took our sin and you took our shame because you were stripped bare and nailed to a cross we get to be clothed because you died we get to have life God we praise you we thank you that we get to be the people that celebrate forever with everlasting joy clothed in righteousness dressed like we're going to a wedding to celebrate forever
Your goodness and your grace and I pray specifically for those in our church family who struggle with shame and guilt that they would find so much freedom so much joy in the cross they begin to be honest with their groups they begin to live a life as if they're clothed in righteousness as if they're dressed for a wedding in Jesus name we pray Amen
Oct 30
Anger
Transcript
Anger is a big issue. For many of us, it's devastatingly bad. It's not good for us. You're sitting in traffic. On your way home, you're in traffic. It's bumper to bumper.
No one's going anywhere. You don't know if it's a wreck. You don't know if it's construction. You don't know if it was construction that caused a wreck. You don't know. How are you doing?
How's your little heart doing right now? Some of you are like, I'm fine. So there's a side area here. And somebody behind you thinks nobody's using that lane that isn't a road. I'll give it a shot. And so they just take off.
And you're like, okay, no. Rules? We can't do that? And then they get up to the front there. And you know what they do? They put on their blinker.
And do you know what that idiot does that's right there next to on the blinker? They're like, oh, come on over. You accidentally got on the part of the road that wasn't road? Hop on in here. And then 1,700 people behind you see that. And they're like, ah, new lane.
You know, how you doing? How's your steering wheel doing? Like, okay, you're in your fourth hour of Monopoly. And you've been losing money for the last hour and a half to your smug uncle. How's it going? How's the rest of family vacation going to go?
Like, how are you doing? How's your heart? How are you responding? You're in the hallway at school and find out that someone's been telling things about you that aren't true. And they're all up in your business when they shouldn't be. And they have a lot to say about you when they shouldn't have a lot to say about you.
How are you doing? How do you handle that? How do you approach that? You're in a business meeting at work. And your boss just derides you. Just takes a shot at you.
Just because he's in a position of authority and he can get away with it. He just calls you out on something. How do you respond? So are you the type of person, do you yell? Do you fight back? Do you throw punches?
Is that you? Like, is that how you respond to those situations? Are you the person that's likely for you to throw a thing and yell? Like, are you a words person? So you're consistently in arguments and you watch words fly out of your mouth that you're like, I mean, we're like heat-seeking missiles.
And sometimes, depending on the relationship you have with the person, you're going, oh, get back in my mouth. Like, but is that how you respond? Are you a note writer? Do you blast off emails? Yelp? Are you yelping people?
Like, is that you? Are you no external response whatsoever? You nod, you smile, and you mentally eviscerate someone. And the best part about that is you'll get in a conversation with someone you don't like. And they'll be talking to you. And the whole time you go, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
And, I mean, you're destroying them. And then when they walk away, you know what you say to yourself? That person's so fake. Yeah. But what about, are you the person who five hours later is like, oh, that's what I should have said.
God, when I flipped over the Monopoly board, I should have said, at least I'm not going bald, Uncle Carl. Like, is that you? Are you internally processing anger all the time when you get mad? Does it mess you up for the rest of the day? You losing sleep at night? You messed up for a week?
You're the type of person who's like, I've been mad at the same person since third grade. Yeah. Yeah. I know how to hold a grudge. Like, is that you? Like, when you get angry, it's forever?
See, anger is an issue. And here's the thing. Everybody gets angry. Everybody gets angry. The question is, are you processing externally or are you processing internally? Because if you're an external anger processor, you know, and the people around you know.
If you, if you're a, if you verbally or physically process your anger, if you're the person who's likely to kick whatever is near you, you know, and the people around you know. And you're in here going, yeah, okay. I'm kind of mad right now that we're talking about this, but all right, this is me. See, some of you internal anger processor people, no one around you knows, and there's potential that you don't even know. You think because you don't act out on your anger that somehow it's not the same, but you are acting out on your anger. You're avoiding conversations.
You're not responding to phone calls. You're treating people differently. You're mentally going through how you're going to harm them or what you should have said to them or you're rehearsing murder in your head. Like you, like you have a mental list of who's on your top 10 if we decide to do the purge. Like that's, that's you. And that's destroying you.
The one psychologist said that internally processing anger is like having a trash can catch on fire at your house. So you stick it in a closet. That's, it's going to cause problems later. That didn't solve it. So are you internally or externally processing anger?
Because you have anger, you're going to get angry. Everybody gets angry. What are we doing with it? You see, in this series, our goal is that we believe that Jesus has set us free. That he has given us joy. That he has made us new.
And that we, for so many of us, have gotten used to sins that we've acted like have become normal or okay. So that if you, if you talk to your group and you text and say, yeah, I'm really struggling with anger. It's like, yeah, we'll pray for you. And it's become an acceptable thing. And it's robbing you of joy. And it's harming your relationship with Jesus.
And we've just gotten used to it. So our goal in this series is to, to engage with our sin, our struggle, the things we've grown used to that are robbing us of joy. And actually begin to process. The point isn't, let's just talk about anger. And I'm going to give you five steps on how to take deep breaths and say things like, in with the butterflies, out with the bees. Like, we're not doing that.
We're not, this isn't count to ten stuff or go punch a pillow. We actually want Jesus to change us. We want him to go to work in our hearts. That's the goal of this series. That's the point of this series. Because anger is an issue.
I've got a couple of Proverbs. I'm going to show you Proverbs is just wisdom literature. We're going to spend most of our time in James. So we're going to run through a few Proverbs just to try to help us see how the Bible talks about anger. A man of quick temper, this is Proverbs 14, 17. A man of quick temper Acts foolishly.
And a man of evil devices is hated. Proverbs 14, 29. Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding. But he who has a hasty temper exalts folly. Exalts means you lift up. Folly means foolishness.
Have you ever gotten mad and then later in the day when you calmed down a little bit, you were like, man, I acted like a fool earlier. Yes, that's because you were a fool earlier. Your anger took control of you and you exalted folly. You said, hey, you want to see some nonsense? And then lost it on people around you. Proverbs 29, 22 says, a man of wrath stirs up strife.
And one given to anger causes much transgression. If anger is a normal pattern for you, transgression means sin. Which means that your anger on a regular basis is leading you to sin. Proverbs 29, 11. A fool gives full vent to his spirit. But a wise man quietly holds it back.
We kind of have in psychology, there's this, oh, you just need to vent your anger. You just need to, if you get angry, you just got to find a way to vent it, to let it out. If you got a little bit of fire, just add a bunch of oxygen to it. No. That's what fools do. We actually, we don't want to just learn some little techniques for causing it to be a little bit okay.
The goal isn't to manage our anger issues. The goal is to get rid of them. And for those of you who are internal processors, who, nobody knows you're angry. Proverbs at one point says that bitterness is only known to the soul. Meaning that if you're bitter, you may be the only person who knows. Hebrews 12 says that bitterness is like a bitter root that defiles everything, that makes everything, poisons everything else around it.
So you can have a pool of water, and if there's a bitter root going in, it can make the water undrinkable. And it's saying that's what bitterness is doing in your soul. Anger is an issue. It's a problem. But luckily, Jesus helps.
So I'm going to pray for our time this morning, for our week ahead as we and our community groups walk through this. And then we'll turn to James. God, we thank you that anger does not have to destroy us. That we do not have to be controlled by our internal tendencies. We don't have to be controlled by our family heritage. That we don't have to be controlled by our past bad decisions.
We thank you that you went to work on all of those in the cross. We pray, Lord, that you'd help us repent. You'd help us to see our anger. See the root of our anger. And find freedom in you. We ask that in Jesus' name.
Amen. Turn to James chapter 4. We'll have a few times where we'll show another verse on Scripture, but the rest of the day will be in James chapter 4. It's on page 655 if you have a blue and white Bible. If you don't own a Bible, take this one with you. We want you to own a Bible.
We want you to read it. Everything we do comes from this. So we want you reading this as much as possible. We are pro-Bible around here. James chapter 4, verse 1. What causes quarrels?
It's arguments. And what causes fights among you? Okay, so here's how James starts. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. What's up? What's causing the problem?
Why is there a hole in your drywall? What has made you foster a bad attitude and bitterness towards someone for the past three months? What's at work there? That's what he's starting off with. He's run into his kids beating the snot out of each other. He's jerked them apart and said, okay, what started this?
What's the problem here? That's what he's doing for the church. He's saying, okay, what's causing y'all to get in fights? Y'all to be in arguments? What's at work here? Now, I love his answer.
Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? It's asked a question, but he's giving us the answer there. It's one of those questions where you don't have to answer. Here's why I love that. If I went to your house and said, why is there a hole in the drywall? Or if we were friends or we're in the same community group and I said, why are you, why have you not talked to this person for two months?
Why are you consistently running through your head how terrible they are? Why are you building up this bitterness in your soul? Why are you in the fight? Why are you in this argument? Why did you do this to your steering wheel? Why are you cussing at people that you don't know in traffic?
If I ask those questions, you know what our answer is? Well, they did this. They said that. You would not believe how my boss treats me. You don't even understand what's happened in class. You have no clue what my coach is like.
You don't know what my spouse is like. If you had my children, do you know what your answer is? Do you know what James says? Isn't the issue you? Now, if we have anger issues, let's all just take a second and be really mad at James. Because he just said, isn't the problem you?
Isn't the issue in your heart? Isn't it your passions? Aren't you the issue? We said last week that we have three enemies and that we're going to talk through as we walk through all of these different lusts and anxiety and self-loathing that we always at play are three enemies. And we said the main one is the flesh. That's us.
That's what James starts off with. Aren't you the problem? Okay. Let's keep going. Let's figure out what he's talking about here.
Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. Okay. The word passions in the Bible is most often used. So we talk about like, oh, I'm passionate and I have a passion for animals.
And that's why I give money to PETA. And I have a passion for turtles or I have passion for cars. Like we use it as like this, like good thing. The Bible doesn't use it that way. The Bible uses it as inordinate love. Love, desire that's been set loose.
So what he's starting off by saying is the issue with your anger is your love. That's the issue. That's the problem. You see, the Bible does not flat out say that anger by itself is a problem. It does not treat anger that way. So maybe you've been in a church before where it was taught you should never get angry.
And if you at any point get angry, you're wrong. The problem with that is, is that God gets angry. You see, the goal of anger, Christian anger, the Christian ethic towards anger is not stoicism. It's not to be completely disconnected from our attitudes and our passions. It's actually to have slow anger. So Proverbs 16, 32 says this.
Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty. And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. So the point of anger is not to vent it out. And the point of anger is to not ever get angry. The point, the goal for anger is that you'd be really slow to get angry. But there should be times that you get angry.
Should be. It is appropriate to get angry. Anger is the appropriate response to certain things. God gets angry at sin. God gets angry at wickedness. When we hear about sex trafficking, when we see the injustice in the United States, when we see children neglected or abused, we should get angry.
That's an appropriate response. We should have sorrow. We should have sadness in the midst of that. But anger is an appropriate response. God has righteous anger towards sin. And completely never having anger is actually inappropriate.
It means that we're apathetic or we're indifferent to the things that God loves. Now, I want to push you in two areas on this. One, if you're the type of person who says, I never get angry. That's not Christ-like. Jesus gets angry towards sin and injustice, and it propels him to action. The Bible uses the term zeal for that.
It's like an anger, a righteous anger that leads to correct action. So I want to push you a little bit. If you're like, I never get angry, it actually means that you don't love some of the things that you should love. Anger is the appropriate response when something we love is attacked. Like, if you tried to assault my family, my appropriate response would not be, hey, you're hurting them. Take it easy.
That would not be appropriate. That would be bad husbanding and fathering. The appropriate response would be to do what I did when I was little, which is punch you and then figure it out from there. I don't, maybe not, don't quote me on that. The appropriate response would be to stop you from harming my family. Let's go with that.
I want to retract what I just said because sometimes I say things that I probably shouldn't. So, I should get angry. You should, if someone, you should hate cancer. If it's actively at work destroying people in your family, you should hate the tumor that's growing in your grandfather's brain. You should hate it and want to do something about it. We should hate injustice.
Being apathetic allows evil to grow. Allows it to fester. This is an indifference towards what is unjust is the issue that the white church had in the South during the Jim Crow South era, during the segregation, during the civil rights movement, where many of us just sat by and said, let's just, let's wait it out. It should be an anger towards injustice, a desire to fix what is wrong. So, I want to push you a little bit. If you're never angry, you should be.
Sometimes. Now, most of us, that's not our problem. It was not righteous anger that made you say that to your children. It was not righteous anger that put a hole in your drywall. It is not righteous anger that is keeping you from talking to someone you should have had a conversation with two months ago. That's not our issue.
So, don't right now begin to try to hide your anger in the righteous category. Don't do that. You're incorrect. We should be angry about appropriate things that lead us to, but the issue is our love is disordered. That's what he's saying. He says, your passions are at war within you.
Augustine, who was an African pastor in about 300 AD, so a couple hundred years after Jesus, he says that our major issue is that we have disordered love. Which means that what we care about is all out of order. When we're supposed to love God as supreme, we're supposed to trust him and love him and find all of the good things from him. We put something else in his place. That we love money more. We love our fame more.
We love our popularity more. We love being in control more. And we love having a good schedule more. We love having comfort more. And what happens is that we take bad things we shouldn't love and we love them. But the bigger issue is that we take, and what happens more often, is that we take good things and love them too much.
There's nothing wrong with comfort. There's nothing wrong with popularity. But we've shifted it and we love it too much. You see, we are reacting in anger when something attacks what we love. Our passions are at war within us and our response when things are threatened is to be angry. This is why.
You can hear about starvation across the globe. You can hear about the issues that are happening in Aleppo right now. You can hear about sex trafficking across the globe. And you can think, man, that's terrible. That's terrible. You can be angry.
You can be upset. But if a friend forgets to invite you to a party, or someone says something disrespectful about you, or you get a poor work review from a boss who's an idiot, you lose sleep at night. This is why when someone snubs us, we are a hundred times more angry than we are about global injustice. Because our love is out of whack. What we care about is disordered. You tracking with him so far?
The reason we're fighting is because our passions are all out of order. We love things that we shouldn't love too much. Okay. So that's the point he's making. That we've begun to love something that we shouldn't love. We're building our life on things and because we love them, we're defending them.
And that's what's causing our anger. You can actually, you can, if you had a rope tied to your anger, most of what we've been trying to say is like you should control the anger. But actually what he's saying is follow the other end of the rope and see what it is you love. Follow the rope down and see what you love. See what it is you're defending. See what it is you're protecting.
All right. Let's keep going. Let's pick back up in verse two. You desire and do not have so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
Okay. So what he just said was some of you, the things you're pursuing, you hadn't even prayed about. Like you don't have them because you never asked for them. You never prayed about them. And so immediately a lot of us just went jackpot. Sweet.
I didn't realize I could just ask for this stuff. Like I thought I had to get out there and get on my grind and my hustle and I had to I had to make this work. But like I didn't realize I could just pray about it. Sweet. All right.
Let's keep going because he's he's got a caveat to that. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people. He said, OK, some of you have been praying about this a lot and you haven't gotten it. And some of you right now, maybe you're in that situation. You've been praying about something.
You've been praying about something. You've been praying about something. You've been asking for health. You've been asking for your finances to work out. You've been asking for this promotion. You've been asking for that husband.
You've been asking for that wife. You've been asking for your kids to work out. You've been asking for. And you're going, I don't know. I don't know if he's going to answer. I don't know if prayer works.
I'm thinking about giving up this whole thing. And what he just said was, no, the reason you're asking is because you love that too much. And then he says, you adulterous people. That felt a little harsh. That took a cheap shot. It's not.
Here's why he brings up adultery. You're supposed to love God primarily above all else. See, it'd be like if I came to my wife and I said, you know, when we got married and we said, it'd just be us and that I would do everything I could to honor you and to love you and to please you and that you would do the same for me. And that we're supposed to find our enjoyment in each other sexually. Well, here's what I was thinking. One of the ways that you can help me enjoy myself sexually is to talk to your friend and convince her to have sex with me.
James just said that's some of your prayer life. Jesus, I need you to go to work for what I really care about. I need you to get out there and give me what I really desire. I need you to get out there and get for me what I really want, what will actually fill me up, what will actually make me happy. And if you're not willing to do that, I'm not sure you love me. You adulterous people, that's what James says.
You love things you shouldn't love, your hearts are out of order, and you're mad because you're not getting the things you shouldn't get anyway. See, our anger has to do with what we love. Our love is defending. Our anger is defending what we actually care about. Let's keep going.
You adulterous people, it's verse 4, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Okay, so what he just said was, you remember we said we had three enemies? The flesh, the world, and the devil. Those are the three enemies we have. So he's already gotten us to the second one.
He said, okay, the biggest issue is that you love things you shouldn't love. And then he says, what you love is out there in the world. So what you're praying about is the perfect Job, the perfect spouse, the perfect amount of wealth, this amount of money in the bank, this type of health, this type of situation, to have this kind of popularity, to have this kind of recognition, to have this kind of fame, to have this type of comfort, this kind of control over your situation. And what he's saying is you've fallen in love with a bunch of things that aren't worth loving. Not as much as you love them.
When you fall in love with the world, you put God as your enemy. Verse 5. Or do you suppose it is for no purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit he has made to dwell in us? So he says, okay, you realize that that was in there on purpose, right? When he says he yearns jealously for the spirit he's made to dwell in us. What he's talking about is, so this trips people up sometimes, that God would be jealous of you, and he's not.
He's jealous for you. So I told you I had anger issues, and when I get upset I can't talk. So let me explain one of the ways this has played out. My wife and I started dating when we were in high school. We had a class together. And we were, for some reason, like we had to go to an assembly or something, and so we're sitting in the gym.
There's a bunch of people around, and there was a guy in our class who was very popular, very well-liked, and was very flirty. And so he was talking to Anna, who was my girlfriend. We'd only been dating for like two months or something. And while they're talking, like, they're talking. He's being hilarious and charming and funny. And, like, I'm becoming increasingly displeased with how this is playing out, but it's like, whatever.
Sitting that big a deal. I'm sitting next to her, so it's like this cat, you know, I go so far with this. Like, I mean, while they're talking, he reaches up and does the, like, movie brush your hair back thing on her. I don't think I said anything. Mostly what I did, because I remember I said I would hit people and not think about it. Mostly what I did, and I had been growing in this, mostly what I did was control myself.
Which means I think I got really twitchy. Like, he touched her, and my response was, and, like, I just looked at him. All I remember is that everyone who was near him slid away on the bleachers. Now, let me explain to you. I was not jealous of her. I did not think I want him to touch my hair.
God is not jealous of you. He's not sitting in heaven saying, I wish I was wrapped up in thinking that sex was the best thing on earth. He's not up in heaven saying, I wish I was super caring about wealth. I wish I had gotten my whole self wrapped up in popularity and how much people like me. He's not jealous of you. He's jealous for you.
You see, we'd only been dating about two months, but when he touched her, I thought I should strangle him. Because I'm jealous for her. I care about her. I love her. And if anybody else wants to try to take her from me, that's going to be a problem. And see, Jesus cares about you.
He loves you. And when you start chasing after all these other things and you start defending them with your anger, he's jealous for you. He wants to step in and he wants to rescue and redeem. And he wants to snatch the garbage out of your hand that you think will satisfy you. And he wants to give you what actually will, which is himself. Jesus is so jealous for you that the cross stands as the centerpiece of history.
That he was unwilling to let us, he was unwilling to stand by while we chased for things that would never fix us or satisfy us. So much so that he left eternity, left heaven, and came to take on suffering and sorrow and death on our behalf so that we can have what actually matters. See, our anger betrays in us that we love something far more than we ought to. And Jesus loves you enough to go to work on your anger. And to go to work on your rampant passions. And to set you free.
Verse 5, we just read it. Or you suppose it is for no purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit that he's made to dwell in us. 6, but he gives more grace. Grace just is unmerited favor. That what Jesus accomplishes for us was not earned by us. But he gives more grace.
Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Okay. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
It feels like that just came out of nowhere. It's like we're talking about anger. Why did the devil just show up? James has, in this passage, clearly identified our three enemies. He says, isn't the problem you? Isn't the problem that you love things you shouldn't love?
And isn't the devil involved in this? That's how anger works. That's how, like, all three are involved. Paul does the same thing when he's talking about anger. He says this in Ephesians chapter 26, 27. No, not chapter 26.
Chapter 4, verses 26 and 27. Paul says this. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. So Paul says be angry.
Like, you're going to be angry sometimes and there are some things you should be angry about. Don't sin. Don't act on your anger. And then he says don't let the sun go down on your anger. Don't let the sun set on your anger. Give no opportunity to the devil.
Some versions will say give no foothold. So if it says foothold, if I'm trying to scale a mountain, all I need is a foothold. Just somewhere to put the tip of my toe. And then I need to find somewhere to get my hand. And then I can scale an entire mountain if I can find enough footholds. What he's saying is that when you let your anger fester, the devil gets to go to work.
He gets to, when you don't quickly get rid of your anger, when you don't quickly repent, when you don't quickly reconcile with people, you're giving opportunity for the devil to hop in and go to work on your anger. So here are things he does. He comes along and says stuff like, they're the ones who's wrong. You don't need to talk to them. They need to come talk to you. They need to call you.
And then when they call, it's like you don't even pick up right now. They don't need to talk to them. They need to fix this. He goes to work in fostering bitterness. When we let anger stay overnight with us, we've given a foothold to the enemy. And so really what he's saying is realize the enemy is involved in your anger and be quick to not allow him to be.
Resist him. He'll flee from you. Which means you don't have to be amazing. You don't have to be awesome. But you just get to realize that he's at work and you can stand firm.
And you don't get to have a place in my anger. You don't get to be a part of it. So here's what we're going to do. Coming out of the back end of this, I'm actually going to go back up. I just want us to see three things that we need to do to process through our anger that James gives us. Three steps that we need to take.
And then we're going to spend a little bit of time talking about what actually makes that work. Because if you just take these steps, it's not going to do anything. But you've got to take these steps and then actually we'll talk about what catalyzes that, what makes it effective. Okay? So that's what we're doing.
First thing is, go back to verse, it's just one verse up from where we just were. Seven. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Okay, so that's the first thing you have to do is submit to God. This really means two things when it comes to anger. You need to admit you're angry.
You see, angry by its very nature wants to hide. It wants to blame it on someone else. It wants to act like, no, no, no, I'm just passionate. Yeah, that's what James says. Are you passionate about things you shouldn't be? Or I just speak my mind.
Or I'm just Italian. I had somebody say that one time. Like, I'm Italian so I yell. It's like, what? That's not how that works. Be a Christian and repent.
How about that? Like, submit yourself. Admit you're angry. Admit that the hole in your drywall didn't get there magically. Admit that the two-month-long attitude you've had towards somebody has been growing. Admit that you're angry.
Admit that this is an issue for you. Submit to him. What it basically means is turn yourself in. Go to God and say, I can't. Like, you've got to help me. I can't fix this on my own.
Counting to 10 has not stopped working. I started counting to 20. And then I got to 100. And like, I need you to go to work in my anger. The second thing that you're doing when you submit to God is this. You're submitting the results to God.
Meaning that for many of us, you're saying, I can't let go of my anger. They actually stole from me. They actually took from me. You don't know what they did to me. You don't know what growing up in my house was like. You don't understand.
You don't understand how they've treated us. You don't understand how he speaks to me. Yeah. Yeah, don't. Many people might not. You might be the person in this room who's coming from the absolute worst situation.
But I know two things. God knows your situation. And God joined you in it when he went to the cross. And God takes up the sword. He says that vengeance is his. You have to submit the outcome to him.
Because some of you are angry because it's what keeps you protected. It's what makes you feel safe. Some of you are angry because you've got to bring justice and vengeance on those who've harmed you. And no, it's not yours. It's not yours to do. It's Jesus's.
God has righteous wrath towards sin. Those who have harmed you. Those who have sinned against you. Those who abused you. Those who have mistreated you. Those who have spoke evil to you.
Those who have taken from you. Yes, God has righteous wrath towards sin. The cross makes that clear. Sinners do not get to go free. Sin will be dealt with and paid for. But here's what the cross does.
It means that either Jesus will pay for our sin. Or we will pay for our sin. But sin will be dealt with. And one of the things you have to do if you're angry. And you're angry for some correct reasons. People have actually harmed you.
You've got to submit that to God and say, I'm angry. And I won't be free until I can trust that you'll go to work. That you'll either give them grace, which they don't deserve, which I don't deserve. Or you'll punish them for their sin. But I trust that you're going to be the one who takes up the sword.
If there was no judgment at the back of this book. If Jesus did not show up and make people pay for sin. Then we would have to make people pay for sin. But because he is the righteous judge over the universe, we don't get to be. First thing we have to do is submit. To lay it all down, you have to admit you're angry.
And you have to understand that he gets to work out the results. This is verse 7. Submit yourself. 8. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners.
2. You need to repent of sin. Here's what I mean. Being angry. If you just get angry about something. You can be angry and not sin.
You can be angry and be slow to anger. You can be angry and like what Paul says. Be angry and don't sin. You can do that. But when you've been angry and you have sinned, we need to cleanse our hands.
Meaning we need to make restitution. We need to have some conversations. We need to apologize and repent to those in our family. Some of you are going to need to sit down with your spouse and say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the stuff I've said to you. I'm angry.
I need Jesus to change me, but I'm sorry. Some of you have said some things to your children, to your spouse, to your friends. It's going to be very difficult for them to forget. Very difficult for them to continue with. And you're going to need to repent. Some of you have physically harmed someone.
Some of you have been not answering a phone call or avoiding someone. Or when you see them, maybe even here in your community group, you just don't talk to them. Or you keep it real short, but you're tearing them up in your head. You need to repent. You need to go to them and say, I'm wrong. I'm sorry.
I've been treating you poorly. I need your forgiveness. We need to cleanse our hands. Thirdly, we need to examine our hearts. So he says, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Rather than trying to control our anger, we need to follow the rope the other way. We need to figure out what it is we love. Psalm 4 says this, and we'll have it on screen. It's what Paul quotes earlier. Be angry and do not sin. Ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent.
Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord. We need to do what the psalmist says. We need to do what James says, which is actually look at our hearts and begin to ask, what is it I love too much? That's what our inventories are this week for our anger series. There's the Killjoy books that are out in the hall. If you haven't gotten one yet, you need to grab one on your way out.
We're going to walk through those in our community groups. But the goal of his inventories is just to begin to ask, what is it I love? What is my anger defending? Is there a pattern here? You ever been with someone and they completely lose their mind over something or get really angry over something, and you're like, I have no clue why they're mad. Like you went with them to a Jiffy Lube, and the guy behind the counter was just kind of curt and like, not like his name was curt, but he was short with them and rude.
And you're like, man, this guy's kind of rude. And then you walk outside and they go, can you believe that guy? I'm about ready to go back in there. It's like, what? Steve. Was that his name?
Yeah. At least I'm getting on Yelp. I'm doing it. Like, and you're going, what is wrong with you? You ever been with somebody at a restaurant? And the waiter or waitress is slow, and you actually watch someone lose their mind?
You ever done this? Like you're trying to have a conversation and they're like, they saw me. Like, what? Who saw you? I was just, I tried to make a, they turned around. They know I'm, they saw him out of tea.
I said, bro, you can have some of my tea. I don't want to, no, uh-uh. This is, this is about the principle. Is it? Is that what it's about? You see, like, do you, do you only get angry if someone disrespects you?
Maybe you really need people to think you're great. And so, maybe you love being honored and praised and people thinking highly of you. So if someone disrespects you, you can't have that. Maybe if all the categories where you're getting angry are because someone's messing with your schedule. Maybe you love your schedule too much. Maybe if all the times you're getting angry is when someone takes something that was going to be comfortable and nice away from you.
Maybe you love comfort too much. Maybe your passions are at war within you. Maybe you like your popularity too much. Maybe the only time you're getting angry is when anything involves money. So when, can you believe they asked for money?
That's, that's so rude. So, that's, and it's like, I don't know. Like, maybe you love something too much. We need to, to examine our hearts and begin to see what it is that we're pursuing. We need to submit to God, we need to admit we're angry. Give control to Him over how the situation is going to play out.
We need to repent of sin. Begin to apologize to people, repent to people. Christian, Christian people, when you apologize to somebody in our church family or in your, in your family, use the word repent. It puts it into the right category. So if, if my wife comes to me and say, hey, I just want to tell you I'm sorry.
Well, like, she could be sorry for spilling something on my shoes. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, sorry doesn't necessarily, like, she, if she comes to me and says, hey, I need to repent. I need you to forgive me. It's already pushed it into the right category for me. It's like, okay, yes.
Repentance, forgiveness, these are things Jesus works in us. So use the term, I need to repent. You need to repent of sin? We need to examine our hearts. But if we just do those things, three things, nothing really happens.
If that's all that happens, if it's just those all by themselves, nothing really happens. We actually need something else to take place. And James gets there. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Verse 9. Be wretched.
Mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. We actually need Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to break us over our sin. We need to hate our anger. We need to be broken over it. We don't need to, the goal is not to manage it.
It's to be made different. The goal is not to, okay, yeah, I have anger outbursts and I need to get to where I don't so that my situation, my life will be better, my marriage will be better. No, the goal is to realize that your sin is heinous, that you, an adulterer before God, and to be broken over our sin. To hate it. To weep. To be wretched.
To mourn. Not to say a little prayer and be like, okay, cool, I reckon that's done. To actually see it in our lives and to see how much it means that we've chased after something that won't satisfy us, that won't fix us. We've been so mad about something that happened in our past because we felt like God should have promised us a happy childhood. And so I can't be okay. I can never let go of the anger because then it's like I let them go free.
And we need to be broken over our sin. And the only way that happens, the only way that happens, verse 10, humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. The first thing we have to do is see that that happened, that Jesus first humbled himself. And Jesus first was exalted. And that we get to, because Jesus led the way, do the same thing.
You see, Jesus sat on a throne from eternity past, holding the world in his hands. Colossians 1 says that all things were created through him and for him. This existed for him and for his joy and for his glory and for his name and for his pleasure. And it rebelled against him. And when he could have been angry and just said, I have wrath for you, I'll destroy you. No, he joins us.
He humbles himself to the point of death, even death on the cross. He laid everything down for us and he took our unrighteous anger on himself. When we mocked him and spit on him and beat him and nailed him to a cross, he took all of our unrighteous anger that was aimed at him. But he didn't just do that. He took God's righteous anger as well. So that we can be set free.
He was humbled and he's been exalted to the right hand of God, to the place of glory forever. And that we get to, because Jesus humbled himself, humble ourselves and come to God and say, I need you to change me. I need you to go to work in my heart. And there's a promise in here that I think is so beautiful. When we humble ourselves, God lifts us up. When you lay down and say, I can't do this anymore.
God's the one who wraps you up and lifts you up. And I love what James says here in verse 6. This is a little bit up from what we just read a minute ago. But he gives more grace. How angry have you been? How much harm have you caused?
How much have people hurt you? Do you know how much grace he gives? More. He gives more. How many times have you failed? He gives more.
How many times have you messed this up? He gives more. How many times have you promised you would do better? He gives more. See, on the cross, Jesus took care of everything for us. And when we see him dying for our sins, dying in the midst of our anger and taking God's anger on our behalf, it melts our heart to run to him, to humble ourselves and to receive more grace.
To be set free. From our anger to fall in love with him above all else. It's the only way our love will get reordered is if we see him on a cross dying for those who hated him, dying for those who were angry at him, and taking God's wrath on our place so that we could be free. And so that we could receive more grace. The band's going to come back up. This week in our groups, we need to take the time before you get together with your group to walk through your inventories.
As we said last week, the more you put into this, the more you'll get out of it. We need to begin to submit our anger to God. We need to begin to repent to those we've harmed, even if they don't know it. We need to begin to investigate and examine our hearts to find out what it is we love so much. But ultimately, we need Jesus.
We need more grace. We need a God who loves us in the midst of our anger and our bitterness and our resentment, who loves us so much that he'll die for us, taking our anger onto himself, into himself, into his body, to the point of death, to where he was wrapped up in claws and laid in a tomb. We need the God who three days later walked out of that tomb and conquered our anger on our behalf. We need Jesus. We need to humble ourselves so that he will exalt us, that he'll lift us up, and that he'll give us a place and love us and welcome us and bring joy back in the midst of our brokenness. So my prayer for us is that we would begin to genuinely ask Jesus to help us hate our sin, to break us, to let us actually mourn, to let us actually have our joy be turned into gloom, to humble ourselves so that we can be free.
Let's pray. God, we thank you. Thank you for the cross, and we thank you that that is the promise, that you give more grace, that we cannot out-sin you, that we cannot out-run you, that there is no time when we will have done so much that you cut us loose, but that you give more grace. God, we ask that we would be free from anger, that all of the unrighteous anger and all of the love for the wrong things and all of the rampant passions that we have, that you would set us free to love you above all else so that everything else gets to be in its right place. We ask through the power of your Holy Spirit that you would author that in us.
God, I pray that there would be weeping, that we would mourn, that there would be gloom, just as there was at the cross and the tomb, that there would be humility, just as there was at the cross and the tomb, so that there can be actual exaltation, just as there is with a crown and a throne, that God, we would walk through that process to be free. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Y'all stand, let's sing.
Our Enemies and Our Hero
Transcript
You want to be happy. Now I know you weren't ready for us to start this whole new series off with such a brain bomb. You weren't prepared for that. No, you want to be happy. Like it's innate in us. It's hardwired in us, this desire, this longing for happiness.
We've bought into it. We believe in it. There's something in us that consistently thinks about it, worries about it, has it in mind when we're making decisions, when we're deciding where to live and where to work and even what we want to do today. There's this undercurrent of our own personal happiness. What do I like? What do I enjoy?
And even we'll make decisions about things that we aren't going to enjoy because we ultimately believe that it will lead to future, better, more long-lasting happiness. It's the reason some of you went to school. It's the reason you didn't enjoy that, but you knew this ultimately leads to happiness. But there's something in us that longs for, believes in, and desires and pursues our own personal happiness. There's a French mathematician and philosopher named Blaise Pascal. You maybe have heard about Pascal's triangle.
It's just a convenient tabular representation of binomial coefficients. I just memorized that. I don't know what those words mean. I just wanted three seconds of sounding really smart. But he says this.
He's a French philosopher. He says this about happiness. He says, All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war and of others avoiding it is the same desire in both, attended to different views.
The will, meaning your inward desires, the will never takes a least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action, of every man, even those who hang themselves. See, Blaise Pascal says everybody is pursuing happiness. The U.S. bought into this. We encoded it in the Declaration of Independence that it's an inalienable right of a human to pursue happiness. We even got Will Smith to make a movie about it, so it's real, you guys.
We pursue happiness. And I hear Pascal say that, and there's just something in me that goes, Yeah, no, I get that. Like, I believe that. I don't want to argue with him. There's something that makes me go, Yeah, no, I understand that. I see that at work in me.
I see that at work in other people. Like, there's something in my life when I'm sad, the times that I've felt physical pain or emotional pain or the times I've cried, there's been this, like, this isn't how this is supposed to be. This isn't, this is broken. This is not how I'm supposed to exist. And on the flip side of that, every time I've been happy, there's just part of me that goes, This is what life was supposed to be like. This is how I'm supposed to exist.
It fits. There's something about it that fits us. And here's the truth biblically. We had deep, abiding happiness when we were created. Humanity was designed to exist in a joy and happiness in relation to their creator. And we lost it.
We rebelled against God and that happiness was broken. And so sorrow and pain and hurt entered the world. And all of us since then have been chasing after the happiness. Chasing after what we think will fill us up, will make us happy. And here's the issue. God is ultimately the only thing that can fill that up in us.
You see, God actually wants joy for us. He desires joy for you. That's the end that he desires for you. Now, joy is the deep, abiding, real version of happiness. Happiness, short-lived, circumstantial. So God's desire for humanity is to have a deep, abiding joy in the midst of sorrow and pain.
That is set above the horizon. That is beyond circumstances. The reason we pursue happiness is because it's the cheap, knockoff version of what we were meant for. There's something meant for joy in our souls because we were meant to find that only in God. And once, everything else was supposed to be just a signpost to how good he was. You were supposed to eat a delicious meal and not have your enjoyment terminate on the meal, but actually roll up in praise to the God who invented flavor, who made bacon.
Like you were supposed to roll up in praise to him. You were supposed to ride a roller coaster or go enjoy scenery somewhere, stand breathless at the edge of the Grand Canyon and not have your enjoyment terminate on the Grand Canyon, but actually roll up in praise to the God who carved it out. But once our relationship with God was broken, we began to pursue by any means necessary, whatever we believed would fill us up and make us happy. And ultimately, they all are dead ends because none of them were meant to be an end in themselves, but all were meant to point to the one place we could actually find joy.
But repeatedly in the Bible, God is calling us to joy, wants joy for you, desires joy for you, because anytime he calls for joy in you, what he's saying is, I want me for you. Because ultimately, joy and pleasure are with me. I want that for you. So he fights actively for our joy. Jesus goes to the cross for our joy, to bring us to God, to return us to the state we were meant to be in, and to actually remove all that would keep us from him. And so every time the Bible says praise or rejoice, it's calling us to God, that we were meant for it.
I want to continue to explain this and show you a few things here. So the Bible is bathed in commands. It's covered in commands to praise, to rejoice. And since we use the ESV, they use the word exult a lot. And I read the ESV on a regular basis. So I want to explain those terms to us because we don't really use those words a lot.
We use the word praise. And there's really only like two times or two types of praise. And really one of them is not even actually praise. So there are two times that we praise something. Praise just means to speak highly of, to say this is nice or this is good. And the first kind of type is not actually genuine.
So you could praise something to not hurt someone's feelings. Somebody bakes you a cake and it's really dry and not good. And you eat it and it sucks all the moisture out of your mouth. And they're standing there looking at you like, well, what do you think? And you're going, hmm, this cake of all the cakes, this cake is cake. Some of the cake is cake.
This, hmm, is this icing frosting on top? Yeah. Like you're doing your best to try to say, no, this is good. Like they're waiting for you to say, and you finally just, you give in and look at their face in line. You should repent that you say, no, this is good. I like this.
Maybe next time for my birthday, just give me a gift card. But this is great. Like you, there's, there's praise that's to avoid hurting someone's feelings. There's also a praise that's manipulative. The purpose is to get something out of a person. So that's flattery.
It's ultimately not genuine praise, but you're just saying nice things because maybe they'll give you something or they'll respond in kind. Like that's, so I don't think that's what the Bible is talking about when it commands us to praise God. I don't think the Bible is like, Hey, say nice stuff to God or his feelings are going to get hurt. I don't think that's the point. I don't think it's like, you better, like he's really sensitive. You guys, he's going to need you to say nice stuff.
I don't, I don't think that's it. Like just at some point, just tell him trees are good. He made them. Tell him they're good. I don't think it's flattery. I don't think the point of the Bible is, Hey, you really got to get God on your good side.
And one way to do that is to facetiously and sarcastically and lyingly tell him you like him. I think, I mean, I can pick up on flattery at times. I can tell somebody is not genuinely praising something. I'm pretty sure God who can, you know, read your thoughts and look into your heart can tell. And I don't think he's moved by it. It's actually when the Bible says praise, what it means is genuine praise.
And here's how genuine praise works. And here's why this is actually beautiful that God calls us to this. You only genuinely pray something when you actually enjoy it. Genuine praise comes out of the actual enjoyment of something. Genuine praise actually shows up when we're really enjoying. This is why when you have a boyfriend or girlfriend or fiance or something, you just naturally just say nice things about them because there's enjoyment there.
It just bubbles over. This is why when your mom cooked a meal, she'd let you chew for about 30 seconds. And then she'd be like, ain't nobody going to say anything about the food? Because she knew if you actually enjoyed the food, it would, you would automatically just be like, this biscuit is amazing. And then stick it like you. It naturally happens.
I was at the zoo the other day. I was thinking about this and there was about four, I think probably, they were in college. So 18 to 22 or something like that. They were at the new sea lion exhibit thing and they're looking in the glass and it's gotten murky because I think of all the rain. I was kind of green in there. Zoo really needs to step it up and clean that thing out, but whatever.
And they're trying to see like a sea lion. And while they're doing that, there had been one just hanging out at the top of the water and it was hanging out upside down, just laying in water. I didn't know they could do that. And it just floated down and was like looking at them upside down. So they're trying to see it and all of a sudden it floated down.
It was like, what's up you guys? Like that's really, and immediately one of the guys goes, this is awesome. Because that's the natural thing that happens when you're enjoying something. So you've seen a car before and been like, this car is beautiful. Or you've stood next to the Grand Canyon or seen a sunset and your natural response is to hit the person next to you and be like, look at that. Isn't that beautiful?
Isn't that amazing? So when God says praise repeatedly in the Bible, what he's saying is notice me so much, enjoy me so much that the natural overflow response is that you'll, you'll point it out. You'll talk about it. That's part of how we actually enjoy it. There's something about looking at something and enjoying it with someone else that if you don't say anything about it, it kind of cuts down on it. There's actually, it makes it complete for you to point it out.
So he says praise. It also says rejoice and exult a lot. Now exult is not like, we don't really use the word rejoice. Maybe every once in a while we just sing a song with it, but it's a Bible word. So church people use it more often, but we don't use it in normal life.
Exult, like if you said exult around me, I would just think you were weird. And I recently up until like, I don't know, a couple of months ago, didn't even know what exult meant. It's spelled E-X-U-L-T. I just assumed because it was one letter different from the word exult that they meant similar things. So exult is E-X-A-L-T.
And I just thought they're probably the same thing. And then as I kept reading, I thought that's actually kind of dumb. Why would they have two words that meant the same thing with just one letter difference? I might should actually look this up. So I looked up exult and it doesn't mean what exult means.
Exult means to lift high, to praise, to lift up. Exult actually means show or feel elation or jubilation. Also two words we don't use. There's something about us dumbing our language down that lets us miss out on some depth here. It says, especially as a result of a success, it just means to be overwhelmed with joy to the point of celebrating. Rejoice is similar.
Rejoice says feel or show great joy or delight. But we don't use these words. So yesterday, I just assumed because South Carolina had a bye week that I would have a Saturday where I didn't get all worked up about football and sad in my heart. And I was looking forward to that because I have a problem and South Carolina is not good. So they're not really feeding my idolatry and letting me feel good about myself vicariously through them.
So I have to watch them and then I get depressed and there's all these issues. I'm working through it, you guys. But I thought, South Carolina's not playing, I'll be fine. And then I accidentally started watching the Clemson-NC State game in the fourth quarter. So Clemson and NC State are playing and it is tied.
Clemson is ranked number three in the nation. NC State is not ranked in the top 25. So if they win, bye-bye all hopes and dreams, Clemson fans. And I was so excited. So it's fourth quarter.
NC State's playing really well. I ran into the other room. I said, Anna, come, come, rejoice with me. Join me, my bride, as we exult over NC State. Like, I was like, you've got to take part in this and we're watching. And I mean, Clemson Booster Club better send NC State's kicker a gift basket because that cat, they would have won the game.
It comes down two seconds left. All he's got to do is kick a field goal and he misses far right. And it's a Clemson home game and the stands burst forth in exultation. That's what those words mean. We don't use those words. That's what they mean.
The people hugging and crying and kissing strangers and you can't tell what's sweat and what's tears. Like that group of people in the stands, that's exultation. And the Bible consistently says this is the response of Christians to the glory of the cross and to the glory of our King. That we should be overwhelmed, subjectively, experientially enjoying Jesus. That's a normal pattern of life for Christians, that we would experience and enjoy Jesus. Now, it's joy, which means it's in the midst of sorrow and pain.
This is why Paul and Silas can be singing in a prison. This is why Christians in the midst of a cancer ward can have joy because it's beyond the horizon. It's beyond our circumstances, but the normal experience for Christians should be in a subjective, experiential joy in the presence of God and in the glory of the cross. See, I always just kind of thought it was supposed to be objective. God's glorious. He's big.
He's good. And we're supposed to objectively notice that and objectively praise. So that when we came here this morning and we're singing a song, we're supposed to sing because God is good and deserves to be sung to. But we don't have to feel it. We don't have to really participate in it. It's mostly just we've got to go through the act and because he's objectively good, we should partake in that.
And here's the issue with that. I know that taxes are objectively good. I know that. I will argue with you if you're like, no, we shouldn't have taxes. I would start off with something like, no, stupid. We should.
Do you appreciate roads? Being able to read. School was helpful, right? Like, do you like ambulances showing up at your house when you set yourself on fire? Like, yeah. Taxes.
Now, we could discuss how much taxes and where they go, but taxes are objectively good. I know this. I have never subjectively enjoyed taxes. I've never experientially been excited when I saw my paycheck and looked at little FICA down there. Been like, yeah, taxes. Take some more.
Like, I never did that. I've never walked into an H&R block, lifted a lady wearing way too much lipstick and been like, Tammy, let's do this. You ready to exalt over some forms? 1099? Like, you ready to do that? Like, never done that.
Never happened. And I felt like that's maybe what we were supposed to do with God. We were supposed to objectively notice he was good, but it wasn't supposed to sweep us up. It wasn't supposed to overwhelm us. It wasn't supposed to engulf us. But that's not the truth.
The Bible calls repeatedly for Christians to be overwhelmed, engulfed by God's glory and his goodness to the point of an experiential joy. So here's what we're about to do. I got a couple of pages of Bible verses that I'm going to read through quickly to show us, to illustrate to us, how much the Bible talks about this. How much it calls us to joy, to exaltation. We'll see that word a lot, exalt. How much it calls us to rejoice.
Now, sometimes on Sundays, and just in Bible study in general, you treat Bible study like a wine tasting. We get together. We're going to look at a verse. We're going to look at two verses. We're going to just barely pour them out. We're going to swish them around, stare at them, see what they do to the glass.
We're going to smell them. Taking every little bit of syntax and word and verb structure and what's being said here. And look at the commas and see where it says, therefore, we're going to do that. We're going to zoom in and really take it all in. We're going to swish it around. We're going to spit it out.
We're going to drink a little bit. Like we're going to, it's a wine tasting of scripture. We do that sometimes. That is not what this is. If you try to do that, this will be bad for you. This is jumping in a cold lake on a hot day.
We're just going to be overwhelmed by one thing. This is really cold. We're going to be overwhelmed by, the Bible talks about joy. Okay? That's the point. I'm going to run through this really quickly.
If you really want this list later, I can give it to you. At some point, I may not even be giving references anymore, but it comes from the Bible. So I'll try to stay focused and move here. All right. Are we ready? Cold lake, hot day?
Okay. First Chronicles 16, 27. Splendor and majesty are before him. Strength and joy are in his place. So there are Bible verses that talk specifically about joy exists with God.
Like it is part of who he is, where he is. So this is the character of God has joy. So splendor and joy, strength and joy are in his place. Psalm 4. You have put more joy in my heart than when their grain and wine abound. He's saying circumstantially, they have to have stuff to have joy.
I get more joy just from you. Psalm 9. I will be glad and exult in you. I will sing praise to you, your name, O Most High. Psalm 5. But let all who take refuge in you rejoice.
Let them ever sing for joy and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. The Bible consistently in the Old Testament also talks about that there will be joy in the future salvation of God. So they're pointing forward to the cross.
The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. That's Isaiah 29. He says fresh joy. Not that old joy. Not joy you had last week. Not stale joy.
Joy that's fresh because the gospel is true that Jesus is going to show up and give the meek fresh joy in the Lord. Isaiah 49. Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth. Break forth, O mountains, into singing. For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted. Isaiah 61.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and a bride adorns herself with her jewels. He says I'm giddy like a bride on her wedding day because of the glory of God and the joy that's with him. Zephaniah 3.
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away the judgments against you. He's cleared away your enemies. He says the judgments against you are gone.
It's like you went to trial and you probably should have been convicted, but then you get to walk out free. And that first breath of air that fills your lungs and you know it's over. I'm not going to jail. He says the judgments against you are cleared. That's the joy that we have with the Lord. Psalm 68.
But the righteous shall be glad. They shall exult before God. They shall be jubilant with joy. Isaiah 35. And the ransomed of the Lord. That means those bought out of slavery 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. He said it's like when you got released from prison. That first moment of freedom and knowing that you paid your time, that you were set free from slavery. That's the joy that we have in the Lord. And then in the New Testament, they talk about we have joy because of Jesus and the work he's already done. For the kingdom of God, this is Romans 14, is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. That's Romans 15. 2 Corinthians 13. Finally, brothers, rejoice. He just says, I'm ending my letter.
Rejoice. Be happy. Celebrate. Because of the gospel. First Thessalonians. Rejoice always.
Philippians 2. Be glad and rejoice with me. Philippians 3. Rejoice in the Lord. Philippians 4. Rejoice in the Lord always.
And again, I will say rejoice. This is the posture of a Christian. This is the normal response that we would have. Joy. John 16. Jesus says this.
So you have sorrow now, but I'll see you again. And your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you. Because the joy that Christians have is anchored in the resurrection of Jesus. It can't be taken from us. Revelation 19. This is the last one.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride, that's the church, has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. You see, we're commanded as Christians to have joy. We're designed to celebrate the cross subjectively. To have it experientially in our lives.
That we would be overwhelmed with it at times. So here's the point of our series. And why we've named it Killjoy. We as Christians, if you've placed your faith in Jesus, you have subjective joy because of an objective reality. We get to experience joy because Jesus went to the cross on our behalf for our sins so that we can have freedom in life. That's the life of a Christian.
So, that's how we ought to live. What we're going to read here in a minute in Ephesians 2, and Jordan already read it to us this morning, is Paul's writing to the church and he's saying, this is what your life used to look like. This is who you used to be prior to Jesus. And then he, in the middle, says, but God. And he says, here's what's true for you now. Here's who you are now.
And see, for a lot of us, we have been, because of Jesus, made to live here. We've been set free from who we used to be. Set free from sin. Set free from this sorrow and this pain that comes along with our rebellion. And brought over to be with God and to experience a deep, abiding joy that's beyond circumstance. But for many of us in the church, we've gotten used to certain sins, certain struggles, and we're trying to act like, no, this is normal.
No, this is regular. This is what this looks like. And what Paul's saying is, no, that's what used to be true. No, this is your new normal. Freedom and joy and hope and rest in the gospel are your new normal because of Jesus, because of an objective reality of Jesus going to the cross and saving you. So we're going to walk through, and what we're going to do as we walk through this section is look at what our enemies are.
In Ephesians 2, what he's saying used to be true for us, what used to have dominion over us, and then we'll talk about how, as a series, we're going to get to spend time in freedom. So turn to Ephesians 2. It'll be on page 634 if you're in a blue and white Bible. Now, in this series, what our goal is is just to pastor through some issues in the church, some issues for Christians that we've gotten used to, that we started acting like they're acceptable. Here's what I mean. If you text your community group this week on your group me, or maybe y'all have a Facebook group, or you just got all their Numbers, so you text them and you say, hey guys, really struggling this week.
I just blew all of my savings on cocaine and prostitutes. Your phone's going to blow up. People are going to show up at your house. Like, your group will rally around you. They will be there. They'll be like, hey, let's walk through this.
Like, we need to help you. And they should. That should be the response. But you could text in week after week, hey guys, really struggling with anger. And you're going to get back praying for you. Yeah, me too.
Maybe somebody will give you a little bit of like, here's how the gospel applies to anger. Hopefully so. That's one of the things we're shooting for as a church. But there's not going to be the same type of reaction. You could text and say, guys, still struggling with guilt and shame. Still struggling with lust.
And you're going to get some, yeah, praying for you. Yeah, me too. And so as pastors, we've on a regular basis in our church family got to sit down with people. In our homes, grabbing a cup of coffee. And just talk through some of the issues we're going to talk through in the next couple of weeks. And honestly, wish we could do that with everybody.
Wish we could just, that this could be done in a setting where we're sitting across from a table from each other. But we just got to realizing, man, these are some issues that our church family just needs us to talk about. We just need to walk through a little bit and begin to realize how Jesus has been at work in this. To set us free from this. To give us hope in this. And so for the next several weeks, we're going to spend time walking through that.
And we'll talk more about how we're going to go about that in a minute. So Ephesians 2, we're going to look at our three enemies. Because as we walk through talking about anger, lust, guilt and shame, self-loathing. As we spend time for the next six weeks talking about these specific issues. All three of these are going to be at play. All three of these enemies are going to be at work.
And we're going to, as we address anger, we're going to address it on these three fronts. As we address lust, we're going to address it on these three fronts as Paul's talking in here. So that's what we'll spend our time doing today. All right. And you were dead in the trespasses of sins and sins in which you once walked. That's chapter 2, verse 1.
Following the course of this world. Following the prince and the power of the air. The spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh. Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. And we're by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
Okay. So the first enemy we have as Christians is the flesh. Paul talks about it when he says, In which you once walked. At the beginning of verse 2. And then verse 3 where he says, Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh. Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind.
What he's saying is, You have inside of you a desire for sin. When the fall happened. When Adam and Eve originally rebelled. We just lined up behind and joined in. And there's something in us. Innately hardwired in us.
To sin. To rebel against God. To chase after whatever we think will make us happy. Regardless of the consequences. That we carry out the desires of the body and the mind. Meaning you actively choose to sin.
That's why Paul in Romans 7 says, I don't understand myself. The things I know are good. That God wants. That I actually want to do. I don't do. And the things I know that are bad.
That are rebellious. I end up doing those. And I feel like there's a war going on inside of me. So as we walk through this series. We're going to specifically address. You.
You're a sinner. You're consistently talking yourself into stupid things. Did you know that? Jeremiah says, Your heart is desperately sick. It's a. It.
It's. It lies to you. That more often than not. When you've pursued something. That ended up being terrible. You know who tricked you into it?
You. You should be really mad at yourself. Right now. Like. There's something in us. That wants to sin.
There's this. Fleshly desire for sin. And so as we walk through this series. As we talk about anger. As we talk about lust. As we talk about self-loathing.
We're going to talk about. How are you involved in this? How are you actively choosing to sin? How do we need to repent? The second enemy that we have. We'll spend most of our time on the flesh.
Because you're your biggest enemy. Luckily. All of what Paul is saying here. Is that this used to be true for you. So Jesus has set us free.
But we're kind of going back to this. We end up living like this is our normal. And it's not. The second enemy you have is the world. So he says.
Verse 2. In which you once walked. Following the course of this world. You have. Your second enemy as a Christian is the world. And that doesn't mean all the people that exist in the world.
The Bible uses the world in two different senses. One is. All the humans. So that's where it says. For God so loved the world. That he gave his only son.
That whoever believes in him. Might not perish. But have everlasting life. That world is all the humans in it. But it also uses the world as.
The systems at place in the world. That help you sin. Because sinful people. Help design these systems. And so we have systems at place. That help you sin.
So. You. You. Desire to look at pornography. You. Fleshly desire.
Desire of the body. To lust. And guess what? The internet exists. And there are people actively at work. To develop more pornography.
To help you sin. There's a worldly system that helps you sin. And not only does the internet exist with pornography. But then there are TV shows. That just glorify it. So that.
We act like our culture just Acts like it's normal. We have shows like Hardcore Pawn. porn. And Pawn Stars. And food porn. Because we've normalized this. You watch television shows.
And they just act like of course you're watching porn. Of course that's normal. That's okay. Even though statistically we know that. Pornography use is one of the leading causes of divorce. Every sitcom you watch is going to act like.
Yeah of course the husband watches porn. Of course the wife partakes some. That's the world lying to you. This is also the systems of belief in the world that we have. That come alongside you and just help feed what you're thinking. So.
When the Bible disagrees with you. And tells you you need to repent. And then our culture says whoa. The Bible doesn't get to tell you what to do. You look inside of you. Look in your heart.
And whatever you find in there. That's the real you. That's what needs to be cultivated. That's what needs to be brought out. Whatever you find inside of you is the real you. And you have to be true to yourself.
Now doesn't that sound beautiful? The Bible says that's nonsense. That being true to yourself leads to destruction. That God loves you enough. That when he is after your joy. That means sometimes he's not after your happiness.
Because we'll say things like. I know God just wants me to be happy. Which means God just wants me to do. Whatever the heck I think would be best in this moment. No he doesn't. He wants you to be actually happy.
I've got a two year old. He's not two yet. He'll be two at some point. I want him to be actually happy. I want him to be actually happy. Like I care about his joy.
Which means that yesterday. I took a knife from him. I was cleaning out the dishes. And he grabbed a knife. And tried to take off running. Because he knew he wasn't supposed to have it.
And so he figured. I better escape with this. I did not know. That before my son was two years old. I was going to have to disarm him at some point. I haven't taken that class.
So I just kicked him. No I didn't. But I had to quickly get a knife from him. He's losing his mind. Because I've just stolen the best toy he's ever had from him. And then when I pick him up.
He hits me. I don't know why I have an aggressive son. I don't know where that came from. I have probably his mama. He hits me. So I have to spank him.
I have to hold him while he's trying to fight with me. He ends up getting spanked again. Like there's this whole big long process. Because I actually care about his real happiness. Which does not involve him running around with a knife. At some point he'll be really mad at me.
Because he can't eat candy. And stay up till two o'clock in the morning. Because I care more about his real happiness. So when we say things like. And our culture says. Well God just wants you to be happy.
Yeah. He actually wants you to be happy. Real long term. Abiding joy happiness. So much so that he went to the cross for you.
But a lot of times that means he steps in. Takes something out of your hand. And says that's really dumb. You need to move on. So we're going to talk specifically as we walk through this series.
The world. What it is that the culture is telling us. What it is that lies that we believe. What it is that's helping tempt us. And figuring out how to. How do we avoid that.
How do we replace that with truth. How do we set up something to help guard us against temptation. We'll spend some time talking about the world. Not a whole lot of time. We'll mostly talk about you. But we'll spend some time talking about the world.
The third one. Your third enemy. Is right after the world. So he says. Following the course of this world. This is verse two.
Following the prince of the power of the air. The spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. He's referring to the devil. To Satan. And our third enemy is the devil. So we as Christians believe that God is a good God who created everything.
And that he created spiritual beings. Angels. And that some of those angels rebelled. And that they are at work. The Bible refers to them as demons. They are at work led by Satan or the devil.
To disrupt God's good design for creation. And God's good design for humanity. And rob us of joy. And keep us from him. The best way they can harm God is to attack people. We believe that.
We believe the Bible is pretty clear on that. I know that that's weird for us as Westerners. But we believe that that is true. And that Satan is actually active. And at work. In the lives of people.
Even in the United States. I know. It's crazy. He doesn't have to go through border patrol. I think that as we talk about this through this series. Because we will spend time each week talking about how can the enemy be involved.
How can Satan be involved. I think for some of us it will be weird but helpful. Good for you to continually get to see that he is at work. And just kind of uncomfortable. We can talk more about what the Bible says. The Bible doesn't give us all the answers we want.
But it does give us enough. I think for some of you it will be massively helpful. Because you may actually have been being affected by demonic things. And just didn't have a category for it. So you weren't paying any attention to it.
The devil does. The Bible calls him a murderer. It says he's been a murderer since the beginning. He's actively seeking to destroy and to harm and to kill. And I think he does that in four primary ways. He does it in a lot of ways.
But we're just going to kind of categorize him this morning for us. Four primary ways that we'll spend some time talking about. One is the Bible calls him an accuser. I found the reference for that. Revelation 12 refers to him as the accuser. Which means that he comes along and he accuses.
He says you're terrible. You're the worst. You're going to ruin your marriage. You're garbage. You're sinful. God can't love you.
God couldn't save you. Jesus loves everybody else but you. Jesus only loves you on a technicality. He actually cares about other people. But he accuses.
He says you did this in your past. You could never be okay. You did this to your children so you'll never be savable. Like he accuses. John 8. Jesus calls him a liar and says he's the father of lies.
One of the ways that he works is by lying. He says something that's remotely believable. And if you believe it, even as a Christian when he has no authority over you, if you believe lies, it affects how you live. For example, if I came running in here and I said there's a winged tiger in the other room, the only person running out of this room is the person who believed me. Probably no one. If I brought it down a little bit and said there's a tiger in the other room, still probably no one.
If I pulled the fire alarm and said there's a fire down there, there's a good chance everybody's walking out of the building. Because I said a believable lie. Now, is there a fire? No. But did y'all live like there was one?
Yes. Y'all walk out of the building. Now, at some point when you figure out it was a lie, you can return to your normal life. I have authority over you as long as you're believing my lie. Satan has the same situation going for him. If he lies to you and you believe it, he has authority just as long as you believe it.
So we're going to spend some time talking about what are the lies we're believing, how is that at work here, how can we repent of that, how can we replace that with truth. 1 Peter 5 says this, that he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. And I think he does both of us. I think he prowls and he roars. For most of us, we do not think about Satan much. Probably good.
If you thought about Satan a lot, that'd be weird, I guess. We'd talk about it. But for a lot of us, there is no place. Maybe if you're a Christian, you're saying, yeah, I realize Satan's real. I realize the Bible says he's real. But then it's like, okay, does he actively mess with people?
No, not really. Very rarely. And if he ever does, it's well away from me. I think that's Satan in his prowling stance, which is just, you don't run from lions if you don't see him. And as long as he can be at work and you not know he's there, that's fine. But for the people who do think about Satan, notice Satan, I think the next stage is roaring, which is just to be as scary as possible.
If he can have you very afraid of him, he has more authority and control. He doesn't actually have authority and control. Jesus has set you free from him if you're a Christian. But if he can scare you, keep you up at night, make you very afraid of him, I think he can be at work. That may be all weird. I'd love to talk to you more about it when we get done this morning.
But we will spend some time talking about all three of our enemies as we go through this series. In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches them the model prayer. Most of us have this memorized or we've heard it a lot, probably on Friday Night Lights or something, where we say, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, because we all learned it in the King James. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. So it's a daily prayer.
Forgive us our sins. That's the flesh. Jesus says on a daily basis, you need to be praying about your flesh. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation. That's the world.
He says on a daily basis, you need to be praying about not being led into temptation, not believing all this stuff, the propaganda that's out there. And the third one, deliver us from evil or deliver us from the evil one. It is a normal thing for Christians to be aware that you have three enemies, to approach life that way, to pray that way, and we want to normalize that in our church family. So as we're addressing situations, we're addressing you as a whole person who is an active sinner, who needs grace from Jesus, who lives in a culture that is affecting how you think, and that has an actual spiritual enemy that is at work to cause problems.
We believe Jesus when he said, this is how we ought to pray. So that's how we're going to approach this series. Okay. Let's say you're hanging out with me at my house, and we're sitting in my backyard near my fire pit, because I love my fire pit, and we're drinking some coffee, because I love coffee, and let's say the wind starts to blow, and those stupid purple berries off of that ridiculous tree that is in my backyard, I don't know, some sort of cherry tree, it's nonsense, start blowing off and hitting us, because of course, why wouldn't they? And then start making everything purple, because of course, why wouldn't they?
And so let's say that, as calm and rational as I am, let's say I snap, and so we're talking, and these berries hit me in the face, and I just go, you know what? Just hold on a second. And then I run, and I get a baseball bat, and I come back, and you watch a grown man have a complete psychotic fit for about 30 minutes, where I beat as best I can that stupid tree, and I hit every limb, and you hear a lot of swear words you didn't know I knew, and really colorful ways to use them, and I sit there, and I beat this tree for 30 minutes, and I'm just losing my mind, and you're doing, you're thinking like, should I leave? Should I help him?
Someone should help him. Like you're thinking through all these things, do I call somebody? And I'm just losing, and I get all, finally, there's no, I mean some limbs have fallen and stuff, there's no more berries on that tree, I throw my bat down, I walk over, I'm sweating profusely, because that happens, I sit down next to you, I'm panting, I'm sweating to the point that you're uncomfortable, and I then look at you and say, finally, that tree will never cause me any problems again. So you were saying about the stock market, like, and you, now you're no tree scientist, you might bravely pluck up the courage enough to venture to say, hey buddy, I just want to time you out, I don't mean to, to mess you up, you do realize, next year, those berries are coming back, right?
Like, you know how fruit works, right? I mean, I can leave, I don't, stay away from your bat, but like, you might point that out to me, you might say to me something along the lines of, you're actually going to need to cut that tree down, if you don't want your backyard to be purple, and even then, it's going to be a little while, but that'll start springing back up into new trees, unless you grind that stump out, and get rid of those roots. We, we have a book that we have made for this series, they're all on the counter out there, we want you to take them with you, because our goal in this series, is not to modify your behavior. Our goal is to not beat the fool out of some fruit, so that you look a little better, and it comes back somewhere else, or it comes back in six months.
Our goal is to, as best we can, look inside and see where the roots are, so that we can actually uproot, and dig out, and grind away some stumps, and get rid of these areas in our life, that maybe have been digging roots for a really long time, but because of Jesus, don't have to be normal for us anymore. That's the goal. Ephesians 2, let's see how he finishes it up. We'll start, in verse, we'll just read the whole thing again. First one. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived, in the passion of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body, and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with him, and seated us with him, in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.
He says, God loved you so much, that in the midst of this being your normal, in the midst of being dead, in the midst of your brokenness and sin, Jesus came, and died on a cross, and when he died, and went into the grave, your sin went with him, and he raised us up with him. When Jesus walked out of the grave, we now, as Christians, can be made alive. We can have a new hope, and a new life, and a new normal, because of Jesus. Because God is rich in mercy, and he loves us with a great love. Verse 7. He did this so that, in the coming ages, he might show, the immeasurable riches of his grace, in kindness toward us, in Christ Jesus.
Jesus stepped into our situation, when we deserved nothing but destruction, nothing but wrath, and rescued us, and died for us, so that he could show us, his immeasurable greatness, and we could enjoy it. We could be engulfed by, and overwhelmed by, God's greatness. That's the hope we have in Jesus. That's the call we have in Jesus, that he saved you, to show you, how magnificent he is, and to bring you to himself. That's what we get together, to celebrate on Sundays. That's why we're doing this series.
If the best we could hope for, was some ways to count to 10, and some nice little phrases, to repeat to yourself, if we didn't have an objective truth, that Jesus saves and redeems, and is at work in us, and his Holy Spirit, this would be the saddest series, we've ever embarked on. But what we're about to do, is get to dig deeply, into the mess of our hearts, because Jesus has rescued us. We get to die to that, and rise again to a new life. That's the hope we have. In your books, there are charts, that go along with each week. There are diagnostics, we've borrowed stuff, from a recovery program, at Midtown Fellowship, which is a church, that we partner with.
The more you put into this series, the more you'll get out of it. There'll be things, that you didn't realize, you had an issue with, that these charts, will help you figure out, oh I've got this going on, I didn't think about it. There'll be some things, that you know, you have an issue with, so when you look at the chart, you go, I don't want to fill this out. It'll be helpful. Fill it out. Be prepared to hang out, with your community group, and talk openly, about what you've got going on, and walk in family together, as we pursue Jesus, and the hope that we have in him.
If you are not in a community group, today is a great day, to get into a community group. Grab one of those books, you know where we're going, you get to walk through this, together with other humans, struggling to follow Jesus, you want to get in a group. And if you're like, I'm not sure about groups, and I think y'all are kind of weird, here's my suggestion to you. Join a group for five weeks. If at the end of five weeks, you've processed through some mess, and you think, okay, I'm good, I'm not really going to be a sinner, in the future anymore, and I can go do this on my own, that's great.
Blessings to you, we're excited for you. If at the end of five weeks, you're getting to go, okay, no, it's good to walk through some mess with people, I would just encourage you, to hop in for this series, walk with a group, be in life with some people, and actually process through some of this, as we celebrate the fact, that we have freedom and joy in Jesus. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you that it is an objective truth, that you have saved us, and that we get to have a new normal. That we don't have to live lives, defeated by sin, by our flesh, by the world, by Satan.
That God, you are the conquering king, and we've been freed, from all that would have destroyed us. I pray, Lord, that through your Holy Spirit, you'd be at work in this series, to bring back some joy, to set us free from sin, to let us walk together as family, celebrating that the gospel, is good news, for life, right now. In Jesus name, Amen.
Oct 16
There Are No Unsent Christians
Transcript
It's good to see you guys this morning. My name is Matt. I'm one of the pastors here. And today we are finishing up our series called Follow Me, where we've basically been walking through the book of Mark and talking about discipleship, learning from Jesus and his interaction with his disciples. So what we've done is we've looked at that.
We've looked at what Jesus teaches his disciples, what his disciples were doing. And what we've done is ask the question, how do we do this? How do we, in 21st century America, actually respond to Jesus' call? How do we follow him just like James, John, Peter, and Andrew did? How do we do that in our context today? And so we started off with our baptism party where we celebrated people who have moved from death to life in Jesus, who've placed faith in Jesus.
And we talked about the fact that the gospel is good news that you live in light of. It's an event. It's news of something that has happened, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. It's not, the gospel's not a whole bunch of rules. It's not moralism. It's news that you believe.
And then as you believe that, your life begins to change. So we started there. That's primary for disciples of Jesus is belief in the gospel. And then we moved on and said, okay, if that's true, there are no unrepentant Christians. That's what we talked about next, that the life of a Christian should be repenting and believing. Repenting being seeing your sin, confessing of your sin, turning away from it to follow Jesus.
And that's a lifelong process from a disciple. You don't just confess your sin when you become a Christian. It's the life of a Christian is repenting and believing. And we moved on from there and said, there are no Christians who have something other than Jesus as primary. That when you follow Jesus, he asks us, tells us, commands us to lay everything else down, and he becomes primary to us. Even the good things in our life, even family and friends and our jobs and things that would be considered good on their own.
Jesus takes the primary spot over top of those. And our response to that is when we see anything that's getting in the way of that is back to what we talked about the week before, which is to repent and believe the gospel again. And what we looked at last week is that there are no Christians that exist outside of church family. There are no Christians that are supposed to exist outside of the family that Jesus has made us into. And it's this beautiful mix of people of all different backgrounds and races and thought processes and understanding. Even the disciples were a hodgepodge mix themselves.
And what happens is Jesus calls them to come to him. And as they come to him, he begins to change them. And so today as we wrap up our series, what we're talking about today is the fact that there are no unsent Christians. All Christians are to respond to Jesus, to come to him, and then he actually sends them out. That we're actually supposed to live our lives to spread the gospel, that we should be on mission. And the truth is, if you're a Christian in the room, or even if you just know things about what Christians believe or who Christians are, you're already on board with what I'm saying.
Because the gospel at its core is a message that has to be shared. So nobody in the room is going, yeah, well, but, nuh-uh. That's not happening because we all understand that it's a message that's supposed to be shared. Nobody's doing that. But there's still a disconnect between knowing that we're sent out and actually doing it.
There's a disconnect between knowing that we're sent out and even knowing how to do that. So we say all the time as a church that we're a gospel-centered community on mission. That you should be on mission with your friends and your neighbors and your coworkers. That we're joining Jesus in his mission to save Columbia. Like, we talk about that all the time. But the question becomes, okay, well, if that's what I'm supposed to do, how do I do that?
So you get excited and you're like, okay, cool. I'm going to go be on mission at work. We talk about that a good bit. And then you show up to work and it's like, what now? Well, I'm here. I'm ready to be on mission.
Like, is it that you kind of walk over into the break room where people are having coffee and like you just, at whatever opportune moment presents itself, you just, Jesus. I'm really doing it, guys. Is that it? Or is it like if you're wearing a shirt, you kind of roll up your sleeves so that they can see your sweet cross tat and you're just hoping that they're going to come talk to you? Like, they're going to, hey, tell me about your cross tattoo and your relationship with Jesus. Like, is that it?
Or is it maybe people are in the break room eating lunch and you're just trying to figure out how do I slide in the idea that I had a sweet time of fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ last night? I mean, is that going to do it? It's kind of like when you're in middle school and you're trying to talk to someone of the opposite sex. You know this? Y'all remember this, right? Okay, it's like I'm a guy.
I'm walking up to a girl. Do I say something about her hair? Like, do I mention, do I say that I like my little pony too? Or like Lisa Frank, whatever that stuff is. Did I put on enough Acts before this conversation? But that's kind of the idea.
So nobody's arguing. Nobody in the room is going, no, I understand that Christians are supposed to be sent. The disconnect is, well, how do I do that? I know I'm supposed to tell people about Jesus. So what we're doing today as we finish this series is say people who follow Jesus are sent to go share the gospel.
So we're going to look at Jesus sending out his disciples. And what we're going to look and say is, okay, if that's what he told them to do, if that's what he instructed them to do, how do we apply that as 21st century Americans? So my goal today is just to be helpful. I want to help coach us up just a little bit on like how can we begin to practically do this in our lives. So I'm hoping today will be helpful as we conclude this series.
So before we hop into the text, let's pray together. God, the fact that this church exists is evidence that you send your people to share the gospel. Or that you sent people to Columbia and then you sent those people out into their neighborhoods, into their places of work, to their schools, to continue sharing the gospel so that people could place their faith in Jesus. So God, I pray that you would help us remember our call this morning. I pray that you would help us remember why we're actually going out to share the gospel and that you would begin to help us practically see how we can begin to do that.
We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, go ahead and grab a Bible. We're going to turn to Mark in a second. But before we do that, I want to remind us of one of the main points we talked about last week.
Because if you don't get this point, if you don't understand what we talked about last week and you just go into being sent out, you'll miss the whole point of why we're being sent out in the first place. And so this is Mark chapter 3, verses 13 through 14. You can turn there. It's on 544 in your Bibles. But it says this, And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.
And he appointed 12 whom he also named apostles so that they might be with him, and he might send them out to preach. So it says there in verse 13, He called those whom he desired, and they came to him. So before we ever talk about being sent out, before Jesus sends out, the first call he makes is for us to come to him. Some of us need to hear that this morning. That may be the one thing you need to hear this morning. Jesus' call to you, first and foremost, is to come to him, to enjoy him, to be in a relationship with him.
And the problem is when we get this flipped, when we forget that as Christians, when we forget that that's actually primary, we'll go out and we're ambitious to share the gospel. We want to tell people about Jesus, but we end up getting frustrated and burned out and spinning our wheels because what we're doing is we're going out telling people about the gospel that we're not actually enjoying and living out in our lives. So if we're not enjoying Jesus walking with him daily, but we're trying to go tell people about Jesus, we're missing out. Jesus wants our... Before he wants your actions and your activity, he wants you.
He wants your heart. That's primary. It says, if you look again, we've got the verses still on the screen, but it says, They came to him and he appointed twelve. And it says, So that they might be with him. And then it says he sent them out. So I just want to...
That is the motivation this morning. When we talk about going and sending out, we're coming from a place where we're actually enjoying a relationship with Jesus. We're walking with him. And then we go out. Now, turn to Mark 6. We're going to be looking at verses 7 through 13.
And this is kind of a foundational passage for us as a church. Because what we're going to see is a group of guys whose lives are centered around Jesus and the gospel he proclaims, that are living that out in relationship with him and with each other, and then are being sent out on mission. Being centered around Jesus, gospel-centered, community, on mission. This is a big part. That's why we talk about groups so much, because we believe that's our best way to fulfill what Jesus is talking about here. To follow him in close relationship with other believers, and then in relationship with those other believers, go out and share the gospel.
So this is a foundational passage for us. And what we're going to do is we're going to just read straight through the passage and look at Jesus' instructions to the disciples and then we'll kind of get the big idea at the bottom and then come back to the instructions at the top and talk about, okay, how do you practically do that? How do we practically do that? So Mark 6, starting in verse 7, says this, And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.
And he said to them, Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them. Okay, so that's Jesus' instructions. Then verses 12 and 13 tell us what they actually did as they were sent out. So picking back up, verse 12.
So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. So 12 and 13 tell us what they actually did when they went out. And verse number 12 gives us the beginning. It says, They went out and proclaimed that people should repent. You see, the gospel is a message of joy.
It's a message of freedom, but at its core, it's also offensive. What we talked about in the second week is that when people are repenting of their sin, it's coming to them saying that you are a sinner in need of saving. That there's something about you that is off and broken. You need to admit that and confess that and turn from it and follow Jesus. So while in the gospel there is ultimate joy, we understand that there's heart level satisfaction, that all the longings of our heart are actually fulfilled and found in Jesus.
There's also a part of us that is offended by the truth of the gospel because it calls us to change. It was true in Jesus' day and it's true in ours, especially in our culture. Our culture holds up the idea of expressive individualism. We talked about this in our Theology of Sex series. But the basic idea of that is you do you.
Whatever makes you happy is the greatest expression of yourself. Don't let anybody tell you what to do. You do you. But the problem is that the gospel comes along and helps us see that we're broken and we're in need of saving. So at its core, it's going to be offensive.
But ultimately there's freedom and joy that we can find in Jesus. And then it says in verse 13, so there's a call to repent. But then it says in 13 that they cast out demons and anointed many with oil who were sick and healed them. Now, it's likely that most of us in the room just kind of thought to ourselves, well, well, that's weird. And it gets even weirder when you realize that as Jesus sent them out, part of following Jesus was that they cast out demons and that they healed sick people. And in all honesty, when you hear that, it's like, oh, that's weird.
I don't understand how that exactly works out. And part of part of the reason for that is that we live in a culture that highly values intellect and education and reason. Those are those are pillars kind of in our society that we hold up. And those are those are good things. Those aren't bad things in and of themselves. But since our focus is kind of primarily there, our culture is very skeptical of the spiritual or the unexplainable.
And so I want us to take just a second. This really isn't the main point of what we're talking about today. But I want to take just a second to talk about what is what's going on here. What were the disciples actually doing? Because I think there are two errors that you can make when you come to something like this in the Bible. OK, you can read it and then just skip over it and act like it doesn't exist.
It's like I don't really know what that's talking about. So we're not going to talk about that's challenging. That's difficult. That's not being faithful to the text. I want us always as a church to be fighting to understand what the Bible is telling us. And the other thing that I think mistake people make is they read something like that and they say, well, that was only in the time of Jesus.
That doesn't happen now. And I don't believe that that's true either. I don't believe that that's true either. So I want to take just a second to unpack what he's talking about here and then we'll keep rolling. We believe that what the Bible says is entirely true. So that it says that they cast out demons and healed the sick.
We believe that happened. Our culture is obsessed with scientific explanation for everything. But when someone like Jesus enters into the conversation, someone who walked on water, who fed 5,000 people, and who died and three days later was raised from the dead, science isn't going to explain everything. It's not going to have all the answers. And the Bible helps us see that there is a spiritual reality that exists. And I want to help us out here for a second because I think sometimes even we can be skeptical on this kind of stuff.
If you believe in good spiritual beings, so if you believe in a God and if you believe in angels, it's not inconsistent for you to believe that there are also evil spiritual beings like Satan and demons. Okay, those two things are not inconsistent. And what the Bible tells us is that Satan is a created being. He's an angel who rebelled against God. He wanted to be greater than God. And God cast him out of heaven and there were other angels who followed him.
These fallen angels are what the Bible refers to as demons and they have influence in this world. They're actively trying to undermine God's will and God's work in the here and now. But God and Satan are not on par with each other. The Bible doesn't even get close to presenting it like that. It's more like Godzilla versus Bambi. Okay, and even that's kind of a, that's not even describing it well enough.
That's what the Bible tells us. But Satan, demons, hell, all real. The Bible makes that clear. The Bible tells the story of Satan deceiving our first parents, Adam and Eve, into sin to break God's command in their life and sin entered the world. And so the relationship between God was fractured as they were tempted. And the rest of the Bible tells the story of God's active pursuit to redeem people, to bring people back into a relationship with him.
And ultimately we see that accomplished through Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the dead. So that when Jesus died on the cross, Satan was defeated but not ultimately conquered yet. Still having influence in our world. Still able to do stuff in our world. We see in the book of Revelation that ultimately he is conquered and destroyed. And so what Jesus is doing here, what the disciples are doing as they go out, is they are actually combating the works of the enemy.
That Jesus is helping them push back darkness in their area. That they're actually ministering to people on a spiritual level. And the Bible tells us that part of the way that works throughout, that you see, is that there's power in the name of Jesus. And there's power as people pray. It says people were possessed or oppressed by demons or had spiritual warfare going on. That was how it was combated.
It was with the power that is in Jesus' name and through prayer. Now again, I don't want us to spend all of our time talking about that this morning. So if you've got questions or you want to talk more about it, Chet and I are going to be available after the gathering. You can ask us more questions. Also, we did a sermon on this back in our 1 Peter series called The Devil and the King. And I would also kind of point you towards that sermon.
So what's the point? What's the point of what the disciples were doing? As the disciples went out to share the gospel and to minister to people, they were sharing the gospel with whole individuals. They weren't just meeting physical needs. They weren't just meeting emotional needs. They weren't just meeting spiritual needs.
That as they shared the gospel, the gospel was good news for the whole person. Whether it be sickness or spiritual warfare or the need to just repent of sin. That as they went out, they were actually ministering to whole people. So yeah, they helped feed people. They helped clothe people. They helped clothe people.
People who were in poverty. And the same thing is true for us. We should feed the hungry. We should help with homelessness. All the while knowing that it truly is the gospel that is at the heart of what people need. So what we're seeing is that the disciples went out and shared the gospel.
Because the gospel is good news for all of life. So now the question becomes, based off of what Jesus instructed them, how do we do that? How's that going to begin to show up in my life? How's that going to begin to show up in the life of our group? Now, some of you, maybe you're a note taker. Maybe you're not.
I'm going to challenge you to jot down some notes today. There are cards in front of you. There are pens in those seats. Because I want to just give us some practical coaching on how we can begin to be on mission. Based off of what Jesus is telling us. What he's instructing his disciples.
So go back to the top. Go back up to verse 7. It says this. Now he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two. Now, there are likely a lot of reasons why Jesus did that.
I think there was a safety element. That it was easier to travel with two people together. I think there was like personal discipleship kind of woven in there. Those two guys being able to pour into each other and build each other up. But I think the main reason is to show us that community is hardwired into Jesus' call to mission.
Hardwired into it. That it's supposed to be done in the context of relationships. Especially since the rest of the New Testament continues that idea. You see the church living it out in relationship. The letters are written to groups of believers. And so the first answer to the question, how do we do this?
How do we begin to practically be on mission? Is that we go together. Is that we go together. I was growing up and anytime mission or missionary was talked about. It was always in the context of like you as an individual. Go out and invite your friend to come to church with you.
Or even if it was foreign mission. It was like an individual going out to another country by themselves. But the command for mission in the New Testament is always in communal terms. But the problem is what we talked about last week is that we've been invited into a family. We've been invited into relationships with other believers. But when it comes to mission, it becomes an individual sport.
It would be like watching a football game. It's football season. There are going to be a lot of football metaphors. It would be like watching a football game. And the quarterback snaps the ball to himself. And he runs up and he blocks somebody because he's got to do that too.
And then he throws the ball and sprints after it as fast as he can to try to catch the ball. And then he gets splattered. And the rest of the game looks a lot like that. And their team loses 63 to nothing. And then in the press conference after the game, he's like, Oh, we just didn't play up to our potential today. We nothing, man.
You were trying to do it all by yourself. And I think when we talk about mission in the church, we all begin to think as individuals. But it's not. It's intended to be done by groups of believers going out together. And here's why. Community puts the gospel on display in a way that you as an individual don't have the ability to by yourself.
Community puts the gospel on display in a way that you can't do by yourself. Let me show you how this shows up. So many of our baptism videos start off with, I started hanging out with a community group. And so we have to remind people like, Your community group didn't save you. Mill City Church didn't save you. But what they're saying is, That's the first place I actually saw the gospel tangibly.
I saw real love and service and openness and family and hospitality. They saw the effects of the gospel. It goes hand in hand with what Jesus says that, By your love for one another, They'll know. They'll come to know the gospel. I mean, it's so clear all throughout the New Testament That it's supposed to be done in relationship with other believers. Okay, well, how do you do that?
A couple of practical things. Invite your group. Like I said, we're a groups-based church. We talk about groups all the time. Invite your group. And here's what I mean by that.
Don't just invite people to your group. Invite your group to people. Don't just invite people to your group, Like your group meeting time. But invite your group to people. It's not bad to invite people to hang out with your community group When you're getting together. But invite your group to people.
We all have relationships, Whether it's at work, Or the people that we go to the gym with, Or that we're in school with, Or people who live in our neighborhood. And so what the Bible helps us see is, Make the most of those relationships, And invite the other Christians you're already in relationship, Into that. You've already got the relationships. Just let them be a part of that. Let me show you how this can play out. Let's say I'm building a relationship with someone who plays video games.
I mean, he's a gamer and he loves it. I don't like video games. The reason being, I'm not very good at video games. I stopped at the Nintendo 64, GoldenEye 007, Which is the greatest game of all time. You cannot argue with that. It's true.
So that as video game systems got better and more complex, I was, Like I was behind the curve. Like my roommates, When we were in college, Would invite me to play Halo, Just so they could get their kill count up. I mean, I'm literally the guy in the corner with a gun, Doing this. And they're all three standing behind me, Just waiting for me to turn around. They don't even care who gets the kill. They're just loving watching me, Because I can't, I can't control.
I'm all over the place. I'm not good at video games. But let's say I'm hanging out with my group, And my group leader says, Hey, Anybody that we should be praying for, Anybody you're building a relationship with currently? I say, Yeah, I've got a friend of mine who, Well, Tell us about him. He loves playing video games. And Tom goes, I like playing video games.
Can I get in on that? And immediately you go, Why did I think of that? Tom plays like 15 to 20 hours of video games a week. Now that's another conversation for another day. But Tom's good at video games.
And so Tom and I and my friend, We begin hanging out. And of course I play with them, So, You know, They can get their kill counts out and whatever. But that's a picture of you inviting somebody in, A Christian that you're friends with, Into a relationship that you already have. And that actually goes hand in hand with the second thing. Use your gifts. We believe that all Christians have been given gifts by Jesus for the edification of the church.
So you are not like everybody else that you're in relationship with. You've got different skills and abilities. And inside the context of a group, You actually get to use your gifts for the benefit of helping people come to know Jesus. I want to tell you all a real life story of how that happened. Okay. And I'm going to use real names because these are real people.
When Chet and I and our families moved down to be a part of Planting Mill City, Chet worked at Sears. Okay. At Sears, Chet met a guy named Jack. So he started building a relationship with Jack. They kind of became friends. Started hanging out some outside of work.
Maybe grabbing lunch. Playing some video games together. And then Russ, Who was the first person who became a Christian as a part of our church, Also worked at Sears. And was also a part of the community group that Chet was in. So they all started getting together and playing video games.
So different people using different skill sets. Then Chet invited Jack to come to a Halloween party that his group was throwing. Okay. There had to be someone who was organizing the party. There had to be someone who was communicating with all the people what they were supposed to bring. There were people who served and made food and set up and kept it kind of going.
There were people who were just fun and just relational. They were playing cornhole and can jam. And so Jack shows up to this thing. And, you know, I mean, you've had a conversation with Chet. And, you know, I mean, maybe it goes somewhere. Maybe it doesn't.
Who knows? But there are two super friendly guys in that group, Boneweed and Dan Stoiku, Who spent that night getting to know Jack. Just got in conversation with him. And then after that night, they started inviting them to come to their house. So he started hanging out with their families.
They invited him into their homes. And then Jack started hanging out with their community group. And eventually Jack became a Christian. You see that? That's different people within a community group using their different gifts. To throw that Halloween party.
To open up their homes. Someone had to eventually share the gospel with Jack. So we actually get to use our gifts. And that really takes the pressure off. I think all of us think, I've got to know exactly what to say. And I've got to do all this stuff.
But the New Testament tells us that it's done in the context of relationships. The third thing is this. Have rhythms. Have rhythms. That's kind of common language in our day. You'll say something like, you know, just going through the normal rhythms of life.
And what you're saying is, all the stuff that you're doing on a regular basis. That's what rhythms of life means. Well, we encourage all of our community groups to have rhythms. Rhythms of life where they spend time together. So obviously that's going to include coming to a gathering on Sundays.
That's going to include their group meeting time. But it's not just that. That we have some of the things that are going on in some of our groups. Some of the guys get together for lunch during the week. The girls have girls' nights. Some of the groups get together outside and they go and serve.
We've got stay-at-home moms that go to the zoo together. And try to invite their friends. And here's the deal. The more that you guys are actually spending time together in relationship with other believers. The more opportunities you have to bring other people in. Okay, so if the invitation is, hey, come to my house.
We're going to read the Bible and repent of sin. It's going to take a special kind of person to respond to that and say yes. But if your invitation is, hey, come watch a football game and eat some ribs. I'm down. What time? Do I need to bring anything else?
I want to make this the best party ever. So when it says they went two by two, mission is done together. So I want us to change our mindset from just being individuals, being renegade cowboy Christians out on our own trying to do this to actually beginning to do it together. Okay? So we go together.
Go back to the text. Look at verses 8 and verse 9. It says he charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff. No bread. No bag. No money in their belts.
But to wear sandals. And not to put on two tunics. Okay, I think part of Jesus' design here is to emphasize that they needed to totally depend on God for this to happen and go well. Not on themselves. Not on their provisions. Not on their provisions.
That they needed God to open up the doors and to provide for them as they were going. God's setting this up in a way where they're not able to take credit for what actually happens. And so second practical thing that we can do to begin to be on mission to be sent is to trust God. Now, you may hear that and go, okay, thanks preacher boy. I know I'm supposed to trust God. It's like, no, but actually trust God.
If we believe, if we believe that salvation begins and ends with God, that God draws people and through his Holy Spirit leads them to repent, leads them to a correct understanding of who Jesus is, leads them to turn from their sin and to have a life of following him, then we're going to treat it that way. We're going to trust God. And for us as Christians, one of the ways that we express our trust in God on a regular basis is that we pray. That's what prayer is. It's communication with God and asking him to work in our lives and on behalf of other people, whether it be sickness or salvation, whatever it is, that's us coming.
God's saying, I trust you. We need you actively at work here. So if that's true, if that's how we trust God is through praying. If I could listen to your prayer life, would it be abundantly clear what you want to see Jesus do in the life of your friends? Would your dependence on God be evident if I could listen to your prayers? Which of your unbelieving friends did you pray for by name this week?
Because the truth is, if you're not praying, if we're not praying, we're not actually on mission. We're not a part of the mission. There is no mission without prayer because there are no results without God. I'm going to say that again. There is no mission without prayer because there are no results without God. So we pray.
That's part of how we actively begin to be on mission is that we pray. The first thing you can do is pray for yourself. You may hear that and go, well, that's kind of selfish, isn't it? No. That's what we talked about in our Prayer in the Holy Spirit series is that God is our good Father. And we're needy children.
And he wants us to ask him for stuff because we're needy children so that he can send the Holy Spirit. So part of the way you begin to do this is you pray for yourself. You're praying for your eyes to be open to the people who are around you. You're praying that God would send the Holy Spirit to give you courage. You're asking for the Holy Spirit to give you the right words. You're asking the Holy Spirit to actually help you care about the people who you are around.
We need God active in us first and foremost. Then we begin to pray for people by name. Pray for people by name. And this is for you personally and for us as a group. That we actually go before the throne of God asking him to move and work in the lives of people around us. Because if we actually want to see them become Christians, we actually want to see them saved, then that's going to be the active work of God in their lives.
And I want to tell you all this. There are two guys that our group began praying for two years ago by name on a regular basis. We started praying for those two guys to become Christians, that Jesus would move and work and lead them to repent. And both of those guys have become Christians, were baptized as a part of this church, and now are actively involved in community and serving to see more people become Christians. Now, as we were praying, we were also inviting them to go get lunch and spending time together. But that's a confidence booster for our group.
We get together and we remember, Man, two years ago this person wasn't saved and we prayed and God saved them. So that's part of how we can practically do it. Third thing is this, pray for others to go. Pray for others, the people who are in your group. Pray for other people in our church. Pray for Christians in our city and in our state and in our country and in other countries.
Jesus says, Pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send out laborers because the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers few. We're praying for opportunities that God would open up the right doors. We get to join other people in their mission. Here's the deal. The more you begin to pray about people and pray about the people in your group who they're trying to reach, the more you begin to care. The more you're willing to invest your own time, your own energy, your own effort.
The stuff that we just talked about, working together as a group to see that actually be possible. Jump back to the text, verse 10. It says this, And he said to them, Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them. Okay, there's a cultural thing going on here. In the Old Testament, when the prophets would go into a town to proclaim the message, if it was received, they would stay there and let their blessings stay there.
Okay? If they rejected the message, the sign that they would do as a sign of condemnation against them was that they would shake their sandals. They would shake the dust from their sandals and move on. So that's what he's talking about here, is that look for those type of people that will receive you. And again, what we've been doing in this series is saying, here's what Jesus did with his disciples. Now, how do we learn from it?
And specifically in this text, he's actually sending the disciples out. They're going out. So it's not really in the context of their day-to-day lives. It's more, he's actually sending them to places. And the church is still a sending agency. We still send people to other cities and other states and to other countries to share the gospel and to plant more churches.
That's why our church partnered with City Church for our gift project. Last year, we gave $2,300. And 25 people from Columbia, South Carolina moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. And I'm happy to tell you that they have since doubled moving there. So now they've got 25 that moved in and 25 that were actually from Knoxville.
And starting in January, they're going to be beginning like a worship service. It's like we've got to be a part of that. That's why we're a part of a church planting network with them and with three other churches. That's why in the future, we want to partner with unreached people groups and other parts of our world to see them become Christians. So the church does send out.
But for us, what we're looking at today is how do we take this same idea and apply it to right now? How do I apply this to the everyday? And here's how we say it. Here's how we say what we're looking at in this passage. Build with those who want to build. So in this passage, it says, Go to people who will welcome you into their homes.
Some of the other gospel accounts say like, Go to people of peace. People who are open and receptive to your message. And if people aren't, just shake the dust from your sandals and keep moving. And so for us, we want to build with those who want to build. That means we're going to pour the majority of our time and energy into those who are receptive. Now, this isn't an excuse to be lazy or to not be persistent.
It's a strategy thing. If someone is open and receptive to the gospel, you want to spend the majority of your time there. There's a lady in my community group that when she talks about me inviting her to be a part of our group, she says, Well, I basically just ran out of excuses. Yep. I'm persistent, if nothing else. I think the word she used was annoying, but let's not split hairs.
But what it's talking about here is building with those who want to build, going after those who are receptive. So how do we do that? Reach people in your calendar. Reach people in your calendar. Here's what I mean. Okay.
What? Y'all don't like the popping sound effects as we talk? Here's what I mean. We are surrounded by people constantly. The people that you work with, the people that you are in relationship with. And honestly, these are the easiest people for us to reach.
And one of the most common excuses that people give for not being on mission is that, Man, I don't have time. I don't have time to add something else into my schedule. Well, here's the beauty of seeing all of life as your place, as your means for being on mission. First of all, it kind of makes that excuse crumble apart. But that means that every situation, every relationship, every circumstance that you find yourself in is an opportunity for you to build relationships and to be on mission.
Work, school, coworkers, I already said work, neighbors, friends, family, the person at the gas station, the person at the DMV. All of those are opportunities for us to begin building relationships. So you can ask two questions to kind of figure out what are my options here? How do I spend my time? How do I spend my time? Who has God already placed me around?
How do I spend my time? What are the things that I do? And who are the people that God has already placed me around? And for the majority of us in this room, whether it be school or work, that is the place that you spend the majority of your time outside of anything else. I mean, we spend so much time at work or at school. And so we actually begin to look for ways to be in relationship with the people that we work with.
Here's how that shows up. Just imagine for a second that instead of going out to eat, going to eat lunch by yourself or maybe even just going to sit in your car for a couple of minutes of peace and quiet, you actually began inviting the people that you work with to go have lunch with you or you began going and sitting in the break room to look for people that you could have a conversation with, to begin building a relationship with. What if the people that you actually asked, how are you doing, that you actually stopped and listened? I'm for real. Like these are the people that you're in school with or that you were with.
They really don't have an option to not be around you. And so you get to begin to be strategic. All the other things we've already talked about, like praying and asking for God to be active in their lives. And then as you begin to talk with them and build relationships, you're going, okay, God, help me actually listen. Help me be able to share good news with them. Help me be able to encourage them.
Help me to be able to help guide them in the life situations that they may have going on. Before I started working for our church, I worked at Dick's Sporting Goods for two years. And I got to experience this firsthand. There's a guy that's a part of our church whose name is David. And David and I worked in the same department at work. And we just, I just talked to him.
We built a relationship. We talked about things that we had in common. We talked about Clemson. We talked about our love for golf. Then I found out, like he's got a pretty odd last name, that one of his cousins was one of my professors at PC.
And then we went out to lunch together. And then he and his wife started hanging out with our community group. Like it was just building normal relationships with someone who was receptive. Let's see. Let's see if I can tell another story.
My group's laughing because I tell these stories all the time. But it's not even just in the good times. It can also be in the frustrating situations. So there was this time, I know you're all going to find this hard to believe. There was a time when I did something at work that I wasn't supposed to do. I was hitting golf balls in the golf simulator when I was supposed to be helping people.
And someone went online and wrote a comment about how nobody could help them because he was too busy working on his chip shots in the range. And Tony Ando was the store manager at the time. But they didn't know who it was. And so they went to the golf pro and said, who was it? Who was watching it? And the golf pro was, I really don't know who it was.
And he came to me and he goes, look, dude, this was you. You were watching the department, right? And I was like, yes, I was watching. He's like, look, man, I'll just tell him I didn't know who it was. I was like, man, I can't do that. I'm asking you to be dishonest and I'm not being real.
So I went to Tony's office and I sat down and said, hey, I just want you to know I was the person who was watching the golf department. I'm sorry. I was doing something that I should not have been doing. I just want to apologize because that's not who I am. I'm a Christian. And so I just wanted to ask for your forgiveness.
And from that moment, the relationship that Tony and I had changed because I was willing to go and admit a mistake. And even in admitting my mistakes, was able to share the gospel in a way that I had not been able to previously. That's what I'm saying. We've got all these different opportunities at work. So begin reaching the people who are in your calendar.
The second thing is this. Be a friend who is a Christian. Simply be a friend who is a Christian. Another reason that people give for not being on mission is that I'm afraid. Now, they may not say this. They may say things like, I don't want to hurt people's feelings or I don't want to lose friends over this or I don't want to mess this up.
I don't know enough. But if we actually believe the gospel is good news for all of life, all of that just kind of falls apart. Because ultimately, we get to do this with other people as we're praying for God to be active and at work. So we just get to be a friend who is a Christian. It's not always going to mean that you just come out with your Bible laid open and just telling them all of this stuff. Be a friend who's a Christian.
You begin listening. Here's how you do it. You begin listening to what's going on in their life. And when they come to you and ask, what should I do about this in my marriage? What should I do about this with my money? The way you get to respond is, well, I'm a Christian.
So that impacts how I think about this. But here's how it is. Here's how I would handle that. Here's what I believe to be true. Nobody's offended by that because you're talking about what's true for you. You get to begin looking for people who've invited you to things.
Who's the person that always wants to come talk to you at work? Or talk to you at school? That may be the very person that God wants you to reach. When you go for walks in the neighborhood, who's the one person who's like waving to you and wants to talk to you? Like, go be their friend who's a Christian. I already told you a little bit about how that shows up at work.
How it shows up in the frustrating situations. It's all of life. If following Jesus is primary for you, it's eventually going to come out in the conversations that you have. You don't have to put this weird pressure on yourself to tell them everything about Jesus. You begin to listen to their life and love them and serve them well. And eventually God will open the door, whether it's through you or somebody in your group, to share the gospel with them.
So the way we answer Jesus' call to be sent out is that we go together, that we trust God, and that we build with those who want to build. So the question becomes, for those who have answered Jesus' call to come follow him, the question becomes, are we answering that call to be sent out? Are we actually going and sharing the gospel? Are we looking for those opportunities all around us? Because there are no unsent Christians. And for those who have been radically changed by the gospel, who realize that Jesus came on mission to save us, to give us ultimate fulfillment and life in him, how much more do we want to go out and share that with other people?
And we get to do it with other people in the context of normal, everyday life. We get to begin praying and praying for other people that our group members have relationships with. That we get to build with those who actually want to build, throwing parties and going to football games and doing all the things that God's called us to do because there are no unsent Christians. We get to follow Jesus in our normal lives going out. And so Raz and Isaac are going to come back up and lead us in a song as we close. But I want to help us see how we can respond in three ways today.
The first one is this. If you're not a Christian, the first thing that we talked about this morning is the way that you can respond this morning. Jesus' call to you first and foremost is to come to him. And we invite you to do that, to come to him, to repent of your sin and place your faith in Jesus and begin a lifelong, eternal relationship with him. If you're a Christian and you've listened to what we've been talking about today and you know that you've been sent, but you're thinking about work and you're thinking about family and you're just realizing, I haven't been doing this. That's part of what Jesus calls us to do.
And so my invitation to you this morning is to repent, to repent of that. And then the third thing is change. Actually begin to go. Don't just leave here and go, man, that's such an inspiring message. We should be on a mission. That's great.
No, actually, your life begins to change. My hope for you is that you walk out of this room today thinking specifically about people at work or people that you're in school with. And you begin thinking about the conversations that you're going to have with the people in your group about how you can begin to serve together, how you can invite each other in on the mission. And that as the years go by as a part of our church, we would see more people become Christians and more community groups multiplied as Jesus does work in the city as we join him on his mission. Let's pray.
God, we can't do this without you. We don't have the ability to. We can't change people's minds. We can't change their hearts. And so first and foremost, God, we pray that you would be working in the lives of the people around us. God, we thank you for the wonderful opportunity you've given us to actually go out and share the gospel.
God, I pray that we would leave today and actually begin making plans for how we can reach our friends and our neighbors and our coworkers. God, there's so many people who need to hear the good news of the gospel, and you've given us the opportunity to do that. God, I pray that through our community's own mission that you would begin to do work, that you would help people repent of their sin, that you would help them place faith in you. God, that you would give us courage and boldness and joy as we follow you in it. In Jesus' name, amen.
Motley Crue
Transcript
Good morning, my name's Chet. How y'all doing? Grab your Bibles. Let's go to Mark chapter 1. We are currently taking a little time to walk through sections of the book of Mark to begin to understand what it looked like for the first followers of Jesus. And then from there, kind of saying, okay, how does that apply to us?
How do we do that? How does that look here in South Carolina in 2016? And so we've got two weeks left, and then we'll be moving on to other things in the fall. But I'm excited about today. I think what we're going to do is we're going to hop in, and we're just going to jump in and look at a couple of different passages, kind of right in a row, kind of quickly. We'll spend a little bit of time talking about them, but we're going to go through three passages in Mark chapter 1, 2, and 3, and then kind of just discover something together and talk a little bit about how that played out for them and then what that looks like for us.
So I'm going to pray, and then we'll jump in. God, we thank you for the opportunity we have to study your word, and we pray that through your Holy Spirit you would help us respond, help us respond to the truth of the gospel, help us respond to you in the way that you desire your church to be. We love you, and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so we're going to start with a passage we've read a couple of times.
We're going to be in Mark chapter 1, starting in verse 16, and we're going to go through this one the quickest. But it's Jesus calling his first disciples. So it says, I love that Mark puts that note in there, that they were fishermen, because he would assume that you thought them throwing a net into the sea was weird otherwise. So he's like, they were throwing a net in the sea. They were fishermen. Like he clarifies for you.
So anyway, Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were in their boat, mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. We looked at this passage last week and talked about how we, as Jesus calls us, were called to give up what is primary to us to follow him. And that's how that works for everybody.
But what we're seeing right here is that Jesus calls four guys who are fishermen to follow him. Now they were, James and John were most likely younger than Simon and Andrew because James and John were still with their father. Simon and Andrew were not. They are fishermen, which is a respectable trade. Put them in kind of a, they would have been rougher guys, but it's a blue collar kind of middle class Job depending on how well their fishing business goes. So it seems like the Zebedee has a couple of boats maybe and a couple of people already working for him.
So whereas James and Simon and Andrew were just kind of leaving their boat, James and John are leaving their dad with hired guys. So he's got more of a crew going for him. But this is kind of middle class Jewish men that begin to follow him. They would have been, we find out more about them later, but they're devout Jews. They're followers of Judaism. So they would have gone and celebrated the festival, the feasts and gone to the temple for sacrifices and would have been a part of a synagogue.
They were normal average. Jews in first century Judaism. Okay. So that's who starts following Jesus in John chapter one. And I'm not John chapter one. They do start following in John chapter one.
Also, that doesn't have anything to do with what we're talking about today. They follow him in Mark chapter one, what we just read. Let's go to Mark chapter two, verse 13 through 16. We're going to look at the next disciple that Jesus picks up. So it should be on the same page or just one page over verse 13.
He went out again beside the sea. So he's in the same general area and all the crowd was coming to him and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, follow me. And he rose and followed him. Okay.
So he sees a tax collector named Levi. Luke calls him Matthew. That was the same name, just his Jewish name or his Hellenistic kind of Greek name. But Levi and Matthew, the same guy. And he sees a tax collector and he says, follow me. Now, this is immediately an issue for the other four guys following Jesus. tax collectors.
Um, um, because tax collectors were not liked in this culture. Now we, we, we, we're not fans of the IRS mostly just because they take money from us. I mean, we're pro having schools and roads and ambulances, but, uh, we, we really don't want the IRS to take any more than they have to. Um, tax collectors at this point, we're a little bit different. So we're in, uh, Judea, which is a traditionally Jewish place that would be Israelites would live there.
And they were free up until, um, BC 63 when the Romans took over. This is AD 30 ish at this point. So it's been about the amount of time from us to world war two or a little bit before world war two, when Rome took over and subjugated the Jewish people. Tax collectors were Jewish people who worked for Rome, taking taxes from other Jewish people to pay Rome to occupy the territory. So they took money to pay for the Roman soldiers who lived in the area.
It would be as if, uh, Pearl Harbor was just the beginning of the Japanese attack. They make landfall and we begin to fight with Japan. And while we're doing that, uh, Germany takes over the rest of Europe and then they attack the Eastern seaboard and they begin to, uh, assault us from the Atlantic. And then eventually the United States caves in and crumbles to the access powers and Japan and Germany meet in the middle, uh, in Kansas and high five each other. And the U S falls and is subjugated by the access powers in world war two. That amount of time of us being underneath German rule and your neighbor, your friend, people, you are live near work for Germany, taxing you to pay for German soldiers to rule the United States.
That's what Matthew did. The Romans were not, uh, to be trifled with. And whenever there was an insurrection or rebellion, they would roll in, capture everybody and execute them. They've, there's times where they would crucify people leading up into cities where the whole roads leading into the cities were of crucified individuals on the road leading into the city. To show you this city tried to rebel against us. Many people most likely knew of family members and friends that had been executed by Rome and tax collectors worked for Rome to keep them there.
They would have been ceremonially unclean. So they, Matthew would not, or Levi would not have, uh, been a part of normal Jewish life, would not have gone to the temple, would not have celebrated, uh, the feasts. Uh, most tax collectors were excommunicated from their, excommunicated from their synagogue. He's a traitor. To most Jews. It's possible that these four men who were fishermen actually had to pay him taxes.
He's at a tax booth on a road that many people would have brought their supplies down. And he has full authority to walk over to you and to assess the value of whatever you have and take whatever tax he wants. He just looks through your stuff and says, okay, this is how much you owe me. And if you can't pay him, he takes it out of the cargo that you're taking. So they may have had to pay him in fish or money on their way back from markets, but tax collectors were not appreciated, tolerated, but mostly hated.
And Jesus walks over to him while he's at his tax booth and says, you're going to follow me. So if you're Simon and Andrew and James and John, immediately, earlier when you got called to follow Jesus, you were thinking, this is amazing. I get to follow Jesus. I must be kind of special. There's got to be something. What did he see in me?
And then he walks over and he asked a tax collector to follow him. And immediately they have to be rethinking this. They've got to be this moment of like, looking at each other like, are we okay with this? Like what? I mean, he asked him, but what if he actually follows him? And it says that Matthew does, gets up and follows him.
And it's like when you, when you're in high school and you got called to the office with a bunch of other students, when you showed up, you looked at the other students to try to figure out like what y'all had in common. Like, are these the type of people who are here because they're in trouble? Are these the type of people who are here because they've done something good that smart people did? Like, do you know what I'm saying? Like they're looking around, you're trying to decide, why am I here? Why are you here?
What's this crew here? And so as soon as he picks a tax collector, the disciples have to be going, okay, this is different than I thought it was going to be. Let's keep reading. And as he reclined at table in his house, that's Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus, when Jesus heard it, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
So when they, the Pharisees and the scribes see this, Jesus is having a party with Levi and Levi's friends. So it's a bunch of tax collectors and sinners. They immediately asked, why are you, why does he hang out with these people? Sinners to them was a whole class of people. So we use the term sinner as we're all sinners.
We've all fallen short. None of us lived up to God. We've all rebelled. They had sinners as a class of person, an identifiable class of people that had chosen to live a life outside of following Judaism. That, that were marked by their sin, by their vocation, by their decisions, by their lifestyle. They were marked by their sin.
So it'd be similar if, you know, at the beginning of maybe middle school, everybody had to show up and stand in the gym for a little while before they would let you go to class. It'd be similar if you changed up your patterns, and then one of your friends came to you after about a week and said, hey, when'd you start hanging out with rednecks? Hey, when did you become best friends with the goth kids? Hey, when'd you get so smart? Nice khakis. Like, whatever.
Like, you've begun to hang out with some identifiable crowd at this point, and that's what they come over and say, why, what is he doing? Like, he shouldn't be hanging out with this group of people, these sinners, and what we know is the disciples didn't answer him, Jesus answered them. I'm willing to bet the disciples at this point didn't have a good answer. They don't really know. They're just following Jesus like they're, he called them to, they're going to. They've committed.
I don't know if they had a good answer at this point. I think they showed up to this party and saw that, it was a bunch of tax collectors and sinners who, as they, as good Jews would not have spent time with. I think they walked in. It'd be like, it'd be like, maybe in high school for you, you get invited by a friend to a party, and you show up, and when you show up, you walk down into a basement, and there's 15 people playing Dungeons and Dragons. And for you, you just immediately think, oh no, I've entered the wrong basement. This is not, like, I don't, I don't know how to talk to these people.
I don't have any kind of, I don't know what to do here. Maybe, when I just told that story, you thought, no, that sounds like a wonderful basement. Okay, so for you, maybe you got invited to a party after a football game, and you walk into a room, and everybody in there is still reeks of sweat. Like, I don't know. I don't know what it is for you, but that's, that was them. They walked into a place where they immediately walked in the room and thought, oh no, I'm not, like, I shouldn't, I shouldn't be here.
This doesn't fit for me. And that's, that's the, the four guys that were following when they have a party with tax collectors and sinners. But Jesus immediately, as he begins his ministry, says, no, I'm, I'm breaking down some walls on who's okay and who's not okay, and on who we're going to be friends with, and who we're going to welcome, and who we're going to love. I'm not following the, the set rules. So you need to go ahead and get geared up for that.
And it gets worse. Let's go to chapter three. Now this is the twelve apostles, or the twelve disciples. I just want you to read you this list, and they stick this guy at the end that I think is very interesting for us. All right, almost at the end.
So we're in chapter three, verse thirteen. And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. These are the guys that are going to make it in the picture of the Last Supper. When he told them, hey, everybody sit on this side of the table if you want to be in the picture. These guys? Okay.
And he appointed twelve whom he also named apostles, so that they might be with him, and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. We're going to talk about that call next week, being sent out to preach and cast out demons. He appointed the twelve, Simon, whom he gave the name Peter, which just means rock, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, Andrew and Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, so that's, he uses that name instead of Levi here, and Thomas, and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Okay, that's second to last guy, Simon the Zealot.
Your version may say, Simon the Canaanite, and it means the same thing. That is a political party that was as anti-Rome as you could get. They believed that this land was given to them, to their ancestors. The land belonged to Israel and his people. The land belonged to the Jewish people, and no one else had any claim or right over it. Rome did not need to be there.
Rome had no right to be there. Not only was Rome's oppression and subjugation, a stench in their nostrils, but Rome's religion was as well. And they fought actively, to have a free Jewish people. Now, in AD 6, so that would be a couple, 20 years before this time, Rome put out, said they were going to do a census. They were going to take, and count everybody there, and the Zealots, the Canaanians said, no, nobody, nobody take part in their census. If you answer their questions, if you take part in their census, if you show up and do what they say, you are actively saying, they have a right to be here, and they do not have a right to be here.
That was one of their first, kind of, teamed up political things, that the Zealots did. They get increasingly more aggressive. They eventually have a group of Zealots, kind of after this time, but this, it's the, follows the same thought process, that are called the Sicari, that just means dagger men, and they actively worked for destabilization through terrorist Acts, on people who were friendly to Rome. So when they would get, they would have daggers underneath cloaks, in large crowds, and in the large crowds, they would walk up, and stab somebody, just to make large crowds, be a scary place to be, if you were friendly towards Rome, and to actively try to destabilize Rome.
So this guy, Simon the Zealot, so much the Zealot, that it had to be listed next to his name. Like if you have a friend called Dave the Libertarian, I have a guess, on what kind of conversations, how conversations are going to go with this guy. This is Simon the Zealot. Like this is, he wears this on his sleeve. Okay, now can you imagine, we don't know how Simon became, a part of Jesus' followers, but I'm assuming, the first time he and Matthew, had a conversation, it got very uncomfortable, very quickly. What do you do?
Oh, I was a tax collector. No, for real. Don't even joke like that. And Matthew's like, ha ha, ha ha ha, ha, ha ha. I mean, I'm assuming, you know, like if you have a group of friends, and you have, you know, your friend Dave the Libertarian, and you have another friend, that like, you're hanging out, and you realize all of a sudden, like, oh, these two people don't ever need to talk to each other. Like, I need to, if they get close to each other, I have to like, start a diversion.
Like, you see them starting a conversation, you go, ah, just knock over a lamp or something, because there's just no way, this is going to keep the party good. Breaking the lamp was better, than what was going to happen if they talked. These are both in the 12 followers of Jesus. Because Jesus begins his ministry, and what he says is, I choose who follows me, and I'm breaking down the standards for you, on who's okay, and who's not okay, and who can be in, and who has to be out, and who God loves, and who God doesn't love, and who's welcome, and who isn't. That's what Jesus does from the very beginning.
The disparity between a zealot and a tax collector. Recently, when they had the discussion about taking the Confederate flag down from atop the state house, I saw a video of when, I think it was a group of Klansmen from North Carolina came to protest. So, thanks for visiting our state. A group of KKK members came to protest. I remember watching a video of them. They had, you know, right to march in their little, cute little outfits to march on the state house, and one of my favorite videos was a guy holding a tuba who just showed up also, because he's a free American, and he's walking on the sidewalk next to them while they're marching, and every time they walk, he's going, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, just to completely undercut what they're doing.
I've also seen videos of when there's been different situations going on in cities where the Black Panthers will show up and even seen where they got permission to carry rifles and walk up and down streets, and it is as if Jesus walked over in the middle of the march where the guys playing the tuba walked over to a Klansman and said, hey, you, come follow me. And in the middle of the march where the Black Panthers were protesting came and said, hey, you, follow me. Both of y'all are going to belong to me. Both of y'all are going to be a part of the 12 guys that spend the most time with me, and both of y'all through me are going to overthrow the world with the gospel.
That's the disparity between these two guys. Okay. It keeps going, though. Jesus begins this. Now, you would say, well, yeah, but all of these guys are Jewish men. It keeps going.
Eventually, Jesus dies on the cross and then he tells his followers, this goes to the world. The gospel goes to the world. That I died for sinners goes to the world, not to just Judaism, not to just this area, this type of people. You spread this to the world so that on Pentecost, when Peter stands up, all the disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit and Peter stands up and preaches. When he preaches, do you know what language it was in? All the languages.
Every person there not only heard it in their language, but their dialect. So if there were multiple Americans there, I would hear Southern English. And somebody else would be like, Jesus is wicked good. Like, that's what they would have heard. But it was all languages because everybody was welcome.
And then as the book of Acts continues, one of the craziest things happens. People who aren't Jewish start following Jesus and are filled with the Holy Spirit. They actually have to, it's such a big deal to them that Jesus would save non-Jewish people that they have to get together and hold a meeting and talk about it. And basically all they say is, look, the Holy Spirit filled them like he filled us. If Jesus wants them, he can have them. He can do what he wants.
He can welcome anybody he wants to. And the church becomes the, the gospel message begins to spread to everyone who's ever walked on the face of the earth. So that Paul says this in Galatians 3. I'm going to have it, we'll have it on the screen. There is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female for all are one in Christ Jesus.
What he's saying there is that your racial breakup, your racial status, your family history doesn't matter when it comes to repenting of your sin and following Jesus. Your social status, your economic status does not matter. There are no privileged people before Jesus. Your biology does not matter. Jesus doesn't save men over women or women over men. There's not one that's better.
They're created by him and they're both loved by him, saved by him. All are one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. What he's saying there is everyone who belongs to Jesus is now one big family. And he immediately goes on from here in Galatians to talk about we've all been adopted. I don't care what your background was.
I don't care what your philosophy of life was. We all belong to Jesus now. We've all been adopted. That's the church. That's why we as a church family do community groups the way we do. We don't have age group based community groups.
So we don't have college groups or we don't right now have a student group. We don't have any kind of like well this is for single moms or this is for married couples. We don't do that. First of all one of the reasons we're not doing that is if we did that some of you would be by yourself because we're not a really big church. I'm starting a single mom group but have fun. Like you would just but the other reason is that we're a family.
So from zero to 102 we all belong to Jesus. We all gather together. We all worship together. We all belong to him. We've been made into a family. We've all been adopted regardless of your background or your current situation.
You belong to him. One of the pushbacks I've heard people give on this before and while we do groups the way we do people say well yeah okay but you're saying like I've got to be in a group with all these random people. Jesus got to pick who he hung out with and my response to that is yes and that's still the system. Jesus gets to pick. Matthew didn't get to pick. I don't know if he like levied a complaint he was like hey Jesus I saw that Simon the zealot's going to follow you.
Where's your suggestion box? I'm just going to hand this directly to you or me and some of the other guys were talking which is progress because when he first joined nobody was talking to him. Yeah Jesus picks. He picks who's going to be in your family. He picks who's going to be around you and we respond by loving everyone. Loving all the people Jesus gives to us to love.
So here's here's what I want us to do for just a second. I want to help us see something. So we're going to take just a minute to begin to understand what happens like how we have what how Jesus has to work in us for us to overcome some of this. What's got to go on where we need to repent and then what this actually gets to look like in the church. That's kind of what we're going to spend the rest of our time doing. So first thing I want us to do is this.
I want you to realize that every single one of us in this room has a list of what makes you good and what makes you okay and what makes you lovable. You have a list of these are the good people. These are the people that know stuff that are smart that make good decisions. These people and these people aren't. Every single one of us has that. Simon had it.
Matthew had it. The other four middle class disciples had it. All of them. So we're going to have some equal opportunity mocking this morning which is pretty normal for us. If you're new, welcome. Goal really here is to kind of hurt everybody's feelings.
Hopefully we'll accomplish that. If your feelings aren't hurt that just means we didn't mention you and I hope you get your feelings hurt for being left out. Okay. Our goal here really is to just point out here's how we're doing this all the time. Here are the lists we have. All the time going on in our hearts of what's good what's not good.
So we're going to start off with as any good you know center line moderator would we're going to go after conservatives first. Alright. So this is the conservative list of who's good who's bad who's in who's out who God loves who God doesn't. At the top of the list we got NRA members also known as home defenders slash American heroes. A little bit underneath them we have Fox News the only bastion of truth and genuineness on television even though no one wants to hear it they're in it not for the money but for truth and justice. Alright.
Bastion of truth and genuineness on television even though no one wants to hear it they're in it not for the money but for truth and justice. Alright. Fox News a little bit under them we have Ted Cruz just under Ted Cruz whoever Ted Cruz endorses. He comes in just a little bit under Ted Cruz underneath that we have and this is a good bit down the line here
We have people who compare having a dog to having a child so if you're conservative that's not a good thing like you can't just act like a child and a dog are the same thing underneath that a good bit down we have murderers I mean we're working through the whole list here guys I'm just hitting some highlights underneath murderers we have the liberal media and the lies they feed to the American populace and underneath the liberal media at the very bottom we have anyone who plans to vote for Hillary
And if you're a conservative I mean you almost wanted to shout amen but you realized we were kind of making jokes at you so you had to you had to hold it in but it's not just conservatives we have we made a liberal list as well for people this is what makes life good this is what makes you smart at the very top the best thing in the world Barack Obama I don't know if it's slow jamming the news whether he's reading mean tweets or I don't know getting rid of Osama bin Laden and ruling the free world
Osama bin Laden top of the list doesn't get better than that a little bit underneath that we have safe spaces where you can go maybe color maybe listen to some music that's unoffensive have no one say anything that you disagree with and be free underneath that we have free college college and universal health care the twin sisters of a modern society of what is all that is good and holy and righteous in our beautiful future underneath that
We have environmentalists actually out there saving the world every day did y'all know that? literally saving the world amazing amazing people underneath them we have people who don't believe in global warming you live in Columbia South Carolina you don't believe in global warming I mean in five points people just catch on fire periodically okay if they weren't sweating so much it just helps it counteracts it
Puts it out alright underneath that we have gun owners also known as psychos and underneath them Donald Trump a walking nightmare that has come from the upside down to rule and reign over the free people causing harm and havoc wherever he goes but it's not just maybe it's not just politics it's not just your particular political affinity we have lists for everything so we made a tough guy list so if you're macho you got hunts and lift weights up there
Now it can go either way you can be a guy who just really hunts like you're just that's your thing it can be lift weights if you do both that's amazing if you can do both at the same time you're at the top if you can get some curls in while you're in the stand if you can bench press whatever you kill like that's that's great underneath that we have never shows emotions other than anger or hunger I think that one can make it on the list
Underneath people who don't show emotions is you cried once at Braveheart we might we might let gladiator slide as well underneath that we have anyone who lets their wife drive while they're in the car and we're being a bit fast and loose with the word drive underneath that we have anyone who watched the notebook underneath that anyone who watched the notebook and wasn't forced to underneath them
Come people who can read now if it's a box of ammunition or like some whey protein and you gotta figure out how many scoops that's okay but otherwise not an okay thing underneath them people who do read and at the very bottom of the list people who read the notebook we've got one more this is we're gonna start bottom down on this one and this is just Christian culture the moral majority the background
Backbone of America American life we've got at the very bottom of this list scientists and the lies they're trying to feed our children above them we have fornicators above them we have people who swear potty mouths above them we have people who don't listen to family friendly radio they most likely swear people above them people who share
Repost share if you love Jesus post on Facebook out there fighting the good fight you guys every time that comes along they think I love Jesus repost it's not that hard it's just a click guys that's fine I just don't want to be there on judgment when all those pop on your feed and Jesus watch you
Keep on scrolling I'm just saying alright people above that people who watch God's not dead they're a little bit above them on the list but above them we have people who enjoyed God's not dead and then at the very top and he's been here a while Tim Tebow okay so those are all the lists we made we did have fun would like to share
A bunch more with you but those are the ones we've got here's the thing we're joking but not really see we're doing that all the time you've been trained to do this since you were a child you did this when you went to elementary school and then middle school who am I going to hang out with who's okay who's not okay who are my people who aren't my people how do I know I'm okay how do I know
I have value how do I know what's good and what's bad you see I need to be in the categories of what's good and then if this is good this has to be bad if this is what makes me okay the opposite has to be terrible that has to be what God doesn't like that has to be what makes you a bad person I mean and we we naturally drift towards the people
Who we agree with so that 95% of the people we hang out with that we spend our time with that we talk to agree with us when it comes to politics have similar social economic standing to us have similar similar similar family family backgrounds have similar educational levels skin looks the same culture
Looks the same attitude about life is the same we naturally drift towards these are my people and because we do all these things we're good we're okay we're lovable and we do it all the time you can see someone at Walmart and know whether or not I could be
Friends with them based off of what they're wearing based off of how they're acting you have an attractive one you have a dress one you have like we've got all of these it's something everybody in the room has something that you're using to say this is what makes me okay this is what makes me lovable this is why these are the good people
And what we can see from how Jesus picked the disciples and then what happens on Pentecost and then what happens with the early church is that Jesus immediately shows up and says no throw your list away it doesn't count it does not matter there are not good people and bad people there are bad
People and me that's what Jesus says there are sinners who need a savior and there's me a savior that's why his first message was repent and believe the gospel Jesus shows up and says anyone is welcome if they'll turn from their sin
There are no other qualifications so I want to tell you three things that happen if we as a church actually embrace what we're called to as followers of Jesus number one it'll be awkward it'll be awkward there'll be moments where you get to a conversation and you go
Oh we are so completely on different pages here like this is just weird I don't even know how to keep talking to you I really want to just argue with you I feel like you are so wrong about this like there are going to be moments that it's
Just awkward like that awkward may be the best that may be like the high water Mark it goes downhill from there there are times with my group I was just got to thinking about this and taking some notes and this is this has
Been the awkward is a very good description of my community group since I've been able to be a part of this church all the community groups I've gotten to be a part of like at best a lot of times we were just awkward like it was just a group
Of people that should not be in the same room together outside of Jesus like it would not naturally hang out with each other if we walked into a lunchroom this table wouldn't exist like people naturally divide themselves it wouldn't have been the group that was hanging out at
My house that wouldn't have been a lunchroom table like I've had conversations it's so fun for me the guys in our group get together and eat at Eggroll Station every Thursday Eggroll Station is right down the road it's a cash only place I keep seven dollars in my wallet at all times for Eggroll Station
If I got robbed he's like give me everything in your wallet and I opened up and saw I just had seven dollars I'd be like no I can't this is earmarked for Eggrolls I guess you just have to shoot me like but it's so fun because when we get around that table those guys there's conversational shift to one subject and you can see two or
Three people just being like I don't even know the words that are being used anymore and then it's fun because I get to do follow-up conversations with people so I've had a conversation with a guy in my community group where he asked me where we had a discussion about what interest was interest like on your credit card he didn't know what interest was
What's GDP what's return on investment I've had these conversations I've had conversations with like what's a Twitter what's call of duty I have had conversations where like in my group because it's such a random group of people somebody will say something about like they need to get a new band saw and someone else like what what kind of music do they play like I've had
Conversations with people about the frame rates on televisions that are best for gaming if you are playing Street Fighter had that conversation had a conversation about what what the difference between 90 grain and 100 grain bullets in a small handgun especially if it's a concealed carry for a lady had that conversation had conversations about woodworking had conversations about why Kendrick Lamar is the
Greatest rapper that's ever walked on the face of the earth and had to listen to four or five songs to learn that didn't like I I got invited to a party one time I showed up at the party and it was one of those situations where I walked in immediately was like oh these aren't these are I would not sit at this lunchroom table like these aren't my people I'm mad at them just like and I just kind of walked around from conversation to
Conversation waiting for like a word that I understood and I heard the word Star Wars and I was like all right I've seen that I'm a fan of Ewoks although I know people make fun of that and so then I got in this conversation and what they were discussing was how in the first trilogy lightsaber battles were much different from the second trilogy and the second trilogy made more sense because if the sword is made out of light you wouldn't have to wield it very
Harshly you could just kind of swing it like this and when it hit things it would just cut through it because it's not an actual sword but in the first movie they use them like they're really heavy swords and that didn't make any sense and then when it kind of came to me there was like a pause I said I liked it when Yoda used his lightsaber that's all I had and they were like good and then they just kept talking eventually I was just like I get best sometimes this is just awkward on the Venn diagram of what brings you together the only thing
Everyone's going to have in common is Jesus at the middle and that's exactly how that's supposed to be because Jesus calls everybody Jesus welcomes everybody and it doesn't have anything to do with likes dislikes background anything other than you're a sinner in need of a savior it's gonna be awkward secondly you're going to get your feelings hurt you're gonna get hurt you hang out with a church you were going to get hurt they're gonna get in arguments Simon the zealot and Matthew didn't just magically click there was some frustration there was some discussion there was how on earth do you
Believe that how is that okay you're gonna get your feelings hurt you're gonna get in some someone's gonna say something they're gonna make a joke because from where they come in life that's a perfectly okay thing to make a joke about but they just made a joke about your sister they're gonna make a joke and it absolutely isn't funny to you you're gonna get hurt and you're gonna have the option of walking away or pressing in of going to him and saying hey that's not that's not a funny joke for someone who follows Jesus and here's why that's why that's not okay and here's why I'm hurt right
Now because I like I thought we were cool but that's like you you just you just completely acted like I don't even exist or matter the the people that you in your life have said I can't stand I can't believe that somebody would oh my goodness I don't know if I'd ever be able to get along with somebody who was so rich they had a trust fund and they never had to work a day in their life I can't stand people who just are a drain on society and they just sit around their house waiting for their welfare check to show up I can't believe these black lives matter people I can't stand cops who on earth are you to say all lives matter
What does that even what are you even trying to say right now all the people that you've sat and said I couldn't be around somebody who acted like this voted like this had this attitude about this every single one of them is invited by Jesus to be his every single one of those comments you've made Jesus is actively after that person to make them his and if we actually look like his church you're gonna get your feelings hurt there's gonna be some arguments there's gonna be some frustration because what Jesus does is he steps into a giant group of sinners and says all of you are messed up all of you are selfish all of you think you're better than everybody else and
You're all welcome because none of that's true you're not better than anybody else you are messed up you are selfish you need a savior the third thing first is it's gonna be awkward secondly you're gonna get your feelings hurt thirdly this is beautiful because the only way this works is that Jesus Christ died on a cross to save sinners and to forgive us of our sin the only way this works is that none of us lived up to what we were called to and all of us needed a savior and Jesus saves sinners and because all of the conflicts we're gonna have and all the frustration we're gonna have and all the hurt feelings we're gonna have are going to deal with either I sinned against you or you sinned against me or one of us started it but we both went actively after it to harm each other all of
That is sin and Jesus already paid for sin everything that needs to happen for us to stay an eternal church family has already happened because Jesus paid for sin so we can forgive each other we can keep loving when it's hard we can keep having conversations when we don't want to we can weigh in when things are difficult we can walk up to someone and say hey I know you well enough to know you're actively trying to follow Jesus but what you just said hurt me so bad you have no clue and have that conversation trusting that Jesus is gonna be at work and that ultimately he forgives sinners and that when you even if you roll up into that conversation with a bad attitude and accuse them of things he they can forgive you and you can forgive them and Jesus can be at work in this and it's the only organization organism group family on the the planet that
Includes everybody that welcomes everybody it's Christianity doesn't show up Jesus didn't show up to Matthew and say hey you can follow me if you'll be this type of person he didn't show up to Simon he didn't show up to to Andrew and John and say hey you can follow me if here are the rules first here's what you've got to do first what he shows up and says is follow me the only thing that excludes anybody from the church is believing that they don't need Jesus is is holding on for dear life to their list and saying no this is what makes me okay and I have to have this everybody who lets go of that and walks into the empty hands that Jesus gets welcomed because there is no list that you can hold up in front of God and be saved by it's Jesus that saves us I don't care what other it could be a homeowners organization homeowners association in Malibu California or a gang in Detroit they all
Have this is what makes you okay and this is what excludes you and the church doesn't the church has Jesus makes us okay and holding on to anything else is what excludes you but everybody else who shows up and says I have nothing other than Jesus is welcome everybody's welcome because there are no disqualifying factors he saves sinners now Jesus went to work on Matthew because Matthew needed to change and Jesus went to work on Simon because Simon needed to change and if you if you say not I'm a Democrat like I am there's gonna be things because of Jesus that you can't be okay with that need to change if you said no I'm a Republican there could be things that need to change because you follow Jesus that's the way it works everybody's brought to Jesus so we all show up with all of our sin and Jesus goes to work on us to make us more like him okay and then because of the gospel
We get to we get to love each other we get to be friends y'all our culture says that you and I can't disagree and still still be friends Jesus says we can't do you know that you can disagree with somebody and still be their friend did you know that you can disagree with somebody and still be their friend like an actual friend like a still talk to them friend not like okay we're cool but we're not gonna talk anymore because we disagree you know this do you know how freeing that is do you know that as a Christian you should have friends that you disagree with on some very real issues to the temptation for us all is to say yeah we can disagree but not on all these things that are actually really important and then we just bring our list back in we actually get to disagree and still love each other and still connect with each other and still be friends one of the ways the early church practiced what Jesus has called
Them into here you ever read in the New Testament where Paul says greet each other with a holy kiss I just recently learned what that meant I always thought it was weird now it's amazing because I just thought kissing each other was weird and I didn't know what a holy kiss was be honest with you I'm not like a hugger like I and I'm working on this I've had people come at me before like this and I've been like nah I got live for real not just like I said no like stuck my hand I was like no I'll shake your hand I did that to one person I saw them like visibly like hurt inside like I so every time I read holy kiss I was just like this sounds terrible that's weird let's not institute that one but here's what it was here's why they did it in their culture when they greeted each other they kissed that was the cultural greeting the same way we would shake hands they they kissed it was just a normal cultural thing if you
Were on the same social level as the other person you kiss cheeks if they were below you they kissed your hand and the caste system the social structure system it was it was well known who was where if they were well below you they kissed your feet or vice versa if they were above you you kiss their hand if they were well above you kiss their feet that was what they did all day long so all day long they were rehearsing who's important who's at the top who makes it here who's better who's in the middle who am I equal to they were rehearsing that all day long that was what their culture did and Paul says no no no no when the church gets together everybody gets kissed on the face that's a holy kiss because that system doesn't apply to us everybody's welcome everybody's loved there is no hierarchy we all belong to Jesus and we're all sinners so when the church got together it was greet each other with a holy kiss everybody
Celebrate that we're all the same because Jesus is great so I love that imagery so we're gonna stand up right now and kiss it no I'm just kidding um here's what we're gonna do we're gonna repent because that's the appropriate response to the good news of the gospel we can be saved by Jesus based off of not our merit but his his love not our work we're gonna repent and here's how we're gonna do this I'm gonna read through a list we're gonna just talk through a little bit there are some people large groups of people that you treat poorly even if it's only mentally that you think about differently than other people that you look down on that in your head you're rehearsing the ladder in your head you're rehearsing the list of this is where I am this is where you are and you're gonna need to repent you're gonna need to ask Jesus to forgive you and to help you and to change you right now you're gonna need to ask Jesus
To help you see this there are individuals that you've done that to in our church family in your community group that you just kind of avoid because it's awkward you just kind of avoid because maybe they said something one time that you didn't like and so instead of addressing it with them or talking to them about it you just kind of write them off they're a jerk I don't like them they have an attitude they constantly cause this issue they they they on a regular basis say this which is hurtful and instead of loving them and talking to them you've just kind of said that's it I don't have to deal with you anymore I'll be in our I'll be in your group I'm not gonna cause you any problems but I don't have to talk to you you're gonna need to repent some of you maybe actually got in an argument you both remember and you're gonna need to go talk to each other and forgive each other and
Talk about it and repent there are gonna be some people that you don't need to talk to there are people who are awkward they exist that's as like that I mean I don't have a scale but that is like an objective thing there are people who just make conversations weird or who just and maybe you've been treating them differently there's some people who are just kind of rude and they need that addressed in them but one of the ways you're gonna repent is starting to love them again not walking over to them and saying hey when you've been really rude I've been offended by that and so I quit hanging out with you but I'm gonna start hanging out with you again because I'm really great that's not repentance that's not what that's gonna look like hey you always make me uncomfortable because of the sermon I'm gonna be your friend again don't do that just start being their friend again just start
Loving them start answering their phone calls start hanging out with them go sit next with them go start a conversation you don't need to tell them some people you're gonna need to tell them you hurt me we need to talk I've been treating you differently I've written you off I've stopped talking to you I've been cordial but I hadn't been loving okay so here's a list just to help us think who would it be weird for you to be seen with giving the normal social circles you run in who would it be weird for who would your friends say hey why were you hanging out with them what was that about that may help you realize okay I'm treating some people differently even if I'm not doing it intentionally I don't naturally just talk to them I
Don't naturally just act like we're on the same level is there anybody that you are really just thankful that you aren't so thankful I'm not like them thank you Jesus that I was born here thank you Jesus that I'm like that person anybody you're afraid of you feel uncomfortable when you talk to them because you believe they're elevated above you anybody you just don't like I just don't like them I get on my nerves I'm not saying you can't have friends and that having people you enjoy being around more is sinful not saying that don't hear that you can have friends you can have people you enjoy being around more you should that's normal I'm saying you can't say oh I don't like them so I don't have to hang
Out with them that's not true anybody you ignore or avoid sometimes it's not intentional it's just you don't think you'd have anything in common you think they don't want to talk to you they're really smart that'd be weird I don't know they're kind of in a whole different life stage I wouldn't have anything to talk to them about they probably don't want to talk to me I make things awkward so that person doesn't want to talk to me like you've already picked them out so you're just avoiding them and acting like Jesus hasn't called us all to be family and who are you critical towards who is it that you say I can't believe they I would never who is it you talk about when they're not there can you believe they did that rather than talking to them
Is there anybody you're holding a resentment towards you're bitter towards again some of these are going to be large groups of people maybe you're really uncomfortable with a different race and thankfully Jesus is at work in our church and we we are somewhat racially diverse we are trying to be more racially diverse which means we have to lay down some of our preferences I'm white most of our leadership is white and like real white like whitey white like type of music type of dress type of thought process which means we have to lay down some of our preferences we have to say this I know I like this better but that doesn't mean it's correct we're working on that we're continuing to try to work on that and and if you realize you know I just kind of treat this race differently or this
Large group of people differently don't pick someone in our church family who fits that description and go have them represent that entire group do you in a conversation you can start trying to befriend them you can start trying to talk to them but don't go over to them say hey I just want to let you know I've been unless you've been racist towards them then yeah fix that talk to them repent some people you're gonna need to talk to a specific person you've been avoiding you've been critical towards man's gonna come back up and we're gonna sing and thank Jesus that he makes us into a family that because of the cross our sin has been paid for that we're free and that we actually get to love one another and relate to one another forever that heaven all of those lists to die and it's just a Jesus lifted up and glorified forever and us as a beautiful family that gets
Together around the one table that makes perfect sense let's pray God I pray that through your Holy Spirit you would help us repent you'd help us see where we're treating people in our church family differently where we're acting as if we're above them or they're above us we're acting as if we haven't been made into a family we have nothing to talk about there's I don't have to be their friend they get on my nerves God I just pray that your Holy Spirit would be at work that you'd help us to celebrate the forgiveness that we have in you the joy and the hope that we have in you you'd help us to repent of where we're wrong pray Lord where we treat people differently based off of wealth race
Voting habits God where we have our list I pray that you'd help them to die and us to love you more and to love people more because you call all sinners to repent and be saved by your free grace and your death on the cross in Jesus name Amen
October 2nd, 2016
Follow Me
Transcript
Well, good morning. We are in a series called Follow Me. We're in our third week. We're just taking some time to look in the Gospel of Mark and see what it looked like for the disciples to follow Jesus. Our first week, we basically just covered the idea that the Gospel is news. It is not advice.
It's not here's how you ought to live. It's a story. It's news about something that has happened. That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died in our place for our sin on a cross. He was laid in a tomb and then three days later he rose again fully alive and ascended into heaven as the king of the universe. That's what we believe as Christians.
And we believe that that news, that fact from history, changes everything for us. That we can be made right with God again. That we live our lives in light of that information. Then the next week, last week, we talked about that there are no unrepentant Christians. That part of the Christian life is to follow Jesus, seeing our sin and turning from it. And that is a continual, lifelong process.
That Christians see their sin and turn away from it to Jesus. That it's not repent and do good works. It's not turn away from your bad deeds and do good deeds. It's turn away from your sin to Jesus. And so we're kind of continuing along with that today as we talk about what it looks like for us now to follow Jesus. How does that show up in our lives now?
And I heard this illustration one time and I think it's helpful to kind of get us started today. If I showed up late today, so if I just came running up a second ago and ran upstairs and was out of breath and sweating because I had to run. You know, there's like four stairs there. So, of course, I'd be sweating. And I was like, oh, I'm so sorry that I'm running behind. It's good to see you all this morning.
I feel like because I'm running behind, I should explain myself. So on my way over here this morning, there was a lady who had a flat tire. So I got out to help her while I was helping with the tire. I lost my balance, fell into the road and an 18 wheeler ran over me. So but glad to get all that straightened out and to get here this morning.
Like immediately your response is no. No, it didn't. Either really my are your options at that point is I'm a liar. That did not happen. I just am not good at lying. So I pick something way too extravagant.
And you'd be like, that's not like you. You've done poorly. You know, you want enough details to sound like it's real, but not too many details to sound like it was rehearsed. And you want some credible things. Getting hit by an 18 wheeler is incredible. Either I'm a liar or I'm just crazy.
Like I actually believe I was hit by an 18 wheeler. But my brain just doesn't work right. Like I buy that is not true. Those are your two options. And here's what the point of that is. If if I was hit by an 18 wheeler, the reason you know that's not true is because that would have had visible, tangible, real life effect on me.
Like there are consequences to that. You can't get hit by a portly person on a bicycle and not like have that go poorly for you. There's going to be some scuffs. There's going to be some problems. There's going to be some dirt in my hair. Like it's not going to go well.
You can't get hit by an 18 wheeler and it not have an effect. And the thing is, Jesus is bigger than an 18 wheeler. When when you meet Jesus genuinely, realistically in life, he has a tangible effect on you. It shows up. So for someone to say, oh, I'm a Christian and there's no evidence whatsoever.
It's simply not true. And so that's what we're looking at as we walk through the series is to say that we believe news. We're not saying this is what you have to do to be a Christian. We're saying Jesus died for us. And because of that, it affects us. This event happened and it changes us.
And that actually shows up in our lives. So I'm going to pray and then we're going to jump back into Mark. We'll be in chapter one today. But let's pray real quick. God, we just ask that you and your faithfulness and your love for us would be at work in our hearts today. To help us see ourselves clearly and see you clearly as we continue to ask the question of what it means to follow you.
In Jesus name. Amen. We're going to be in Mark chapter one. We're going to pick up in verse 16 right where we left off last week. So last week, Jesus began preaching.
The kingdom of time is fulfilled. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. So we just talked about that repentance is the way that you enter into the way you respond to the coming kingdom and the way you live in the kingdom. And immediately following that, we're going to see him begin to interact with people that will be his disciples, would be his followers. So it's on page 543.
If you have a blue and white Bible, if you don't own a Bible, take this one with you. It's our gift to you. Verse 16. Later in the series, we're going to spend a little bit of time looking at that. I will make you become fishers of men. But today we're really just looking at the follow me and kind of their response.
Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men. And then immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee and John, his brother, who were in their boat, mending the nets. And immediately he called them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. Okay. So what we just saw is Jesus picks up four disciples, Simon, Andrew, James and John.
Simon and Andrew are brothers. Simon later becomes Peter. Jesus gives him a nickname. And James and John also get nicknames. They're called the Sons of Thunder. That doesn't have anything to do with what we're talking about today, but just while we're covering nicknames.
And so he gets four disciples today. And here's what happens. He walks up into the middle of them working. Simon and Andrew are throwing a net into the water. James and John are mending their nets in a boat. And he just walks up and says, hey, follow me.
And they do. They drop what they're doing and they begin to follow Jesus. And this moment in their lives redirects the course of their life. This moment here where they drop what they're doing and follow Jesus changes everything for them. So that all four of these men, three of them will die for their faith in Jesus.
They will die for having said yes to Jesus saying, follow me. And John dies not of being murdered, but he dies while being exiled on an island for his faith in Jesus. So he dies of old age on an island where he was exiled. He was boiled in oil before that. He just didn't die. But all four of these men, this moment in their lives where Jesus says, follow me, and they say yes, drastically alters their life.
And here's what I want us to see from the very beginning. Jesus is disruptive. Period. Period. He's disruptive. When Jesus comes into your life, things begin to change.
That's just how it works. He doesn't just slide in and everything works swimmingly and exactly the same from that point on. He's disruptive. He steps in and when he steps in and when he comes into your life, he messes things up. He changes up your schedule. He changes up your time.
He calls you away from what you're doing to do other things. Like Jesus automatically, when he comes into your life, is disruptive. Some of you, if you would sit in here today and say, I'm a Christian, but Jesus, he's not disruptive. He fits right in. Fits right into my schedule. He's fit right into my life.
He just slid right in and has just been helpful. He hadn't tried to change anything. Hadn't like, I would just put forth. That's not Jesus. You. It's not Jesus.
Because Jesus is disruptive. That's how he works. That's like saying, I want to get a tattoo, but I don't like needles and I don't want it to hurt. You don't want to get a tattoo. I want, I want a Lexus, but I want it to have the rolly kind of windows. You're not getting a Lexus.
That's not, they don't make those. That's not how that works. And if you say, no, no, Jesus is fit right in. Like he hadn't been disruptive at all. That's not Jesus. You don't meet that Jesus in scripture.
The Jesus that walks around in scripture is absolutely continuously, aggressively disruptive. When Jesus comes into your life, things change. Now I want to show us something. I want us to take a minute to look at something. I think Mark does very intentionally in this passage. So when we write books, so the way, the way Westerners write books.
And if you read books, I know a lot of people in America don't read another book after they graduate high school or college. But maybe you remember reading some while you were in high school or college. Maybe some of you are in high school or college and you're familiar with books there. It's like a television, but you have to, you have like, okay. Anyway, the way we write books is there's information about the scene and the setting and what it looks like. And a good author can really help you like picture it.
So they talk about the way things smelled or the way things looked or what the room was like. They give you some scenery. They paint it up a little bit. So J.K. Rowling or Rowling, I don't know how to say her last name. She wrote the Harry Potter series, you know, Harry Potter, Voldemort, all that stuff.
She wrote a bunch of books and they were all very well written and they're all thick. And they got thicker and thicker as she went. It's like she had more and more to say as she went along. And she does really well with like painting up the scene. But she recently wrote a play called The Cursed Child.
She wrote a play. She what? She co-wrote a play. That's actually not the important part here, guys. I wish you will see in a second. But thank you for keeping me honest.
I don't know enough about Harry Potter to be talking right now. Which now makes me want to say a bunch of bad things. But like, you know, in Harry Potter, Dumbledore Calrissian has to take the ring of power to Mordor. You're welcome. The difference between a book and a play. This is the point I was getting to, although I gave way more information than I needed to.
The difference between a book and a play is this. In a play, every bit of information matters. It's just dialogue. And if they give any other information, it has something to do with the story. If they give any other details, it has to do with the setting. It has to do with what the characters are doing.
It does not, in a play, when someone writes out a play, they don't write up a whole bunch of scenery for you. They don't explain the way people felt. They just give you the dialogue and they give you some key, essential information. The Gospels are written like that. If there's information in the Gospels, it was written down for a reason. It was not just because Mark was like, and it was a pretty day outside, and the breeze was blowing.
He doesn't do that. The information given is important. So we're going to walk back through and we're going to put a little bit of pressure on the way Mark writes this because I think he did it on purpose. I don't think he wrote it out this way by happenstance. I think he was led and through the leadership of the Holy Spirit wrote it out specifically the way he did. And so we're going to look at this.
Okay, go back to verse 16. So he tells us what they were. This is who they were. They were fishermen. That's how they understood their place in the world. That's how other people understood their place in the world.
That's how they knew who they were. They were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their what? They left their what? Yeah, this is participation time.
And I know like we don't usually do this. Nets. Yes, they left their nets. They were fishermen and they left their nets. Okay, let's keep going. And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee and John, his brother, who were in their boat, mending the nets.
Okay, how does he describe James and John? Does he tell us they're fishermen? No. What's he tell us about them? What's their identifying marker? Son of Zebedee.
So are they fishermen? I would assume so. They're in a boat working on nets. But he doesn't call them fishermen. He calls them son of Zebedee. And then he says this.
And immediately he called them and they left what? I got a lot of time, guys. I'm good. They left what? Yeah. They left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
So they left him in the boat. They left him with the other people who were fishing. They left him with the nets. But that's not what Mark says they left. What Mark says they left was their father Zebedee. So what he just did was he said, Simon and Andrew were fishermen.
That's their identifying marker. And when Jesus called them, they left their nets. And James and John were the son of Zebedee. That's their identifying marker. And when he called them, they left their father Zebedee. Jesus is not only disruptive.
He walks into your life. He takes whatever you use to identify yourself. Whatever is absolutely primary to you. And he says, I'm taking the place of this. You have to let go of this for me. That's how Jesus works.
The only position he accepts in your life is first place. That's why it was important for Mark to write down that the fishermen left their nets and the sons of Zebedee left their father. Because if you ask them, what was the hardest thing to give up that day? Simon and Andrew are going to say, we were fishermen. We had to give up fishing. We had to give up our nets.
We had to give up possessions. We had to give up our career to follow him. That was what was going through their mind. That was what they had to let go of. That's what they were looking at and thinking about when Jesus said, follow me. But if you ask James and John, what did you leave?
They say we left our father. Because that's how they understood their existence. That's how they understood their identity. Let me explain something to you. We were designed by God. We were created.
So we're creatures. We're designed because we're creatures to have something be primary for us. Something has to be foundational. Something has to be the most important. It's just the way we're made. And everyone in this room has something in that spot.
And whatever you use to find your identity, whatever you use to say, this is how I fit in the world. This is what makes me okay. This is what gives me purpose. This is what makes me want to wake up tomorrow. Whatever you put there is God functionally for you. Whatever is your purpose, your identity, how you would describe yourself, how you know you're you and that you matter.
Whatever you put there is God because that was the role he was designed to fill. When he created us, that was the spot that he's supposed to be in. What gives us life and purpose and worth and value is him. That's why when Jesus shows up, that's the spot he claims. It's the only spot he'll take. So when Jesus comes into your life, not only is he disruptive, he is aggressively disruptive because he wants to claim primary role in your heart, in your time, in your life.
So for a Christian, we talked last week about life being a life of repentance, continually turning away from sin. We honestly don't sin until we've put something else in that spot. Until we've looked at Jesus and said, I'd rather have this than you. That's what leads us into sin. Thinking that something else matters more than Jesus so it's worth pursuing more than he is. So that we'll say no to him to say yes to that.
When that happens, we've moved that to the spot of superiority. Does that make sense? Anything that goes in number one slot, everything else ultimately serves that or everything else ultimately can be bumped out of the way, out of life for that. So let me give you an example. On your budget. Let me go back real quick.
A budget is a thing that you use to know where your money goes. Some of y'all. Talk with our toast team. They will help you make a budget. They are helpful. Okay, on your budget, there are things at the top on your expenses that matter more than the things at the bottom.
Unless you like alphabetize it, but just you realize there's a rank system here. There are things you're paying for first before you pay for other things. So when you start to run out of money, there are things you say no to. You pay your rent before your Netflix bill. If you've got that backwards, our toast team will help you make a budget. This is how this works.
First, you're paying your electricity before you're going to Frankie's Fun Park. There are things that go to the top of the list that when things get tight, when money gets tight, you're choosing what are we paying and you're paying what's most important. And if anything gets above Jesus, ultimately he serves that or he'll get bumped out of the way for that. So if you said, my family, my children matter most to me. And Jesus, I love Jesus and I worship Jesus and I follow Jesus, but ultimately my children are at the top. And maybe you wouldn't say it that way, but your life says that.
Here's what happens. Jesus is a means to an end for you to have a good family, to have safe children. Oh, it is so wonderful to know that the God of the universe loves your children and you can ask him for things. And you can ask him to protect your children and watch over your children and help your children. It's so good to know that the God of the universe will help provide for your children. So you're using Jesus for the safety of your children.
Your children are well behaved if they actually follow what the Bible says. They don't cause problems. They treat their parents well. That's one of the ten, you guys. Honor your mother and father. That's in the Ten Commandments.
It actually has a promise. It'll go well with you if you do. Like, that's great. And so if you have children that are in Sunday school and they're reading their Bibles and stuff, it makes them happier. It makes them better. It keeps life good for them.
And Jesus serves your children. But if your family starts falling apart, if your children become rebellious, if their health fails, if God says, I want you to be a missionary, to Africa, suddenly it's a, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I got kids. Can't. I didn't sign on for this. I got to worry about their safety. I got to worry about, like, their primary.
I got to, I started following you because I thought you were going to help me have a good family. I started following you because I thought you were going to help me protect my kids. I started following you because you were, like, what? You see, Jesus is serving them the whole time. And this happens with all kinds of things. So I, I know in my own life, when I have, in my marriage, I've sinned.
I've sinned against God. I've sinned against Anna. And I found, that I know the Bible says you should repent and confess. You should tell your wife what you did. And my response to that is, no, thank you. Kind sir.
Like, this is, this has been a real thing in my life where I have had very big things I needed to talk to her about. Because I have found that when you tell your wife you sinned against her, she doesn't like it. That's something I picked up on. And so I wasn't really willing to talk about it. And here, here's, here's what I came to realize. I was saying no to Jesus.
No to our relationship being good. No to me following him. Because I really wanted to protect the relationship I have with my wife. I was defending that one because I was more afraid of her being upset with me. More afraid of her leaving. More afraid of her, the discomfort that that would cause.
And so what I was saying was, no, no, no, Jesus, you're great for a lot of things, but in my marriage, I'm going to let her kind of rank above you. And we can do this with anything. You can do this with success. You can do this with pleasure. You can do that. I mean, you name it.
So if, if pleasure is primary for you, then your time and your money go towards what brings me the most enjoyment. What makes me the happiest? What, what do I enjoy the most? Like that's, that's how I understand the good life is that I can do what I want. I can eat out when I want. I can go to, to movies.
I can go on vacations. I can, that's the good life. And then Jesus shows up and says, Hey, uh, your money isn't meant to terminate on you. You should actually start giving some away. And you go, Ooh, I really can't. My budget's really tight.
When, when Jesus says, follow me. And when pleasure says, follow me, you follow pleasure. Work. Get your time, your energy. You spend your money on things that help you work better, that make work better, that I need this clothes for work. I need this suit for work.
I need this equipment for work. And, and then when Jesus steps in and says, no, this is how your family life is supposed to work. This is how following me is supposed to work. You say, no, no, no, no. When work says, follow me, or Jesus says, follow me, you follow work. Because the, the one thing Jesus is going to call you to drop is the one thing you're using to give yourself an identity.
And he's going to call you to, to get rid of sin. And he's going to call you to turn away from a lot of things. And a lot of that may be hard. You may like it. The thing that, that you're going to have to wrestle with the most and the thing you're going to want to pick up the most. And the thing that in your story, you're going to say, I had to leave behind is the one thing that you were using.
To identify yourself, to give yourself value and worth. Whatever it was in your heart that was primary. So here, here's our goal today. If Mark was writing about you, what does he say? Jesus walked up to, blank, and he said, follow me. What, what does he say was your identity?
And what does he say you left behind? Now here, I want to point something out to us. James and John stay the son of Zebedee. Simon and Andrew do fish again. Fishing isn't bad. That's not the point of this passage.
Having Zebedee be your dad isn't bad. That's not the point of this passage. Honoring your father, understanding your life in relationship to your father isn't bad. That's not the point. Your children, your spouse, working heart, pleasure. Pleasure isn't bad, y'all.
It's actually really enjoyable. Have y'all noticed that? God made it that way on purpose. The Bible actually says that pleasures are at his right hand forever. Like, he's the one who made pleasure pleasurable. It's good.
All those things are good. Most everything that we would put as primary in our life is actually a really good thing. A gift from God. The issue Jesus has is they can't be number one. And you're going to have to say no to them to say yes to him. That's why he says stuff like, if you come to me and you don't hate your father and mother, your children and your wife, and it's like, whoa, hate?
What? How do you say that? Like, that's crazy. You said to love your enemies, to love those that hate you. How are you then going to tell me to hate my wife? That sounds like really bad marriage advice.
His point isn't to actively hate. His point is that he has to be so far above everything else that nothing else compares. That's why he says if you don't deny yourself and take up your cross, you can't follow me. That's why when people come to him and say, Jesus, I'm going to follow you. And he says, come on. And they say, well, let me go bury my dad.
And he says, no, let me go back and tell my family goodbye. No, it's crazy. What he asks of us, how disruptive he is, but what he steps into every single follower of his and says, this thing right here that you used to make your identity out of this thing right here that you used to say, this is what makes me. Okay. This is what gives me value. This is what gives me worth.
This is how I know life makes sense. That thing right there has to move. That's the place I get. And so for those of us who have said, I'm following Jesus. It's pretty, pretty simple. Not real hard.
I'm not sure he's shown up and done that for you yet. I'm not sure you've moved that out of the way for him yet. So what would, what would your story be? What is it that you sacrifice for? What is it that you give your time and energy and money for? What is it that you use to understand your existence and light up?
You don't have to have it. You can be really poor and it can be money. You just know that once you get money, you'll be happy. You can be single and it can be your future magical spouse that rides unicorns and comes down from rainbow, rainbow land. Like I, I don't know. You could have some future.
Once this happens, I'll be happy. Once this happens, I'll be good. This is what'll fix me. And I'll bend heaven and earth to get to it. And if following Jesus helps me get there, great. I'll let Jesus work for me.
Proverbs 14, 12 says this. We're gonna have it on the screen. I love this verse. It is so helpful to me. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. It's not a very uplifting verse, but it is very helpful.
Some of you maybe have been sitting here going, no, no, no. The thing I'm chasing after Jesus would be totally on board with. It's good. If I get that, it would be good. It's not a bad thing. That's true.
It probably isn't, but this is true. There's stuff that we look at and say, if I just got that, I'd be happy. If I could just do this, it'd be fine. If I could just reach this, achieve this, be this, have this title, have this amount of money in the bank, have this type of success or this type of family or live in this type of place. And what Proverbs says is there's a way that seems really right to you and ultimately leads to destruction. Won't fix you.
Won't save you. Won't save you. Leads to death. So when Jesus steps in and says, I want to be primary, he's actually offering us joy. He's actually pursuing our joy. So, Jesus, if he wanted your begrudging submission, could get it.
Are you aware of that? I don't know. A lot of people just understand Jesus as being really nice. He controls everything and is in charge of everything. He could show up and immediately be like, bow down and you would. Did y'all know that?
We know that? We good on that? He can do that. He can put you in a submission hold. He can do it. That doesn't bring him a lot of glory.
It brings him glory because he's ultimately in charge of everything. But that's not his desire for you. His desire is that you would enjoy him. That you would love him. That you would respond to him. You see, begrudging submission isn't his desire for you.
Enjoyment of him is desire for you. See what? The reason he comes in and says, I have to be primary is because he is primary. He's the best thing you could ever get. He's the best thing he could ever offer you. If Jesus showed up and said, Hey guys, just want to let you know you should all be chasing money.
Then money would be God. And Jesus should serve it. When Jesus shows up and says, you should all get rid of everything and love me. He's saying, this is the best way to happiness because I'm the best thing that exists. And it's actually in our enjoyment of him that he gets a lot of glory. Do you, if some of you are married, some of you are dating, some of you aren't dating yet, but maybe you want to date or want to get married or something.
Do you imagine that when you, before you were married, did you imagine, I can't wait till I meet a person who begrudgingly submits to marrying me. Oh, I can't wait for the day that we celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. And they look over at me and say, I did my duty. And every day was drudgery. Because you're the worst. But I stuck with it.
I can't, I just cry just thinking about it. Like, did you do that? Do you think about that? Is that your goal? Would that be enjoyable? Would you get a lot of pleasure out of that?
No, that, that what you want is someone who loves you for you, who appreciates you, who enjoys you, who wants to be around you because they enjoy you. They like it. 50 years in, they say it didn't feel like 50 years. Some of it, some of it did, but it felt, it was mostly good. We've been married for 50 years, 42 good ones. Like, whatever.
That's what you want. And that's Jesus when he says, I want to be primary. It's not, I want you to begrudgingly submit to you, submit to me. It's, I want you to understand that I'm the best that could ever be offered to you. And Isaiah 55, we'll have this on the screen as well. There's a prophet's writing and he says this, come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters and he who has no money, come buy and eat, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Um, this, this is reused, rephrased in the book of Revelation, talking about coming to God, coming to heaven, that that's, he freely gives good things that you don't have to have money to come get from him. That's grace that Jesus dies and freely gives us himself. And he says this, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? You know, the, the two commodities you'll have in your life that everybody has, you have some money. That's one of them. That's one of the ways that we place value is money.
The other one's labor, your time and energy. And what the prophet's saying is why, why do you spend your money and your time and energy on something that ultimately will not satisfy you, that ultimately will not bring life, that ultimately cannot hold the weight of being the foundation of your life and your identity? Why do you do that? Why does your, why does your labor and your money go to something that will not fix you, will not make you okay, will not satisfy you? Listen diligently to me. Pay attention and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live. See, I love that. He says, eat what's good, eat rich food. The call of Jesus to us to come to him is not, Hey, I've got a worse offer. You like that good stuff.
How do you feel about terrible things? That's not what he says. He says, come to what's better. Come to what actually satisfies. Come to what actually fills you up. Come to what actually fixes you.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant. My steadfast, sure love for David. In the Old Testament, God came to David and said, I'm going to love you and I'm going to make a king out of you forever. This promise is fulfilled in Jesus. The prophet Isaiah is saying, come to Jesus. And he'll make the same promise with you that he'll welcome you and love you forever.
And he'll give you rich and good food, which is ultimately what your soul needs. You see, we all have something. We all have something that we're using to say, this is who I am. This is what makes me okay. This is what makes me good. This is why I get up in the morning.
There's a journalist named Malcolm Muggeridge. He's talking about political hopes and failures in his book. And he, he talks about that. They had this political guy that they just really wanted to get into office. And they said, we, he said, we got exactly what we asked for. And then he has this quote.
He says, the really terrible thing about life is not that our dreams are unrealized, but that they come true. So the worst thing about life is not that we don't get what we want, but that we do get what we want. And ultimately doesn't satisfy, doesn't fix us. The worst part about life is that all our little dreams come true and it wasn't good enough. Jim Carrey says this. In our culture, I got, I got quotes from a couple of different famous people because in our culture, we've really bought into the idea that if you were really rich, good looking, uh, and had like people knew you, then you, that would be great.
That would be the best. Like we, our culture's kind of just bought into that idea. I know that I've bought into that idea every time the lottery gets really big and I go buy a lottery ticket. And I'm filling out my little Numbers and bubbling them in. It's like the, you know, first time I've done a scantron since high school. And I, I think, wouldn't it be so great to get $43 billion or whatever it comes up to?
You know what I'm saying? Like it's, it's been crazy recently. You remember the one this past summer or whatever, when everybody was going crazy past spring? Like I think I'm running around thinking, oh, it would be so good. And really what I think in those moments is if I had a lot of money, I'd be fixed. I wouldn't want anything else.
I'd be happy. I'd be content. Everything would be good. I'd skip everywhere. I'd giggle. I'd just giggle.
And people would be like, why are you giggling? You're a grown man. I'd be like, I'm so rich. You don't even know. I giggle anytime I want to. Here's a thousand dollars.
Don't tell nobody. Like I could do whatever. Our culture, we really believe that. We really believe that if you had power, if you had fame, if you had money, you'd be happy. You'd be fixed. So I've got a couple of quotes from people.
Because really, celebrities should be the happiest people we've got, right? They should be so content and so happy and joyous and fun to be around, right? Okay. So here's Jim Carrey. I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed so they can see that it's not the answer. Jim Carrey says, I wish all your dreams could come true so that you could know that wasn't it.
Okay, but maybe you're like, well, Jim Carrey, really? Liar, liar? That's who we're talking about here? Here's Brad Pitt talking to the Rolling Stones, like the Rolling Stone magazine. Like, it doesn't get cooler than this, you guess. Brad Pitt, Rolling Stones, this is amazing.
So some of you, I know you've just thought, man, if I could just have Brad Pitt's money or if I could just have Brad Pitt's, maybe his wife or his face or his like abs, life would just be better if I just had a little bit of Brad Pitt. Like if I could just be kind of as cool as Brad Pitt in even his bad movies, life would be better. Here's Brad Pitt talking to Rolling Stones. What does it mean anyway? I had an idealistic thought of what fame is. I thought, yes, lovely, I'm going to be famous and everything will change, but it doesn't.
If you ask me, I say toss all this. We have to find something else. The emphasis now is on success and personal gain. I'm sitting in it and I'm telling you that that's not it. I'm the guy who has everything. I know.
And I'm telling you that once you have everything, then you are just left with yourself. It doesn't help you sleep any better and you don't wake up any better because of it. See, the problem with us is that we won't ever get everything. I'm not going to win the lottery, so I'll continue to believe that it'll fix me. See, these guys have it and they're going, guys, this isn't going to fix you. At best, once all your dreams are fulfilled, you're just stuck with you and there's got to be more to it.
I got one more from Tom Brady. He says this, why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, hey man, this is what it is. You know, I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, God, it's got to be more than this. I mean, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be.
I mean, I've done it. I'm 27. What else is there for me? When Jesus walked up to Andrew and John, when he walked up to Simon and James, and he said, follow me, his invitation was one of joy and life and hope, even though it ended in hardship and death for them. It was the best invitation they ever got. Because he said, even if this all works out for you, it ends in death.
It doesn't end in joy and satisfaction. It's not what will fill you up. Your only hope is me. And the only position I'll take is first. If you're a Christian, that's the position of Jesus in your life. That's why we continually repent, because we continually see that we put something else up there.
So our goal today, I've got a few questions to just try to help us identify. What do I have as primary right now? What, what's in that spot for me? What have I placed in that spot? So if you're a note taker, take some notes, write some stuff down, and then we're going to end a little bit differently today than, than we usually do.
But I think it'll be helpful. So I've just got some questions, some things to run through pretty quickly to try to help us find, if Mark was writing your story, what would he say? This is, this is her name, this is how she identifies herself, and this is what she's got to let go of for Jesus to be primary. What would he say? This is his name, this is his identity, and this is what he's got to let go of. Okay, what's Jesus not allowed to mess with?
It's pretty straightforward. What in your life can he not touch? What is it he reached for, reaches for, and you pop his hand? Say, no, no, no. I didn't invite you here for that. What's your, can I still go to heaven if?
You hear people ask that question, can I still, well, can you still go to heaven if blank? Sometimes it's a genuine question. Other times it's, hey, can I love this thing more than Jesus and still get there? What's the one thing you've been arguing in your head about? The whole time we've been talking. What's the thing that keeps popping up and you keep going, no, no, no, no, that's not that.
Jesus loves that. That would be great. That's not, that's, that's not it. What's the one thing you don't want me to bring up? What's the thing if I started talking about it right now, you'd be like, okay, this is the worst sermon I've ever heard. That's probably it.
That's the thing you're really afraid he'll come take from you. That's the thing you really have to have. You don't want him to mess with it. Okay. So these are a little less straightforward.
If you're having a hard time thinking about it, really trying to figure out is Jesus in that spot or is something else there? So this is just, is he there? Is he not? Are you reading your Bible? Do you have a prayer life? Is that something that takes up your time?
If we're trying to figure out are we following Jesus? Are you more discipled by Netflix? Or ESPN? Or YouTube? Or some other app I haven't heard about? Does he take up your time or is there something else?
Something else talking to you more, teaching you more about how life should work, about how you should understand your worth and your value? When you see your sin, how do you respond? Do you repent? Are you heartbroken over it? When you see that something else matters more to you than Jesus, what do you do? Do you care?
What's the easiest thing for you to spend your money on? See, there's some things when it comes to your money you have to think about. There are other things where it's like your wallet magically appears in your hand. What will you spend your money on? Where do you place value when it comes to your, when you look at your budget? Is it your own comfort?
Is it most of your money goes to savings because that's one of the best ways to control your future? Is it status symbols like clothes and cars and houses? Something that makes it look like you've arrived? The opposite side of that is where does Jesus fit into your money? Does some of your money go to his church, to his people, to people who don't have money or food? How much of your budget looks like Jesus was radically generous towards you?
So of course you're radically generous towards others. What's the thing you organize your schedule around? And what's the easiest thing for you to organize your schedule around? When there's scheduling conflicts or time conflicts, what wins? Do kids win? Does your own leisure time win?
Does work win? Does work win? What's easily put in the schedule? What gets easily bumped? What are you laboring for? Where's your time and energy go?
All right, let's look at your emotions for a second. What are you angriest about? What do you have the hardest time forgiving? You see, our emotions are usually tied to things we love. What are you most afraid of? What are you most afraid of losing?
Here's the last one, and this is a big one. When you and Jesus disagree, who wins? And is there a specific category where you always win? You see, there's some things Jesus is going to show up, you're going to read in the Bible you already kind of agree with, and so when he says you should do this, you just say, yeah, smart, sounds good. And there are other things he's going to say, you should do this or you shouldn't do that, and you're going to go, whoa, I'm going to need you to explain. I'm going to need you to win me over.
So maybe some of you, when he says, hey, you should be generous, you go, yeah, we should. We should be generous, and we should be giving to the poor, and we should be helping the homeless, and the people who aren't probably don't really follow Jesus. And when he says you shouldn't have sex if you're not married, you go, whoa, but we're in love. But we really, like, we care about each other, plus I'm also pretty sure that passage probably doesn't really mean what people say it means, and they didn't really, you know, it's translated from other, like, you know, and some of you are like, no, no sex.
That's right. We shouldn't have sex unless you're married. And then the Bible says you should have sex if you are married. But, like, those are the rules. But it's like you should give up some of your money, and you're like, well, some, how much, what's the percentage?
It's really tight. My money's tight right now. When you and Jesus disagree, who wins? And is there a category right now where you just win? Jesus died for you. Because he loves you.
When Jesus invited them to follow him, he was already on his way to give up everything for them. And when Jesus invited you to follow him, he had already given up everything for you. He'd laid it all down so that you could be related to him, so that he could bring you back to himself. He's ultimately trustworthy, and he is absolutely after your joy. And that's why he won't let you have the harmful things you want. And that's why he says, I have to be primary, because that's the only thing that leads to joy and life and satisfaction and hope.
And if anything else gets put there, it throws your life out of whack, it robs you of joy, and ultimately it ends in death. Jesus died on a cross so that you could be his, so that you could have ultimate joy and satisfaction and hope in him forever. He's trustworthy. He loves you. And him calling you to put something down is for your own good, for your own joy, even though it's going to be really hard. I think Simon and Andrew forever remembered the day they put their nets down.
And it wasn't just letting go of the nets, it was genuinely deciding, I'm going to follow him and I'm leaving this behind. And I think James and John forever know the day they looked at their father and said, I'm following Jesus. I think they remember it. And I think something happened in their heart that day that every time they saw their father again, they loved him, but he wasn't in the same spot anymore. It wasn't how they defined their life anymore. They were going to follow Jesus.
They were going to go for bust. No matter how that worked out, because they knew Jesus was worth it. And how much more for us on this side of the cross, knowing how much he's going to give up for us to welcome us and to make us his. Can we follow him and trust him? So here's, here's how we're going to end today.
We're not going to play any music. We're not going to make this any smoothier. Here's what I want us to do. If you've been sitting here today and genuinely the Holy Spirit has been pressing on you, this is what you got to put down. This is the thing you're holding on. This is the thing you won't let go of, and you've got to put it down.
You've got to walk away from it. You've got to follow me. If that's you, here's, here's what I want us to do. I just want you to take a minute. I want you to write it down. I want the cards in front of you.
And here's what we're going to do. And here's why we're going to do it. I want us to have the opportunity to walk down and lay the card up here. And here's why. When Jesus came to James and John, when he came to Simon and Andrew, they had the opportunity to make a movement. They had the opportunity to act immediately.
Now, they had to continually reinforce that from then on. It's going to be really hard to stand up and walk over here and lay something down, but it's going to get exponentially harder the moment you walk out of there. This will be the easiest time to lay it down. Because it's just a mental step for you to say, I'm trying to lay this down, Jesus. I want you to be primary. I'm trying to follow you and I'm trying to say no to this.
But every other moment, you actually have to do it. See, James and John and Simon and Andrew had the chance to move. They had the chance to let go of the nets and walk. They had the chance to look at their father and walk. And I want us to have the same opportunity to make a movement, to concretely put this in our brains. This is what I'm trying to do.
I know that Jesus saves me. I know that he died for my sin. I know that I'm free and I don't have to accomplish anything for him and I don't have to earn anything for him. But I know he's got to be primary and I've got to let go of this because it leads to death and it doesn't. It robs me of joy and my hope is found in him. So I want you to have the opportunity to move.
And I want it to not be smooth or easy. We're not cutting the lights off. We're not playing music. I think there was an awkward moment between Zebedee and his sons. And I think if Jesus has been working on you, you need to move. This will be the best time to do it.
And then you'll have to continually do it as you walk this out with church family, as you continually confess and repent this and continually try to set it down. Let's pray. God, we thank you. Thank you that you love our joy and our hope and our life more than we do, that you were willing to die for it, to rescue us, to make us yours. God, we thank you that with you is joy and pleasure and goodness and rich food. And I pray that you'd help us to quit trading it out for something smaller.
Quit chasing after something that won't satisfy us, that won't fill us up. And God, I pray that you'd help us to respond. I pray that you'd help us to respond now. But more than that, God, I pray that you'd help us to respond every day for the rest of our lives to continually follow you, to continue to set something down, to continue to say goodbye to something, and to continue to put you in the place of primacy in our lives. We thank you that you're good and that you're trustworthy and that we can follow you. And we love you in Jesus' name.
Amen. I'd encourage you to respond if the Holy Spirit's been working in you, to know that Jesus looked them in the face and said, follow me, and you have the same opportunity today to follow Jesus, to let something go, and to follow after him where there's joy and freedom and life and hope, ultimate satisfaction. And don't just do it because you feel like you're supposed to, because we're talking about it or because that would be the thing to do. Do it if you actually genuinely are saying, Jesus, I want to follow you and I want you to help me. I'm going to sit down. In a minute, the band's going to come back up and we're going to sing together and celebrate that Jesus is good.
Repent and Believe
Transcript
Well, hi, how we doing? Wow, not any better than earlier. I was taking a shot. I thought we had woken up a little bit. I'm sorry. We are in our second week of our Follow Me series, and I'm excited about this series.
Last week we got to celebrate baptism, and we got to just kind of intro this series, talk a little bit about what we're going to be doing in this series. And I'm excited because we're just taking some time to say, what does it look like for us in Columbia in 2016 to follow Jesus? Like, how does that show up? What does that look like in life to be a Christian? And I think it's going to be helpful for us because as a church we've got a lot of new believers, a lot of people who are like, okay, I believe this gospel. I believe that Jesus died for my sin.
Like, my faith is there. Now what? Like, what do I do now? And then we've got a lot of people who maybe you've been a Christian a while. You'd say, yeah, I'm a Christian, but it's like I'm just now trying to get into the swing of actually following, letting this kind of impact day-to-day life for me. And so I'm just excited about this series.
We get to just take a little time in the Gospel of Mark to look and see, okay, what did it look like for Jesus' followers? What does Jesus say? What is this supposed to – how is this going to show up for us? And particularly helpful because our culture is just kind of confused about Christianity. So if any Christians on any kind of media, any kind of TV show or anything, like we really have two types of representatives.
Just so you all know, like when somebody is writing a sitcom and they make a Christian character, like here are our options. Condescending, judgmental. Like we've got that character. A lot of times it doesn't have anything to do with actually how they behave. So like if you think of Angela from The Office, she's just condescending, but she doesn't behave any better.
Like she just looks down on everybody and then does the same stuff. And it's like, okay, so hypocritical and condescending. And then we just get kind of like goofy slash weird. So we've got Ned Flanders. Every once in a while in like really intense movies, we'll just have like a weird person on the street holding a sign. Like they're just a bit part where it's like repent, the end is nigh, and that's it.
And then like, you know, the robot kills them or whatever. And so like those are the characters we get. Even in the South where supposed to be the Bible Belt, supposed to be more Christians, we're just kind of confused about what it means to be a Christian, what it looks like to be a Christian. And so like I have conversations with people. I remember I was working with a guy and he found out I was a pastor. We were starting a church.
And he said, oh, cool, yeah, like you're a Christian? I was like, yeah. He said, yeah, me too. I used to go to a Lutheran church with my mom when I was little. And I was like, okay. But that was it.
He didn't have anything else to it. Like there was the, I went to this VBS. Maybe I prayed a prayer. I got baptized when I was young. My favorite one, I was talking with a guy I played football with in high school. And I said, are you a Christian?
He said, Chet, I'm black. So yeah, at the time I was white and I didn't know about the exemption. Like I didn't, I didn't understand. I just was kind of like, I don't know. But like that's kind of, I was born in the South.
My mom went to a Methodist church. My uncle was a deacon. Like we have all these answers for like, this is what makes me a Christian. And you don't find those in scripture. So what we're looking at is saying like, what does it look like to be a Christian?
How does this show up? Because if we actually believe something, it shows up. If we actually believe something, it shows up in how we act. It shows up in what we, like what we do. And that's what we're going to spend a little bit of time looking at. Like you ever met somebody who just believes in coffee?
Like they, they believe in it. I believe in coffee. I had someone tell me earlier that I needed to get a camelback with coffee in it. But like people who believe in coffee, they buy coffee. They get things to grind coffee. They, they have coffee with them when you see them.
Like they, you ever met a vegan that actually believed it? They told you. Ever met somebody who did CrossFit and they believed it? Like they, that's like, that's how they introduce themselves. It's like, hey, I'm Chet. Hi, I do CrossFit.
Well, okay, back up. Like, I don't know. Like if you, you know what I'm talking about? Like someone who's really drank the Kool-Aid for the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Or libertarians, those people, they believe it. Like they will tell you.
Like if we believe something, it shows up in life. And if we're actually a part of something, that shows up also. So if I told you, and I haven't told many people this, but I am actually on the Dallas Cowboys football team. Like if I told you that, your immediate response is, no. No, you're not. And if I said why, you'd be like, well, how much time do you have?
You don't live in Dallas. No, you're not. You are unathletic. Like this isn't happening. Like do you want me to keep going because it's going to get offensive? Like there would be things.
I'd have to go to practice. I'd have to be there. I'd have to, like, what do you mean? Like you must be defining this differently. And so in our culture, there are a lot of people who say, I'm a Christian. And immediately it's like, you must be defining it differently than the Bible does.
And so as a church, what we want to do is say, like, what does the Bible say to be a Christian? What does the Bible say would show up? What does the Bible say life looks like for us as Christians? And so that's what we're spending the next four weeks just looking at some basic. This is a part of your life if you're a Christian. For every Christian in the room, for every Christian in any room, anywhere, this is a part of your life.
Let's pray and then we'll jump into Mark. God, we thank you that we do get to follow you and that we get to believe good news. I pray that you would, through your Holy Spirit, speak to us this morning and work on our behalf that we might grow in our understanding of what it means to follow you. We love you. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
So how do you know you're a Christian? What does that look like? What shows up? And so let's jump right into Mark chapter 1. We'll be in verses 14 and 15 today. We're going to look at the first words out of Jesus' mouth in Mark chapter 1.
If you have one of the blue and white Bibles on the row, it's going to be on page 543. If you do not own a Bible, take this one home with you. That's our gift to you. I want you to have a Bible. So 14 and 15, these are the first things Jesus says.
So it starts off this way. Now after John was arrested, that is John the Baptist. He had a big beard. He wore camels like hair, cloak thing, stood in the woods and yelled at people and ate bugs. So we don't get to hear much about him today, but there's a brief outline for you.
There you go. Eight bugs, lived in the woods, yelled at people. Some of you have an uncle like that. So after he was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God. So stop there for just a second.
We talked about this last week. We said that the gospel, that word there means good news. And that is the primary difference between Christianity and every other religion, philosophy, thought process. That we have news. We have news about an event that happened. See, what Christianity says is that Jesus died on a cross, was buried in a grave, and three days later he rose from the dead.
And that through his death on our behalf, we can be saved. That he can pay for our sin. He can pay our debt before God. And that's news. It happened. We share that.
Christianity is not primarily a bunch of advice. Here's what you need to do to be good. Here's how you ought to behave. Here's the things that you need to do to be a Christian. And so even in this series, what we're saying is here's what shows up if you are a Christian. So we believe the news that Jesus died for us.
And if you actually place faith in Jesus, here's what shows up. Not do these things and then you can be a Christian. If you miss that, you miss the whole thing. Does that make sense? Like if you are a Christian, you'll do these things. Not do these things and you can be a Christian.
So the difference is between a king and a president. So right now we got people running for president and they are trying to show you that they're presidential. Like I'm pretty sure that was actually a thing that Trump said. I'm going to be so presidential it's going to blow your mind. It's like that automatically didn't sound very presidential to me. But okay.
Like you're going to be like, whoa, how presidential is this guy? That's a terrible Trump impersonation, but just go with me. Like they have to prove they look presidential and then maybe we'll let them be the president. Does that make sense? But if you were a king, if you were a prince or a princess and you had parents who were king and queen, they would say things to you like, hey, that's not how a queen Acts.
Hey, that's not how a king Acts. You need to do these things to act like a king and what they would be saying to you is because you're royalty, this is how you live because you're going to be king because you're going to be queen because you're already this identity. This is what shows up in your life. Whereas presidents, it's act this way and you might get to be it. Does that make sense? So what we're saying is if you're a Christian, this shows up.
That's the whole point of this. If you believe the gospel that Jesus died for our sins, if you believe that news and it changes you. Here's what shows up. So here's what he says. We're going to look at Jesus's message. So this is what he began proclaiming the gospel of God.
So we're going to see what he proclaimed. What's the gospel of God? What's he saying? And then we're going to see how he tells us to respond. Okay. And then we'll take what Jesus said in about two, like one sentence, and we'll make that last about 40 minutes.
You're welcome. So Jesus says this, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.
So when he said this to his Jewish hearers, they knew what he was saying. When he says the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. What he's talking about is when God first made everything, it was the kingdom of God. He was in charge. He was the king. And humanity existed under God's rule.
Over creation, but under God. That's where humanity was placed. And everything was good while God was king. But Adam and Eve, our first parents, rebelled against God's kingship. They wanted to be king and queen. They wanted to be in charge.
They said, rather than having our lives orbit around you, we want everything to orbit around us. I want to be the center of the universe. That's what Adam and Eve said. And just so you know, every other human that has ever existed immediately lined up right behind Adam and Eve and said, that's the plan I'm going with as well. So your life has been you at the center trying to get everybody else to orbit around you.
Trying to get everybody else to think about you. Worry about you. Take care of you. Exist around you. That's been your goal your entire life. The way you walk through your day is, what do I like?
What do I want? How do I feel about that? What makes me happy? What makes me sad? That's how we process life. I have an 18-month-old.
That is the core of his little soul right now. My wife and I talk about this all the time. He is such an easy child to be a parent to when he is getting everything he wants. So easy. That's what makes me a great husband. Like, I'm a great husband when I get everything I want.
Like, that's how that works. And he's terrible when he realizes he doesn't get to be the center of the universe. And here's what he does. He throws things. Anything he's holding, or if he's not holding anything, he just throws a fit. He, like, yells and lays on the ground.
We've had to start grabbing him and saying, hey, you're not going to get to act like this. Nothing good happens here. Like, we've begun to train him that he doesn't get to be the center of the world. And here's the thing. I'm the same way. I just know that throwing fits doesn't work.
So I use flattery. Am I lying? I've learned. If you don't want to do what I want to do, my response shouldn't be, ah! And, like, hit you in the head. That's not going to work well.
I've moved beyond 18-month-old Chet, but I'm still doing the same thing. I just want you to care most about me. And that doesn't seem like so much to ask. The problem is, that's the same thing you want. That's why I went, we take a group picture. Whose face do you look at first?
Your face. I've actually taken a picture with just me and my wife. She showed it to me. And I looked and said, that's a good picture. And she has responded, my eyes are closed. And I was like, mental note.
Look at her face first. Before you talk. Because all I did was look at me and was like, I look great. Like, that's... Post that one to the Facebook. She's like, my eyes are closed.
It's like, well, we could crop you out. Nobody's going to care. Just put it on Facebook. But, like, that's... Our life has been, what do I like? What do I want?
And our goal has been to have... And nothing. Nothing makes you more miserable. Nothing makes you more unenjoyable to be around. Or sucks more joy out of your life. Than you having to be the center of everything.
And you worrying about, what do you like? What do you want? How am I feeling? How am I... Like, that sucks joy out of you. So what Jesus says is...
God was the king. And the Old Testament, when we rebelled, the Old Testament promised... After promise, after promise, after promise, after promise... I'm going to fix this. I'm going to right the ship. I'm going to be king again.
We're going to realign humanity and history back where it's supposed to be. And so Jesus steps on the scene and he says... The time is fulfilled. And every Jewish person understood immediately what he's talking about. The time is fulfilled. The promises are coming true.
What God has said repeatedly through Old Testament prophecy. Every time you've gotten together at the synagogue and read this. Every time you've had a festival or a feast. Every time you celebrated the Passover. What we were celebrating was that God's going to fix it. This is going to be the end.
And Jesus says the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Meaning God is on the march. He's on the move. His kingdom is approaching. It's at the door.
And he is going to reestablish his reign over the earth. And here's the thing. Everything works better when God's in charge. You ever been on a team that just had a great coach? And when that coach was there, everything just worked? Great school with a good principal.
Or a great job with a good boss. Or maybe it was your home life. Maybe some of you were blessed. You come from a healthy home life. And when your dad was there. Or when your mom was there.
Everything just worked. And then when they had to travel for business. Or when the boss wasn't there. Everything just started to fall apart. That's earth. God was in charge.
And when he's the king. Everything clicks. Everything works. You ever been around a household where the children are in charge? Functionally? Like they don't have a job.
They don't pay for stuff. They don't drive the car. But they're in charge. Have you ever seen that work well? Like y'all have seen this, right? You've been to Walmart.
Like you've seen like the meltdowns. Where the parents are just trying to appease the child. And like you shouldn't be paying attention anymore. But now you've stopped. And you're going. Just hit them.
Take them down. You're bigger than they are. You can do it. Like you start rooting for the parent. Hey, now would be the time for some discipline. Like I mean just something.
Go for it. Children's miserable. Household doesn't work. That's earth, y'all. We've taken over. And we're miserable.
And this system doesn't work. And Jesus says the time is fulfilled. The kingdom is coming. The king is returning. God's about to fix this. And throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are used interchangeably. So when he says the kingdom of God is at hand. That's also the kingdom of heaven. Meaning when God's in charge. It's heaven. When God's in charge.
Everything works the way it's supposed to. And that's actually what the church is supposed to look like. A little picture of heaven. The way we interact with each other. The way we relate to one another. The way we treat money and time and relationships and forgiveness and hurt feelings.
We're supposed to look like a little picture of heaven. So Jesus says kingdom's coming. Now he's going to tell us how to respond. So a king is on the march. And he's going to tell us here's your response. And here's how this works.
If you are not a Christian. This is how you respond immediately to the kingdom. This is your first immediate response to the kingdom of heaven. To the kingdom of God. And if you are a Christian. This is how you live continually.
It is your continual response to Jesus. So this is how we respond immediately and continually. So everybody needs to be paying attention because you're on one of those tracks. Alright so here's what he says. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.
That is the response. Repent and believe the gospel. Repent and believe the gospel. That's how you respond immediately and that's how you live continually. Okay now we've got to do a little bit of work here. Because we don't use that word a whole lot.
What we do here if you've been hanging out for a while. We use the word repent a good bit. But we don't in life. Like you don't use that word. You're not like late for dinner and go sorry. I turned the wrong way on 378.
So I had to repent and come back this way. Like you don't say that. It's not a word we use. Like you only hear that like maybe in your life. Like a sweaty preacher yelled it at you. Or your grandma said it to you.
Or it feels like some sort of Old Testament word. But it's the first thing out of Jesus's mouth when he starts his ministry. So it's massively important. The simplest. If you want to really shrivel it down. The simplest term is.
It means to change your mind. To change your mind. But it's used with so much weight. And so continually throughout scripture. It has massive implication. What it means is.
Stop the way you're thinking. Stop the way you're acting. And turn away from your sin. Agree with God about your behavior. Agree with God about your sin. What Jesus.
The first thing out of his mouth is. God's coming. And you need to change. God's coming. His kingdom is coming. And you're not going to fit in.
When he gets here. This behavior you've got going. Isn't going to cut it. The creator of the universe is coming. And you need to change. That's Jesus's first thing he says.
Now. I think. We would have wanted him. To say something different. And even culturally. We kind of act like Jesus said something different.
Like repent was like. Old Testament stuff. Maybe his. Bug eating cousin. John said that. They were cousins.
I didn't take out that earlier. But maybe John said that. Said repent. But Jesus. You know what? Jesus showed up.
Like Jesus showed up. And he kind of. He floated. Or at least sashayed. I don't know if he floats. He's got feet.
So maybe he sashays. And his little. His little train was doing like this. And then he said. Guys. Guys.
Guys. Get in here. I just. I came all this way. Because I just. I just want to hug you.
Like that's kind of how we act. Like I'm just here to just say. It's okay. It's okay. Everything's going to be fine. You.
You're special. You are. So are you. Like that's. That's what he came to do. Right?
To just like. Just warm hugs. Like he's Olaf. Jesus is Olaf. Hi. I'm Jesus.
And I love warm hugs. Like that's. And here's the thing. That's not what he says. But can I tell you something?
What he says. Is so much. Better. And so much more freeing. Than what we think. We want him to have said.
Let me explain. One reason why. If Jesus showed up. And said. I'm God. I'm the son of God.
And I just want to tell y'all. You're doing great. And everything's fine. I immediately have some massive problems with that. Because what he just said was. The kingdom of God is coming.
And when it gets here. It's going to look like this. What we already have. Because if we're fine. Then we fit perfectly into the kingdom of heaven.
And what he's saying is. This is heaven. And what Jesus just would have said was. I'm perfectly okay. With sex trafficking. And I'm perfectly okay.
With slave trade. And I'm perfectly okay. With systematic oppression. And injustice. If Jesus showed up and said that. We have massive problems.
That's okay. That's the kingdom of God. That's what heaven looks like. You're not mad about that. Nobody's going to take up the sword. Nobody's going to fight for the weak.
Nobody's going to stand up for the oppressed. Nobody's going to take up the cause of the poor. And the voiceless. Nobody. You're showing up and saying that's fine. That's a problem.
If Jesus showed up and said. Everything's great. Let me tell you something. We would have to take up the sword. We would have to. But no.
He shows up and says. This isn't okay. And so we get to follow after him. In a gracious way. To oppose injustice and oppression. We get to follow after him.
In joining him. In him saying. This isn't alright. And let me tell you why. It's also beautiful that he says this. If you're honest.
If you actually sit alone with yourself long enough. You know that what our culture is telling you. Is garbage. What our culture says is this. You're special. You're wonderful.
There's nothing wrong with you. And you just need to believe and believe. In your heart. In yourself. Just believe in yourself. And even if you have evidence to the contrary.
That you're not special and wonderful. Just negate it. And just repeat to yourself over and over again. No I am special. I am wonderful. That's why we can sit down with somebody.
And they can be consistently lying. Like have a pattern of this. And be like. Hey you're lying. And they say. Well look.
I'm not a liar. Based on what? I believe in my heart. I believe and believe. Like there's just this. This we're told culturally.
To just trust yourself. Believe in yourself. And here's the thing. That only works if we don't think about it. But I actually need Jesus to show up.
And say exactly what he just said to me. There's so much freedom in him showing up. And saying hey. You're not okay. There's things about you that need to change. You can't just say that's my personality.
No. Well your personality makes you a jerk. You should stop. You should fix that. Like there's things about you that are not alright. And you can't just say.
Well this is who I am. This is how. No. He shows up immediately and says. You need to change. Now.
He doesn't stop there. He says repent. And believe the gospel. And for me. I would have thought he said repent. Which means stop sinning.
Surrender. To what God says is correct. What God says is true. What God says is right. You would think he would say that. He would say repent.
And do good. Repent from your bad ways. And do good ways. Repent from your wrong ways. And do the right ways. Right.
Like that's what I would think would be the opposite of that. But what's he say. He says repent. And believe the gospel. What he says is. You need to turn away from your sin.
But I've actually got somewhere for you to take it. You see Jesus went to the cross. To die for our sin. So that our sin can actually be forgiven. That we get to bring him our sin. And he takes care of it.
He calls us to believe. What he's actually inviting you into. Is joy. And rest. And hope. That's the invitation of repentance.
So maybe. This is your first time hanging out. And you're like. Thank you so much. For this uplifting. Heartwarming message.
Of I'm a terrible person. So excited. First of all. If it's your first time. That's the first thing Jesus would have said to you. So you're welcome.
Secondly. It's an invitation. Into absolutely 100% what you need. I'm going to give you a small example. Just between my wife and I. Try to help you see this picture.
Of what Jesus is actually saying. Is so freeing to you. You see. I've been married for seven years. My wife and I dated for four or five. Before that.
She's not here. So I don't have to get that right. Four or five. And. Here's what I need from my wife. In our relationship.
I need her at times. When things are bad. And they aren't going well. I need her to like. Get next to me. Put her arm around me.
Kiss my cheek. Say hey boo. I believe in you. Like this is going to be okay. Like we're going to be fine. Like I need her to look at me sometimes.
And just say hey. Like this is going to work out. We're going to be okay. Like I need her to. To put wind in my sails. I need that.
Like I need her to hope in me. And in us. I need her to have that. For our relationship. Like if she just followed me around. Being like hey.
Just going to let you know you're terrible. Hey. On my way home from work. I made a list. Of how much you've disappointed me. Like if she did that.
It would be massively difficult. To be her husband. Like it would be. It would rip the soul out of me. But. If she wasn't aware.
That I'm a sinner. And if she wasn't aware. That I fail. And fall short. And that I'm weak. And all of her expectations of me.
Were just. I'm perfect. That would crush me. And the best relationship. We could have. Would be me.
Putting on a false front. A veneer. Wearing a mask. Hiding from her. Because I would never be able. To let her know.
That I failed. That I'm weak. That I'm. That I fall short. I got. I would have to pretend.
Around her. So if Jesus shows up. And just says. You're terrible. And stops there. Yeah.
That's crushing. And if Jesus shows up. And just says. Hey. I believe in you. You can be amazing.
What we would believe. Is that maybe other people can. But I can't. And I'm exempted. From that message. But what Jesus shows up.
And says. Is exactly. What we need to hear. Which is. You're broken. And weak.
And I'm going to make that okay. There's hope. And joy. And rest. For you. For all of you.
Who fall short. For all of you. Who can't get it together. For all of you. Who are not able. To always do.
What you're supposed to. For all of you. Who have. Taken your. Your past. And just.
Jacked it up. There's hope for you. You need to repent. You need to surrender. You need to turn from that. But you need to come to me.
Where there's joy. And hope to be found. That's why Acts 3. 19. Says it this way. He says.
Repent. Therefore. Turn back. That your sins. May be blotted. Out.
You see. We turn away from our sin. Because we actually have a place. To take them. To Jesus. We trust.
That he's able to. Pay for them. To cover them. For us. This is. The intro.
And. The lifelong. Process. Of being a Christian. It is a life. Of continually.
Repenting. Of sin. And believing. The truth. Of the gospel. That's.
Life. As a Christian. That we. Don't have to be perfect. That Jesus. Makes us perfect.
And that we can. Continually. Repent of sin. And trust him. And here's the issue. Here's the.
Here's the thing. The opposite. Of. Sin. Is not. Good behavior.
But it's. Belief. It's. Faith. The reason we sin. In the first place.
Is that we're not. Believing the gospel. We're not believing. That Jesus is who he says he is. And that he's accomplished. What he said he's accomplished.
And that joy. And hope. And life. Are ultimately found in him. The reason we're chasing. After these other things.
Is because we're not believing that. And that's why he says. Repent of your sin. And believe what's true. Because if you believe it. It automatically shows up.
You ever had. You ever told somebody. Hey. This is really good. And it looks funny. Like y'all are eating something.
And you're like. You should try this. And their immediate response is. You eat it. Maybe your friends trust you. I don't know.
If I tell somebody to eat something. They're like. You eat it. Like that's the response. Because what they're saying is. If you believe that it's good.
You'll have no problem with eating it right now. But if you don't believe that. I'm at least going to make you suffer with me. You'll have to fake through. And pretend like it's good. So sometimes it's worth it.
Like I'll be like. Like I was lying or whatever. And I'll eat it. And just like. You know. You have to try to fake it.
So that they'll eat some. And then you can be like. Ah. Now we're both idiots. But belief actually shows up.
Like it shows up in how we act. It shows up in what we do. So I can sit down with you. And ask you. What do you believe? And you can tell me everything.
In your little heart. That you believe that it's true. And a better way for me to find out. Would be to audit your time. And your bank account. Because if you actually believe.
That it shows up in how you spend your time. And how you spend your money. You see. The opposite of sin. Is belief. Because belief is what.
Changes our hearts. And changes how we act. And changes what we do. And ultimately invites us into joy. So it's an invitation.
Into joy. The Christian life is a life of repentance. Continually repenting. And continually believing the gospel. That when we sin. All we're saying is.
I don't really believe the gospel here. We're waving a flag. And saying. I don't believe that the gospel is true for me. So when you say.
This is my money. And nobody can have any. And I'm not supposed to be generous. What you're saying is. I don't believe the gospel is true. With my money.
When you're saying that. The best thing I can find in life. Is just to have sex. And to chase women. Or to get guys to like me. What you're saying is.
I don't really believe the gospel is true. That Jesus gives me my identity. And my hope. And my salvation. Like. Anytime we're sinning.
We have a belief issue. First and foremost. Because we don't realize. That the gospel has freed us up. From that. So it's not just to.
Modify our behavior. But to actually change what we believe. So that we can be set free. Okay. So let me tell you.
A couple of ways. That we kind of. Mess this up. There are some of you. In this room right now. You've been a Christian a while.
And you're like. I get the repentance thing. I realize that I'm supposed to see my sin and change. But the point of repentance. Is to lead us. Into the joy.
Of Jesus's salvation. So some of you. Are anxious. You're worn out. Because your whole life. Is trying to.
Fix your behavior. To modify yourself. To find all your sins. And get rid of them. But you've never gotten to the point.
That the point of repenting of sin. Is to believe. That the gospel is true. That you're free. That you're okay. You have three accountability partners.
And y'all get together. And talk about. How are you terrible. Here's how I'm terrible. And you never say. How is Jesus good.
How does the gospel set us free. How do we have. Freedom and hope. And joy in Jesus. Because the point of repenting. Is to believe.
If we're genuinely repenting. We'll grow in belief. And if we're genuinely believing. We'll be repenting. Some of you. May have bought into the.
Southern lie. That you can be a Christian. And that have no effect on your life. That you can say a prayer. I've. Been in church gatherings.
Before like this. Preacher talks about. Ten ways to be a better dad. Three ways you can find. Joy in marriage. And then at the end.
He says. If you want to be a Christian. Repeat after me. Hadn't explained the cross. Hadn't explained the cross. It just says.
Repeat these words. And I. Or. Every head out. Every head bowed. Every eyes closed.
No one looking around. If you want to be a Christian. Just look at me. Okay. Good. I see that.
I see that hand. I see those eyes. Whatever. Like. Just. Y'all been in this?
No? And then he'll say. Say this prayer. Raise your hand. If you just prayed that prayer. You're all Christians.
That's like a magic spell. That's not Christianity. Christianity is that you believe. And you repent. And that's a lifelong process. Of believing and repenting.
Now. If you actually believed. Jesus makes you his. And he'll keep you his. But one of the ways he keeps you his.
Is by continually leading you to repent. Continually changing your heart. Some of you would say you are a Christian. And you have not owned your sin. Acknowledged your sin. It's been years.
If ever. The last time you sat down with someone. And said. Here's how I was wrong. Here's how I sinned against you. Here's how I failed.
And here's how Jesus is good. You think that you can be a Christian. Without repenting. And that person does not exist in the Bible. One of the reasons why the Bible advocates. That at times you should.
Remove people from being a part of the church. Or treat them like they aren't Christians. Is because you address sin in them. And they don't listen. So you address sin in them again.
And they don't listen. So you get more people. And you address sin in them. And then at some point it says. Just know they're not a Christian. Because Christians repent.
Christians see their sin. Agree with God about their sin. Change their heart about sin. And follow Jesus. That is what Christians do. For a lifetime.
You will never outgrow your need for the gospel. But see repentance is a call to joy. And to freedom. In Jesus. It's exactly what we need to hear. You're not okay.
But I can make you okay. You're not fine on your own. And there's some things that aren't going to make it into the kingdom. But I will bring you into the kingdom. Because I'll pay for your sin. So let's say you became a Christian.
You became a Christian when you were in your. You were a teenager. Maybe you became a Christian when you were a teenager. Genuinely placed faith in Jesus. And then throughout your teen years. You really just kind of buy into the lie.
That the best way to have fun and enjoy life is through sex. Because our culture tells you that. Sex is where the good life is. Like if you've ever noticed the magazine racks. When you're in line at Target. What's it say?
What are like all the. Field and stream. All of them. Talk about. Here's how to have better sex. You'll notice.
None of them are saying. You should be having more sex. They've already got us to buy into that. They're just saying. Your sex should be better. Because more apparently didn't fix it.
So you buy into that lie when you're a teenager. That this is how life. This is where joy comes from. This is where hope comes from. And then because you're a Christian. Jesus leads you to repentance.
He goes to work on your heart. And he shows you that life and joy aren't found there. That ultimately they will not satisfy. And that your hope gets to be placed in him. And so you repent. You confess to the people around you.
Confess to your community group. And you turn away from it. Then in your 20s. You just start living your life. You're going for it. And you start realizing.
That you've now bought into the idea. That money and success. That things. That the goal. You hook, line and sink are the American dream. The goal of life is to have stuff.
And if I can fill my house with stuff. And if I can go on vacations. And if I can be comfortable. And if I can have a title. And if I can have. Like I'll have hope and joy in life.
But because you're a Christian. Jesus goes to work in your heart. And he shows you that that's bankrupt. That it's empty. And so you repent. And it's a 10 year long battle.
In your soul. To believe that the gospel is true. And that money won't satisfy you. And it won't fill you up. And it won't give you purpose and meaning. In your 30's.
You start trying to question. Like what. Where does my. Where does my worth come from. Where does my purpose come from. And maybe you answer it with.
It's by having wonderful kids. If I can just have a healthy little family. Then I'll know I'm okay. Maybe it's. It's if I can have a good career. That means something.
If I can wake up every day. And go do exactly what I want to do. Like that's. That's where I get hope from. Maybe you answer it that way. Maybe you answer it with kids.
Or perfect family. Or good Job. But you don't have either. You're not married. You don't have kids. You don't have a good job.
And so you've answered the question. This is what will fill me up. But you don't have it. So you're depressed. You're broken. But Jesus steps in and says.
You're broken. But I've got good news. I've got the gospel for you. Which is. These things won't fill you up. Won't fix you.
Won't give you worth. But I can. And so maybe in your 30's. The biggest thing that he leads you to repent of. Is where your hope and your joy and your worth are found. Maybe you spend your 30's walking through that with him.
Over and over and over and over again. This isn't going to make you okay. This isn't going to fix you. And he reminds you over and over again. That the gospel is true. That Jesus died for you.
To welcome you. To make you his. And to give you worth. In your 40's. Maybe you begin to. Start realizing that you.
You've. Kind of spent your life. On yourself. And you haven't cared at all. That your neighbors don't know Jesus. You haven't cared at all.
That nobody around you. Knows him. And you start realizing. You know. I haven't. I haven't shared the gospel.
I haven't spent any of my life. Towards something that. Eternally matters. And so you begin to. To repent. Jesus begins to work in your heart.
Maybe in your 50's. You start. Really struggling. With the fact. That you still have doubts. And fears.
And questions. And I should be further along. Than I am now. And Jesus shows up. And says. You're never going to outgrow.
The need for the gospel. You're going to need to. Continually repent. And continue to believe. And continually to follow after me. Maybe in your 60's.
All the things. That you've put your hope in. That make you. You. Are falling apart. Your body's falling apart.
Your kids are out of the house. You used to be the one person. That everybody called on for help. And now people are asking you. If you need help. You're going to have to retire.
From your job. Or you can't do it the way you used to. And you start in your 60's. Realizing. I don't have an identity anymore. And Jesus.
Breaks you over your sin. And says. You need to believe the gospel. That your identity. Always came from me. Maybe in your 70's.
You start questioning. What's your legacy. And how's my name going to continue. And he starts reminding you. That his legacy. And his name.
Matter most. And my hope. And prayer for us. As a church. Is that each of us. Would spend our life.
Year after year. Day after day. And decade after decade. Repenting. And being renewed. And called into.
The hope that is only found. In the gospel. Some of you are in here. And you say. I'm a Christian. But I just feel stagnant.
I feel empty. And my question to you would be. When was the last time you repented? When was the last time you sat down. With a blank sheet of paper. And said.
Jesus. Show me my sin. Because I can promise you. He loves to answer that one. Because when he shows you your sin. He calls you to himself.
Every single time. The goal of you seeing your sin. Is so that you would get more of him. When Jesus says. You need to repent. And believe the gospel.
You need to turn away from your sin. And run to me. That's the call. Christians. Repent. And if you say you're a Christian.
And that's not a normal pattern of life for you. The Bible says. To test yourself. To see whether or not you're in the faith. Which means. Hold your life up to scripture.
And see. Is this showing up? It says. To work out your salvation. With fear and trembling. And here's how.
Repentance ought to look. You ought to see your sin. And be broken over it. Your heart ought to break. Over the fact. That your sin.
Caused Jesus to die. I want to. Let's read. Second Corinthians seven. Real quick with each other. Paul says this.
As it is. I rejoice. Not because you were grieved. But because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief. So that you suffered no loss through us.
For godly grief. So your heart is broken. It's grief. You're grieved over your sin. You're mourning it. Godly grief produces a repentance.
That leads to salvation. Without regret. Without regret. That's like a Nike t-shirt. No regrets. Like that's what Christians get to have.
Is a repentance. That leads them to salvation. Where you're not condemned. You're not overwhelmed by your sin. You're free. Your shame and your guilt.
Are gone. Your brokenness is gone. Because Jesus was broken for you. That you are grieved over your sin. But then you're welcomed into joy.
It says worldly grief produces death. Some of you have worldly grief over your sin. It's killing you. Because you're not believing the gospel. It's crushing you. Because you're not turning it into joy.
Which is that Jesus died for it to set you free. Some of you are just condemning yourself. Just telling yourself you're terrible. You get the idea that you're broken. But you don't.
You realize that you don't deserve anything from God. You've fallen face first into the dirt. And you've said God I'm broken. But you need to realize that Jesus bends down. Picks you up out of the dirt. And says I love you.
See on the cross our sin is shown to be terrible. And God's love is shown to be great. Jesus died because our sin is heinous before him. And he died because he loves us so much. That he was willing to save us from it. You need to see your sin.
You need to agree with God about it. You need to be broken over your sin. Your heart should be wrenched inside of your chest. That you know that you don't deserve anything from him. And then you need to be welcomed into enjoying Jesus. As you confess openly to the people around you.
I'm a sinner. Because anytime as a Christian we confess. We're confessing our sin. And that Jesus is our savior. We confess two things. We make the confession of our sin.
And that I wouldn't be able to confess this if it weren't for him. Band's going to come back up here, Matt. Bianca are going to come. We're going to spend a little time this morning. They're going to sing a song here in a minute. We're not going to sing with them.
We're just going to take a minute to sit and ask God the question. Where do I need to repent? Where do you want to work in me? What do you want to cut out of me? What do you want to set me free from? What do you want to draw me closer to you in?
Because his goal is to give you more of himself. Set you free from sin. And welcome you to himself. If you would say you're a Christian. I have a couple questions for you. Do you see your sin?
Do you repent? When you're faced with that your life doesn't line up with scripture. What is your response? Do you run to God? Do you own it? When you're repenting, are you blame shifting?
Well, I wouldn't have done that if you hadn't have done this. And really, it's not sin. It's like I've got some weaknesses. You know, nobody's perfect. Do you actually own the fact that this won't fly in God's kingdom? But Jesus is good enough to work on it in me.
If you're a Christian, do you repent? Do you only repent when someone notices? Do you only repent when you get caught? Or do you own up to the stuff that nobody would know about? The stuff that I'm the only one who knows. And if I don't tell you, no one knows.
But I've got to tell you because Jesus sets me free from this. Some of you right now are saying, I can't do that. That's because you don't believe the gospel. Your value doesn't come from what you've done. Your value doesn't come from who people think you are. Your value comes from what Jesus has accomplished on your behalf and who he's made you.
As a Christian, I get to lay it all on the line and say, these are all the things that would have destroyed me, that would have owned me, that would have sent me straight to hell. But Jesus died for me so that I don't have to. I don't have to be crushed by it or owned by it. If you're a Christian and you say, you know, I repent, I see my sin. May I ask you this? Does your repentance lead you to joy?
Do you end up in belief? Do you end up in celebrating that God is gracious towards you? Ephesians says that he saved us for the praise of his glorious grace. You do not deserve salvation. You do not deserve grace. And in the moments when you see your sin the most, you get to praise his grace.
That he lavished love on you because he's good. And so when you feel like, I don't deserve this, I'm not worthy. Yeah, but Jesus is and he was worthy on your behalf and you are loved and cherished. Does your repentance lead you to joy? Does your repentance lead you to joy? So here's what we're going to do.
We don't repent unless the Holy Spirit helps us. We won't actually see our sin unless the Holy Spirit helps us. And even when we do see our sin, we won't care unless the Holy Spirit helps us. So for a minute, I just want us to pray that the Holy Spirit would go to work on our souls, that he would help us. He'd help us change, that he'd help us see our sin, that he'd help us hate it, and that he would impress upon us the love that he has for us. And then just right where you are, I want you to take a minute to ask God, where do I need to repent?
Where do I need to change? What in me do you want to cut out? Some people are going to need to get up and go talk to somebody. You're going to need to go confess to someone. And that's fine. Because we get to look like a little picture of heaven and Jesus' church confesses our sin and that Jesus is our Savior and that we're free.
We're going to act today like the gospel is true. We're going to believe that we're free from sin, that Jesus rose from the grave, that we're not conquered by our guilt and our shame and our debt. God, we ask that your Holy Spirit would move and work in this place. God, that you would lead your church to repent, that we would hate our sin, and that we would see the cross so clearly, to know that we're free, that we're loved. God, I ask you to work in us this morning.
Sept 18
The Gospel and Baptism
Transcript
We doing well this morning? Grab your Bibles, go to Mark chapter 1. We are doing a couple of exciting things today. We're having baptisms and we are starting a new series that we'll be walking through for the next five weeks. So we'll be in Mark chapter 1 today and we're going to spend a little bit of time for the next five weeks in Mark.
Just walking through what it looks like to follow Jesus. So we're going to be studying Jesus and his disciples. The Gospel of Mark was written by a close associate of the Apostle Peter, the disciple Peter. And so we are just looking at what Mark wrote and what it looked like to follow Jesus for them. And then we're trying to spend some time asking, what does that look like for us? Because I know when Jesus walked up to Peter and he said, follow me, and then he started walking, Peter could see Jesus.
So following him was pretty simple. It was like, I'm just going to walk behind him and then go from there, see what happens. For us, it's a little bit different. We've got to figure out what does it actually look like for us in Columbia in 2016 to follow Jesus. What does that mean with my job? What does that mean with school?
What does that mean with how I relate? And how does this work? And so that's what we're going to spend the next several weeks walking through and talking about. But we're kind of jumping that off today in Mark chapter 1. And we're going to look at one verse. But if we miss this, we'll misunderstand everything.
And so we're just going to study the beginning of the Gospel of Mark for just a few minutes this morning. And then we're going to celebrate in baptism. So I'm going to pray and we'll jump in. God, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for your love towards us. And we pray that we would grow today in our ability to joyously celebrate your active work on earth.
And we pray that we would grow in our understanding of what it means to follow you. In Jesus' name, amen. Mark chapter 1, verse 1. The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Okay, so Mark starts off and he's not playing around. Like he doesn't take his time.
It's the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So other Gospels, we have four of them. There's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew gives a genealogy of Jesus. He's kind of telling us his family history. Luke starts off telling us about how John the Baptist was born and how Jesus was born.
And that's where, if you've ever been to a Christmas play, we read the nativity stuff from Luke. That's the one they read in the Peanuts Christmas special. Charlie Brown's Christmas or whatever. That's Luke. Luke starts off with this big theological treatise on Jesus is the Word who becomes flesh and he lives among us. And it gets really kind of confusing.
He inserts John the Baptist in the middle of it for the heck of it. Like he just kind of takes his time. Mark is just, this is the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It's like you went on a first date with Mark. You sat down at the table. The waitress comes up to see what you want to eat or what you want to order to drink.
And he's like, hold on a second. Do you want to get married? And it's like, what? And he's like, well, that's the point of dating, isn't it? Let's do this thing.
Like he's like straight up at the very beginning is like, this is the point of my book. Jesus is the Son of God. Like this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And so what we're going to do is take just a second to understand that sentence. What the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God means. Because Gospel means something.
Christ means something. And him saying he's the Son of God means something. So I just want to, when he says Jesus Christ, Christ is not his last name. Christ is a title. It means Jesus, the promised Messiah. Jesus, the promised one of God.
Like he's the one that the Old Testament has been telling us. He's the one that the prophets have been telling us. He's the one we've been waiting for this whole time. Jesus is the promised one. And then he says he's the Son of God. So he starts off by saying, you know Jesus, you know that guy that everybody's heard about?
I want you to know that he's the Son of God. I want you to know that God came down. I want you to know that God joined us. That's how he starts off this Gospel. Okay. I don't know about y'all.
When I hear that, God came to earth. My immediate thought is, uh-oh. Like that doesn't sound great. Like I look around earth. I live here. I'm from here.
I look around earth and I think, we're not doing so hot. Like there's a lot that we have done poorly. And if God made earth, when he comes down, it seems like he's not coming down to give out high fives or participation awards. Or like just to congratulate us. Like it doesn't seem like he's going to show up and be like, hey guys, I just couldn't stay in heaven. I had to come talk to y'all.
Genocide? Brilliant. Racism. You guys are crushing it. Like he's not, like I'm immediately hesitant when I hear that God came down. And I know for a lot of us, our response is, I would like for God to come down.
I'm going to give him a piece of my mind. I'd like to, I want to talk to him about some of this stuff. Like I'm upset with him. But let me tell you a little story and how I kind of don't think that's true. When I was little, we used to go stay at my grandparents' house. And I had like 13 cousins or 12 cousins.
I guess I was one of them. So there's like 13 of us. And the way my grandmother's house was, she had a big house. Everybody would stay there. All the families would stay there. And then there was a basement.
And the basement was just covered in little like mats and pallets and sleeping bags and stuff for all the kids to stay. And the kids were aged from like 4 to 15 or something. And so then they would come tell us, y'all need to go to bed. And then they would close the basement door. And they would leave us alone. And we didn't go to bed.
But we, like there was always shenanigans and nonsense. Like there was, we were making noises. We were messing with stuff. We were doing things they had explicitly told us not to do. We were doing things that they hadn't explicitly told us not to do. But we were pretty sure they would have had they thought of it.
Like we were down there. I mean it was chaos. And then here's what would happen. At some point, we don't know quite when they were going to sleep. You know, we were younger, we had to go to bed early. But at some point, the door to the basement would open.
And at my grandmother's house, there was, the basement door was hidden. And then there was like this half partial wall with some posts holding it up. And there were steps coming down. And so you always got to see the feet of whoever was coming down the stairs before you got to see the face. And so when the door opened, it was everybody immediately pretending like you sleep. Like we all, like you just tried to, you just dove somewhere.
Sometimes like three of y'all in the same sleeping bag. Like it's super weird looking, but like everybody just got to act like they were asleep. And then you would try to peek as best you could to see whose feet it was. And what, because like if I saw my uncle's feet, he can yell at me. He ain't hitting me though. Like I'm not getting beat by my uncle.
His kids are in trouble. Like he's going to beat them in front of us. We'll all be scared. But like the best time, but if I saw my dad's feet, it's like that's a one and third chance I'm getting beaten. And depending on how, you know, how much energy he had, it might just be all three of us just line us up or whatever. If you saw my granddad's feet, that's equal opportunity beatings.
Like he can hit whoever he wants. He made everybody. And so there was this moment when the door opened that immediately you were like, like, oh, them coming down here, this isn't good. They're not coming down here to tell us well done. And that's the same when I hear that God came to earth. My immediate thought is not, well, good.
My immediate thought is, oh, I've got sin. I've got brokenness. We're not doing well. And if he takes us to task, if he makes us give an account, this is a problem. But there's a word that Mark sticks at the very beginning of this that fixes that.
He says the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. And that word gospel, maybe some of y'all are familiar with it. Maybe you've, you grew up around church and you just know, well, gospel, you know, that's talking about Jesus. Maybe some of you didn't. And you're thinking gospel in that like a type of music. Or like, don't people say like, this is the gospel truth.
Doesn't that mean just like the truth of your truth? Like, I don't really know. I'm not heard that word a lot. When Mark used that word, it actually was a word that they used culturally at that time. There's actually an inscription that says the beginning of the gospel of Tiberius Caesar. Like, this was a term they used for a very specific type of message.
What it meant was good news. The word gospel is actually two Greek words stuck together that just mean news and joyful. It's like, this is joyful news. And here's how they used it. It meant life-changing, history-altering. You're never going to be the same again news.
I've got a piece of information for you that is going to radically change everything. It's that type of news. That's what gospel meant. So the way they would use this sum is they would have after battles. So when an invading force was coming, the king would, or the leader, the military leaders, the generals would take the army and they would lead away from the city.
And there would be a certain amount of people left in the city to defend the city. But they would go out to fight against the enemy. And if they won or if they lost, either way, they were sending people back to the city. Either way, whether they won or lost, they were sending people back to the city. But they had very different jobs.
If they lost, they sent military advisors. They sent some people hightailing as best they could, retreating, to come to the city and say, If you do this, you might live. If you put the military here, if you garrison this way, here's what's coming. And if we do this, if we hold on well, we might make it. There's a lot of things we got to do and not do in order to maybe make it. But if they won, they sent a good newser.
They sent a gospeler who was just going to come proclaim, we won. It was actually in history, in this story, we're not sure if it's true at this point, but there's a guy named Pheidippides. And after the Battle of Marathon, he ran 26.2 miles to the city to tell them, Joy to you, these are his last words, joy to you, we've won. And then as the story goes, Pheidippides dies. And for some reason, we heard this story. Some guy heard this story and was like, Huh, he ran 26.2 miles and died.
Do y'all want to run 26.2 miles and call that a marathon? After the Battle of Marathon? And it's like, why? To see if we die? No. What happens if we don't die?
You can put a sticker on your Xterra. Like, I don't know what the point is, but I believe in safety first, so I'll never run a marathon. But the point, like, they sent good newsers to go proclaim, We've won. The battle is won. And all you have to do at this point is live in light of that. The battle's won.
Get out the finest meats and cheeses. Like, we're just going to celebrate. The victory's been won. We're okay. You don't have to do anything other than just know this news is to be celebrated. And that's what Mark says.
He says, the story of the promised one, Jesus, the Son of God coming to earth, is earth-shattering, history-changing news. And that is the fundamental difference between Christianity and every other religion and every other philosophy and every other thought process, is that we have news and everybody else has advice. Every other religion, every other philosophy is sending out, here's what you have to do and you might survive. Here's what you have to do and God will love you. Here's what you have to do to have the good life now. Here's what you have to do to enjoy earth to the fullest.
Here's what you have to do in order to reach nirvana. And Christianity is saying, here's what's already been done. Here's the good news of Jesus. You were sinful. You deserved wrath. You deserved punishment.
You were guilty. And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came and lived on earth perfectly on your behalf and died gruesomely on a cross. And he was buried. And three days later, he rose again from the grave. He conquered death. He conquered sin.
He conquered all the enemies that had surrounded you. I have joy to you. We've won. The victory has been won. Jesus has won. He is no longer in the grave.
And if you place your faith in Jesus, you can be forgiven. If you place your faith in Jesus, you can be free. That's the gospel. The church is not a gathering of perfect, cleaned up people. The church is a gathering of the first people in the room to raise their hand and say, I'm so messed up. If somebody else doesn't do something, I'm in trouble.
We celebrate baptism today. There's going to be people over and over again getting to tell you, I'm so messed up. If Jesus didn't do something, I'm in trouble. Here's how Jesus rescued me. Here's how he paid for my sin. The point of this is not, I'm going to go do my good church thing.
I'm going to get baptized because you're supposed to. And then God will love me. That's not the gospel. The gospel is that Jesus Christ died for our sins so that we could be free and that everything we've ever done to fall short has been wiped away because Jesus paid for it. And that's what we celebrate today. And that's what we'll be talking about for the next four weeks is how that news affects every aspect of our lives.
How it changes everything for us. So in just a minute, we're going to show some videos. People are going to get in here and be baptized to celebrate that Jesus Christ saves sinners and that we get to live our lives in light of some good news. Not trying to work really hard, to be really moral, to clean ourselves up, to make ourselves special. That Jesus was awesome on our behalf and we get to rest in the freedom that he's offered to us. Let's pray.
God, we thank you today that we get to gather to celebrate good news. God, that the entrance to being baptized is not, let me behave well, let me work hard, let me promise to do better. But the entrance is that you died, you were buried, you rose again, and you paid for our sin. And so as Christians, we get to be buried with you in baptism. We get to rise again out of the water, free from our sin because you paid for it. God, we thank you for the good news.
We love you. We praise you. In Jesus' name, amen.
When the Spirit Moves in Power
Transcript
But happy, happy Labor Day weekend. If it's your first time hanging out with us, my name is Matt. I'm one of the pastors, and we're coming to the conclusion of a little two-week series that we've been doing. I was reading recently in a book, and the author shared a story that I want to share with you guys. In 1857, there was this young guy named Jeremiah Lanphier who had just been given a new job as a pastor on the south side of Manhattan. It was a really small church, and like anybody who's going into a new job, he was excited.
He was excited to get to know people, to start spending time with them. But it didn't take long for Jeremiah to become discouraged and frustrated, because it seemed like every person he met didn't have time to talk about God, wanted nothing to do with the church. It was like people just bypassed him in such a fast-paced city. And so not really knowing what else to do, he decided to pray. And as he was praying, an overwhelming sense of God's Spirit, God's presence came over top of him. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
And so what he decided was, okay, I'm going to just invite people to pray with me and ask for God to continue doing this. That was his new plan of attack. So he decided that one day every week, he would put a sign outside of the mission, inviting people to come in and pray with him during the lunch hour. So that was his new plan. So he put out the sign, the day came, he went inside and waited.
Five minutes. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. A half hour went by and nobody. And again, defeated and discouraged, he went to close up shop when six people walked in the door. And he was excited because people had come to pray.
So he just, he prayed with those six people. And he was really excited about it. The next week he put the sign back out, 20 people showed up. The next week, 40 people showed up. And those 40 people decided, no, let's, let's, this is great. Let's do this every day.
So they started meeting every day at the lunch hour until after a couple of months, there were hundreds of people filling the auditorium of that church at the lunch hour every day praying. They outgrew that space and they started meeting in other places all around Manhattan. And in a couple of months time, reporters estimated that there were nearly 10,000 Christians crying out to God at the lunch hour in Manhattan. And in just nine months time, 50,000 people came to Christ in Manhattan at a time when New York's population did not exceed 800,000. That's amazing. That's amazing.
Like doesn't that like raise every hair on your arms? Just going, I want to see God do something like that. I want to see God move and work in Columbia. I want to see an outpouring of the spirit where there's thousands of people coming to Christ. In fact, the pages of Christian history are filled with stories like this. It's happening right now with the underground church in China.
I mean, there's just thousands of people coming to Christ. We see stories like Peter in the book of Acts. And every time I hear these stories, I just, I long for that. Like I want to see God doing a work like that, outpouring his spirit. And what we talked about last week is that as Christians, we understand that prayer and the Holy Spirit are vitally important to the life of a Christian. But sometimes we have a hard time wrapping our mind around like, how do I pray on a regular basis?
How do I see the Holy Spirit moving and working in my life in the day to day? And we made the connection that the reason that we pray in the first place is that we need God. So in the same way that a child is wholly dependent upon its parent to get the things that it needs to take care of it, we relate to God in the same way. And God's answer to everything that we need is to send the Holy Spirit. So we get to be needy children with a good father.
And the good gift that our father wants to give us is the Holy Spirit. And so when we're praying, we're praying about everything and we're asking for God to send the Holy Spirit to be active and at work. I was talking with one of our group leaders this week and he was telling me, he said, you know, I've been a Christian for a while and I pray. But just in this last week have begun to pray. Instead of God help me have a good day at work, I've begun to pray. Holy Spirit, help me do what I need to do at work today.
Help me reach the people that I need to. Help me interact with these people. And he just said it made all the difference in the world because he was asking for God to be at work in his life. That's what the point of prayer is. And so what we're looking at today is a specific prayer in the Bible where the guy is praying about God bringing about restoration, bringing about redemption. And as we look at this passage, we're not going to see specifically the Holy Spirit talked about here.
So as he's praying for restoration, he's not asking for the Holy Spirit. But we know on this side of the cross and in light of what we looked at last week is Jesus teaches us to pray. When we're asking for God to redeem, when we're asking for him to restore, what we're actually wanting, what we need to be asking for is the Holy Spirit. And so the question we're trying to answer this morning is if that's the case, if we should be praying for the Holy Spirit and God desires to work and he's going to use the Holy Spirit to do it, how does that show up? Like what exactly is that going to look like in our lives?
So before we hop into the text, let's pray and ask God to open his word to us. God, we don't have the ability to comprehend your word outside of you moving and working through your Holy Spirit. So God, I pray that these would not be my own words, that they would be yours. God, I pray that there would be encouragement this morning as we understand the point of prayer and what we're actually asking for and how you desire to send the Holy Spirit to be everything that we need. In Jesus' name, amen. Grab a Bible, turn to Psalm 126.
So if you grabbed one of those blue and white Bibles in the chairs, you're going to be turning to page 333. We're going to be looking at Psalm 126 today. And if you haven't spent a lot of time in the Psalms, I would encourage you to. They're amazing. It's basically a collection of songs and poetry that kind of span the range of human emotion from love to anger to despair to worship. And the majority of the Psalms are actually written as prayers.
So they're prayers to God. In the Psalm that we're looking at today, the author is yearning for the same type of outpouring of the Spirit from the story that we just saw in Manhattan. It's the same kind of thing. He wants to see God move and work. And before we start reading, if you look, look just above the text. So if you grab a Bible, you may see it says, Song of Ascents.
Okay, all that means is this is one of the songs that the Israelites would sing, they would recite, they would pray as they were going up to Jerusalem to worship. And it was almost as if they were setting their minds on who it was they were going to worship, why they were going to worship. And so it kind of in light of that, I want us to be reading it. This is the people reminding themselves of who God is and how they ought to be relating to him. So Psalm 126 is just six verses, but there's a lot here.
Verse one. So the writer of this Psalm is recalling a time when God came to the rescue of his people. So he says, God, when you restored the fortunes of Zion and that word Zion, it's just used throughout the Bible to either refer to the people of God or the place where the people of God were. He said, you came and you restored the fortunes of Zion. And it must have been amazing. And while we can't see it, we can get a picture of how they're describing it.
He says, we were like those who dream. It's one of those like you're wiping your eyes trying to figure out what's it's that type of moment. We were like those who dream. Our mouth was filled with laughter. Our tongues with shouts of joy. We celebrated as a church family last week the return of college football.
Hallelujah. And so some of you hopefully have enjoyed that all week long. It has been a great weekend of college football. There's even college football tonight and tomorrow night. It's a glorious Labor Day weekend, guys. And most of you were probably glued to your televisions on Thursday night watching the Gamecocks play.
Okay. There was not a whole lot of expectation with the Gamecocks going into this season. Everyone was kind of wondering what the must champ era was going to look like. And according to the first half, it wasn't going to look very good. Because the Gamecocks went in to halftime down 10-0. But then they came out in the second half.
Perry Orth started completing some passes. Some of those wide receivers started making some catches. And Carolina found themselves deep into the fourth quarter tied 10-10 with Vanderbilt. And so they're way out from the end zone. It becomes fourth down. And the field goal unit comes onto the field.
And the smallest guy on the team, which I can't help but point out, guys, his last name's Fry. So a small Fry comes out onto the field at about 130 pounds. And that joker kicked that ball. And it would have been good for another six to seven yards. He crushed it. And the Carolina fans that were in that stadium went nuts.
They were losing their mind and high-fiving. And I'm looking at the screen going, it's just Vanderbilt, guys. Calm down. And all across our city and all across our state, people, like, you may not have even known the person. Like, the people in the stadium, they might not have even known them. But they're high-fiving.
They're excited. That's the type of unbridled joy that the psalmist is describing. We couldn't believe it. We were like those who dreamed. This is unbelievable. It was so unbelievable that even the surrounding nations were looking at it going, the Lord has done great things for them.
Not a God. The God. The Lord. The Lord has done great things for them. And so the guy who wrote this Psalm is remembering what God has done in the past. And in verse 4, he begins praying.
So in light of what God has done in the past, he then brings his request to God. So this is verse 4. He says this. Restore our fortunes, O Lord. Okay, so he started praying now. He's using the exact same language that he used up in verse 1 to remember what God had done in the past.
So restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev. Maybe your Bible says Negev with a V. Maybe it's Negev with a B. There's an exclamation point. So he's getting hype right now.
He's really excited about what he's praying and asking God to do. He says, restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. So the writer of this Psalm turns out of thanksgiving for what God had done in the past into a request. He says, okay, God, what you did, what you did in our past, how you rescued, how you redeemed, we want you to do that again. We need you to bring rescue and salvation and mercy.
God, come. Come to our rescue. And it's not hard to get the gist of what he's saying here. God redeemed in the past and there's a situation now where they need him again. And this is not, this is very akin to what we looked at last week when Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray. The whole point was they were needy and they needed God's active work in their lives.
Like they needed the Holy Spirit to be moving and working. And they're in the same situation right now saying, God, bring about restoration. So it's not hard to understand what they're saying, but they are using terms that we wouldn't use on a regular basis. And I think if we'll take some time to just kind of unpack what they're saying, to talk about what's going on in their culture, it'll help us have a better understanding of how we ought to be praying. So you guys know this.
Israel is located in the Middle East, which is one of the like harshest climates in the world. It is mostly desert. So like picture the cartoon version of the coyote, Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner and like the tumbleweeds rolling. And like it's that type of dry. It's arid.
It's hot. It's windy. Rains are sporadic. And the culture at this time was based off of farming. Oh, boy. It's like, could you imagine trying to plant crops in this kind of an environment?
And some of you, some of you have green thumbs like you. Maybe you've got some tomato plants or maybe you've got a garden. I know one of our group leader actually has a garden on her balcony of their second floor apartment. And you walk outside and it's kind of like you're in a jungle. And there's some spices over here and some tomato plants. It's actually pretty cool.
I'm impressed that it hasn't been scorched by the Columbia sun. But we don't talk about things in terms of farming in 21st century America because we don't interact with it on a regular basis. And so the language he's using, I want you to imagine that you've got to plant a garden. So you're thinking about the seeds that you're planting and the water and the sunlight. And the place that you had to do it is, oh, I don't know, the top of the Grand Canyon. And you've got a pretty good picture.
You've got an idea of what they were up against. And what the psalmist is praying is for God to restore. And the language that he's using is that of farming, that of bringing about growth, bringing about a harvest. And he's giving us two ways that God does that. So there's an Old Testament scholar named Derek Kidner.
He says that this Psalm is basically showing us two ways that God works in the hearts of people. And so one of the ways we say that, so look back at verse 5. Look at verse 5 again. It says this, Those who sow, so sow just means plant, Those who sow in tears shall reap, that means gather, with shouts of joy. Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. Those who sow in tears.
That sounds terrible. Like the psalmist is imagining land so dry that individual seeds had to be planted and like watered with tears. Like you know you're in bad shape if to get your tomato plant to grow, you've got to like cry over top of it. You know you're in really bad shape. And that's what he's imagining. But the psalmist understands that even though that may require exhausting patience and excruciating labor, the growth would come.
That's the way the verse ends. Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. And what he's saying here is that part of God's response to our prayer, part of his answer for his presence and for him to be working, is to actually send to the Holy Spirit to help us labor and sweat and work and toil on the grind to see growth come about. Jesus talks about this in the Psalms. Not in the Psalms, in the Gospels. He tells a story about a guy sowing seeds and he says, some of it fell on the road and some of it fell among rocks and some of it fell among thorns, but some of it fell among good soil.
And that produced a crop of 30, 60, 100 fold. Like even in Jesus' story, he's talking about how hard it is to sow seeds and to be planting. And the truth is, we often see God work like this through us. So we talk about planting the seeds of the Gospel, spreading the Gospel in the lives of people that God has placed us around. So maybe for you, that's the place that you work.
Maybe that's with your neighbors. Some of you, that's with your family. So like with your kids or your spouse. And it's painstaking. Your investment in their lives is just hard. It's difficult.
There are sleepless nights and tireless days. And you're shedding tears because it's just difficult. You can all think about those relationships right now where you've been investing for so long and you're just not seeing any kind of result. You're not seeing God at work. So maybe it's a co-worker.
It's someone that you work with and you've been talking to this girl about her relationship with her boyfriend. And you've been sharing the Gospel with her and you tell her that her worth and value doesn't have to come from that guy who sounds like a jerk based off of the stories. It can actually come from Jesus and she's actually, she's receptive to that. And you run into her the next week at work and she's really excited to tell you that she has since moved in with her boyfriend and wants to go on a double date with you and your husband. What the heck? Right?
You hear that and you're like, oh, what happened? What happened to the good conversation? Or maybe there's a guy that you work with that you've been inviting him to go get wings with the guys in your group. He came to your poker night. He's kind of a skeptical type person so he asks a lot of questions. But he's starting to see how Jesus is the answer to those questions.
And he comes by you in the warehouse. Hey, dude, I got that job in Philly. And like while his hand's in there, you just want to like get one of those jabs in. Dude, I didn't know you were looking for a job. Ah, yeah, man, I've been trying to get out of this dump for a long time. What about the countless hours that I've spent like pouring into what happens to this guy now?
Some of you have been like investing in the lives of your children. So like you're trying to teach them how to obey and like why obeying is good and should be motivated by the gospel. And they just got the third note sent home this week. And school's only been in session for two weeks and you're running out of patience. Your investment in their life is difficult. Some of you, you've been working in your marriage to really have the gospel come to bear.
You're trying to learn how to communicate. But they said that comment again. They brought that thing up again and you exploded and now you're in other rooms. You're having a hard time seeing it. It's hard. Planting seeds, sowing seeds is difficult and painstaking.
Some of you, maybe you've got some neighbors. You've been building with them. You've been investing in their lives. Like you've been watching their kids so they can go on date nights. You've been helping them do some yard work. And then in a discussion late one night, you point out an area of their life where there's some sin.
And they automatically become flaky. Not answering their phone. Not wanting to come to the door. They've just checked out. Sowing seeds is difficult. And it's even more difficult to see the results.
But what we're seeing in this Psalm is that some gospel work is just like that. It's long and laborious and costly. But that's not the only way. That's part of it. We get another picture of how God wants to bring about restoration. Go back to verse 4.
So we kind of skipped over this. We're going back to now. This is the beginning of the prayer. He says, Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Okay, so now the Negev, I already told you Israel is kind of a desert climate.
The Negev was like the desertiest part of the desert. Like it was the hottest of the hot. It was the, you see just the bones laying around everywhere. It's a rough patch in Israel. But every once in a while, torrential rains would come through that area.
And the small stream beds that kind of wiggle through the land would fill up, would overflow, and would flood the land. The flat land would be covered in water. And the land was so dry that it would soak up all of that water. And almost in a 24-hour period, it would go from looking like a desert to a green field. The landscape would be transformed in an instant. Like it was just sitting there waiting for it.
And the psalmist, as he's writing that, he's praying and asking, God, do that. Do the miraculous. Take desert and turn it into living land. Take it and make it green. Bring life. That's the miraculous.
So when you look at sowing seeds, and God bringing about this type of flood, the streams in the Negev, it's unbelievable. And that's what he's praying for. And that's what the story from Manhattan is. It's God sending his Holy Spirit and working in a big way. 50,000 people coming to Christ in just a nine-month period. I referenced the underground church in China.
Within the last century, the missionaries who had been serving in China got kicked out. And Christianity as a whole began to be persecuted. So the church had to go underground. So they just had to basically be the church in hiding. And so the handful of Christians, and it was still a pretty decent number, in the last century, the best estimates they can give is that the church in China is currently 60 million plus in the face of persecution, where they cannot openly be Christians and share the gospel. It's the same thing that we see.
If you read the book of Acts, that's all about the big movement of the Holy Spirit. So Jesus dies on the cross, rises from the grave, and ascends into heaven. And when he ascends into heaven, there's basically 120 believers. And he tells them to wait, wait to do anything until the Holy Spirit comes. And the Holy Spirit shows up at Pentecost. Peter stands up and preaches.
And 3,000 people get saved that day alone. The gospel begins to spread from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth. And within the century, they estimated that there were one million Christians. That's a huge move of the Holy Spirit. And every time I hear stories like that, I just want that. God was doing stuff that people laboring could not accomplish.
It was miraculous. And let's be real. If we're looking for God to bring about restoration, to bring about healing, to bring about salvation, and our two options are for us to sow seeds with tears, so to be empowered by the Spirit to do that, or for God to send the Spirit like streams in the Negev, like a flood, I don't know about you, this is the one I want. For lots of reasons. I want as many people to come to know Jesus as possible. I want them to know the hope and the life and the joy found in Him.
The other part is, I know what this is like. This is what life is like for a lot of us. Where we're sowing seeds and we're working hard. And if I can just have the flood, I'll take that because I know what I'm struggling with and what I'm working through right now. That even though the verse ends with, we'll reap with songs of joy, it still makes it difficult. And the truth is, if our only option was that we, like for restoration, was that we would sow seeds with tears and that's how the restoration came about, I think it would almost be easier than if we didn't know about the flood part.
But sometimes God works through us sowing seeds and tears and sometimes it comes through the flood. There's a story from South Korea in 1907. Christians had been there for a while. They had been sharing the gospel and there was a, it hadn't really gained traction, but there were some believers at this time. And so they decided that they would try to get all the believers together and hold a conference. And so the night came for the conference to begin.
And a man by the name of Mr. King walked up to the podium, visibly shaken. And in a trembled voice said, I must confess before God and before you that for the last several weeks I have harbored an intense hatred for Mr. Lee. And I repent before God and before you. And the room fell silent.
Because Mr. King had just admitted to hating the person who was hosting the conference. So all the eyes turned to Mr. Lee and Mr. Lee was visibly taken aback, but gathered himself and said, Mr. King, I forgive you.
And what happened next is indescribable. One reporter tried to describe it and here's what he said. What happened next was a poignant sense of mental anguish due to the conviction of sin. After Mr. King publicly repented before God and to Mr. Lee, Christians all across the room began to repent of their sin.
They began to cry out to God and to confess their sins. And they were going around the room, going to their brothers and sisters and repenting of sin. And they were shedding tears because they were broken over it. What began in the early evening continued on to 5 a.m. the next day. And the Christians gathered the next night and the next night and the next night. And by the end of the week, the missionaries didn't know what was going to happen because the presence of God's spirit was so strong in that place they couldn't contain it.
And so all of those Christians went back to their homes. And they sought out people that they worked with and that they lived near, people that they had harmed, people that they had sinned against, and they started repenting to them. And as they repented to them of their sin, the people began to understand the good news of the gospel and those people started becoming Christians. Within a couple of weeks, there were hundreds of new Christians in South Korea. This eventually spread to a local college campus. And by the end of the semester, 90% of the students at that college had become Christians.
Christians, the people who were in the city started traveling out into the rural areas. And then people from the rural areas were walking upwards of 200 miles to get to a city to hear what God was doing. In a year's time, 50,000 people came to Christ. Thousands of churches were planted. And the gospel began to spread to all the neighboring Asian countries. And it hasn't stopped.
If you know a South Korean Christian, you know what's up because they're not playing around. I want that. I want to see that. I want to see God do that. Within a five-mile radius of this place right here, which includes parts of downtown, there are over 60,000 people outside of a relationship with Christ. There are estimates of about 600,000 people in Lexington and Richland counties.
And if you apply those same statistics across the board, you're looking at 100, 150, possibly 200,000 people who don't know Jesus. You work with some of those people. And they don't know Jesus. You frequent the restaurants where they work and they don't know Jesus. They don't know the hope and the life and the joy found in Him. And as a church, we're not okay with that.
We want to see as many people come to Christ as possible. So when I hear stories of the Holy Spirit being poured out, I want that. I want to see streams in the Negev. I want to see God pour His Spirit out. And here's what's even harder to grasp. God wants to send those streams.
He wants to. It's all throughout the Bible. Psalm 2.8 says this, Ask me and I will make the nations your inheritance. Matthew 9.38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field. Acts 1.8 You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Matthew 28 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.
The Bible is filled with the language of God wanting to send the flood, wanting to send the streams. How do we know? Because the streams of God's mercy flow from the cross of Christ. It's the sacrifice of Jesus that actually makes true restoration possible. That every bit of sweat and labor and work that as you invest in the lives of people that God's placed you around is only a shadow of the sacrifice that Jesus made on your behalf. The song that we just sang is an old hymn.
There is a fountain. It says this, There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And you hear that and you're like, that's kind of weird language, weird imagery, but it's not. So the blood comes from Emmanuel's veins. Emmanuel means God with us. That's Jesus.
What about the blood? Sinners, that's you and I, plunged beneath the flood, lose all their guilty stains. The flood of God's mercy and salvation and rescue come from the cross of Jesus. God desires to send it incomprehensibly more than you do. Even more than you want it. So much so that he was willing to allow Jesus to go to the cross to make it possible.
So how do you reconcile those two? How do you reconcile those two ways that God moves, that God brings about restoration? When it feels, when you're praying for streams in the Negev, when you're praying for the flood, and all it feels like is you're just sowing seeds in tears. Look at verse 6. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, shall return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. The harvest happens.
You see that? They come back with sheaves and with shouts of joy. And some of you this morning are tired. You're frustrated. You're emotionally burnt out. There are people in your life that you've just been investing in.
You've been sacrificing for. You've been pouring yourself out for it. And you're just not seeing the results. And I want you to see what this Psalm is saying. See the promise. Those who go out weeping shall return with songs of joy, carrying the results of the harvest with them.
Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't stop. Don't quit. God promises it. Don't stop.
The harvest is made possible because of Jesus. Not because of your ability to hold it together. Not because of your ability to be strong, but because of His. Keep fighting. The harvest comes. Jesus makes the harvest possible.
And here's the deal. Wanting to see God send streams in the Negev, wanting to see Him flood, doesn't stop us from continuing to sow seeds. So how do you reconcile these two? How do you reconcile them together? We keep sowing and we keep praying. We keep sowing and we keep praying.
These aren't mutually exclusive. It's not either or. It's both and. We keep sowing seeds and praying for God to send the Holy Spirit. And He's going to bring about the harvest. He promises to do it.
And sometimes it's going to be through sowing seeds. And other times it's going to be through a flood of His Spirit moving and working. Sometimes people talk about a big move of the Spirit and they use the word revival. There's a pastor in New York City. His name's Tim Keller. He's a really smart dude.
And so we're going to see what he has to say about this. I've got a quote. I want to put it on the screen. He says that revival is the intensification of the normal operations of the Holy Spirit through the ordinary means of grace. Okay, now English. Let's do English this time.
The big move of God's Spirit. So that's the intensification. Okay. Of the normal operations of the Holy Spirit. Okay, so it's the intensification. It's getting bigger.
It's a bigger move of God's Spirit in His normal operations. So what does the Holy Spirit do? We talk about this stuff all the time. The Holy Spirit leads us. He convicts us of sin. He leads us to repentance.
He helps us understand the Word. He is God's response to everything in our lives. He's what leads us in the day to day. He's what helps us have courage and boldness as we invest in the lives of people around us. So revival is the intensification of the normal operations of the Holy Spirit through the ordinary means of grace.
Okay, what's that? The ordinary means of grace are just the ordinary ways that God continuously works in our lives. So if you're using that farming metaphor, it's the tilling soil. It's planting seeds. It's watering them. It's the sunlight.
It's those types of things in the life of a Christian. It's the things that we know that bring about growth in us and growth in the lives of people around us. It's preaching the gospel. It's reading the Bible. It's praying. It's repenting of sin.
It's actually being invested in church community. It's going out and serving and being on mission. Like revival is not so much the Holy Spirit doing a new thing as it is pouring great power on the things that normal Christians are already doing. And so our response this morning, some of us, what we need to hear is, is keep sowing. Keep sowing seeds. Keep pursuing the ordinary means of grace.
Keep doing the ordinary while you're praying for God to do the extraordinary. And there's a ton of ways this shows up, but I've got four. I just want to show us this morning. Preach the gospel. Preach the gospel to yourself and to others. The gospel is the life-changing good news.
It is not just good news that it's salvation. It is good news for all of life, which means that as Christians, we're thinking about how does the gospel impact me at work? How does the gospel impact me as I'm a dad or as a husband? Like, how does the gospel impact that? It means that we're actually opening our Bibles and asking God to show us and to help us be obedient. It means we're looking at the people that we work with and listening to their stories and what's going on in their lives.
And we're asking, how is the gospel good news here? How can I share the gospel with this person? That's the ordinary stuff of Christians. And we're praying for God to do the extraordinary, which is to actually cause belief, which is to actually bring about salvation. Some of us need to be praying for our entire floor at work to be saved. Some of us need to pray for our entire school to be saved because God can do that.
And so we do the ordinary while praying for the extraordinary. The other thing is this, we repent of sin. The Bible is clear that there is nothing that grieves the Holy Spirit more than unconfessed sin. Some of you may be sitting there this morning and you know, you know what God is doing in you right now. You know the sin that you're pursuing and you're not repenting of it and you're going, where's God's presence? Where am I?
I'm not seeing him move. I'm not seeing him work. Part of the way the Holy Spirit moves and works is through the repentance of sin. That's what happened in the story from Korea. That's what we're fighting for in our community groups through openness and honesty. It's the ordinary stuff.
And we're praying for God to do the extraordinary. In a culture where the mantra is you do you, do whatever feels best, we're praying for people to be convicted of sin and to follow what the Bible says. We're praying for the extraordinary while we do the ordinary. We persist in prayer. This is really what we spent most of our time talking about last week, is that we understand that we're needy. That's the story of the guy going to his house at midnight.
That's asking, seeking, knocking, persistently asking for God to be at work and to send his Holy Spirit. And we pray about everything. Work, family, relationships. There's nothing that we can't ask for the Holy Spirit to be involved in. And the fourth thing is that we're the church. Be the church.
Be invested in God's means to save the world. That's what the book of Acts is. That's what the New Testament is. It's Jesus continuing to work. So we do the ordinary while praying for the extraordinary.
This church began as seven people in a house. It is no longer. There have been people who have met Jesus and have been baptized. And there are disciples who are making disciples. And there is one group that became two groups that became four groups that is now six groups. It's the extraordinary.
We keep sowing seeds and praying for the flood. In South Korea before that conference, just a few months, just a few months before that conference, the missionaries got together. And they had been there for 23 years and they were tired. They were ready to give up. They had all but decided to pack their bags and go home. They had spent 23 years preaching the gospel and repenting of sin and praying and being the church with very little results.
And what God did through the ordinary means of grace was intensified the move of the Holy Spirit. The move of the Holy Spirit came through the ordinary means of grace. It started by repenting of sin and took the country and surrounding Asian nations by storm. So we keep sowing seeds, praying for God to send the flood. And so in this two-week series, what we've seen is that we're needy. We need God.
We need His active work. We need His presence. And so God wants us to pray, asking for the Holy Spirit. And as we do that, we pursue the ordinary means of grace, asking for God to move and work. So what does that look like for us?
For us as a church, that means we're a gospel-centered community on mission. It means everything. It means we preach the gospel. It means we read the Bible. It means we're pursuing Jesus. It means we're preaching the gospel on Sundays.
It means we're sharing the gospel where we go. And we're existing in community, in biblical community with each other, where we bear one another's burdens and we love one another and we fight alongside one another. And we're on mission to see more people meet Jesus in our city. It's the ordinary. And we're asking God to do the extraordinary. The way our church continues to grow is through the multiplication of healthy groups.
Josh said that earlier. Most of you are here because you got invited into a community group. Someone that was in a group invited you. And so you want to know the flood that we're praying for? And I want you to grab a card in front of you. Grab a card and grab a pen.
They're in the seats right there in front of you. Grab a card, grab a pen. You want to know what we're praying for? Remember, we're praying for 24 healthy community groups in 2019. Do the math. Yeah, we're six now.
That means it's got to double and become 12. And it's got to double again and become 24. We're praying for God to bring about 24 community groups by 2019. By the end of 2019. Because if we've done that, that means disciples are being made. People are meeting Jesus.
Leaders are being trained. Our city is being impacted by the gospel. God is doing work. And it happens through us doing the normal things that Christians are to do. And so we're going to spend some time praying. The band's not going to come up quite yet.
We're actually going to spend some time praying over these things. Like I said, some of you are tired this morning. Some of you are having a hard time seeing God active and at work. And you're struggling. And you want to. Like you need to see Him at work.
And so I want you to write those four things down. Preach the gospel. I want you to write that down. Repent of sin. Persist in prayer. Be the church.
Write those down. And here's what we're going to do. We're going to have some music playing in the room. We're just going to spend some time praying. So I'm going to kind of call these things out.
And I want you to start praying. I want you to start praying and asking God to be active and at work in you. For God to send the Holy Spirit to be working and moving. So that you can sow seeds. So you can not faint or grow weary.
Because it's hard. But Jesus promises that the harvest comes. He does work in it. So all across the room, I want you to bow your head. I want you to pray that God would help you grow in your own understanding of the gospel. That God would help you grow in your own understanding of the gospel.
That God would help you grow to love Jesus. To love his word and to want to follow. So all across the room, if you can let him know, what to say, God would help you grow in your own understanding of the gospel. Thanks for warning, 떨어�ctive, for the gospel.
God's Glory and Our Neediness
Transcript
Good morning. We're starting a new series today on prayer and the Holy Spirit. I have some very big, important news. Football is back. That means a whole, whole lot. It's a very, very special time of the year.
But I remember when I was in high school, I played football, and I was pretty good in high school. I was one of the bigger guys, one of the faster guys, one of the stronger guys on the team. We actually had a pretty good team. We won our region my junior and senior year, and we won state my senior year. And I got to go play football in college. And I remember getting to college and being at camp, and suddenly was not one of the stronger guys or faster guys or bigger guys and was completely in over my head.
Like I remember, like I thought I knew things about football. Would have told you, yeah, like I understand this game. And then I just remember showing up, and it was like at times, like they weren't even close to speaking English. Like I'm sitting in meetings, and I have no clue what they're talking about. Our coach would be drawn on a whiteboard, or he would actually have us out on the field, and he's moving people around, and he would say stuff like, all right, now if they come out in 10 personnel, and they got trips to the field, back to the field, we're going to be in 4-3 base. We're going to have two 2-I's, two 9-I's.
Will, if they come out in this, we're going to be in automatic bear blitz. Mike, you're going to have to have hook curl. We're going to have show two, roll 30 on the snap. We're going to have cover three to the right, and you're going to be backside corner. You're going to be man up. Now, if they shift the back to the weak side, Will, you've got to know you've got blitz peel.
If they send the slot into motion, which they'll do if they're inside the 40, or if they're over into the hash, then we're going to have to go banjo on both sides. We'll show three. You're going to check off the blitz, and Mike, you'll have a spot. And I remember, and he would do this. He would just over and over and over again, would shift around and move a guy and say, all right, now this is what happens. All right, this is what happens.
And I remember at one point looking at all the older guys and thinking, do they actually know what he's talking about? Or if they just learned to nod, and that's the best way to get through this. And I also remember thinking, I am so glad that I am not good enough to be on the field because I would mess this all up. Like, as soon as the ball snapped, I'd be like, a two-eye. I don't even know what that is. And would have just been in some serious trouble.
And honestly, I think it can be that way sometimes when we start hanging out with the church or we first become a Christian. As a church, we're a young church. Not only did we get planted just a couple years ago, but we have a lot of new Christians. And there's something about when you first start hanging out with Christians that you can at times feel like, I'm in over my head. Like, I don't understand what's going on. And I think this especially shows up in prayer.
Because I can remember being around and hearing prayers. And even here. So I'm going to walk you through a prayer that's perfectly legitimate. This is an acceptable prayer. I'm not making fun of this prayer. I just want you to hear it with the ears of someone who's just been around.
Just showed up. Just believe that Jesus dies for sin and that you can be saved. Like, just got that. And then we're like, alright, let's pray. And we bow our heads. You don't have to.
Because we're not actually praying. But this could be a prayer. And you bow your heads and it's like, God, Father God, we pray that you would humble our hearts. That you would circumcise our hearts, God. That we might approach you loving you. God, we ask you to open the eyes of our hearts.
That we might be a repentant people. God, we pray that you would crush our idols. That we wouldn't spend our lives drinking out of broken cisterns. That you would help us to be witnesses of your glory. And that we might be changed from one degree of glory to the next. As we behold the risen Christ.
Who has washed us in his blood. We pray, God, that you would sanctify us and purify us with your fire. Seven times. Amen. Now, that was scripture and perfectly okay things to pray. But if you just showed up, it's like.
And then here's what we do. Here, Christians. Just so you know. This is what you do. You pray that. And then you look at someone who just became a Christian and go, Do you want to pray?
Nope. I'd be like if the coach looked at me and said, Hey, Phillips, come here. You do the next one. Do the next one? I'd have been like, All right. They're going to have 11 guys.
One in the middle that they hand the ball to. That's the quarterback. Phillips, sit down. Yes, sir. Good call, coach. Like, I mean, that's about as good as I could do.
And we look at people and we're like, You want to pray? And it's like, No. Because what would you be like? God, help us do the good stuff. Help us not do the bad stuff. I'm sorry.
Amen. I didn't know how to insert circumcision. I broke down. I'm like, That's like, It's really, There's a lot when we first get around that it's like, And I think even as we continue to grow And as we continue to be around the church, We may pick up the word. Some of you grew up in churches. You've heard, you know, Traveling mercies and hedge of protection And upbuilding the kingdom.
And as we even, We learn these phrases. We know what they mean. We can use them in a sentence, Correctly in a prayer. I think we still have a lot of questions. When it comes to prayer, I have a lot of questions about, Why do we pray? How do we pray?
How should I pray? I think we all feel a little bit like, I should be praying more. Like, I know I should be, This should be, Like, I see that Jesus prayed. I see that Moses prayed. And David prayed. And the Psalms are a bunch of prayers.
But I just, I know I should be doing this. I don't really know how. And I kind of feel like I mess it up. And I kind of feel like I'm not good at it. And I'd like to get good at it. But I don't know how to get good at it.
I think we have that when it comes to prayer. And I think with the Holy Spirit, Like, you, You may be, You're just trying to get your mind around That the God of the universe exists as a trinity. Which means that He is three and one. And He's not more one than He is three. And He's not more three than He is one. He is God the Father, God the Son, And God the Holy Spirit.
And maybe you got that. Like, you got that on paper. You could put that on your Sunday school quiz. You don't really know what it means or how it works. But you could answer that correctly.
And if I were to ask, What's the Father do? You'd be like, Oh, well, the Father's like this. And God the Father does this. And He, you know, He's this. And it's like, What's Jesus do? Oh, I got this one.
He does this and does this and does this and does this. What's the Holy Spirit do? Well, He hangs out with God the Father and Jesus. I think the word regeneration is a word that He does. I don't know what that means. He does it.
Like, I think there's a little bit of like, When it comes to the Holy Spirit, We still maybe have some hesitation. And so what we're going to do, We're just taking two weeks. I hope you don't have a lot of questions Because they're not all going to get answered. We're taking two weeks. We're just trying to grow a little bit In our understanding practically Of how to pray And how prayer and the Holy Spirit Actually work together. How the Holy Spirit works through prayer.
And today specifically, We want to see one thing very clearly When it comes to prayer and the Holy Spirit. So I'm going to pray. We're going to ask the Holy Spirit to help us. And we're going to jump into scripture. God, we thank You That You're good to us. We pray, Lord, that You would, Through Your Holy Spirit, Give us wisdom.
Help us to understand Your word. And that we would grow today In our understanding of prayer. Our appreciation of prayer. And our understanding of the Holy Spirit. And to grow to appreciate. And love the Holy Spirit.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Grab your Bibles. Go to Luke chapter 11. It's going to be on page 564. If you're in a blue and white Bible.
If you don't have a Bible at home, Take this one with you. It's our gift to you. If you have five of these Bibles at your house, Bring one back. No, I'm just kidding. But, uh, Um, So, uh, We're going to be in Luke chapter 11. Um, And we're going to look at what Jesus has to say.
Some of the stuff that Jesus has to say about prayer. And I think it's going to be helpful to us. Really practically in knowing How to think about prayer. And how we ought to approach prayer. Uh, Luke chapter 11 verse 1. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place.
And when he finished, One of his disciples said to him, Lord, Teach us to pray. As John taught his disciples. So, uh, This is recorded in Luke. It's recorded in Matthew chapter 6. The disciples come to him and say, Lord, teach us how to pray. Uh, Now, It seems like they would have, What they've seen is that prayer is important.
Jesus prays, We ought to learn how to do this. You would feel like maybe they would have asked him other things. Like, Teach us how to do miracles. Do that thing you do where you make food last forever. Like, I almost feel like at times they'd be like, Jesus, I bet you can't multiply this sandwich. Like, Like, You would feel like they would come talk to him about other things, But they come and they say specifically, Teach us how to pray.
Help us pray. And so Jesus says, When you pray, Say. So he's just saying, Hear the words to prayer. Now, Raz walked us through this the other day. Uh, A couple Sundays ago. We're going to walk back through it, Talk really quickly about what he's saying to say.
Because he's then going to get into more of why we pray, Or how we ought to think about prayer. He says, When you pray, Say this. Father, Hallowed be your name. We don't use the word hallowed. Um, It really just means, May your name be honored. May you be, Uh, Honored above everything else.
And so really, When you begin praying, You're doing two things. One is, You're worshiping. So you ought to remember how good God is, And what he's done. And you also are asking him to mean more to you than anything else. Help me to love you more than I love anything else. Father, Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come. Meaning that, May the world look more like your kingdom. May, May earth look a little more like heaven. May more people meet you. May more people come to know you. Repent of their sin.
May your kingdom expand. Give us each day our daily bread. So, Supply our needs. Take care of us. Pray about practical things here. Forgive us our sins.
So it's a normal way for us to pray, To consistently repent of sins. To notice where we're wrong. To repent. For we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. So he's saying, Uh, You need to realize that part of the way you are forgiven, Is you forgive other people.
To help you remember that. To keep that going. And to pray specifically about forgiveness. Forgiving others. And lead us not into temptation. So Jesus spends a good bit here just saying, You need to be aware of sin.
Run from sin. Ask God to protect you from sin. Repent of sin. And help forgive other people who have sinned against you. Um, Which, That's, That's important because if you've been around people long, Or if you've been a person long, Sin's been a big issue for you. So Jesus says you should pray about it a good bit.
Um, He says this, He said to them, Which of you who has a friend will go? So, He immediately jumps right in. They ask him how to pray. He says, Say these words. And then he jumps right into talking about, Uh, How to think about prayer. So he does this a lot.
Uh, If you'll notice in, In the, In the Bibles. He doesn't just say, Hey, Quote this prayer. Quote this prayer. Quote this prayer. He's going to say, Okay, When you pray, Here are things you ought to pray about. But then he's going to spend way more time saying, Here's how you ought to think about prayer.
Because if we understand how to think about prayer, If we understand what the point of prayer is, The purpose of prayer, Like why we're praying, Then what we're saying will just come naturally. So he's saying, Here's how you ought to think about it. And so we're going to look, Walk through this passage, And begin to see, What he says about how we ought to think about prayer. He said to them, Which of you, Who has a friend, Will go to him at midnight, And say to him, Friend, Lend me three loaves. Okay, Three loaves, Somebody said that that could feed a family of six for a week. So it wasn't like, Hey, Can I have a glass of water?
It was like, Can I have everything in your pantry? He knocks on the door at midnight. The guy's like, What? And he says, Hey, You got a couple loaves of bread, And some deli meat, And I'm going to need some mayonnaise, Dukes preferably, And are you writing this down? It's going to be long. I'm going to need, Like, He's asking for a lot of food here at midnight.
Knocks on his friend's door. They're not friends anymore. But he knocks on his friend's door. All right. Friend, Lend me three loaves, For a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, And I have nothing to set before him. And he will answer from within.
Do not bother me. The door is now shut. My children are with me in bed, And I cannot get up and give you anything. So they would have been just basically, Most houses were one room. Everybody slept in the same room. And so the guy doesn't even get out of bed.
He just yells from bed. Because of the ridiculousness of the situation. This guy's banging on his door at midnight, And is like, Hey, I need a lot of food. And his response is, From bed. No! My kids are asleep.
Which, Not anymore. Shouty. But, That's how he responds. And then Jesus says this, I tell you, Though he will not get up, And give him anything, Because he is his friend, Yet because of his impudence, He will rise, And give him, Whatever he needs. Impudence means, Shameless, Audacity, Bold, Craziness, Like he, He, He just, Presumes upon his friend, Aggressively. Like, No warning, Ridiculous request, At a terrible time of day.
He's assuming a lot, About his friend. And what Jesus says, He's not going to get up, Because he's his friend, He's actually going to give him this, Because of how big, The request was. How crazy, The request was. There's this moment where, In life, You see these moments, Where it's like, Everybody just freezes, And watches someone, And is like, Is this really happening? This person chose to do this right now? You're going to talk to your mom like that, At the Walmart?
Like that's what we're doing, Right now? Like, Like this is this, This kind of like, Are you seriously? This is as shameless, As we're going to get, And this is what his friend's doing, And Jesus says, He's not going to give it to him, Because he's his friend, He's going to give it to him, Because of how bold he is. Here, So then he says this, This is such a beautiful concept, For prayer. I tell you, So now he's, The disciples might have been confused, At this point. They said, How do you pray?
He says, Here's how you pray. And then he just jumps into a story, And says, Which of you will go knock on your friend's door? It's almost like he's like, Tomorrow I'm going to need one of y'all, To go knock on your friend's door, At midnight, And get us three loaves of bread. But he's, He's turned it into a parable, He's telling a story, And then he's going to, Explain what he's saying. So he says, Which of you, Will do this?
And then in verse nine he says this, I tell you, Ask, And it will be given to you. Seek, And you will find. Knock, And it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, Receives. And the one who seeks, Finds. And to the one who knocks, It will be opened.
Can we pause for a second? How beautiful of a promise is that When it comes to prayer? Ask, And you will receive. Seek, And you will find. Knock, And it will be opened. That's what he says about prayer.
Some of you right now have been praying for something, And you're wanting to stop. And what Jesus says about prayer is, Don't stop. The verbs there in the Greek are actually like, Asking. They're continual. So keep asking.
Keep seeking. Keep knocking. And the promise is, You'll receive. You'll find. It'll be opened. Because here's what he's saying.
We ought to think about how we ought to approach prayer. There's a story about Alexander the Great. He was a Greek king, Who took over this giant patch of land, Like just conquered people. And at one of his chief army people, One of his generals came to him and asked, Will you pay for my daughter's wedding? So he came to Alexander the Great, And said, Will you pay for my daughter's wedding?
Alexander the Great had a guy, Because Alexander the Great was king and general, Had a guy who handled his money. He said, Go ask him. Tell him how much you need. Go ask him what you need to pay for your daughter's wedding. So the guy says, Thank you.
Leaves. The guy who handles Alexander the Great's money, Comes back to him shortly after and says, So the general who said, You might want to pay for his daughter's wedding. Can I show you how much money he just asked for? And he shows him the sum, And it was outrageous. Like it was way more money than Alexander the Great Had ever given to anybody. And it was just for a wedding.
And so the guy who handles Alexander the Great's money, Comes over to him and is like, I didn't know what to say to him, Because, Look at this. And Alexander the Great looks at the sum, And he looks at the guy who handles his money, And he says, Give it to him. And the guy says, Why? And he says, Because he does me great honor. He thinks I'm both rich and generous. And what Jesus is saying, Is when we come to God, We should presume, We should assume, Boldly, audaciously assume, That he's rich and generous.
That he will answer if we knock. Because if you come bang on my door in the middle of the night, And ask for a ridiculous amount of things, Part of me is going to think you are crazy, And part of me is going to think, You think way more highly of me than you ought to. Because something in your brain made you think, This was going to work out. That I wouldn't open my door and physically assault you. Surprise! I'm going to open a can, But it's not going to happen.
I'm sorry. Alright. Like, But there would be part of you that would be like, Man, This person thinks I'm all, Alright, I guess I am. Like, That's what he's saying. It's like, We get to presume upon God that he's very generous, And very gracious, And that if we keep asking, And if we keep seeking, And if we keep knocking, He'll answer, Because he's that big, And he's that good, And he's that loving, And he's that generous. That's an amazing promise for prayer.
Because praying is hard sometimes. And continually praying over the same thing is absolutely difficult. But what he says is, Go to God with audacious requests, Because that honors him. Go to him with things that are God sized, Because that honors him. That he gets to look at us and go, Yeah, That's audacious. That's a crazy request.
And I'm big enough to handle it. Let's keep going. So Jesus is teaching about prayer. How we ought to think about it. Verse 11. What father among you, So think about, If you're a father, If you think about your father, Or think about a father you know, What father among you, If his son asks for a fish, Will instead of a fish, Give him a serpent?
Or if he asks for an egg, Will give him a scorpion? What father do you know that will do that? The answer to Jesus' question is, No father would do that. Because that's ridiculous. Not even close. That's the point of his question.
How many fathers you know, Think it's hilarious to give, Poisonous dangerous animals, To their little kids. Isn't that funny? No, It's not funny. Nobody does that. I've got a son, He doesn't speak English very well. He did learn cookie.
He knows ball, Cookie, Thank you, And daddy. And he's getting around life pretty well with those four right now. If he wants food, He'll say ball twice deeply. Like he uses ball for like 15 different things. And then one day, Someone gave him a cookie, And he thought, I need to memorize this word, Because I want this specifically at times. There's food, Which is ball, Ball, And then I, Cookie.
Like I need that one. And at no point has he been like, Cookie, And I've been like, It's going to be so funny, But I'm going to give him rusty nails. Like that's never happened. Like I want to, I want to give him a cookie. Like if he says cookie to me, He gets a cookie. I don't care what his mom says, He's getting a cookie, He said cookie.
That's just how it's working right now. That won't last forever, But it works right now. What Jesus just said was, The two ways that he's right now, Giving us to think about prayer, Is presume upon God audaciously, That he's bigger and better, Than you could imagine. And know that he's a good father, Who gives good gifts to his children. 13, If you then, Who are evil, Know how to give good gifts to your children. That seems like a mean turn for Jesus to take.
He says you're evil. But that's true. We're messed up. We're sinful. We're selfish. But we still do really good things for our kids.
Watch a mafia movie. Those guys will go from like, Having a guy's head in a vice, And then they'll go give their daughter a pony. Like that's, That's what he's saying. It's like we're evil, But we give good gifts to our children. And he says, If you're like that, How much more? How much more?
Will your father in heaven? And here's what he says. This is his big ending. If you then, 13, Who are evil, Know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Boom.
That's Jesus' big ending to this section. How much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Now, If you're like me, When he said Holy Spirit, You got confused. It feels like, By the time he makes this big conclusion, Like he sticks the landing. Holy Spirit. That was the point of this whole thing.
How much more will he give you the Holy Spirit? There's an exclamation Mark. It was like he got super excited at the end. And immediately I'm like, Did I miss something? Did we take a turn? I don't see how that's the, Earlier, When he said, If you ask, You'll receive.
If you seek, You'll find. If you knock, It'll be opened. I was thinking about a lot of things. The Holy Spirit wasn't one of them. Like I was thinking about things I'm asking for, Or seeking, Or knocking. You know.
But I wasn't thinking about the Holy Spirit. Maybe y'all are just like way more spiritual than I am. I was thinking about other stuff. And so he gets to the end and says, How much more will he give you the Holy Spirit? And I'm suddenly like, What? And here's really most of the time how I've treated this passage.
Okay. And just kept reading. And didn't think about it. But here's what it means. If we get to this point in the passage, And Jesus says Holy Spirit. And we're confused.
It means that Jesus knows something about the Holy Spirit. That I don't. If he thinks the Holy Spirit is the good gift, And I was thinking about a lot of other things, He knows something about the Holy Spirit that I don't. He knows something about prayer and the Holy Spirit that I don't. Because he says, We ought to approach God audaciously, Knowing that he's our Father. And I've got really good news for you.
He'll give you the Holy Spirit. And we're supposed to be very excited. But part of me is like, I don't understand how that works. Or why I should be that excited. Y'all with me on that? Okay.
He does this another time in John. We're going to just show this on the screen. Where he talks about the Holy Spirit. And he says something that just feels like, I have a hard time knowing that that's true. You've got to think about it a little bit. So John chapter 16 verse 7 says this.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. Jesus is talking to his disciples. He says, It's better for you that I, Jesus, go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper, that's the Holy Spirit, that's why it's capitalized, will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
So later in this passage, he explains definitively that's the Holy Spirit. So here's what he just said. You're better off if I leave. Because if I leave, I'll send you the Holy Spirit. Now, if we got to take a vote, and Jesus could be our pastor, let's do it. Let's do it.
Let's install him as our pastor right now. That would be great. And Jesus says, No. You're better off if you have the Holy Spirit, and I'm not here. You're better off if I go away, and you're filled with the Holy Spirit, than if I'm here, and you don't have the Spirit. Now, part of me is like, I'm not sure that's true.
Which means I don't know what Jesus knows about the Spirit. So here's what we see in Scripture. Jesus was filled with, and led by, and worked through, the Holy Spirit. So in Luke, and Matthew, and Mark, when he's baptized, it says the Holy Spirit, came upon him, and then the Holy Spirit, led him. And over and over again, we see in Luke, that Jesus is working through the Holy Spirit. And then, when the church is birthed, and in Acts, we see that they're led by, and worked, worked through, the Holy Spirit works through, them.
That the Holy Spirit, is actually how healing happens. The Holy Spirit, is actually who, reconciles people, who changes people's hearts. It's the Holy Spirit that actually, leads us to repentance, and convicts us of sin. It's the Holy Spirit, that's actively at work, in life, for our good. At work in us, for our good. At work in our situations, for our good.
It's the Holy Spirit, that empowers all of that. And what Jesus is saying, is, while I'm here, you can't have the Holy Spirit, because your sin, hasn't been taken care of. And while I'm here, I'll be the only one, fully controlled by, led by, the Holy Spirit, working through, the Holy Spirit, and the world is worse off, and you're worse off. But if I go to the cross, and pay for your sin, then I'll send the helper, who will fill you, and lead you, for your good, for your salvation, and for the world, to be changed. See, Jesus has to go to the cross, has to die for us, in order for the Holy Spirit, to lead us, and fill us, and use us.
And here's why this is, huge. Here's really what we need, to understand from this passage. Three really simple points. You get to be, a needy child. Not you have to be, you get to be. In your approach to God, you get to be, a child, presuming upon, his generosity, and his goodness, towards you.
You just get to assume, he loves you, and is good to you, and at work for you. My son right now, the younger he is, the more of me he gets. The older he gets, the less of me he gets. Now he'll get different aspects of me, when we can start conversing, and those kind of things. But right now, he gets a whole lot of me, because he can't do anything.
Hardly. One of the things he does, on a regular basis, is this. This just means, pick me up. Let's do this thing. When I pick him up, he then does this. Like you think, maybe he wanted a hug.
He didn't. He wants to be carried somewhere. Like your legs are longer, and you're taller, and he'll do this. So we just walk, wherever he's pointing. And then we usually, like get to the counter, or something, and he does this. Well he doesn't talk, so I have to try to figure out, what it is he wants.
And here's what's beautiful. Because he's needy, he gets to be close to me, and I work on his behalf, and God says, we get to do the same thing with him. We get to say, God you're bigger than me, you're stronger than me, you're better than me, and I trust that you're good, and you're for my good, and I can just run to you, and rest in you, and trust in you, and hope in you, and you'll go to work, because you're big enough to do it. You can handle it, and here's what's great, he doesn't talk, my son doesn't talk, and he'll do this, and I'll hold a thing up, and he'll go, and I'll go, okay no, this, alright, this, I have not once, and he'll just go, ah, there's the noises he makes.
I've never once looked at him, and said, let me explain something to you. Until you get perfect diction, you will get nothing from me. Learn your words, child. Hadn't done that. I have told him, it'll be easy, when he learns how to talk, but I haven't, I haven't not gotten stuff for him. Some of us, we're afraid to pray, because we don't know what to say, but that's because you're assuming, God's not a big, good father, who doesn't care.
You don't have to have the right words. You don't have to have perfect, you're going to impress him? He's waiting for you, open to you, responds to you, loves you, wants to enjoy you, that's, that's what, that's what a good father does. So, you see, we get to be needy, and God is a good father. You get to go to him with everything. And the third thing, that's massively important for us, is the Holy Spirit is the good gift.
The best thing, God can give you, is himself. And he does that, through the person, and the work, of the Holy Spirit. That's how we get, God. You could not have God, outside of the cross. You couldn't be, connected with him, you couldn't be, redeemed by him, rescued by him, he couldn't come, and take you, and make you his, outside of him, paying for your sin. You see, us, getting the Holy Spirit, is what Jesus died for.
When Jesus said, how much more will God, go to any length, to give you the Holy Spirit, how much more, would this good Father, give you the Holy Spirit? He had in mind the cross. That's how far, God was willing to go, to give us himself. The best thing, he can ever give us, is himself. To be actively, at work in us, changing us, leading us. I mean, Jesus didn't have to die, for you to get a promotion.
He didn't have to die, for you to be, in that relationship, you want so badly. He didn't have to die, for you to have a nice house. He didn't have to die, for us to have, wealth or health. He didn't have to die, for any of that. That was all happening, long before the cross. Jesus had to die, so that we could have him.
It is the best gift, we can ever get, is the Holy Spirit. And, it's the point of prayer. Let me explain this to you, because I just want us to see, why Jesus says, when we pray, what we're asking for, is the Holy Spirit. My wife and I, we get in arguments, from time to time. We've been married for seven years, we're not pros at this yet. We're good at arguing, we're not pros at being married.
So here's what will happen sometimes, we'll get in an argument, and we'll be in different rooms, and that's how you know, argument's not going well. At least that's how it works, at my house. Like if I'm in this room angry, and she's in that room angry, conversation wasn't good. It didn't work well. One of us, left, angrily. And we're doing that thing, like, I don't know, some of y'all in relationships, you're doing that thing, where you're making as much noise as possible, because you're angry.
So it's like, I'm going to get a spoon, bam! Eating cereal, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Like, you just, you need the other person, they're not in the room with you, but you need them to know, I'm eating cereal, but I'm still mad at you. Chewing loudly, like you get the crunchiest cereal you got. Ha-da-da-da-da. Like, you know what I'm saying?
Like, okay, so this means the, like, it's not gone well, we're in different rooms, we're both angry, and here's what's going on in my heart. I'm walking around, and I'm thinking, okay, I'm not eating cereal, because I don't do that when I'm angry. I'm sitting here going, okay, I, I, I married a crazy person, and her brain doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't work good. Like, there's something wrong with her, and she's so, she's so wrong, and sinful, and I, I told her that so clearly, and she just refused to see it. And this is, like, I'm just walking around, and here's what I need in that moment. I need the Holy Spirit in me, and in her, or this doesn't go well.
Here's the prayer I need to be praying. Not, God, you gave me a crazy wife. God, God, I need you right now, through your Holy Spirit, to lead me, because I cannot see my own sin, I can only see hers. And if I'm actually going to see my sin, I need you to show up and talk to me, because I realize, if we're in different rooms, and we've been arguing, I'm not completely right here. I need you to see my sin. I need you to help her see her sin.
I need you to help me, if I see my sin, to actually repent. God, I need you, to be at work in me right now, so that I can pursue her, like Christ pursued the church, so that I can actually go to her, because what I want to do, is sit down, and make a power move, where she has to come to me. I want her to have to come back to me, feeling sorry, and being sad. I want to tell her to sit down, and we're going to handle this, because I want to be the biggest, baddest person in the room right now, but I need you, God, to be the biggest, baddest person in the room right now, and I need you to change my heart, and I need you to help me see my sin, and if I see my sin, and you help me do that, I need you to help me say that out loud.
Baddest person in the room right now, but I need you, God, to be the biggest, baddest person in the room right now, and I need you to change my heart, and I need you to help me see my sin, and if I see my sin, and you help me do that, I need you to help me say that out loud. I need to be able to talk about my sin, without pointing at hers, and God, if I go in and confess sin, and her response to me is, you're right, you did do that, I'm going to need you to help me, not lose it. But God, I need you to be at work in her too, and I need you to help us both know we're sinners, and I need through the power of your Holy Spirit, for us to actually be reconciled,
And God, if our marriage is ever going to be good, it's going to be because you go to work on us, and the best thing God can give me is himself, and the best thing he can give her is himself, and if he gives her himself, and he gives me himself, through the power of the Holy Spirit, then we can actually have something good, but even if we can't, but I get more of Jesus, I'm going to be okay. See, Jesus died to give me himself, for the Holy Spirit to be able to enjoy me, and lead me, and help me, and that's the best thing I'll ever receive from him. Your boss calls you into his office, immediately, if you don't jump onto the worry track, of oh my goodness, I'm about to lose my job, it's going to be the worst thing I've ever had,
Like if you don't do that, if you actually can pray, then yeah, you can pray, God, help us to be good, help him to just want to give me a high five, or a promotion, or something, but we need to begin to pray, that the Holy Spirit would be at work, like the prayer needs to be, God help me, through your Holy Spirit, that if I walk into that office, and it actually is a promotion, or a raise, I need your Holy Spirit to be at work in me, so that I won't begin to immediately believe, that money is the greatest thing, that has ever existed on the planet earth, I need you to be at work in me, so that I won't immediately believe, that power of prominence,
Or a new office, or a new title, is actually what makes me whole, and complete, and God, on the other side of it, if I walk in that office, and this is the last day I ever stepped foot in this building, I need you at work in me, because I'm going to, I'm going to want to believe, that my self-worth, that my value, walked out the door, and I need you, to help me to respond graciously, I need you to be at work in me, I need the Holy Spirit, some of you in college, you just met your roommates, or you're just getting back around your roommates, and it takes, I don't know, a week,
Two weeks, to realize you dislike them, so, welcome back, you may, you may actually get along with them pretty well, but here's the problem, is that they're a sinner, and so are you, and so there's going to be some issues, there'll be some loud cereal eating, and there'll be moments, where you need to be praying, God, they use up all my ink, and they eat all my food, and they act like that's okay, and I want to, hit their computer with a bat, or something, but I need you to help me, be gracious to them, I need you to help me, to be forgiving,
I need you to help me, to know, that I only take from you, I need your Holy Spirit, to be at work in me, so that I can actually love them, like you love them, because I don't love them, if they got expelled, I would laugh, for a long time, I might even dance, God, I need you to help me care about them, because I don't, I need you to be at work in me, to give me peace and joy, in the midst of the situation, regardless of how it works out, some of you have lost a job, you've lost a loved one, and we need to begin to pray, God, I don't see,
I don't see you, I don't see how this will ever be good again, I don't see how life is worth living anymore, I don't see how, how any of this turns out okay, and I need you God, to comfort me, to lead me, to give me peace, in the midst of a situation, that would never have it, God, I need your Holy Spirit, and what he says is, he's a good father, who wants to answer that prayer, who wants to lead us, who wants to change us, who wants to give himself to us, so much so that he died, to do that, he loves you, you get to be needy, he is a good father,
And the Holy Spirit is the good gift, the situations right now, the things you began to think about, when it said that you could ask, that you could seek, that you could knock, the answer to that prayer, the best answer you'll ever get, is that God gives you more of himself, to give you rest, to give you peace, to give you joy, in the midst of any circumstance, there was a missionary named John Patton, who went to the New Hebrides, it's an island that had cannibals on it, and his story is really interesting, but he lost his wife, and he lost his children, and at one point, he was being chased by the cannibals, like they were having a, like a tribal war, but nobody liked him,
So if anybody found him, he was going to die, and he was being chased, and he climbed a tree, and he was in a tree, for like 24 hours, and he wrote later, that the best time he ever had, he said, he said, he said, was in that tree, he said, when all he had, was Jesus, and he said, how many times, I wouldn't give, to just be back in that tree, where I knew a peace, and a joy, and a love, that I didn't know, and had all this other going on,
That the best time I ever had, was when he just gave me, a whole lot of himself, and the promise is, he wants to answer that prayer, so much so that he died, for us to have that privilege, and that joy, and we get to pray, for the Holy Spirit, so here's what we're going to do, because we need the Holy Spirit, because in the midst of our anxiety, and our depression, what we need, is the Holy Spirit, to come help us, to free us, to give us joy, in the midst of trying to see people, meet Jesus, there's 60,000 people, in like this little area, of West Columbia,
Who don't know Jesus, how many people are in this room, our goal is to see, those people meet Jesus, but we're not doing that, like that doesn't happen, with just us, we're trying to multiply, community groups, we want to multiply, healthy community groups, to be gospel centered, communities on mission, in this area, to see more people meet Jesus, but that doesn't happen, outside of the Holy Spirit, leading us to sacrifice, leading us to find joy, in his mission, leading other people, to see their sin, and to repent, we're about to have baptisms,
In a couple of weeks, that happens, because the Holy Spirit, has been at work, to help people see their sin, to help people, want to know him, that he's been rescuing, redeeming people, there's so much, that we have to pray for, that we need, the Holy Spirit, to be active in, there will be times, there will be times, and maybe you've got them, going on right now, in your life, when you have, absolutely, no clue, what needs to happen, life is such a train wreck,
It's in, there's a relationship, in such a knot, that you have no clue, even how to approach it, but here's what we're promised, you get to walk up to God, and pray, send your Holy Spirit, because if your Holy Spirit, takes over, they'll repent, and I'll repent, and there'll be grace, and there'll be joy, and there'll be reconciliation, like if your Holy Spirit, gets this situation, it turns out well, I don't know what needs to happen, I don't know what decision, needs to be made, but I know that if you show up, it'll be okay,
So here's what we're going to do, if you're a note taker, a writer, I just want you to grab, there's pens, and sheets in front of you, we're going to spend, a little bit of time praying, actively asking our good Father, to give us the Holy Spirit,
The Covenants Fulfilled
Transcript
Good morning. We're in the last week of our Covenant series. We've spent the summer walking through the promises that God made in the Old Testament about what He was going to do and how He was going to redeem His people. There's an old Greek epic called The Odyssey. It was by Homer. And in that story, Odysseus, who's the main character, he goes with the Greeks to attack the Trojans.
They eventually beat the Trojans through the Trojan horse. They defeat Troy. And then he gets stuck for ten years. So his wife's back home. He's stuck. And the whole odyssey is him traveling to try to get back to his wife.
And while he's gone, people just assume he's dead. And all these guys show up and start hitting on his wife. Like they're suitors. They're trying to get her to marry them. And so they just kind of encamp around his house. They're all, you know, talking, you know, mad game and trying to get her to fall in love.
And she's holding out as best she can and kind of remaining faithful. And Odysseus is trying to get back to her. And eventually he goes in disguise and actually wins his wife back. She holds a tournament and he wins his wife back and actually reclaims what was his all along. Because of his love for her, he pursues her and makes her his again. And as we have looked through history into scripture and seen God's big story of history, we actually see a very similar story where God through sin loses his people.
That we actually took part in the rebellion and he loses us and he promises, I'm going to get you back. And so we've looked at all the covenants as he's followed through pursuing to redeem and to reclaim his people. The biggest difference in this story though is that where Odysseus' wife was faithfully waiting for him, humanity and Israel were not faithful to God. We weren't waiting patiently for him to redeem us. We loved every single suitor that came along and hit on us. We listened to every little sweet word they whispered and thoroughly appreciated it and enjoyed it.
That's why the Bible repeatedly refers to Israel as God's wife. Like he says, I'm your husband. But he also says that Israel is a whore because they ran after every single other God that came along. But God is faithful to pursue. And so what we've been doing is walking through, looking at these promises, looking at these covenants and looking at how God has actively pursued his people to redeem them and bring them back to himself. And so we've been following along with this slide.
We've used this the whole time. We drew it up on a whiteboard when we first got started. What we said was we lost everything in the fall. We were in Eden and it was perfect and it was wonderful. And our relationship with God was great. We were his people in his presence, in his place.
And then we rebelled and we fell in sin and death, entered the world. And that God consistently made these promises and these covenants to work us back to the new earth, back to his place as his people in his presence, back to redeem the picture of what was lost in the fall. We said at the very beginning that all of this would help us understand the Old Testament a little better and help us see Jesus more clearly. That as we saw these promises, we would begin to understand more clearly who Jesus is and what he's accomplished for us. And so we lost everything in the fall. And the original covenant with Adam was that he and Eve would be fruitful and multiply.
They'd fill the earth. They'd have dominion over it. And they would worship God. But they don't do that. They rebel. And so then God makes a promise to the serpent that led them astray.
He says, sin's not going to win. Eventually there's going to be a, he says that I will put enmity between you and Eve, between your offspring, her offspring and you. She will bear a son and he will, you'll bruise his heel, but he'll bruise your head or he'll crush your head. So Jesus comes as that promised offspring to Eve. He was born of a virgin. All in the Bible.
When it gives genealogies, it says this guy had this guy, had this guy, had this guy. It's man to man to man to man. Every once in a while, they'll tell you this was the name of their sister. Every once in a while, they'll say, and this was his wife. If they somehow showed up in the story, but mostly they're just going to write down men's names. But at the very beginning, God says there's going to be a woman who's going to have a son.
And he's pointing to the virgin birth of Christ. So Jesus shows up as the fulfillment of that promise. He promises that sin won't win. And then we move forward a little bit. Noah's here and everybody is terrible. So God has wrath towards sin.
And the question we run into is what's God going to do with our sinfulness? And he's going to punish it. But he tells Noah, I'm going to redeem y'all. I'm going to save you. And then when Noah gets off the ark, he makes a covenant with him that he's not going to do this again. That he's still going to have wrath for sin, but he's not going to take it out on earth again.
He's not going to just pour it out on earth. He's actually, what we find out later, is he's going to pour it out on himself. That Jesus is going to take God's wrath towards sin on the cross. It comes to Abraham. He says, I'm going to give you offspring. And through your offspring, all of the world will be blessed.
Jesus is that promised offspring. He makes a blood covenant with Abraham. And he says, I will destroy you if you disobey me. That's what the blood covenant should have said. But what God makes the covenant with him, he says, I'll destroy me if you disobey me.
And Jesus fulfills that by being the sacrifice to pay for Abraham and Abraham's lineage's guilt. He comes to Moses, gives him the law, brings him into the promised land. And ultimately we find out that Jesus is the high priest and the sacrifice. The high priest that stands in between us and God and the sacrifice that pays for our sin. Jesus continually fulfills all these promises. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law on our behalf.
He comes to David and says, I promise that there will be a king that comes from your lineage that will sit on the throne forever. Some of y'all, you became a Christian or you're like, all right, I'm finally, maybe you weren't a Christian, you're going to check this out. I'm going to read the Bible. I'm going to sit down. I'm going to start reading in the New Testament. You're like, I'm going to do this for real this time.
You open the New Testament and it was like, this guy had this son who had this son who had this son who had this son who had this son. And you were like, oh my goodness, why does it start like this? And the reason is because Jesus came as the promised son of Abraham and the promised son of David. And the New Testament begins because it was writing to a people who knew these promises. And it's saying, I want to show you something. When Jesus shows up on the scene, he didn't come out of nowhere.
He's a child of these promises. And Jesus ultimately becomes the king who rules and reigns forever. And one of the things you hear about Jesus all the time is that Jesus died for our sin. And what we've said is that Jesus fulfilled these promises. The reason Jesus isn't just a point, but he's two points there, is that Jesus dies on the cross to pay for our sin. And then ultimately he returns to bring his church to himself to exist with him in eternity.
And we're kind of in that middle zone. But here's the question. How? How? Like, I see that he fulfilled some of those promises, but how does he do that? Like, what?
I know he died, but how does his death accomplish anything? Like, how does it fix the problem? Like, I see that he comes in line with these promises. I see that he's going to be the king. I see that he's going to fulfill the law. I see that.
But how does his death actually accomplish this? Let's go to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31. This is in the midst of where we left off last week. Because where we left off last week, the people of Israel had had it all together. They had finally gotten it.
They were God's people back in his place, in his presence. And then they just derail. It is off the tracks. It's not even close anymore. They're held captive in another nation. There is no Israel.
There is no temple. There is no king. We read that Psalm where he says, you threw the crown and the throne in the dirt. Like, you have rejected and cast us off. And so Jeremiah is writing. He's prophesying in the midst of that.
And here's what he says. We're going to start in verse 31. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. So he's referring to the law.
When he rescued the people from Egypt, he made a covenant with them. He said, if you'll just be good, if you'll just obey me, if you'll just follow these laws, then everything will be great and you'll stay in the land. It'll be wonderful if you'll just keep it together. But he says it's a new covenant. It's not going to be like that one. Which is good because that one didn't work out.
He says, not like the covenant that I gave them when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. So he says, I brought them to myself like a husband takes a wife. And I said, you're going to love me and I'm going to love you and this is going to work out. And they broke that covenant. They did not stay faithful to God.
33. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.
So the two main components of the new covenant that he's going to make with Israel is this. He's going to put the law on their heart. I mean, he's actually going to go inside and change their heart. He's going to change their love, their desire, their motivation. And he's going to forgive them their sin because that's the main issue that we have. That's the biggest problem with the old covenant.
The one that he says he's replacing was that God was fine. The people weren't so great. Like he held up his end. It was Israel that had the problem. Like we were the problem. Like is us, humanity that couldn't keep it together.
And so what he says is I'm going to step in and I'm going to fix the issue. You see, the sin was the issue. And so if Jesus is going to save us, redeem us and fix us, he's got to take care of sin. And there's two primary issues when it comes to sin. Our guilt. We've actually broken the covenant.
We've rebelled. We stand before God guilty. Those of you who are familiar with the Ten Commandments, like we can't even keep those together. And then Jesus shows up and he says it's not just adultery but lust. It's not just murder but hate. Like he even says it's worse than you think.
Your hearts are broken. We're guilty. We don't stand before God innocent. None of you can walk in in front of God, strut into his throne room and be like, Hey, just wanted to let you know I deserve to be here. And I was thinking maybe, not your throne, like I understand you're God, but maybe a little one where I could just sit next to you. And he'd be like, cool, hop on up here.
You're right. Everybody else is terrible but you. I was just actually writing in my diary about you today about how special you are. Like that's not going to happen. We're all guilty. It's not going to go well.
And we're going to continue to mess that up. So like let's say, let's say your fairy godmother shows up. If you don't have a fairy godmother, you should get one. I've watched Disney movies a lot with my son recently and they seem pretty awesome. Fairy godmother shows up right when you're finishing middle school. And about to go into high school.
And here's what she says. I've shown up and I've got a present for you. I've completely fixed your record and your transcript. You remember the chicken nugget incident from second grade? It's off your record. You're like, yeah, remember, I'm going to need counseling.
It's like it's off your record. It doesn't show up anymore. You remember the teacher you made cry in fifth grade? You remember the fist fight you got in in seventh grade? Gone. As far as your record shows, you've never even been to the principal's office except for twice to receive a commendation and a high five.
Like that's it. Like you, as far as your record shows, you're great. And I changed your transcript. Always. Always. You know how you actually are terrible at math?
Not anymore. When you get to high school, everyone's going to think you're a model student and you're really smart. Now, first of all, thanks. That sounds great. I really appreciate that. Secondly, that's actually not going to help me that much.
Because when I get to high school, I'm not going to magically be good at math. So my teacher might think I'm really smart. She'll just be more disappointed. She may even have a conversation with me where she thinks something's happened in my home life where she's like, you used to be really good at math. And now you're terrible. And I'll have to just be like, uh-huh.
And she'll be like, has something happened? And I'll be like, I can't tell the fairy godmother story because she's going to think I'm crazy. So I'm really just going to have to act like I got some other problems going on. Like immediately the issue is, okay, you can get rid of that, but that's not going to help me in the future. So Jesus has to take care of both.
He's got to handle both sides of our sin. He's got to handle our guilt and our rebellion. He's got to handle our future sin. He's got to be at work in future things that are going to happen. Because if Jesus just shows up and gives me a clean slate, that's really nice. For how long?
Day? Week? How long are we keeping that together? How long do we get to go before we can no longer enter into the throne room again? He's got to do both. Jesus has to step in and handle both sides of sin in order for this new covenant to be accomplished.
And here's what happens. This new covenant, God promises he's going to accomplish both sides. So if we fast forward in history, Ezra and Nehemiah and a couple other people come with them. They eventually rebuild the temple. They rebuild the wall. They eventually kind of have their own little kingdom again.
But it's not as strong as it ever was. And at some point, Rome takes over. Greece takes over. And then Rome takes over. And so when we pick up in the New Testament, the time of Jesus' birth, we have a king in Israel. But he's kind of a puppet king.
Like he doesn't have a whole lot of authority because Caesar is king over him. And there's also a Roman governor there. So they don't have the perfect system set up. And Jesus is born fulfilling massive amounts of prophecy. And the night before he's going to go to the cross, here's what he says to his disciples. And this is in Matthew chapter 26.
We'll have it on the screen. He... He... They're celebrating the Passover, which was Jewish people would celebrate the Passover every year. And it was a celebration of when the Israelites were brought out of Egypt. So they were brought out of slavery.
And they had... Right the night before they were about to be brought out, the last plague was coming on Egypt. And the angel of death was going to travel through Egypt and kill the firstborn son of every household unless you took a very pretty, perfect little lamb and killed it and painted your doorpost with its blood. You had to have a perfect lamb die to cover your doorpost. And this is similar to all the covenants God inaugurates with his people where something innocent has to die. If we've gone through this covenant series, if you've been here throughout this whole summer, a whole lot of animals have died.
Maybe it's been traumatizing for you. Like you should not have gotten emotionally attached to any animal that showed up in any of these stories. Oh, there's a goat there. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's not going to be there very long. That's how it's worked.
Every time there's going to be one of these covenants, there's blood that has to be shed. And that's the same with Passover. And that's what they're celebrating. But Jesus breaks from the script in the middle of them celebrating this. And here's what he says. Now, as they were eating, Jesus took the bread.
And after blessing it, he broke it and he gave it to his disciples and said, take, eat. This is my body. So this is completely different now. He's not celebrating the Passover correctly anymore. 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. Luke chapter 22 says that Jesus says this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. So as they're celebrating the Passover, Jesus says, we're celebrating a new Passover. We're celebrating a new covenant. That when God brought the Israelites out of slavery, he's about to bring a whole new group of people out of slavery. And it's not slavery from Egypt.
It's slavery from sin. I'm about to be the perfect Passover lamb that rescues and redeems. To fulfill the new covenant. And when he talks about the new covenant, he's talking about what we just read in Jeremiah chapter 31. Jesus steps in and accomplishes both sides of this promise. So what the biggest issue was that all the people were still sinful.
They couldn't hold it together. It wasn't just that they needed more information. It wasn't just that they needed God's rules or his laws. Recently, I've been watching the Olympics. Matt, our other pastor, said that his wife asked him if he could take three years off and just focus on one event and try to compete in the next Summer Olympics when it showed up, what event would he pick? And he was smarter than me because as soon as he said that, I tried to think about what I would pick.
And then he said he would pick golf just so he could play golf for three years. He probably wouldn't make it to the Olympics. Golf was a good choice. I had chosen badminton in my head because I tried to think, what do I have a shot at possibly winning? And badminton seems like it's the closest one up there. Because here's the thing.
I've been watching the Olympics. I could have the best coach in the world. Like the Mr. Miyagi of diving or track and field. It ain't happening. Like I've been watching diving.
I was watching that the other day. Like they fold completely in half. They spin like 13 times and then they land perfectly in the water. Not happening. I don't care how much you coach me. Like I don't even think they sell Speedos in the size I'd have to put on.
Like these guys are like 115 pounds or something. But like it ain't happening. I'm watching track and field. You could coach me up all you want. Like it's not happening. I saw a tweet that said, I wish they would put an ordinary person in all the events just for reference.
That would be me. Like I'll catch up with you guys at the end. Like it just wouldn't. And that was it. Like it wasn't just that the people of Israel needed more information. It wasn't just that they needed to know what God's laws were.
It's not just that you need rules. We don't show up on Sunday to tell you the rules. Because let me tell you something. The rules aren't going to fix you. You can have the best coaches you want. You can have the most people around you that every time you step out of line would hit you with a stick.
Let me tell you something. You're not going to stop sinning. It's not going to fix the problem. It wasn't just that they needed to be away from the bad people. Because he brings them into the promised land. And he says we're going to kick everybody out and this is going to fix it.
But it doesn't. Some of you, maybe you've homeschooled your children and you figured that out. Keeping them away from the bad people didn't fix them. And maybe you haven't figured that out. And I'm sorry you had to find out just now. Didn't fix them.
They're still sinners. Maybe they had to be more creative or sneakier. But they're still sinners. Like it didn't fix the problem. We needed someone to step in and take care of our guilt and our rebellion. And they needed to take care of both or we were in trouble.
And Jesus steps in and in the new covenant accomplishes both. He fulfills all the old covenant promises. And he brings in the new covenant. Which is better than the old covenant. Because he takes care of the issue which is sin. Let's talk about how he takes care of our guilt.
He actually pays our debt and removes our guilt. So that God remembers your sin no more. If you've placed faith in Jesus, you've been brought into the new covenant. You've been welcomed into his new covenant people. And your sin does not exist anymore. Every so often when there's political campaigns, they kick around the idea of getting rid of all college tuition debt.
All student debt. All student loan debt. Those of you with student loans, just think about that for a second. I've lost you. You're going to think about that for a long time. Isn't that magical?
Like they throw this idea out. And if that happened, somebody gets into office. They sign a little piece of paper. And your debt is gone. If you had student loan debt, it's magic out of existence. Like it's not there anymore.
You'd pick up the phone. You would call and ask, hey, I wanted to find out about my student loan debt. And they'd be like, hold on one second. And they'd be like, click, click. I'm showing that you have a zero balance. You no longer have debt.
I don't know why this call center still exists. If it was completely wiped out, but just go with me here. You'd call once a week just to hear them say that. It's me again. Look it up. Tell me about that zero one more time.
Like that's what he does with our sin. If you are a Christian, when God goes to look up your sin, he doesn't find it. Because Jesus paid for it. It's gone. Now, immediately, whenever anybody brings up paying off college tuition, like forgiving all student loan debt. Because they use that word, we're going to forgive it.
There's someone in the room who goes, um, you can't just get rid of student loan debt. Someone paid for it. Just so you know how money works. Like, you know this person? Maybe you're sitting next to him. Don't look at him.
But just like, you know what I'm talking about. Like you were on your, I'm not going to have any student loan debt. Hi, like you're bouncing around in clouds. And they jumped up and tackled you. And we're like, let me explain to you about taxes. Like, that's what they jumped in to say.
Like, someone's got to pay for it because the school got paid. The government paid them. But then if the government just says, like the money doesn't just disappear. Somebody paid for that. And they're going to argue that taxes pay for that. Like, that's what they're going to tell you.
Some of you are going, okay, hold on a second. Jesus, like God just does some, some financial maneuvering. And suddenly I've got a zero balance on my sin. No. Jesus says, this is the covenant in my blood. The payment for our sin was death.
Some of you are in here and you're going, there's no way I can be forgiven for the stuff I've done. No way I stand before the God of the universe and I'm made okay. Because no way. Like some of you may even think the only way out of this is death. And I will tell you, your instincts are correct. You are right.
But Jesus died on our behalf. And the payment of the blood of the Son of God covers us. So it wasn't just some fancy footwork. The debt was paid. And we're no longer guilty anymore. Now that's enough to take a praise lap over and be excited about.
But if he doesn't take care of the other half, we're in trouble. Because if he just pays for what I've done so far, that's great. But I've met me and that's not going to last very long. If I need a cosigner, I'll get my wife up here. It's not going to last very long. So we need him to take care of our rebellion as well.
And that's what he promises. He says, I'm going to write my law on their heart. It's not going to be out there that you're going to have to follow. It's going to be in here. He's going to write it on our heart. He's actually going to help us follow.
He continually pays for our guilt once and for all. And helps change us so that we can actually follow. So if you love something, you don't need a rule. Like if you stepped in right now and said, I'm going to be your life coach. And I'm going to give you a couple of rules you have to follow. This fall, you're going to need to enjoy that it's cooler than it was in the summer.
And when it feels nice outside, you're going to need to go outside. I'd be like, I don't need a rule for that. Like I got that. Like I have a fire pit. I already have wood in it. It may at some point just spontaneously combust from the sun.
But if it doesn't, as soon as the first cool day exists, I'm setting that thing on fire and sitting out in my backyard for like hours. Just celebrating the fact that I'm not sweating unless I get too close to the fire. Like this is going to be magical. I don't need a rule to tell me to enjoy cool weather. I don't need you to say I've got to watch football this fall. I'm going to.
Don't need a rule. I may need you to help me with like grief counseling because I'm not so sure the Gamecock is going to be that great. But I don't need a rule. You don't have to tell me to eat meat. I understand that little cute animals should die for me to exist. I'm okay with that.
You don't have to give me a rule. I love it. I'm going to use two different types of animals and wrap one in the other one. Like I'm going to do that. I'm okay. I don't need a rule.
I love it. The reason Jesus steps in and begins to change our hearts is because when he starts changing our hearts and he changes what we love, we don't need the rules. The God's laws aren't burdensome to us anymore because they're in our heart. They're not overwhelming or crushing anymore because he's changing us from the inside out. We have one of our group leaders. He was telling me the other day.
He was like, you know, I used to just kind of hate people. I was like, that's fair. People are the worst. Which was funny to me though because they've got people in their house all the time. I mean, they've got like their houses open to the public basically. And he said, I used to just, I didn't.
He said, but I don't know. It's different now. Like I enjoy being around people. I like it. And I feel like that makes me weird. But that's okay.
Like God's changing my heart here. We've got a guy in our church family who got into business and was promoted. He's kind of overseas. He's a manager overseas, multiple people. And he was talking to one of our group leaders and he was just saying that he was like, when I first got into business, I got in it for a couple of things. I wanted to be a manager because you make more money.
Money was like a huge goal for me because it gave me prominence. It let people look up to me. He said, also when I was being a manager, I wanted to be a really good manager. But just because I wanted to be a really good manager, like I wanted it to be about me. So I was really good to my employees, but that was because that would make me a good manager and they would like me more.
I wanted to have the status and I wanted to have the finances and I wanted, he said, and it's just changed. He says, it's not about the money anymore. And I actually care about my employees. I don't just fake it so that they'll think I'm a good manager. Like I actually care about them and it doesn't have anything to do with whether or not they think I'm a good manager. And he's like, God's just changing my heart here.
And that's what happens. Jesus begins to change us from the inside out and it's slow and it's messy, but he goes to work on making us more like him so that he pays for our guilt and steps in and begins to work in our rebellion. And that's what we needed. Go to Hebrews chapter eight. See, Jesus died and rose again to redeem us, to make us his, and to invite us into the new covenant. It's on page 650, if your Bible looks like this.
Hebrews chapter eight. We're going to start in verse six, read through the end of the chapter. But as it is, Christ, that's Jesus, has obtained a ministry that is much more excellent than the old. As the covenant he mediates is better. She's saying the new covenant is better than the old covenant. As the covenant he mediates is better since it is enacted on better promises.
Can we just pause for a second? The first covenant, what was the promise? Follow these rules and everything will be good. Is that a good promise? It seems like a good promise. We go into those kind of deals on a regular basis.
You make those. You hold up your end of the bargain. I'll hold up my end of the bargain and it'll be good. That sounds fair. Okay. That's the old covenant.
Here's the new covenant. I'm going to pay for your sin and I'm going to help you follow me. And at the end of the day, you'll be okay because I died for you. That's a better promise. Hands down. That's a better promise because it actually fixes us and takes care of our biggest issue, which is our inability to hold up the other side.
Since it is enacted on better promises. For if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says, and now he's going to quote in the book of Hebrews, Jeremiah chapter 31, what we just read. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant.
So I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. The new covenant makes us into a new covenant people. And they shall not teach each other, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful towards their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.
And speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. So if we believe that, if we've been brought in as a new covenant people through faith in Jesus, there's a couple of things that change about us, that go to work on us. One is we love and trust Jesus. There's a reason why we gather together on Sundays and we sing songs to Jesus. We talk about Jesus.
We point to Jesus. We pray in the name of Jesus because Jesus is the mediator of our covenant. He's the one who's rescued us and redeemed us and paid for us by his blood. We love Jesus. I love it whenever I get to see you. You read these news articles every once in a while.
And there was a couple of shows every once in a while show this. But it'll be like an EMT or a police officer. Sometimes it's an organ donor and they meet with a person they've rescued. Organ donor they've given their organs for or the EMT rescued somebody or a fireman rescued somebody. And they just, they build a friendship based off of the fact that they were, saved them. They showed up and rescued this kid or they showed up.
And so this cop will show up to birthdays every year because they rescued this kid. They saved them from something. And that's the church's relationship to Jesus. We've been redeemed. We've been rescued. We've been invited into his family.
And we love him and trust him. And in the midst of trial, we trust him because we know ultimately he's for our good. He's gone to work on our behalf. He's paid for our sin. Secondly, as Christians, as those who've been invited in this new covenant, we confess sin. Because it's Jesus that makes us okay.
So I can talk openly about what's broken about me because it highlights how Jesus has redeemed and forgiven and gone to work. I realize that when I confess sin, it's not because I need God to, I need to get on God's good side. But I realize that the reason I'm sinning is because I've begun to love something more than Jesus. So that I'm willing to run from him for it. I'm willing to sin to get it. I'm willing to avoid him to chase after it.
And I begin to confess because I need more Jesus. I need to remember the covenant. And I can tell anybody anything. Some of you have been hiding in your community groups because you're going, I can't tell people this. They can't know this about me. It'll change everything.
They'll treat me differently. Not if they're new covenant people. They won't. Because new covenant people realize the only thing that makes me okay is Jesus and his work on my behalf. Not my behavior. My behavior because of Jesus doesn't show up in front of him.
And that's a really good thing. My sin is remembered no more. I'm free. You've been hiding. You don't have to. Some of you, maybe you've been treating people differently because of something they confessed.
Something you know about them. And the reason you're doing that is because you don't believe this. You don't believe the new covenant. You've begun to think that somehow something you did stands in front of the cross. And it doesn't. Jesus has made you okay and that's it.
And that's why we have freedom to gather together as a bunch of sinful people. And we're okay because Jesus is good. Not because we are. Third thing we do is we fight sin. We go to war because we believe that Jesus is at work in our hearts changing us to help us obey. So if I see you sinning, I'm going to talk to you about it.
Not because I need to bring the hammer down or I've got to fix you or I'm better than you. But I'm going to come talk to you about it because I believe Jesus is at work in your heart. And one of the things he's doing is leading you away from sin. So we're going to walk away from sin together. We're going to change together. I'm going to fight sin in myself because I believe that Jesus is at work.
He's on my team so I actually can win. And ultimately, we've walked through this series so that we can see how the old covenants point us to a new and better covenant. That Jesus on our behalf has rescued us, redeemed us, and paid for our guilt. And he's at work in us to make us different. And for every person in this room and for every person on earth, the new covenant is offered to you. That Jesus would pay for your sin and that he would come in and begin to work in you to make you different.
It's offered to all of us. We can covenant with God based on the new covenant offered to us through the blood of Jesus. And if you've never done that, you can today. You can place your faith in Jesus that he paid for your sin and that he'll come in and begin to work in you to help you in the future. Because for most of us, if you've been hanging around for a while and you're kind of on the edge, it's one of those two issues that's holding you back. God can't forgive me for this.
Yes, he can. Because you sin like a person and he saves like a God. And some of you are saying, okay, okay, okay. I get that he can forgive me for that stuff, but I'm just going to mess it up. But the new covenant is that he's going to go to work on your heart so that no, you won't.
Because he, throughout history, has been aggressively chasing after his people to make them his. And he's not going to lose you. He's died for you to redeem you so that he can come to work in your heart and he's going to keep you. That's how it works. That's the hope we have today. Matt and Bianca are going to come back up here.
We're going to sing together as a church family. And as a church family, if you're a Christian, we take communion to celebrate this new covenant. We do what the disciples did, what we read in Matthew chapter 26, where Jesus broke the bread and said, this is my body. Where he took the cup and he said, this is my blood in a new covenant. And we, as a church, gather together and remind ourselves of this new covenant that's paid for our sin. And goes to work in our hearts to make us different.
And if you're in here and you have some sin you need to confess, maybe you need to grab somebody from your community group. Maybe you need to spend some time talking to Jesus that you've ceased to believe the new covenant. That you've begun to live as if it weren't true. But you need him at work in you. And if you've never placed your faith in Jesus, this covenant is offered to you. You can place your faith in Jesus.
You can take communion today, reminding yourself that it was his body broken for you. It was his blood shed out for you to cover your sin. And in a couple weeks, you can get baptized as a new covenant member of the family. There's nothing standing in the way of you becoming a Christian because Jesus has already paid for all of it. Your sin can't hold you back. Your future failure can't hold you back.
Because Jesus has gone to work on the two major issues we had. Our guilt and our rebellion. He redeems us from both. Let's pray. God, we thank you that you make such good promises. God, we thank you that we were born in this time of history where we get the new covenant promises.
God, we thank you that you died for us. That your sin covers us. That you remember our sin no more. For all those who place faith in you. God, we ask that through your Holy Spirit you would draw people to yourself today. That you would bring more people into your covenant.
Into your love. Into your redemption. Into your family. God, we pray that as a church family we would always live fully walking as if the new covenant is true. That our sin is paid for. That we're free and redeemed.
That you're good. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Aug 21
Conditional or Unconditional
Transcript
How we doing? I'm Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. This September 11th, we are having baptism, so we're going to have a baptism party. I wanted to remind you of that so you can go ahead and be inviting your friends. We're going to celebrate that Jesus is alive, that he saves people by dunking people in water to represent the fact that Jesus died for them, that they're dead with him, that they're covered.
He died for their sin, and then we're going to pull them out of the water because Jesus rose from the grave and they have new life in him. And if you are getting baptized or want to get baptized or are not sure whether or not you should get baptized, our baptism class is next Sunday. So immediately following what we do next Sunday, we'll have our baptism class. So we'll be walking through what baptism is, why we practice it, why you should be baptized. And so if you're interested in being baptized, if you've signed up to be baptized, you need to be there. And if you just have some questions, show up and we'll talk about it.
We're in our 10th week of our covenant series. We spent the whole summer walking through the Old Testament covenants and kind of how that helps us understand the Old Testament, how it helps us understand kind of where we are in God's story, and how it helps us understand Jesus, where he came from, what he was doing, why he had to die, why he had to die on a cross, how he was fulfilling these promises to us that God had made. That's what we've been spending our time doing. So grab your Bibles, go to 2 Kings chapter 17, and here's where we are today. We've been walking through the covenants and we've taken our time to really kind of dive into some of the pictures that have been given to us.
We've taken our time to kind of unpack for us to understand more clearly what the covenants were about and why they existed and what God was saying when he talked to Moses and Abraham and Noah and David. And so we're kind of, here's where we are in the story. God made everything and he made it good. The reason why that we react so negatively to all the bad stuff going on in the world, the reason why we scream out, this isn't right, this is injustice, this shouldn't happen. The reason that happens to us, the reason that our hearts break over this stuff is because we were designed for things to be good.
There's something in us that screams out whenever it's bad, whenever there's injustice, whenever there's racism, whenever there's genocide, whenever there's just natural disaster, there's something in us that says, this isn't how it was supposed to be. And that's because it's not how it was supposed to be. God made it good. It was beautiful. It was like a honeymoon period where nothing was bad. Everything was magical.
And there was just giggling and unicorns. And it was amazing. There weren't actually unicorns, but there was like, it was beautiful. In the garden, God had his people in his presence, in his place, in the garden. Like, we existed in a good relationship with him. And then our enemy, Satan, comes along and lies to us.
And humanity believes his lies. And we rebel against God. And it's, God's children are torn from him. The relationship is broken. The world is never the same again. There's been multiple movies that have had some high quality people in them, like Steven Seagal, Mel Gibson, Denzel Washington, and Liam Neeson.
About people's children being taken away from them. And then the parents' response is, I'm going to get them back no matter what. You see, we rebelled against God. The relationship was broken. His children were ripped from him. And God has the same response.
I'm going to get you back no matter the cost to myself. That's the first kind of promise we looked at when the fall happens. And we've got a slide we've been kind of following along this entire time. When the fall happens, when we rebel, God promises the serpent, you're not going to win. I'm going to get my children back. It's the phone call from Taken where he says, I have a very specific set of skills.
Like that's what he looks at Satan and says, like this isn't going to work out well for you. You picked a bad battle to fight. Like I'm going to get my children back. And then in Noah, we see that sin isn't ultimately going to win. And God makes this promise. He rescues Noah from a flood.
And he makes this promise that I'm not going to destroy the earth again. I'm going to come up with a different way to keep sin from ruling and reigning here. Then he promises Abraham, I'm going to make you into a people. I'm going to bring you to myself. I'm going to bring you to my place. You're going to be in my relationship with me.
You'll be my people in my place in my presence. Like he's going to get them back to where they were in Eden, where everything was magical. Then with Moses, he says, okay, here, let's do this. Let's go. I'm going to bring you out. I'm going to take you to the land.
He says, I'm going to give you the law. And if you'll just remember the covenant, if you'll just follow this, if you'll just believe and remember and worship just me, everything will be great. And over and over again, he says that in Exodus 19, right before he gives the law, he says, I'm the only God. Just follow me. He says it in Leviticus. He says it in Deuteronomy.
He says it in Joshua. He over and over again is just follow me. You'll just trust the covenant, believe the covenant, but remember, it'll work out well for you. They get into the land and throughout the Judges, they kind of go through the same cycle where they forget. They don't worship just God and they get pummeled. And then they repent.
They're like, oh yeah, we should just worship you. And then God rescues them again. And that happens over and over again in Judges. It's kind of like a sitcom. Everything's good. Everything gets bad.
Everything gets good again in a cycle. Like the end of the sitcom, everything's magic again. Like that's how it works. And then we get to the end of Judges and it does a to be continued, where it's like they needed a king. It's really bad. And you're like, what?
And then we get into 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel and they get a king. And then God comes to David and he says, I'm going to give you a king forever. To sit on the throne and reign forever and keep this together. Because the job of the king was to protect the covenants and lead his people in covenant faithfulness. So this is where we've gotten so far in our series.
So today should be happily ever after. That's what today should be. Today should be us just being like, Israel crushed it. God sent the king who was going to last forever. He's still there doing his thing. It's great.
It's beautiful. They're still there. Everything's been magic ever since. I don't want to be the one to have to break this to you. That is not how that happens. Over and over again, they're told, just remember the promises.
Just stay faithful. And they don't. Not even close. He says, I'm going to give you a king and he's going to keep you faithful. He's going to lead in this. He's going to keep the covenants together.
There. Second Kings chapter 17. Let's pick up there. Let's read. So what we've got is all the covenants have been given.
All the promises have been given. God's made all the covenants. And now he's got his people in his place, in his presence. They've got kings. So where we're picking up in second Kings, here's what's happened.
Saul was the first king and he was, he was okay for a little while. And then he was unfaithful. And so God says, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to anoint David. David becomes king. God tells David, I'm going to give you a son to reign in your place. He's going to be a son to me.
He's going to be a king forever before me. You will never lack a man on the throne forever. Forever, ever. For real. That's what he says. Something like that.
It was a paraphrase. But he says, it's going to be a king on the throne forever. So David has a son named Solomon. By the end of Solomon's reign, Solomon has the rules for kings, which were don't get a lot of horses, don't get a lot of money and don't get a lot of wives. Solomon, I don't know if it says specifically about the horses, but he got a lot of money and a lot of wives. And the wives led him to worship other gods.
So by the end of Solomon's reign, he is not faithful to God alone. The one thing he's supposed to do. And so God says, okay, not under your reign, but under your sons, I'm tearing the kingdom in half. But because of David, I'm going to keep somebody in Judah. And Judah is the place now where he's saying, I'm going to keep the promise. And there's two kingdoms, Israel and Judah.
That's where we pick up in 2 Kings. Look at verse 6. In the ninth year of Hosea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria. That's the capital of Israel. And he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah and on the harbor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. So Israel's just been captured by Assyria.
So God had said, I'm going to bring you here. I'm going to defend you. You're going to be my people in my place. And then the kingdom's broken in half. And the Israelites are taken. 7.
And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. So the one thing they were supposed to do, remember the covenant, keep it the covenant. Remember that I'm the only God. They don't do. They begin to do secretly things they ought not do.
They think that God won't notice. And then it gets not so secret. They built for themselves high places in all their towns from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves pillars and ashram on every high hill and under every green tree. And there they made offerings on all the high places as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things provoking the Lord to anger.
And they served idols of which the Lord had said to them, you shall not do this. Okay, so they're supposed to have one temple. That's the presence of the Lord. They're supposed to go to that temple whenever they had to have sacrifices. But what they start doing is they start building totem poles and ashram poles and high places and sacrifice places in every town they have and on every hill and under every green tree.
They're not even close to being faithful to God alone. It's not even close. They got side gods all over the place. It's bad. It's bad. And I love that what it says was they had idols and of this God told them, you shall not do this.
That was the rule. Pretty straightforward. What's the rule on idols? Don't do it. Simple. Like, I feel like it's the conversation you have with a three-year-old.
What did I say about that? You said not to do it. Yeah. What was confusing? I don't know. I did it.
Like, they had one rule. Don't do this. 13. 13. Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes in accordance with the law that I commanded your fathers that I sent to you by my servants, the prophets. But they would not listen, but were stubborn as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves metal images of two calves. And they made an Asherah, and they worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served Baal. And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divinations and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only. They don't keep it together. They don't remain faithful to the covenant. The king who was supposed to keep him faithful, he's not here in Israel. And God removes him from his sight.
But what we know is that he left Judah. Only Judah was left. So we got Judah. So God can keep his promise. Verse 19. Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced.
And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers until he had cast them out of his sight. That's kind of a summary statement for the rest of the book of 2 Kings. It ends with Judah being hauled off into captivity as well. At one point in the coming story, a priest in the temple finds the book of the law. He finds it. They had lost it.
They had a book that was due to what this book says and they lost. Like you misplaced the book? Like that's the one thing y'all were supposed to do was like consistently read this book. The king was supposed to have a copy of the book that he read every day. The priest, what is he doing if he's not following the book? Is he just in there winging it?
They're like cleaning stuff out in the closet. They find the book. And the priest was like, oh, let me read this. This is interesting. He reads it. He takes it to the king and he's like, you might want to read this.
The king reads it and he's like, we're in trouble because we're not even close. We're not doing any of this. And he actually leads in some reforms that last basically while he's alive. And then it falls all apart again. And eventually there's no Israel. There's no Judah.
There's no temple. There's no wall. There's no king. There's no throne. There's no people. There's no place.
There's no presence. Here's what happens on our timeline. Now, fall is terrible. God's not going to let it win. Noah, he says, I'm going to make you into a family. And you're going to begin to do what you're supposed to.
Like I'm going to save you out of, and I'm not going to destroy everything again. And Noah doesn't really do that as well. So eventually he comes to Abraham and says, I'm going to make you into a family. I'm going to make you my people, my presence. You're going to worship me. He goes to Moses and says, I'm going to bring you into the land.
I'm going to teach you what it's like to follow me. If you'll just remember my covenant. Finally, he comes to David and says, you're here. You're here and it's going well. And I'm going to give you a king that will last forever. And then they just derail.
Like we had been taking steps. We had been getting closer. And it just, we just, it just, it just falls apart. They're in captivity. The 10 northern tribes of Israel, like they knew they were Israelites. They lost all the tribe heritage.
And here's what, what's the worst. They should have known better. They should have known. That was, that's who they were. That was their story. That was their history.
We're the people that God loves. We're the people of the covenant. We're the people of the promise. They should have known better. My dad is a, is an intense guy. He's a good dad.
He's an intense guy though. So I think that part of what made him a good dad. So like I've been practicing being super intense so I can raise sons. Cause I got a boy. So everyone's, I just look at him.
Like I'm just trying to, he's working on it. Um, but there've been a couple of times in my life where I would just have done something that was, um, the opposite of intelligent. Uh, so I'll give you a couple of those stories and kind of how this worked with my dad. Uh, we were playing one time in our, in our upstairs room. We had a room that we had, uh, I think we slept on sleeping bags on the floor at this point. Maybe we, we kind of had some different setups in that room, but this, at this point, the room was just open.
And, uh, older brother Logan, we were playing like a, uh, Nerf gun game or whatever. And he would run and there was these little doors cause it was like one of those above a garage attic rooms or whatever. So there was like those short doors or whatever. And he would run and kick off of them and roll. And we try to shoot at him. It was really cool.
So I tried to do this and I ran and kicked off of the drywall. So those of you who know things about, yeah, I'm in the future also, you know, things about drywall. So, uh, my foot just went straight into the closet, like just through the drywall. Cause it couldn't handle me. Um, and so, uh, so, so I had to, we had to go talk to my dad. There was another time when, uh, uh, when I was helping, uh, we were moving and I was helping pack all this, the stuff up.
And, uh, I packed up all of our furniture in a truck and then we drove it over to our house and we rolled the thing up and my dad hadn't been there for the packing process and we roll it open and he looks and we had just stuck all this furniture in there all up against each other and all up against the walls and we hadn't used any blankets. Cause furniture gets cold when it travels. It needs blankets. No, it needs blankets so that it doesn't rub up against stuff and look terrible. It had rubbed up against stuff and looked terrible. So I had to talk to my dad about that.
Um, and then when I was in college, I came home and I made, uh, a, a homemade fuse bomb out of safety fuse. So it's just supposed to make things safer, but not if you make a bomb out of it and lit it and threw it into a field that was broom straw and it blew up and I caught an entire field on fire. There's the second broom straw field I'd caught on fire, uh, and had to have a conversation with my dad about it. And in all of these moments, there would be this, there's, there's come this time where my dad would be looking at me. And he'd be looking at a hole in drywall or he'd be looking at what used to be his pretty dresser that I'm sure his great grandmother gave him.
And he'd be looking at a field that was charred as smoke was rising. And he would go, you don't know any better than to kick off of a wall. You, you don't have any better sense than that. What'd you think was going to happen when you stuck two dressers next to each other and rode down the road? He would look at me and go, what, what, what, what, what happens with fire and broom straw and wind? And he'd look at me and go, don't you, you don't know any better.
And every time I so badly wanted to say, yeah, I do. Because when you're looking at the hole in the drywall and, and you're, you're looking at the furniture and you're looking at the, you're thinking I should, I should have known, I should have known that this wouldn't hold my weight. I should have known that that was what that was going to happen. If I didn't put blankets there, I should have known about fire. Like I'm in college. I should have picked this up by now.
I've run a fire. I've worked in a fire store since I was like 13. Should kind of know how fire works. And every time I wanted so badly to say, yeah, I knew better, or I should have known better, but there was a hole in the drywall and there was, there was messed up furniture and there was a giant field that was no longer broom straw. Every time it's like, I should have known better, but I don't know. I don't, I don't know.
I don't know what happened. And the reason I think it matters so much for us right now to see what happens with these covenants and what happens when this, that Israel derails this is because I have these moments where I feel like I'm standing in front of God. He's going, you don't know any better? And I want so badly to say, yeah, I know better. Yeah, yeah, I shouldn't. But it's like, I don't know.
I don't know why I did this. I don't know why I believed that this would make me happy. I don't know why I chased after this thing. I don't know why I ran headlong into sin and stuff that you've shown me so clearly isn't your will and doesn't glorify you. I don't, I don't know. All I can see at this point is that it's derailed.
All I can see now is my wife crying. All I can see now is the people I've heard. All I can see now is, is like, I don't, I don't know how I got here. I feel like I should have known better. All I know now is that consequences are coming. All I know now is that.
Turn to Psalm 89. See, the question becomes, in the midst of God's stubborn, unrepentant, rebellious people who should have known better. What happens to the covenants? What happens to God's promises? What happens to God's faithfulness when it meets humanity's unfaithfulness? What happens to God's promises when it meets our rebellion?
What happens to his strength when it meets our weakness? What happens to his holiness when it meets our sin? That's the question. We're going to, we're going to read this Psalm where Ezra, not Ezra, Ethan, the Ezra height is asking this question of God. He's in the middle of this moment in history where we just read in second Kings. And he's coming before God in this Psalm and he's talking to him about what's going on here.
We're going to skip some of it because it's a long Psalm. We're going to stop and sum it up every once in a while, but I just want us to, to dive in a little bit to the emotions of Ethan as he's looking at God in the middle of this and saying, what, what's going to win? What happens to your covenants? Verse one, I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I said, steadfast love will be built up forever.
In the heavens, you will establish your faithfulness. You have said, he's talking to God. You said this. I have made a covenant with my chosen one. I have sworn to David, my servant. I will establish your offspring forever and build your throne for all generations.
Starting in verse five and going through 18, he just begins to say, okay, he reminds him of this promise and then he says, okay, here's how big you are. Here's how strong you are. Here's how good you are. Here's how massive you are, God. He just reminds him of how big he is. And then pick up in verse 19.
For of old, you spoke in a vision to your godly one and said, I have granted help to one who is mighty. I have exalted one chosen from my people. I have found David, my servant. With my holy oil, I have anointed him so that my hand shall be established with him. My arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him.
The wicked shall not humble him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him. And in my name shall his horn be exalted. He's reminding him of the covenant to David. He's saying, we had it.
We had, we were, we were there. We had your people in your place in your presence. We had, we had the promises and you told him there was going to be a king forever. I'm reminding you of this covenant you made to David. 25. This is still God talking about David.
I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. He shall cry to me. You are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I will keep for him forever. And my covenant will stand firm for him.
I will establish his offspring forever. And his throne as the days of the heavens. If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules. If they violate my statues and do not keep my covenants. Then I will punish their transgressions with the rod.
And their iniquity with stripes. But I will not remove from him my steadfast love. Or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant. Or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness.
I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever. His throne as long as the sun before me. Like the moon it shall be established forever. A faithful witness in the sky. So he's saying, God, this was your promise to David.
If his children rebelled. You'd punish them. But you wouldn't forget your covenant. You'd punish them. But you wouldn't remove your love.
You might punish them. But you wouldn't lie to David. Verse 38. But now you have cast off and rejected. You are full of wrath against your anointed. You have renounced the covenant with your servant.
You have defiled his crown in the dust. You've breached all his walls. You've laid his strongholds in ruins. All who pass by plunder him. He has become the scorn of his neighbors. You've exalted the right hand of his foes.
You've made all his enemies rejoice. You have also turned back the edge of his sword. And you have not made him stand in battle. You've made his splendor to cease. And cast his throne to the ground. You've cut short the days of his youth.
You've covered him with shame. How long, oh Lord, will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is. For what vanity you've created all the children of man. What man can live and never see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Lord, where is your steadfast love of old? Which by your faithfulness you swore to David. So, he's looking at God and he's saying, You've rejected your covenant. The crown that was supposed to be on his head forever is in the dust. The throne he was supposed to sit on forever has been thrown to the ground.
And you've rejected your covenant. How long, God? Do you see how small I am? Do you see how weak I am? I don't know if he's mad. I don't know if he's just sad.
I don't know his tone here. But he's looking at God and he's saying, You said you weren't going to do this. You promised you weren't going to lie to David. And you've reneged. You've pulled all this back. You've cast your covenant out.
And here's the question as we get to this point in the Old Testament. Were God's promises conditional or unconditional? The promises he made, were they conditional or unconditional? Is he going to be faithful no matter what? Or can we make him take that back? And here's why this matters for us.
When all we've done is run it into the wall. When we've sinned again. When we don't want to pray. When we don't want to read. When we don't want to talk to God. When we don't even want to get out of bed.
When we feel like there's no way he can love us. Because of the circumstances of our life. Because the diagnosis came back and it's cancer. Because the person that we can't live without. We're going to have to figure out how to. When we're in this moment when we can't see him.
And it seems as if there's no way he cares. And when we've messed it up. When it's our sin that's ruining our marriage. When it's our sin that's driving our children away. When it's our sin that makes us feel like we can't go home and talk to our parents. Can't even pick up the phone when they call.
When it's our sin that makes us want to hide every time we hang out with our community group. When it's our sin that makes us not want to show up on a Sunday. And if we do we just hope nobody talks to us. Does our sin win? Is his covenant conditional? Or is it unconditional?
What happens when my weakness is matched up against his strength? What happens when my smallness, my frailty is matched up against his bigness? What's God's answer? What happens when his faithfulness has to face up and match up with my unfaithfulness? That's the question the psalmist asks. Is it done?
Did you really cast it off? Is it over? You want to know God's answer to this question? It's the same answer for us. 1 John says that God took on flesh and lived among us. That God became a man.
Is the covenant unconditional or is it conditional? God's answer is yes. Is it conditional or unconditional? Yes. You see, what God does is he becomes human so that he can keep his faithfulness and make up for our unfaithfulness. God becomes human so that he's fully God and fully man when he goes to the cross so that he's making up for God's faithfulness.
He's keeping his promise. You see, when God looked at the serpent and said, you won't win, there's going to be someone born of a woman who's going to crush your head. That was Jesus. When God looked at Noah and said, I won't again take out my wrath on humanity. He took it out on Jesus on the cross. When God looked at Abraham and they cut up the animals and they walked through the middle in the blood.
And God didn't let Abraham walk through the middle because he signed both sides of the covenant and said, if I don't hold up my end of the bargain, you can kill me. And if you don't hold up your end of the bargain, I'll kill me. Jesus fulfills that promise. When God looked at Moses and said, you're going to sin and you're going to need to follow me. But if you can't, I'm going to make a way for sacrifice.
That's Jesus. When he looked and said, there's going to be a king on the throne forever. That's Jesus. And when he looked and said, you're going to need to follow and you're going to need to obey. And we couldn't. God became a man so that we could.
So that we had a representative on humanity's side. To hold up the conditions of the conditional covenant. That's God's answer to this song. He says, don't you know how weak I am? Don't you know how short my days are? And he says, I'm going to.
If you want to see God's strength matched up with our weakness, you'll see Jesus. You'll see his bigness matched up with our smallness. You'll see Jesus. If you want to see God's power and glory and his holiness matched up with our sin. Sinfulness. You'll see Jesus on a cross.
That's God's answer. To are the covenants conditional or unconditional? The answer is yes. And I'm going to keep the conditions for you in Christ. So when we're plagued by our sin and all we feel like we've done is earned the right for God to revoke all of his love from us.
Earned the right for God to revoke all of his blessings from us. When we should have known better and all we've done is run it into the wall. The response for us is the same response that Ethan could have had when he wrote this Psalm. Which is look to Jesus. Because he's the one who's going to keep it together for you. He's the one who's going to be strong for you.
He's going to want to hold up your end of the bargain for you. Hebrews chapter 12 says, Let's throw off every weight and every sin that entangles us. And let's fix our eyes on Jesus. Let's run the race marked out for us. Let's fix our eyes on Jesus.
The founder and the finisher of our faith. Jesus started it. And Jesus keeps it together at the end. Our hope is in Jesus alone. When you don't want to pray, you need to pray. When you don't want to read your Bible, you need to set some time.
You need to get up. You need to force your eyes onto the text. And you need to go line by line reading the Bible. When you don't want to hang out with your group, you need to hang out with your group. And you need to tell them what's going on. When you don't want to be here on Sunday, you need to be here on Sunday.
Because, not because it earns anything from God or it makes Him love you. But because you need to fix your eyes on Jesus, some of you need to begin journaling. Some of you need to begin getting an MP3 player that has Christian music. That reminds you to worship. That reminds you of what Jesus has done. Because you've got to remember that Jesus is the one who holds up your end of the bargain.
Fix your eyes on Jesus. He's the founder and the finisher. When you've derailed it, Jesus died for that. He loves you. He suffered alongside of you so that suffering one day can end. He wept alongside of us so that one day He could wipe away all our tears.
He died so that one day death won't have a hold on us. We've got to look at Jesus. And remember that He's the covenant keeper for us. Matt's going to come back up here. Some of you have been chasing after sin. Some of you have just gotten to where you don't feel like you know Jesus anymore.
You can't see Him anymore. You don't know how He loves you anymore. You don't know how He's at work anymore. Some of you right now, it was all you could do to get out of bed this morning. Put on some clothes. Brush your teeth.
And make it here. I want you to know that Jesus is strong and big and mighty. And you get to be weak and small and frail. Because He's the one who keeps it together. He's the one who fulfills both God's faithfulness and our unfaithfulness. He dies for our unfaithfulness and makes us faithful.
You get to fix your eyes on Jesus. I got an 18-month-old. He's a year and a half. I was cutting his hair yesterday. And the clippers. And he was in the bathtub.
And I turned the shower head on. And then I cut it off real quick. And he lost it. I scared him to death. He was stark naked. Screaming his head off.
I picked him up. And he's just clutching onto the back of my shirt. With all he has. Because all he knows is if I'm holding him, he's going to be okay. Whatever it was that was terrifying, he's going to be okay if I'm holding on to him. And when Jesus says, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, I'll give you rest.
He's saying it the same way. I would say that to him, which is just come here. Just come here. All we have to do is hold on to Jesus for dear life in the midst of, we can't see anything else. We can't fix this. We don't know how we're going to take one more step.
Jesus doesn't need you to be strong. Jesus doesn't need you to be smart or to be powerful or to know the next move. You just need him. You just need to fix your eyes on him. So here's what we're going to do.
For the next little while, if you're in that moment today, where you really just, it's all you can do, put one foot in front of the other, it's all you can do to breathe in and breathe out. If you're in that moment today, I just want you to know that Jesus is big and he's capable and he loves you more than you could ever imagine. When God, at the beginning of time, looked at the serpent and said, you will not win. And for those who are in Christ, he had you in mind and he has bent heaven and earth and time and space to die for you, to bring you back to himself. Not so that you could be strong, not so that you could be good, not so that you could be powerful, not so that you could know what to do, but so that you could run to him and rest in him and fix your eyes on him and he could be the king and the rescuer and the promised one forever.
He is the promise of the covenant and God keeps it in Jesus. If you're in that moment today, I just want to encourage you to fix your eyes on Jesus. He's big and good and capable and loves you. That's going to play and I just want you to pray that Jesus will help you see him so clearly and he would give you more of himself. If you're not in that moment today, you're doing okay. You're doing pretty good.
I want you to do two things. I want you to take a minute to go before the king on behalf of those in this room and in our church family. We need so much to see Jesus right now. And I want you to just ask. God, I'm asking on their behalf. We show up.
We help them fix their eyes on you. We help them remember your promises. We help them remember your cross. We help them remember that you rose from the grave and that you are good. And then I want you to take a minute to pray for yourself. For the day that you don't know how to put one foot in the ground.
God, I want you to continue to see Jesus. Continue to fix your eyes on him. And remember that he's the founder and the finisher of your faith. I'm asking to play. I'm going to pray. After you've prayed for your brothers and sisters and after you've prayed for yourself, why don't you stand?
We'll sing. God, we thank you. God, we thank you that you saved those who are weak and you saved those who are small and you saved those who have really only run it into the wall and derailed it. We have nothing to present before you. Maybe we should have known better. Maybe we shouldn't have chosen what we chose.
But God, we're standing at you at this point and all we have is bustedness. All we have is broken. We have nothing to present to you that would make us lovable. We have nothing to give to you that would make us be redeemable. And God, you became a human to represent humanity. You can swap out with us.
God, you became a human because you are faithful and you did not lie to David. You will keep your covenant. But you had to pay for our rebellion and our weakness. God, we thank you that you're strong on our behalf. And I pray, God, that you help us to see you today. That you would help us to grab on with everything we have to your word.
Grab on with everything we have in prayer. Grab on with everything we have with our last ounce of strength just to see you. Just to remember your sacrifice. And that you keep the promise. You keep the covenant. You make good on your word.
You are faithful so that our faithlessness is overwhelmed. That you're holy such that our sin is overwhelmed. That you're strong such that our weakness only highlights your strength. God, that you're good. And we can trust you in the midst of everything. Because you've already given up everything just to make us yours.
That you did come to rescue and to redeem and to keep your promises. God, we ask that your Holy Spirit would work so that our hearts can see you so clearly. That you would speak, God, to those of us who are hurting and weak and small. And we would know that you hurt alongside of us. And that your strength is ours. And that your life is ours.
We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. My heart is heavy. My soul is weak.
It seems I can't traverse the trail before me. I survey your glory. I survey your glory. Of your agony. And I find the will to fight for what's before me. Because you ran the race, enduring for your glory.
I fix my eyes on you. I fix my eyes on you. I fix my eyes on you. The founder and the finisher of our faith. I fix my eyes on you. And you train me to delight in all that's holy.
You're my broken body. You're my crooked stride. You're my crooked stride. Throw off every wave and sin that gleams. So closely.
You're my crooked stride. You're my crooked stride. You're my crooked stride. And you train me to delight in all that's holy. You're my broken body. Kill my crooked strife.
Throw off every wave and sin that gleams so closely. I will run the race enduring for your glory. I fix my eyes on you. The founder and the finisher of our faith. I fix my eyes on you. The solace in your suffering is my strength.
The solace in your suffering is my strength. You help me breathe. You're the only life I need. You died for me. You're the only life I need. You help me breathe.
You're the only life I need. You died for me. You're the only life I need. You died for me. You're the only life I need. You died for me.
You're the only life I need. You died for me. You're the only life I need. You help me breathe. You're the only life I need. You died for me.
You're the only life I need. You died for me. The solace in your suffering is my strength. The solace in your suffering is my strength.
King Forever
Transcript
Good morning. So this presidential run has been very contentious. I don't know if y'all have picked up on that. But both conventions seem like they might would go into contested conventions. People showed up at the Democratic National Convention with Bernie supporters showed up and protested at the Republican one. Ted Cruz got booed off stage because he wouldn't endorse Trump.
People started chanting and yelling at him and booing. And it's just been it's been heated. And there's been a lot of angst over this this election. And I think it's going to get worse. I don't know if y'all picked up on that. I think it's going to get worse as we get closer to time.
Here's what happens to me every time there's a there's a presidential election. And every time this goes on, like it reveals something in my heart. I want so badly. I really, really want to believe the stuff they say. Like I want to believe that someone knows what the problem is and is actually going to come fix it. I want to believe that one of the candidates is a is a hero.
One of the candidates is going to come along and and actually accomplish like they're going to go into the White House and make things good or keep things good and defend us. And like I want so badly to believe all the promises that are made every time. Like I really want to believe it. Like I have to I find myself really longing for this stuff to be true. I think that's why people get so bitter, so frustrated. It's not that they don't think they don't think anybody can fix it.
They just start believing that these candidates can't somebody could have, but they're not here to do it. These can't. That's why people immediately start talking about Trump and Clinton. You're going to you're going to raise hopes and blood pressure like that. That's what happens. Like on either side, there's this desire and there's something in us that desires to have a good leader like we're supposed to.
And it's in anything like we're we're we're desire. We long for a good leader, someone to come along and help and to lead and to to to make good decisions on our behalf. Like we we long for this and it it doesn't matter. It could be at work. Having a good boss or having a bad boss makes a big difference. On its team, having a good coach or a bad coach makes a big difference.
Good teacher, bad teacher. Like it makes a difference. Just take a second. I think as I watch the presidential election stuff, I start realizing this isn't just in me. It's not just in me that wants this to be true. It's not just in me that somehow believes that there is a person who could show up and fix things.
Like I think we all kind of there's a there's a belief that somebody could. But take a second. And I just want you to think about somebody who's been a good leader in your life. Could be a parent. Could be a coach. Could be a teacher.
Could be a grandparent. Somebody who made a difference in leading well on your behalf that you just got to kind of follow. You just got to submit to. You just got to follow their leadership and you could trust them. When they made a call, it was it was for your good. When they made a decision, it was for your good.
You knew they were on. They were leading on your behalf. Maybe it was a boss. It was just easy to work for. See, as we're talking through our covenant series, as we're looking at the promises God makes, basically where he bends over and and makes a promise to humanity. He's he kneels and stoops to to promise something to people saying, holding himself accountable to I'm going to fulfill this.
He's given us his own Job description. One of the promises he makes is about a king. He makes a promise about a leader who's going to lead on behalf of others. And so that's what we're looking at today. We're looking at the promise made the covenant made. To David.
Of a king. So let's go to second Samuel chapter seven. Second Samuel chapter seven. And we're going to look at what this promise is. And then we're going to spend a little bit of time today just asking, talking about if this is true, if this promise is fulfilled, if this is real and we actually believe this, how does that intersect with our lives? Like, how does that affect us personally?
So we're going to look at the promise. We're going to talk a little bit about it and what it means. And then we're going to talk about how does that actually affect me when I leave? I go to work when I go to school. How does that affect me? Let's pray.
Let's pray real quick. God, we thank you that you're good. That we can trust you. We thank you, God, that as we all long for good leaders, as we celebrate good leaders, God, I'm just thankful that one of your promises is of a leader, that you promise to step into that void and you hold yourself accountable to keep your promise. We love you. We praise you in Jesus' name.
Amen. Okay, so here's what we've been looking at all along. We've been talking about everything was good in the Garden of Eden, but humanity rebelled. The fall happened. Sin happened. And so there was this big gap between us and God.
The relationship wasn't good anymore. We couldn't be in Eden anymore. We couldn't be in God's presence anymore. And it was a disaster of cosmic proportions. God in the garden promises the serpent that he will not win. He basically tells the serpent, this isn't going to be the end of the story.
You're not going to win. There's going to be someone who comes along and crushes you. Then God promises Noah, I won't destroy the earth with a flood again. He didn't say anything about other methods. He just says, not a flood. And he promises not just Noah, but everything.
So that promise is made to like all of creation. So the trees and the bullfrogs, they all get that promise as well. Then he comes and talks to Abraham and he says, I'm going to make you into a people and I'm going to give you a place and you're going to be in my presence. And then through Moses, he continues that promise and accomplishes it. So Moses and Joshua get to the promised land.
Moses gets right to the edge of it. Joshua gets to go in. And so God now has his people in his presence, in his place. That's kind of where we left off this past week. He's rebuilding us back up to what we had in Eden, but we saw that we're kind of still far away from that. And here's what happens.
The people eventually ask for a king. And in Deuteronomy 17, prior to them having a king, it says when you get in the land, you're going to want a king. And here are the rules for kings. So he knew they were going to get a king. He knew they were going to ask for a king. It actually says you're going to look around and say that everybody else has a king and you're going to want one.
Well, the other nations have a king. I know you're going to want one. You're going to ask for one as soon as you see that everybody else has a king and you don't. You can have one. Here are the rules. I get to pick who it is.
That's Deuteronomy 17. I get to pick who the king is. And then there were a handful of rules for kings. First three were this. The king cannot have too many horses. All right.
Second rule. Cannot have too many wives. Can't have a bunch of wives. Third rule. Can't pile up too much silver and gold. Okay.
Those seem like kind of odd rules. Like when kings get together and they talk about why they became a king. I think these are like some of the reasons. It's like when there's a king convention. It's like, man, what do you like best about being a king? The women.
What do you like best? The money. Third king's like, I like horses. Good. No, but here's the reason those three rules exist. Here's what he was attacking in that.
When he was putting guardrails around. The point of being a king. Like if you became a king. The reason you liked being a king was. Horses just meant power. It meant the ability to have chariots.
It meant the ability to have cavalry. Like it's when they listed out battles. They would talk about how many chariots they had. How many horses they had. Because that made a big difference in your ability to have power. To move quickly.
To send troops around. And so when he says, you can't have too many horses. What he's saying is the point of you being king is not power. It's not war. It's not your own greatness. You can't have too many wives.
The point of you being king is not your own comfort. Your own prestige. You can't have too much money. The point of you being king is not to gather wealth. To live a life of luxury. So he says those three rules are the rules for kings.
And the fourth one is this. They're going to make a handwritten copy. Which was the only type of copy they could have back then. Just so you know. They're supposed to make their own copy of the law. The king is.
He's going to sit down. He's going to copy the law. And he's going to have a priest basically say, yes, this is an acceptable copy of the law. And he's supposed to read it all the days of his life. So the king can't chase after power, pleasure, wealth.
He's supposed to know the covenant. Know the law inside and out. Because the purpose of the king was to lead his people in faithfulness to the covenant. That's the purpose of the king. And that's how it, if you read through 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles. What you see is the king was the front runner for are we doing okay or are we not doing okay as a nation?
That's what the king did. He was, everything rose and fell on the king. Like if he was a good king, it was a good time. If he was a bad king, it was a bad time. They would all start off with this. This person died and this person became king.
And he was a good king because, it wouldn't say because he was really wealthy or because he warred well. What it would say was because he followed after God. Or it would say this person was a bad king because he did not follow after God. And the kings would either lead the people to worshiping idols, to chasing after sin. Or they would lead the people to faithfulness to the covenant. That's important because when God promises a king, what he's promising is a leader who leads in covenant faithfulness.
We've got to understand what a king did, what the role of a king was, so we can understand what this promise was. So, if it was a good king, things went well. If it was a bad king, things went poorly because they make decisions on behalf of the people. So, like when your boss is, I don't know, an idiot. And they make terrible decisions. They make decisions on behalf of all their employees.
When your dad made a bad decision. When you're, when, one of the reasons we freak out about the president is because they get to make decisions that affect us. So, we care. Preferably, the president wouldn't be a moron. Like, if I got to vote, that's what my vote would be. Like, not a moron.
It's like one of the first things. Because they make decisions on our behalf. And so, the king makes decisions, leads on behalf of the people, and sets the tone for what this is going to be like. Alright. You understand what a king does? 2 Samuel chapter 7.
Now, when the king, that's David. So, there's been two kings. Sorry. Saul, they asked for a king. They got Saul. Saul was a pretty good king for a little while.
Then he kind of got off. Like, he wasn't following God the way he was supposed to. So, God anoints David to be king. And eventually, David is king. And we're picking up with David, the king. Who's like the high water Mark for all the kings.
If you got a king action figure in the nation of Israel, you wanted the king David. Like, he was the best trading card, whatever. Alright. Now, when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent. And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. Okay.
So, David built a castle, a house. And he looks and realizes that the ark of the covenant that has the tablets, has some of the other Aaron staff, some other things, in the ark of the covenant that represented the presence of God, it's still in the tabernacle. It's in a tent that moves around. And so he says, I'm in a house. God's in a tent. Now, he would have understood that God didn't, like, wasn't just limited by the tent, but he's basically saying, like, it feels weird for my stuff to be nicer than God's stuff.
Like, I feel uncomfortable now. Like, my house is nice, but we need to do something about this, but God can't just be in a tent. So he's basically saying, I want to build a house for God. Like, I want to make, we're in a place now. We're not moving all around. We have a capital.
Let's build a house for God. And Nathan says, Nathan's the prophet. Nathan says, go for it, man. So it's going pretty well so far? Four. But, okay, that same night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan.
Go and tell my servant David. Thus says the Lord. Would you build me a house to dwell in? Okay, so if you're Nathan, this dream vision didn't start off super well. I don't know what happened. Nathan's a prophet, so he speaks on behalf of God.
David asks him, like, says, hey, I want to build a house for God. Nathan's response is, go for it. And then Nathan goes to sleep, and God's like, what? So I don't know if Nathan didn't ask, if he just, I don't know how that works. Like, I know this happens to me, but I would have just thought it didn't happen to Nathan. Like, people ask me stuff, and I'll just be like, here's an answer.
And then later I'll, like, think, and pray, and read the Bible, and then have to come back and be like, remember what I said? I want to redact it. I want to say something helpful. I do this on a semi-regular basis. I don't know if Nathan had to, but he did this time. So God basically steps in and says, no, Nathan, and Nathan's like, got it, I'll tell him what you say.
All right, go and tell David. This is verse 5. Go and tell David, my servant. Go and tell my servant David. Thus says the Lord, would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.
In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the Judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, why have you not built me a house of cedar? Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all of your enemies from before you, and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more.
And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly. From the time that I appointed Judges over my people Israel, and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. Okay, let's see the promises he's made so far. He says, you're going to build me a house? I'm going to make a great name for you, and I'm going to plant my people in a place where nobody bothers them.
I'm going to have my people in my place safe. So he's reminding him some of the promises he's already made. He's making them again, and then he's saying this. Verse 11. From the time that I appointed Judges over my people Israel, and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the son of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. So God says, you're going to build me a house? You're going to build a place for me? And then he says, no, I'm going to build you a house.
And when he says that, what he means is, I'm going to build you a name, a lineage, a people out of you. And then he says, I'm going to have a king that stands before me forever. He'll be to me a son, and I'll be to him a father. And so this promise is fulfilled in two ways. It's fulfilled in Solomon, David's son, who builds the temple, and is the king before God, who God treats. He says, he'll be a son to me, I'll be a father to him.
That just means I'm going to treat him well. And when he sins, I'm not going to get rid of him like I did Saul. That promise is fulfilled in Solomon. And they would have understood that this was fulfilled in Solomon. But he says a few things in there that make it seem like, okay, it can't just be fulfilled in Solomon.
The biggest issue that can't just be fulfilled by Solomon is that he says the word forever three times. So, if he's going to put a king who will rule forever, either that's just hyperbole. Like he's just, he means a really long time. Or, he means that this lineage will continue forever. That will never be broken up. They'll always be one of these kings.
But he Acts like it's a singular person. He will be to me a son, I will be to him a father, and he will reign forever. So, literally, it seems like the promise is there's going to come a king who will actually reign forever. So, here's what happens. Solomon comes. He builds the temple.
He does not stay faithful. He gets a lot of horses, wives, and money. Three of the things he wasn't supposed to do. I think the least problematic was the horses. The wives and money seem to mess him up. Starts worshiping other gods.
God eventually tells him, look, this isn't going to work out for you. Like, you'll get to die safely. But, I'm going to tear this apart, the kingdom apart. He eventually tears the kingdom in half. One, he keeps Solomon's son because it's like, I'm going to keep some of the tribe of David together. But, eventually, both Israel and Judah, that's how it splits, cease to be nations, cease to have kings, cease to have a throne.
But, the promise here is that your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. So, that's not happening. But, the prophets keep promising this promise. So, Ezekiel says this. But, I will save them from all the backslidings of which they have sinned and will cleanse them.
And they shall be my people and I will be their God. My servant David shall be king over them and they shall have one shepherd. Jeremiah says this in the midst of all of this going on. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch. That's in like a family tree. 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. I think Isaiah saw it most clearly. He says this. For to us a child is born. To us a son is given.
And the government shall be upon his shoulder. 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. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. So the prophets keep coming along and saying God's going to fulfill this promise.
There's going to be someone who comes in the line of David and he's going to rule forever. And Isaiah says, and we're going to call him God, Mighty God, Everlasting Father. So there's coming a promised king. And so God promises, I'm going to send a king. And here's why this matters so much and is so absolutely helpful. And I think it's one of my favorite promises and all the promises God gives and all the covenants he gives.
Here's why. God tells Abraham, I'm going to give you a people. I'm going to give you some land. You're going to be in my presence. Tells Moses the same thing and then gives him the law and says, if y'all follow this, you'll be okay. If you don't, this won't go well.
Then he tells David, I'm going to send a king. And he's going to last forever. And when you know that a king's role is to lead in faithfulness, what he's saying is, I'm going to send a person to guard these promises. He's going to keep them for you. I'm going to send someone to lead in keeping these promises safe, helping you keep the covenant. That's great.
Because I don't know about y'all. Every time something's been nice in my life, I've thought, man, I wish it could stay like this. Do you know why? Because I know it won't. Like every time something's been good, it's like, man, I wish I could just pause and keep this like this. Like I wish it could just stay like this.
This is great. I wish this boss could stay my boss. I wish this coach could stay my coach. I wish this relationship could stay like this. I wish this president could just stay the president forever. Because they're the best one we've ever had.
Whatever. Like, I don't know. Like you just, there's these moments in life where you're just like, I wish this could just stick. Sometimes I think, I wish I wasn't in charge of whether or not this stayed good. You ever have that thought? I wish someone else who was smarter and better would come and just keep this together.
Because if I'm in charge, I have a good idea. I might mess this up. There's these moments. And so when God says, hey, you know all those promises I've made? I'm going to send a person to lead in keeping them together. It's like, oh, that's the best one.
This is the best promise. I'm so glad this one came. I'm so glad you said someone's going to come and keep it together and lead in faithfulness. And so they kept saying, this king is coming. This king is coming. Someone's going to come.
And they believed that it was going to be a political leader. Somebody was going to come and defend Judah and defend Israel and lead and set up a kingdom. The problem was it seems like they missed out on the forever thing. So I guess they thought we'll just have a kingdom and it'll last forever. And here's what happened. The angel Gabriel comes to Mary, who is a young girl who is not married, tells her she's going to have a baby.
And here's what he says in Luke chapter one. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. And you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. So God in this promise to David says he'll be to me a son.
He'll 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. The keeper of this promise, the coming king who will last forever is Jesus. How surprised are we right now?
It's Jesus. He's the one who comes and keeps his promise. He's the one who comes and fulfills it. He's the king in the line of David. That's why several of the gospels start off with genealogies. Because they're going to show you Jesus comes in the line of David.
He's the promised king. And his kingdom doesn't look like we thought it was going to look. He doesn't overthrow the government. He goes to a throne by way of a cross. His first crown is a crown of thorns. Jesus suffers and dies on behalf of his people.
He does exactly what a good king should do. He lives his life on behalf of his people. Serving them and leading them in faithfulness to the covenant. Here's what happens for those who believe in Jesus. He upholds the covenant for you. He defends the covenant for you.
He keeps you faithful. Like a good king should. You trust Jesus? I don't have to keep the covenant together. I don't have to keep behaving to keep it right. I don't have to stand before God and show him how great I am.
I get to follow after my king who leads in that. Jesus dies on our behalf to keep covenant faithfulness for us forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. Maybe I am the only one.
Maybe I am the only one who when I am following Jesus well thinks. I hope I keep this together. Maybe I am the only one who at times says God I hope I make it to the end. Help me remain faithful to you. Help me to say no to sin. Help me to before I take my last breath.
Help me to still love and follow you. But if I am not the only one. And if there are some of you all in here who feel the same thing. I just want to be there at the end. Take rest and comfort in the fact that you have a king who leads in faithfulness on your behalf. And he keeps it together for you.
And if you have trusted in Jesus he leads you in faithfulness to God. So here is what I want to do. I just spent some time this past week thinking about if Jesus is really an eternal king. And he is really my eternal king. And if I am a Christian. If you place your faith in Jesus.
Jesus is your eternal king. Just wanted to give us some ways that intersects with our life. Some ways that that affects us now. I think there is probably a thousand more. I think there is probably if you wanted to spend an hour this week. An hour every day this week.
Thinking about what it means for Jesus to be your king. I think you could come up with a lot of these. And I think that would be well spent time. But I have got four for us today. Four ways that if Jesus is an eternal king. And you are a Christian.
That this should affect you. Okay. Way number one. Joy, peace, and gratitude. And rest are eternally yours. Joy, peace, gratitude, and rest are eternally yours.
The benefits of having a good king are yours forever. There is just something about knowing that someone who is smart and good is in charge. That lets you calm down a little bit. There is joy in that. There is rest in that. There is hope in that.
There is freedom in that. Knowing that Jesus is a good king. Like there is moments when you just absolutely trust that our government is doing what it is supposed to. There is moments when your parents had to make a decision. But you absolutely trusted they were going to do it well.
The times that the coach had to make a tough call. But you absolutely trusted they would do it well. There is just some freedom in that. I got two quick stories about my dad that I think help illustrate this. Help at least help me remember and picture this. And hopefully it will help you.
When you are little you are afraid of the dark. Maybe you weren't. And that is cool. A lot of people are weird. Most everybody is little is afraid of the dark. And there would be times where you would like have a nightmare.
You would wake up and you would go get my dad. And you would be like hey. I hate to bother you. There is a monster under my bed. I hate to bother you. But there is like a giant creepy something in the closet.
I am pretty sure it is in there. I did not see it. I felt like I could hear it breathing. Like whatever. Like it was just moments. And so my dad would come in.
And he would like turn on lights. And he would open the door. And he would look under the bed. And he would be like look. He would have you look with him. He would be like there is nothing in here.
Nothing in here. Nothing you need to be afraid of. And he would say okay. Okay. Go back to sleep. As soon as he left.
That thing came back. I don't know how it got there. You go back out. And you tell him again. It is back. I hate to bother you.
It is going to eat me. And so he would come back. He would do it again. Sometimes he would do this. He would go okay. See there is nothing in there.
See there is nothing in the bed. Nothing going on. Nothing scary. He would say yes. He would turn the light off. And he would go see.
There is nothing to. Oh no you are right. Oh no. It has got claws and tentacles. And it is seeping ooze. And it is going to eat you.
Oh my goodness. And he would like yell. And then he would cut on the light. And go oh no. This is our imagination. There is actually nothing here.
By about the third or the fourth time. You came and got him. Here is what he would do. He would look at you and say. There is nothing. In your closet.
Or under your bed. I. Am the scariest thing in this house. And you need to be more afraid. Of coming and waking me up. One more time.
And telling me that there is something dangerous in here. I am the scariest thing. And go to sleep. And there was something so freeing. About knowing your dad was the scariest thing in the house. It really was.
Like that was imprinted on me at a young age. And the rest of my life. It was like. If anybody breaks in here. If something bad happens. It is an unfortunate day for them.
Because I live with the scariest thing. Like he is just here. There is something about having a king. That is the scariest thing in the universe. That is just so. Joy filling.
Comforting. And freeing. In the midst of trouble. And pain. That Jesus is the scariest thing. At the end of the Bible.
He kills death. I have said this before. I don't make the rules. I just. I just help explain them. If you kill death.
You win. You are the scariest. He is our king. Who died for us. He is good. He loves us.
He is on our team. He wants joy for us. And we get to rest in him eternally. There was another time I had a coach. A baseball coach. And he was yelling at me.
And I was little. And I was not used to having full grown men yell. He was just one of these coaches that shouted. Like some coaches. You know. Coach.
This one yelled. And. I remember being afraid of him. And I told my dad. I was like. He just keeps yelling at me.
And like I am afraid. He is going to like. Come at me. Like I don't know what is going to happen. But it seems aggressive.
And I think this is going to go bad. I have to fight him. And my dad was like. Look. He is just yelling. He is not going to touch you.
You are going to be fine. He said. But I will make you a deal. I said. What? He said.
As long as he is just yelling. You will be okay. You will be fine. If he touches you. I will break every bone in his body. And I thought.
Deal. Sounds good. So then when my coach yelled at me. I was like. Come at me bro. I know how this ends.
Touch me. It made being coached by him way easier. Because I knew how it ended. And there is something about having Jesus as the eternally forever reigning king of the universe. On behalf of those who place faith in him. That brings so much joy.
And rest. And gratitude. Like we are free. Because he is good. And he has already gone to war on our behalf. And he reigns on the throne eternally.
There will be a day when all of this is gone. And we will stand before him. Free. And loved. And all of that is ours now. All of that joy.
All of that gratitude. All of that freedom. Is ours now. That is why Paul can say things like. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us. An eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
As we look not to the things that are seen. But the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient. But the things that are unseen are eternal. He says light and momentary affliction. The stuff you are going through right now.
It is going to pass away. And there is going to be an eternal king. And an eternity in his presence. And his joy and his freedom and his grace. He says in Romans 8. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time.
Are not worth comparing. With the glory that is to be revealed to us. They are not even in the same ballpark. All the joy. All the gratitude. All the rest.
Are ours already. Because we have an eternal king. Second way. I think this affects us. Intersects with our lives right now. Is you cannot set your heart.
On the promise. Of any lesser king. Can't set your heart on the promise of any lesser king. Here is what that means. You can care about the election. But you can't care so much.
That you lose your mind. Like you. You can't set your heart on. If this person. Is here. We are okay.
And if this person. Isn't. We are doomed. If this person is here. We will be fine. Everything will be magical.
But if it is this person. We are going to. We are going to crash and burn. And you can't allow your heart. To be set. On that.
You can't allow your heart. To believe all the promises. That money gives. Any lesser king. You can't let your heart. Believe.
All the promises. That a relationship gives. All the promises. That popularity. And prominence give. All the promises.
That power gives. All the prominence. That promises. That a job promotion. Gives. You can't let your heart.
Go there. Because you realize. That there is an eternal king. And all of these lesser kings. Will fade away. And will not matter.
And ultimately. History. Is already held together. By the one who went before us. To a cross. Three.
Submission. Is your appropriate response. If Jesus. Is your king. Submission. Is the appropriate response.
So we are used to. Democracy. Where you get to vote. And you can call your senator. And you know. This different stuff.
Kings. You don't get to do that. Kings get to do what they want. And so. It is actually. Very freeing.
To know that submission. Is the way I ought to relate to Jesus. Here is what I mean. If Jesus were a bad king. Submitting to him. Would be terrible.
It would be arbitrary. It would be ridiculous. He would make you jump through hoops. For his own good. When he said. This was bad.
And this was good. You wouldn't really be able to trust him. You might just be doing it. For his own pleasure. For his own joy. For his own.
Whatever. But see. We have a king. Who went to a cross first. So that we could even just be his people.
He loves us. He is for our joy. And our good. All of his rules. Are for our good. One of the things I love from the Old Testament.
Is it says that your law. Your precepts. Your teaching. Make. Wise. The simple.
That God is teaching. His rules. Make. Dumb people. Smart. Smart.
I love that. You ever. You ever. You ever. You ever. You ever.
You ever. In a class. And the teacher. Gave you the test. Before the test. Or gave you the test.
With the answers. Before the test. Do you. Do you know. Who did not. Immediately look.
Really excited. When that happened. The four smart people. They don't want the answers. To the test. They don't want to see the test.
They're going to do fine. On their own. And that's how they get to show. That they're better than everybody. Like the kid. That started crying.
When they handed out the test. Was the kid. Who had no chance. Of ever doing anything. He got the test. There were answers on it.
And he was like. I'm going to tell my mama. Right now. I'm passing this one. I'll wait until after. I take it.
Just in case. But. But I'm. I'm going to pass this one. And there was one kid. Who was like.
This whole class is stupid. That's because they were. Going to be fine anyway. One of the beautiful things. About having a good king. Who teaches us.
What life should look like. Is that if you aren't very bright. Things get to work out okay for you. Just by following what he says. If you've been in life long enough. To know that you don't always make the best decisions.
And that sometimes you chase after things. That end up being really stupid. And that often. If you follow your heart. Like Disney told you to. You're going to train wreck some things.
You're going to do it. Like if you ever see Jiminy Cricket. In real life. You're just going to punch him. Then that promise.
And that submission to a good king. Is how we respond to God. Is beautiful. And freeing. When you just get to follow someone. Who's good.
Who's wise. Who knows how it ends. And they say. This is how sex should work. Outside of marriage. And this is how sex should work.
Inside of marriage. This is what you should do. With your finances. This is how you ought to approach. Work and rest. This is how you ought to approach.
Parenting. In our house. We try to look at the Bible. And we'll go say. I'll go say okay. It's like my job.
To leave my family. I don't know if y'all know that. It's my job to do that. Anna has personal responsibility. But I will stand before God.
On how I led my family. For the whole household. So we all have personal responsibility. But I have responsibility. For our household as well. I love it.
I love it. When the Bible is really clear. On something I'm trying to figure out. Because I get to just say. Okay God. This is what you said.
I don't have to know why. I don't have to. I don't have to sit. And think about this anymore. I get to take it to Anna. And say Anna.
This is what the Bible says. We're going for this one. And at the end of the day. Today. We'll get to stand before God. And I'll get to say.
It's what you said. And I was just shooting for that. I'll stand accountable. For how well I followed it. But I.
As best I can. I get to just cheat. Look at the answers. And say God. Let me follow you. So.
If Jesus is your king. When y'all disagree. You submit. Simple as that. When Jesus is your king. And you disagree.
You submit. Number four. You begin to look like a citizen. Of his kingdom. Jesus is your king. You'll begin to look like a citizen.
Of his kingdom. So. Philippians 3 says this. But our citizenship is in heaven. And from it. We await a savior.
The Lord Jesus Christ. Who will transform our lowly body. To be like his glorious body. By the power that enables him. Even to subject all things to himself. So he's the king.
With all things subjected to himself. And our citizenship is in heaven. Where we await him. To come be our savior. So we'll begin to look like.
Citizens of that kingdom. And all kingdoms. All nations. All cultures. Have a certain. Here's what our people are like.
We just do. That's how it works. So the ancient. Spartans used to tell a story. About a kid who stole. A fox.
I don't know why they had foxes. I don't know where he stole it. But he stole it. And he had it under his shirt. And as he was sneaking off. With the fox.
An adult came. And started talking. To him. So he's holding a fox. Under his shirt like this. This is the story.
They used to tell their children. So if you want to. Looking for a bedtime story. Go with this one. So he's holding the fox.
The adult's talking to him. While he's holding the fox. The fox starts eating his stomach. Chewing into his stomach. And the kid. Doesn't want him to know.
He stole the fox. So he holds the fox. He doesn't. Give it away. That he's stolen the fox. And he talks to this adult.
Until the fox kills him. That's how tough Spartans are. It wasn't a problem that he had stolen. The issue would have been. If he had like. Whined.
While he got eaten by a fox. Okay. So Spartans are weird. I don't want you to get caught up in that. Every culture. Has certain stories that they tell.
Has certain. This is who we are. When there was the. The tsunami in Japan. I remember seeing pictures. Of the Japanese people.
For. It was like a three mile long line. Single file. Japanese people. Waiting to get water. And I was.
Baffled. By this. Because I was like. He ain't getting Americans. To stand in a three mile long. Single file line.
It's going to be a cluster. There's going to be some punching. Some shooting. Like. There's not going to be a. We've got water.
Line up. And we all go. Okay. Okay. I hope this only takes 12 hours. Like we're not doing that.
It's not happening. We made wristbands at Disney World. So that you can just like. Swipe. You don't got to stand there. Like I don't.
I mean. We got the little things they give you. When you want to eat. It's like. If you go do something else. This will buzz.
Because we ain't waiting. There's a certain thing. That goes along with a culture. And a kingdom. And who your leaders are. And how your nation works.
And I want to tell you something. As Christians. We're supposed to have. A citizenship in heaven. And a culture that comes from our king. So we begin to look.
More like citizens of heaven. So let me help you out. If you're a Christian. You will spend eternity in heaven. Because your king will get you there. That is your home.
This is temporary. That's your home. That's your homeland. So I want to tell you a little bit. About your king. And your homeland.
So that you can begin to realize. What kind of citizen. You ought to be. How this ought to begin to show up in your life. We're citizens of a land. With a generous king.
Who gave up everything. On behalf of his people. Who left his throne. And his wealth. And his praise. To go to a cross.
To be stricken with poverty. And to be mocked. And murdered. So when someone in my group. Needs help paying a bill. When I find out my neighbor.
Needs help doing some work. I'm the citizen of a generous king. I open up my wallet. And my schedule. Because that's what my king's like. We're from a land.
With a sacrificial king. So when you're at school. And someone who's nerdy. Wants to be your friend. And the only way. To be their friend.
Is to lose some of your popularity. To take some of their nerdiness. Onto yourself. We've got a king. Who gave up his life. So that we could have life.
We've got a king. Who laid down everything. To sacrifice on our behalf. That nobody made it. To his kingdom. Outside of him.
Personally bringing them there. So yeah. We sacrifice. Because we're citizens. Of a different kingdom. When somebody who's.
In your group. Is consistently depressed. And they call you. They want to hang out. They want to get some lunch. And the only way.
They're going to be not depressed. Is if you. Leave that lunch. Being more depressed. You go to lunch. And you give them.
Some of your happiness. And you take some of their depression. We've got a sacrificial king. Who gave us. His goodness. And took our sin.
Of course. Because we're citizens. Of a different kingdom. In our homeland. Where we'll spend eternity. Sin has been destroyed.
And it's completely unacceptable. We have a king. Who hates sin. So much. That he would die for it. So of course.
We're people. Who fight against sin. We're of course. We're people. Who are open. And honest.
About our failure. Because we have a king. Who's already destroyed sin. On our behalf. And we're designed. To hate it.
In our new land. We'll live. There won't be sin. So we fight against it here. You show up to your group. And you tell them.
How crummy you've been. How petty you've been. How much you've lied to them. We're honest about sin. Because we hate it. We're designed.
To follow after him. In a kingdom. Where sin has been destroyed. We're from a kingdom. Of joy. And celebration.
And singing. So we have fun. Our king sings. Celebrates. In heaven. Every time someone becomes a Christian.
It says the angels celebrate. First of all. That's never gotten old to them. Because they understand what just happened. They understand that a new family member. Has just hopped in for eternity.
We come from a kingdom of happiness. So. We're free to be happy. And celebrate. And dance. Even without white gloves.
It doesn't have to be interpretive. It could just be straight up dancing. Alright. We come from a land of justice and peace. Where our king. Took on injustice.
So that we could have freedom. And justice and peace. So. We care about the marginalized. We care about the voiceless. We care about those who are.
Who are. Poverty stricken. Because that was all of us. We didn't have a voice. We didn't have. Any way to defend ourselves.
But Jesus rescued us. We come from a kingdom. Where death has been destroyed. So we get to be fearless. Because death loses. And it doesn't ultimately have sway over us.
We get to follow Jesus wherever he calls us. Even if that seems certain to go poorly. Because we know ultimately. It will be just fine. The band is going to come back up. If you're a Christian.
All the joy. And rest. And hope. Of having a good king. Is already yours. You can't believe the promises.
Of smaller kings. Submission is your appropriate response. To Jesus. And ultimately. We get to begin to look like citizens. Of a different country.
So we have a king. Who went to war. On our behalf. And his victory. Is ours now. Forever.
So he. He accomplished it forever. On our behalf. And so as Christians. We just get to follow our king. So the response.
For everybody in this room. Is the same. If you're not a Christian. It's to trust. Jesus. As your king.
To win on your behalf. To conquer sin. To set you free from it. And to bring you forever. Into faithfulness to God. To lead you in that.
And if you're a Christian. The response is the same. To continue to believe. That Jesus is your king. And follow him as your king. So that your life changes.
So that your heart changes. And so that you can forever rest. In the fact that he's won the victory. On your behalf. Let's pray.
God we thank you. That you're a good king. And that all the benefits. Of having a good king. Are ours. That we can trust you.
That we can follow you. That we can hold on. In the midst of. Heartache. And difficulty. That we can know.
The end. We can know that one day. We will be. In your kingdom. Where sin is no more. And death is no more.
And pain is no more. And crying is no more. Because you've conquered. All of those on our behalf. God I pray. That you would help us.
To live as citizens. Of your kingdom here. We would remember. What you're like. God that transitioning. From how we lived here.
To how we'll live. In eternity with you. Would not be a drastic jump. For us. Because we would begin. To be led by you.
Changed by you. Daily. God I pray. That you'd help us. To trust you. As our good king.
That came. And fulfilled. This covenant promise. Made to David. That you will reign. Forever.
You will stand. Before God. Forever. On our behalf. In Jesus name. Amen..
Aug 7
Fulfillment of the Law
Transcript
All right, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors. When I was a junior in college, I was going on a mission trip to Romania and had to fly from the Atlanta airport to London and then to Budapest. Budapest, and then we were going to ride a bus to the rest of the way. So I went to the Atlanta airport.
I had just taken my bag that I had at school and just pulled all my books out of it, put the stuff I wanted. I was going to use that as my carry-on, put the stuff I wanted in to take as a carry-on, and went through to the Atlanta airport, put your bag on all the stuff, take your shoes off, take your belt off. This was before they could just see you naked through the scanner thing, so you just kind of had to, I guess they just had to use their imagination or whatever. So you would go through, and they would take your stuff, so they run it through the scanner, and then the guy who's a large black man, he pulls it over to the side, and he goes, whose bag is this?
And you don't want them to ask you that question. Like, you want the people to leave you alone when you walk through at the airport. They're never like, whose bag is this? And you're like, mine. They're like, this is a really nice bag. Where'd you get it?
Like, they don't do that. So whose bag is this? I was like, that's my bag. He said, come here. So he has his little gloves on, and he unzips the thing.
He reaches into the little pocket on the back end and pulls out a butterfly knife. Now, a butterfly knife, if you're not familiar with a butterfly knife, it is a, so like you have like switch blades, and switch blades have like a little switch, and then the blade pops out of the top. That's where they got their name. And they're real fast. They're like, and they're basically just saying like, I'm going to stab you. Like, that's all.
You're going to get stabbed. Like, that's what they're doing. Butterfly knives are two pieces of metal, and then there's a blade in the middle. And they take longer, but it's the same kind of purpose. Like, you don't use them for fishing. You can flip it around and stuff.
Like, little, looks cute, and then you stab people. So like, they have more to say. They're like, hey, how you doing? Do you like magic tricks? You're going to get stabbed. Like, that's what they're doing.
So like, switch blades are more to the point. Butterfly knives aren't. So he pulled it out. He's like, that's what I thought this was. He laid it on the table. All my church friends are looking at me like, what the heck, dude?
Why are you bringing knives on the plane? I was like, that's a good question. Then he reached in and pulled out another one because I collected them and did not realize I had them in my bag, took them to every class I had during the year. So if anything had gone down, I wouldn't have even been able to use it because I didn't know it was there. But so he takes them.
He sets them down, and I'm looking at him. He's looking at me, and I was like, am I in trouble? And he said, no, you just can't take this on the plane. I was like, seems fair. So he gave me my bag back, and I got on the plane.
Went to London. Got off in London. They make you go back through all this kind of stuff because you're going through customs now. So they run my bag through in London. Lady, little white lady, pulls it over, sets it down. She goes, whose bag is this?
And again, even in London, you don't want them to ask you that question. She wasn't like, sporty bag, mate. Like, she didn't do that. She said, whose bag is this? I was like, mine. Everybody with me is like, are you kidding me right now?
Like, what are you doing? So I walk over there. She unzips it and pulls out a third butterfly knife. I had all of the butterfly knives I owned apparently in that one place in my bag. Quick tip. If you're going to sneak a weapon onto a plane, have so many that they'll catch a few and feel like they're done.
So I had a butterfly knife that I had taken on a plane with me to London. And she goes, these are illegal. You're going to need to have a seat in that chair right there. And I'm calling the police. I wanted her to say Bobby, but she didn't. She said police.
So I'm sitting in a chair next to a guard. And I'm thinking, I probably could take the guard. Like, I'm thinking through, you know, what's going to have to happen here. Everybody else is going to get on their plane. We didn't have much time. And the pastor, he's sitting next to me.
I'm like, sorry, dude. He's real nice. He's like, it's okay, brother. But he was, you know, he could tell. He's bothered a little bit that I brought three knives for no apparent reason whatsoever. So we'll finish that story later.
But here's the deal. Laws are important. They matter and they affect us. And we need to know the laws. Like, you need to know the laws when you're driving. You need to know the laws of the country you live in.
You need to know the laws that affect your taxes. You need to know the laws of airports and other countries. Like, you need to know laws. They affect us. They make a difference. And what we're going to look at today as we're finishing up our covenant series are the laws that God gives to his people.
When he makes a covenant with his people and gives them his law. And this matters. Because we need to know what God's law is. What he wants from us. What is expected of us. Like, we need to know that.
So we're going to start. We're going to be in Exodus. I want to show you a verse here. But we've got to catch up a little bit before we get here. So, last week we were talking about Abraham. We spent a couple weeks talking about Abraham.
Because God came to Abraham and said, I'm going to make a covenant with you. I'm going to promise to accomplish some things for you. He promised to give him land. He promised to work on his behalf. He actually did a covenant ceremony where they cut up some animals. And God, in that ceremony, basically promised, you're going to obey me.
But if you don't, I'll pay the penalty. So, why did Jesus have to die is a question people ask all the time. And one of the answers to that is because God promised he'd pay the penalty for disobedience. With death. Like, that's what the ceremony was. So, God promised that he would do that.
And he comes to Abraham and gives him the sign of the covenant, which is circumcision. And then, we're jumping ahead hundreds of years today. So, we're jumping ahead from Abraham and circumcision. Abraham has Isaac. God reiterates his promises to Isaac. Isaac has Jacob.
God reiterates his promises to Jacob. Jacob has 12 sons that end up being the whole 12 tribes of Israel. They end up in Egypt where they're enslaved for 400 years, which God kept putting in the promise. He kept being like, I'm going to give you this land. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to make you a people.
You're going to be enslaved for 400 years before that happens. He just would, like, tag it at the end. But he keeps that promise. They end up being enslaved for 400 years. They go to Egypt where they grow. They become big.
They're doing well in Egypt. And then, because they got so big, the Egyptians get uncomfortable with them and enslave them. So, as we're picking up, we're going to show this on screen. And then, we'll go to Exodus 19 here in a second. But during those many days, this is, let's go to Exodus 2, 23 through 25.
We'll have it on screen. Okay. There was a map. Show the map real quick, just so that we didn't, it wasn't up there for no reason. There's Egypt. Nailed it.
Okay. Go to the verse. Exodus 2, 23 through 25. During those many days, the king of Egypt died. And the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery. And they cried out for help.
Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning. And God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel, and God knew. So, God hears them, and he remembers his covenant. He remembers that he promised them.
And so, God sends Moses. And he sends Moses. He says, go down, Moses, way down in Egypt's land. Tell old Pharaoh to let my people go. Like, he sends Moses to go do this. And so, Moses goes and says, let my people go so they can worship me.
And God uses plagues. And he finally gets them out. It's really interesting. We're not talking about any of that. So, he goes out. They get into the wilderness.
And they go to the mountain. And now, we're going to pick up where God gives them his law. Where he makes the next step in the series. What we're talking about. Where he gives them his covenant. And so, go to Exodus chapter 19.
It's on page 39. And you're, if you're in a blue and white Bible. And if you don't own a Bible, take this one with you. It's our gift to you. Exodus chapter 19. Starting in verse 1.
On the third new moon. After the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt. So, they've been slaves. They've been free now for three-ish months. It's the third new moon. On that day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
They set out from Rephidim. And came into the wilderness of Sinai. And they encamped in the wilderness. There, Israel encamped before the mountain. While Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain.
Saying, thus you shall say to the house of Jacob. And tell the people of Israel. You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians. And how I bore you on eagle's wings. And brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice.
And keep my covenant. You shall be my treasured possession. Among all the peoples. For all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests. And a holy nation.
These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel. So he calls Moses up. And he says, I'm going to give you the law. And if you'll obey me. If you'll keep this. This is my covenant with you.
And so this is where we get the law. And this is what a lot of times in the New Testament. They just refer to the entire Bible as the law. Because this encapsulates their understanding of who they were as a nation. They were the people of Abraham. But they were the people who were given the law.
So God gives them the law. And here's. This is a major step forward in the timeline we've been looking at. So what we've been talking about. Is in Eden. Everything was great.
God had his people. In his place. In his presence. And then Adam and Eve rebel against God. They basically reject God's rule. And there's the fall.
And since then. We've been marred. By the fall. Like we can't choose correctly. We don't make good decisions. We're rebelling against God.
And so God promises Adam. Well. He basically promises the serpent. That sin won't win. So then we looked and saw how.
When everything got terrible. And we're looking. And God wants to destroy the entire earth. He actually says basically. Sin won't beat my promise. So even though.
You don't deserve to be saved. He steps in. He rescues Noah and his family. Then we saw Abraham. How God says. You're going to be a people.
And you're going to show everyone what I'm like. And now. In Moses. And when they. They have the Exodus. And they end up making it into the promised land.
It's the first time. That these three things start coming back together. God has a people. He puts them in a place. And we'll talk about that next week. And he begins to have his presence.
Back around them. Through the tabernacle. And eventually the temple. Which we'll also talk about next week. But he says to them.
I'm going to show you. So he's. In the moment in history. Where they've come now. He's on the mountain. And he says.
I'm going to show you what it looks like. To follow me. I'm going to give you my rules. You're going to obey me. You'll know what you're supposed to do. Which.
All of us I think. Believe we don't like rules. But they're massively helpful. If I said. Hey let's play a game. One of your first questions is.
Okay. How do we play? Like what are the rules? And if I said there are no rules. And then I pushed you. And I was like 10 points for me.
You would hate this game. But I'm winning. That's probably why you're mad. Like we want rules. We need them. And if we're going to exist in God's world.
We need his rules. And so he says. You're going to be the people. Who know my rules. You're going to be the people. Who know my law.
And so. In. Exodus. Leviticus. Numbers. And Deuteronomy.
We get God's law. We get his rules. Now I will tell you. Numbers gets a really bad rap. And it is way easier to read than Leviticus. But it's where God tells us his law.
It's where we understand the law that he gave to this people. And so. He says. I'm going to give you my rules. I'm going to give you my law. And.
You're going to follow me. You're going to obey me. And so. I want to take a second. And just walk us through. Kind of how those laws look.
And this is a. Maybe a simplified way to think about it. But it's helpful. There were civil laws. And civil laws. Just.
We kind of categorize them as this. The Bible doesn't really categorize them. They're not like. Color coded. But I can tell you how to kind of.
Think about it. Civil laws affected. They were going to be a nation. So they had rules as a nation. They had laws that were for their nation. So that these rules are like.
If you own a cow. And it kills somebody else's cow. Here's what you do. If you dig a pit. And you don't cover it. And somebody's cow dies in that pit.
Here's what you do. One of the ways to tell it's a civil law. Is that. There are penalties. So to say things like.
If you murder a person. Here's the penalty. If you steal. Here's the penalty. Because they had. Penalties for the civil laws.
Just like we have laws. There's a law in the U.S. That you can't take. A knife on a plane. There's a law in London. That you can't own a butterfly knife.
Because those. I guess. They just realize. They're not used for anything. Really helpful. Other than what I was talking about earlier.
Which is trying to stab people. Or as in London. They say. Is giving someone a spot of bother. They don't say that. They say it.
But probably not about stabbing people. I don't know much about London. All right. So. I know that I wasn't supposed to have that knife there. So I'm sitting there.
And. Waiting for. Sitting next to this guy. Waiting for the Bobbies to show up. Which I'm assuming. They're coming pretty quick.
Because this is pretty. You know. International intrigue at this point. Probably coming to take the whole system down. And I'm sitting there thinking. You know.
I'm going to have to go Jason Bourne on these people. She's going to have to. And my pastor's going to have to watch. And maybe he'll help. We'll see how it goes. But.
He showed up. And I was thinking. For real. If you get in a fight with a Bobby. They just have a stick. So the worst thing that happened was.
I would get beaten with a stick. So I figured I could go for it. But he showed up. And he was real cool. And. Luckily for him.
He didn't try to arrest me. He just wrote me a ticket. And helped me get to my airplane. So I didn't get in trouble. That's the conclusion of that story. So.
Worked out well for everybody in the end. But. There are civil laws in the Bible. That are like that. That are just rules of how we're going to be as a nation. Then there are ceremonial laws.
And these are where we get most of the confusion. So I read an article the other day. That was like. Ten things. That the Bible prohibits. That we do every day.
And it probably said something along the lines of. You won't believe what number six is. Because that's what they do on those things. But. So. They tricked me.
And I clicked on it. And I read. The ten things. And most of them. Were from Leviticus. And were ceremonial law.
Most of them were clean and unclean laws. And these are the things. People have questions about it. That people will say. Oh you mean to tell me that's a sin. But you're going to eat shellfish.
And then they'll show you a verse in Leviticus. That says you can't have shellfish. And they're like. Boom. Don't even talk to me. You eating crab legs.
Like. Oh you're wearing polyester. The Bible says 100% cotton. Like. There's rules. These ceremonial rules.
In the Old Testament. That were. This is how you're going to be set apart. And this is what it takes for you to be clean. Before God. And basically.
In those rules. God was helping them see. You're dirty. You. You're not okay. Like you.
You need to be clean. And like. There's. There's things that you do. That make yourselves unclean. And there's this ceremonial.
Sacrificial system. And one of the ways you can tell. That it's the ceremonial law. Is it has. Steps you take. If this happens.
You're unclean. For this amount of time. And here's what you do. To get clean again. Here's how you wash. Here's how you clean.
They have some rules in there. That are just really helpful. One of them is. If you. Like. What do you do.
If you get a weird. Thing. Growing up on your skin. They have a process for that. Like if you get bumps. Or some kind of a white rash.
There's whole sections in there. That's like. How to tell. What the rash is. Which is helpful. It's helpful for everybody.
Because one. One of the first rules is. Get away from everyone. You are growing something weird on your skin. Like that's one of the first rules. Which is a great rule.
I hate it when I talk to someone. I see them. I say. Hey how you doing? We shake hands. And they go.
I'm alright. I've been sick for the past week. It's like. Why'd you just touch me? What is your problem? So one of the first rules.
With the skin thing. Is get away from people. And you're like. No. I want to hang out. And it's like.
Not until you figure out. What's on your arm. We're not friends till then. But then. Not only does it protect people. Who aren't sick.
There's also a system. For figuring out. Whether or not that's contagious. And then they get to come back. Which is great. Because.
We would probably. At some point. Just say. Look. If you got something weird. You can't ever hang out again.
Because you're making people sick. And we don't know how to tell. Well God gives them a system. For letting them come back. But there's ceremonial laws.
There's also. In the ceremonial law. The sacrificial law. Where they would have to. Kill certain. Animals.
To atone for sin. Intentional sins. It's unintentional sins. But there was the ceremonial law. And then there's the moral law. And the moral law.
Is basically where God says. This is wrong. And one of the ways. You can tell it's moral law. Is he doesn't give a. And if this happens.
Here's the civil penalty. Or here's how to get clean. He just says. Don't do this. Now again.
It's not color coded. And there's some. Where people debate. And there's some. Where there's overlaps. So like.
Moral law. Don't. Murder. And then there's civil law. Which is like. If you get in a fight.
And you murder someone. Here's the penalty. If you hide in a bush. And wait till they walk by. Obviously premeditating the murder. Here's the penalty.
So there's. Laws that affect. How they're going to be as a nation. And then rules that are just. God saying. This isn't okay.
All right. To help us out here. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to take a second. We're going to flip over one chapter. And we're going to look at.
The ten commandments. Which is the most. Well known section. Of the moral law. So God's come.
And he said. This is my covenant with you. And he begins to give them. These laws. That you're going to follow. You're going to obey.
And you'll be my people. But here's what we're going to do. We're just going to walk through them. As if God. Just gave them to us. So instead of just looking.
And saying. Oh I wonder how the Israelites. Would feel about that. We're just going to walk through. And talk about. If God had just shown up.
And said here. Here are my rules. Here's how you need to follow. And we're just going to walk through. And see how this would apply to us. So that we maybe can begin to understand.
What would have happened. As he took this group of people. Who were slaves. Who were used to being a part of. Worshipping a bunch of gods in Egypt. And begins to teach them.
What it's like to follow him. Exodus chapter 20. And God spoke all these words saying. I am the Lord your God. Who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Out of the house of slavery.
So he begins by reminding them who he is. And then he says this. You shall have no other gods before me. So for them that meant. You got to put away all the. They were used to having gods everywhere.
A God of the river. A God of the rain. A God of fertility. A God of parties. And God says no. It's just me.
So for us that would be. If he was doing this right now. He'd be saying. Everyone worships me. Everyone does. There are no other gods among you.
No other. No other people you worship. No other people you bow down to. No. Nothing. Just me.
You'll have no gods before me. I am it. I'm the God of everything. Four. You shall not make for yourselves. A carved image.
Or any likeness of anything. That is in heaven above. Or that is in the earth beneath. Or that is in the water. Under the earth. You shall not bow down to them.
Or serve them. For I the Lord your God. Am a jealous God. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers. On the children. To the third and fourth generation.
Of those who hate me. But showing steadfast love. To thousands of those who love me. And keep my commandments. So he says.
You're not going to make any carved images. But I just want to cover something. He says in the middle there. He says I'm a jealous God. And I've heard people get this confused before. So I just want to help us out here.
And God says he's a jealous God. He doesn't mean he's jealous of you. He means he's jealous over you. Explain how that works. I'm married. I find my wife.
Small and attractive. I find her small. She is small. I don't know. She's smaller than me. So I guess that works.
I think she's attractive. If I saw her. Talking with a guy. And let's say he was big and beefy. And had a chiseled jaw. And laughed like.
Ha ha ha ha. Like that. You know. Like he's obviously rich. I would. And if I saw this conversation happening.
I'm going to tell you a few things that would be going on. Like in my brain. And just kind of. As I was watching. I would be jealous. But I would be jealous over her.
Not of her. If I was jealous of her. I'd be thinking. I wish that guy would flirt with me. Why doesn't he think I'm interesting? That's not what would happen.
Like let's say she reached up. While she was laughing. And like touched his elbow. Or something. Like I wouldn't be thinking. I wish I could touch his elbow.
Like that wouldn't. Like. If I. I would be thinking maybe about. Like putting my hands on him. But it wouldn't be like.
He'd be like. Like whatever. That's jealous over. Like I would want to. Harm him. That's what jealous over means.
Like I want her to only like me. So when God says I'm a jealous God. What he's saying is. Just me. I want you. For just me.
I'm not sharing you. You belong to me. You're my people. And it's just me and you. And that's actually a type of love that we want. I want my wife to not want to share me.
I want her to want just me. And me to want just her. Like that's the way it's supposed to work. And that's what God's saying here. But he says this.
You're not going to take anything. So if God just stepped down and said this to us. And said you're not taking anything. And making an image that you're going to worship. Here's what that means for us. Yes.
We can't have a little statue we pray to. But when you look at the first two together. Where God says there will be no gods before me. And you won't take anything. Under the earth. Above the earth.
Anything. Any image of anything. And worship it. What it means is we can't look to anything. For our hope. For our joy.
For our satisfaction. We can't look to anything to save us. So let me tell you what God just told us. You know that stuff in your wallet. That stuff in your bank account. It's got a little face on it.
That means so much to you. That consistently tells you. I'm what will make you okay. I'm what will protect you. I'm what will make life good. You can't worship that.
You can't believe the lies that money tells you. Just me. He says you know the image of that perfect man. Or that perfect female. That either doesn't exist yet. Or that you've met someone.
And you've started to apply that image to them. That they're going to fulfill you. And they're going to complete you. And they're going to make you whole. Can't do that. Can't look to anything.
Before me. For satisfaction. And joy. And fulfillment. He says. Let me tell you a little something about donkeys and elephants.
You can't. Every four years. Lose your mind. And think. For one second. That one of those.
Is going to save everything. Or one of those is going to ruin everything. That if we. If we. We've got to. Just have this.
And if we don't. Have this one. Everything falls apart. And this is where our hope is set. And this is where joy is found. And if.
And if it's this person. Oh my goodness. Everything's going to crumble. But if it's this person. Holy magic. Shiny land.
It's going to be amazing. Says. No you can't do that. Nothing. On the earth. Or under the earth.
That walks around. That creeps. Can you look at. Build an image out of. And say. I'll find my fulfillment in you.
It's just me. Seven. This is the third one. You should not take the Lord. Take the name of the Lord. Your God in vain.
For the Lord will not hold him. Guiltless. Who takes his name. In vain. One of the ways that can be translated. Is not just take.
But carry. So. Take. We kind of hold the idea of like. Using God's name as a swear word. Or like Jesus Christ.
As some sort of expletive. Or something. And I think it means that. Like they would have understood it to mean that. But it also means.
You can't just slap God's name on things. And then do whatever you want. You can't. Put God's name on something. And carry it around. And then.
Dishonor him. So if you run a business. And you put a Jesus fish on your card. And you have Bible verses all around in your room. And then you. You cheat people.
So you didn't just cheat people in your name. You cheated them in his. If you. You declare that God told you to do something. And to start something. Or led you to do something.
And you just go doing your own thing. You're carrying his name with you. One of the biggest arguments against belief. Is that. So many terrible things have been done in the name of God.
And he says that's a problem. Eight. Remember the Sabbath day. To keep it holy. Six days you shall labor. And do all your work.
But the seventh day. Is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it. You shall not. Do. Any.
Work. You. Or your son. Or your daughter. Or your male servant. Or your female servant.
Put an employee there. Or your livestock. Or the sojourner. Who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth. The sea and all that is in them.
And rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord. Blessed the Sabbath day. And made it holy. I think as Americans. We've been like.
Oh I can do the. The first ones. This one. Is going to be really hard for us. Because it attacks two things. That we as Americans love.
One is. Productivity. Your value. Comes from your work. Some of you. Have not had a day off.
In a long time. And maybe you weren't at work. But you were working. Because you just got to get this done. This is the only time I have to accomplish this. Oh these.
This. I got to send this report. I got to. I got to check my email. I got to send in this thing. I got to go over and work on this.
I can't. There's no time to rest. You see when God said this. He said this to slaves. Slaves work seven days a week. And their value comes from how much they can accomplish.
And once they can't accomplish anything anymore. They have no value anymore. And God looks at them and says. You're going to rest. One day a week. You're going to stop.
And you're not going to accomplish anything. And for some of you. That's terrifying. You have to sit. Well can I. No.
You can't. But what if I just. No. I'm sorry. But if I don't do it today.
You can do it tomorrow. What God is saying is. He built everything in six days. And he can handle it for one. While you're sitting down. And for some of you.
What he just said was. Six days. You will labor. Because the two things that we love as Americans. And we hold them simultaneously. Is this.
I love working. And I want to be able to show. That I have value. And if I go to bed at night. And I haven't really accomplished anything. That eats away at me.
But I also. Want to find a job. That lets me work three days a week. And make enough money. To have four off. And do nothing.
And he says. No for six days. You need to work. It doesn't necessarily mean. You have to go to. Go to a job.
But it means you need to be productive. Now. He told them later. There were times. Where they were supposed to take. A whole week off.
They were supposed to. There's some vacation. But we're supposed to work. And we're supposed to rest. And you know. Which one you are.
As to how this would be offensive to you. If God just told you to do this. And some of you are both. And you're really messed up. In your little heart. Number 12.
Honor your father. And your mother. If I'm confusing you. 12 is the verse number. Because these are the 10 commandments. And I just said number 12.
And you're like. Dude. We should have been done two ago. So. Honor your father. And your mother.
That your days may be long. In the land. That the Lord your God. Is giving you. So your parents.
Maybe use that against you. Because it says. That your days may be long. And they're like. I will kill you. But what he's saying.
Is honor your father. And your mother. So what he just said was. For the children. In the room. For the.
Those staying. In your parents house. Honoring your parents. Means obedience. It means they said. Go to bed.
Go to bed. It means they said. You're not allowed. To use this. For a certain amount of time. Don't use it.
It means. They don't have to hide. A charger from you. If they told you. That you weren't allowed. To use your phone.
That's honoring your parents. It means not. Disrespecting them. Talking back to them. It means. Maybe if you're in college.
It means when you answer the phone. Sorry. It means you answer the phone. And then it means. You hold the phone. To your face.
You don't do this. You don't do this. You talk to them. You show them respect. You honor them. When you get older.
It means not that you answer the phone. It means you pick up the phone. You call them. You ask them how they're doing. You visit them. You take care of them.
You honor your father. And your mother. Because they're your father. And your mother. That's the only reason given. Some of us.
Had terrible parents. I know. It hurts. It's hard. And you got to try to figure out. How to do that.
But what he stepped in and said. Was honor your father and mother. Period. Verse 13. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery.
That's having sex with someone. Who's married. Or being married. And having sex with someone else. You shall not steal. Nothing that you did not purchase.
Or that was not given to you. Should ever come into your. Hands. You shall not bear false witness. About your neighbor. You can't say something.
About someone. Unless you know. In fact. That it is true. Cuts out half. Of some people's activities.
You shall not covet. Your neighbor's house. You shall not covet. Your neighbor's wife. Or his male servant. Or his female servant.
Or his ox. Or his donkey. Or anything. That is your neighbor's. Our whole. Financial system.
Is basically. Based off of coveting. We call that. Buzz marketing. It's coveting. But we call it buzz marketing.
Which means that you have something. And I look at it. And say that's really nice. And what I'm thinking is. I want one of those. And then I say.
Where did you get it? And you tell me. And then I go get it. And then we both have an Apple watch. And now you're not better than me. Because you thought you were.
Like that's. That's what we do. Like coveting is. Like it just. Springs up in us. You ever been to someone's house.
Like you're perfectly fine at your house. Until you visit someone else's house. And you see their TV. And then you go back home. And you look at your TV. And you're like.
I don't even want to look at you right now. You make me sick. Like this was a real thing for me for a while. Do you remember the TVs that had like the curved front? Y'all. Young people.
You think they just made up the curved TV. They had that a long time ago. It just curved the other way. Remember that? And then you went and saw someone who had a flat TV. And you didn't even know why it was better.
But you were like. That's better. They're like. There's not a tube in there. And you're like. I hate tubes.
I'm so mad at my TV with its tube. Do you know what it does? I didn't know what it did. I didn't know how they made the flat one. But it just was like.
Yes. This is better. High definition. Like. I just saw a fly. Fly by.
While I was watching football. And then you watch football at your house. And you're like. I can't see flies at all. This is terrible. This is garbage.
How do I even know if there are bugs there? Like. You got a flat TV. And then someone got one that wasn't square. Do you remember that? Like.
I have DVDs. I used to buy DVDs that were full screen. Because I didn't want it to be letterboxed. And now if I put that in. I'm so annoyed. Because my TV is wide now.
And I'm like. This is so stupid. I need to buy all widescreen movies now. You don't even have to leave your house. Just watch HGTV. They will make something look so nice.
You will hate your house. Let me tell you something. Most of us. I'm just. I'll just talk about me. I never really thought about my bathroom.
Just used it. You watch HGTV. You go in your bathroom. You're like. I hate having to use the bathroom in here. This is terrible.
Look at this. What is this? Just a toilet. I need. Decorations. Like it just.
I don't know. Something happens to us. We're designed to covet. And God just stepped in and said. No. Be happy with what you have.
Period. Don't look at anything and say. I'd be happy if I had that. I'd be okay if I had that. If my wife could just be like that. If my husband could just be like that.
If I could just have a husband. If I could just have a wife. If I could just have that car. If I could just have that house. If I could just have that salary. If I could just have that.
He says no. This is the first ten. In the moral law. Hadn't even gotten into ceremonial. On how to be clean or unclean. Just this is right.
And this is wrong. That's it. First ten. And here's what happens. We think. Everyone for a second goes.
It's going to work. God's going to give the law to his people. And they're going to live in his city. And they're going to love each other. And it's going to end. And if you're smart.
You realize it doesn't. Because it's like way early in this thing. It doesn't end. Because all that happens. Is for a second we think. It's going to work.
He's going to give us the law. And it's going to work. I'll even show you in verse 24. Let me show you what they say. This is just. You look at this.
And maybe part of our heart thinks this is true. Chapter 24. We'll have it on the screen. Sorry. I'm pointing backwards. Because I have a screen there.
Moses came and told the people. All the words of the Lord. And all the rules. So that's all of them. Civil ceremonial. That's all of them.
Moral. And all the people answered with one voice. And said. All the words that the Lord has spoken. We will do. That's an optimistic crowd.
And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. And then in 7 and 8 it says this. Then he took the book of the covenant. And he read it. In the hearing of the people. And they said.
All that the Lord has spoken. We will do. And we will be obedient. And Moses took the blood. And they had sacrificed some animals. Which they do all the time when they're doing these.
Because it was showing you. This is what happens if we fail. We die. There's got to be blood for this. To show you what's going to happen. If we don't do this.
Behold. The blood of the covenant. That the Lord has made with you. Oh. Sorry. I jumped.
So. And Moses took the blood. And threw it on the people. So he took blood. He had a little brush. And he started slinging blood on people.
He said. Behold the blood of the covenant. So that blood would spatter on you. And spatter on your clothes. And you would remember. This is what happens if I don't follow these rules.
Behold the blood of the covenant. The Lord has made with you. In accordance with all these words. And what they said was. We'll do it. We'll obey.
We just read 10. And I've already failed. We just read 10. I've already not done those. And if I was to bet on my future ability to not do these. I would say not.
I'm not going to be able to do that. There's going to come a time where I'm going to lie. There's going to come a time when I'm going to covet. There's going to come a time when I'm going to look to money. And say. I trust you.
I believe in you. My hope's in you. You have to save me. So the question for us today. Because all that happened for them. Was that they realized.
What happens as we look at this in God's story. Is we see. They couldn't keep it together. It just shows how far away from God they were. It just shows how desperately broken. You think.
Finally we're going to do it. And they don't. They don't keep it together. They don't follow. They don't obey. It falls all apart.
And see God was teaching them. With the clean and unclean laws. He was showing them. You're not clean. You're not okay. You can't just walk in front of me.
You can't just come before me. Like you. You and I are separated from each other. There are things that make you dirty. And we intrinsically know this. We don't have clean and unclean laws.
Like this. That we're trying to follow. But we know this. This is why you bathed before you came here. This is why you put on different clothes. When you go out somewhere.
Legitimately. When I. Go on dates. I would. I mean you can only work with what you got. But then you.
You got to try to like cover stuff up. Like I would put on. I'd take a shower. I would try to do something with my hair. A lot of times it was just real short. I didn't have to worry about it.
And then I would like. But I would use shampoo. Put on deodorant. Put on like nicer clothes. That like. Help me look.
Nicer. Like I don't know. I've never graded that either. But there you go. And then I would put on like. Some.
Polo. Ralph Lauren. Like smell good stuff. And you want to know why I had to do a lot of that? This is real. If I didn't.
Like I did like five things. To keep me from stinking. You realize that? Like I just. Just stunk. Apparently.
And dude. Like I've got. Like I have to work. To not smell bad. Around other humans. Like I wanted.
If I went on a date. I wanted girls to think. This is what I smelled like. You smell that? That's me. That's what I smell like.
This is. This is why. Someone's coming over to your house. What do you do? Oh we got to clean. Oh we got to clean up.
Why? Because there's something inside of you. That says we're dirty. We got to clean. You ever. To my knock on your door.
You didn't know they were coming. You just stick your head out. What's up? They tell people later. I think they were just completely naked. I don't know.
That's because you didn't want them to see your house. If you had to go out somewhere. Go to Walmart. In the evening. Sometimes. Sometimes random.
Sometimes you were sick. Had to go to CVS. And then you see somebody you know. And you're wearing like. Your house shoes. And.
Anybody ever hid from somebody? You saw them and you were like. They didn't. Trying to wait until they leave. And then you can go up to the counter. Do you know why?
Because we're unclean. And God was just teaching them that. You can't just come before me. And even if they were clean. No matter what. They still had to have a sacrifice.
They still had to have an animal die on their behalf. Every year the whole nation had what they called the day of atonement. And they would bring two goats up. Don't get attached to the goats. They would bring two goats up. One of them.
They would put all their sin on the goat. They would lay their hands on these goats heads. One of them would die. To pay. For the sin. And one of them.
They would send off. Into the wilderness. To take the sin away. So that the sins they had committed. And the sins that had been committed against them. They tried everything they could to take them away.
And God had set up a system. Because they weren't going to be able to keep it together. He set up a system that was. No matter what. You. Are going to need a sacrifice.
To come close to me. So here's the question for us. What do we do with this? If this was what God stepped in and said. This is how it looks to follow me. This is what you have to do.
What do we do? Are we supposed to follow this? Am I supposed to memorize these laws? Am I supposed to work to be clean or unclean? Like are we supposed to apply this? When that article says.
That I need to. If I'm not wearing all cotton. And avoiding crab legs. I'm in trouble. Like is that true? Like didn't Jesus fix this?
Well let's see what Jesus said. Matthew 5. This is Jesus talking about this. Do not think. That I have come to abolish the law. Or the prophets.
I have not come to abolish them. But to fulfill them. For truly I say to you. Until heaven and earth pass away. Quick test. Has that happened yet?
Alright. I'm glad you're with me. Alright. Totally focused. Earth is still here. Not an iota.
Not a dot. Will pass from the law. Until all is accomplished. Until heaven and earth pass away. Not a dot. Is gone.
The law has not been abolished. It's not gone. The problems of being unclean. The problems of moral sin. The problems of following God. The way we're designed.
Are still problems. Has not been abolished. It has not disappeared. But what's he say? He didn't come to abolish. But to fulfill.
And they won't pass away. Until all is accomplished. The law is still in force. But it has been fulfilled. And it has been accomplished. Through Christ.
Jump to Hebrews chapter 10. It's going to be on page. 651. We're still held accountable. To the law. You are still supposed to be clean.
When you stand before God. You are still supposed to. Uphold all of his moral law. So a second ago. I just want you all to know. We should all be kind of scared.
A second ago. We read through the Ten Commandments. Maybe some of you skated out. Maybe some of you like. I nailed it. No you didn't.
You need friends. Who can point things out to you. All of us fail. We can't do this. And then Jesus says. It's not abolished.
This isn't gone. And so we need to figure out. What that means. How do we stand before God. Hebrews 10. For since the law.
Has but a shadow. Of the good things to come. Instead of the true form. Of these realities. He's talking about the law. And it's just a shadow.
It's just showing us what's real. Sometimes you're looking for a parking space. And if the sun's right. You can pull up. You don't have to see all the cars. You can just see the shadows.
And it's like shadow. Shadow. Shadow. Shadow. No shadow. And you're like.
I'm going for it. Because I think there's no car there. But it may be a moped. Anybody tracking with me. You know what I'm talking about. Looking for parking spaces.
The shadow shows you something real is there. So what he just said was. The shadow. Of the law. Is showing us that something real is coming. Something solid is coming.
Coming. That's weird. Shadow of the good things to come. Instead of the true form of these realities. It can never. By the same sacrifices.
That are continually offered. Every year. Remember the two goats. Make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise. Would they not have ceased to be offered.
Since the worshippers having once been cleansed. Would no longer have any consciousness of sins. So he's saying. If the sacrifices had worked. They wouldn't have to keep doing them. They had to do them every year.
But in these sacrifices. There is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible. For the blood of bulls and goats. To take away sins. Consequently.
When Christ came into the world. He said. Sacrifices and offerings. You have not desired. But a body.
Have you prepared for me. In burnt offerings. And sin offerings. You have taken no pleasure. Then I said.
Behold. I have come to do your will. Oh God. As it is written for me. In the scroll of the book. Then he said.
When he said above. You have neither desired. Nor taken pleasure. In sacrifices. And offerings. And burnt offerings.
And sin offerings. These are offered according to the law. Then he added. Behold. I have come to do your will. He does away with the first.
In order to establish the second. And by that will. We have been sanctified. Through the offering. Of the body of Jesus Christ. Once for all.
Sanctified. Sanctified means to be made clean. To be set apart as holy. So Jesus. Does not get rid. Of the law.
He fulfills it. He fulfills it. He makes us clean. We still believe. In the clean and unclean laws. We just believe.
Jesus fulfilled it. If you're a Christian. You have been made clean. Cleaned. So if someone says to you.
Oh you mean to tell me. You think you can eat shellfish. I would say yeah. Because I believe in Jesus. And if I kept. If I kept trying.
To not eat shellfish. If I kept trying to. Only not wear polyester. Or whatever. Mix them up. If I kept trying to follow.
These clean laws. Here's what I'd be saying. I'm trusting them. Not Jesus. But in Christ.
Because he went to the cross for us. And fulfilled the law for us. We have been cleaned. We've been sanctified. It's been accomplished for us. A buddy of mine in high school.
Peeled out. Like he. Caught a wheel in front of a. A cop or whatever. Spun out. You know what I'm talking about.
Like. Throwing smoking stuff. He did it in front of a cop. Cop pulled him over. The cop gave him. I think 10 hours of.
Community service. What did he not do. After he had completed his 10 hours. The answer to that really confusing question. Was he did not show back up. To community service.
Because he didn't have to anymore. It had been fulfilled. The law still was there. But it had been accomplished on his behalf. It had been accomplished. So.
We don't have to follow the dietary laws. And the clean and unclean laws. Because Jesus has already accomplished them for us. We don't have to show back up. We don't have to walk back through him. We believe that he's done it.
So. By faith in Christ. It keeps us. From doing these. Because Jesus fulfilled this on our behalf. But we have to have a sacrifice.
Even if you're clean. You had to have a sacrifice. And so. In Hebrews 9. It says this. For when every commandment of the law.
Had been declared by Moses. To all the people. We read this earlier. He took the blood of calves and goats. With water and scarlet wool and hyssop. That's the thing he had in his hand.
And sprinkled both the book itself. And all the people saying. This is the blood of the covenant. That God commanded for you. And in the same way. He sprinkled with the blood.
Both the tent. And all the vessels used in worship. Indeed. Under the law. Almost everything is purified. With blood.
And without the shedding of blood. There is no forgiveness of sins. There had to be a sacrifice. And as Christians. We don't need the sacrificial system anymore. Because the forgiveness of sins.
Came through the shed blood of Jesus. You have a sacrifice. And we continue. When we sin. When we fail. When we fail the moral law.
They would have to go. Have a sacrifice on their behalf. When I sin. When I covet. When I'm angry. Jesus later says.
That if you hate someone. You've already murdered them. When that happens. I just continue to trust. In the sacrifice. That's already been made for me.
In Christ. That's how that works. Okay. Two quick things. If you do not realize. That the law has not been abolished.
Let me tell you. What can happen to you. If you don't realize. That the law is still in effect. That you're still held accountable. To this law.
Let me tell you what happens. Or what can happen. First of all. You can completely miss the fact. That there is a God. Who will hold you accountable.
For yourself. That you are dirty. You are small. You do not get to just walk in. In front of him. And be okay.
If you forget. Or fail to realize. That the law has not been abolished. You will stand before God. Condemned. If you fail to realize this.
You also can spend your life. Trying to figure out. What it is God wants you to do. This is what's always funny to me. I'll give you an example. How this works.
Because we do. We'll spend. People spend time being like. I wonder what God wants from me. Well if he's real. He actually has actual qualifications.
Actual things that make you okay with him. They're building a new Costco. Down the road. If I want to work at Costco. How do I. How do I do that?
Well since Costco exists. I go to their website. Or I go to their location. And I ask them. What do you want from me. So that I can get a job here.
They have forms they want me to fill out. They have an application they want me to submit. Right. Because they exist. So I do what they want.
If God's real. And he has an actual standard. Then we do what he wants. We say. What do you. What does it look like for me to be okay with you?
I can't just say. Well if there is a Costco. Then they should be okay with. A picture of my grandmother. A lock of my hair. And my video application.
To the TV show Survivor. And if that's not what they want. Then I don't want to work with them. You know what you would say to me? That's good. Because you will not be working with them.
And you would think I was crazy. But some of us. Your understanding of God is. I guess I'll just. Do what I think is best. And if that's not what he wants.
Then I can't worship a God like that. It's like. Bro you just made yourself God. God. That's not how it works. If he's real.
He has an actual law. And so I want you to know today. If you didn't realize this. There is an actual law. And you are actually unclean. And actually sinful.
And you stand condemned before God. There is an actual standard. Because there is an actual God. But if you fail to realize. That Jesus fulfilled this on your behalf. I'll tell you what happens.
First of all. You won't place faith in Jesus. Once you realize. He's accomplished this. That's where our trust. And our joy.
And our hope. And everything we have. Goes to Jesus. Because we realize. That he did everything for us. But if you're a Christian in here.
And you keep. Not realizing. That all of the law. Has been fulfilled. On your behalf. That it's been accomplished.
Let me tell you what happens. You keep worrying. Am I doing enough? Have I done enough. To make myself okay? When you read an article.
That says. The Old Testament law. Says this. You go. I ate shellfish. Am I okay?
Did I really have to give up bacon? Every time you hear. Some new fad. Of like a. This is something. You need to start doing.
You need to start living this out. You need to like. You start worrying. Have I done enough? And here's the answer. To that question.
No you have not. But Jesus has. And in Christ. The law has been fulfilled. You stand before God. With the law accomplished.
On your behalf. If you have placed your faith in Jesus. You are clean. It has been fulfilled. And you can rest. The band is going to come back up.
We are going to sing. We are going to enjoy the fact. That because of Jesus. Exodus. Leviticus. Numbers.
And Deuteronomy. Have been accomplished. That we are. That we are. That we are. We are clean.
That we are. We are loved. That we are. We are free. And we don't have to sit around and worry. Have I done enough?
Am I good enough? Do I live up to the standard? You don't. But Jesus does. not a drop of ink written in the law is gone but Jesus dropped his blood on the ground spread his blood out just as they were covered in blood Jesus' blood has covered us the penalty has been paid, the law has been fulfilled and we're free so in the covenant God makes we realize how far short we fall but ultimately in Christ it's been fulfilled on our behalf let's pray God we thank you for your grace, we thank you for your love God I thank you that we believe that the law is true, that we hold it as true but we understand that it does not hold us any longer because Jesus has accomplished it on our behalf that while it hasn't been abolished, it has been fulfilled Jesus, we praise you that you have made us clean that you have made us right with you we love you Lord, in Jesus' name, amen
July 24
Sign of the Promise
Transcript
G'day everyone. My name's Raz. It's good to be with you here this morning. A show of hands real quick. Who here in the room has ever heard of the awkward turtle? The awkward turtle.
Okay, all of the millennials have heard of the awkward turtle. Excellent. The awkward turtle, I believe, was invented 10-ish years ago. It was kind of like just transitioned in right when I came out of high school. And I think this is what the internet tells me. I don't know if it's true or not.
The internet tells me that the awkward turtle was invented because people who were awkward in situations and conversations had this problem with their neck. Where they were speaking, something awkward would happen, and they would just kind of recede a little bit. So that their head tries to escape the situation and get inside their body. And that's kind of where the idea of a turtle comes along. But that was causing neck issues.
So, they invented this kind of hand gesture, which looks like this. Which is supposed to represent the turtle's body. Some people do it like that, but they're weird. It goes like this. And these are the little, what are they, they don't call them wings. They're like the flappers, whatever, of the turtle.
And whenever something really awkward happens in a conversation, you can kind of do the awkward turtle and just... Back yourself out of that conversation. And that's apparently... Look, when it came into existence, that was the thing that people did. Not saying it was good, not saying it was polite, but that's just kind of how it happened. For example, I'm not going to name names, protagonists in this story.
This is a true story. I won't tell you the person's name, but I'll give you a hint. He has a beard, and he was standing there about three minutes ago. This happened in this very room, and it was kind of just over there. And I was introducing my friend to my wife, Christina's mom. And in the...
Look, he's not very good with small talk. And we all know this. If you're friends with him, small talk is not one of his spiritual gifts. And so you kind of have to be prepared for situations like this. So I introduce him.
I say, this is Christina's mom. And this is what comes out of his mouth. He goes, oh, cool. Hi. So, how long have you been Christina's mom? And you can see in his eyes and in his brain, he's just processed the fact that he just said, how long have you been the mother of your daughter?
And his neck starts going like this. And then my neck started going like that. And Christina's mom's neck was like this. And everyone was like this. And that would have been the perfect time, permissible, to be awkward turtle. You can just back away from the creepy bearded guy.
That's how it's supposed to work. Now, I mention this. I mention this because this morning and for the next couple of minutes, we're going to have a good old-fashioned awkward fest. Between you guys and me, we're just going to get awkward real quick. Not because I like torturing people with awkward situations, although that's true. That's not the reason that this is happening.
We're going to have an old-fashioned awkward fest because we're in a section of God's story that sometimes churches in this world tend to breeze by. Not defining terminology, leaving people hanging in the dark a little bit. And so we're going to step through it. We're going to spend some time. And we're going to actually define terminology, make sure that everyone's on the same page, and get through it even though it's awkward. Okay.
Today we're going to spend pretty much our entire morning talking about circumcision. And I'm not talking about just like say the word and move on. I'm like, we're going to talk real quick about circumcision. And so for the people in the room who know, you know that the awkward total is about to come out. So I've prepared you well.
But for the people who don't know, and I don't want to call people out. I don't want to make you feel silly or whatever. But I just want to make sure that everyone knows exactly, clinically, what we're about to talk about so that, Lord forbid, nobody Googles anything this morning. That would be a travesty, and I've not done due diligence. So, without further ado, here is a very concise medical definition of the word circumcision. Circumcision.
I'm just going to put my hands here. Circumcision is the surgical removal of the foreskin covering the tip of the male genitalia. Now you know, right? Yes, I said that. Yes, I said that into a microphone on stage in a church gathering. It's going on the internet.
Internet. You're welcome, internet. You've been blessed this morning, internet. Now you're probably thinking, look, I would be thinking, if I'm where you were, what exactly does this have to do with covenant? Because we're talking about covenants, we're doing this whole series on covenants, and today we're just talking about foreskins and circumcision, and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But in the passage we're about to read, God calls circumcision the sign of the covenant.
And for us to spend however many weeks talking about covenant and skip the sign of the covenant, just because it's awkward to talk about and no one wants to talk about circumcision, we would kind of be missing the point. So we're going to plow through today. We're going to try and understand what exactly was going on in Genesis when they talked about circumcision. And then we're going to say, we're going to try and work out what it means for us, and then work out where Jesus fits into the whole picture. Let me pray for us, and then we're going to open up God's word. God, I pray this morning that as we look into your scripture and talk about weird and awkward conversations, that you'll be opening our hearts and our minds to understand what it is you have for us today.
I pray that that will be true for us this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. If you've got a Bible, open up to Genesis 17. Genesis 17. Genesis 17, it'll be on page 8 if you've got one of these blue pew Bibles. Genesis 17.
What happens in Genesis 17 is about 15 years after what happens in Genesis 15, which is what we talked about last week. So last week we're in Genesis 15. About 15 years later than that, we find ourselves in Genesis 17. I'm just going to read the first chunk for us. Page 8, 17, verse 1. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty.
Walk before me and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly. Then Abram fell on his face and God said to him, Behold, my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall you be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham. Real quick pause. God changes people's names pretty frequently, especially throughout the Old Testament, but it happens a little bit in the New Testament as well. It really just signifies a change in direction in that person's life.
It's almost like a graduation or a promotion. And typically the name that he gives them has some important meaning. So for Abraham, the name Abraham actually means father of a great multitude. Let's keep reading. From verse 5. No longer shall you be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham.
For I have made you a father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God. Now, this is more or less a restatement of stuff we already know. If you've been with us for a few weeks, we've been talking about the covenant to Abraham for a while now.
And this is basically just a rehashing of the stuff we've already talked about. But you'll notice he's 99 years old. The guy's super old. And sometimes with old people, you just have to repeat yourself. Especially if it's been 15 years, right? So God repeats himself and says, this is the covenant that I'm making with you and your offspring.
And his covenant with them is that they will become a great nation, that they will inherit land and that God will bless them. Basically, that his people will be in his place and they will have his presence. That's kind of the theme that we've been drawing through all of the covenant series so far. So it starts off in Eden when God puts his people in his place and has his presence with them and in amongst them. And then the fall happens and everything goes wrong. And ever since then, we've been asking this question, how is God going to point us back to a new Eden, a new creation that will once again be God's people in God's place with his presence?
Now God kind of moves on and talks about some of Abraham's responsibilities. This is verse 9. God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people for he has broken my covenant. Whoa. Things just got real.
Now in order to understand this we're just going to quickly revisit some stuff that happened last week. Last week we're in Genesis 15 and in Genesis 15 if you're here you already know this but for the people who weren't here in Genesis 15 God and Abraham established their covenant and it takes the form of what we call a suzerain vassal treaty and in a suzerain vassal treaty this is not Bible words this is ancient history words this is just the way things happened in the old days. The suzerain was the powerful nation ruler or whatever. The vassal was a weaker nation that had been conquered by a superior nation and they make a treaty in which the weaker nation says I want you to look after me and in doing that I will serve you I will do what you tell me to do I'll pay the taxes and I'll come to your aid whenever you're leading wars.
And what they would do is they would have this little ceremony that would play out. And this happens in Genesis 15 between God and Abraham God being the superior power and Abraham being the weaker one. What happens is they get a bunch of animals birds and goats and that kind of thing and they split them in half and they create a lane like a pathway through the middle where there's animal carcasses on each side of the pathway and all of the blood flows into the middle to form like a walkway of blood. It's pretty gross. It's pretty grim. It's pretty gruesome.
And what would happen in the suzerain vassal treaty is the weaker party would walk through that pathway of blood. And what they're saying by doing that is that stronger nation if I break my promises to you you get to do this to me. If I break my promise to you you get to destroy me. And in Genesis 15 Abraham and God set up this kind of a ritual but the major difference that happens is that right when Abraham's about to walk through bam God puts him to sleep. Then instead of Abraham walking through God walks through and then walks back through.
God goes through twice. And what he's saying by doing that is that if Abraham if the weaker party let me start let me backtrack if God the stronger party breaks his end of the deal if the stronger party breaks his end of the deal the weaker party gets to split him in two. That's not normal. That's not typical. That's not how it usually happens in these ceremonies. But what he also said by walking through twice is that if Abraham breaks his side of the deal God will also be the one who's punished.
God will have the right to punish Abraham but instead will punish himself. Now we're here in Genesis 17 this is 15 years later and circumcision is now part of this picture and this picture is pretty gross. It's bloodthirsty. It's disgusting. It's got retribution. It's got punishment written all over it.
The whole picture is not particularly pretty. And I don't think it's meant to be very pretty. In verse 11 God says it it meaning circumcision it shall be a sign of the covenant of the bloodbath ceremony. It shall be a sign of that ceremony between me and you. In verse 13 he says so shall my covenant so shall this covenant be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. He's saying very explicitly I want you to remember this bloodbath ceremony.
I want the weight of what happened in that ceremony in that agreement in that covenant I want the weight of that to bear down on you at all times. I want you to remember it. I want you to remember it so much that I'm going to make it a part of you. I'm going to cut it into your flesh so that you will remember it. Do not forget the covenant. That's what's going on here.
So the covenant was made when a bunch of animals were slaughtered as a symbol of what would happen if one of the parties broke their promise. And in that situation it is no wonder that when God decided this will be the sign of my covenant he made it something rather gruesome something a little bloodthirsty. The whole point is to remind them of the consequences of what would happen should someone break this covenant. And apparently at least it makes sense to me what better way to make people remember that than to threaten a man where men do not like being threatened. Now you may be wondering at this point in time how do women fit into this?
Is there a sign for the girls? Is only the male in the whole generation covered with the sign that kind of thing? My first response and this is look this is just my fallen brain being sarcastic and wanting to say this you did just hear what the sign for the guys was right? Are the ladies really wishing for their own sign at a time like this? Probably not. But a far more accurate you know biblically historically correct you know actual real reason for this that I probably should explain is that back then they had what they call a patriarchal society.
Right? Are the ladies really wishing for their own sign at a time like this? Probably not. But a far more accurate you know biblically historically correct you know actual real reason for this that I probably should explain is that back then they had what they call a patriarchal society. It's no better no worse than the way that we do things
In our culture it's just different it's thousands of years old and it's the way things worked back then and back then in a patriarchy there was a male who was the head of a household and he kind of held responsibility for that household and so for women living in that society they would be born into their father's household and their father would have responsibility for their household and when they get married they would move into their husband's household and then their husband
Would be the head of that household and he would hold responsibility for that household so when God makes a sign of the covenant with the males throughout the entire generation and for the rest of history when all of the males are circumcised they're covering their households with that sign of the covenant and so for women the sign of the covenant being made with men doesn't actually neglect women based on the way their society functioned entire households were being covered with the sign of this covenant
So look I guess you just get a free pass on this one and you get to be covered by the men's sign of the covenant let's continue pick up the story in verse 15 and God said to Abraham as for Sarah your wife you shall not call her name Sarah but Sarah shall be her name I will bless her and moreover I will give you a son by her I will bless her and she shall become nations kings of people
Shall come from her then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old shall Sarah who is ninety years old bear a child and Abraham said to God oh that Ishmael might live before you God said no but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him
As for Ishmael I have heard you behold I have blessed him and I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly he shall father twelve princes and I will make him into a great nation but I will establish my covenant with Isaac whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year we're going to take we're going to pause for just a moment this is not a main point for this morning but it's important to cover because there's some names we just read that we need to explain
Not a main point this morning but in Genesis 16 which is the chapter of the Bible that we just skipped between last week Genesis 15 and this week Genesis 17 in Genesis 16 Abraham has a son he has a son and his name is Ishmael but that son is not born from his wife Sarah but from his wife's handmaiden Hagar now this is not entirely uncommon and it's not the wrong way for them to do things back then
Because they lived in that patriarchy and for a man who had responsibility over his household he would need to have an heir so that that heir could then in turn have responsibility for the household and so when Sarah is not able to have kids Abraham she actually convinced him to have a kid so they would at least have a son who could take over for the family and that son became Ishmael through Sarah's
Handmaiden Hagar that's kind of where Ishmael fits into it so when God so when Abraham says please let Ishmael stand before you God says no I'm going to establish my covenant through Isaac who is your son who you will have through your wife for the history buffs out there Ishmael this other son of Abraham's is where the Islamic religion draws their heritage from
We're not going to park here we're not going to make a big point of this but just because it's true the Islamic nation the Islamic people draw their heritage from Ishmael and that's why we get a lot of questions like don't Muslims and Christians and Jews all worship the same God it's because at some point in time they all point back towards Abraham
If you want to keep having that discussion we can talk about it later it's not a main point of this sermon because as it says God says no my covenant is not going to follow Ishmael it's going to follow Isaac and we're going to keep reading verse 22 actually let's go from verse 21 but I will establish my covenant
With Isaac whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year when he had finished talking to him God went up from Abraham then Abraham took Ishmael his son sorry then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born to his house or bought with his money every male among the men
Of Abraham's house and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day as God had said to him Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin and Ishmael his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin
That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised and all of the men of his house those born in his house and those bought with money from a foreigner were circumcised with him Abraham and his entire posse all of them were circumcised in one day now this is not a day that any of them were looking forward to
I'm sure if you're 99 years old and this happens this is a day that you're never going to forget but so it was God wanted his covenant people to be physically reminded for their entire lives to be constantly reminded that they were different people because the blood covenant applied to them now if you've been paying attention all series
You would know that this is actually the second covenant that comes paired along with a sign the first covenant that comes paired along with a sign is the covenant made to Noah what happens in Noah's story is he gets all the animals on his big boat big flood comes and at the end of that the animals
Come off and God makes a covenant with Noah and says I'm never going to destroy the earth again and as a sign to you I'm going to give you what a rainbow and that's beautiful right magic the colors and that when you see a rainbow I saw a rainbow yesterday it was perfect I said Christina look at the rainbow and she took a photo of the
Rainbow and so if I if I were in Abraham's shoes this is not what happened but if I were in Abraham's shoes I can imagine God saying I'm going to make a covenant with you I'm going to give you a sign and I'm thinking sweet I'm going to get the next rainbow I wonder what it's going to be right maybe it's a maybe it's a pretty butterfly a new butterfly one's not on my boat yet he's going to invent a butterfly and every
Time someone sees that they're going to remember the covenant that's what it's going to be it's going to be maybe because Abraham's smart at one point in time God said I'm going to number your family like the stars so maybe he's going to get the rainbow of the night sky right like the northern lights and every time you see the northern lights or whatever it's going to be you'll think ah the covenant this is how my brain works I'll be like yes this amazing
Sign is going to happen and God says here's what you're going to do surgically remove the foreskin and I'm like whoa whoa you what what happened to the rainbows man give me a rainbow but I'm not Abraham we don't know what Abraham thought we know what he did and what Abraham did was he and his entire family his whole household was circumcised that day now for the last couple weeks as we know from the last couple weeks God promised God's promises to Abraham are fulfilled in Jesus and gifted to the church by
The reconciling blood of what Jesus did on the cross the promise to to Abraham that God would bless all nations comes true in Jesus and then is given to the church to go out and tell the whole world so that when Jesus says go and make disciples of all nations that's the continuation of God's blessing to all nations through Abraham and we've been made a part of that family by the reconciling blood of Christ so what exactly does that mean for us when it comes to this sign of the covenant how does circumcision fit into all of this should we be
Throwing circumcision parties alongside of our baptism parties whenever we have them that was sarcasm people before we take a peek into the New Testament we're about to look into it it's important to note that the the not the definition of but the interpretation of circumcision kind of evolved over time a couple thousand years is years past between when Abraham this covenant with Abraham happens and Jesus comes into the world and the New Testament is written and in that time the Jews have continued to be circumcised eight days old but the meaning of that circumcision in their heads has kind of changed they they've
Forgotten the covenant side of it and it's become this way for them to symbolize in their flesh that they're a descendant of Abraham and they think in their minds that because they're a descendant of Abraham they're set aside they're God's people and they're just good what was meant to be a sign to remember that the covenant has become for them a sign of I'm a descendant of Abraham and therefore God loves me in a moment we're going to look at Romans in Romans Paul is writing to the Roman church and in the Roman church there's Jewish believers in Jesus and there's also non-Jewish believers in Jesus and they've kind of in some some debate about whether or not the
Non-Jewish believers have to become circumcised in order to become real God's real family so we're going to put this on the screen this is Romans 2 says for no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly nor is circumcision outward and physical but a Jew is one inwardly and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit not by the letter his praise is not for man but from God see Paul reminds us that the point of circumcision is a matter of the heart it's a matter of faith it's a matter of commitment to God's promise that happened in Genesis 15 with the whole blood ceremony he's saying that if you think you're good if you think you're completely saved because you have a scar that was given to
You at eight days old that makes that identifies you as a descendant of Abraham you've missed the point a Paul says here that circumcision is a matter of the heart and it's your heart that shows your attitude and your disposition towards God the Jews misunderstood the sign of their covenant what God intended in Genesis 17 was that they would keep covenantal relationship with him but what they ended up believing was that they were the in crowd I'm a descendant of Abraham so I'm good right but they were wrong the sign was never about that the sign of the covenant was don't forget the blood ceremony which they'd forgotten Colossians 2 is going to come up it says in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by
Putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ Christ's circumcision is made without hands it is not a physical circumcision the sign is not physical not an external sign it's internal it's a spiritual thing that's happening verse 12 says having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead we consistently explained baptism as an outward sign of an internal change that's exactly what's going on here Christ paid the penalty Christ has already paid the penalty he fulfilled the promise made to Abraham and when when Christ died on the cross when Christ died on the cross and his blood was spilled he fulfilled everything that happened everything that was bound to happen as a result of that ceremony in Genesis 15 when God said if
You screw up I'm going to punish me and he walked through that blood that happened when Jesus died on the cross that happened when Jesus paid the penalty for our sin we no longer need a physical sign of circumcision because Jesus has fulfilled the covenant that it points to so since Jesus the sign is taken on a new form it's no longer physical and external it's internal it's surgery of the heart and it's performed not by human hands but by the Holy Spirit the sign of the covenant then shows itself through your actions and the way that you respond as a result of who you've become in Christ now this next point is important this is a comparison of how it worked then and how it works now so it's going to come up on the screen for the avid note takers who are going to want me to repeat this 50 times God's covenant with Abraham God's covenant with Abraham was marked with physical blood from sacrificial animals and the physical surgery of his people God's covenant with us is marked with the
Physical blood the sacrificial Christ and it's marked with the spiritual surgery of our hearts I'm going to repeat that once more because it's crucial God's covenant with Abraham God's covenant with Abraham was made with physical blood of sacrificial animals and physical surgery of his people God's covenant with us is marked with the physical blood of the sacrificial Christ and the internal spiritual surgery of our hearts what was a physical external sign for Israel is now an internal spiritual sign for us it is embedded and convict and we are convicted in our heart and soul and it will be evident in how we choose to behave in this world for Israel the day-to-day reminder was embedded in their flesh for us it's embedded in our soul in our hearts and in our minds in such a way that Galatians 5 says for in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything but only faith only faith working through love it does not matter if you're circumcised or uncircumcised externally as long as you have faith and it works itself out in love
So what then does it mean for us today to have this circumcised heart internal heart change leads to external actions if you've been convicted in your heart and soul it will be evident in the way that you choose to behave now let me be clear when I say the word behave let me be clear what you choose to do the physical actions you take does not affect your salvation status what you do does not affect your salvation but what you do does reflect what you believe and what you believe does affect your salvation here's the problem that I think Christians often face here's a here's a problem that I think we often face if we've been around the church for a really long time if we've been in community groups if we've been reading the word we all know the different things that we ought to do we know the kind of things that we ought to do but we also have this separate category of things that we actually want to do and we distance them we know that we ought to think when we are gonna open our way big** we know the way we're supposed to think that we are supposed to think that we are supposed to be a light in this world we know that we're supposed to hate evil and love what is good we know that we're supposed to bear Each reordas burdens we know that we're supposed to preach the gospel to all nations we know a bunch of stuff that we ought to do do, but it's not always what we actually want to do. Tim Keller, he's a well-known pastor in New York. He says it like this. He says, a circumcised heart looks like this.
When what you ought to do and what you want to do are the same thing. That's what a circumcised heart looks like. When what you most ought to do and what you most want to do have become the same thing. Now that's all well and good, but it's kind of intangible. What exactly does that mean? Well, if you're a Christian, if you're a Christian, where do you see change in your life? In what ways has your heart taken a new direction so that you now want to do things that you ought to do rather than what you've always wanted to do? What thing, what thing did you think you would never give up? This whole Jesus thing, this whole church thing was never going to affect my desire to do this. And if that's changed, then that is an indication of a circumcised heart. So for example, you may, you may be, I don't know, just super lazy. And your idea of an ideal Saturday is a Totino's pizza, stick it in the fridge, not in the fridge, in the oven.
Putting it in the fridge isn't going to do anything. Put it in the oven, sit in front of Netflix all day and binge watch. Who even cares? Saturday, you do what you want, right? And someone calls you and says, hey, I really need help moving this table. Will you come and help me? And you lie. You say, sorry, I'm busy. I guess that's not a lie. You've got a plan. It's just a really bad plan. And so you're lying to your friend and you say, no, I'm not going to do it. And then you go about doing what you want to do rather than what you know you probably ought to do. And then over time, you start hanging out with a community group, start reading your Bible, you start coming along to Sunday gatherings and you start learning some stuff. You start getting to know the people and you start to love the people. And for some reason, something unexplainable is happening inside of you and you actually want to help these people. And so when someone calls you and says, hey, I'm moving house this Saturday, will you come help? That actually sounds more desirable to you now. The thing that you ought to do has kind of become the thing that you want to do.
Maybe you're completely different. Maybe that's not you. Maybe you've never understood the whole Jesus-y no sex before marriage thing. Maybe that's never really, you know what people say, but it just doesn't affect you. And so you've gone from girlfriend or boyfriend to girlfriend or boyfriend. You've lived with people. You've maybe even had kids with people. And so you're living in this situation. You've got a kid, that kind of thing. And you're basically, you've got to pretend marriage. You're basically married. You never actually got married. There's no paperwork. There was no ceremony. But look, it's more or less the same thing. You just don't like labels. You don't like commitment. And the whole Jesus thing isn't really going to affect that. And then you start hanging out with church family. You see what marriage looks like in other people. You see what Jesus-honoring marriage looks like in other people in the church. And you start to think, maybe they do have it right.
Maybe that's a pretty good option. And suddenly you desire that for yourself. And so you decide, maybe we should get married. Maybe commitment isn't that bad of a thing. Maybe I should just do it. And in the meantime, maybe we should live separately until we actually get married. And what you know you ought to do, and what you actually want to do, are slowly becoming the same thing. Maybe for you, money is a big deal. Money kind of is a two-sided coin, ironically. And there's the people who are savers. And there's the people who are spenders. And so for the savers, when it comes to money, there's a number in their bank account, where if their bank account is on or above that number, they're good. They're fine. They're safe. And they know that if anything happens, they don't need to rely on anyone. They don't need to take out loans. They just know they're good because I've saved up that many dollars. And I can protect myself. I'll be okay. I'll make it through.
I'll be good. And then they've got accounts set up for the Disney trip in 15 years, and the kid's first car, and the braces, and all that kind of stuff. They don't even have a girlfriend yet, but they've planned for all of that. Money is a big comfort thing for these people. Then there's the other side, which is the spenders. And the spenders think, new Xbox. Bam, got it. New sound system. Bam, got it. Curved TVs. Bam, I bought three. These people rack up debt. Maybe they won't rack up debt. Maybe they have tons of money, but they use that money so that they get the stuff that they want. Boats, cars, flashy lights. Ooh, everything. Anything that'll make them feel good in that moment. Because that's all the stuff that they want to do. For the other people, they want to save. They want to feel comfortable because money is a buffer zone. For these people, money is what they want to spend it on things because things gain them approval or power or whatever it is that they want comfort in their own lives. And so these people, whoever it is with this money issue going on, they start hanging out with church family. They start reading the Bible. They slowly get convicted of how money should actually be spent in this world. That I'm just a manager of the money that God has given me in this moment, in this time for me to have control over temporarily now. But they see that there's actually better uses for that money. And so when someone in their community group needs help financially, they help them out. They want to help them out. When they see that the church is trying to change West Columbia, they want to impact West Columbia with the gospel message. They give financially to the work that the church is doing what they ought to do and what they want to do are slowly becoming the same thing. That's what it looks like when a heart has been circumcised.
The problem that the Jews had in Jesus day is that they remembered their circumcision, but they distorted its meaning. They pointed to their outward signs and said, look, I'm worthy because I'm a descendant of Abraham. And because I'm a descendant of Abraham, I'm good. But it's never been about the outward sign. It's never been about that. The outward sign only ever existed to point people to covenantal faithfulness in what God had done in that covenant, covenant to the promises that God had made to humanity and to Abraham in that covenant fulfilled in Jesus. That was the point of circumcision and they'd missed it. As Matt makes his way back up here, I want to ask you all, are you changing? Can you look back? Can you look back and see change? And if so, is the change that you see a changed heart? Is it just, is it just outward signs or is it a changed heart? And if so, if it is a changed heart, praise God, praise God, because what you want and what you know you ought to do have slowly become the same thing.
And you get to live in God's grace, understanding it better and better every single day, because what you know you ought to do and what you want to do are both happening at the same time. If you're only concerned with yourself or your outward appearance, then your heart isn't changing. And what you actually need is internal spiritual surgery. The answer to your problem is not a simple external change. It's an internal spiritual surgery of your heart. You know, we started this morning awkwardly talking about circumcision. And when God instituted circumcision, it was intended to remind people consistently of the blood covenant. It was supposed to seal in their flesh an identity as a people made in God's image to serve him and to love him and to have faith in the promises that he had made to humanity. The sign is not the same for us anymore.
It may no longer be a physical surgery, but we are still marked as God's people. God's surgery is of our hearts. His circumcision of our hearts is what aligns us so that what we know we ought to do and what we want to do get to become the same thing. The circumcision of our heart is what helps us to love and desire what God loves and desires. Let's pray for that in our lives today. God, I pray, I pray that you will continue to show us what we ought to be doing and help us, help us to want to do that. I pray for those in the room who look to outward signs as a means of showing that they've earned salvation. And I pray that you will perform surgery on their hearts. God, I pray that, I pray that you will continually align our desires with your desires so that what we ought to do
And what we want to do become the same thing. Amen. We have communion set up in the back. And in communion, we remember Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross. The bread represents his body which was broken for us on our behalf. And the grape juice, it represents Christ's blood that was spilled to pay for our sins. This is a thing that Christians do. So if you're not a Christian, you might want to just stay where you are. But if you're a Christian in the room, as you take communion, thank God. Thank Him for the sacrifice that He made in Christ to pay the penalty of that blood covenant. And pray for yourself that what you know you ought to do and what you want to do
Can become the same thing.
When what you ought to do and what you want to do are the same thing. That's what a circumcised heart looks like. When what you most ought to do and what you most want to do have become the same thing. Now that's all well and good, but it's kind of intangible. What exactly does that mean? Well, if you're a Christian, if you're a Christian, where do you see change in your life?
In what ways has your heart taken a new direction so that you now want to do things that you ought to do rather than what you've always wanted to do? What thing, what thing did you think you would never give up? This whole Jesus thing, this whole church thing was never going to affect my desire to do this. And if that's changed, then that is an indication of a circumcised heart. So for example, you may, you may be, I don't know, just super lazy.
And your idea of an ideal Saturday is a Totino's pizza, stick it in the fridge, not in the fridge, in the oven. Putting it in the fridge isn't going to do anything. Put it in the oven, sit in front of Netflix all day and binge watch. Who even cares? Saturday, you do what you want, right? And someone calls you and says, hey, I really need help moving this table.
Will you come and help me? And you lie. You say, sorry, I'm busy. I guess that's not a lie. You've got a plan. It's just a really bad plan.
And so you're lying to your friend and you say, no, I'm not going to do it. And then you go about doing what you want to do rather than what you know you probably ought to do. And then over time, you start hanging out with a community group, start reading your Bible, you start coming along to Sunday gatherings and you start learning some stuff. You start getting to know the people and you start to love the people. And for some reason, something unexplainable is happening inside of you and you actually want to help these people. And so when someone calls you and says, hey, I'm moving house this Saturday, will you come help?
That actually sounds more desirable to you now. The thing that you ought to do has kind of become the thing that you want to do. Maybe you're completely different. Maybe that's not you. Maybe you've never understood the whole Jesus-y no sex before marriage thing. Maybe that's never really, you know what people say, but it just doesn't affect you.
And so you've gone from girlfriend or boyfriend to girlfriend or boyfriend. You've lived with people. You've maybe even had kids with people. And so you're living in this situation. You've got a kid, that kind of thing. And you're basically, you've got to pretend marriage.
You're basically married. You never actually got married. There's no paperwork. There was no ceremony. But look, it's more or less the same thing.
You just don't like labels. You don't like commitment. And the whole Jesus thing isn't really going to affect that. And then you start hanging out with church family. You see what marriage looks like in other people. You see what Jesus-honoring marriage looks like in other people in the church.
And you start to think, maybe they do have it right. Maybe that's a pretty good option. And suddenly you desire that for yourself. And so you decide, maybe we should get married. Maybe commitment isn't that bad of a thing. Maybe I should just do it.
And in the meantime, maybe we should live separately until we actually get married. And what you know you ought to do, and what you actually want to do, are slowly becoming the same thing. Maybe for you, money is a big deal. Money kind of is a two-sided coin, ironically. And there's the people who are savers. And there's the people who are spenders.
And so for the savers, when it comes to money, there's a number in their bank account, where if their bank account is on or above that number, they're good. They're fine. They're safe. And they know that if anything happens, they don't need to rely on anyone. They don't need to take out loans. They just know they're good because I've saved up that many dollars.
And I can protect myself. I'll be okay. I'll make it through. I'll be good. And then they've got accounts set up for the Disney trip in 15 years, and the kid's first car, and the braces, and all that kind of stuff. They don't even have a girlfriend yet, but they've planned for all of that.
Money is a big comfort thing for these people. Then there's the other side, which is the spenders. And the spenders think, new Xbox. Bam, got it. New sound system. Bam, got it.
Curved TVs. Bam, I bought three. These people rack up debt. Maybe they won't rack up debt. Maybe they have tons of money, but they use that money so that they get the stuff that they want. Boats, cars, flashy lights.
Ooh, everything. Anything that'll make them feel good in that moment. Because that's all the stuff that they want to do. For the other people, they want to save. They want to feel comfortable because money is a buffer zone. For these people, money is what they want to spend it on things because things gain them approval or power or whatever it is that they want comfort in their own lives.
And so these people, whoever it is with this money issue going on, they start hanging out with church family. They start reading the Bible. They slowly get convicted of how money should actually be spent in this world. That I'm just a manager of the money that God has given me in this moment, in this time for me to have control over temporarily now. But they see that there's actually better uses for that money.
And so when someone in their community group needs help financially, they help them out. They want to help them out. When they see that the church is trying to change West Columbia, they want to impact West Columbia with the gospel message. They give financially to the work that the church is doing what they ought to do and what they want to do are slowly becoming the same thing. That's what it looks like when a heart has been circumcised. The problem that the Jews had in Jesus day is that they remembered their circumcision, but they distorted its meaning.
They pointed to their outward signs and said, look, I'm worthy because I'm a descendant of Abraham. And because I'm a descendant of Abraham, I'm good. But it's never been about the outward sign. It's never been about that. The outward sign only ever existed to point people to covenantal faithfulness in what God had done in that covenant, covenant to the promises that God had made to humanity and to Abraham in that covenant fulfilled in Jesus. That was the point of circumcision and they'd missed it.
As Matt makes his way back up here, I want to ask you all, are you changing? Can you look back? Can you look back and see change? And if so, is the change that you see a changed heart? Is it just, is it just outward signs or is it a changed heart? And if so, if it is a changed heart, praise God, praise God, because what you want and what you know you ought to do have slowly become the same thing.
And you get to live in God's grace, understanding it better and better every single day, because what you know you ought to do and what you want to do are both happening at the same time. If you're only concerned with yourself or your outward appearance, then your heart isn't changing. And what you actually need is internal spiritual surgery. The answer to your problem is not a simple external change. It's an internal spiritual surgery of your heart. You know, we started this morning awkwardly talking about circumcision.
And when God instituted circumcision, it was intended to remind people consistently of the blood covenant. It was supposed to seal in their flesh an identity as a people made in God's image to serve him and to love him and to have faith in the promises that he had made to humanity. The sign is not the same for us anymore. It may no longer be a physical surgery, but we are still marked as God's people. God's surgery is of our hearts. His circumcision of our hearts is what aligns us so that what we know we ought to do and what we want to do get to become the same thing.
The circumcision of our heart is what helps us to love and desire what God loves and desires. Let's pray for that in our lives today. God, I pray, I pray that you will continue to show us what we ought to be doing and help us, help us to want to do that. I pray for those in the room who look to outward signs as a means of showing that they've earned salvation. And I pray that you will perform surgery on their hearts. God, I pray that, I pray that you will continually align our desires with your desires so that what we ought to do and what we want to do become the same thing.
Amen. We have communion set up in the back. And in communion, we remember Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross. The bread represents his body which was broken for us on our behalf. And the grape juice, it represents Christ's blood that was spilled to pay for our sins. This is a thing that Christians do.
So if you're not a Christian, you might want to just stay where you are. But if you're a Christian in the room, as you take communion, thank God. Thank Him for the sacrifice that He made in Christ to pay the penalty of that blood covenant. And pray for yourself that what you know you ought to do and what you want to do can become the same thing.
Blood Covenant
Transcript
Good morning. So we will spend, I believe, some more time talking about this and praying about this in the upcoming weeks. I know in the middle of this kind of stuff, I always feel the tension of I want to I want to learn how to pray about this past week, learn how to react less like a white guy from South Carolina who grew up here and more like I belong to Jesus. And so even in my own thoughts, in my own heart responses to things, I'm just trying to grow there. And I think we'll spend some time talking about that in the next couple of weeks at some point and praying about it, certainly. But today we're going to continue our covenant series.
So we're in week five of our covenant series. We're walking through the Old Testament covenants and seeing how they point us to Christ and how they're ultimately fulfilled in Christ and how we can, as we read through the Old Testament and see how God interacted with people, begin to learn and see where that puts us and kind of how history has moved forward through the covenants. And so we're going to learn some words this morning. Because we're going to be talking about a certain type of covenant that was very common then, but is not common to us now. And so we're going to talk about suzerain vassal covenants or a suzerain vassal treaty.
And that's how you spell it, because I know all of y'all wanted to know how to spell it and be able to use it later. Basically, here's how a suzerain vassal treaty worked. And this was very common throughout history and throughout how nations organized themselves. A suzerain was a more powerful nation. And a vassal was a less powerful nation. And they would set up a suzerain vassal covenant.
And the way this worked was the suzerain, they weren't the suzerain yet, so like a more powerful nation would roll up. Usually they'd be like, you know, murdering people and burning and pillaging and knocking out smaller towns on their way to like a capital. And they'd show up and they'd be like, hey, do you want us to kill all y'all or do you want to be friends? And a lot of time the smaller nation would be like, be friends? And they'd be like, yeah, that's great. All right, here's what we're going to do.
It's going to be a suzerain vassal treaty. And the way it worked was the larger nation became the suzerain and the smaller nation became the vassal. They became a vassal state of that nation. And they would work out this covenant where the vassal basically said, we will belong to you. So they differing levels of autonomy, but they basically said, we belong to you.
If y'all go to war, we'll go to war with you. If you tell us to do something, we'll do it. If you tell us not to do something, we won't do it. We'll send you some money and you'll be our only suzerain. We won't have any other suzerains. We won't have a side suzerain.
Like you're going to be bae. Like that's what they'd say. Like you, you are straight up our suzerain. That's it. No other suzerains. And the suzerain would say, I'll protect you.
If some other nation rolls along, like I'll defend you. I will allot you a certain amount of land. I will treat you as if you belong to me. And a lot of times they were called, the suzerain would be called Lord and the vassal would be called servant or the suzerain would be called father and the vassal would be called son. But this happened all the time.
The closest thing I think we have to it now that we could easily understand would maybe be the mafia. You know how like, not really in life, I don't know if any of y'all have ever interacted with the mafia for real, but like in movies, they walk in and they're like, hey, you're going to pay us some money and we'll protect you. And the person who runs the store is like, I don't need protection. We're good. And they're like, we're going to hurt everyone and burn this place down. And it's like, oh, then I'll give you money.
Yeah. And then we'll be friends. It's like, okay, I see how this works now. Like that's kind of the system was that the suzerain was the one that had power and they would exert their authority over vassals and vassals would become a smaller servant to the larger nation. So this happens all the time.
Let's go to Genesis chapter 15. We're in pay on page seven. If your Bible looks like this, if you don't own a Bible, this is our gift to you. You may have it. Genesis chapter 15. So we've been looking at Abraham and God's covenant promises to Abraham.
And so we're not really getting a new covenant today. We're actually seeing God basically ratify, confirm his covenant with Abraham. So we'll pick up in verse one. Um, it starts off with the phrase after these things it's referring to chapter 14. Uh, Abraham was the patriarch of, uh, his family, which meant he was the, the head guy in charge. He was the chief of this pack of nomads that were farmers and shepherds, not farmers, shepherds.
Uh, and they would travel around with their, their cattle, their livestock. And, uh, in the previous chapter, a couple of Kings from little cities around captured his nephew. And so Abraham took 318 men that he had trained. So apparently this is a large group that he's overseeing. And they had trained men who were going to fight. They went and beat up all the Kings and got a lot back and then gave some money to a guy named Achilles.
And that's what it says after these things. So after all that happened, where Abraham was protecting his family, like a good patriarch, this is where we pick up in chapter 15. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. That's Abraham. He gets his name changed later. Um, so there you go.
Uh, Abram in a vision. Fear not Abram. I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. But Abram said, Oh Lord God, what will you give me?
For I continue childless and the heir of my house is Eliazar of Damascus. Okay. So this was a big issue. Abram's the patriarch. His heir becomes the patriarch. So he would want that to be his son so that his name continued so that his son was overseeing the family.
What he's saying is, I don't have an heir. You've been telling me you're going to bless me and give me a nation and give me an heir. And you just said, Hey, I'm going to bless you again. And I just got a quick question. How you figure? Because right now I've got to hand over everything to this guy named Eliazar or Eliezer or whatever his name is.
The guy from Damascus. I've got to hand it over to him. And so that's Abraham's kind of response there. And so God is going to respond back to him. So Abraham's saying, Look, when I die, everything goes to him.
Like I've got to set up an heir. He's going to take over the family. So you said you were going to make me into a big nation. You were going to make me into a big family. Not if this guy gets the stuff. And Abraham said, Behold, you have given me no offspring and a member of my household will be my heir.
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him. This man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heirs. That's God reaffirming the promise. It was good news to Abraham. And he brought him outside and said, Look toward heaven and number the stars.
So God walks. He's apparently seeing this vision in the night in his tent. God walks him outside and says, Look at the sky. Look toward heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be.
So God walks him outside and says, Look up. And he's outside. This isn't Columbia night sky. This is middle of nowhere night sky. This is all the stars. Maybe you're out somewhere in the woods.
I don't know what you're doing there, but you're there. It's night. Maybe you're at the beach, but not near one of the crowded beaches. Not Myrtle Beach. But like one of the beaches that doesn't have people at it.
You know, like one of those maybe. Or maybe you just are somewhere. You grew up in the country or something. But you've looked at the sky. And there's way more stars. Because there's no city getting in the way.
There are no other lights getting in the way. There are pictures of this out in the desert in the United States. And he's staring up in the Middle East where there's no city. There's nothing. And it's just stars. Just an endless, uncountable amount of pinpricks of light.
And he's staring at it. God says, Look at the stars and number them if you can. And he's staring at it. He's overwhelmed by the number of stars. And then God says, That's how your offspring will be. And there's something in that moment that changes in the heart of Abraham.
Something in that moment when he's staring at the stars. And God's affirming this promise to him. And it says this. Verse 6. And he believed the Lord. And he counted it to him as righteousness.
So Abram believed the Lord. And the Lord counted it to Abram as righteousness. There's this moment of faith for Abram. Galatians tells us that this is actually when he was saved. This is when he was justified. This was when he was made right before God.
It was this moment of just believing God. He's staring at the stars and he believes him. He's thinking, This is how many children I'm going to have. Take that, Eliezer. Like he's staring at this in this moment. And he trusts him.
He believes. And God justifies him. Not based off what Abram does. Not based off of his own morality. Not based off of his own goodness. Just that he trusted God.
And God made him righteous. 7. And he said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans. To give you this land to possess. But he said, O Lord, how am I to know that I shall possess it?
And he said to him, Bring me a heifer three years old. A female goat three years old. A ram three years old. A turtle dove. And a young pigeon. And he brought him all of these.
Cut them in half. And laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down to the carcasses. Abram drove them away. Okay.
That got weird. Abraham says, How am I going to know that you're going to fulfill this promise? And God says, Bring me some animals. And Abraham brings them. And then just chops them up. Seemingly out of nowhere.
Like you wouldn't want Abraham to pick up your dog from the vet. I'm going to get off work late. Go by and swing up and pick up mittens. You come home. Mittens? Like you wouldn't want this to happen.
Like Abraham, It seems this was like a terrible, He told you to bring you animals. It's a good thing Noah didn't have this plan. Go get all the animals, Noah. I know what you want. And Noah just starts making kebabs. And God's like, This was terrible.
No. He apparently, Apparently, Abraham knows something we don't know. Apparently, Something's going on here. That while you and I may be terrified. And like that was, He just said, Get animals. Why did you, What on earth were you doing?
I can't carry the way getting the animals. Like no, He knows something we don't. All contracts, All covenants, All agreements are socially based. Like the way we go about affirming an agreement. Have social, Cultural, Bounds to them. So, Imagine, Like one of the things we do is a handshake.
Let's say you didn't know anything about handshakes. So you're watching two guys negotiating. And it's getting intense. And they're going back and forth on price. And then finally, One of them juts his hand out at the other one's torso. While staring into his eyes.
His hand lingers there for a moment. While the other one stares back. And then his hand reaches back out. They clasp hands together. And then shake vigorously. And then stop talking.
That might be weird if you didn't know about handshakes. We're like, Yeah, It's a handshake. The reason Abram started cutting up these animals. Was that he knew something was going on that we don't know about. This was the normal way. That they would ratify.
That they would solidify a covenant. Similar maybe to a marriage ceremony for us. Where it's a normal way to do this. So when God says, Go get these animals. Immediately, Abram says, Ah, We're going to have a blood covenant. Ah, We're going to do a suzerain vassal treaty.
That's the covenant we're about to have. So when Abraham starts cutting these animals up. He knows why he's doing it. And here's why he was doing that. When you ratified. When you had a solidified an agreement.
When you had your ceremony. The reason they would cut up animals. Was because it signified the curse of the covenant. This is what would happen to you. If you broke the covenant. We actually have a decent amount of these still written down.
That we have copies of. From around this time period. One of the things says. That the vassal is to not turn his eyes to anyone else. So he's going to be a vassal.
And this other nation is going to be the suzerain. And the vassal is not to look to anyone else. But his eyes are going to be solely focused on him. And then when they begin talking about the ratification. We have a copy of some of the ceremony. And it says this.
It says a guy named Matti Elu. Is going to be the vassal. So if you're looking for baby names. Jot that one down. Matti Elu. He's going to be the vassal.
And here's what it says in there. They're a written down copy of this. It says. This head is not the head of a spring lamb. It is the head of Matti Elu. It is the head of his sons.
His magnates. And the people of his land. If Matti Elu should sin against this treaty. So may. Just as the head of this spring lamb. Be cut off.
The head of Matti Elu. Be cut off. And his sons. And his magnates. And it keeps going and naming other body parts. This shoulder is not the shoulder of a lamb.
This. It goes through. So when Abraham's chopping these parts up. He knows. That the reason he's cutting them up. Is because this is me.
This is me as the vassal. If I break this covenant. He's promising to obey God. He's promising. Saying. Whatever you tell me to do.
I'll do. Whatever. Tribute you tell me to bring. I'll bring. Whatever you tell me not to do. I won't do.
And he's promising. I'll be wholly devoted to you. And when he's cutting up these animals. He knows. He's thinking through. This is me.
Five animals had to die. He had to cut a goat. A heifer. And a ram. In half. He didn't have to cut the pigeons in half.
And the turtle dove. But five animals die. And the whole time. Abraham's thinking. This is me. If I break this covenant.
If I disobey God. Or if I look to someone else. As my God. As my suzerain. As my Lord. This is me.
It's a very intense moment. For Abraham. This is how they did this all the time. So what they would do. Is they would lay the parts. On one side or the other.
They'd let the blood mingle in the middle. And then they would walk through together. And as they were walking through. The suzerain was proclaiming. I will be your suzerain. I will protect you.
I will hold up my end of the bargain. And if I don't. You can make me like these animals. And the vassal was saying. I'll obey you. And I'll be devoted.
Only to you. And if I don't. You can make me like these animals. This blood is my blood. That body is my body. This life that was.
Shed. Is mine. This life. That died. Was mine. This life is my life.
That's what they were. That's the deal they were going to make. So when God says. Go get some animals. Abraham knows exactly what's happening. And I'll just say.
I think they broke covenants less often. Because of. How they did this. I just. I think that was the case. It was a little bit more intense.
When they made a deal with somebody. Than maybe a handshake. So if you go to Verizon Wireless. They're going to put you in on a two year contract. You know what I'm talking about? Like you go in.
And they're going to. Like this whole wall. Is just iPhones. And Samsung Galaxy. Things. And Motorola's.
And Nokia's. And all that stuff. This wall. And then you pick one out. And you go up there. And you're like.
I want to do a two year contract. And I want to get the rebate. And I want these many minutes. And I want the family plan. Or whatever. And then they go in the back.
And they start doing stuff on the computer. And they come out with a chicken. And they lay the chicken on the table. And they get a. It's kicking around and stuff. And they hold a big knife.
And they go. Are you sure? You want to do this deal? Two years. And you say. I'm sure.
And they go. This is you. If you break the covenant. Blood goes everywhere. And you're like. Deal.
And that way. When Sprint comes on. And they're like. We'll buy out your contract. You're like. No the heck you won't.
You better send somebody with me to Verizon. I saw what happened to that chicken. Wearing a Sprint t-shirt. Hey. He said he'd make good on this. I'm out.
That's what they were doing. So. He cuts up these animals. And Abraham is saying. Okay. God.
I'll make this deal with you. God says. Go get these animals. Abraham goes. And he cuts up all these animals. He sets them aside.
And he's standing over them. Having to protect them. From birds coming down to get them. Because he's making this covenant with God. That in his blood. In his life.
He's laying it on the line. And saying. I'll follow you. If you'll be my suzer. And I'll be your vassal. I'll obey you.
And I'll be devoted completely to you. Alright. Pick back up. Verse 12. As the sun was going down. I didn't notice this till this morning.
It's a different day. From when he made him go outside. And look at the stars. So. It took a while. To cut these animals up.
Maybe it's the next day. Maybe this is just later in time. But the sun's going down at this point. So he's. Been guarding these animals. A deep sleep.
Fell on Abram. And behold. A dreadful and great darkness. Fell upon him. So. This is the presence of the Lord.
Descending to where Abram is. So he's cut up these animals. He's standing there. The sun starts to set. And the presence of the Lord comes around him. And the reason I think he falls asleep.
And this is just a made up theory. But I'm going to share it with y'all. Because might as well put it in your brains. Because. Little infants. If you like.
Play rock music to them. It just shuts them down. It's like too much. Or you just lay them next to a vacuum cleaner. It's just. It's too loud.
It's too much. And they'll just fall asleep. I used to do this with our son. I think that's why he's terrified of the vacuum cleaner now. Because I used to. When he was little.
Just lay him next to it and turn it on. Watch three hours of TV. No. I think that's what happened to Abraham. I think the presence of God was just too much. God comes down.
And his presence just overwhelms Abraham. And that's why he says. A deep sleep fell on him. It's the presence of God comes among him. And it. It just wears him out.
Again. That's just a theory. All we know is he fell asleep. And the presence of God comes. 13. Then the Lord said to Abram.
Know for certain. That your offspring will be sojourners. In a land that is not theirs. And will be servants there. And they will be afflicted for 400 years. But I will bring judgment.
On the nation that they serve. And afterward they shall come out. With great possessions. As for you. You shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age.
And they shall come back here in the fourth generation. For the iniquities of the Amorites. Is not yet complete. When the sun had gone down. And it was dark. Behold.
A smoking fire pot. And a flaming torch. Passed between these pieces. On that day. The Lord made a covenant with Abram. Saying.
To your offspring. I give this land. From the river of Egypt. To the great river. The river Euphrates. The land of the Kenites.
The Kenizzites. The Kadmonites. The Hittites. The Perizzites. The Rephaim. The Amorites.
The Canaanites. The Girgashites. And the Jebusites. Jebusites. Okay. Go back before we read all those names.
And your brain was completely erased. Verse 17. When the sun had gone down. And it was dark. Behold. A smoking fire pot.
And a flaming torch. Passed. Between. These pieces. On that day. The Lord made a covenant.
With Abram. Okay. Maybe. Maybe y'all picked up on this. You would have. If you came from Abram's time.
Something really weird. Just happened. They did. The ceremony. Wrong. They did it wrong.
Abram didn't walk down the middle. They did the ceremony wrong. See. Abraham was cutting up all these pieces. He was laying it down. He and the suzerain were supposed to walk through.
If only one person walked through. It was supposed to just be the vassal. The suzerain could sit back. And the vassal would have to walk through. And just say. This is me.
If I fail. This is me. If I disobey. This is me. If I. If I look to someone else.
This is me. If I don't give you complete devotion. But. Abraham doesn't walk through the middle. And this immediately should stand out to us. It doesn't.
Because we're culturally distant from them. We're like. That sounded great. They did it. So again.
I said. One of our. One of our ceremonies that we do. That maybe we're more familiar with. Is a wedding. I get to perform weddings every once in a while.
I enjoy performing weddings. It's a little bit nerve wracking. I write down exactly what I'm going to say. Word for word. Some of y'all have been around long enough. To know what happens when I just start.
Winging it on jokes and stuff. Like it can get really weird. And people tend to remember their wedding. And not forgive you for stuff. I've found. So.
I write down. Word for word. What I'm going to say. I practice it a few times. Then what happens at the beginning of the wedding.
Is. Me and the groom. Go stand. Up front. We've done a couple here. We just stand.
Right there. Everybody's already here. Groom and I are standing. This is. I think. For a couple of reasons.
One. The bride. At this moment. Has her chance to leave. The groom does not get to leave. He is stuck.
He would have to run out. In front of everybody. And this helps keep him here. But the bride. She's got like. I mean.
I'm pretty sure. As soon as we come out here. Someone's like. All right. Where you want to go. Which way.
We can go this way. To the parking lot. We can go this way. Into the. Like there. There.
You know. Somebody's back there. Consulting her. Usually she does decide to come in. But we stand here.
He is wearing a suit. That matches all these other guys suits. He could pass out. We would just slide him out of the way. They would bump down. No one would even notice.
Like that. We're just standing here waiting. I usually at this point. Feel pretty good. Like I'm ready to go. This guy.
Sweating bullets. Looks like he's going to throw up. It's really enjoyable. I'm like smiling at people. He's trying to keep it together. Then.
Music starts. Whatever. And then like. The bridesmaids start coming in. And they're. They are wearing some oddly colored dresses.
They're not wearing normal colors. They're wearing. Turquoise. And periwinkle. And coral. And sea foam.
And ocean spray. And Sierra mist. Like they've got. All these different. Colors. That you've never heard of.
And they come walking down. And they line up over here. And then everything stops. Music stops for just a second. The doors close. They close them.
Just to reopen them. They're just like. Okay. And they open them back up. And then the music starts up. It's different music.
Music. And I won't try to do it. Because I always get that one. The death march. And the star wars thing confused. And I can never start the one I want.
But it's the one that's about the bride. Or whatever. And then she comes in. And everybody has to stand. And everybody has to look at her. And she walks down the aisle.
And somebody's holding her arm. And they just float down here. And everybody has to stare at them the whole time. And they turn. And then you're supposed to stare at her. For the rest of the time.
And that's how this is done. And then different things happen. They say different things. Sometimes they're communion. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes they tie a knot in a rope.
Sometimes they pour sand all over the place. And they set something on fire. But like. That part happens. Pretty much everywhere that part happens. If you were at a wedding.
And when you walked in. The bride was standing up here in her dress. Your first thought would be. I'm really late. But then you would notice the groom wasn't there.
And the people were still sitting around talking. And you would think. Okay groom's not here. That cat must have left. She didn't seem stressed out. People were talking.
I'm just going to sit down. I'm going to ride this out. And see what happens. And then music starts playing. And groomsmen start walking in. And they're wearing.
Seafoam or whatever. And like they walk in. And then doors close. Music changes. Opens. And the groom just comes walking out.
He's just. You know. He's pointing at people. He's smiling. And he walks down the middle. You would think.
They did this wrong. This was super weird. And I wonder why they did it this way. Like they're making a statement. Yeah. A statement was made.
And you'd be like what? And you'd be like. I don't know. I don't know. Something though. It was weird.
That's what just happened. Abram doesn't walk down the middle. And immediately. Everybody went. Well that was weird. That is not how that should have happened.
They did this wrong. They're making a statement. God doesn't know how to do covenants apparently. Like that's what it looks like. So. Yes.
For most of us. I think. We approach God. The way Abram was about to. We approach him with this. There's certain promises you give.
You're going to bless me. You're going to protect. You're going to give me wisdom. You're going to help me through life. You're going to provide for me. Eventually you're going to let me go to heaven.
That's his side of the deal. And our side of the deal. Is what Abraham was cutting up those animals saying. I'll obey. I'll read this. I'll figure out the stuff you like.
And I'll try to do that. I'll figure out the stuff you don't like. And I'll try not to do that. Like I'll obey. I'll be good. And.
I'll worship only you. That's the deal. I'll be good. I'll worship you. You'll hold up your end. That's the deal.
And for a lot of us. That's how we approach it. We're like Abraham. We're like. Yeah. That's the deal.
That's what Abraham was cutting up the animals. He knew what he was getting into. But see like Abraham. I think we're. While we're doing that. Abraham wasn't thinking about God.
While he was cutting up the animals. I don't think. I think he already. He said he already believed in God. He already knew that God could hold up his end. I think if I was Abraham.
And I was having to cut up. And kill. Five animals. Before a covenant ceremony. I would be thinking about me. And every time.
I had to kill an animal. I would think. Can I hold up. My end. Of the deal. Can I hold up my end of the deal.
Can I obey. Can I actually do. What God tells me to do. Can I. Can I. Whatever that is.
Like now. We're Christians. So we're reading the Bible. We're saying. That's. That's love people.
That's sacrifice. That's be generous. Can I actually do that. Can I not do the other stuff. He says. Can I.
Be moral. And good. And then. Can I completely. Be devoted to him. I think that's what Abraham was thinking through.
And for a lot of us. That's what we think. The deal is. So. Some of you. Have avoided.
Becoming a Christian. Because you're looking at it going. I can't do that. I can't be good enough. I was in. Until I heard the thing about sex.
I'm not allowed to have sex with anybody. Unless I'm married. I was in. Until I heard the thing about money. I was in. Until like.
I can't do that. I can't. Be good enough. I can't. Live up to these rules. So I'm done.
I'm out. I'm not making that deal with God. Some of you. That's. That's where you stand. And others of you.
Are like. What I think Abraham was thinking. Which is. I can do this. And you think that's your relationship with God. You've walked down the middle with him.
And you've said. I'll obey. And I'll be devoted to you. And that's our deal. And you're trying really hard. To do that.
Obedience. Let's look at this for a second. Obedience is. I'll not do the stuff you tell me not to do. Was that clear. If you say not to do something.
I won't do it. So you're looking through the Bible. Trying to figure out what all the things it says don't do. And you're trying not to do them. And that's good. You're trying to obey.
I'm not going to talk like that. I'm not going to go to those places. I'm going to avoid this type of situation. I'm going to stay away from this. I'm going to try to control this. I'm not going to eat too much.
Or drink too much. I'm not going to. I'm not going to party. I'm going to avoid all these. Like I'm going to be moral. And then you try to read the stuff you're supposed to do.
I'm going to love my enemy. I'm going to love my neighbor like I love myself. I'm going to think of others more highly than myself. I'm going to put other people first. I'm going to be radically generous. I'm going to give up my time.
I'm going to give up my money. Like this is getting harder. And then I think we think the third one is the easiest. I'll be devoted just to God. And it's actually the hardest one. Because we think what it means is don't also worship other gods.
Like don't also worship Islamic gods. Don't also worship Hindu gods. But really what it means is don't look to anyone else or anything else for your protection. Your comfort. Don't look to anything else as what is going to make life good for you. And as soon as it turns into that we'll make a suzerain out of anything.
Money becomes that so quickly. It'll protect me. It'll make life good. A relationship becomes that so quickly. This will help me know I'm loved. This will help me know I'm okay.
If I can just have my kids turn out this way. If I can just have a spouse like this. And suddenly we realize we've run around everywhere trying to find something else to provide for us. To protect us and to make us okay. And so Abraham was cutting up these animals thinking. I'm going to walk down the middle and I'm going to make this deal with God.
But that's not what happened. The ceremony was different. Let me tell you what happened. See they would walk down the middle and here's what would happen. The suzerain would be saying. I'll do what I said.
I'll keep my promise. I'll provide for you. I'll protect you. I'll be your suzerain. And if I don't you can kill me. And the vassal would say.
I'm going to obey you. And I'm going to be devoted only to you. And if I don't you can kill me. But Abraham didn't get to walk down. A smoking fire pot and a torch did. It was just God that went down the middle.
And here's how the promise worked. God said. I'll provide for you. I'll fulfill my covenant. I'll fulfill my promises. And if I don't.
You can make me like these animals. This will be my blood. This will be my body. This will be my life. And you'll obey me. And you'll be devoted only to me.
And if you don't. You can make me like these animals. This will be my blood. This will be my body. This will be my life. God looked at Abraham.
And said. You're going to obey me. You're going to be devoted only to me. And if you don't. I'll kill me. This will be my blood.
This will be my body. This will be my life. And in Jesus. God made good on that promise. Because Abraham. Didn't keep it together.
And we. Didn't keep it together. We didn't obey. We weren't completely devoted. And in Jesus. God kept the covenant.
Isaiah says it this way. Talking about Jesus. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed. For our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement.
That brought us peace. And with his wounds. We are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone. To his own way.
All of us. Broke that covenant. All of us. Ran from God. All of us. Fell short.
And the Lord has laid on him. The iniquity. Of us all. God. Signed both ends of the covenant. And in Christ.
Kept the deal. So for us. As Christians. The invitation. The invitation. The invitation is not.
The gospel is not. Going to God and saying. I will obey. And I will be devoted to you. And if I can keep that together. You will save me.
I will obey. And I will be devoted to you. And if I can keep that together. You will love me. I will obey. And I will be devoted to you.
And if I can keep that together. You will not destroy me. But I will have a home. And I will have a family. You will be a father to me. I will be a son.
You will be a Lord. I will be a servant. It's not that. The gospel is this. I couldn't obey. I couldn't be wholly devoted to you.
But I, like Abraham, who had faith, trust, that that blood wasn't my blood, it's Jesus' blood. And that body wasn't my body, it's Jesus' body. And that life wasn't my life, it was Jesus' life. As a Christian, we get to walk down the middle of the aisle and say, Jesus' blood is covering me. Jesus' body laid slain for me. Jesus' life was given up for me.
Jesus took the curse of the covenant so that we can have the blessing of it. Jesus took the curse of us falling short so that we could have the freedom and the hope and the life that is offered through him. Jesus was slain on a cross. Jesus was laid in a tomb. It wasn't the head of Abraham. It wasn't the body of Abraham.
It wasn't the blood of Abraham. It was the body and blood of Jesus. That's why Abraham didn't get to walk down the middle. It was a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, as if the father and son walked down the middle. And Jesus said, I'll keep good on this promise. This will be my blood and this will be my body and this will be my life and I'll keep good on this promise.
They'll obey you and they'll be devoted to you. And if they don't, you can kill me. And that's the gospel. That's the hope we have. Not that we can be good enough, but that Jesus already was. Not that we can pay the debt, but that Jesus already has.
And let me tell you what happens when we forget that. When we misunderstand that. Some of you, it's already happening. You, you aren't, you're, you're staying away from Christianity because you think the opportunity to you, the call to you is come be good. Come be moral. Come be a Republican.
I don't know. You think it's some sort of a come, come do these things and God will love you. Come work really hard and God will love you. Come just focus on Jesus and God will love you. Come just focus on Jesus and God will love you. Come just focus on Jesus.
That's not it at all. So you've avoided Christianity. You maybe rightly saw, I can't do all that stuff, but the response isn't to run from Jesus, but to run to him. Other of us who say we're Christians, let me show you how this shows up when we fail to believe this, when we forget that this is how this works. When we sin, when we know we've disobeyed, when we know we've worshipped something else, when we realize that we've loved money more than God, when we realize that because we see that, that we can't be generous because we need money to protect us and to save us. And we realize, Oh, that's because I don't trust God.
When we look at our relationships and realize I was willing to run away from the church to be in this relationship. I was willing to, to sin, to have this amount of comfort. I was willing to sin, to chase out. We begin to realize I had another Susan. I had something else that I was looking to for hope and health and life and joy. Here's what happens.
We feel guilt and shame. And we run away from God. We feel terrible. You sin again, doing the same thing again. You don't want to pick arguments with your spouse, but you do. It's like you can't stop.
You don't want to look at porn again, but you do. You said last time you were going to study for the test and you weren't going to cheat because they let you take the test at home, but you do. You said you weren't going to swipe things from your roommate anymore. And this, this one's the last time. So you weren't going to lie again.
Next time I get caught, I'll just be honest. But you do. Here's what happens. We sit around and we think, am I even a Christian? How do I, how do I keep doing this? How do I keep struggling with the same thing?
We beat ourselves up for two, three days, feel terrible because we've forgotten that it wasn't our body and it wasn't our blood and it wasn't our life. We don't get to atone for our sin. We sit around and we bottom out because we've forgotten that we were never on the hook for it anyway. Jesus was willing to take it. When we placed our faith in Jesus, he atoned for our sin. He took the punishment.
If you are a Christian and you are sinning, you repent and you praise Jesus that your sin is not what makes you okay or not okay with God. Your behavior, your devotion was never part of the deal. The covenant made was that Jesus was going to hold up your end of the bargain. When you sin, when the enemy comes along and says, look at how terrible you are. How on earth do you think you can go hang out with your community group and try to pretend to be a Christian and you want to hide and you want to run from God and you want to not confess this to anybody? Your response gets to be, look at how good Jesus is.
Look at how much grace he has that my sin is covered in Christ fully. And then you actually, when you see other people's sin, you get to have grace for them. You get to forgive them because you realize what made you good wasn't you, it was Jesus. What made you okay with God wasn't you, it was Jesus. You're free. But when we oscillate between feeling great and bottoming out, we oscillate between pride and how good we're behaving and fear and torment and how much we're failing, we've forgotten that we never got to walk down the middle.
That it was Jesus' blood, Jesus' body, Jesus' life for ours. And we're free. The band's gonna come back up. We're gonna take communion together as a church today. That's where we remember that it was Jesus' blood and it was Jesus' broken body. It's where we reenact that Jesus signed our side of the covenant and kept good on the promise for us.
It's where we go back and we remember that we're free and that our sin doesn't own us. But Jesus' grace has made a way for us. If you're not a Christian, don't take communion. It's not offered to you. Communion is for those who have placed faith in Jesus. Now I would tell you, if you're not a Christian, you can place faith in Jesus and you can walk right back there and you can know that this is Jesus' blood on my behalf and this is Jesus' body on my behalf and it's not about my behavior.
And my ability to be good and my ability to keep it together, it's about Jesus. That's offered to you. And Christians, you get to repent of sin and you get to believe the gospel. That it's not about your behavior, but it's about Jesus on your behalf. That he went to a cross and that he died for your sin and that you have freedom and hope and life in him forever and that God kept this covenant. God, we pray that you would help us to remember this so that when we sin, we would look to you only.
We would turn our eyes to you only. God, we pray that we would remember this so that when we're tempted to think that something else will provide us happiness or joy or fulfillment or life, we would turn from it and look to you only. And God, we pray that we remember this so that every time we fail, it would be to the praise of your glorious grace that you save sinners. That the reason you signed both sides of this covenant was because we weren't ever going to keep it together. But you wanted to save us, you wanted to redeem us, you wanted to make us yours.
God, we praise you and we thank you that in Jesus we do have life and hope and freedom. That in Christ we are forgiven. We thank you, Lord, that you don't ask us to keep it together ourselves, but that you provided fully for us through the cross. In Jesus' name, Amen.
July 10
Blessed to Bless
Transcript
What's up, fam? How y'all doing this morning? It's good to see you guys. If it's your first time hanging out with us, my name's Matt. I'm one of the pastors here. I'm glad we clapped at the end of a song.
That was good. Yes! Yeah! All right! Praise God! I like when I get to preach because I get to listen to really good music and just sing along.
And that was really good stuff. We are in week four of our Covenant series. And here's what we're doing. We're basically walking through the big promises that God makes in the Old Testament to kind of see how do they fit in the grand, big scheme of things of God's ultimate big story. And there's a couple of things. There's a couple of things that we're trying to achieve through this series.
We're looking at it going, okay, how do all of these little stories fit into the big story? Like, what's the point? How does it all kind of work together? Also, for us as Christians, I think most of us are very comfortable reading in the New Testament and spending time studying and growing there. But sometimes when it comes to the Old Testament, we have questions about how should I actually be reading this?
What am I supposed to kind of glean from this? And so we're trying to do that in this series as well. And ultimately, we want to see how all of these promises are going to find their fulfillment in Jesus. How do these smaller stories, how these smaller promises or covenants actually fit into God's big story? So Chet started off our series a couple of weeks ago with a whiteboard on the stage.
And what Chet was trying to do was just illustrate what actually is the big storyline of the Bible. Okay, so we've actually got an image of it. But thankfully, this isn't the version that Chet drew, so you can actually read it. But this is the big storyline of the Bible, which was there is a creator God. There is a creator God who created humanity to live in perfect relationship with him. That was his intent from the very beginning, to have his people in his place, in his presence, existing forever.
That was God's design. And so he takes Adam and Eve and he puts them in a garden. And he says to them, I want you to be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth with a family that will love and will worship me. He says he wants this family to grow, this people to grow. But the problem is that Adam and Eve rebelled.
They didn't trust God. They didn't believe that God's promises to them were good. Were good enough for them. They sinned against God. And when sin entered the world, that's the fault. And it fractured that relationship forever.
The story had been changed forever. And with sin came death and sickness and shame. But God makes a promise there in the garden. He didn't make the promise to Adam and Eve. He actually makes it to the serpent. He goes, I'm going to fix this problem.
I'm going to work to restore humanity back to the place where they're my people, in my presence, in my place. And so that's the promise that God makes right there. And then you kind of trace on from Adam and Eve. You go a couple of thousand years after them. And then you end up at Noah. So you just continue down the line.
And now we're at Noah. And we looked at Noah last week. What we saw was in those thousand years, humanity just got worse and worse and worse. And to the point where God looked at humanity. And every intention of their heart was evil and wicked. But God comes and he says, Noah, I want you to build a boat.
I'm going to save you and your family. It wasn't based off of Noah being good or the most moral person. God came and promised this to Noah. And the Bible tells us that Noah was declared righteous by his faith. That God actually does have wrath for sin and for sinners. And so God wipes out humanity.
But he saves Noah. Noah and his family says, go be fruitful and multiply. When they leave the ark, it's the same thing. Go be my people in my place, in my presence. Fill the earth with a family of worshipers who will worship me. And so you continue on from Noah's line through his son Shem.
And you go a couple thousand years. And it doesn't fix the problem. And you end up at the guy that we're actually going to be looking at this morning. We're going to be talking about Abraham this morning. And not just this morning. We're actually going to spend three weeks talking about the promises that God makes to Abraham.
And here's what we're looking to do. How does the promise that God makes to Abraham today continue to move humanity forward? How does this promise get us back to the garden? How does it get us to a place where we're his people, in his place, in his presence? And we're going to look at how is this promise ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. We're going to be looking at the covenant that God makes with Abraham today.
So let me pray for us and we'll hop into the text. God, we're thankful this morning that you've given us your word. You've given us the Bible through which you reveal yourself. You tell us who we are and how we ought to live in relationship with you. And so, God, this morning, I just pray that you would make your word clear. As we look at the promise that you've given to Abraham, that it would be open to us in a fresh and a new way.
That we could ultimately see what you're doing to bring about the restoration of humanity. So, Holy Spirit, I pray that you would speak through me. I pray that you would open up your word so that we could understand it. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, grab a Bible.
You can grab one of the Bibles that are in the seats, the blue and white ones. We're just going to be on page 6. So grab it. Turn a couple of pages. We're going to be at the end of Genesis chapter 11 and the beginning of Genesis chapter 12. And right off the bat, we're kind of getting just introduced to this guy named Abraham.
So there's going to be a lot of details up front. We're not going to get bogged down in those. We just want to kind of pull out the things that are important so that we can keep moving. Okay, so Genesis chapter 11 will actually start in verse 26. Okay. Verse 26.
When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Okay. So at the beginning, we looked at the thing on the screen. That said Abraham. And then this says Abram. Okay.
It's the same guy. Later on in Genesis, God's actually going to take him and change his name and turn him into Abraham. And so I'm going to use both interchangeably today because I don't have the ability not to. So just give me some grace. I'm going to call him Abram. I'm going to call him Abraham.
Hopefully I won't call him anything else. But those two things. So this is our guy. Our guys entered the story. Verse 27. Now these are the generations of Terah.
Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran fathered Lot. Okay. So just showing some generations there. Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred in Ur of the Chaldeans. Sweet name.
And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarah. And the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarah was barren. She had no child. Terah took Abram his son.
Excuse me. Terah took Abram his son and Lot, the son of Haran, his grandson. And Sarah, his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. And they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
The days of Terah were 205 years. And Terah died in Haran. Okay. Tons of details. Tons of names. Let me just kind of break it down for us.
Before we do that, the last verse, verse 32, the days of Terah were 205 years. You immediately read that and you're like, wait, wait, what? Was like Terah the first superhuman? How in the world did he live that long? So we kind of have a little bit of pushback on his age.
But what we have early on in Genesis is that people lived for longer than they do now. Their lifespan was hundreds and hundreds of years. And Bible scholars give us just a couple of things to kind of help rectify this for us. The first is this. Adam and Eve had the perfect DNA. And so when they sinned, that's when sickness and disease entered into the world.
And so as they were fruitful and they were multiplying and generation after generation after generation, eventually that sickness and disease began to spread, possibly being one of the reasons why ages would start coming down. Also, the Bible is not the only ancient historical document that talks about humans living for longer periods of time. And you have in Genesis 6 this little small section where God alludes to the fact that he's actually going to begin limiting the lifespan of humans' lives. So don't get tripped up on that. These are real people in a real place. And the truth is, if you can get on board with a creator God who has existed for all of eternity, it's not unreasonable to think that he allowed humans at one time to live for longer periods of time.
But these are real people. This is a real story. This isn't fiction. We've been kind of showing a map on the screen just to kind of help us see where we're at. Okay, so it says that this family started out in Ur of the Chaldeans. It's the craziest name to me.
But that's this area of Babylonia over here. Okay, then it says that Terah, he wanted to move his family towards Canaan. So he basically would have kind of followed that track to get there. But it says they stopped in an area called Haran, which is basically just kind of up in that Syria area. So this is a real family in a real place.
And we don't really know why Terah decided that it was time to move his family, but he did. He left that area and moved kind of towards the area of Syria. And there's only two things that I want to pull out of this first little bit, this little introduction. The first one is this. Abraham existed. This family existed inside of a patriarchal society.
Okay, which means that everything was based around the family unit with the oldest living male kind of being the head. So he's the one that made decisions. So when it came time for them to move to Haran, they were going towards Canaan. It wasn't like, what about Billy? What about my friend Billy? What about my job?
It's like, no, Terah made the decisions for the family. Like if they were going to purchase land, Terah made that decision. If they were going to move to another area, Terah made that decision. And here's the thing. Abram is the next in line to be the patriarch. And they understood themselves inside of this kind of family identity.
So we have this family that is uprooted from one area and moved to another one under the leadership of Terah. And Abram is the next in line to be the patriarch, which makes the second detail all the more important. Look at verse 30 again. Look at it. Chapter 11, verse 30 says this. Now Sarah was barren.
She had no child. So Abram is the next in line to be the patriarch, to be the leader of this family. And he doesn't have the ability with his wife to continue the family line. Family was hugely important in this time. It's how the older people were taken care of. They were taken care of by their children.
It's how family was passed down from generation to generation. Like this was a big deal. There would have actually been some shame wrapped up in this for Abraham and Sarah not being able to have children because they couldn't continue the line. And so even in the beginning of this story, there's this tension created where Abram's the next in line to be the patriarch. And he doesn't have the ability to continue the line of the family moving forward. And that kind of gets us to chapter 12.
So let's go there. We've kind of gotten to know Abram a little bit. His story, his family. Chapter 12, verse 1. Now the Lord said to Abram.
Okay. Ears perk up. Stories just changed a little bit. Now the Lord said to Abram. Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation.
And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. This is a huge promise. And here's the thing.
So back to verse 1. Now the Lord said to Abram. We don't know up until this point if Abram has ever had any interaction with God before. This may be the first time that the Lord has ever actually spoken to him. It doesn't tell us how he did it either. Like was it an audible voice or did he kind of give him a vision?
We don't know any of that. But God shows up and he lays out this beautiful promise to Abram. He says, I'm going to take you and your family. You're going to leave here and you're going to go to a place. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless those who bless you.
I'm going to curse those who curse you. And I'm going to make you into a great nation. So much so that all the families of the earth will be blessed through you. I mean, it's this massive promise that Abram's hearing for the first time. And here's what might have made it difficult for Abram. See, we kind of gloss over this.
But Abram existed in a part of the world that most of the cultures had kind of like a polytheistic religious view. Which just meant that there were all types of gods. So there was the rain God and the sun God and the food God. That's probably not right. But some type of crop, farmer.
Anyways, you get the point. So like a polytheistic society, so for God to show up and say, I want you to follow me and I'm going to make you into this. That was different. That would have landed on Abram's ears a little bit different. It would be similar to if I showed up this morning and just said, hey guys, last week at Glen Forest, the gods spoke to me. They did.
They told me I'm going to uproot everything and we're all going to this new land. What do you mean the gods spoke to you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The rainbow God and the unicorn God and the butterfly God, they came to me and said, we're moving. We're out of here. We're going to a new place.
Where are we going, Matt? I don't know. They didn't tell me. We're just going. What are we going to do when we get there? I don't know.
I just know all the families of the earth are going to be blessed through us. And we're all going with you? Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, well, no, me and Katie and Emmy and you, but not you, not you, Carl. Definitely not you. Or the rest of the fam.
Just me. God's going to take my family and he's going to move us here. And at some point, y'all are looking at me going, Matt, have you had enough water today? Are you a little dehydrated? Are you feeling okay? But that's how it would have been heard.
So God comes to Abram and he says, no, no, no, you. I'm taking you and your family. This is my promise to you. I'm taking your family. I'm going to move you to this place and I'm going to bless those who bless you. And I'm going to curse those who curse you.
And out of your family, I'm going to bless all the families of the earth. And we kind of laugh about that part. But there are some serious implications at play for Abram. I mean, think about it. He says, go from your country and your kindred and your father's household. He says, leave it all.
Leave everything that you use to identify yourself. Leave everything for you that is your source of security. Leave everything that is your support system. Leave it all. And he says, go to the land that I'll show you. Not that I have shown you.
That I will show you. And Abram's got to be thinking about how hard it was just to follow his father, Terah, from Ur to Haran. And now God takes it a step further. And he says, no, no, no, no, no. Not you and your father's household. You.
I'm going to take you. And through your family, I'm going to bless all the families of the earth. See, God is again promising the same thing that he's been promising. He's trying to get us back to the place where he has his people in his place, in his presence, living in relationship with him. And this would have been so terribly difficult. But God's request to Abram wasn't based off of Abram's ability to follow or trust well.
It was based off of his own trustworthiness. And God lays out this promise before Abram. And something about God drew him to trust him and weigh the cost of the crazy risks that he was being called. And so, I mean, think about the responsibility that Abram would be leaving. He's next in line. But God says, no, no, no.
I've got big plans for you. I've got something else for you. I'm going to take your family and make you into a new family through which all the families of the earth would be blessed. So what happens? Verse 4. So Abram went.
Good. Good call, Abram. So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarah his wife and Lot his brother's son and all their possessions that they had gathered and the people they had acquired in Haran. And they set out to go to the land of Canaan.
Okay. So at some point, God reveals to him that the same place his father was trying to get to is actually where he's wanting to take Abram and do all this. End of verse 5. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak at Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring, I will give this land.
So he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. So Abraham goes. He trusts God and he uproots his family and his livestock and his possessions. And he heads to the land that God's going to show him. And he reveals to him that it's Canaan. And then it says God appears to him.
And again, it doesn't tell us how that happens. It just says that it does. God appears to him and he says, To your offspring, I will give this land. Now, you could infer from what he said earlier that he's going to make his family into a great nation, that he was talking about his kids. But it wasn't explicit.
And so God comes to him right here and he says, No, no, no, Abram. Through your kids. Through your family. Abram. You and Sarah are going to have children. Could you imagine how terrifying and fantastic, all at the same time, this promise actually was.
That Abram and Sarah are actually going to get to have children. And God is going to, through his family, bless all the families of the earth. It is absolutely this beautiful promise. Verse 8. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent. With Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
So God brings this promise to Abram. And with all the risk and all that's involved, he follows. He goes. He follows what God wants him to do. And he goes to Canaan. And God says, It's going to be through your family.
And in response to that, it says that Abram worshiped God. He built an altar and he worshiped God. And so you leave these verses just kind of expectant. You're just kind of excited for Abram and his family. That they're actually going to have kids. And that all this is going to just work out well for them.
So you just kind of want to see when are they going to have children? When is this family going to start being this great blessing to kind of all the other families? And so for us in this series, we're also looking at this covenant going, okay, what is God doing here to move us forward in restoring his relationship to humanity? How is God getting us through this promise to Abraham? How is he getting us back to the garden? How is he returning us to being his people in his place, in his presence?
Because it's a beautiful promise. But how does it turn out? And here's the problem. We're going to spend two more weeks looking at the life of Abraham. Looking at some of the other promises that God makes to him. But if you kind of follow Abram's life, it's not all roses.
They're this small family in the land of Canaan where there are other people and other tribes that are way bigger, way stronger than them that could destroy them, could capture them. It's a long time before Abram and Sarah actually even have kids. And once they have a child, there's drama that ensues around that, whether that child even survives. And so you get to the end of Abram's life, and it's still just kind of this small band, this small family of believers in the Middle East. And you're looking at it going, was the promise just smaller than I thought it was? Was it maybe metaphorical?
Like what was God promising? Okay, well, you continue that on. So you look, okay, maybe it's through the rest of Abram's line. So you follow the rest of Abram's lineage, but Abraham's ancestors end up as slaves in Egypt, and then Moses leads the slaves out of Egypt back into the land of Canaan. And they kind of start becoming this thing. They start becoming kind of this nation thing, but they keep chasing after other gods, and they don't follow God well.
And so they basically get ping-ponged back and forth between empires for hundreds of years. And then you get to the end of the Old Testament, and you're like, where does it happen? When does God make this wonderful, this beautiful family? We're here. If we're looking at the timeline, this is where we're at. The promise has been made to Abraham, and we're looking down the line going, where?
How does it come true? It didn't come true right in Abraham's life. Where does it come true? And the New Testament's answer to that, surprise, surprise, is that it comes true in Jesus. The promise is made to Abraham, but it's fulfilled in Jesus. And so we're going to look at Galatians chapter 3 to kind of get a picture of this.
You can turn there. We're actually going to put it up on the screen. We'll read through it in just a second. But this is Paul. He's talking to the church at Galatia about, like, what is the nature of salvation? What does that even look like?
And here's part of how he explains this. I know it's kind of small. You can flip there if you want to. Here's what it says. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed. So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Okay, so verse 8 says that when God came to Abraham and he made this promise, he was actually preaching the gospel. So that changes our understanding. This isn't just a promise to Abraham. This is the promise. This is the promise of the gospel. This is what Chet said at the beginning.
This is everything that we celebrate. Well, how is that possible? It was supposed to come through Abraham. It does. Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, comes through the line of Abraham. So that when Jesus comes, fully God and fully man, Jesus lived the perfect, sinless life in relationship to the Father that Adam and Eve were created to live.
He does it perfectly on our behalf. And then he goes to the cross and he dies there on the cross. And at the cross, he takes the wrath that was poured out on humanity at the time of Noah. The wrath that we deserve so that salvation could come not just to Abraham's line, not just to the Jews, but it could come to everyone. It says that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. That's everybody else.
That the way God fulfills this promise is that he makes it to Abraham and it's fulfilled in Jesus. When Jesus dies on the cross, salvation is now open to all people. It can be received by faith. And it continues. Look at the way he ends the chapter. This is Galatians 3, verse 29.
It's going to be up on the screen. It says this. And if you are Christ's, okay, if you belong to Christ, if you have placed faith in Jesus, if you are a Christian, if you have repented of your sin and he is your Savior and your Lord and your King, okay, if you are in Christ's, if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring. So that family that God promised to Abraham actually comes true in the people that would place faith in Jesus. It's a family of faith, not a physical family. Then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.
And so for all those that have placed faith in Jesus, we're the offspring. And if we're the offspring, that means we're the heirs. Heirs of what? The promise. The promise that God made to Abraham all the way back. Flip back.
Look at it again. Genesis chapter 12. This is what he says. We're going to read it again. Chapter 12, verse 1. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you. I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. God's next step for humanity through this covenant was to bring us back to the place where he had a people that could be in his presence.
The promise is made to Abraham and it's fulfilled in Jesus. And so when we're looking at this, and actually, if you look at the map again, that kind of timeline, we're going to pull it back up. The promise is made to Abraham. It's fulfilled in Jesus and then it's gifted to the church. All those that have placed faith in Jesus are now heirs of the blessing. They're heirs of the promise.
And what's the promise? It's the same promise that God gave to Abraham. It's the promise of the gospel. It's that Jesus actually gets to die for your sin in your place. That he gets to take the wrath that we deserve. That we could actually be saved through faith.
Not through family line. Not through lineage or anything like that. And that's the gospel. So if you're sitting here this morning and you're wondering, what does it mean? What is this gospel that you're talking about? What does it mean to actually follow Jesus?
What does it mean to be a Christian? It's this. It's this. That you can't be good enough to earn it. You can't live a good enough life. You can't be moral enough to earn your way into this family.
To earn your way into being an heir of this promise. And you can't be so bad that the promise doesn't land on you. That's the good news of the gospel. Is that you can repent of. That's what the Bible says. You can repent of your sin.
And place faith in Jesus. And become an heir of that promise. And so it's actually this. It's gifted to the church. But it's also carried out through the church.
God comes to Abraham and he says, Through you, I'm going to bless others. I'm going to bless you. So that you will become a blessing to others. And that's the church. We're the carriers of the good news. Like the good news of the gospel that's been given to us.
It's the same thing. God wants us to carry it out to all people. And that's what we want. We want for everyone to believe the gospel. To hear the gospel. To be changed by the gospel.
And so as we were kind of clicking into this story today. If you're familiar at all. With the story of Abraham. And you knew kind of about the blessing. You probably weren't surprised. When you saw it fulfilled in Jesus.
And it's not really a surprise. That for those that have the promise fulfilled in Jesus. That it's actually our gift. That we're the recipients of it. And if that's true. That we're the ones who are supposed to continue.
Carrying that promise. To the ends of the earth. But here's the deal. I want us to sit here for a second. I think you can know this promise conceptually. Without it ever affecting your heart and your life.
I think you can hear this promise. The fact that salvation comes through Jesus. It's been given to the church. And it's supposed to be extended to other people. Through the church. I think you can hear that.
And believe it conceptually. It's like yeah. Yeah. I know the promise. But never have it actually affect your life.
That you can hear us talk about the fact. That this is the promise of all promises. And it can just kind of become a promise. As Chet said in the beginning. It's the story. And it just becomes another story.
It goes from being the good news. To just some good news. And the truth is. That the gospel has been given to the church. To carry out. The church is actually the means.
That God is going to use. So that all the families of the earth will be blessed. It's the good news that the church cares. But here's what can happen. Here's what happens. If you don't actually believe that this is true.
Maybe you know it. But it hasn't affected your heart. It's not affecting your life. You'll let other smaller stories. Other smaller promises. Be the thing that controls your life.
Your life will be wrapped up in those things. In those stories. In that news. Because the truth is. We all love to talk about stuff. We love to be excited.
And to be passionate about things. And the truth is. If this isn't the promise. Other smaller promises. Will actually begin to get in the way. Of the good news.
That we get to exist in. And we get to share with others. And here's how that shows up. We love to talk to people about how. If they'll just put 5% of their money back into savings. That they'll be able to retire at 70.
We love to talk about our favorite college football team. We'll take the time to sit with someone. And say hey here's what I learned. At the last parenting seminar that I went to. Because apparently parents go to those. The last parenting seminar I went to.
And here's how you can get your kids to eat greens. And we can get wrapped up. And talking about the two candidates that we have. Our favorite places to eat. We'll tell people about all sorts of stuff. Without ever actually taking the time.
To tell them about the good news. To tell them about the promise. And we'll sell it for smaller stories. And the truth is. When we do that. When our lives aren't centered around the gospel.
And we're not actively sharing it with people. It's because we're not actually believing. That this is the good news that changes their lives. And the truth is. Maybe talking about college football. Or where you like to eat.
May make life more enjoyable. And better for just kind of a short little while. But it all ends up at the same place. And it's without Jesus. This promise has been gifted to the church. And it's supposed to be extended to others.
Through the church. Here's what happens if you don't believe that. Here's what happens if you don't believe that. This is the promise. The good news that can change people's lives. You'll see your job at work.
As only an 8 to 4. Or a 9 to 5. Or a 9 to 6. Only a means to pay the bills. You'll show up. Do your time.
And leave. And you won't think about the people. That God has specifically placed you around. You'll take your lunch. And you'll go sit in your car. Or you'll sit in your cubicle.
Or you'll go out to eat the lunch. Rather than going. And sitting in the break room. And intentionally taking the time. To build relationships with people. Because you're forgetting.
That it's the gospel. That it's extended through you. You'll talk to people about their vacation. And like how restful. And how good it was. Without ever talking to them.
About how true rest. And true comfort are found in Jesus. You'll go home. And we'll forget about them. Without actually hitting our knees for them. That's what happens when we forget.
When we're not actually believing the promise. When we're not believing the promise. That it is the good news. It's going to affect our relationship with our neighbors. Our neighbors are just kind of the semi-annoying people. Who live near us.
That we wish were a little bit further away. We won't wave to our neighbors. As we're rolling our trash can to the road. Because we don't want to have to get in a conversation with them. We'll talk about how high their grass is. Rather than just grabbing our lawn mower.
And walking across the street. And cutting it for them. To show them the love of Jesus. And serving them. And if you're not believing that promise. They'll never see the inside of your home.
That's what happens. That's what happens to our money too. We believe that our. If we're not understanding. That this is the promise. The good news.
That's supposed to be extended. Through us to others. It affects the way we think about our money. We'll fret. And be anxious. And worried.
With every bill that comes. Rather than realizing. That God's the one who provides. And we get to step out in faith. And be generous. It's the same thing with our time.
You'll start thinking about your time. As. As. As just for you. It's for your comfort. Your enjoyment.
Not to be leveraged for others. Give up my weekend. I. I don't think so. That's what happens when we're not believing this promise. We're not believing that this is the good news.
Your community group is. Is just a group of people that you hang out with. They're just a bunch of people that you love. And you love spending time with. And they kind of exist for your good. And your growth.
And that when you're spending time with them. It's good. Because it's good for you. Without ever thinking about it as a vehicle for mission. To see more people come to know Jesus. So you'll have somebody new show up to hang out with your community group.
And we won't go out of our way to make them feel welcome. Or get into a conversation with them. We won't stay after and help clean up. So that we can continue to have that conversation. Our group will just exist for us. If this isn't the promise that is supposed to be extended through us to others.
We'll look for reasons to miss out on the gathering. To miss out on our group meeting time. We'll hear of opportunities to serve and to be on mission. And we'll just expect that somebody else is going to go do that. That we don't actually have to go do that. You may be sitting there right now thinking of all the reasons that you may have.
For why you're not sharing the gospel. Why you're not being on mission. You can think of all the reasons of why you haven't shared the gospel with your co-workers. Or why you haven't met your neighbors. And the problem is that it is indicative of the fact that the gospel. That story is being trumped over by some other smaller story.
Some other smaller story is actually more beautiful. More compelling. It's actually better news. It's something that we're more passionate about. We care more about than the gospel. We'll talk to people about all kinds of stuff.
But the promise that's made to Abram. Fulfilled in Christ and gifted to the church. Is supposed to be extended to others through the church. And if any of that is hitting you in the chest this morning. The Bible says just repent. Repent and believe the truth of the gospel.
Which is salvation is given to you in Jesus. And is supposed to be extended through you to others. So my question for you this morning is. What story. What smaller story is actually getting in the way of the biggest story? What's the thing that you're more passionate about.
That you care more about. Than the ability to actually give people the only good news. That changes everything for them. Where do you need to personally repent this morning? Who are the people that God's like intentionally placed you around. Called you to reach out to.
And to share the gospel with this morning. Because here's what happens if you do believe that. If you do believe that the gospel is extended through you to others. It just means that your entire life. All that you are. All that you have.
All that you do. Belongs to Jesus. And gets to be a means. That he can use to reach into the lives of others. He just wants us to be open to that. So the question is.
Is that what you want? Do you want to be open to that? Because all of us are going to fall short. All of us are going to leave work. And just miss out on an opportunity. We're all going to see our neighbor.
And just do the head duck. And keep running. The cause to repent guys. That's why the gospel is good news in the first place. Because we're not going to be able to live up. We're not going to be able to meet this expectation.
We can shoot for it. And follow after Jesus. But I want you to believe the good news of the gospel this morning. Is that this promise actually can be extended through you. To others. Isaac and Raz are going to come back up.
And here's how I want us to respond this morning. If you're sitting in the room this morning. The way that this promise is true for you. The way that you can receive Jesus. The way that you can receive the good news of the gospel. Is through faith.
The Bible says that if you repent of your sin. And place your faith in Jesus. You will be saved. That's the way in. It's not through your good morals. It's not.
It's not through. Like you can't be bad enough. For it not to be extended to you. The Bible just says repent. And to turn from it. So if that's you this morning.
If that's you this morning. We want to open that up to you. We want you to place your faith. Like that's our desire for you. We want you to know the love of Jesus. And for the rest of us.
If you're a Christian in the room. What story. What story has overshadowed the gospel. Where are you not seeing the promise. That you can extend to others. What's actually getting in the way of that.
So like. Where do you need to personally repent this morning. Where do you need to. When you get together with your community group. What's the thing that you need to talk about. Who are the people.
That God has specifically called you. To reach. To share the gospel with. I want you guys just close your eyes. I want you to think. I want you to ask.
Ask. Like where. Where am I off here. Where am I not believing the good news of the gospel. Where do I have those opportunities. God.
I pray that all across the room. That right now. Through your Holy Spirit. That you're opening our eyes. To see. Where we have opportunities.
To share the gospel. God. I pray that. More than college football. More than education. More than anything.
That can grab our heart. And become more important. I pray God. That you would. Give us a heart. And a desire.
To share the gospel. To share the good news. God. That you'll show us. Where we actually have the ability. To do that at work.
And. And with our neighbors. And with our family. And our friends. God. Help us to see.
The gospel. As beautiful. And as captivating. So that. We can't help. But go out.
And share it. God. I pray that you would. Continue to work. In our hearts. As we respond to you.
In Jesus name. Amen. You guys stand. Let's sing together.
Jun 26