Atonement
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. This morning we're going to be talking about sin. Happy Father's Day. We are, though.
We're in our second week of our Glory Series, and we're talking about how big and glorious and magnificent and beautiful and holy Jesus is. And last week we specifically spent some time looking at that He is the image of the invisible God, that He's the radiance of God's glory, and that He exists over and above all of creation, from the smallest thing to the greatest thing, and that He is most glorious and most worthy of worship. And today we're going to spend some time talking about the atonement. We're going to spend a little time talking about this concept of atonement whereby God takes sinful humans and develops a system, makes a plan to make them okay with Himself, to bridge the gap between His holiness and our sins.
So in a minute we're going to turn to Leviticus. I want us to start here, though, and we'll have this on the screen. It's Hebrews 1, verse 3, and in a second that's going to get brighter. We're having some issues with the projector today. So it says, He is the radiance of the glory of God.
It's talking about Jesus. That Jesus is the glory of the glory. He's the beauty of God's glory. He's the light and the heat from it. He's the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. That if we want to know what God is like, we look to Jesus.
And He upholds the universe by the word of His power. So if you only think of Jesus as a Galilean peasant who holds sheep and cries and is just having conversations with the weak and the poor, He does these things. I don't know if He holds sheep. I'm just assuming maybe at some point He did. He does in all the pictures you see in Sunday school. But He does weep.
He does bend to those who are weak and poor and hungry and needy. And He does spend time. But if that's your only picture of Him, your picture of Jesus is underwhelming. It is petite. It's cute compared to the true magnificent Christ that we meet in Scripture who upholds the universe by the word of His power. Now I know that the Bible says that and I understand what the words mean, but I actually have no clue how that works.
But it means that Jesus rules and reigns over everything. And then it says this, After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. So what it's saying is that after Jesus Christ died for sin, that's what He did on the cross, that's what people know about Jesus. If you don't know much about Jesus, people will say, well, He died for our sins. People who don't even believe that will say that. What did Jesus do?
He died for our sins. So what we're going to talk about today is what does that mean? That Jesus Christ had to make purification for sin. First, we see from that three words, purification for sins, we see that sin exists and it needs to be cleaned up. It needs to be taken care of and that Jesus does that. That's what atonement is, is that there is sin.
Objectively, it exists. It has marred. It has destroyed. It has sullied. It has dirtied. And Jesus purifies.
So first, very simply, what is sin? In a simple definition, sin is the rejection of God's good reign in the world. It is our action, attitude, and nature that intentionally and unintentionally rebels against God and His moral law in the world. That God is the creator, that He oversees the universe, and that we rebel against His law, His rule, His reign, His system. That we break His laws. Paul says this in Romans.
He says that the Jewish people who were given the law of God will be judged based off of the law they were given. And then he says in the non-Jewish people, that their conscience actually bears witness and that they show through their actions that what the law requires is written on their hearts. That they actually have a conscience imprinted in them. And this is why many of the cultures that have grown up in society, they have very similar systems for what right is and what wrong is. That stealing is wrong. That murder is wrong.
There's this kind of internal policing of... This is why when you do some sort of an action, you feel it. You feel bad. You feel wrong. That's what he's saying, is that those who were given the law will be judged by the law. And those who weren't given the law, the non-Jewish peoples, show that it's written into them.
But it's not just a failure. Sin is not just a failure to live up to God's moral code. It's also primarily, it begins with a failure to relate to God properly, to appreciate who he is, to worship him, to love him, to bend to his reign, to submit to his rule. It's this... Paul says in the beginning of Romans that all of our sins starts with us loving something, worshiping something more than God. That once God leaves his rightful place, as the most...
That's what we spent time talking about last week, that Jesus is the most worthy of our devotion and our love. But once God gets moved and you put something else there, romance, finances, power, prestige, anything you get stuck up there suddenly begins to bend us. We begin to love it too much and it leads us into sin so that at first, sin is not just a breaking of rules, but it's at first worshiping and loving something other than God that leads to us rejecting his rules and running from him. Augustine says that sin is disordered love. Augustine's an African church leader in the early church. He says it's a disordered love that we love something too much.
We love ourselves too much. We love our families too much. We love something other than God. It's moved from its rightful place. And you can see this in simple things. So if you imagine a home where it's Father's Day, so we'll use this for an example.
You imagine a home where there's a father, a mother, some children and there's supposed to be an amount of love that goes towards this. The husband's supposed to love his wife and his children in a way that makes the rest of everything else fall into place. But if he begins to love work more, suddenly his love is greater for his job or greater for his title or if his love is greater for money or even just his own personal satisfaction and rest, suddenly everything gets out of order. And that's the system that we have in the world where we've begun to love things more than God and the whole system has begun to break down.
Paul says in Romans 3, he says, None is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless.
No one does good, not even one. The biblical stance on sin is that it is bad and you are a sinner. That's where we're starting this morning. I'm going to pray and we're going to jump into in just a second, and we're going to be going to talk about what sin actually does and how it's bad. But before we do that, we have to realize that naturally we don't want to think of ourselves as sinful.
You give yourself the benefit of the doubt. You judge other people by their actions, but you judge yourself by your intentions. It's one of the things like my wife will say, you know, you really hurt my feelings. And my response is, well, I didn't mean to. And I feel like that's a perfectly good response. That was not my intention.
And maybe that's helpful. I wasn't malicious, but I still caused harm. I still broke our relationship down. It's like, well, that wasn't what I was going for. And that's why people, you know, when someone, you tell somebody they did something wrong and they, well, I'm sorry that it offended you. And you immediately want to be like, time out.
That's not an apology. What you just like, like it's really looking at someone and going, well, I'm sorry that you're too sensitive to handle being around me. We don't want to think of ourselves as sinful, but we are. And we need God's help for us to see ourselves as he sees us and for us to see him as we ought. And so let's take just a second and pray for ourselves. Wherever you are, just ask God to help you see that this morning as we look into this.
God, I pray that you would give us a glimpse into our sin, into what it does to us and to others, as you'd help us to see your holiness and that we would leave here today with a true appreciation for what you've accomplished through the cross on our behalf. In Jesus' name, amen. I have three pictures, three reasons, three truths I want to talk about sin to help us see what it does and how the Bible talks about it. One of the ways the Bible talks about sin is that it pollutes or it defiles, that a whole land can be polluted, can be defiled by sin. So first thing is that our sin destroys God's good world.
Before we can get into talking about the system that God has for taking care of sin, we've got to understand a little bit more about sin. So our sin destroys God's good world. I had a friend of mine that was a, she was a student youth group leader and she was a good cook and one of her students is actually here today and I just ran into her and now I'm going to have to really make sure this story is told true and accurately because it's based off of how I remember her telling it to me. But she made brownies for her entire like student group and so she was a good cook. She made brownies. Everybody was just chowing down on these brownies while they were hanging out before they were going to kind of do their study time and then she kind of called everybody up and she starts teaching from the Bible and she says, okay, sin pollutes, it defiles, it creeps in and it works its way into everything and she says, and that's what sin does in us and some of us like to minimize and act like just a little bit of sin is okay and she goes, in order to help us see this, I have a confession.
As I was making those brownies, using my same recipe as normal, I just added one ingredient. I went out of my backyard where my dog lives and I got a small helping sample really, just a little bit of dog poop and I mixed it in with the brownies. Now immediately, they did not take it well. close to anarchy very quickly with people like hyperventilating and very frustrated and some of you are thinking, there's no way that anybody would ever do this. I will tell you that this certain lady has lived a life in such a way that this is plausible and she said, it was just a little bit, it was just a little bit, it was hardly any at all, really, it was just a tiny little bit and people are like, you made us eat poop brownies and she's like, no, they're not poop brownies, they're brownies with a little bit of poop.
It's completely different and so the question, when it comes to sin, when it comes to brownies, the vouchers will ask about brownies, what's the minimum acceptable amount of poop? What's the maximum acceptable amount maybe? What's the range here when it comes to your brownies and poop? And the answer is zero poop. None. None whatsoever.
I don't care if it was really a sprinkle. It's like, why would you add that to brownies? Absolutely not. And this is what God says that sin does, that it immediately defiles, that it works its way into everything because if you told me I have brownies that are 98% brownies and 2% poop, I would say those are poop brownies. Those are not, they are no longer edible. This is not a good brownie batter system recipe.
Throw it away. This is terrible. That's what God says sin does. That it works its way into the world that a little bit of it begins to destroy everything. I have another picture of this. One of our pastors became a pastor.
We ordained him in January of this year. He has a gluten allergy, celiac disease. It's kind of aggressive in the way he has. I know some of y'all have gluten issues. He's got significant gluten issues. And I don't know much about gluten.
I don't know the science behind it. From what I understand, it's the thing that makes all food taste good. And so like when I eat a biscuit, all the biscuits I've eaten over my lifetime are slowly working together to try to kill me. If he eats a biscuit, it goes immediately and tries to kill him. That one biscuit just right then tries to kill him. And so we were eating a meal.
He had some soup. I was there. Our other pastor, Matt Freeman, was there. And Matt Freeman, because no one ever really taught him basic social norms, does what he will do from time to time, which is while you're eating with him, he will just eat some of your food. And so Matt's sitting there talking to Raz. Raz is eating his soup and Matt takes a saltine cracker and just dips it in Raz's soup, scrapes some up, and just starts eating.
And Raz looks appalled as any normal human should. But then over and above was just staring at Matt like, what on earth? And I was like, what? I'm just like, I didn't even pick up on the gluten thing. I was just like, you ate his food, dude, stop. Like, but Raz goes, I can't eat my soup now because you defiled it with gluten.
It was like, it wasn't just breaking social norms. It was attempted murder. And sin does that. It enters in. This is what God tells us about sin and creation. It enters in and it begins to erode.
It begins to corrode. It begins to destroy everything. Let me give you an example. In real life, you'll have someone talking to you and they'll tell you something. They'll tell you a story about their life or something they did or they'll tell you some sort of an event and there's this moment in you where you go, mmm, nah. You just have this, I don't think that's true.
Or someone maybe comes and they start complimenting you and they start saying nice things and there's this moment in your soul where you go, mmm, this is starting to feel a little bit like you're trying to trick me. You have nothing really to base this off of in this conversation other than the fact that you know lies exist. You've been told lies before and you've told lies before. You've been manipulated before and you've manipulated before and so what happens is this relationship is already being torn apart by things that have happened in other situations. It's quite possible that that is the exact truth.
When people tell me things, my natural reaction is, no, okay, probably not. And maybe I'm way too pessimistic. People complain to me that I am. But it's because sin has worked its way into relationships before I even meet somebody. my child has never been abducted. But when we go to a playground, we are less free because other children that we do not know and have no relationship to whatsoever have been.
And that instance that had nothing to do with us where nothing was taken from me has worked its way into my life so that it is now breaking down how life should look for us. that's why we have to take our shoes off when we go to an airport. It's because sin in other areas has begun to work its way in and this is what sin does. You've been manipulated so you treat everyone like they may do that. It begins to work its way into the world. Our sin destroys God's good world. And the issue in the Bible is that how is God going to get rid of sin without getting rid of us?
Because it's in us. For lack of a better example we're all poop brownies. It's infected us and God has to get sin out without destroying us if he's going to keep us. Secondly in our sin we have joined God's enemy. The story of the Bible is that God has an enemy in Satan who is an angelic being who led a rebellion and that in the Garden of Eden he continued that rebellion as he recruited humanity to join his side and to actively reject God's good rule and reign. And when we sin it is not a benign action but it is the willful rebellion of God's creation against him.
And in our sin we have joined the enemy in the same way that someone who grows up in our nation can join ISIS carry out and carry out an attack claim allegiance to ISIS and ISIS will step in and say yes they were on our team. That is us in our sin when we reject God we join the cause of the enemy to sow dissension and pain in the world. And this happens through our selfishness this happens through our racism this happens through our lies that we tell this happens in every way possible that we choose to sin we actively join God's enemy. Thirdly God is eternal in size glory worth and majesty he is eternal in size glory worth and majesty so that read earlier that he rules the world holds it together by his word of his power and that he sat down at the right hand of majesty that God is infinitely glorious and that all of our sin is first and foremost against him.
This is what David says after he commits adultery and murder he begins praying to God by saying I've sinned only against you because that's who our sin is first and foremost against. So we know that our actions carry consequences of greater weight depending on the object that we carry out our actions against. It sounds complicated it's not. If I take a sheet of white paper ball it up and throw it away I should not have done that. I just wasted paper. But if you had just drawn a picture on it or my son had just brought it to me from Kid City with a little picture on it and I'd balled it up in front of him and threw it away that's worse because something went into it.
That's worse because something went into it. If I waited until you got done taking your SAT and then snuck over and grabbed your Scantron and tore that up and threw it away you should choke me you just wasted three hours of a Saturday working your hardest to guess what words meant if I tore up the Mona Lisa and threw it away now it's the object that our sin
Is against that makes the greater weight and so when we look at an eternal and glorious and holy and majestic God and actively sin against him and then say it's not that big a deal what we're really saying is you aren't that big you are not that glorious you are not that beautiful you need to calm down
See one of the major issues we have as humans is that we do not think our sin is that big of a deal and is because we do not think our God is that big of a deal we exist at his will we're here because he allows us to be and the truth is often as humans we dislike that God
Expects anything from us we find God to be an imposition that he would hold us accountable that he would care about our sin that he would eventually judge us seems unfair frustrating and as if he should really just leave us alone there's a quote from Jonathan Edwards who's a pastor in the 1700s in America I'm going to read this it says in this world
God puts forth his authority to command them them being humans the rest of the time he's talking about humanity and to require subjection to him meaning that God says he's in charge and humans should subject themselves to him in his commands he's very positive strictly requiring of them the performance of such and such duties and positively forbidding
Such and such things that are contrary to their duty all he's saying is that God says do this don't do this this is how you ought to relate to me but they have no regard for these commands God continues commanding and they continue rebelling they make nothing of God's authority God threatens but they despise his threatening
They make nothing of dishonoring God they care not how much their behavior is to the dishonor of God he offers them mercy if they will repent and return they despise his mercy as well as his wrath he calls but they refuse thus they are continually plunging themselves deeper and deeper in debt
And at the same time imagine they shall escape the payment of the debt and design entirely to rob God of his due but God has undertaken to right himself he will reckon with them he has undertaken to see that the debts due to him are paid all their sins are written
In his book not one of them is forgotten and everyone must be paid see God is the glorious eternal king and him requiring anything of me is an imposition it's an annoyance it's an annoyance maybe at best and at times it's ludicrous and it seems as if he's out of line so we as humans sin
And make a little of our sin and in so doing trample on the honor of God and make a little of him and act as if he should not care or hold us accountable one of the beautiful things about the state of South Carolina is that we live in an at will state meaning you work at the will of your employer I say this is
Beautiful because my dad runs companies he is an employer and this means this if he has an employee who shows up late talking on his cell phone listening to his headphones doing one in one a year and my dad tries to tell him hey you need to get to work you're late and he looks at my dad and goes
And goes right back to talking on his phone and then when he gets off my dad's like hey you can't show up late you start explaining to him the duties of his job and that person who's a 15 year old boy looks at him and says I don't understand why you're getting all up in my face you need to calm down my dad can look at him and say
There's the door and it brings joy to my soul when it happens and here's why if if a my dad as a boss keeps him there and does not try to corral that does not try to change that he makes the rest of our work environment terrible you ever worked in a place where the boss did not oversee his employees so that anyone
Who showed up late and did whatever they wanted to like who does that it tears everything apart and I would be watching and going who on earth are you to be a 15 year old and talking to someone who's older than you and your boss and of course he started this company he can do whatever he wants to with it but we will stand and look in the face of God and say it's a little bit ridiculous for you to care
About my sin and I think you've stepped out of line and if there is a God this is the type of God I will accept well there is a God and you have to accept the one you got who is glorious and holy and is just and will not let sin be unaccounted for because it destroys his good world
That he created out of his own goodness and his own love and his own joy that he invited us into and we exist at his will the reason you are still inhaling and exhaling oxygen is because he is allowing it C.S. Lewis in his essay God in the dock dock being where a guilty person would stand or the accused would stand
So we might would say God on the witness stand the ancient man approached God or even the gods as the accused person approaches his judge for the modern man the roles are quite reversed he is the judge God is in the dock God is on the witness stand he is quite a kindly judge if God should have a reasonable defense for being the God who permits war poverty
Disease he is ready to listen to it the trial may even end in God's acquittal but the important thing is that man is on that the man is on the bench and God is in the dock that we approach this glorious holy God as if he has some explaining to do he owes us nothing why are you allowed to swat a mosquito
That bites you why am I allowed to rid my backyard of fire ants who destroy my son's ability to play back there freely and how on earth do I think that the God that created me owes me something we have a problem God is just and sin must be punished and God doesn't owe us anything but I have really good news
The Bible also clearly and repeatedly says that God is loving and merciful and faithful and gracious in Exodus chapter 34 God shows up and he begins to declare who he is and what he's like and this is what he says he says the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him
There him as Moses and he proclaimed the name of the Lord the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord a God merciful and gracious slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness keeping steadfast love for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin but who will
By no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation God says he will by no means clear the guilty let me explain to you something about a good judge a good judge does not let the guilty walk someone in your family had been harmed and you went to trial and the person
Stood up and said yes I'm guilty yes you have proof that I'm guilty but I just want to let you know I'm really sorry and it'll never happen again and the judge went good enough for me said they're sorry if someone stole your car they found it and they said you know what now that you found me with it I'm willing
To return it the judge said sounds good we have a system where it's like no you have to make restitution you stole something but it didn't just it wasn't just the car that went missing it's the action that you took and there has to be restitution a good judge does not let the guilty walk free and God declares himself a good judge God is just
When he defends his good creation against what is polluting and destroying it he is just when he executes vengeance on his sworn enemies and he is just when he defends his holiness and his majesty against those who trample on it with utter contempt for the God that created them but keeping steadfast love for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression
And sin God doesn't have to do that but he chooses to and he comes go to Leviticus chapter 1 Leviticus is in the law it's going to be on page 40 something 46 47 47 if you have a white bible it's going to be early on if your bible some other brand different Numbers God comes
God comes to Israel and he says I'm going to make a way for this to happen I'm going to make a way for me to forgive sin because when you've sinned you've incurred debt that in God's economy there's actually debt that is incurred through sin he says I'm going to
Make a way for this to be paid for it says the Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting saying speak to the people of Israel and say to them when any one of you brings an offering to the Lord you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock if his offering is a burnt offering
From the herd he shall offer a male without blemish a burnt offering was the one that atoned for sin a male without blemish he shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting that he may be accepted before the Lord he shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement
For him this means that this animal is going to pay for his sin it's going to make him right with God and if you're unfamiliar with this I hope you have not gotten attached to this animal verse 5 then he shall kill the bull before the Lord and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent
Of meeting they would take the blood of the animals that they had sacrificed and they would splash it against objects and this was making purification that they would take the life out of another animal and they would use that life to atone for sin and to make purification and this was the sacrificial system that God set up now we don't really have a category for this
But God says you have a debt that has been incurred by your sin and in his justice and his mercy he makes a system where your debt can be paid now we don't understand that someone else could pay the penalty for something you did so that if I commit a crime my wife can't go to jail for me but we do have a system where if I owe a debt anyone can pay it that that makes restitution and God somewhere in the blending of this says that I'm going to
Set up a system because I am merciful he does not have to do this but because I am merciful and good I'm going to set up a system that allows you to pay for your sin to atone for your sin a few observations your sin deserves death the penalty for your sin was death and they had to redo this over and over and over again you'd have to walk out to your herd you'd have to find a male that was without blemish means it was worth something it was good it should keep breeding
It does not deserve to die you would have to then bring it with you walking with what was going to have to pay for your sin you'd bring it to the priest you would lay your hands on its head transferring your sin your action your decision your willful rebellion against God to this animal and then in front of you it would be killed and it would be a bloody mess and they would take some of the blood and they would sprinkle it to purify
For the sin that had caused the stains something had to die for you to go free but this is God in Exodus chapter 34 this is him accomplishing this because this this little phrase in Exodus doesn't make a whole lot of sense forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin but who will by no means clear the guilty so you're saying a whole second iniquity transgression and sin make you guilty
So how does he forgive that and not clear the guilty and this is where he does both he forgives it by giving you a way to not be guilty anymore by allowing you to transfer your guilt to something else allowing you to take your guilt place it on something that's why they would lay their hands on this animal place it on something and have it die for you every year this can be found in Leviticus 16 we're not going to spend any time there this morning but you can read through it
Every year they would have the day of atonement where they would do this for the entire nation they would get two goats they would bring them the high priest would lay his hands on one to lay all the sin of the nation on it and it would die for the sins of the nation and the high priest would lay his hands on another one to lay all the sins of the nation on it and it would be carried off to take the sin away
Because God's wrath had to be paid for and sin had to be taken away and then the high priest with the blood would purify everything in the temple that this was a ritual that they had to do day after day year after year because they kept piling up sin before God and they kept needing their debt to be paid now this is an actual debt I find that that when we're talking with people
About this sometimes they'll say well yeah well why couldn't God just forgive us why couldn't he just wipe it away this is his process that he made for it because let me explain to you if I come to your house this is how sin works with God if I come to your house and I break your television it's more likely that my two year old would do it but if I break your television we have a couple of options now
You can make me buy you a new television that I pay for the decision I made or you can say don't worry about it but if you tell me not to worry about it who's handling the television you are who's incurring the cost you are you're paying for the television you're either going to buy yourself a new one or you're going to pay for it day after day
After day after day of having to talk to the people who live in your house so you're going to buy yourself a new television but you're going to have to incur the cost and what God says is there's an actual debt that has been mounting against us that he's holding back the debt and it continues day after day to rise and to rise and to rise that there's a flood of sin
That we are piling up that he's counting that he's watching and he's either we have to pay for it but ultimately to forgive something someone has to pay for it and what we find in scripture is that God says I'll incur the cost of your debt God looks at us and says you don't have to worry about it
I'm going to pay for it and Jesus Christ comes as the atonement see he gave us this picture of animals having to die for our sin but they had to keep doing it year after year and day after day and every time you sinned you'd have to walk another animal and I would have to be very rich to handle all the sin
That I would have to kill goats for and they continually had to do this but eventually God says I'm going to fix this problem turn to Hebrews chapter 9 the book of Hebrews walks through and clearly connects a lot of the Old Testament to the fulfillment that's found in Christ will be on page 583 starting in verse 11
Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11 but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come so this is when he says the high priest he's talking about the person who would have overseen the day of atonement who would have overseen the sacrificial system it says that Jesus steps in as the new high priest the one that's going to make atonement for the people
He appeared as a great high priest as a high priest of the good things that have come then through the greater and more perfect tent this is where the high priest would have gone to make atonement not made with hands that is not of this creation he's talking about his body he says he entered once and for all into the holy places this is the day of atonement this is the picture he's painting
That they would have gone into the holy places and made atonement for the people he's saying this is what Jesus did he entered once for all into the holy places not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by the means of his own blood thus securing an eternal redemption redemption for if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling
Of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God what he's saying is that Jesus Christ was our perfect sacrifice he was the one without blemish
Without sin who willfully chose unlike a goat who has no choice Jesus Christ willfully was led to the slaughter to make atonement for the sins of others therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant meaning there's a new system now between God and humans so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal
Inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant Jesus Christ came humbled himself the creator of the world who holds the world together by the word of his power and who owes us nothing but yet we owe him everything not only our existence but also for our rebellion in that existence he comes to
Swap places with us to walk with us and to as a great high priest pay the penalty for our sin to be both the high priest and the sacrifice so that we may forever be at one with God forever be made right with him and forever have our sin taken away I have a few points of application that I think
Come out of this concept for us to consider this morning as we finish first I want us to see that in this God saves humanity he remains just because sin is dealt with the guilty do not go free either the sacrifice is accepted and your guilt has been taken away because
It was placed on Jesus or we are still in our sin that God remains just and he vindicates the glory of his name in this picture of atonement that we're given in scriptures we learn that we are guilty of sin and unable to make restitution we have a debt that we are unable to pay that every
Human will stand before God with a debt of a life lived in rebellion and be unable to pay secondly we learn that God in his love and mercy and grace through Christ provided an acceptable sacrifice this is why Jesus is called the Lamb of God that God in his mercy provided someone
To pay our debt thirdly you should hate your sin and you should hate the fact that you don't really hate your sin that if we look into this and see the weight of the burden of the guilt that we had before a holy and just God knowing that one day we would have to pay for it
And we should hate all the sin that had to be laid on Christ that he had to die for and we should hate the fact that we so often minimalize and do not hate our sin feel okay with it think God winks at it act as if his holiness does not matter if you have not trusted in Jesus
Christ as your atoning sacrifice you should do so now you should repent of your sin and look only to him as the acceptable satisfactory payment of your debt to God Jesus Christ has been put forward as your way to not
Pay for your sin and what I would encourage you to do is to walk to the cross just as you would have to walk and pick out a goat and walk to the high priest and lay your hands
On it knowing that this animal that is currently breathing and looking at you and has walked with you this whole time because it is a tame animal is about to breathe its last breath because of the actions
That you have taken and the choices you have made and lay your hands on it and know that your guilt has transferred from you to this animal and it will die for you I would encourage you to walk to Christ
And lay your hands on him and transfer your guilt to him and know that he'll breathe his last breath to pay for the guilt that you owe God so that you can be eternally redeemed if you have not placed your faith in
Christ you should do so now because God forgives transgression and iniquity and sin but he will not clear the guilty for those of you who have placed faith in Christ we should rest confident in the eternal redemption provided by
Him questions of have I done enough am I good enough betray the fact that we have begun to believe that somehow the guilt has shifted back to us or somehow believe that we have to atone for our sin something that we were
Never going to be able to do and we should rest fully confident and free in the fact that a death has set you free that you did deserve punishment but in Christ you will not receive it this is why Christians no longer practice
Animal sacrifices we have a sacrifice once for all that has eternally redeemed us the blood of the lamb has been shed we have been purified we will stand before God guiltless because he
Stood before God guilty we should tell everyone about our terrible state before God and the good news of hope offered through Christ if we believe this and see this and know this to be true the most loving thing you can do is for those who feel guilty help them know that there is a
God who pays for guilt and for those who do not feel guilty help them see how guilty they are and then let them know that there is a God who pays their guilt for those of us who stand here or sit here this morning and say we believe this
There is no other loving option for those around us other than to tell everyone we possibly can that there is a debt of sin and a savior that offers redemption lastly for those of us in Christ we should spend the
Rest of our days marveling and rejoicing at the sacrifice of Jesus that God would humble himself to redeem creatures like us that he owed nothing to but that he loved enough to rescue and to make his own to reclaim his willful enemies
Who have actively destroyed his good order and with an utter contempt for his rule he came for the purpose to bleed and to die and to sacrifice himself so that we could have life the band
Is going to come back up and as we begin today to leave here as Christians marveling at the grace of God that we do not have to pay for our sin that we incurred debt that he paid for that we
Can walk with Christ and walk away free and blameless the way we are going to immediately respond as Christians in the room is to take communion where we remember the sacrifice of Christ where we take take the cup
We take the bread and we remember that Jesus Christ was broken and bled for us so that we can go free that we get to walk pick up a goat we get to walk with guilt hanging over us to a high priest
And walk away free that we get to walk to the cross with guilt bearing down on us but because blood is shed and death reigns we get to walk away free but you see Jesus Christ
Is both goats from the day of atonement sin is laid on one and it is killed and sin is laid on one and it carries it away and Jesus Christ died on a cross and rose from the
Grave and we have an eternal redemption and an eternal inheritance and we get to celebrate today as we wonder and marvel at the graciousness of a loving God who would die in our
Place we get to take communion remembering that we owe a debt to God that we could never pay but that Jesus Christ has and if you are not a Christian you should place your faith in Christ you should
Become a Christian and you should go take communion for the first time as a Christian who knows the weight of what you're doing that Jesus has redeemed you from your sin and that you can be forever free let's
Pray God we thank you that you made atonement for us that you purified us that we no longer stand under our guilt because we are in Christ thank you that you figured out a way to rid us of sin
To atone for our guilt without destroying us but that you were willing to be destroyed for us as an eternal sacrifice who reigns supreme seated in the right hand of majesty forever giving your life to those
Who place their faith you thank you in Jesus name amen
Worthy of Worship
Transcript
All right, how are we doing this morning? Cool. My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors. We'll be in Matthew chapter 10 to get started this morning. Matthew chapter 10, if your Bible looks like this, it'll be page 476 where we'll start picking up.
We are starting a new series today, and we spent the last six weeks or so talking about the need for, the call for Christians to use their normal everyday lives to see other people come to know Christ. That we would leverage what we have, our time, our energy, our money, our homes to see people come to know Jesus. And so today we're starting a new series. We've just called it Glory. Basically, we're just looking at how big and beautiful and wonderful and glorious Christ is. And in some ways, I feel like it makes sense because we just spent so much time talking about how we should use the normal daily lives that we've been given to see people come to know Jesus.
And now we're just looking at why, why we'd want to do that. And we're just looking at how big he is and massive and how much joy there is to be found in him. And so we're going to do this for four weeks, and then we'll spend the rest of the summer studying through the Psalms and learning how to personally worship God from them. Today, as we get started, we're going to talk about the fact that Jesus is worthy of worship. That Jesus Christ is worthy of worship. The word used for worship in the Old Testament really just means to bow down.
And that's what we're looking at, why you should bow your life down to Jesus. Why you should consider him in all things. You should submit yourself to him. Why you should go to Jesus and allow him to be in charge of you, of your time and your money and your effort and your energy. We're looking at how glorious he is. I've got a definition for the word glorious.
It's striking beauty or splendor that evokes feelings of delighted admiration. It's so beautiful that it makes you feel something. That's what Jesus is. He's so glorious, so good that we should be in awe of him. We should be enraptured by him. He's so beautiful that it does something to us.
You see, Jesus says that he is worthy of worship. And that's what we're looking at in Matthew chapter 10 as we begin our time today. I want us to see this. I want us to kind of take seriously Jesus' words here and think about them for a minute. We're going to pick up in verse 37. Verse 37.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Just look at those words for a second. I want that to stare you in the face. That's why we don't usually put verses up on the screen. We usually just look at them in the Bible.
But I want this to seep in a little bit. Jesus actually said these words. And they're hard to get around. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38.
And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. So at this time, Jesus had not gone to the cross. He was headed to it. But he's using this as a cross as a Roman instrument of torture. It was a... He said if you're not willing to be executed.
If you're not willing to lay down all your hopes and your dreams. If you're not willing to lay down your plans. If you're not willing to pick up a cross. If you're not willing to bear the burden of nothing goes well for you. And you head into destruction and persecution and death. You don't deserve me.
You're not worthy of me. 39. Whoever finds his life will lose it. And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. That's a little cryptic. What he's saying is if you spend your life focusing on your life.
Trying to make it good. Trying to live the good life. If you go out of your way to try to find your life and to find yourself. And to have the good experiences and the joy. He says you lose it. It's a waste.
But if you are willing to give up everything for Jesus. Then you'll actually find it. Then you'll actually get the good life. Okay. Maybe. Maybe you've been around the church long enough.
That it's easy for you to hear that. Maybe you've heard it enough that you're like right. Hmm. Jesus. He says things like that. So I just want to take these sentences.
And we're just going to put them on other people. So that we can think about them a little better. Alright. Whoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. Who's allowed to say that to you? I'll argue your father and mother can't even say that.
Like if your dad came to you and said let me explain something to you. If you love your mom more than me. You do not deserve me. I am the greatest father. Let me just. I need you to tell me right now.
You love me more. Like if I. If my wife started doing that with my son. She's like if you love your dad more than me. Then I don't even need to.
Like you do not deserve me for a mother. I'd have to have a talk with her. Be like this is. This is a bit intense. Plus he's two. Let's tone it down.
Who gets to say that? If you're dating someone. You're in high school. And you say yeah. I gotta go do this with my parents or whatever. I'm going on vacation with my parents.
And they say let me explain something to you. If you love your mother and father more than me. You don't deserve me. Okay. I'm still going on vacation. But we're probably not going to keep dating when I get back.
You gotta tone the crazy down like a hundred notches. Okay. Maybe. Maybe a spouse. Maybe you can have this conversation with a spouse. Maybe by the time you get married.
You're like look. Your parents can't get in the middle of all of our arguments. You've got to at some point. Like leave and cleave. There's some. There's some room for that.
In the Bible. Like at some point your mom can't just be here all the time. Maybe a spouse can say that. Go to the next one. It's if you love. Anyone who loves son or daughter more than me.
Is not worthy of me. Americans. We having a hard time with that. Parents. Have a hard time with that. Son or daughter more than me.
There's a widow. She's got a couple of kids. She starts dating somebody. You're her friend. She sits down with you and says. Yeah.
The other day he. He said if I loved my children more than him. I didn't deserve him. You know what you say. Sounds like a catch. That guy must be so valuable.
Oh my goodness. He must be so radiant and glorious. Do you know what you say. This cat's a psycho. Back up. Get away.
This is crazy. This is headed in the bad place. No one should say that to you. He says if you're not willing to lay down your life. If you're not willing to pick up your cross. If you're not willing to die.
If you're not willing to say no. To all of your hopes and dreams. All of your goals. If you're not willing to pick up. An instrument for execution. And follow me.
You do not deserve me. People come by your house. You got a friend. And they start saying. Yeah. There's this guy.
Carl. And he's a prophet. And he performs miracles. And he says we have to hate our families. And follow him. You're like bro.
That's a cult. This is. No bueno. Get away from Carl. This is not going to work out well for you. You're going to be like locked in a cellar somewhere.
Where Jesus without batting an eye. Without tripping over his words. Without hesitating for a second. Will look you in the face. And say exactly what he just said. If you love your family more than me.
You've missed it. If you're not willing to lay down everything for me. You don't deserve me. If you aren't willing to die. And if you are going to spend your life. Trying to have a good life.
You won't have a life at all. But if you'll get rid of everything. For me. You'll find the good life. Who can sit across the table from you. And say hey.
I'm the good life. And your joy. And your fullness. And your completion. And your happiness. Will only ever be filled.
And found. In me. It's like okay. Check please. Jesus means it. So.
He has to be. A narcissist. He. He. He. Supremely.
Values. Himself. And on. On anybody else. We put this on. We've gotten used to this on Jesus.
But on anybody else. We put this on. It's not a good look. But see. Jesus goes. Beyond this.
And begins to make the claim. That he is. God. God. I'm going to. I'm going to cite a few.
They're not going to be on the screen. In John chapter 5. It says this. This is why the Jews were seeking. All the more to kill him. Because not only was he breaking the Sabbath.
Which is one of their regulations. But he was even calling God. His own father. Making himself equal. With God. John chapter 8.
It says. The Jews said to him. He's having this kind of discussion with him. About Abraham. And he. He's.
Talking about Abraham. They said. You're not even 50 years old. And you've seen Abraham. And Jesus says to them. Truly.
Truly. I say to you. Before Abraham was. I am. Now. That may be a little cryptic to us.
It was not to the Jewish people. That were listening to him. He's quoting. God. At the burning bush. That tells Moses.
That he. I am. That I am. He's. I am. Is a.
A reference to. Eternal being. And being God. And so Jesus says. Let me tell you. Before Abraham existed.
I am. And you're like. Well. That's kind of cryptic. Wasn't to them. The next verse says.
So they picked up. Stones. To throw at him. They knew what he had just said. He had just claimed to be God. So they were going to.
Kill him. Because that's blasphemy. And then. In 1033. Of John. It says.
It's not for good work. That we're going to stone you. They were going to try to kill him again. Jesus almost dies a lot. In the book of John. But because you.
Being a man. Make yourself God. The climax. Of the book of John. Is after Jesus dies on the cross. Rises from the grave.
He gets back around Thomas. Who said. Unless I get to see the nails. And the nail scars. Unless I see him with my eyes. Get to touch him.
I'm not going to believe. That he rose from the grave. And Thomas gets to. And then he falls down. And says. My Lord.
And my God. And worships Jesus. Now. If you've been reading the Bible. Up to the point. And John.
You immediately know. Don't do that. You don't worship anybody. But God. Every time in the Old Testament. Someone falls down.
At the feet of an angel. These big. Powerful. Angelic beings. Go. Get up.
Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. You saw. Right.
Like. I did not appreciate that. You are not allowed to worship me. This is a terrible thing. There's one angel. Who thinks that's a good idea.
It did not go well for him. I. You know what Jesus says. Thomas says. You're my Lord. And my God.
And Jesus says. Well done Thomas. You're blessed. And more blessed is everybody. Who's able to say the same thing. Without having to see the scars.
Who's able to have the same faith. In me. As God. So Jesus claims to be God. Throughout his life. He claims that.
Singular allegiance. Is owed him. And he's. Murdered for it. But because we do believe.
He is God. He did not stay dead. He rose from the grave. Proving his claims. And ascended into heaven. So.
Jesus says. I'm God. The God. And the God of the Bible. The God of the Old Testament. Has said the same thing.
Throughout the Old Testament. They would worship. No one but him. That's the first thing he says. When he takes him out of Egypt. He says.
You'll have no gods. Other than me. I'm the only God. In Deuteronomy. Throughout. He just keeps saying.
You're not going to bow down. And worship anything else. You're not going to serve them. I'm the only God. Deuteronomy 6. 13.
It's the Lord your God. You shall fear. And him you shall serve. And by his name you shall swear. Deuteronomy 13. 4.
You shall walk after the Lord your God. And fear him. And keep his commandments. And obey his voice. And you shall serve him. And hold fast to him.
Throughout the Old Testament. The prophets. The Psalms are going to say. Repeatedly. God is the only God. And he is worthy.
Deserving of. Your singular. Allegiance. And worship. That if every breath you have. Is spent in obedience to him.
It's worth it. Jesus shows up. Says I'm the same God. And I deserve the same allegiance. Okay. So this.
This gets. This argument gets thrown at God. It gets thrown at Jesus some. God more. I've got a quote from a. Humanistic and atheistic blog.
That I just thought the guy said it well. I don't know if this guy's famous. Or really smart. I didn't read a whole lot of his other stuff. He just said this well. He says if your God.
Demands. To be worshipped. Your God. Is narcissistic. Meaning he's. He cares only about himself.
He's focused in on himself. Narcissism is a character flaw. Which means. A narcissistic being. Isn't perfect. Ergo.
Oh you know it's good. If they use ergo. Ergo. It's a fancy word for therefore. Or. Or.
So then. Your perfect God. Does not. Exist. If your God. Is in fact.
Perfect. It would have no need. Or desire. For worship. Praise. Or any form of adulation.
Making your piety. Pointless. I think the logic holds. What he says is. If you have a God. That's needy.
If you have a God. That's narcissistic. If you have a God. That comes to you. And says. I need you to sing about me.
I need y'all to get together. Every Sunday. I need you to wake up early. I need you to put on slacks. I need people to practice songs. And I need you to sing.
That I'm pretty. If you have a God. That does that. It's not perfect. It's not complete. It's not whole.
Therefore. Isn't. Worthy. Or. If you have a perfect. Complete.
Whole. Worthy. God. Has no need. For your praise. No need.
For your adoration. Wouldn't ask for it. Wouldn't talk about it. Wouldn't care. Would be fine. Without you.
Either way. Worshiping. Is stupid. I'm taking some liberties there. But I think that's how he's.
He's ending it there. It's pointless. I. I kind of agree. I agree. If I think about the way.
He's thinking about this. I understand what he is saying. And I think he said it well. I think he's missed something. I think he's missed something. That the storyline of the Bible.
Makes clear. I want to kind of break this out. Into four. Basic. Truths. That he's.
That he's missed here. But this is. This is a thing that people say. I remember my. My. Grandmother's a missionary to Nigeria.
I remember being at the beach. One. One year. And my cousin was talking with her. And he was just saying the same thing. He was saying.
What kind of a God. Makes people. And then says. Sing to me. Or I'm going to hurt you. Worship me.
Or it's going to be bad. What kind of God does that? And he was just saying. It seems so small. And it seems so. Petty.
But here's what I think they're missing. One is. We were created by God. That's what the Bible tells us. And that we were designed to worship. You are going to worship.
Something. It's the first kind of thing I think that's missed here. You're going to worship something. You're going to bow down to something. You're going to spend your time. Your energy.
Your money. Your effort on something. Worship for you is not an option. What you worship is. The object of your worship is an option. But whether or not you will have some object to worship.
Is not an option for you. You will have something that you hold as chief and supreme. And most valuable. True worship is joyful. That's the second idea that I think is missed here. True worship is joyful.
It's self-forgetfulness. That when we really, truly sing about something. And truly, truly get engulfed in something. And enraptured in something. And point something else to it. It's joyful.
It gets us outside of ourselves. Thirdly. The best and highest worship. Will be of the best and highest object. Or the greatest worship. Will have the greatest object.
So if I told you that I was going to worship myself. I saw myself as supreme. I'm kind of limited there. I'm trapped. I'm trapped in myself. I can only get so big.
It can only be so great. I kind of have just really imprisoned myself. I could travel the world. My world would never get any bigger. Because I'm supreme. But if you said trees were supreme.
You could go in your backyard. And get more outside of yourself than I can. You could be more free. And more set free. See. The greater the object.
The greater the worship. The greater the joy found. I used to work at Sears. If I told you I was going to devote my life to Sears. You'd be like. Bro.
It's not even that great of a retail store. Like aren't they going out of business? I'd be like. Kinda. But that's why they need me.
But maybe if I said I'm going to devote myself to hard work. The scope is bigger. And then I'm a little more free. I can move around a little more. I have a little. I'm called out of myself a little more.
Maybe if I said I'm going to devote myself to helping others. I'm going to devote myself to family. You see we all pick something. And say this is most worth. Most worth my time and energy and effort. This is where I'll find the most life.
Gain the most joy. Be the biggest version of myself. Fourth point. You become like what you worship. Jesus says that you know. A student's not above his teacher.
You're going to whatever you hold up as supreme. You're going to become more like. So if you worship money. You'll become cold. Calculating. You worship love.
You're going to slowly become more like. You can see this when. Like someone gets super into. Like listening to Dr. Dre. Or Eminem.
Or. Any musician. They get really into skateboarding. Or fidget spinners. Become more like. The Bible says this in Jeremiah.
That they went after worthlessness. And became worthless. So I agree with the point this guy's making. And it's true. Unless. God is actually.
The greatest. Most supreme. Most glorious. Thing. That exists. Being.
That exists. Jesus is a narcissist. Unless. Unless. He is bigger. And more beautiful.
And more glorious. And more holy. And more worthy. Than any other. Thing in existence. That you could devote your time to.
Then. If that's true. If Jesus is supreme. When he tells you. You should love me above everything else. And you should worship me.
With all of your allegiance. And all of your time. And all of your life. Then. He's actually pursuing. Your joy.
And your greatest. Good. But only. If he's bigger. And more beautiful. And more glorious.
Than anything else. So. This is about to feel like a science class. And a poorly done one. Because I'm not great at science. But I want us to see some things.
Because. You only have. Limited options. On what you're going to worship. You got some limited options. You can only go out.
Into. Creation. You can only go out. And find something. That already exists. For you to worship.
Genesis. The first book in the Bible. Begins with. In the beginning. God. And then tells us.
That he created. Everything. So we're just going to take a minute. With the understanding. That God created all of this. And just look at.
The things that exist. We're going to look at. What. What's out there. For you to be. Mesmerized with.
For you to devote yourself to. We're going to do this in two ways. We're going to go small. Then we're going to go big. And then that. Hopefully that'll cover everything in between.
All right. Your body. Is made up of. Cells. One hundred. Trillion of them.
I don't even know. What that number really means. It's just very big. One hundred. Trillion cells. This is a.
This is a cell. It looks like something. From the magic school bus. That's a cell. Inside your cell. I'm going to move this out of the way.
I'm going to back up a little bit. So people can see a little better. Forgive me if I get in your way. I pace. That's a cell. Inside the middle there.
Is a nucleus. There's a bunch of little different parts in there. There's. Inside the nucleus is DNA. DNA. DNA.
Is the best information storage system. That exists. They are currently. Scientists are currently trying to figure out. How to save our own data into DNA. And retrieve it.
Okay. So the new Macs that came out. Like the expensive ones. They have like a terabyte of data. Remember when you had like a floppy disk. And it had like.
A megabyte. Terabytes way bigger. Did that help? Have a terabyte of data. DNA. DNA.
If you could put a drop of pure DNA. On the tip of your finger. It would have 700 terabytes. Of data storage capability. Because there's DNA. In every single one of your microscopic.
Invisible cells. That it holds. Dawkins says. About the equivalent of 8,000 books. But if you could.
So they said. They're trying to figure out. How to use DNA. Because they could save. All the things. We would ever need to save.
In a couple of teaspoons. Tablespoons. Worth of DNA. If we can figure out. How to do it. But.
But that was put inside. That little yellow thing. In the middle there. And then. Inside of there. Inside the cell.
Which you have a hundred trillion of them. That are constantly doing things. They all read. This. There's the entire DNA. For your whole body.
But the cell reads. This tiny little spot. They just go break. This one little part apart. And then that's what tells your cell. To be a liver cell.
Or an eye cell. Or a fingernail. Cell. Just that little bit of DNA. But all the DNA is in there.
And inside of your. Of your cell. There are organelles. Ribosomes. Mitochondria. Storage vacuoles.
Lysosomes. Lystra. Derby. Those last two are just places. Mentioned in the Bible. But the other stuff's in there.
Endoplasmic reticula. And a bunch of other things. That are constantly working. Doing jobs. Making more cells. This is a picture of actual cells.
We can see these with microscopes. They're creating things. All the time. Making more cells. They're made up of smaller things. The little particles inside of them.
Are made up of smaller things. There are. Each one of those. Has to be designed in such a way. As to be the correct thing. The correct lysosome.
Storage vacuole. To make the correct component. That's going to go inside the cell. Inside. The smaller. Things that make those up.
Are made up of. Molecules. That are made up of atoms. Atoms are the things that are on periodic table. On the periodic table of the elements. This is a picture of an atom.
It's been. It's been. Kind of enhanced. Digitally. Trying to make it look 3D. That's the nucleus of an atom.
There are protons and neutrons in there. And then electrons. Swirl around it. And scientists will say. We can't see those. You just kind of have to pretend.
We proved. We humans. Proved. That those existed. In like the end of the 1800s. We actually saw the first one in 1983.
We were able to look at it. They just used math. To figure out that these were real. And when I hear stuff like that. I think. There's a lot about math.
I don't know. Because I'm doing good. To make sure I got the right amount of change back. And they're using it. To figure out things. That we can't see.
Exist. They've now found out. That atoms are made up of. So that. We knew they were made up of. Protons.
Neutrons. Electrons. They can't be directly observed. But we're able to use math. To figure out what they do. They now have come out.
And said. We thought for a long time. That those were the smallest things. There were. So. Each cell.
Has about. You have 100 trillion cells. Each cell. Has about 100 trillion atoms. If you use a calculator. To multiply those Numbers together.
Your calculator. Doesn't even really give you an answer. It gives you a number. And then an E. And then it says plus. And it gives you this other stuff.
And it's like. Dude. I'm not putting all those zeros. You do it. It's an insane amount. So.
Inside those atoms. They now have decided. That they thought. That was the smallest thing. They now decided. No.
They've used more math. And figured out. There are smaller things. Than protons. Neutrons. Electrons.
And they've called these. Quarks. And leptons. And all of those. Are in a category. Called fermions.
And it sounds like. L. Ron Hubbard. Came up with this. Eventually. A logical.
A logical assumption. Is that they're going to figure out. That quarks. Have smaller parts. And maybe they'll call those. Bloggatrons.
Or nuptics. Here's the thing. Your body. Is exceedingly. Complex. It's made up of atoms.
And atoms. Have insane amounts. Of power in them. Energy in them. That we don't fully understand. We were able to figure out.
Early on. That they existed. By using math. And then they figured out. That if you took. Two hydrogen atoms.
This is a picture. Of a hydrogen atom. The internet. Nope. The internet was geeked out. The internet.
The internet was. Was really excited. That we were able to get. A picture of a hydrogen atom. Hydrogen is really small. They worked really hard.
And science. A whole lot. And they came up with that. See that. That's hydrogen. You guys.
Are you just blown away. It's. It's microscopic. We were excited. Because we could see it. Because they used to only figure out.
That it existed by math. But then they figured out. That if they took. Two hydrogen atoms. Smushed them together. They would turn into helium.
But helium. Weighs less. Than those two hydrogen atoms. Combined. So it would be like.
If you and I. If I weighed 100 pounds. You weigh 100 pounds. And we get on a scale. And the scale says. One fifty.
There's fifty pounds. That aren't. Accounted for. What they figured out. Was if they smush. Hydrogen together.
It'll push this other stuff out. And you know what that does. It just blows up. That's it. It creates energy. From smushing together.
Things we can't even see. Does the. The hydrogen bomb. That's just taking atoms. That they mathed. And then.
Coming up with a system. To smush them. And it does that. That. That's two miles wide. You can feel the heat.
Thirty miles away. Okay. Can you go to like. A black one. Just a regular. Let's talk for just a second.
Everything's made up of atoms. And. And what we're told is. That the God of the universe. Designed this. And he made atoms.
That fit together into molecules. That make up like lipids. And proteins. And stuff. And then. Make biscuits.
And taste amazing. Like. It's science. That makes bacon delicious. And I just got myself really hungry. Because if you put bacon on that biscuit.
I haven't even thought about this. Let's get some cheese. All right. You used to. Be a lot smaller than you are. You used to be like this big.
At one point. You were about this big. You ate atoms. Your body broke that stuff down. Stuck it in different places. And then your body.
Made more of your body. Created more cells. Replicated your DNA. Genesis 1. 27. Says that God made man.
In his own image. In the image of God. He created him male and female. Job 10. 11. Says you clothed me with skin.
And flesh. And you knit me together. With bones. And sinews. Psalm 139. 13.
Says you formed. My inward parts. You knitted me together. In my mother's womb. That God. Pieced all of that together.
To the smallest. Thing that we've been able to work. Really hard to find out existed. God made it. Designed it. With a purpose.
Okay. Let's go big for a second. This is the earth. It is a globe. YouTube might tell you that it's not. That's a picture.
It's either a picture of our earth. It is a globe. Or it is a vast conspiracy. That NASA is trying to trick us. By putting this on their website. But that's a picture of the earth.
This is the sun. It's a giant ball of fire. It actually is a bunch of nuclear reactions going on. On the earth. We are currently rotating. 6,000.
No. 100. Sorry. 1,000 miles per hour. We're spinning 1,000 miles per hour right now. Can you feel it?
1,000 Miles per hour. We are then traveling in orbit. 18.5 miles per second. Or 66,600 miles per hour. While spinning. And the reason we're doing that.
Is because the sun is bigger than us. And it tells us to. It's a gravity. It tells mass how to move. And we just. We're slingshotting.
Out around this thing. That's bigger than us. This is a picture of the earth. And the other planets. That's Venus. Mars.
Mercury. Pluto. We're bigger than those. I don't know if Pluto is still a planet. But look.
He's there. Alright. Next one. This is all the planets in our solar system. Uranus. Neptune.
Saturn. Jupiter. They're a lot bigger than us. Earth's down here. He's cute. Alright.
This is if you add in the sun. That's why the sun gets to tell us what to do. It works much like a playground. Okay. This is our galaxy. There it is.
That's the Milky Way. That's a guess. Because we can't get outside of it to see what it looks like. But it probably looks like that. This one shows us where our solar system is. So there's a lot of other solar systems going on.
Do you have the one that shows the other stars in our. Okay. So the sun's over here. That's Sirius. That's Pollux. That's Arcturus.
You can go bigger. And the sun will disappear. Those are in our galaxy. Other suns. Floating out there. Doing their thing.
This is a galaxy that we can see. From our galaxy. It's bigger than ours. Alright. This is one of the coolest stories I found when I was looking into some of this stuff. A guy named Bob Williams.
Did the Hubble Deep Field Experiment in 1990. He was listening to Hootie and the Blowfish at the time. He had some control over where the telescope pointed. He pointed it at a black spot on the sky. It looked like this. He said I want to point the telescope here.
And they were like. That's dumb. We're losing money. Hubble telescope's not been doing great. And you want to point it at nothing. For a hundred hours.
Yes. He just said I want to point it there. I want to just receive light. And we'll see what happens. That's about one thirtieth the size of a full moon. It's the size.
They just picked a spot that was completely black. And said let's point it there. They did it for a hundred hours. And just took in as much light as they could. Took pictures. It took 45 seconds to get in all the light.
And then. This is what came out of it. Once they developed the film. They colored it in a little bit. So they decided.
Oh okay. They thought they might have. About 2 billion. Other galaxies. Until they did that. And then they said.
Oh no. 50 billion. And most recently. They started saying. That there might be about 2 trillion. Other galaxies.
So you remember the big galaxy. And it said. We are here. That was our solar system. We're not even the biggest planet. In our solar system.
We don't even have the biggest sun. In our galaxy. 2 trillion galaxies. Filled with innumerable suns. Innumerable solar systems. Innumerable planets.
Habakkuk 3.6 says. He stood. And measured. The earth. He looked. And shook the nations.
Then the eternal mountains were scattered. The everlasting hills sank low. His word. The everlasting ways. Isaiah 40. Verse 12 says.
Who has measured. The waters. In the hollow of his hand. Or marked off the heavens. With a span. Enclosed the dust of the earth.
In a measure. And weighed the mountains. And scales. And hills. In a balance. In Job 38.
God shows up. To talk to Job. He says. Where were you? When I laid the foundation of the earth. Tell me.
If you have understanding. Who determined its measurements. Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it. On what were its bases sunk. Or who laid its cornerstone.
When the morning stars sang together. And all the sons of God shouted for joy. Psalm 147. 4 says. He determines the number of the stars. And he gives to them.
All their names. Anything you're going to devote your life to. Is going to fit somewhere in between. Those two trillion galaxies. And those hundred trillion atoms. In the hundred trillion cells.
Every bit of beauty. Every bit of. Things that are worthy. And valuable. It's going to fit somewhere inside of that. It says that God marked that off.
With the span of his hand. And so here's the question I have. How hateful. Would God be. How wicked. And despicable.
Would he be. To create all of that. And let us piddle around. With things that are so small. In comparison to him. It says he measured out.
The sea in his hands. If he said. Spend your life. Digging to the depths of the ocean. Which we hadn't even gotten to yet. How small is that.
And how. How horrible would it be. For him to not tell us about the hand. That measured it. For him to look at us. And say.
Spend your life. Chasing after love. Or beauty. When all love and beauty. Emits from him. Comes from him.
That is. It was thought up by him. If he said. Spend your life. Chasing after relationships. When the ultimate.
Truest. Most fulfilling. Joy filled. Glorious relationship. We could ever have. Is with him.
You see. He is a complete narcissist. Unless he is the greatest. Then what else. Would you have him point us to. What else would you have this God.
Say. Worship. Adore. Enjoy. Appreciate. You see.
What he does. Is he takes us to things. And he says. Look at the ocean. Look at the stars. Look at the sky.
And enjoy them. And be enraptured by them. And then realize. They point to me. They're just a hint. Of my glory.
And my bigness. And my goodness. And my grace. Spending all of our time. Chasing after reason. Or intelligent.
And never. Getting to enjoy. The depth of the mind. That created it. In the first place. You see.
Then. Colossians. Tells us. In 115. Talking of Jesus. He.
Is the image. Of the invisible God. The firstborn. Of all creations. Colossians 2. 9.
Says. For in him. The whole fullness. Of deity. Dwells. Bodily.
And Hebrews 1. 3. Says this. And this is what was on the. The little bumper videos. We came in.
He. That's Jesus. Is the radiance. Of the glory. Of God. So glory.
Is. Is beauty. That makes you feel something. It's. It's. It's what emanates from God.
And it says that. Radiance. Is the light and heat. That shines off of something. So what.
What Hebrews. The author of Hebrews. Tells us. Is that Jesus. Is the beauty. Of the beauty of God.
He's the radiance. Of the glory. He's the light and heat. That shines off of all of God's. Massive. Infathomable.
Unapproachable. Eternal. Goodness. He's the exact. Imprint. Of his nature.
That's God's nature. Is. Perfectly. Shown to us. In Christ. Who is God.
He upholds the universe. By the word. Of his power. That Jesus Christ. Rules over. All that exists.
And after making. Purifications for sins. That's. The cross. He sat down. At the right hand.
Of the majesty. On high. In Psalm 8. The psalmist says. When I look at your heavens. The work of your fingers.
The moon. And the stars. Which you have set in place. What is man. That you're mindful of him. Or the son of man.
That you care for him. Psalm says. I see all of this. And why do you care about us. We're in a small galaxy. Stuck off to the corner.
In a small solar system. On a small planet. Given a very limited amount of time. In history. And in God's created order. But God loved us enough.
Was mindful of us enough. That he joined us. In humanity. And went to the cross. That he exactly imprinted. His nature on Jesus.
Who became a human. The most baffling event. Most beautiful miracle. In history. Is that God. The eternal holy God.
Became a human. And humbled himself. To die on a cross. To redeem some people. So that.
He could pursue. Their greatest. And highest. Joy. Which is himself. Jesus Christ died.
So that we could have. Him. Because you will not find. A greater. Or higher. Or more worthy.
Or more valuable. Joy. In the world. In creation. In existence. That Jesus Christ.
The God of the universe. Humbled himself. A friend of mine. Got to go to a. Some sort of a tailgate thing. And it was catered by Chick-fil-A.
And he got to eat at this meal. With a bunch of fancy people. He's not fancy. But he got to go. I don't remember. Somebody knows.
Is fancy. And invited him. He said afterwards. Somebody came along. This was an older guy. Came along.
And started cleaning up everything. And throwing everything away. And he looked over. And realized. That the person who was. Picking up his trash.
And throwing it away. Was S. True at Kathy. Which is. The CEO of Chick-fil-A. He said.
He immediately thought. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like. Why would the CEO. Clean up after me. Like.
This isn't okay. I'm just here as a guest. I can't have this guy. Clean up. Like. He was like.
He was. It just felt so bad. It bothered him so much. And. And what we met with. That's the exact imprint.
Of God's nature. The humility. And mercy. And love of God. Is that the God of the universe. Who created all things.
From the most. Minuscule. To the most. Miraculously. Immeasurable. Will become a.
Person. In order to suffer. And die. On a cross. That we could be forgiven. Of sins.
And brought back. Into a relationship. With him. And have. A chance. To pursue.
What will most. Give us joy. And satisfaction. Pastor John Piper. Says this. God's love for us.
Is not mainly. His making. Much of us. But his giving us. The ability. To enjoy.
Making much of him. Forever. God's love for us. Keeps God. At the center. God's love for us.
Exalts his value. And our satisfaction. In it. If God's love. Made us central. And focus on our value.
It would distract us. From what is most. Precious. Namely himself. Love. Labors.
And suffers. To enthrall us. With what is infinitely. And eternally. Satisfying. God.
That God. Went to the cross. So that. He could labor. To enthrall us. With what is most.
Satisfying. Most. Joy-filled. God. And that's why Jesus. With complete certainty.
Honesty. Love. And helpfulness. Can look at us. And say. Whoever loves father or mother.
More than me. Is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son. Or daughter. More than me. Is not worthy of me.
And whoever. Ever does not take his cross. And follow me. Is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life. Will lose it.
Whoever loses his life. For my sake. Will find it. The band's going to come back up. If we love. Anything.
More than Jesus. We're missing out. If our lives are devoted. To anything. More than Christ. We've sold ourselves short.
If you live your entire life. Giving every penny. Every drop of sweat. Every waking moment. To Christ. And his kingdom.
And his glory. It'll all be worth it. Because everything else. Pales in comparison. To his beauty. His magnificence.
His holiness. His worthiness. Band's going to sing. We're going to take communion. Communion is for. Those who have placed their faith in Christ.
So we would ask you. That if you are not. A Christian. Just to remain seated. During this time. Or stand and sing.
With the band as they lead. But for those of us. Who have placed our faith in Christ. I want us to take a minute. To as best we can. Hold in our minds.
What makes. God. So supremely glorious. That he would suffer. And die on a cross. To redeem us.
That he would breathe his last breath. Be wrapped. And shrouded. Laid in a tomb. That he would conquer death. On our behalf.
That when we take communion. We're reminding ourselves. Of the body. And the blood. Of Christ. That was broken.
And that was. Blood that was shed. So that we could have life. So that we could be redeemed. So that we could be forgiven.
That this. Radiant. Glorious God. Would suffer. So that he could.
Enthrall us. With what is most supremely. Joy filled. Life giving. And valuable. Himself.
Let's pray. And then you'll be free. To take communion. And we'll stand and sing. God we thank you for your grace. Your love.
God. I pray Lord. That we would be. Overwhelmed. By how matchless. You are.
That you are. Supremely. Glorious. And worthy. Of all of our devotion. We praise you.
In Jesus name. Amen.
We're Sinners. And We Need Jesus.
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors. We're in our sixth week of our Extraordinary Series. We've just been kind of walking through talking about the concept that God has ordained. He's kind of set up in the way he created the world for our normal lives, our everyday going to work, cutting our grass, buying groceries, eating, going to sleep, tying our shoes, teaching our kids how to tie their shoes, like the normal everyday stuff of life.
He's set it up so that he intends to use that for his glory and for the good of others, that he intends to use the normal everyday stuff of life to change the eternity of those around us as we get to interact with them in a way that points them towards Jesus. So that's what we've been talking about for the past five weeks. This is our sixth week and it's the last week in this series. And let me just kind of tell you a little bit about how we do stuff as a church. We're pretty simple, straightforward. On Sundays we gather, we're going to sing some songs because the Bible commands us to, calls us to.
There's something about singing that helps things become real to us, become true to us. You know how you can get a song stuck in your head and it will not leave? Okay, God designed that and he designed us to use that as a way to remind ourselves of his truth. Nobody ever just had a really good sentence stuck in their head and they couldn't get it out. That's not how it works, but you do get songs stuck in your head. And so God, we're going to gather together.
We're going to sing to God. We're going to remind ourselves of his truth, his word. And then throughout the weeks we gather in community groups. And our community groups have group leaders, male and female group leaders in our community groups, are considered deacons in our church and they're kind of the front line of pastoral care and training and discipleship. We ask a lot of our group leaders. And they actually will go through training, leaders in training, so that we can launch more community groups because we believe that healthy groups multiply and that healthy disciples raise up more disciples and train more people.
And that's pretty much it. That's what we do. We're going to preach on Sundays. We'll pick, we do series, which instead of just doing one random thing every week, we kind of pick a topic and focus on it for a little while. A lot of times we just study straight through a book. So this is our last week in this series.
Next week we'll kind of go into studying some Christology, which is just the theology of Christ. We'll study that for a while. I'm pretty excited about that. Then we're going to go spend the rest of the summer in the Psalms, just learning how to worship personally from the Psalms. And as we do that, we usually, we have a groups team that writes content that pairs well. So for our community groups, group leaders are given some, hey, here's some questions, here's a way to lead a Bible study.
Group leaders have a lot of leeway in how groups are led. But we try to write group content that means if you're in a community group and you're not here on Sundays, you still understand what's going on. That's why we say it pairs well. Like a good red wine and a nice steak. Or for our more Baptiste people here, pizza and Mountain Dew. Like it just goes well together.
And so that's what we're doing. We're finishing up this series today. And so I just want to kind of start us off by asking this, kind of thinking through this. Let's say you've been here. You've caught most of this, the weeks you miss, maybe you listen to them online. And you've started to actually apply this.
You're in community groups and you started to say, okay, I'm going to do, actually have this filter into my life, this extraordinary series as we begin walking through this. And so maybe you started looking at your schedule a little bit differently. Maybe you started kind of praying over your schedule. Maybe you started questioning what was taking up your time. Maybe when you went to work, you were more prayerful in the fact that you're now going to get to be around people who don't know Jesus. And so how can I serve them?
How can I love them? How can I relate to them? Maybe you started looking at your schedule a little bit differently. Maybe you started making some invitations. One of the things we've said throughout the series is that if we'll be intentional about inviting people into our lives, not just inviting them to hang out on a Sunday or hang out with a group, but actually just into our lives that we'll begin to see people come to know Jesus, because that's the way God designed this to work, that we would be joining him in mission and normal everyday life. And so maybe you started making invitations into your life.
Maybe you started listening a little bit differently to the people around you, trying to hear ways that their story interacts with the gospel as we had spent the time talking through creation, fall, redemption, restoration. So maybe you started doing that. Maybe you invited someone into your home, your sanctuary, your refuge that you intentionally built with brick walls so that no one could get in unless you let them. Maybe you actually invited someone to come eat around your table or to just hang out and have some coffee or to eat some watermelon in your backyard. Like maybe you actually began to make some invitations and invite people into your house.
Maybe your group's been intentional about throwing parties or hanging out with people. And so the question we're looking at today as we finish up this series is, why on earth would we do that? Why? Why? I'm talking to some of you. It's like, why would you invite someone into your home?
And some of you are like Raz, who actually talked about that that Sunday, and you love having people in your house. I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to my wife. Who he describes, who gets to press a button and ride into a shelter where a wall lifts up and press another button and the wall closes and no one can get to her and she's safe. Why would we have people come sit around our table? Why would you do that?
Why would you go out of your way to make yourself uncomfortable? Why would you? Why? That's all we're looking at today. Why on earth would we intentionally look at our schedules differently, begin to pray before we go to work, begin to invite people to be around us that maybe we don't even like? Why would you go sit with them at the break room?
Why would you invite them to get dinner after work? I'm going to pray, and we're going to try to answer this question this morning. God, we ask that your word would change us, that you would help us more clearly than we can on our own see the truth of what we're looking at this morning, that your Holy Spirit would be at work in us. We love you. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Grab your Bibles. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 1. If you have one of the white Bibles on the road, it's going to be on page 576. We're going to be in 1 Timothy chapter 1. This was written by the Apostle Paul. Paul was a Jewish leader, and we meet him in the book of Acts.
He's not one of the original apostles, one of the 12 apostles that followed Jesus around. We actually, when we first meet him, he's overseeing an execution of a Christian. He holds the coats of everyone who stoned Stephen, one of the first deacons. They stoned him to death, and Paul oversees this. And then it says Paul was very zealous for the persecution of the church. So he was a Jewish leader who thought that Christianity was subverting the good Jewish rule that was causing problems.
And so he was going around and rounding up Christians and arresting them and having some put to death and some put in prison. And while he's in the process of doing this, he's actually riding to a new city to do this. And Jesus shows up, who did live in Jerusalem, Judea, Galilee. He died. He was buried. He rose again.
And Jesus shows up and basically knocks Paul down, makes him blind, and says, why are you trying to start something with me? That's the South Carolina version. That's not exactly what he says in the Bible. But he says, why are you persecuting me? And then he basically says, okay, I'm actually going to take you and use you for my kingdom and my glory. And so Paul becomes a Christian and a missionary and begins to travel around planting churches, starting new churches.
All the churches were new at this point because the church was new at this point. Christians were new at this point. The gospel was new at this point. And so he begins to travel around and plant churches. And this letter we have is a letter written to a new church and a young pastor. And he's writing to him, talking to him about how to pastor, how to lead.
And we're going to just look at this one small section at the very beginning of this to help us answer this question today as to why we would spend money and energy and time going out of our way to be around people who don't know Jesus. Pick up in verse 15. The saying is trustworthy trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. So he's talking about, there's a saying, there's a common saying, and it's trustworthy and it deserves full acceptance. So you should believe this.
You should memorize it. You should write it down. You should cross stitch it on a pillow. Put it on your coffee mug. This is a good one. That's what Paul's saying.
Saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. So let's read that again. This is the saying, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. So let's, we're going to spend the majority of our time just breaking that sentence down. It's pretty dense, so let's just kind of walk through. He starts off with Christ Jesus.
Okay. Christ is a title. It's like king or president. It's not Jesus' last name. So you hear Christ Jesus or Jesus Christ.
It means the same thing. Christ, the word Christ means Messiah, promised one. And so what he's saying here is that Jesus, the Jewish guy that lived and trained the apostles that died on a cross that rose from the grave, that Jesus was the promised Christ from the Old Testament. That all the promises God had been making through his prophets and through his law and everything that we have in the Old Testament, all of those promises that someone was going to come fix this problem of sin, all of those promises are met, fulfilled in Christ, in Jesus. He is the promised Christ. So here's how the Old Testament kind of plays out.
God makes the world and it's good and beautiful. And then he makes humans and they're good and beautiful. And it's amazing. For about two chapters. And then humans botch it up. Adam and Eve, our first parents, rebel against God and sin enters the world.
And at that moment, God begins to step in and throughout the rest of time begins to promise that he's going to fix this. He's going to fix the problem of sin. That this sin that's wreaking havoc and causing problems and breaking down relationships and tearing everything apart, that he's going to fix it. That there's going to be someone who comes and sets up our kingdom. There's going to be someone who comes and atones for sin. There's going to be someone who comes.
Like he keeps promising that. And when he says Christ, that's what he's talking about. The fulfillment of these promises. That Christ Jesus is the deliverer, the promised redeemer. So Christ Jesus came into the world.
Okay, so what he means by that is if you refer to your birth as the moment that you came into the world. Like it sounds a little bit braggy. Like if I was like, yes, I came into the world in the late 80s. You'd be like, okay, that's weird. Like that's a weird way to describe that. There were, some of you would be like, there were the 40s, the 50s, and in the 60s, I came into the world.
Like it just, when he says that, he's pointing to something beyond just a normal birth. What he's saying is that Jesus existed eternally and then he came into the world. That it was actually God entering the world. That when Jesus came, he came into the world. He was born of a virgin. God was his father and he came into the world as a fully human, fully divine, fully God, fully human, and he actually entered the world for a purpose.
Now, the next word in this sentence is two. So it says, Christ Jesus came into the world too. So now we're about to find out what he's here for, what his purpose is. And we should all kind of hold our breath. If this is the first time ever reading this, ever understanding that God became a human, there should be a little bit of tension here because we're not doing great. so if God joins us, there's an assumption that that may be bad. Like I was, some pastor friends that I know where they were at a church plant and they were meeting in another church's building and that church put on their marquee, their little sign, the little church sign out by the road.
They put, don't make me come down there in quotations and then they put dash God. Don't make me come down there, God. And one of the pastors went to the pastors of that church that they were renting from and they were like, you need to take that sign down because he did come down here and that wasn't his attitude. But there's something so easily connected with in that statement that we would believe. Like if you say, don't make me come down there and God said it, we do immediately think, yeah, if he comes down, this isn't to give out high fives. Like we're not doing great.
Y'all realize that, right? Like humans are the biggest problem. Like we're the ones causing the issues here. I've told this story before. When we would go to my grandparents' house, we lived in West Virginia. They had a three-story house.
Their basement is where all the grandkids had to stay and they would put us in there and they would tell us to go to sleep and there was like a thousand sleeping bags on the ground. And then, we would not go to sleep. And so, there would be these moments where we're laughing and having fun and staying up way later than we should and I was little so I don't know if it was two in the morning or like 10.30. I just used to go to bed at eight. I have no clue. It just was really late, you guys.
And the door would open and as soon as the door opened, it was like that door sucked all the air out of the room and everybody was like, I'm feeling like you sleep. Lights are on. We all just fall down like. And you would look to try to see whose feet were coming down the stairs because there was this little wall and all you could see was feet first. And your hope was that it wasn't your parents' feet because your parents can only hit you. They don't just get to beat your cousins.
If it was my granddad's feet, that's equal opportunity beatings. Like he can hit anybody he wants. Complete immunity. But you would just kind of look real quick. There was never a moment when that door opened and feet began to descend that I thought, maybe they're bringing treats. Never happened.
There's never a moment where I was like, maybe they wanted to play with us. No. There was this immediate knowledge of this is not going to be good and there's that tension here when it says that Christ Jesus came into the world. We should all hold our breath a little bit. We're the problem here. Why is he coming?
But it says he came to save sinners. Okay. I think most of us still have a good handle on what the term sinner means. But the Bible's teaching on it is that everyone is a sinner. All humans are sinners, have fallen short, have missed the Mark, have not lived the way we ought to. You may want to debate with whether or not that's actually real, whether or not there is actually a God and whether or not sin actually matters.
But at least most of us I think still understand the concept. The Bible will say that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That there is none righteous, no not one. We're described as dead in our sin, enemies of God, that all of us have joined in the rebellion of Adam and Eve. Here's what I know and it's enough about Adam and Eve to know that you could swap them out with any one of us. Any couple in our church could swap out for Adam and Eve and this story would look very, very similar.
You can put any couple you want there. It could be Matt and Katie Freeman. It'd work out the same. Chet and Anna Phillips. It'd play out the same. Beyonce and Jay-Z.
Oprah and Stedman. Barack and Michelle. It doesn't matter. Put whoever you want there. It's going to play out the same. We're all bent and twisted towards our own pride, our own esteem, our own sin.
And all of us have fallen short. All of us have joined the rebellion. One of the ways I can most clearly see this in my own life. Most days, I think pretty highly about myself. I think I mostly have it together. The Bible tells me that's sin.
So that's a problem. But one of the ways I see this really clearly is if I look at the relationships with the people around me that I love most and that mean the most to me. So you take my parents, you take my brothers, you take my wife, you take my son. And I can point to active times and places and instances where I have personally gone to work to harm them, to tear that relationship down. And these are the people I'm most committed to, should most care about, be most selfless towards, love the most. I'm not talking about me in traffic.
I'm talking about me at my house. I'm not talking about people who don't like me. I'm talking about people who care about me and I care about that I can point to instances where I've actively chosen to tear that apart so that when the Bible looks at me and says, you are a sinner, I'm forced to nod along. Now, there's this idea that if Jesus came, because we're all sinners, how's he going to solve this problem? I got to thinking about this as I was working on this. I think if God came to me and said, I need you to figure out what are my options.
Now that I made a good creation and it rebelled, I need you to tell me what my options are. I need you to lay out for me what I can do to fix this problem. Now, I'm not, that smart. So I came up with three. There may be more. You might come up with more.
I came up with three that I think I would come back to God and present him with. Like if I got in on this plan, I think I'd come back and say, okay, I've come up with really kind of three basic options. Option number one, you cannot care. So you can just kind of stop being the way you are. You can let them do this and not care that they're harming each other, that they're tearing your world apart, that they're hurting each other. Like, because mostly the issue is humans.
I mean, yes, we have some natural disasters and yes, you may have a dog bite you, but I go to bed at night, I lock my doors to my house. That's not because I'm afraid of bears. I don't think a bear, like, I think human might try to get in my house because we're the ones causing problems. So I basically come back and say, you cannot care. You can just kind of turn a blind eye to them hurting each other. And I think, pretty quickly, that one would be ruled out.
It'd be like, okay, I kind of knew that was you weren't going to change and you were going to still be good. So let's move to option number two. Option number two is you can just control all their brains and perfectly control all of them and make them not do this. You can, like, Stepford-wise them, you can robot them, make them not do this. This is one of the things people will say periodically is like, if God's so good, why couldn't he have made us better? Like, why did, if we're all going to naturally sin, why couldn't God have made us better?
Y'all know that would be worse, right? The more good stuff God puts in you, the more capability you have. As long as you have a choice, the more capability you have for good or evil. Let me explain this. Y'all ever met a hamster? Hamsters don't have a whole lot going on.
Not a whole lot poured into the hamster. A hamster, a really good hamster, does what? Like, I don't know, lets you hold it? A really bad hamster bites you? Runs away? Like, there's never a hamster that saved a family from a fire.
There's never a hamster that massacred an entire town. Like, hamsters don't do that because they don't have that much in them. But you take a dog, they have more capacity for good things or bad things because more has been poured into them. You take an eight-year-old, more capacity for good things or bad things because more has been given to them. You take an adult, healthy adult human, because God has put more into them, there's more capacity either for good or for evil. The only way to fix that is to take away choice, not to make us better.
The most dangerous creature in creation was one of the creatures that God poured His most beauty and power into. That's why we believe that there are spiritual beings that cause havoc on earth and that are at work. That's what the Bible, Satan, is a being that God poured a lot into. But because He didn't take away choice, it has the ability to go better or worse. This is like every plot of every science fiction movie. Scientists make a thing and it's amazing and then they look at each other and go, could you imagine if this ever fell into the wrong hands?
Because it's so good, it's so big, it's so powerful, obviously it can cause more problems and that's how it works. So I would say option two, take away choice. Just robot them. Because just saying make them better with a choice would still mean they had a lot of capacity for really heinous things. You know that, like even just humans that are more intelligent can cause more problems, more charismatic can cause more problems than like less intelligent, less charismatic humans. They can still do stuff but it's just not on the same scale.
Option three, you can get rid of all the humans. I think sometimes we like to think that God could just get rid of the bad humans but where do you draw that line? Bottom 50%? You do realize as soon as you do that the top 50% are still going to cause problems, they're still having issues, they're still harming each other, they're still selfish, they're still mean. You could just get rid of the humans. I think those are the three options I would come up with.
Maybe you're more intelligent, maybe you could come up with four or five. I don't think any of us would have come up with the option that God came up with. You see, when he promises to save sinners, what he's got to do is take care of sin without getting rid of us. But sin is in us. So Jesus became one of us.
God said, how about I become a human, live perfectly, righteously on their behalf. I do what all the humans were supposed to do but were never capable of. None of them ever accomplished. What if I live perfectly, righteously on their behalf and then die a gruesome, painful death that they deserve. What if I, God, swap places with them? That's the option he came up with.
To get rid of sin, to pay for sin without having to get rid of all of us. Without taking away choice, without changing his nature, it perfectly blends these together where God says, I'm going to stay holy where I hate sin. I'm going to stay loving where I love humans. I'm not taking away choice. I'm actually going to join them and accomplish for them what they could never accomplish. That was his plan, to save sinners without destroying them.
You see, our sin deserves punishment. We've rebelled against God. Our sin has torn apart his good, harmonious world. And he can't just let us off and act as if we haven't. We aren't guilty. People at times will say, well, why couldn't God just forgive us?
Why does there have to be a system for this? And the answer to that is I don't know. I don't fully know why it has to work this way. I do know he did more than what you're asking of him. When people say that at times, they're saying, why couldn't he just wipe it all away? It's like he did.
It just cost him more. And in some ways, that just makes me love him more than if he just magicked it. He actually, no, sin had to be paid for, but he chose to take it on his own back. So Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, to give forgiveness of sin. That only through faith in Christ can you be saved. Can you be a sinner, which all of us are, and be forgiven?
So why does this matter? Why would we do all the things we've been talking about this whole series? Why would you go out of your way to meet your neighbors, to invite them into your house, to get to know your coworkers? The reason why we would do this is that everyone is a sinner deserving of punishment, but Jesus came to save sinners. That our world is so insanely hopeless, and the gospel is hopeful. That we have all been marked and broken by sin, but there's hope in Christ.
That's why this matters. Because we, as Christians, believe this. That this was us. Just to tell you a little bit about our church family, we've held really closely to this the whole time we've been around. This is one of the main things that we fight for. We believe, and we'll tell you, you are a sinner.
So when you hang out with our community groups, and we do confession in our community groups, which means we just talk about how messed up we are. When you confess something, first of all, it's kind of, confession, and this is even just to help the Christians in the room, it's kind of like when you're sick, and you know you're going to throw up, and you try to fight it, and it's the worst thing ever. This is kind of a gross analogy, but this is how this works. And then after you throw up, you feel amazing. That's the way confession works. It is the worst thing ever.
And then you confess. You talk about what you did. You talk about how you've been treating each other. You talk about stuff that no one would ever know unless you told them, and then immediately you're like, especially in a group of people that believe this, that you're a sinner that needs Jesus. Here's what happens. We confess sin, and the people in our community groups go, yeah.
Because we gather together because we all believe we're sinners who need Jesus. And then we say to each other, isn't Jesus good? Isn't it beautiful that he saves sinners? Let me tell you something. When you confess sin in our church, we're just finding out which brand. We knew you were a sinner.
The only people we give a hard time around here are the people who act like they got it together. It's hard on y'all around here. I'm sorry. We're going to give you a hard time. Every time you hang out with your community group and you go, well, I almost thought a bad word, and then I stopped myself. We're like, oh my goodness.
You are the worst sinner here. And because we're sinners, we want to choke you. Like there's just this level of we're going to fight for you're a sinner. But it's not just that. It's that Jesus saves sinners. That's what qualified us for a savior.
That's why he came. That's why he's good. That's why we gather. That's why we worship. One of the things that happens periodically, and this answer for me has not changed, that in pastoral care, pastoral counseling, there are times where I've sat across a table from somebody. I've sat in a little circle of chairs in a community group, or I've been on the phone with somebody, and you can see tears in their eyes, or you can hear it in their voice, or they're just talking about something, sin that has wrecked their life.
They're telling somebody something they've never said before. They're talking about things that have been going on that they've been hiding. And after that moment of just laying it out there, I usually end up just saying the same thing because it hasn't stopped being true. If Jesus didn't save sinners, we wouldn't be doing this. This church would never have gotten started. If this wasn't a safe place to be messed up, this wasn't a safe place to have baggage and pain, I'd go do something else.
Because Jesus saves sinners, sinners, we all have hope. That's what this is about. There's a story in the book of Numbers, chapter 21, where Moses is leading the Israelites out of Egypt. They're in the wilderness, and they come to a place where they've been grumbling against God, and then all these snakes start biting everybody. The Bible calls them fiery snakes. I don't know if that meant like venomous, or if they actually were on fire, which would be terrifying.
But these snakes start biting people, and people start dying. And so Moses comes to God and says, can we do something about the snakes? And God says, I want you to make a fiery snake. They make one out of bronze. They put it on a stick, and they post it up. And if you get bit by a snake, and you're going to die, a venomous snake, you look at the fiery bronze snake on a stick, and you don't die.
That's a crazy story. Jesus is talking in John chapter 3 to a religious leader who would have memorized most of the Old Testament, and he says, the Son of Man, like Moses raised the snake for the Israelites, the Son of Man is going to be raised up as well. You see, they had to look at a fiery snake to have their venom taken away, and Jesus says, I'm going to become sin so that sin can be taken away. He says, I'm going to be that snake. I'm going to be raised up on a cross when people look at me, their sin will be taken away. And here's what's beautiful about that.
I would have loved to have been a doctor in Israel at that time. I'd just take all the snake cases. When they came to Israel's ER, I'd be like, broken leg? I don't do that. Snake bite, come here. Have you looked at the bronze snake yet?
They'd be like, no. I'd be like, I got this. I'd hand them a prescription. They would just say, look at the bronze snake, stupid. That's it. I could solve all of them because there was one thing that saved them.
It wasn't anything special or magical that they did. It was that they, there was something that was there to save them. Jesus says, that's him. There's a pastor called Dr. Martin Laurie Jones. He was a pastor all through kind of the 1900s in England.
He used to be a doctor and I heard him talking one time and he said, one of the biggest differences between being a doctor and being a preacher is this. He said, when he was a doctor and you came to him with an ailment, he had to ask you all kinds of questions. Tell me your family history. Tell me your symptoms. Tell me everything that you think is inconsequential but I need to know it all. He said he would have to sit and ask people tons and tons of questions just to try to be able to then say, here's what you ought to do.
He said he loved being a preacher. He said, because when he walked up and opened the Bible, he already knew what everybody's problem was. He already knew the disease everybody had and he already knew the cure. He said, it didn't matter whether they were wealthy. He said, I didn't care if you were wealthy or poor, whether you're getting drunk on beer or wine, it doesn't matter. Sin's still your problem.
It didn't matter if you were intelligent or non-intelligent, cultured or not cultured. He said, everybody had the same disease. And this is why we, why this matters, why what we've been talking about for the past five weeks matters. Everybody we know has been bitten by a snake. Everybody we know has sin pumping through their veins. And everybody we know is hopeless without Christ, but Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
I cannot see through the walls of my neighbor's house. I cannot read the thoughts of the people I have the chance to work with, but I can tell you that sin is tearing their lives apart every way it possibly can. And I know that Jesus Christ saves sinners, so it's absolutely worth it that we would go out of our way to see whomever we can come to know Jesus. Verse 16. But I received mercy.
So remember, this is Paul talking. Oh, sorry. Back into verse 15. I skipped something. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom, of all the sinners, I am the foremost. That means some Bible verses will say chief.
Paul says, I'm the worst. The worst of all the sinners. But I received mercy, meaning that I did not get what I deserved, but that Christ offered mercy to me, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. See, we believe that sin kills us. That there's an eternal death that we will face because of our sin, but that Jesus Christ died in our place for our sin, atoned for our sin, and that there's an eternal life offered in him. And what Paul says is, I'm the worst one.
Some of you in here today maybe came in thinking, I'm a terrible person. How could God ever love me? Maybe you came in because you're trying to fix your life right now. Maybe that's why you've started hanging out with our church families because you're trying to get it together. You think stuff's going poorly in your life and you think, well, I need some Jesus. I gotta start behaving.
I gotta start acting right. I gotta quit talking like this. I gotta quit acting like this. And here's what Paul says. You're not worse than me. I tried to fight Jesus.
You may have done some messed up stuff. Paul says, I tried to fight Jesus. I was killing Christians. I was rounding them up. I was actively fighting against the church. And Jesus Christ gave mercy to me, saved me, redeemed me, so that I could be an example to everyone.
Jesus Christ saves sinners and not based off of anything they do. Paul was not headed to Damascus to get his life together. He was headed to Damascus to snatch the lives of Christians. And Jesus saved him. And what Paul says is, I'm an example to everyone that Jesus Christ saves sinners. You don't have to have it together.
You don't have to be moral. That's not the point. It's that Jesus was good in our place. Some of you are thinking, well, I don't deserve this and I'm not worthy. Right. That's the point.
You don't deserve this. You're not worthy. Jesus Christ saves sinners. It doesn't say Jesus Christ saves the moral. It doesn't say Jesus Christ saves the smart. It doesn't say Jesus Christ saves the well-behaved.
It says he saves sinners. And then it says this, verse 17. To the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, the honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. When Jesus saves sinners, he gets all the glory. You see, if you come to Jesus and you present to him your good life, your good behavior, your nice attitude, your good digestion that makes you easy to get along with, if you come to Jesus and you present to him all of the good things that you have, do you know who gets glory?
You do. Look at all your gold stars. You're so precious. Jesus Christ doesn't save good, moral, well-behaved people. He saves the busted, the broken, the sick, the sinner. He saves the person who's been bitten by a snake and knows it.
And then you know who gets all the glory? Jesus. There was not a person walking around the Israelite camp that was like, yeah, I defeated snake bite venom. And they were like, how? I looked at the stick. It's like, okay, well, the stick did it, weirdo.
That's the gospel. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. And there's something about being a Christian that helps us all line up with Paul and say, yeah, I'm the worst. I'm the foremost. And we all believe as Christians that he's going to keep doing it. That's what he does.
And that there's hope for our neighbors and our friends and our coworkers and our family members. Because there's hope for us. You know who's sitting in these chairs right now that's a part of our church family? A whole bunch of people who never thought they would be sitting in these chairs and be a part of a church family. It's one of my favorite things about our church. There's a whole bunch of people that were like, yeah, I thought this was stupid.
Just being real. A whole bunch of people that were like, yeah, I was mad at the church. I didn't like Jesus. I thought this was weird. Some of y'all grew up in the church. I'm not saying anything bad about y'all, but I'm just saying a whole lot of our church family is a bunch of people that thought they'd never be here.
But you know what? Jesus Christ saved sinners. And they don't show up. We don't show up as a church family to keep doing our good deeds. We show up as a church family to continue to remember that I'm a sinner who needs Jesus and he's good and glorious and holy. And that's why it matters.
That's why you'd invite somebody in your home. That's why you'd start praying over your schedule. That's why you'd try to get to know your neighbors. you'd rather be coming to know their story. Okay, come on.
Few to Many
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Spencer Carey. I am a church planting resident here at Mill City. It has almost been a year. This June will be a year since we've been down here starting the work of planting Antioch Church on the other side of Lexington. It's been a good year.
It's been a year that has been a joy to be serving alongside you guys, to be learning from you guys. We've felt a lot of love, and it's been great. We're excited for where God has ahead for us. And this morning, we are continuing our Extraordinary Series, and we're going to be talking about community groups and how they can be used for mission. Conventional wisdom says that if you want to accomplish a goal or win a game or whatever, you choose the best and the brightest to field your team. And that's practically true in sports.
In sports, in professional sports, the most important position that you hire for as an owner is a general manager, the GM. The GM chooses the head coach, which is hugely important. He also chooses the players. He's the head of scouting. So I'm a huge Indianapolis Colts fan, which means the last five years has been somewhat painful because we have one of the best quarterback prospects since Peyton Manning, and it's been terrible to watch because we had a bad GM who chose really bad players and a not-so-great coach.
I think of other sports. I think of Major League Baseball. Probably the best GM in sports is Theo Epstein. He helped build the Red Sox and ended that curse, and then he went to the Chicago Cubs where he just ended that curse. So he's really good at what he does.
If you want to win ballgames, you feel the best team. The same is also true in advertising. If you want your product to sell, you choose the best and the brightest. In our culture, that seems to be celebrities. Celebrity endorsements is where it's at. One of my favorite celebrities who endorses products is Shaq.
Shaquille O'Neal, he's just hilarious. He was one of the most dominant power forwards in the history of the NBA, and then he comes out, and he's just been selling products ever since. One of my favorite products he sells are Buicks. He is seven. You don't know who Shaq is. He's seven foot one.
He's massive, and they show him inside of a Buick, and you're like, there's no way Shaq fits in a Buick. He has business selling tanks, but not Buicks. That's not how that works. One of the worst celebrity endorsements that I've seen is the Sarah McLachlan abused animal commercials. You know what I'm talking about. If you've watched TV past 11 o'clock, you have seen these.
The first time you watch it, her song, In the Arms of an Angel, comes on, which is an extremely sad song. And then they show a picture of an abused puppy, and you're immediately like, this is really sad. And then they show a hurt cat. And you may not be a cat person. That doesn't do anything for you. But then they show you more pictures of dogs.
And you're like, oh my goodness, this is terrible. The first time you watch it, I mean, it moves you a little bit. The hundredth time you've seen it, it infuriates you. You want it off the TV. You change the channel as fast as you can. But that's what companies, that's what nonprofits, that's what teams.
If you want the best way to sell your product, the best way to win ballgames, you choose the best and the brightest. That's conventional wisdom. Jesus defies that. He defies conventional wisdom by choosing a bunch of scrubs and equipping them to do ministry. If you don't know what a scrub is, a scrub is one definition. It's a guy who thinks he's fine who's also known as a buster.
That is one definition of a scrub. An alternate definition of a scrub is just someone who generally lacks talent. Not very special, not an all-star at all. And this is who Jesus chose. So we're going to look today, we're going to walk through this.
We're going to walk through who Jesus chose and why he chose them to change the world, the 12 apostles. Then we're going to look at how he equipped them to do ministry. And we're going to see how God still wants to use us today. So before we dive into that, let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. God, I pray that you would use it this morning to show us what mission looks like and how our community groups can be used to reach this city.
We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so we'll start at who he chose. Matthew 10, 2 and following. The names of the 12 apostles are these. First, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew, his brother.
James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother. Philip and Bartholomew. Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector. James, the son of Alphaeus. And Thaddeus. Simon, the zealot.
And Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. All right, so Jesus chooses 12 ordinary men that represent kind of a common cross-section of that culture at that time. You look at Peter, James, John, Andrew. We know they were fishermen. All right, so blue-collar, probably uneducated, fishermen.
Then you get Bartholomew, James, Philip, and Jude Thaddeus. Thaddeus being a name that exhibits both testosterone and biblical value, which is why our son who is coming this summer will have the middle name Thaddeus. These four, we don't really know who they were. They could have been farmers. They could have been shepherds. They could have been fishermen.
They don't have name recognition. We don't really know who they were. They were just common people. Then you get to Thomas. Thomas is probably a common trade, too, but we do know something about Thomas. He's a bit of a skeptic.
So he kind of represents the skeptic part of their society. Then we get to Matthew and Simon. Matthew, we'll start with him. Matthew is a tax collector. He's a Jewish tax collector. Which means he's one of the most hated people in his culture.
He was a Jew who worked for the Roman government who was oppressing the Jews, collecting taxes on behalf of them, and taking more than his fair share. Like, we hate the IRS. This is the IRS and steroids. This is like China oppressing our country and having to pay taxes to an American who takes more than his fair share. So he's hated.
And then on the other extreme, we have Simon the Zealot. He is a part of a group of revolutionaries called the Zealots. They actively sought to overthrow the Roman government, rebellion after rebellion, until finally about 70 AD, the Romans were done with it, and they went and destroyed all of Jerusalem. They destroyed the temple, which is why there's only one part of the temple called the Western Wall that is still in existence. The Zealots hated the Romans. They hated tax collectors who were sellout Jews who worked for the Romans.
So Jesus chooses two people on opposite ends of the spectrum. And then we get to Judas. We know Judas was the one who betrayed Jesus. He could have been an accountant. We don't really know. He handled the money.
But he's just a common person that ends up betraying Jesus. And that's the team. That's the all-star team that he chose to change the world. Defying conventional wisdom, Jesus chose ordinary people to do something extraordinary. And even worse, he chose people who were more likely to tear each other apart than actually unify under a common cause. So why did Jesus choose this group of people to change the world?
For a few reasons. Because God looks glorious when he chooses the broken, when he chooses common, uneducated people to accomplish his purposes. Like the sovereignty of God, which is his rule and his reign, looks more glorious when he uses jacked-up people to advance his kingdom. We see that from Old Testament to New Testament. God gets to flex when he takes a zealot and a tax collector and unifies them under a common cause to see the world changed. It is clear who's in control of the mission when he chooses a common group of people to advance his kingdom.
And they're all so different. And I see that on a practical level now. Even being at this church the last year, thinking of two pastors that came to plant this church, Chet and Matt. They are so different. Like we knew each other in college. But I've gotten to know them more since I've been down here.
And they're so different. You take Chet, for instance. Chet kind of has a stoic, kind of hard face that doesn't look as friendly. He's not very touchy-feely. He's more likely to punch you if you hug him unannounced. That's just Chet.
He's not very touchy-friendly. But you get to know him. He's actually very friendly. He cares a lot. And then as you get to know him more, you see he has a soft spot for musicals and broadways and a little bit of folk music. Then you get to Matt Freeman, who looks happy all the time.
He has got a very kind of light-hearted, very happy spirit about him. He's more likely to hug you unannounced. Hug you and pick you up unannounced. And behind all that, when he gets into competition, he gets gritty. He gets nasty. It's fun.
Especially when you beat him in ping-pong and you get to see it. But God uses both. They're so different. You can go on down the line and show their differences. God uses their differences to bless this church and to make the mission here better. And the same is true if you're honest in your community group.
I mean, be real. Think of the people in your community group right now. Would you have ever connected if it wasn't for Christ? If it wasn't for the reason why you're here is because of Jesus. Would you have ever connected as a community group? Would you still connect?
For some of you, maybe. But for many of you, probably not. Every one of your community group is very different. I think of the community group that we started when we launched community groups off the ground for Antioch in the fall. I've got a little bit of intense personality. I love the Gamecocks.
I love going out to restaurants and eating good foods. I love good coffee. I like weirder music and weirder movies. And then you get to Jeremy Powell, who moved down here last summer. And Jeremy is way different. He's a personal trainer and he loves working out.
I hate working out. I hate it. He likes five different types of food. Unseasoned chicken. Rice. Oatmeal.
Broccoli. And if it's crazy, sweet potatoes. And that's it. Like, that's all he eats. And we're so different. I think of the Pruitts who moved down here.
We're different. They're Clemson fans. We're way different on that. I think of the Garcias who moved down here. They're New Yorkers. We're all so...
When I think about the people who helped launch our community group, we're just... We're all so very different. But what comes out of those differences is a diverse group of people united by the gospel. What comes out of that is a beautiful display of empathy with others. It is a patience with personalities that might clash with you. And it grows you.
And it shapes you in ways that would never happen if you got to choose the people that you want to journey through life with in a community group. And in being different, we all bring something different to the table. We bring different spiritual giftings to the table. Romans 12 is a passage that is one of a few passages in the New Testament that talks about spiritual giftings. Spiritual giftings are just giftings and talents that the Holy Spirit has given us to serve one another in the church and serve those outside the church. Romans 12 gives a few of them.
In verses 5 and 4, we'll read them. It says, So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. All right, hear this. We are one body with individual members with individual different spiritual giftings. I mean, some of you are unreal gifted at serving in hospitality. I serve on host team week in, week out, and I get to see it firsthand.
You make this church better by being such great hosts that bring people in here to hear the gospel. Some of you are just very good at exhorting and encouraging other people. Like, it's just good to be in your presence, to hear your words of encouragement. You're good at that. Some of you are able to teach. That doesn't always look like what happens up here.
Sometimes that's in community group leading a discussion. Sometimes that's walking somebody at a coffee shop through a Bible study. Some of you can teach. Some of you are good at making money, and you have generous hearts. And we can meet here on a Sunday. We can gather together because of that.
It costs money to use this place, and we get to see more ministry happen because of it. We all bring something different to the table in how God uses us to impact one another and others. And what we see from how Jesus chose his apostles is that our diversity is a means of grace that God uses to impact many. Our diversity is a means of grace that God uses to change the world, which is why Jesus chooses the people he did. And it makes God look good. So that's who he chose.
That's why he chose. I want to take a look at how he prepared them for ministry. The primary focus of the four Gospels is Jesus spending time with his apostles, preparing them for ministry. That's it. He had a large-scale ministry, absolutely, but the primary focus is him pouring into the twelve over and over again. You read how Jesus was doing ministry with his disciples, and he was modeling how to do this.
Because the plan wasn't that he was going to stay here forever. So he spent three years modeling this. He spent three years praying with them, teaching them how to pray. He spent three years showing them the importance of the word. There are over 66 different references to the Old Testament in Jesus' dialogues with the disciples. He showed the word is central to what you are going to do.
He modeled solitude and the importance of that. He did large-scale ministry. He did get away with the twelve. Sometimes he did get away with the three. And then he would also get away by himself to spend time with his heavenly father, showing that all of us need time alone with God. Even if you're an extrovert like me, even if you're even more of an extrovert, you need time alone with your father.
He modeled mercy ministry by having compassion on the crowds. He modeled how to have a good time. One of his first miracles is changing water to wine at a wedding party. And I mean, it's so much so that the Pharisees accused Jesus of being a drunkard and a glutton. Now we know that's not true because getting drunk is sin and Jesus is sinless.
We know that never happened. We know that he wasn't a glutton. But he must have been having such a good time with his disciples on a regular basis that they can make those accusations. So he did all this and more. He spent three years showing them how to do this so that they would know how to do it when he left. And just being around him, they soaked up a ton of stuff.
And that makes sense on a practical level. I think on a practical level with my relationship with my daughter, she is almost two years old. And she absorbs a lot. She absorbs some of the good stuff that we do. So we teach her how to pray, what that looks like.
Every night we try to read the storybook Bible so that she can get a rhythm of hearing the gospel, hearing the stories of the Bible come to life. We try some good patterns and then some bad patterns she eventually picks up from us. One of the bad patterns that she picked up a couple months ago, she looked at our dog. We have two dogs. We have one dog who is a sweet puppy who we know she's going to be awesome. Like we can see the long run.
This is going to be a great dog. And we have another dog who's objectively terrible. And she looks at that dog and she goes, shut up, Rolo. And my wife looks at me and I look at her and I look at Ellie. I'm like, no, you shut up. That's not how that went down.
Immediately, I'm like, I'm a little mortified because I know it's me. I know it's my fault because this dog, he's just bad. He's bitten us. He's disobedient. And one of the things that he does that drives us crazy is when she's napping and you have a toddler that's trying to nap and you don't want that interrupted. He barks at everything.
He barks at noises outside and he wakes her up. And I want to take him and put him in front of the TV and watch Sarah McLachlan commercials and say, this could be your life. And my go-to response is, shut up. And she heard it. And so we had to correct that. We had to slowly teach her that, no, say shush, don't say shut up.
But she picks up a lot. You pick up a lot from people around, especially people that you might be influenced by. And for three years, the apostles got to spend three years with the God of the universe. And they picked up a ton. They got to see the heart of God on display for three years. And it impacted 11 of them in profound ways that changed and shaped the future of their ministries until each of them died.
So after spending three years modeling this, Jesus goes to the cross. He goes to the cross where he pays. His blood is spilt. It pays for their sins so that they can have a right standing before God. He goes to the tomb where he conquers death at the resurrection, loosening the grip of death and its power over his followers, giving them a chance to have a new life in Christ through belief in him. And then he sends them out.
He commissions them in the Great Commission. He says, go make disciples. You have one Job. Go make disciples. Do what I have done with you the past three years and change the world. And then the event of Pentecost happens.
They go to Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit descends upon the church at Pentecost. Peter stands up, gives a sermon. Three thousand plus people are changed in a moment. Changed by his grace. They are baptized.
And as you're reading Acts, you might be thinking, this must be the pattern of ministry that's going forward. They're going to travel around and they're going to preach. And there's going to be thousands of people that come to Christ. That is why the church exists today, right? No. This is a special, specific, just beautiful event.
That is not what happens going forward. What happens going forward is directly what follows that in Acts 2, verses 42 through 47. It says, And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And all came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And hear this. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. That's the pattern that follows for the rest of the book of Acts and the early church. After spending three years with Jesus, the disciples simply modeled his ministry.
They prayed together. They studied the word together. They ministered to those who had need together. They broke bread and ate in their homes together. They kept it simple, making everyday disciples an everyday life. And that's the vision of why Chet and Matt moved down here to plant Mill City.
That is why we moved down here to plant Antioch Church. That simple vision of ministry that we would gather together on Sundays where we'd worship, we'd hear the word preach, and we'd be sent out and we'd scatter into our homes and community groups throughout the week. That's why we preach community groups so much. That's why you hear about it every Sunday. Because we see that God wants to use community groups to change the world, to change this city. And part of us talking about it a lot is a little bit of a reaction to the fact that for most people in this culture, down south, church is a building.
Church is an event that happens on Sunday. It's a social function of sorts. And that's not the biblical definition. The church is the people of God. We gather together for worship and we scatter into community groups. That's the model.
So that's why we have preached this so much. We believe God wants to use you and me to make disciples who will make disciples. God wants to use us to plant groups across this city. We believe that he wants to use us, the few, to impact the many. That's why he chooses everyday scrubs like us to change the world. So in order for us to do that, there's got to be a little bit of a mindset change.
We've got to change our mind on how we look at this a little bit. So we have to see community groups as a missional vehicle, as a place for mission, as a people for mission. We have to see it as that. For many of us, community groups has become a place of refuge, a place of safety. And some of that's for good reasons. Some of that is because community group is a place and it's a people we can gather together and we can be honest with one another.
We can love one another. We can be around our community group members and just be real. And inviting new people into that kind of breaks that up sometimes. It kind of makes it difficult at times. So we have to have a mindset change that says, yeah, community group is a place where we can be fully loved and fully known and fully loved.
But it's also a place where we can see lives changed by the gospel. And in doing that, we're going to grow. And that's going to have to cause us to plant new groups. We have nine community groups represented in this room. And we'd love to see in a year's time that double. We'd love to see 18 community groups happen.
Which means we've got to plant and launch more groups. And when we do that, the cycle of starting new groups is painful and beautiful and good all at the same time. It's a little bit painful because the people that you've journeyed with over the last year or so, you're going to launch some of them out into a new group. Now you're going to see them on Sundays and you're going to hang out from time to time. That's going to happen. But the weekly rhythm of gathering together as a community group, that's going to shift a little bit.
That's going to change completely. They're going to be in a new group. But what happens, what comes out of that is it allows more space for new people to come and experience the gospel. So we're going to have to plant more groups. And the other mindset change that has to happen is we have to see that everything counts. Every aspect of our life counts for the mission of the gospel going forward.
The church that sent us out down here, the language they used was location, vocation, recreation. You'd be missional in your location where you live, your vocation where you work, your recreation where you play, where you live life. So for many of us, we have to do some mindset changes and seeing that we have to be missional in all of those areas. So where we live, your neighborhood, your location. Get to know your neighbors. The neighbor across the street whose yard is a wreck, maybe the yard is a wreck because they have poor health and they can't take care of their yard.
And we get to go and serve them and cut their grass and get to know them and invite them into our community groups. For some of you, many of you work, you work eight to ten hours a day at a job where you're around people, some of whom don't believe the gospel. You get the opportunity to get to engage them, to get to know them, to go out and get lunch with them, to spend time with them, building a relationship so that you can talk about the gospel. You can invite them into groups. Many of you have hobbies. Some of you have like ten hobbies.
You probably should reduce that a little bit. Some of you have just a few hobbies, which is good for your soul. You should use those hobbies as a means for mission. If you love going to workout groups, there are people in that workout group who do not know Jesus. Get to know them, engage them. Whether it's hunting or fishing or bowling leagues or whatever, see where you enjoy life as a place for mission.
So if we make those adjustments in our mind, if we see a community group as a primary vehicle for mission in the church, if we see the call to plant more groups and how that is advancing the kingdom here in Columbia, if we can make the adjustments to see that everything counts in every aspect of our life, we can start to get practical about how to make our community groups more missional. So I'm going to run through a list real quick of ways we can make our community groups more missional, and then we'll close out. The first one is to really love one another. Now I know when I say that, you're like, yeah, we get that.
I mean really love one another in a way that looks way different than the outside world. I mean our culture, our culture is so fake. It's so fake. People put their best faces on Facebook. There's not real relationships. They're not honest about their brokenness.
The world is fake, and everyone is so tired spending plates in that world trying to get by. And in our community groups, when we gather together for our meeting times, when we gather together outside of it, we get to be honest. We get to be real. We understand we're not all stars. We're scrubbed saved by grace. Like we get it, that Jesus is good.
So we can confess our sin. We can be honest about our brokenness. And when people from the outside world come and see that kind of love, they see something way different and way better. And we have to love one another. Even the people in our groups, and they clash with our personalities, we have to love one another in spite of our differences and model the gospel. If we don't have love, our community groups will not be missional.
Secondly, you are a community group. Therefore, you can do things outside of your normal community group meeting time. The difference there is sometimes we see community group as an event that happens on a Tuesday night or Wednesday night. The community groups are not the event. It's the people. You are a community group.
So you can do things outside of your normal meeting time. So go bowling. Go to the zoo. Go do things. Hang out. Live life together.
Some of you, you can go to lunch with your coworkers and invite somebody from your community group who can join you. And you go get lunch together. And they get to see your dynamics of how you love one another and how you care for one another. And they get to see the gospel lived out in a piece of your community group. So you are a group.
Do stuff outside of your normal group meeting time. Thirdly, use your strengths. Use the strengths that are in your group. Some of your groups are kid-friendly. And by kid-friendly, I mean there's like eight kids in it. We're about to have seven kids in our community group.
And it's messy. And in community group meeting time, you might be thinking, who wants to be a part of this? We've got one kid that is now naked. We don't know how he got naked, but he's naked now. Then we've got another kid that has blown out their diaper.
And then two kids collide. And there's crying. And there's screaming. And you're thinking, who wants to be a part of this chaos? People with kids. People with kids want to be a part of that.
People who have not had an adult conversation in three months with anyone other than their spouse want to be a part of that. They want to bring their kids to be a part of that. You have kids. Use your kids as a missional opportunity to invite people in to experience the gospel. Go to the splash park and invite other families from your neighborhood. Your kids can be a great missional tool.
That's a biblical good thing. They're awesome. And they can be used for mission. All right? So use, if you're kid, if y'all are kid friendly, use it.
If you have someone in your group that is like a relational Jedi, and they maintain 30 friendships with unbelievers on a regular basis, And you might be an introvert, and you might be thinking, how is that possible? I have two close friends, and that's all I have time for. That's okay. Be stretched a little bit. That's okay. But what you could do is you could see your relational friend.
You could see someone like Jordan Surratt as a person to come alongside, to spend time with some of their friends, get to know them, and invite them in to life together with us. Some of you are admin gifted. You are gifted in administration. And we need you badly. If we don't, this is what taco night looks like. Seven people bring lettuce.
One person brings cheese. And one person brings tortillas. That's not a taco. There's no such thing as a vegetarian taco. It does not exist. So we need you to be the admin person that makes group run smoother, that makes our time together run smoother, so that everyone's bringing stuff that's good, and that we can be hospitable to those who might visit.
Some of you are coffee snobs. Who else loves coffee? I'm a coffee snob. I embrace it. People will throw that label at you, and you can shut it down. Okay?
Because it's good to love coffee. I love roasting an Ethiopian Yerga Chop bean in my garage and bringing it to community group. You may think that's weird. I say that's good service. All right?
Some of you love serving good food. Right? Some of you might love throwing steaks on the grill and have the money to bring steaks to the grill. Do it. Invite your neighbors. Some of you, like Rask said, only got money for hot dogs.
You make a hot dog, you make a friend. Use your Memorial Day to grill out to get to know people and to invite them in. Some of you are awkward and small talk. You should grow in that. All right?
But while community group is kind of, our meeting time is kind of winding down and dishes need getting done and people are still talking, go wash the dishes. Some of you are great at small talk. And when somebody new comes, you actually go and talk to them and invite them and make them feel welcomed. I could go on and on about the different giftings that we have, the different strengths we have. We all have different strengths, but the reality is we're all a group of scrubs. When we gather together, we see our strengths come together and we see that we are better together.
Fourthly, be persistent and play the long game. Be persistent and play the long game. What I mean by that is, is that this takes time. In our culture, it just takes time. What we do in community groups, I don't know if you know this, is not normal. It's not normal for us to gather on a regular basis, to be honest about our brokenness, to talk about the gospel, to read the Bible.
That's not normal in our culture. Even in a southern churchy culture, that's not normal. So when you invite somebody and they say no, don't be shocked. Like this takes time. It takes time to get to know people. You may invite them and they may say no.
And you may invite them three months later and they may say no again. But eventually, if you're persistent, not annoying, don't be the person that invites every single moment you can. Be persistent, not annoying. But the more time you spend with them, the more time, more lunches you get with them, they might actually come. And then if they come, they might not come back for another six months. But if you're persistent, hopefully by God's grace, one day they're going to see their brokenness and their need.
And they're going to see the world that they're in is fake. And they're going to remember the time when I came around a group of people who actually loved one another. And they'll say, I need that. And they'll come back and they'll experience the gospel and they'll be changed by his grace. So be persistent and play the long game.
All right, here's the final two. Know that this is hard. This is difficult. You will get hurt in doing this. Jesus spent three years pouring in a 12 and one of them betrayed him and had him handed over to die one of the most gruesome deaths imaginable. If you do this, you will get hurt.
My wife went out in a community group in Louisville. We spent a year and a half pouring into a woman who we helped pay for rent. We helped keep the lights on. We babysat her kids. We got her jobs that she eventually got fired from. We helped with legal fees and a custody dispute.
We spent a year and a half pouring into her. And we received lie after lie. And we got used. And then she moved on. And that's painful. Like you invest a year and a half into something like that.
That hurts. And you might be tempted to think, is this really worth it? Is it worth it to open myself up to that kind of pain? And I'll close with this. It's absolutely worth it. Because this is where joy is found.
This is joyful. When I get to see stories like what's happened in our community group with the Garcias moving down here. I think of Jen Garcia got baptized here about a month ago. And I get to see her story of her searching for God. Doesn't really have handles for what that looks like. Has never really heard the gospel.
Comes down as a part of our community group. She gets to hear the gospel. She understands that she believes. And she's growing in the grace of our Lord. When I get to see that, when we get to baptize her and see that change, it's worth it. I've gotten to know the Pabones, and especially Josh, the past year.
When we first, one of the first meetings Josh Pabone and I ever had, we're talking with Chet and Matt. And all of a sudden Josh goes, listen, we're not friends yet. And then he's kind of moved on. I was like, oh, okay. We're not friends yet. We've grown to be friends.
And as I've gotten to hear his story, and he gave me permission to share this. When I got to hear his story of how him and Aideen are on the brink of divorce. And their life is in shambles. And someone invites them to a community group. And they come, and they experience the gospel, and they see a place where they can belong. A place where they can be loved.
And their marriage is changed. And now they're community group leaders. And they're opening their home up, being hospitable, seeing other lives be changed. When I hear stories like that, when I think of this church that sent us, and the stories that happened there of lives being changed, of marriages being restored. When I think of the stories that are happening here, and I see them, I'm like, this is absolutely worth it. I'm sold.
I want to be a ragtag group of scrubs being used by Jesus to see this city be changed. Our hope is that each of us would see our community groups as a place to see lives be changed by the gospel. That we would plant more groups across this city where we see lives be changed, marriages be restored. That is the hope for community groups. That's the hope for us going forward as a church.
Weaponized Homes
Transcript
Good morning, what's up guys? My name is Raz. I'm one of the pastors here. We're in this series at the moment called Extraordinary. And in this series what we're doing is looking at all of the little, little, independent, ordinary aspects of life and seeing how they can be given significance in order to make those ordinary situations in life extraordinary. And we've seen a couple of different ways so far in which that happens.
And today, that's our goal for this series. But what we're talking about today specifically is going to be hospitality. We're going to talk about how Christians in their everyday, ordinary lives can give significance to hospitality and invite people into their homes and into their lives. and that those people will be able to see a little, itty-bitty glimpse of the gospel in each of those moments. And that's kind of our goal for today. We're going to see what the Bible says about hospitality. But I think we'll find very quickly that it's quite clear.
There's not a whole lot of wiggle room. It's not one of those situations where we have our guard up and we want to kind of fight with it. So because it's pretty clear, we're going to kind of power through that. We're going to get through it pretty quickly. And we're going to spend most of our time today talking, looking at examples, seeing some kind of applicable ways that we might put this into practice in our lives or see how the concept of hospitality can transform the church in such a way that Jesus is made known through us in our homes, that kind of thing. We looked earlier in this series about how we have one Job.
And this is one of the first sermons is we have one Job. And that one Job that we've been given is to make disciples. And I think that chances are we could be neglecting the best tool that we have to accomplish that. And that's our homes. And so I'm going to pray. And then we're going to talk a little bit about why hospitality, what God says about why we should be hospitable.
And then we're going to spend most of our time talking about how to actually accomplish that. So let's pray. God, I thank you for the opportunity to look to Jesus as the ultimate example of how we can be welcoming to others. And I pray that as we look today at what it would look like to open our homes, to see people know you through interactions with us in our everyday life, that you'll be empowering us to go out and actually do this. That we can see the value and the worth of opening up our homes so that people can see Jesus in our lives. It's in his name we pray.
Amen. Before we launch headfirst into this, I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page definitionally about what we're talking about. So there's a chance that you might think, oh, I am hospitable. I'm a very hospitable person. I'm super welcoming at work. I'm super welcoming at other people's house.
I'm super welcoming on Sunday mornings. I'm a really hospitable person. And that's good. Those are all noble. We want that for you. We want that for your friends.
We want that for your life. That's great stuff. But definitionally, we're going to be honing in a little bit on what that hospitality actually looks like. I was going to go to a Bible dictionary for this, but I thought I'd ask Siri first. And I actually like Siri's definition a lot. So I asked Siri.
I'm sorry if I trigger anyone's phone in your pocket right now. I just realized that might happen. Siri's definition of what hospitality means is the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Now, that covers a lot. But we're going to roll with it because I like it because it highlights two important factors about hospitality that we might overlook.
And the first one of those is that it's about reception. It's about receiving people in. It's not about going to people where they're at. It's about having people to you where you're at. And specifically for us, we're going to be talking about what that looks like in your homes, bringing people from outside of your sphere inside of your sphere. It also talks about the second thing is that it focuses on.
Now, it doesn't only allow. Like, it's not an exception clause, but it focuses on. It pushes us towards. It leans towards strangers and outsiders. Now, it's perfectly reasonable for you to be hospitable to your community group, to your friends, to the people that you're already surrounded by, like normal people that you interact with on a daily basis. But this definition pushes us a little bit in the direction of what would it look like to be hospitable to people outside of that normal sphere?
What happens when you have to push a cultural or a racial or a socioeconomic barrier in order to have someone else that you wouldn't normally hang out with in your life? What would it look like for a 27-year-old person to have a 60-something-year-old person they didn't know over in their house? How could they see the gospel in that situation? So we're going to kind of be leaning into that a little bit and leaning into that aspect of this definition. Okay, so why hospitality? Let's take a look at what the Bible says about hospitality.
And I think we're going to see pretty clearly and pretty early on that we are commanded repeatedly throughout the Bible to be hospitable. Some people seem, I think this is normal for us, I think this is cultural for us, to think that hospitality is optional. That if you have the right house or the right age kids or the right amount of money or add any kind of qualifier onto that thing, as long as you check all those boxes then and only then, maybe, you could consider being hospitable. But I think we'll see that there's not that much wiggle room because according to the Bible, hospitality is a command, not a suggestion.
And we're first going to look at Romans 15, 1 through 3. Typically what we'll do around here is open up the Bibles in the chairs, sit in one passage for most of the day. But we're actually going to be bouncing around quite a lot. So if you're not super quick with searching around the Bible for passages, everything is going to be appearing on the screen today. That's not normal for us, but because we're bouncing a lot, you can just check it out on the screen if that suits you better. We're going to be in Romans 15, 1 through 3.
It says, We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. We see in this that in Christian maturity, those who are strong have the obligation to lift up and benefit those who are weak. And looking to Christ, we see that he willingly took that burden onto himself. That was his goal as well.
He wasn't pleasing himself. He was sacrificing himself on behalf of others. He was sacrificing his comfort for the sake of other people. And when I look at that, and when I look to his example, I see this kind of glaring place in our lives where we kind of just don't really follow that. We don't sacrifice our comfort a whole lot, at least not in the way that Jesus does. And I think that way that we don't do it is in our homes, right?
In our homes, you get to... Homes are an interesting thing to think about. In your home, you get to control everything. Like, unlike anywhere else in the world. In your home, you are the boss and you control everything. Ish.
I mean, roommates, wives, like children, like you've got to compromise some, maybe on some of the things. But at least in the grand scheme of things, like you get to control the temperature. You don't get to do that everywhere. You get to control the sounds that the rooms make, like the music or the TV. You get to control the color of the walls. You get to control every little piece of what happens in our house.
And typically, I think, what we see that the purpose of home as is our refuge away from the world. Where we get to kind of ignore everything that happens outside and have our little space that's exactly how we want it. And if you think about it, like over time, as technology has increased, we've actually built homes specifically more and more to accomplish that goal. This may not be you, but this person exists. And you can definitely visualize this. You're driving home.
This may not be you, but somebody does this. You're driving home. And as you pull into your little driveway, you look up to your... I don't know what the thing's called here. We call it a visor. It's like the little flap thing that blocks the sun from your eyes.
Also a visor? Thank you. Good save. The visor thing. And you click the little thing on it and you push the button. And the button communicates with the robot inside your house.
And the robot inside your house opens the wall. And you drive your car through the wall inside your house. And you push the button and the shield comes down behind you. So that you get to block out everything on the other side of it. Like that is a real thing. And if someone's out on the street screaming your name, you can just like pretend that that never happened.
You can sit in the car until that shield goes right at the bottom. Then you get out and go into your house and pretend nothing ever happened. We recently bought a house and I was thinking of all the cool technology and stuff we could put on it. Put into the new house. And one of the new things that they've got is a doorbell that it senses movement. And so before someone even rings your doorbell, like if someone approaches your house, it'll text you a photo of that person.
So that you could be upstairs or at work or anywhere and you'll have a photo of the person who is approaching your house. And before they even ring the bell, you can decide to ignore them. And it's really easy if they're wearing like a Time Warner hat or something. But if it's just a stranger, you get to make that call. I'm too tired. I can't be bothered.
And the rest of us have to walk up to the little pokey hole thing where you look through. And then you decide. But they've heard you at floorboards creak by that point. They at least know your home. And we don't have the garage shield thing. So they can see my car as well.
So we always have to answer the door, at least sort of mostly. We've structured it. I mean, just as society, technology-wise, we've developed systems that mean we don't have to pay attention to the world. You can get your groceries delivered to your house. You'll get a notification on your phone with a photo of the guy delivering them telling you that it's there. And you can ignore it until you watch him walk away.
And then you can open the door and pull your groceries inside. And they're in a perfectly little refrigerated box thing. You don't even have to speak to cashiers anymore. Even if you go to Walmart, you prefer the line that you don't have to talk to anybody in. We've developed a cultural world, a technology world, where in our homes and in our lives, we don't have to relate to people. And I think at home, amongst all places, that's kind of where we focus on the most in keeping people out.
Because in your home, you're the boss, and you do what you want to do when you want to do it, right? That's the point. That's the point of being at home. Shut the door. Lock it. Deadbolt it.
Put the little chain thing on that doesn't look like it had stopped very much. Keep the world out. That's what home is. And yet in verse 2, it said, Let each of us please his neighbor for his own good to build him up. In following Christ's example, we ought to be taking that posture of sacrificing our refuge, sacrificing that safe zone that we have in order to be able to engage people and invite them in to build them up. And so it's not surprising when, if you kept reading in that section, you get down to verse 7.
And Paul says in verse 7, Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. In light of the gospel, since Christ has welcomed you, your role now in the world is to be welcoming to other people. And that includes into your safe zone, into your refuge, into your home. And if we are a people who are welcomed by God, we will be a people who are welcoming to others. Because hospitality is rooted in the gospel. Here's the gospel.
All of humanity was sinful. All of humanity falls short of the glory of God. We deserve nothing but death. In fact, we're told that we have earned the wages of death. All that we've accomplished, all that we've done, we deserve death as a result of that. But since God loves us, he sent his son Jesus, who lives a perfect life, so that when we killed him, his death was able to pay the penalty for the sin that we deserved.
His death was able to take that on for us. God welcomes us in, even though we are estranged from him. And for that reason, we're able to welcome others in. Our hospitality, our kindness to others gets to be a tiny little picture of the gospel. A tiny little image of what God has done for us. When we welcome others in, we get to show them what it was like when we were welcomed in.
Our homes are not refuges for ourselves. Our homes are weapons for the gospel. Our homes are a platform for building others up, not keeping them out. Let's look through some more examples. The next one is Leviticus 19. It's an Old Testament example.
This is God talking to the people of Israel. It says, this is verse 33 through 34. It says, 1 Peter 4, verse 8 and 9. It says, Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. If you ask me, that doesn't sound very much like optional language.
And I think that's because the Bible treats hospitality like it's expected. It's demanded. It's a command, not a suggestion. Actually, in Titus 2, it's one of two places in the New Testament that gives like a really good, clear definition with a list of what's required of elders in the church. What a pastor has to be in order to be qualified to be a pastor. And one of those things in the list is hospitable.
If someone is not hospitable, if a pastor is not hospitable, they are unable to model the Christian life for the church. If a pastor is unable to be hospitable, they are unable to pastor. They should not be leading the church. So, why hospitality? I think because it's demanded by and rooted in the gospel. Because in Romans 15, 7, that we just read earlier, it says, Therefore, welcome one another in as God welcomed you, as Christ has welcomed you.
We're told, be hospitable because God was first hospitable to you. Be hospitable because in so doing, you give these tiny little images throughout your life of what the gospel looks like. You were welcomed, and so you welcome. Here's a fun fact that I learned this past week. It tends to happen with people who've studied languages. You develop an interest for words.
I never really had that before college. And you start to see similar words and wonder, how are they actually related? Like, why would they be so similar in that way? And so this week, while I was, I mean, I've said already this morning the word hospitable like 500 times, and it made me think of like, what is the connection between hospitable and hospital, right? Those are very similar words, and there's got to be something going on there. Now, as I say this, this doesn't, the connection doesn't date back all the way to Jesus' time.
I'm not trying to say he meant this when I talk about this, but this is just an observation that the English words hospital and hospitable share a Latin root word. And that Latin root word is hospice or hospitalia, depending on the age in Latin. And that word in Latin means room for strangers or guest chamber. And I think that's really interesting, that hospitals were named after a place where strangers are welcomed and helped. And it got me thinking, and this isn't straight out of the Bible, this is like a step removed, but this is just observation. What would it look like?
I mean, we know that people who need medical attention end up at the emergency room at the hospital to receive that medical attention. What would it look like if people who need or require emotional or spiritual attention felt that same welcomedness in our homes? If our ability to be hospitable for those who need spiritual attention equaled that of hospitals to cure medical things, what would that look like in our lives? And I think that the more we're able to see that inviting people into our lives gives them that little picture of the gospel, the more we're able to see that our lives declare the gospel the more willing we'll be to open up our homes so that people can see that in our lives.
So what then does it look like to be hospitable? How do we do this? What does that look like in everyday life? How would that affect me? If you've been terrified all this time so far, because hospitality is just like a word that invokes fear in your soul. I think this is where we start making it easier for the rest of the time, right?
Because chances are that if the word hospitality or the idea of having people in your safe zone scares you, chances are that you're viewing it through a very, very cultural lens that tells you there's a bunch of expectations that you have to perform. It can be all kinds of different things, but most people who feel that pressure are thinking party planning, cleaning, like being presentable, cooking really, really well, making sure that the children are well behaved. Like if all of those things are piling on your soul that make you think, oh, this hospitality thing sounds horrific, then that's okay. Well, that's not okay, but we're going to kind of start dismissing those things because actually we don't need to be worried about what the cultural expectations of hospitality are so much as what real authentic biblical hospitality looks like.
Because hospitality is not about image management. And I think the cultural way of thinking about it is all about how to present a good image. So if your goal in anything is to impress people, then chances are you won't point them to Jesus. You'll point them to how impressive you are. So when you try to impress people, you'll point them to how glorious your house is, how great your cooking is, how clean you can be, how well decorated your house is, how good your children are, how great your music playlist is.
Look at your garden with all the pretty flowers. And what you won't end up doing is pointing them a whole lot to Jesus. That is, if this is your sole purpose in doing that, like if you're doing this so that people will recognize your talent, your ability, then you're pointing them to yourselves. Now you could be a naturally clean person. That's a perfectly fine category of human. And if you're naturally clean and you're naturally tidying, you naturally have flowers and you naturally, you know, just enjoy that kind of thing, that's fine.
You can invite people into that. I'm just saying a lot of people aren't like that and feel that burden to perform when it comes to hospitality stuff. But I think we'll find that there's more power in sharing your actual real life with people than there is in faking it so that you can present a good image. So for some people out there, life is chaos. That's fine. Invite people into that.
I enjoy chaos. Like our community group can be chaotic at times. We have multiple small children. We have a dog. There can be like up to 25 people sitting in a very small room. Like it can get out of control and I kind of thrive on those things.
But other people hate it and I get that. That means you're a different personality type. You're good. You're allowed to exist. For some people, life is structure. Calendars.
Life spreadsheets. The smell of carpet cleaner and bleach in the morning. We've got some of those people over here. If that is you, if that is your life, if you enjoy that kind of thing and you're not actually doing it as some kind of performance to fake it so that people think you're a great host, then that's fine. Be that. Invite people into who you are.
Invite people into your life, into your safe zone and accommodate them as you normally would do in life. Because if you're faking it, you're going to point to them to someone that's not actually you and Jesus isn't going to be able to be seen in that. Let me give you a picture. Let me tell you how that happens in our house. We host a lot, but I don't think we put a whole lot of thought into it. I don't think we really match a whole lot of the things that you're supposed to do when you host.
My wife, Christina, she hates the feeling of dirt and sand on the bottom of her feet. So we have hardwood floors in our living room. Almost every single day, she will sweep the hardwood floors because she hates that feeling of sand on the bottom of her feet. I wear shoes. Easy solution for me. Or socks.
Whatever. And I feel like the guests that come to our house will probably arrive in shoes as well. If they arrive in bare feet, then they'll pick up the sand on the way in anyway, and they won't even know that there was sand in the living room floor. So I'm not super concerned about the whole sweeping the floor thing so that people don't get sand on their feet. I am kind of concerned because we have a dog, and the dog has about five billion toys. I'm not sure where they all came from, but they are spread all around our house, including little chunks of bone that have been destroyed and distributed so that they can always be found easily.
I don't like that because it's kind of like a tripping hazard. I'm not so fussy about people's feet getting dirty, but I don't want them to break an ankle because this is American. You get sued for that kind of stuff. So I'll at least kind of kick all of those things into corners, maybe shut a door. But even that doesn't work so well in our house because whoever designed it, look, I only have bad thoughts for that person.
But our ground floor has one bathroom in it, and it's the master bathroom, which means we can't shut our door because then no one has access to the bathroom on level one. So they literally have to walk through our bedroom to get to the toilet if that's something that they need while they're there, which means our bedroom is like fair game. Like people are going to see it. So we don't even have that option in our house. Here's what happens if you come and eat at our house. Our dining room table has four chairs, four chairs that match the table.
We've got more chairs, but they don't match the table. If you're the fifth person or the sixth or the seventh or whatever, like added people, only four people get matching chairs. And I'm not really concerned with matching styles so much as matching heights. If you're the fifth or the sixth person, you'll be in a camping chair. And even if you're tall, your chin will be at table height, which depending on how you eat can be, I mean, it can be a great thing. You can just kind of scoop.
But what happens is most people end up having to eat out of their lap because the height difference thing. The point I'm trying to make is that it doesn't like you won't leave our house thinking, wow, everything was magical and perfect. Like there's some thing like we'll put a little bit of effort in here and there. Like, but for the most part, pretty. You're just coming in and seeing our life as it's lived. We've recently upsized from an apartment to a pretty decent sized house.
We don't have enough furniture to fill it. There is like deck chairs and stuff in our living room. You'll be sitting on plastic. You're welcome. But that's just kind of like how normal life is.
It's not the prettiest, but that's what our house looks like. And it doesn't stop us having from having people over. And we just because I think it's easy, we do food most often. Like that's that's a thing. We were not amazing at cooking. And actually, I think it's become easier for us since we moved into the house because with a house, we got a grill and with a grill is really good, cheap and nasty food.
Right. Since getting a grill, we feel we feed people like brats, burgers and hot dogs all the time. Like all the time. Like if you're coming to our house, expect one of those options. Hot dogs are like 20 cents, 30 cents a piece. If you go all the way like to the premium ones, you might pay 45 cents.
I don't know what's in a premium hot dog. That kind of scares me even more. But tell you what, average food. People, people still love that junk. Like I've learned very quickly, feed, feed Americans hot dogs. They will be your friend.
It's just not the same in Australia. It's like, what is this? Like, what are you? Seriously? Okay. But in America, you feed a man a hot dog.
You have made yourself a friend. The food can be average. And the point in that is the food's actually not the important thing. The connection that you make with a person over the food is more important than the quality of the food that you present. As long as it's edible, I think you're okay. It doesn't have to be meals, though.
I think meals are really easy. But hospitality can take many forms. It can be coffee. It can be inviting people over to just sit and talk. It can be movies. It can be TV.
It can be games. It can be sports. It can be a whole bunch of things. I just think that, for us at least, meals are really, really easy. But it doesn't have to be anything special.
It's not difficult. Hot dogs by the pool, not very difficult. It doesn't take a whole lot of planning. You can pick all of that stuff up on the way. Well, you can't pick a pool up on the way home. But you can pick up the ingredients on the way home.
You don't have to forward plan for that kind of stuff. It's not a big ordeal. It's just inviting people into the life that you already have and interrelating as you do it. It's seeing opportunities in the normal to show people what life actually looks like for Christians. I'm about to give another example from our church family. And there's a number of reasons that I'm hesitant to do that.
One of them is that they're not currently in the room this morning, and I only found that out this morning. And so your immediate reaction to the words that I'm going to say, I'm just going to give you a heads up. I'm going to be talking about the Pabone family. And your immediate reaction to a lot of the things that I say, you're going to think that I'm kind of throwing them under the bus, that I'm making fun of them, that I'm being mean. Like your reaction is like, wow, that was a really mean thing to say. But I think the immediate reaction is something along those lines is that the baseline that we compare things to in order to decide whether or not that's right, if they're doing it good or if that is a mean thing to say is this cultural image based like this is what a hospitable person is supposed to look like.
And so when I talk about the Pabones and they break a lot of those rules, you're going to think I'm throwing shade on them and being like really, really mean to them. But what I'm actually trying to do is hold them up as a really good example of how you can be hospitable in everyday life. So as I talk about them, you get to think initially, wow, that was a really mean thing to say. But it's not. I promise you, I'm trying to say this is actually a really good example. And you know what?
I went to the extra step. Right here on my sermon sheet. That's Josh Pabone's signature. I want you to know that he's up in Kid City right now and his wife's out of town. But Josh has read this and he completely approves of this message.
And I feel like that validates everything regardless of whether or not you actually think it's me. I don't know if you know the Pabone family. The Pabones are community group leaders in our church. Most Sundays you'll see Josh up here playing bass and Nadine is very involved with Kid City. If you ever go to their house, let me just give you some advice. If you ever go to their house, you will experience what most people call chaos.
That's not mean. That's what their life looks like. They have four kids. You kind of can't avoid that. This is just who they are and what's involved. Let me give you some advice.
Wear shoes. That's not like a medical tetanus advice piece of advice. That's like they have kids. There's Legos around. Wear shoes. Like just avoid that trap.
They have four kids. At least one of them throughout the night is likely to sneeze on you. This wasn't supposed to be audience participation. Take hand sanitizer. Hand sanitizer is your friend. Not because their house is disgusting, but because they have kids and kids get sick.
And just do that. At dinner time, you're going to share the bench. You don't get your own seat. And this is probably genius. We could implement this in our house. But you share the bench at the Pabones house.
And you share the bench. The bench. You share the bench with at least two other children. Not other children. Two of their children. And you will have probably a child on either side or two children on that side.
And they know better. They're pretty well trained. But they just might anyway touch your food. And it'll be for something trivial. Like there's no reason for them to. They'll just be like, that's spaghetti.
Yes, it is. And you get to take your hand sanitizer and rub it on the spaghetti and go for it. That stuff's okay. You can eat that. I don't know if that's true. Don't do that.
The Pabones have the only cat in the world that I've ever seen do this. They might exist. But they have like Ninja Cat. His name is Lincoln. But it more takes after the vampire slayer version of Lincoln that you might know.
The one that knows karate. Their Lincoln will literally steal food out of your hand. Like, bam, gone. And you would think, when I say that, you would think maybe it's the food that you're like reaching down to feed him. No, it's the food that you're reaching up to eat. Bam, disappears real quick.
They have a dog, Miley. He's like little. He's like a little dog. Miley will bark at you for seven minutes when you arrive. And not like the cute little puppy dog bark. Like the, you're an intruder.
Get out of my house. Like that's their dog. And you'll sit down. And maybe ten minutes later, he'll jump up on your lap and start licking you. And then like, he's your best friend ever. And then a noise will happen.
And bam, straight off over to the noise. That's kind of, this is just what going to dinner at the Bones house is like. And it's not that they're doing anything wrong. They're not. That's just what life looks like in their house. They actually have some really cool mottos and sayings that they have to try and model this.
Just not only for their kids, but for their community group and the people around them. They do things like they address the mess. They'll say things like deliberately, like, sorry for the living room. It's kind of always like that. We didn't have an opportunity to clean up. They won't make too many excuses for it so much as just point to it and say, nah, that's how life is.
Just push it to the side. Take a seat. You'll be fine. That's kind of their attitude towards that. They actually have a scripted thing that they'll tell guests. They say, first time you come, you're a guest.
Second time you come, you're family. Oh, it's just like, it feels like a Hallmark card, right? It's just so warm and fuzzy. Second time, you're family. But what that actually comes with is privileges and responsibilities.
So your privileges are you don't have to ask to open the fridge or you don't have to, you know, like you get to, you treat the house as if it's your own house. But the responsibilities are you're now expected to help with cooking. If you don't cook, you'll probably be on dishes. Somebody has to maintain order in the house while the cooking happens so that nobody dies. You can have any of these responsibilities on top of like just being a guest in their house. Let me tell you, you probably won't go there and leave thinking, wow, that was peaceful and perfect and calm.
Their children were just amazing little butterfly angel faces. And the food was like three star Michelin hat, whatever the ratings are. And like it was just, oh, it was so picture perfect. It could have been a movie. It was magical. And if you do experience that, that was like the fake.
Like you experienced, like they upped their game to accommodate the social norms rather than actually introducing. You experienced the fake for bones. But in amongst all of this, let me tell you the really, really good part of how they do hospitality. I'm a pastor. I'm married. I'm going to have kids soon.
And I learned things about the gospel and about life from the Pabones when I'm at their house. When you leave the Pabones house, you leave having learned something about maintaining order in a house with four kids. You leave having learned how to make time for your friends in and amongst that kind of chaos. You learn for me or for other people. You learn for your future or current parenting what it looks like to talk to a child with patience and grace that is currently in complete meltdown mode. That's what hospitality actually looks like.
Because in each of those little moments, you get to see a picture of the gospel as a Christian interacts with someone, their children, their friends, their family, as a Christian interacts with someone in a way that shows Jesus. And when non-believers are invited into that kind of a mess, they get to see life, real life, not fake life. They get to see real life handled by a Christian. And they see an image bearer of God doing what they're supposed to do. They get to see that little picture of the gospel. And for non-believing friends that we have, they need to see Christians facing the same kind of challenges and obstacles that they do in everyday life, but doing it with Jesus involved.
That's how you give people those little snapshots of the gospel throughout life. Now, if you're normally clean, if you're normally not chaotic, if you're normally structured, be that way. Do those things. Apply all of what I just said about the Pabones to your normal everyday life context. But don't fake it.
If you're cluttered, be cluttered. If you're dirty, make sure people don't get diseases. But be you and have people over in your house to see what it's like to see you relate to others as a Christian. Our homes have to be places where real life happens and others are welcomed in. Because where else in the world will a non-believer get to see that if they're not invited to your house? How else will people see Jesus in your life if you set up your home in such a way that you're deliberately trying to keep them out?
How else will people see Jesus, that little snapshot, how else will they see Jesus in action in your life if you've set up your home in such a way that if they're invited in, you show them a fake version of you? At this point, I tend to realize that we make a lot of excuses. We come up with all kinds of different excuses as to why all of this doesn't have to apply to us. It can apply to other people and we can kind of help or whatever. All kinds of different excuses as to why we shouldn't be hospitable. And if we're honest, I think most of them are pretty lame.
I think there's a couple of categories. We'll talk about these kind of categorically. For our excuses, the first one is it might be something along the lines of my house is a disaster or my kids are crazy or I'm not a very good entertainer or I can't cook. Like it's bad if I cook. I think when you boil it down, most of these, like this category of excuse, the diagnosis behind it is that you've probably bought into this whole cultural image maintenance thing. That you can't be hospitable because you can't do it like culture tells you you have to.
Picture perfect, immaculate house, perfect children, everything's clean. You're afraid that if people see your actual life, they're going to think you're not good at that stuff. You're afraid that if people see your actual life, that's something to be ashamed of. But I think that this is the truth. You don't have to be anything you're not. And if you fake it, you'll be pointing them to something other than who you are and who Jesus is in your life.
And honestly, I think if you're faking it, you kind of just need to stop that. And instead, invite people into the life that you actually have without putting all of this emphasis on maintaining the image that culture tells you you're supposed to have. There's also a category for introverts. Statistically, 50% of the people in this room are introverts. And I'm sure there's a good chance that five minutes into this, you probably just the terrified meter in your brain switched off and you just potentially just haven't heard anything until I said the word introvert. If that's the case, welcome back.
There is hope for you. I'm sure it probably sounds, I don't know, something along the lines of impossible, condescending, something like that for an extrovert to stand up here on stage and say, this is simple, this is easy, everybody should do this. I get that. If you've got like a spectrum of like extroverts here, zeros like right in line with this guy, and introverts all the way over here, then I rank. I'm like king of the extroverts, 100%. People give me energy.
I love this kind of stuff. I always want people in my house. I always want people in my life. That's where I thrive. That's where I'm my best. I'm actually really sad and depressed if I have to spend too long by myself.
This is me over here. A lot of people find themselves somewhere in this category and the whole hosting and having people in my safe zone. That's kind of, it's just, it's scary and terrifying. If this is you, like you're at the extreme end of introvert, that whole example that I gave with the Pabones, I don't know if you guys know Josh Pabone, but if you look at this scale, like with me all the way at that end, then Josh is like, Josh is like over here. Josh reads Harry Potter and thinks, wow, I need to buy a house with a staircase and a little room underneath it. No one would think to find me there.
That's who Josh is. And those guys are kind of crushing this whole hospitality game where you invite people into the mess of where you are and how you do it. And so for introverts out there, it doesn't have to look like 20 people over at your house. That would crush you. But it does get to look like one person, two people, a couple, something like that.
Basic food, board games, TV, simple stuff. It doesn't have to be, like you don't have to get this kind of cultural thing where you become a party planner and a huge event thrower, holdery person. You get to do simple, small stuff that you would be doing anyway and you just invite someone in anyway. If you're going to be playing video games on the internet, make that friend come to your house, sit on your couch and play the video game on the same screen. Those kinds of things. That's not as terrifying as it sounds when I'm talking about like pool parties and hot dogs and throwing huge things.
It doesn't have to be a big step. But we come up with all these different excuses. And let me tell you who this affects. When you make excuses and decide, I'm not going to do these things. Let me tell you who that affects. The person who lives in the house across the street.
They've been there, I don't know, maybe a couple months, three months. They seem introverted. They do the thing where the robot lets them in and then they shut the world out. Like that's, they kind of seem grumpy. They never seem to have anyone over. You figure if I invited them over, they would just say no.
Like they sit by themselves. Like they don't want to do that kind of stuff. That's what you figure. But you don't know that they've only lived in Colombia that long. They've moved in from out of state. They literally have no friends.
They know nobody here except the five people that they work with. They sit at home and eat dinner in front of the TV. Pretty much every day. Incredibly lonely. Wishing they had more. If you could invite that person to eat dinner and sit in front of the TV at your house once a week, they just might do it.
And in that action, they would see a tiny glimpse of the gospel as they're welcomed in as a stranger. It might be like a co-worker, someone at work that you've never hung out with outside of work and so you've never bridged that kind of, there's a gap between co-worker and friend and there's like this imaginary thing where you've got to hang out outside of work to be considered friends. You've got this co-worker who you see at work, you talk in the lunchroom, you maybe talk when there's no one else around, that kind of thing. And you can tell that there's something weird going on at home, like you don't know what it is, but it's weird to talk about it right here where there's like customers around or whatever.
You can't just approach them on some heartfelt topics. But you know there's something going on at home, something to do with their family, something's a bit amiss. Maybe what that person needs, what that person needs most, is to see you in action with your family, to see how you react to your kids, to see how you react to your husband. What if the very thing that they're struggling with at home is something they get to witness in your own home? When we make excuses for not wanting to host people, for not wanting to have people in our house, for never reaching out to strangers, for never reaching out to guests, for only ever entertaining our own friends and the people who are already in our sphere and never bridging that gap, people who could be hearing the gospel, who could be seeing those little glimpses of the gospel, start missing out.
There are people all throughout our lives who are longing to connect, but we're so afraid. We're so afraid to be the first person to offer a hand. Culture's taught us that in order to do that, you have to present this image. You have to be clean. You have to be extroverted. You have to be a performer.
You have to be able to cook. You do not. You need to be genuine. You need to be real. And you need to be willing to have people see Jesus in your actual real life, not the fake one that you think you have to project. Let me take just a moment as we kind of land the plane to give a few suggestions of what I think will make beginning this process a whole lot easier.
The first thing is to budget for hospitality. With budgeting comes intentionality. And with intentionality, if you're intentional about something, you're much more likely to actually go and do it. And so if you set aside money each month, you're more likely to spend that money for that purpose. It doesn't have to be much. I know there's a lot of tight budgets in the room.
It can be five bucks. Five bucks buys a lot of hot dogs. We've covered hot dogs. You can make a budget that allows you to have people over. Budgets show intentionality. You won't regret it.
Second one, simplify. Simplify. You don't have to impress anyone with anything. You're not entertaining. You're connecting. Your food can be ordinary.
The food isn't the point. The conversation you have while you're eating the ordinary food is the point. Nobody has to leave impressed by the food. Keep it simple. It can be movies. It can be pool.
It can be coffee. It can be sports. It can be games. It can be anything. It doesn't have to be even food. Keep it simple.
Don't try specifically to be impressive in what you're doing. Number three is calendar. If you're not a calendaring type, I know that there's the chaotic type out there, come up with some kind of system. It can be Taco Tuesdays. It can be Neighbor Wednesdays. It can be every second Sunday of the month.
It can be anything. As long as you're showing specific intentionality, these are the days where we're going to deliberately have people over. So that kind of thing will make it more likely that you'll actually go and do it. And number four is my favorite one. I think that's because it's the most important. Number four is make it a team sport.
Like all good sports, like all good sports, hospitality is best played as a team. Ooh, shots fired. Golf isn't a team sport. Golf is boring. I'm sorry. I have a chip on my shoulder.
People beat me at golf. I'm hopeless at it. And any shot I can take, I'm gonna go for it. Hospitality. Play it as a team sport. You get to involve other Christians.
You get to involve people in your community group. And you get to do this together. There's a couple of reasons that I think that's really helpful, really beneficial. One is that you get to do the mission together. Another is that non-believing friends get to see how Christians interact with each other. When someone has a problem in their life, how a Christian will encourage that Christian with Jesus, not with advice.
How we'll give them the gospel instead of giving them some kind of good advice for their situation. They get to see that, and they get to see that little glimpse of the gospel. Another good thing about team sports is, with hospitality as a team sport, is that your non-believing friends might actually connect better with someone else. You would be a great starting point. That's planting the seed. But they might actually connect better with someone else in your community group or something like that.
You might be really socially awkward and just need to have somebody who's extroverted around at your house and be able to kind of bridge that gap. Guys, we are, we're serious about this as a church. We truly, truly believe that hospitable Christians, hospitable community groups can and will change this city. In fact, as a church, we're going to be putting those words into action, into practice a lot throughout the summer, like in the upcoming period of time. In our typical community group time, something that we coach and we train community group leaders, in our typical community group time, what we try to achieve is we try to catch up on life, we try to apply the sermon, we try to engage the heart, and we try to pursue slash review the mission.
Those are the things we try to achieve in a normal routine, week to week community group. Catch up on life, apply the sermon, engage the heart, and review slash pursue the mission. During the summer, we are going to be taking a deliberate step to remove the agenda, like the feeling that this is the list of things we have to accomplish throughout a community group. We're going to be deliberately removing the agenda from our groups so that they can be freed up to practice this hospitality stuff. We're going to be giving all of the community group leaders and the community groups a free pass on doing the apply the sermon stuff, a free pass on feeling this burden to be circling up in little groups and applying this thing and praying for that thing.
You can still do that, but the point we're going to be making is that for a good five-week stretch, your community group can be pursuing the mission the entire time. Grilling, chilling, going bowling, having a party at someone's house, doing the pool thing, whatever it is, for a good five-week stretch, we're serious about this, we want our community groups to be inviting in and enjoying time together, rather over and above doing the whole applying the sermon, engaging the heart kind of stuff. That's going to be different for us. We're used to the getting a big group and have a conversation about the sermon stuff.
This is going to be different for us. For a whole month, we're just going to be hanging out and inviting people in. But we're really excited that as a church, we're going to have the opportunity to grow in hospitality and to grow in our relationship that we have with non-believing friends. As the band makes their way back up, I really just want to... I want to encourage you to see past your fears. Because all of the fears have to do with a cultural expectation that doesn't actually have to exist.
And if we can see past our excuses, and if we can see past our fears, then we can look towards Jesus. He's the reason we do this. The gospel is the... The opportunity to give people that little glimpse of the gospel is the reason that we're doing this. And ultimately, we want to see people who are coming into relationship with him. We don't want to see hospitality be used as a tool where we get to glorify ourselves and how great we are at doing this whole hosting thing.
We want to take every opportunity to show that little glimpse of the gospel so that we can push people towards Jesus. We want to invest in real relationships, in our real lives, so that we can point other people to the love of our Savior. Let's pray. God, we thank you that you loved us first and that you modeled hospitality for us. I pray and thanks that you sent Jesus to die for us, to welcome us home. I pray that as we go about everyday life in the ordinary things that we're doing, that we can be striving to invite people in that they may see a glimpse of you in our life.
I pray that you empower us and our groups in the coming months to be a welcoming church that sees growth on account of people seeing gospel glimpses in our homes. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
The Explicit Gospel
Transcript
It's kind of mean, isn't it? That bumper video gets you all hungry, and now it's going to feel like two and a half hours before I get done preaching. Happy Mother's Day. We're excited this morning. We are just glad to be continuing our extraordinary series. Maybe some year we'll get it together and preach official Mother's Day sermons, but we haven't done that yet, and we're not starting this year.
So if you are all amped up to talk about moms, moms are great. All right, grab your Bibles, go to Psalm 103. We're in the third week of our extraordinary series, and we're going to keep walking through. What we've been talking about is that we are called and designed by God, that God has designed the world to work in such a way that the normal, ordinary parts of our lives are to be used for His eternal, glorious purposes, so that our normal going to work, our normal tending to our families, our normal parenting, our normal being a co-worker or tending to our yards, like just all the normal weight of life that is on us, God has intended to use for His extraordinary, eternal purposes to see people come to know Him.
And one of the things that we're talking about, what we'll be talking about today is the fact that as Christians, we said in our first week that we have one Job as the church, that we're to be disciples who make disciples, and that encompasses a lot, but what we're talking about today is the fact that as Christians, we're supposed to tell other people about Christ. That as Christians, we're supposed to, called to, commissioned to, sent to, tell other people about Jesus. There's a comedian named Jim Gaffigan, who in one of his stand-up specials, goes, you know, everybody having a good time tonight? You know, I really, it's really important to me that everybody's comfortable and having a good time, and that's why I'd like to talk with you about Jesus Christ.
And like, everyone starts laughing, because that's a good joke. Because as soon as he says that, no one in the room is comfortable anymore. Like, it immediately makes everyone uncomfortable, and that's one of the things he goes on to say, is that in some ways it makes religious people even more uncomfortable. Christians become even more uncomfortable. I'm that way. If I'm listening to a stand-up special, or I'm watching a TV show, and they start talking about Jesus, I immediately knot up inside.
And he said, there's nothing worse than having a stranger come up to you and say, I want to talk to you about Jesus. He's just like, no, how about we don't? It's kind of the point of his jokes here, and it's true. And for us who are Christians who are called to talk to other people about Jesus, there's this tension of like, I don't want to be weird. This is awkward. I don't know how to, how do I start this conversation?
This is difficult. There's, look, I'm a pastor. It's weird for me. It's weird for me to tell people I'm a pastor. I just try to dodge that in conversations. I met some of my neighbors.
We were having a great conversation. We were talking. And then he told me what he did for a living. He said, what do you do? And I was like, well, I'm a pastor. I really want to just say I run a firework store because I do do that twice a year.
But I said, I'm a pastor. And they went, oh. And they just froze. It was, I really felt like a lobster had just fallen out of my mouth. It would have been the same reaction. They just sat there, and it was almost like you can see every once in a while, I feel like people are thinking, did I say a cuss word?
Did I talk about beer too much? Like, I don't know. Like, it just feels like it makes, and to bring up Jesus, it's the same kind of thing. It's like, I don't know how to do that. It feels really difficult. And what we're talking about is that God has designed our ordinary lives to be used to see people come to know him, come to love him, worship him, follow him, to see others around us submit their life to Christ.
And to have their eternities impact through the normal things we do. So what we're looking at today is how do we share the gospel in a normal, helpful way? How do we share the gospel? How do we point people to Jesus? How do we tell people about the cross? How do we tell people about the resurrection?
How do we tell people about their sin and need for a savior in a way that fits into a normal, ordinary life where you're friends with people, you're intentionally being around your neighbors and your coworkers? How do we do that? Because we're supposed to. Recall just what we looked at last week that in Deuteronomy it says that God, I'm going to be your God. And it says to put this on your wrists and your forehead. And that's what we said as Christians.
We're supposed to not just wear Christianity on our sleeves, but on our face. Like it's supposed to be a normal part of who we are. And so what we're going to do is we're going to look at the starting place for us as Christians to point people to Christ. We're going to look at the starting place. Then we're going to go to Colossians after we look in Psalm.
And we'll spend a little bit of time looking at actually how. Like practically, how do we do this? So let me pray for us this morning before we begin to read the text. And then we'll dive in. God, we thank you this morning that the gospel is news worth sharing. That we are called to tell people about Christ.
But that it's good news that we get to tell them. I pray, Lord, that in this time we have this morning that you would help us to remember how good that news is. And then you would equip us to begin to share it with others. We love you. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Psalm 103. It's on page 288 if you have one of the white Bibles that's in the row with you. This is by David. And David is praising God in this Psalm. And I think it's a helpful just kind of a look at where's the starting place for us to want to tell people about Jesus. Where do we begin?
And so he starts this way. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. So he says, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Now we use the word bless differently than he's using it here most of the time.
Most of the time when we say bless, we mean to do something nice for. Or to endow. To give. To give a gift. Someone's blessed with. Like, that was such a blessing that you gave me ten dollars.
Oh, this pizza when I was hungry is such a blessing. We use it like God's really blessed that person. And we mean they have a boat. Or we'll say God's really blessed that person like with physical attributes. Like Shaquille O'Neal, basketball player. He was not blessed with acting ability, but he was blessed with athletic ability.
And Shaquille O'Neal can stand flat-footed and dunk a basketball. He does not have to jump. He can stand and dunk. So every time you watched him dunk a basketball and then dance around and flex on people, it wasn't that impressive. It was like me lowering the goal to six feet and then dunking on some neighborhood kids and being like, what? How do you like them apples?
That's what he was doing. And really it was just that he's blessed with the height that he had. He's blessed with the wingspan that he had. He's blessed by God. But that's how we usually use that word.
But that's not how David's using the word here. When he uses it here, what he means is praise. Worship. So when he says bless the Lord, O my soul, what he means is praise, honor, glorify, place value on, lift up. And what's beautiful about that word and all the times we're told to praise God is that you cannot truly praise something without enjoying it. Praise without enjoyment is not praise.
It's flattery. To praise something but actually not mean it is flattery. When you eat a meal and it does not taste good and you can see the person who made it staring at you and you're like, mmm, this, this is fine meal. You cook this. Of all the things I've eaten, this is most recent. Like what?
You're trying to dodge the, but if you just went out of the way, this is so wonderful. This tastes so good. Oh my goodness. Like it's like you're, it's, you don't mean it. It's not genuine praise. It's not real to you.
But, but actual enjoyment leads to genuine praise. Actual enjoyment leads to genuine praise. This is why people will talk about the things that they love. This is why people will talk about the people that they've fallen in love in a certain way. Like they, it just, it gets all gushy and it just floats. Like that's what he's saying.
He's saying soul, so enjoy God that it rolls over in praise, in song, in worship, lifting him up. So enjoy, so be satisfied, so be filled up by God that it's overwhelming and we have to say something. You ever just looked at a sunset and you just, you, it's natural for you to just hit the person next to you and go, look at that. And you just say things that you didn't need to say. It's so orange. But that's natural.
That's the overflow of enjoying something, being captivated by it. And that's what he's saying. Oh, my soul. And, and the Bible here, the soul is the most real part of you. The deepest, most true who you are soul. The part of you that was designed to exist for an eternity.
That's your soul. So he's saying at the deepest, darkest, most real part of me, bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. Oh, my soul and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. And then he says, bless the Lord.
Oh, my soul. And forget not all his benefits. This is the starting place for a Christian to share the gospel with others. Is that you would so enjoy God that it would overwhelm you and roll up in normal life for you to worship him and glorify him and that you would not forget all of his benefits. That's where it begins for us to share the gospel with someone else. That's where it begins for us to point someone else to Jesus.
That we remember the benefits of Christ. That we remember the benefits of God. He keeps going to list some of the benefits. Forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquity. It means that you're sinful.
You're busted. You're broken. You're dark. You're twisted. You've been actively participating in the rebellion of the world against God. And he forgives that through Christ.
Who heals all your diseases. Everything in you that's twisted and wrong. He fixes. He mends. Who redeems your life from the pit. That you were going to spend an eternity in hell separated from God.
And he redeems it. He buys you back. Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy. Meaning that he wraps love around you. He makes love the first thing people see about you. Because he's crowned you with it.
And mercy meaning that we don't get from God what we deserve. Who satisfies you with good. So that your youth is renewed like the eagles. That he makes us new. And that in him we're satisfied. He says don't forget his benefits.
That's the gospel. For us as Christians. We believe that the soul was designed to exist for an eternity. That we were made to exist for an eternity with God. And that humanity rebelled against God. And that now every person will physically die.
But our souls will exist for eternity. Either with the joys of heaven. And a relationship with Christ. Or in the despair pain and punishment of hell. There are no other options. Our souls will exist for eternity.
That was the way God originally designed them. But we believe that Jesus Christ came. That he loved us so much. That he died for us. To pay the penalty for our sin. To offer us forgiveness.
And that what he says here. Our benefits are genuine actual benefits of the gospel. That our sins are no longer held against us. That as a Christian because of Christ. You stand before God freely forgiven. That he heals what's broken in you.
That he satisfies you. That everything else that we would chase after in this life. And in this world will not fill us up. But he will. That he satisfies us with good. And that we are now wrapped in and covered by his love.
And his mercy for an eternity. That's the gospel. And that's the news we're called to share with people. That's why the gospel just is a word that we've brought over from another language. That just means good news. It's about an event that happened.
That Jesus Christ came. That he died on a cross. That he was placed in a grave. That he rose again. And that through his death. We can be free.
Forgiven. And offered grace. It's news. It's an event that happened. That we get to share with other people. That Christ forgives.
That he redeems. That he makes us new. And that he satisfies us. Some of you in the room. Some of us as Christians at times. Go through seasons where we don't tell anyone about Jesus.
And I think quite often it's because we've forgotten the benefits. We've forgotten how good the news is. We've ceased to enjoy him on such a soul level that it rolls up in praise naturally and fully in our lives. For those of you in the room who are not Christians. Let me say very clearly to you. We want Jesus for you.
And make no qualms about that. Because I believe fully that Christ is the best thing you will ever get. That he does fully satisfy your soul. That he does forgive of sin. That he does fix what's broken in us. That he does mend us and redeem us.
And that we are headed for an eternal hell without him. But he loved us so much that he didn't leave us there. And he didn't give us what we deserved. But he took what we deserved on himself on a cross to set us free. We want Christ for you. You're welcome to be around.
To keep checking that out. You're welcome to be around and say, I don't know if I buy that yet. I don't know if I see that yet. I don't know if I believe that yet. You're welcome here. To be a part of a community group.
To ask questions. To argue with people. You're not going to offend us. We'll forgive you if you do. We're Christians. We're supposed to.
You're welcome to be here. But I want to be clear. We want the gospel for you. Christians in the room. You kind of have two options. Either you don't actually believe this.
You don't actually enjoy, partake in, understand, have the benefits of the gospel overwhelming your soul. So that you have no real desire to share it with other people. You either don't believe it or you've forgotten it. Or you do believe it. But when we do not have any desire to intentionally see other people come to know Christ, we cannot claim to love them.
We cannot believe that the soul exists for an eternity in either heaven or hell. That we deserve wrath from God. But that Jesus took wrath on our behalf. That's what we read a second ago. That he was the propitiation. It just means that he took wrath on our behalf.
And if we believe this but have no desire to reach people with the gospel, we actually cannot claim to love them. Or to care about them. Penn and Teller, they do magic. One of them is kind of a staunch atheist. And one of the things he says from time to time is that he appreciates it when Christians tell him about Jesus. He doesn't believe it.
But he appreciates it. Because he knows that's hard for them. And he knows that if they don't, how much would they have to hate him to actually believe that and have no desire to tell him. But the starting place for us is that we would so enjoy Jesus and so remember his benefits that we couldn't keep it in. There's no way we could so see that he forgave us of our sins. That none of us are worthy.
Some of you are in here and you have no desire to share the gospel with people. It's because you believe the gospel was, hey, come be good. That's not good news. I've got good news for you. Behave for the rest of your life or God will crush you. Let's pray.
That's not the gospel. That's not good news. The good news is that you could not behave. You were not good enough. You are not smart enough. You have made a shipwreck and a train wreck of your life.
And Jesus comes and takes the full force of the shipwreck that you deserve, the train wreck that you deserve. He was crushed for our iniquities. He was broken for our sins so that we could not receive what we deserve. That's mercy. And we're crowned with it. This is a...
I love our community groups because they're just small collections of a bunch of train wrecks that get together and talk about how good Jesus is. Flip over to Colossians chapter 4. See, it begins with us being so overwhelmed by Christ, so overwhelmed with the goodness of the gospel that we can't help but share with others. That we want this for everyone. That it's so true to us, so real to us. We said last week that if that's not the case, you just need to spend more time with Jesus.
You need to go to work on your soul. You need to remember how good he is. It's a starting place. Now we're going to look at a process. So if I'm there, if I love Jesus, if I'm overwhelmed by the gospel, I'm just seeing this.
I'm remembering and knowing that he's so good. Now the question is how do I do this because it feels really difficult. We're going to look at Colossians. I love this section. Paul's just gotten done in Colossians chapter 3. He's writing a letter to the church.
He's just gotten done talking to parents and wives and husbands and basically what would be bosses and workers in our time. And he's just kind of saying live your life in a normal way that Christ is at work. And then he says, okay, as you're doing that, okay, here's how to kind of walk that out in a way to see more people come to know him. And so pick up in verse 2. Colossians chapter 4, verse 2. It's on page 573 if you have one of the white Bibles.
Paul's in prison at the time because he's been sharing the gospel with people. People may look at you weird. You're not going to get arrested right now. And he says that I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak. Okay. First step, pray.
He says continue steadfastly in prayer and pray for us that God would open a door for the word. So the first step to trying to see people come to know Jesus is to pray, which is just cheating. And it's wonderful. God loves your neighbors so much that he sent his son to die for them. Ask for his help. God loves your coworkers so much, your classmates so much, your best friend from high school so much that he sent his son to die for them.
That he might redeem them and bring them back to himself. That he might re-welcome them into the family. Begin to ask God. Make them yours. Open up a door. But that's what he says.
He says pray that a door might be opened for the word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I'm in prison. So what he says is pray, but don't just pray that they meet Jesus. One of the things people sometimes, it's like they're praying for their neighbors. God, you do something to save them. And it's like, I want, it feels like God at some point would just look at you and go, yeah, I made you their neighbor. Go talk to them.
Go be their friend. Like, I want to see this person who's my cousin come to know Jesus. Yeah, they're your cousin. Go start talking to them. So what you start praying for is not just that they would come to know Christ or they would, you know, you begin to pray.
Sure, pray that they have a vision and just show up to you. Pray that they watch a YouTube video and come and know Christ. That's great. But you also are going to be praying that God will open a door for you to share the gospel with them. So what he says is pray for a door for the word.
That's the Bible. That I might declare. That's with your mouth. Out loud. To their face. Specifically their ears.
That I might declare the mystery of Christ. So that you would use the Bible to point them to Jesus. That through scripture you would help them see the gospel. The mystery of Christ. Which is that God would use Christ to redeem us. That's what he's talking about.
So, second thing. You pray. And the second thing is you need to know some Bible. You don't have to have it memorized. Although having some sections memorized is very helpful. But at least know where to go.
Know where to take somebody. Know where to show them some stuff. And just depending on the situation, some of that makes more or less sense. And is easier or more difficult. One of the nice things is you can carry a Bible around in your phone or in your purse. In your phone.
You have a Bible in your phone that you can easily pull up. Look stuff up. Try to show somebody something. Rather than always having to carry a physical Bible with you. Although you'd look awesome. And I support that.
Romans Road. This is something people use periodically. And have taught periodically. As a way to help people see the gospel clearly. From the book of Romans. I'm just going to put these up on screen.
For someone who's saying, okay. I just want. I need to know a little more Bible. Before I can talk to people about Jesus. There you go. Write those down.
That's actually the order that they tell you to do Romans Road in. But it just basically says you're a sinner. Jesus is good. Here's how to be saved. Isn't that awesome? It's really awesome.
That's kind of how that works. That's kind of how that walks through in Romans. And it's very good. It's a helpful way. It's short verses to kind of show them. This is the gospel.
So this would be. You had a little more time. Someone says, all right. I want to hear this thing. You know, you talk about Jesus all the time. You said you want to.
Like, show me what you're talking about. And then you can go to Romans. It's one book. You can flip around. So for people who write down stuff.
You got about ten more seconds. To write those down. Okay. There's more like five. All right.
Ephesians 2. These are other ones. Ephesians 2. Eight through ten. It's a shorter section. These would be easier to memorize.
You can memorize. All of these are helpful. Colossians 1. 19 through 23. John 3. 16 through 19.
These are just ways to show somebody. Here's what the Bible says about this. So it's not just you. But you're actually trusting God to work through his word. So that you can declare the mystery.
You're going to show him the word. And you're going to say. Let me explain what that's saying about Jesus. So he says. Pray. That God would open a door for the word.
That there would be an opportunity for you to do this. That God would open a door. That you'd be looking for that door to be open. That means that you're building a relationship. You're around somebody. And then there's an opportunity.
There's a door open for it. That you'd be ready. That you'd have some of this prepared. You'd know. And this is kind of what I would show him in the word. This is what I would tell him about Christ.
I used to have a family friend. My mom told me one time. She said. Show me the young lady's name. And she said. That they had asked that.
I would be praying. That our family would be praying. That she would meet a good man. And I remember telling my mom. Not going to pray that. Because if she meets a good man right now.
That's not going to work out. She's a hot mess. And a good man's not going to mess with that. So I'll pray. She'll get some of her acting. She'll get together.
And that's rude. And that was mean to say. I know. I've repented some. Of things. But.
There's a little bit of that. That we would want to know a little scripture. We'd want to know. We'd want to be prepared. As we're praying that God would open a door. That we'd be prepared.
Now. That does not mean. Some of you say. Well I'm not ready. I'm not ready to share the gospel. You know who some of the best people.
At sharing the gospel. And bringing their friends around. And telling people about Jesus are. And our church family. It's the people who just became Christians. You know why?
They hadn't forgotten the benefits. And they hadn't taught themselves out of it. And you know what? People who just became Christians do. All the dadgum time. Oh I don't know.
They say that all the time. Someone says. What about this? Oh I don't know. We have people who are Christians show up. And go.
Hey. I was talking to my friend. And they brought up this whole point. About this thing. That I've never heard of. And it's just train wrecked me.
For about a week. And I'm like. What's up? And we talk. We study the scriptures together. They get to go back.
They get to bring stuff. They learn and grow through it. Some of the people who are the most. And least likely to share the gospel. Somebody's been a Christian for 45 years. And they keep saying.
Well I'm not really prepared. I'm not really ready. And it's like. That's nonsense. Go share the gospel. Go point people to Jesus.
Just don't forget the benefits. Of how good he is. It's good news. And it really is. Okay. Know the Bible.
Declare the mystery of Christ. That you would be able from scripture. To say. Here's how the gospel works. It's not just know the Bible. So that you can say.
Here's a rule from the Bible. But it's know the Bible. In a way that you can say. Here's how Jesus saves us. Here's how he redeems. Here's how he forgives.
So that's what he says. To declare the mystery of Christ. This is verse 3. On account of which. I am in prison. That I may make it clear.
Which is how I ought to speak. And he says. Walk in wisdom towards outsiders. Those are people who are not. In the church. Making the best use of the time.
Let your speech always be gracious. Seasoned with salt. So that you may know. How you ought to answer each person. Walking in wisdom towards outsiders. Is pretty much what we're talking about in this series.
Making the best use of the time. That we would. You're only here for a limited amount of time. You're only around people who don't know Jesus. For a limited amount of time. We're just saying.
Make the best use of it. Be intentional with it. If you have a 9 to 5 Job. If you work retail. If you go to class. Realize you're going to be in that class for so long.
You're only going to be at work so long. If it's retail. You're only going to have those co-workers for so long. Because they're only going to work for 3 months. Make the best use of the time. Get to know them.
Become friends with them. Ask them questions. Invite them to do stuff. It's only been summer so long. Invite people for cookouts. And to come swim.
And make a friend who has a pool. And then invite other people to their house. To go swim. Make the best use of it. Be intentional with your time. Make invitations.
Try to ask people to come hang out. To eat a watermelon. To do whatever. Be intentional with the time you're given. That's what he's saying. Walk in wisdom.
Means make wise decisions. One of the things we've been doing in our group. We've been hanging out. Inviting people to go do stuff. We were going to have a board game night. One of the guys in our group is a forester.
And he's trying to invite some of his people. To come hang out with our group some. And they're foresters. They walk around in the woods with trees all the time. And we just basically told him. Look.
Probably don't invite them to board game night. Because that might be weird for them. They might not like board games. Invite them when we do chili cook off night. Or you know. Like be wise.
Make good decisions with the people you're around. You're building with. You know. Like some people. The best thing to invite them to. Is a Sunday morning.
They grew up in the south. They're churchy. They think this is great. Some parts of it. Some people. Let's invite them to a community group.
Some people. Let's invite them to a cookout. Just hang out at your house. Play video games. Be wise. Make the best use of the time though.
I will tell you this. That a lot of people. Will say. Well. Everybody in the south. Is already a Christian.
Everybody's already a Christian. No. Because of statistics. And math. And the fact that that isn't true. It's just not.
Now there are a lot of people. Who tell you they're Christians. And that's just because. Christmas Vacation. Is their favorite movie. And they grew up in the south.
And they think. I'm a Christian. Because. Yeah. The south. And.
Sure. I had a friend in high school one time. I was talking with him. He played football with me. And I asked. One time.
I was like. Are you a Christian? He said. Yeah. I'm black. I was like.
I didn't know. That's how that worked. You have a different version of the Bible. Than I do. But people do that.
We just have this kind of. I'm a Christian because. My uncle was a deacon. I'm a Christian because. I used to be a part of a Lutheran church. Like I.
Just. There's a lot of people. Who just would say that. But actually aren't. Just keep. Being friends with them.
Keep inviting them. The other thing that people will say. Because we're in the south. Is look. If they wanted to meet Jesus. They'd be here.
They'd show up. There's a thousand churches. If they actually wanted to become Christians. They would show up. And here's what I want you to know. A lot of them.
Don't want to become Christians. Because you're right. They want to become Christians. They know where to go. They don't want to become Christians. They just need to.
And it's good news. So why do you care what they want? If it's ultimately good. I could. We could take a Sunday. And line up all the people.
Who've become Christians in our church. We've only been around for a little while. We have a lot of people. Who were far from Jesus. Not in a church. Had no desire to become Christians.
I got to talk to one a couple weeks ago. We mentioned him the other day. Where I asked him. What his thoughts were on. God or spirituality. Before he became a Christian.
And he said. Oh I just thought it was stupid. Didn't think God exists. Thought all that sounded dumb. But he'll walk up here.
And say I'm so glad. That people came and harassed me. And got and became friends with me. And told me about Jesus. And wouldn't let me get off with lame excuses. And kept inviting me to stuff.
And I had. I'm so glad I had to sit and think. I'm not sure I want to be this person's friend anymore. Or. Because they're annoying. And then eventually I met Jesus.
And it's actually good news. We can line up Christian after Christian. Who's new believer in our family. And we can line up people who've been Christians for years. Who could say the same thing. But.
Says. Walk in wisdom towards outsiders. Making the best use of the time. And let your speech. Always be gracious. Grace.
You know what grace means? Grace means that you don't get what you deserve. That God blesses us. Above and beyond. What we earned. But also to be gracious.
Just to be kind. Be friendly. Be forgiving. Be gospel in your speech. We could. We say we're a gospel centered community on mission.
We could just as easily say we're a grace. Centered community on mission. It's the same thing. That Jesus forgives. So it just says let your speech be gracious.
Be a forgiving person. Be kind. Seasoned with salt. So that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Okay. Seasoned with salt means that the gospel is a part of how you normally talk.
You're gracious in your speech. And your speech is seasoned with salt. Now. Your speech isn't just salt. You ever seen a street corner preacher? Maybe just in a movie.
Street corner preaching. If you don't know Jesus you're going to hell. If you know Jesus you don't have to. Repent and know Jesus. Basic good street corner preaching. All of that is true.
It's just all salt. So it's not very tasty. It's just all. It's just aggressive. It's just. Now sometimes that works because it's true.
Sometimes it's what people needed to hear. But primarily you just season yourself with salt. You just include the gospel and things. It's salt in everything. That's why he says season it with it. Salt in all of your food.
All the food that tastes good. Salt in it. It's in your butter. It's in your cake. Somebody when we were talking about this said it's not in LaCroix. Well LaCroix tastes terrible.
If you don't know what LaCroix is you have done well in life to dodge it. But how do we do that? How do we season our speech with salt? How do we include Jesus in normal conversations? Because that still feels really hard. Because that's what we're going to talk about now.
How do we do that? Because the truth is you're going okay. Have Jesus be a part of normal way. I talk to people as I'm walking in wisdom with outsiders. As I'm building relationships. I'm going to talk about Jesus some.
But how? Because it's not like you can be like. Yeah that's a really interesting point you made about the NBA final. You know who else is a slam dunk? Jesus. Yeah that's a really interesting piece of news about Comey.
But have you ever thought about getting fired up for Jesus? Like it just. It's like how do I do this in a normal conversation? Because it just feels like I'd be a weirdo. How do I do that? I'm glad you asked.
First thing. Be a real friend. Be real friends with people who don't know Jesus. Like an actual friend. Like these are the people you want to hang out with. You will call them.
You will do stuff with them. They will call you. If they have problems they'll pick up the phone and call you. You're an actual friend. Because then this becomes way easier to take. And you talk a lot more.
But step one is get to know people who don't know Jesus. And be a real friend. So we're talking about all the ordinary stuff of life. Hobby with people who don't know Jesus. Get to know your neighbors. Invite them for things.
Become real friends. The second one is have Christ actually impact your life. So that it's normal for you to talk about it. So that when you're talking with your friends about normal friend stuff. Like you might be mentioning your budget. Well if Christ doesn't affect your money.
Then it's going to be really hard for you to talk about it. But if he does. If you're actually submitting your money to Christ. Then it makes sense for you to bring it up. If Christ doesn't affect your marriage. Or your work.
Or how you pick a major. Then it's going to be harder to try to infiltrate. And put him in normal things. But if he does. If he's already at work in you. In all the normal ways of life.
It's easier to talk about him. I had a friend named Amir. I worked with at. This is just kind of a way to do this. But I had a friend named Amir.
Who I worked with at Sears in Lynchburg Virginia. And Amir was a Muslim. And we would talk a good bit. And one of the things I realized Amir did a lot in our conversations. We'd just be talking about normal stuff. And then he'd say.
Well I'm a Muslim. So. And then he would explain how Muslims think about that. Well I'm a Muslim. So. Here's how I would do that.
Well I'm a Muslim. So. Here's why I wouldn't be a part of that. I'm a Muslim. So. And just over and over.
And I got to learn so much about Islam. Just from him talking to me about. How he thinks about the world. And then I realized. I can do that. I can just say.
Well I'm a Christian. So. And you know what that does. It's just a small phrase. But it helps you.
In your normal talking with people. Bring up Christ in a way that's not. Aggressive or weird. Because here's what it is. What you're saying is. Can I share something about myself?
And I'm just talking about me. Someone's talking about marriage. Or they're talking about something with their kids. Or they're talking about. Something with school. Or how they're going to approach something.
And you just go. Well. I'm a Christian. Sometimes I would even just go. Well I'm a Christian. So I don't.
I think about that differently. And then just wait. Sometimes they go. Okay. They have no desire to talk about it. That's cool.
Sometimes they go. What do you mean? It's like. Well I'm glad you asked. But you have to have actual ways.
That Christ is at work in your life. For that stuff to make sense. But what it does. So here. Let me just. Let's.
We talk about how our culture works a lot. Let's just use culture against itself here. As we as Christians. Trying to point people back to Jesus. Our culture. U.S. culture.
Has pounded into your brain. That whatever you want to do. Whatever you want to be. Is right for you. That whoever you are. No one can step in and tell you.
You can't be you. That's been pounded into everyone. So as soon as you say. Well I'm a Christian. So. You've walked into a magical judgment free zone.
Sometimes. Doesn't always work with Christianity. But go for it. You've walked into a place. So now they're willing to listen to you.
Because you're just talking about yourself. Now. I say our culture has pounded that into our brains. The Bible doesn't. The Bible says. Some of the things you think are stupid.
And there are a lot of things you're wrong about. And you need Jesus. But. I'm a Christian. So I believe that.
But you may not. That's. You get to just talk about things that have. That are true to you. Real to you. In a way that isn't.
So if. If my friend Amir had constantly said. Well the Quran says this. So you need to change your behavior. Well the Quran says this. So you.
You're wrong about that. It'd have been harder to talk to him. But he would just say. I'm a Muslim so. The Quran says this. And then he would just apply it to himself.
In a way that I was willing to listen. And that's. Be real friends. Have Christ actually affect your life. So that it makes sense to bring him up.
And then the third one is just. Listen. And I'm going to give us a practical method for this. To try to help us out. But the third one is.
Listen. That we would actually just listen. I'm going to put this over here. It may mess me up. But. Everyone.
Has a story. A primary story. That. They use to define their life. And the world. Everybody does.
Everybody lives by a story. And here's what we're told about the. As Christians about the Bible. Is that there is a story. For the world. And that story falls along four plot lines.
Creation. Fall. Redemption. Restoration. That's the story of the world. That God created the world good.
In a relationship with himself. And that humanity rebelled from him. That we fell. In theology it's called the fall. That we rebelled and wallowed in sin. That's where racism.
And hatred. And murder. And murder. And greed. And lust. And infidelity.
And like everything comes out of. Us sinning. And rebelling against God. And in this place. God created the world good. And we broke it.
And that all of us as humans. Have joined in breaking the world. That it was harmonious. And beautiful. And every single one of us has partaken. In the fall.
That we've all joined the rebellion. Through lying. Through bitterness. Through talking about people behind their backs. Through stealing. Through pride.
You name it. Pick your poison. You're on this team. We deserve hell. We deserve to be punished for our rebellion. But it doesn't end with the fall.
The story of the Bible is the story of redemption. That God loved the world so much. That he came. And joined humanity. In the brokenness of the world. And took the brokenness of the world.
On himself. The most heinous thing. That has ever happened. In the history of humanity. Is not. When we rebelled against God.
It's when we killed him. But God was using that. To redeem. That he took the worst thing that's ever happened. And he turned it on its head. Because he's a God who's like that.
And he offers mercy and grace. To those who will place faith in Christ. And then there's restoration. That heaven is a return. To the garden. Heaven isn't a place where we float around.
In magical spirit bodies. That there's going to be a new earth. That he's recreating. What was broken. Creation. Fall.
Redemption. Restoration. And this story has been imprinted. On your soul. That there's something about this story. That you know is undeniably true.
That's why the best stories we tell. Follow this. The best stories we share with each other. Follow this. That's why when you watch a movie. And it's nice and happy.
And then it falls apart. And it stays fallen apart. Titted. Stays broken. And then it ends. And it goes black.
And it says fin. Because that's like a Parisian way to say. How you like that. Critics can tell you. Oh that's more like real life. But it hurts.
And there's something inside of you. That says no that's terrible. No no no no no. It doesn't just end terrible. Good. Good.
Good wins. There's something inside of us. That screams that. So let me give you some examples. There's a little boy. Who's born into a beautiful loving family.
But a mean wizard kills his parents. He has to learn magic. To defeat this wizard. Ultimately he has to die. In order to break the wizard's power. That sound like anything?
Then he rises from the grave. Death defeats the wizard in that act. And the sun shines again. And everything's magical. And then we go to the train station. And hug our children.
Like that's. Let's do another one. There's a guy. He loves his daughter. She gets taken. He has a particular set of skills.
He kills everyone. They hug and everything's great. Until she gets taken again. There's a ten year old boy. And he's a prince. And everything's wonderful.
And some old lady comes to his house. And says. Can I live with you? He answers the door. Even though he's a prince. And he's ten.
Can I stay with you for. In exchange for a rose. He's a capitalist. He says no. She turns into a wizard. Enchantress lady.
And then turns him into a monster. And says. You've got to learn how to fall in love. With someone. Otherwise you'll stay this forever. He does.
Boom. Sparkles. Tears. Magic. Hugs. Kisses.
And a remake. Creation. Fall. Redemption. Restoration. In West Philadelphia.
Born and raised. On a playground. Where I spent most of my days. Chilling out. Maxing. Relaxing.
Or cooling. Or shooting some people. Outside of the school. When a couple of guys. Who were up to no good. Started making trouble.
In my neighborhood. Got in one little fight. My mom got scared. She said. You're moving with your auntie. And your uncle.
To Bel Air. All the good stories. All the good stories. Follow this. And we begin to listen. Because the thing is.
For those around you. Their story follows this as well. Because it's imprinted. On our souls. That we all. Have this playing out.
In our lives. Because sin. Is the problem. That has wrecked. Everything. You were designed.
Good. And right. And sin. Wrecked it. That's everybody's story. And everyone is looking.
For a redeemer. Who will fix. The problem. Let me give you an example. I had a friend. I used to work with him.
Hadn't seen him in a while. His story played out like this. And I got to know this. As I listened to him. And talked to him. Over time.
He was married. When he was about 19. Divorced when he was 22. He was in his 40's. At this point. And what was broken.
With him. As he could define it. And as he would experience it. As he could explain it. Is that he was meant. For love.
And marriage. And relationship. And family. And that had been. Lost. He was on online dating sites.
This isn't a critique of those. But I'm just telling you a story. Every. Wink. Nudge. Click.
Smile. Swipe. Was a chance at a redeemer. That someone was going to come fix. What was broken. And when he had a lady in his life.
He was up here. And when she was gone. He was down here. Because what he needed. Was someone to ride in. And fix this problem.
So that he could be full. And loved. And complete. And that was his story. Now as I began to listen to this.
And as we begin to listen to those around us. We now have a way. To naturally begin to see. Where the gospel intersects. With this story. Was he designed for love.
Can we agree or disagree with that. One of the things we're going to do. As you listen to your friends. And your neighbors. Is where can I agree. And where do I have to disagree.
Absolutely agree. You were designed to be loved. In a way that you cannot even imagine. And that has been robbed from you. We believe that God existed in Trinity. He was God the Father.
God the Son. God the Holy Spirit. That when he created the world. He didn't create it. Because he needed beings to love. But he created it.
Because he is loving. And he's invited us into that love. We believe that. That lines up with the creation story. That we know and believe. And hold true and dear.
The story that's the story of our lives. Of those who have become Christians. That this is now the true gospel story for us. So we could agree with that. It's torn up by sin. That that love has been shattered because of sin.
Absolutely can agree. I have to disagree here. And this is the place where you will disagree with most everyone that you are walking with. A woman's not going to fix that. The biggest issue he had was that he needed to be heaven. An overwhelming love.
He needed to be crowned with it. He needed to be wrapped in it. He needed to have an eternity of comfort and joy and love. That comes only through Christ. That's the restoration he needed. And without that.
He was going to place so much pressure on any female that came in his life. She was going to buckle and crumble. And it was going to be another train wreck. Because she was never going to be Jesus. Take one of your friends. Maybe you don't know the whole story.
You just know they move from Job to Job and city to city. They're looking for that dream Job. And maybe you start to learn, okay, it's actually because they believed that they were meant to do something that fulfilled them. And gave them a purpose. Made them whole. And so they keep moving from Job to Job.
They keep looking for career to career. They keep trying to find the thing that will finally make them want to wake up in the morning. And once they find it. The magical Job. Where the boss is amazing. Then they'll be in heaven.
They'll be full. They'll be complete. They'll be whole. This will fix it. See, what you're listening for is who do I think I'm supposed to be? Who was I designed to be?
Who was I made to be? What broke it? What destroyed it? What's hell to me? Who's the savior? What's heaven?
And as we begin to listen to our friends. As we begin to see this play out. We begin to know how to share the gospel with them. I believe you were created for a purpose. And I know why you never found it. Because the job was never going to do it.
You needed Christ to come in to show you. You need the creator to tell you what you were created for. And only in Christ will you ever fully be. This plays out in anything. You can take a staunch militaristic atheist. We're rational, intelligent beings.
Who've created science and art and all these wonderful things. But if they're militant, maybe religion's the problem. It hymns people in. It promotes ignorance. It harms society. But through science and reason, we can reach utopia.
And everything will be wonderful. And we can intersect with that. We can say, yeah, we were. I agree with you. We have reason and logic. And people who are ignorant, we should teach them and train them and help them.
But I actually think that it's only through God's created purpose for us. Who invented reason and math and science and logic and all the things that are beautiful in the world. And the order that you so appreciate. It's only through Him that we'll actually reach fulfillment. And it just depends. It depends on what.
So a lot of times, just for example, you're listening with your friends. You may not get all four of them. You may just begin to pick up along the way. Here's what they think heaven is. It involves a boat. Expensive things.
Okay. So I've learned what heaven is. You begin to learn what messed it up. Or what's causing the problem. What's keeping them from that. But you can start realizing, okay, I can probably agree here some.
I can agree here some usually with what's messed up the world. Sometimes you might meet a Christian who they've put Jesus here. Husband. Well-behaved children. Peace and prosperity. And we have to say, yes, actually, maybe fringe benefits.
That's not the ultimate benefit of Christ. This may be some of your neighbors who you say are Christians. Jesus is a means to end that doesn't ultimately get them to the restoration they need for their soul. To save them from their sin. This is what we begin to listen. As you become real, genuine friends with people, you start listening to them.
What do they, creation, what do they assume the world should be like? What kind of person would they like to be? Who are their heroes? Fall. How do they describe their struggles and battles? What do they feel like is the biggest issue?
Where do they lack? What's hell to them? Redemption. Who's their savior? Who will deliver them from what's broken? Restoration.
What are their hopes? Long-term project they're working on? When will they finally be satisfied? And here's what drives me crazy and breaks my heart. Is when I hear Christians say things like, yeah, but they're happy. They already have something that they believe.
Christians say this to each other and to other people. Just do whatever makes you happy. You've got to do whatever you find in your heart, whatever fulfills you. That's not true. Because every one of us is plotting this out and picking a savior that only can short-term safe. At best.
Short-term safe. And then eventually, it's a train wreck. But we have a savior who redeems this story. You can play mine out on this. I'll do some confession here. Creation.
Born into a middle-class family. I did not hit a double. I was born on second base. Relatively intelligent. Relatively athletic. Highly attractive.
Just kidding. That was just for fun. All right. Stay focused. My whole life, I've just felt like I had potential. Like, if anything went wrong, I had no excuses.
So every ounce of any type of failure is on me. Anything that goes wrong in any situation I'm in, I have no excuse. I wasn't smart enough. I didn't try hard enough. I didn't think well enough. I didn't plan well enough.
So what saves me is hard work. Get up early. Go to bed late. White-knuckle it. Don't complain. Keep your head down.
Hard work. And ultimately, success. In any avenue I'm in. You can play that out over grades. You can play that out over sports. You can play that out over relationships.
You can play that out over my relationship with my wife. Or my children. Or my friends. Or this church. It's that story. Without Jesus.
And that's a terrible story. See, I believe. That when Jesus said it's finished, it was. That I don't have to be good enough. That I don't have something I have to prove. That I don't have to make right with all the stuff that I've been given.
That I can fail and that I have. And gee, this goes two ways really wrong for me. I fail and I end up feeling miserable and broken and depressed and worn out. But I don't let anybody know that. I just grind on. Because to quit is the ultimate failure.
Or I succeed. And I am arrogant and prideful. And a miserable human to be around. Without Jesus. But see, I believe.
That he interrupted my story. And it's a better story for it. And so I can with complete integrity. Try to force him into everybody's story I talk to. Because I think it will be a better story for it. With complete integrity.
I can argue with you. I can reason with you. I can say, hey, I'm a Christian. So can I tell you actually what I see going on here? And one of the beautiful things for us as Christians. Is that this is the story.
And this is everybody's story. And you begin to speak to something in someone's heart. That they didn't even realize was there. Can I tell you actually why you need a boyfriend so badly? What the Bible says about that? Can I tell you why you're so addicted to following your heart?
And what the Bible says about that? Can I just tell you as a Christian how I see this. And how I view this. And how we talk about this in my community group. And actually what I believe. If you actually got that job.
It might be the worst thing that ever happened to you. Because you'd watch your Savior die before your eyes. And then you'd have nothing to keep leaning into. And because I love you. I'm going to pray that that happens. And I get to be around.
So that I can point you to a better Savior. There's a quote from Tim Keller. He's a pastor in New York. He says, Jesus is the only Lord. Who if you receive him. Will fulfill you completely.
And if you fail him. Will forgive you eternally. And that's not true about anything else you put in that spot. And I don't know why on earth. We wouldn't begin praying. And walking with wisdom towards outsiders.
Making the best use of the time. And trying to as best we can. With all that we have. And every ounce of time and effort we have. To try to tell them. Your Savior is going to fail you.
But there's one that won't. Or you're going to fail your Savior. But there's one that will forgive you. Let's pray. God I want to thank you. I want to thank you that you fulfill us completely.
And that when we fail. You forgive eternally. And I thank you Lord. That for so many of us in this room. You interrupted our story. You dethroned our Savior.
Savior for a better one. A Savior that doesn't just sit on a throne. And command obedience. But a Savior that left the throne. And went to a cross. In obedience to his Father.
For the glory of God. And the salvation of souls. And God I pray. For all the false saviors in this room. That they would die. Never to rise again.
So that a Savior who comes from the grave. Can take their place. In Jesus name. Amen.
Everyday Life
Transcript
All right, we are in the second week of our Extraordinary Series talking about a pretty simple concept. We're basically looking at the fact that God has designed and has purposed that our ordinary lives, all of the normal stuff we have to do, all the meals we have to eat, the work we have to do, the chores, the relationships, everything we have in our normal life, that he's designed to use that, to use our ordinary daily work, our ordinary daily tasks, the ordinary weight of existence for his extraordinary eternal purposes. That's what we're looking at. And I grew up in the church. I remember growing up in the church, and one of the things I began to kind of see was the church I grew up in, we had a Sunday morning.
We had an early service, which was for people who wanted to wake up early. So it was a handful of people, you know, 60 and above, I think, was pretty much who was there. I don't really know because I never was. Then we had Sunday school, and Sunday school happened after that. And then after that, we had the late service. The early service and the late service were the exact same thing.
And so we had early service, Sunday school, late service. Then we would go home. We would eat, maybe eat out, maybe go home and eat. We used to ride, my family would ride to Hardee's and get chicken a lot. That doesn't have much to do with this, just Hardee's used to have good chicken back in the day. And chocolate chip cookies is about that big.
And we used to get that, and then we would go home. We would eat. You would take a nap. Or, you know, sometimes we'd get like a pickup football game going. And then you had to be back at 6 if you were in choir, 7 if you were just going to be at the normal kind of gathering in the evening. And then we would do that.
And then we had Wednesday night stuff. There was some Tuesday night stuff. But overall, the gist I got growing up in church was that the goal was to be there. The overall goal of being a Christian was to be in that building. And that if you came on Sunday, the general thing was, cool, come back next Sunday. And if you came back the next Sunday and the next Sunday, eventually they might say, hey, you should get into the Sunday school class.
And you'd get into a Sunday school class, and that would kind of double the time you were there. And then it was, you should be at the Sunday night service. And then there should be, you should be at Wednesday night, prayer meeting or Bible study. And there's the ladies' meetings and the men's meetings. And overall, the goal was be here. And maybe they wouldn't have said that.
That was just the picture I picked up on was the people who were the most faithful, the most good, the most Christian-y were there the most times. And that was the goal. I know my dad growing up, his parents, his dad was a pastor. And he had to be there every time the doors were open for anything. And if he was sick, they would let him stay home. But he wasn't allowed to do anything.
And they would actually come home and check. The first thing they would do in walking the door after he had been home sick from a church meeting was they'd walk in and they would stick their hand behind the television to see if it was hot. And if it was hot, he got a whooping. That was how that worked. So he said when they would leave, as soon as he saw the car pull out, he would turn the television on and watch about 15 minutes and then turn it off and hope it had enough time to cool down.
He got it down to a silence. He could watch just the beginning of a show and then just kind of figure out later what happened in Lost in Space and ask his friends at school the next day or whatever. But the goal was to be there. You had to be there. We don't do a whole lot that involves you being here. We do this.
We gather on Sundays. That's it. That when we begin to read the Bible and begin to study it and we realize that the primary call for us is to not always be together, but to be Christians everywhere we are. To be sent out into the world, to be Christians everywhere we are. Now, we value gathering very highly. And we should gather.
It's normal and good and helpful and it builds into us holiness and it reminds us of God's goodness for us to gather every Sunday. We have people who show up here at 7 in the morning and begin to set all this up. We've got people that are going to stay to help us pack all of this up. We intentionally go out of our way to do things to be welcoming because we know we live in the South and people will show up to a church on Sundays and that we should. Some of us, our friendships, we should intentionally invite them to this first. That's the thing that makes the most sense for someone to come be around.
And hear the gospel proclaimed and study the Bible. But we also realize this is primarily for Christians. It's one of the reasons why we do it early in the morning. Wake up and then go spend the rest of your day getting to know your neighbors and getting to be around people. This matters, but it's not our primary main thing. It's not the overall goal for us.
We love this building. It's kind of a steal financially for us. It's not the prettiest building you've ever been in. But this isn't our main thing. If it were, I might be a little depressed sometimes. Like we talk about like we need to work on the lighting in this room to make it brighter.
And then usually in that conversation someone says, yes, but if we make it brighter, you'll be able to see the carpet better. And we're like, usually that just kind of ends it. We're like, good point. We'll just keep it the way it is. But we just, we want to gather.
But we want to gather to study the Bible, to be equipped and to be sent back out. We gather to go. We don't gather to gather. We gather to go. We don't gather just to gather. The point of this is not just let's get in a room and pat ourselves on the back and we're done.
No, we gather to remind ourselves about what matters and what's important and what's real and then to be sent out. It's that song we just sang. Who are we that Christ would save us? So we gather to celebrate that. And then it's who are we that Christ would send us? See, we gather to go.
This does matter. However, it is important that we're here and that we're here on a regular basis and that we remind ourselves consistently that we're not alone and that we are a family and that we are sent together. But it's important that we then go and live a life of ordinary things, intentionally seeing God work in extraordinary ways. And that's our goal. We started this last week. Grab your Bibles.
Go to Deuteronomy 6. You have one of these white Bibles. It'll be page 87. It's going to be pretty early on in everybody's Bible. It'll be Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus to Deuteronomy. And we're going to spend time studying this morning.
We're going to look at this. And here's what we said last week, that God intends to use our ordinary, normal lives for his eternal, extraordinary purposes. And one of the stories we told last week was about Dawn, who happens to be in my community group. She has short hair. She gets her hair cut every five weeks. So she had to go to her hairstylist every five weeks.
And Kelly Weed is her hairstylist as part of our church. And she just consistently kept saying, you've just moved here. You need to come be around. Our church family is great. They're so loving. They're so gracious.
You should be here. You should come. You should come. And Dawn kept saying, no, no, no, thank you. Dawn's polite. So, no, thank you.
Sounds good. Maybe she lied some. I'll see if I can fit that in. And then didn't show up. Eventually, though, she came because she ran out of excuses and she didn't want to get a new hairstylist, I guess, is my assumption. And so she showed up.
And God used that very ordinary hair cutting to bring her around. Eventually, she met Christ. We have story after story like that in our church family. Some of you, that's your story. It's just normal. Some of you have felt like I don't have a good testimony because your story was my neighbor became my friend.
He was a Christian. She was a Christian. This person I went to school with was a Christian. My parents were Christians. The lamest version ever. I grew up in a Christian house.
My parents told me about Jesus. And eventually, I believe this extraordinary gospel that the God of the universe saves sinners and wants to have a relationship with him. I know that's so boring. No. All of that is normal, ordinary things that God uses for extraordinary, eternal purposes. And that's what we're looking at today.
And today, we're actually, over the rest of the series, we're just talking about how do we do this? How do we join in using our normal, using our ordinary, using our mundane for God's spectacular purposes? So, Deuteronomy 6. Where we're about to pick up is Moses. They've led the Israelites out of Egypt. And he's saying, here's where we're about to go.
We're going to go into the promised land that God has provided. So, they've come out of Egypt, headed into the promised land. He's saying, here's what we're going to do. Here's what God's going to accomplish for us. And the overall picture here was, they were enslaved. They were rescued by miraculous means from slavery to be a people that belong to God.
To be a family and a nation that belong to God. And that God's going to give them a place to be a beacon for him. That they're going to go drive some people out, take over some land. And then God is going to use that land to say, here's what it's like to follow me. Here's my people. And begin to show the rest of the nations what it's like to belong to him.
And the truth is, that's the church. This is a picture of what Christ does with the church. That we were enslaved to sin. That by miraculous means, Christ dying on a cross vicariously for us. Being our Passover lamb. That they would practice sacrifices.
Where they would place their sin on an animal. And the animal would be sacrificed to pay the debt of their sin. That Christ becomes that for us. That he sacrificed to pay the debt of our sin. And that he rises from the grave. To offer free forgiveness and hope and grace to everyone.
And then he makes us into a people. And a family. And a nation. To show the rest of the world, here's what God is like. And to begin to welcome others in. So we're picking up in Deuteronomy.
Where we're seeing a picture of what ultimately God's going to do with the church. So he's talking to the nation of Israel. The people of Israel. But it also helps us as Christians to know how do we live this out? How do we walk in this? How do we understand this?
Because we're in a very similar place. Verse 4. Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God. The Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.
With all your soul. With all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. And shall talk of them when you sit in your house. And when you walk by the way.
And when you lie down. And when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand. And they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house. And on your gates.
That first verse there. Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God. The Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. With all your soul.
With all your might. That's the Shema. The Jewish people would repeat this over and over again. At one point a rabbi asked. A Pharisee asked Jesus. What's the most important law in the Bible.
In the Old Testament. And Jesus says this one. To love the Lord your God with all your heart. With all your soul. With all your mind. With all your strength.
With everything you have. To love God. So as we talk about how do we do this. How do we join him in the ordinary mission of life. The first thing that has to happen. Is we have to love him.
As Christians. You have to love Christ. In order to join him in his mission. I've. I have met people before. That were a part of the church.
But they loved the church. Maybe they loved the music. Maybe they loved the preaching. Maybe they loved the friendships they had there. Maybe they loved that. That it made them an upstanding citizen.
In the area. But I don't think they loved Christ. I don't think they enjoyed him. Rested in him. Saw the greatness of him. That's the first command.
And I want to give you some freedom here. It's a command to action. Here. The Lord your God. The Lord is one. Now you will love him with everything you have.
With all your strength. With all of your soul. With all of your might. With everything you have. With all of your heart. This is a command.
It's the same as when the Bible says. That husbands should love their wives. It does not mean. Husbands should have a passive. Receptive feeling. Towards their wife.
Sometimes we think about love. As just an emotion. So you either love. Or you don't. You either feel it. Or you don't.
Like watching a movie. You either enjoy it. Or you don't. So that it's based on the movie. Whether it's good or not. And like how you respond to it.
Now this is a command to action. The first thing we ought to do. Is work. To love him. To know him. To see him.
And the place that that begins. Is the gospel. We cannot effectively join him in mission. Unless we actually love. The outcome. Of the mission.
You see. The reason I want people to meet Jesus. Is because I've already met him. And he's worth meeting. That's how that works. The reason you should want your friends and neighbors.
To come to Christ. Is because you've already come to Christ. And you know what that's like. You know what that accomplishes. Some of you don't want to share the gospel. Don't want to tell people about Jesus.
And the reason is. You don't really like it. You're not captivated by it. You're not overwhelmed by it. It's been a long time. Since you laid on your face.
Thinking about the gravity. Of your sin. And the holiness of our God. And the fact that he loved you so much. That he would redeem you. It's been a long time since that happened.
So you. You're not stirred up by it. You're not overcome by it. So why would you tell other people about it. Some of you believe that the gospel. That what we're supposed to do as Christians.
Is work really hard. And be really moral. Some of you maybe grew up in a church like that. The goal was don't drink. Don't smoke. Don't watch R-rated movies.
And God will love you. Why would you tell your friends about that? You're looking at them thinking. Smoking. Drinking. And R-rated movies seem so great.
Maybe you weren't. You were. There's something about like. If the. I have good news for you. Get to work.
That doesn't sound like good news. But that's not the gospel. The gospel is I have good news for you. Jesus did all the work. You're free. You're loved.
You're redeemed. He offers you grace. Your sin. Had built up. A debt. Before God.
That you deserve to be destroyed for. But Christ. Died for you. Because he cares about you. And he cares for you. And he wants you.
That's good news. That's freedom. That's purpose. That's enjoyment. That's rest. And some of us don't.
Don't share this with our friends. Because we haven't really gotten there yet. We haven't really believed it yet. If you have no desire to tell other people about Jesus. I don't think you've met the Jesus I have. I don't think you've really met and interacted with the Christ that we find in scripture.
Because he is lovely and lovable and good and gracious and welcoming and merciful and compassionate. And he fixes us. Mends us. We believe. If you read the Bible. We believe that sin has wrecked the world.
That there's isolation and loneliness. That the people around us are held down by guilt and shame and depression. That they're doing everything they can to just build some comforts around their life. Thinking that the best thing they could possibly do is just have a nice couch and a good show on Netflix. The most troubling thing to them is when that season ends. And they can't find something else good.
So they watch The Office again. Like that's the biggest issue in their life right now. They have no purpose. They have no meaning. They feel adrift. They feel lost.
There's some people that you know put on a really brave face. But they are wracked by anxiety and fear as if a shadow was following them. They don't know what. They don't know how. But they know one day it's going to catch them.
And we believe that Christ is the cure for all of that. That he gives us a family. That he redeems us. That he died for our guilt and our shame. That he sets us free from fear and anxiety. That he is our hope.
We want everyone to know that. There's a song by the teddy bears. That came out in 1958. And one of the set of lyrics is to know, know, know him is to love, love, love him. And I do and I do. Do you know what song I'm talking about?
It's kind of catchy. That's true about Christ. To know Christ is to love Christ. And the place that this begins is a command to love him with everything you have. Now, before we can move on, you have to be there. It has to be real.
It has to be genuine love. It has to be heartfelt. He says this will be on your heart. But before we can move on, some of you may be saying, okay, I don't feel that. What do I do? How do I respond?
I don't know if I'm there. It's like when there are times in marriage when you just don't feel gushy about your spouse. You just don't. They're there. You like them. They're okay.
But you're not like overwhelmed by it. It's just not happening. And the response is not to wait until that just shows back up magically. The response is, what do I do? How do I begin to foster this? How do I get back around them?
I know that when I get kind of like that with my wife, Anna, I just got to hang out with her. She's a delight to be around. I just got to make time for it. Sometimes it's really hard to like her when there's a two-year-old in between us that we both have to work with. So it's like the best thing we can do is be business partners to keep this thing alive and help it not hit us with sticks, which he does.
But, you know, I made the sticks for him in the shape of a sword, so that's kind of on me. But you have to figure out a way to make it work. And so here he gives us some clues in the text that I want to show us here. There are ways to stir up our affections for Christ. So I want us to just look at the words here.
First, he starts with here. Oh, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. So he starts off by saying, listen to what he is like. One of the ways to stir up your affections is to be here and listen to sermons. Some of you, look, there are a lot of really good Bible teachers that exist in the world and put their words and their Bible studies on the Internet. Some of you are most have your affections stirred for Christ through listening to someone explain and teach his word.
And you need to be listening to podcasts of sermons to and from work. Some of you work in a job where you can have that in your head. I one of the most enjoyable, soul stirring, Jesus loving thing for me is when I cut the grass at my house and listen to sermons while I do it. One of the cool things about that is periodically I will be in a spot in my yard. And because that's where I was when I heard that point, I will be reminded of something about Christ just because that's where I happened to be when I heard it while I was cutting my grass. But here, what he's like is one of the things we get to do to stir our affections.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. That means to get to work to do this, to pour everything you have into it, to put energy towards it. It's all your might. He says these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. So that means memorize them, roll them around in there, think about them, have them affect you.
You shall teach them diligently to your children. One of the ways that some of you are most stirred in your affections for Christ is getting to explain something to someone else. You need to be around Christians who don't know as much as you. You need to be around people that you can say, hey, let's walk, let's study the Bible together. Let me show you some stuff. There's times where you're explaining something to someone and it's like it clicks in your own heart and you suddenly are like, hold on.
I got to repent, too. Like I love doing premarital counseling for that exact reason. I'm telling people how to communicate to their wives. There's not hasn't been a time I've gotten to do premarital counseling where I did not go home during one or two or five of the sessions and say, hey, and I need to repent for some stuff because I had forgotten how to do this. But I remind remember that Christ is good and this is how I'm supposed to act.
But you're to teach. You shall teach them diligently to children. You should talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise. Somebody's just to talk about God and his goodness and what he's done. You need to say it out loud. It says you shall bind them.
There's a sign on your hand. They should be frontlets between your eyes. We'll talk more about that in a minute. But you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Whatever it is. Some of you, it's journaling.
Here's what I have found as a rule for me. Whatever I find that is the most soul-stirring way for me to love Jesus then becomes really difficult for me to do. And it has to take might. It takes energy and effort for me to do it. Some of you, it's journaling and you know that. You know that sitting when you read and pray and writing out all of your prayers and writing about how God is good and how he's answered you.
That's the most you get out of. Some of you, it's memorizing scripture. Some of you, it's singing. There are certain things the Bible tells us we have to do. We've got to read the Bible. We have to be intaking his word because that's how he works on us.
For some of you, that's like going to the gym. It's not enjoyable. It's work. But you don't see the benefits of that until you've, it's been a month or two months. And you usually don't see the benefits of the gym in the gym. You see the benefits of the gym outside of the gym.
Like when you walk upstairs and can still breathe. Like, do you know what I'm talking about? You do something for a day and you're not sore the next day. The gym isn't great. Nobody wakes. I mean, some people do wake up in the morning like the gym.
Let's do this. Most of us don't. Most of us are like, all right, let me do this so that I'll not die doing normal tasks. Some of you, that's the Bible reading. It just takes effort. But ultimately, it builds into you something good.
But we're told some things we're supposed to do. Read the Bible. Be around church family. Be in community. Pray. Fast.
But then we've got to find things together. You've got to find things for yourself. What stirs up your affections? What helps you love Him? For me, that's woodworking. Walking in the woods.
Now, if I told you, I don't need to read the Bible. I walk in the woods. You should hit me. But if I say one of the best ways that I can meditate on the goodness of God is to walk in the woods and that's infused with my knowledge of Him from Scripture, that's great. Some of you, it's singing. Some of you, it's listening to music.
Find whatever it is. Some of you, it's making music or writing poems or drawing pictures. All of that's been gifted by God. And whatever it is that stirs your affections for Christ, you should be doing, even if it takes work and effort and planning. Because we've got to love Him to truly be able to share Him and to point people to Him. It's got to be real to us.
And then it's genuine and it's much easier to take from other people. I love Egg Roll Station, which is a Chinese restaurant in town. I usually have cash in my pocket just for Egg Roll Station. And I have to have $7.07 and then I can eat at Egg Roll Station. I eat there once a week. If I don't, my whole system is messed up.
Like a finely tuned machine. I have to eat an Egg Roll and like two and a half pounds of fried rice in order to just keep going. I tell everybody about Egg Roll. If somebody asks about Chinese food, I will tell you about Egg Roll. If you say that you've been there and it's not good, I will argue with you. And it's genuine.
It's real. I believe it. And it makes it easier to take. It makes it more real to other people. It comes out naturally. It's something I'm going to talk about.
I've gotten tons of people to go eat there. I take people with me on a regular basis to eat at Egg Roll Station because I believe in it. And it has to come from that place. Some of you, you're that way with music or you're that way with art. You're like, I've learned if someone wants to talk to me about music. Like if you're the type of person who wants to talk about music, you are going to be disappointed if you talk to me.
If you're like, hey, have you ever heard of them? I'm just like, stop. Just don't. You're going to be mad. I haven't heard of them. I don't know their songs.
I don't know who that guy is. Just please quit. Like, but when we naturally love something, we talk about it. It's real to us. It means something. And that's the place we have to start with Christ.
You have to know him. You have to love him. You have to rest in him. And then the rest begins to come out in a normal way. I will also say this. We've got to move on, but I'll say this.
Some of you feel like I don't, I don't know. I'm a Christian or I believe this stuff, but I just feel no desire to put forth this energy. I feel no desire for this. I think some of that works like this. Have you ever been really hungry so that everything you heard, thought about, sounded like it would be delicious? There was this moment when you could have eaten a taco or a pizza or sushi or a ham sandwich.
Everything sounded amazing. If you smelled any kind of food, it was the most amazing food ever. You just had to eat something. And then you miss that window, and all of a sudden, you're not hungry at all anymore. And people are like, well, you want to go eat at a Mexican restaurant? And you're like, well, you just want to go get some pizza?
And you know cognitively I really should be hungry because two hours ago I was. I just had to keep working. And now nothing sounds good. You just have to know I still need to eat something. And once I start, I'll be reminded why I was hungry in the first place, and it'll be fine. Maybe I'm the only person to experience this.
I think most of us had. I took a short poll with a handful of people to try to see if anybody understood what I was talking about. Walking with Christ is like that sometimes. Sometimes you get to the place where you're like, I just don't feel the hunger anymore. It's like, right, because you've gone so long without it, you've kind of forgotten how to do it. Just pick up your Bible.
Start listening to music. Start praying. Start asking for the hunger again. And then just start eating. Start intaking. And it'll build it back up in you.
But this is why we have to come from here to see people come to know Christ. It's got to be genuine. It's got to be real to us. We've got to actually know him. We've got to understand his benefits, the goodness of him for our soul and the joy that's found in him. This is why we've talked about this past week.
We said if we would intentionally invite one person into our lives, we would get to potentially see our church family double. That we'd get to see more people here. And that's useless. That's absolutely useless if the point is our church is good. That's useless. That's useless.
That's useless. If the point is Jesus is good, that's valuable. If that's the point, if we talk about our church growing and the best you have. This is why I think a lot of times churches, especially in the south, grow by people coming from other churches to this church. Because the sales pitch is come listen to the music. The music is really good.
Come hear the preaching. The preaching is really good. Come hang out with our groups. Our groups are really good. But we've lost the ability to say, come meet Jesus.
Jesus is really good. And so the only person we know how to pitch to are people who already kind of believe that. But we don't know how to actually tell somebody, here's how Christ has wrecked my soul. And you need to know him. It's got to start there. It's got to start knowing the goodness of Christ and seeing his gospel and seeing our sin and seeing his holiness and his love for us.
It's got to start there. So let's keep going. First step, love Jesus. Then it says, verse 7, you shall teach. Oh, no. I jumped ahead of myself here.
I've got to read 6. And these words that I command you today should be on your heart. For us, the primary command is to know Jesus, to love Jesus, to know his gospel, to be changed by that as we obey. That we are changed by the gospel and then we obey. So that's where we come from here, that we would put that in our heart.
That it would be real to us. Then he says, you shall teach them diligently to your children. I shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise. Don't miss this, parents. Primary first mission for you is your kids. First and primary mission for you is your kids.
I, I, I, it hurts my brain every time I hear a mom say, and this doesn't happen a lot in our church, but I've heard this before. Mom says, I want to be on mission, but I just got to stay home and watch my kids. And it's like, your kids need Jesus. We have to keep them in kid city. We can have people co-sign that. Your kids need Jesus.
They bite people. Do y'all know kids do that? Naturally. You don't have to teach them. They will bite another child. They need Jesus.
And we have to like, so parents don't miss that. The first mission you have, the first mission field you have is your children. And then he says this, teach them diligently the gospel. This should infuse. You should explain it to them. You should talk about Jesus.
You should sing and pray. And then he says, how? Talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise. That a love for Christ should saturate your day. Fill your day. That when you wake up, when you go to sleep, when you're walking, when you're eating, it's normal and natural for you to talk about Jesus.
What he does, who he is, what he's accomplished, how good he is, how he blesses, how he fixes, how he forgives. But you can't do that if you don't love him and know him. It'll feel forced. It'll feel weird. But if you love Christ and know Christ and it's already overwhelmed you how he forgives and how he loves and how he redeems, then it naturally will flow out.
It's natural for you to talk about it. It's natural for you to explain it. So this isn't just have a Bible study with your kids. It is that. Do that. But you know, your children are picking up everything, not just the stuff you want them to pick up.
I have a two-year-old. He's learning how to talk. And I feel like he is making fun of me with about half the things he says. He'll take some of his food, want me to eat it. I'll eat some. And he'll go, good, isn't it?
That's good, isn't it? Or he'll see something and go, that's pretty, isn't it? Because I say, isn't it? I didn't know I said, isn't it? Until I heard him start saying it. And I was like, what kind of word is that?
And then I realized I would give him a piece of food and go, it's good, isn't it? And he's mocking me. That's what it feels like. He got hurt this past week and he looked down at his own leg and went, oh, honey, hurt yourself. Because that's what his mom says to him every time he hurts himself. Oh, honey, you hurt yourself.
And so I was carrying him around in Lowe's. He was looking at his knee the entire time going, oh, honey, hurt yourself. He said it like 35 times. We had to keep my brother's dog. My brother and his wife bought a dog and then decided to travel so often that we get to share it. So we really appreciate it.
And so it was at our house. It was the first day it was dropped off. It was in our garage and it started barking. And my two-year-old was watching TV. The dog's name is Possum, by the way. That will make this story make more sense.
My two-year-old was watching TV and he goes, shut up, Possum. And we were like, we may have said that too much. And we don't say that to each other. We don't say that to him. We are willing to tell dogs to shut up. And now our son, my wife, one of the primary ways I fight with, fight, I play with my son is to fight him.
This makes more sense a little bit. Like we wrestle. Like it's one of the things we've been doing since he was little. We fight. I teach him how to throw punches. He hits me with sticks.
This is one of the primary ways that we play with each other. And that was fine at our house. But now he has to go up into Kid City. And I don't know if y'all know this. They can't come get me on Sundays. But we're pretty sure there are times where he's going to push someone and be like, shut up, Emmy.
And then like hit somebody. And it's going to be because we trained him poorly. Because he didn't just pick up the stuff we said to him. He picked up all the stuff we do. He picked up who we are. Some of you grew up in families where your parents made you go to church.
But you watched them the rest of the week. And it had no influence over their life. They told you you needed to love Jesus. But you never actually saw them love Jesus. And that messed with you. That's why he says this should so be real to you.
That the way you wake up when you go to sleep. The way you eat. The way you walk. That means walking the way. Means all the stuff you do. Looks like you know and belong to him.
And you love him. And he's changed you. Because I've heard this quote attributed to a bunch of people. Most recently to John Maxwell. But it says you can teach what you know.
But you'll reproduce who you are. You can teach what you know. But you'll reproduce who you are. And that's why he says love him. And then make sure that that plays out in every bit of your life. Parents don't miss the opportunity to disciple your children.
But I want you to see that he says. You shall teach them diligently to your children. And. So he says teach your children. Explain this to your children. Make this part of life.
And he explains kind of how you get to do that. But when he says and. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house. When you walk by the way. When you lie down. When you rise.
That not only affects your children. That means that it affects everyone you're around. He follows that up with this. Verse 8. You shall bind them. As a sign on your hand.
And they shall be as frontlets. Between your eyes. A frontlet. Is a decorative. Head. Dress.
Piece. Thing. And I know that. Because I've studied extensively. And have a computer. And I googled the word.
It's a decorative headpiece. They took this literally. Says that you'll bind them as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on your doorposts. And on your house. And on your gates.
The Jewish people took this literally. They took the little Torah scrolls. The law that he was giving. And the commandments that he gave. And they wore them on their wrists in a little box. And they wore them on their head in a little box.
Or at least the Shema. Which is here. Oh Israel. The Lord our God is one. And they put them on their doorposts. And on their gates.
I don't think that we have to take this literally. I think what he means is. For us as Christians. I think the call is. The way you work. Everything you do.
The way you see the world. That you can't look into the world. Without having to see past. The gospel. One of the things we talk about. Is so knowing the gospel.
That it's the lens by which we view the world. So that the way we handle money. And the way we interact with people. And the way we. And he says put it on your doorposts. Meaning that when you go in.
And when you go out. It's intentional. It's in obedience. On the gates. Which means this is how you interact with the world. This is the first thing they see about you.
You ever heard somebody say. Oh he really wears his faith on his sleeve. And what they mean is. It's just out there for everybody to see. It's just kind of out in the world there. For everybody to notice.
And they kind of say it negatively. And maybe you have thought like. God. Christianity is supposed to be private. And I'm supposed to enjoy it. And I'm supposed to love Christ.
But I don't want to bother people with it. And I don't want to be annoying. And we're not really supposed to talk about religion. It's kind of rude. I don't want to wear my Christianity on my sleeve. Moses says wear it on your face.
Put it on your forehead. That you are a Christian. That you know Christ. Love Christ. That you belong to him. Should be how you interact with the world.
Should be something people pick up from you quickly. And know that it is true and real about you. That's it. That's how to be a part of Jesus' mission in ordinary life. That's it. To so love Christ.
That it pours out. In every interaction. When you wake up. When you go to sleep. When you eat a meal. When you walk.
When you work. To have it be the way you interact with the world. So that if it's bound to your hand. It means that when you're interacting with the world. When you're doing stuff. There are things that you do intentionally.
Because you belong to him. Because you love him. So it affects how you work. It affects how you interact with others. To have it put on your face. Means it's how you see the world.
So that you can't just set a normal budget. Based off of what Dave Ramsey says. But the gospel affects your budget. That you can't just pick a major in school. Because of what your parents said. Or because of what field you want to go in.
But the gospel affects it. And your understanding of who he is. And what he's done. Your love for him. Empowers you to do what you're called to do. In the world.
That doesn't mean that everybody has to go be a missionary. It means that everybody already is a missionary. Wherever God sends them. Because it's how they interact with the world. That Christians wear the gospel on their face. And on their hands.
And it's in their heart. And it pours out everywhere. And it's on their doorposts. And their house is used for the gospel. It's on their gate. It's how they interact with the world.
That's the call. That's it. And that has to start with a love for Christ. And then. All we got to do. Is be around people who don't know Jesus.
Be a genuine Jesus loving. Real person. And intentionally. Go out of your way. To be around people who don't know Christ. And then.
When you. It's normal for you to talk about him. It's normal for you to. To point people to him. It's normal for you. And it makes sense.
Because you so love it. You so enjoy it. So. First. All we're going to do. For the rest of our time.
Is look at. Some practical ways. To be around people. Who don't know Christ. So. For you in the room.
If you're saying. Yeah. I love Jesus. I want to see people come to know him. This is the practical part. Where we just talk about.
How do we do that. For some of you in the room. You're going. I'm not sure. I actually love Jesus. The way you're talking about.
I'm not sure. I actually. Have him. In me. The way you're talking about. I want to tell you.
That you can. That we're called to faith. Which means that we. Say. Lord. I believe that the gospel is true.
That you died for my sin. And I want this. I want you to change me. I want you to infuse me. Some of you. You actually know.
No. I believe in him. I just don't feel it right now. I'm not empowered by him right now. And that's where it's. Yeah.
It's called for strength. For you to start. Putting some energy forth. To read. To study. To repent.
Some of you. Need to start. By taking a blank sheet of paper. And a pen. And saying. Lord.
Where do I need to repent? That's a dangerous question. But it is so good. Jesus loves to answer that one. And here's why. You repenting.
You turning from sin. You confessing. Is not punishment. It's a call into joy. You get more of Jesus. Obedience is not punishment.
It's a call to be free. From all the sin. That he's already set us free from. To walk in it. Okay. So here's what we got to do.
You need to take your schedule. You need to look at it. You actually lay out. How do I spend my time? What time do I get up? What do I do?
Where do I work? Who am I around? Where do I go to school? Who's there? When am I there? What time is that?
When does that happen? You just need to make your schedule. And then you get to ask a couple of questions about your schedule. There's really three primary questions. And then there's one follow-up that I want to show us. But the first one is where's a community opportunity?
It just means in my normal schedule, how can I invite church family to be around? Where can I invite someone from my community group? Where can another Christian come join me in this? This is one of the ways that we get to remind ourselves of what matters. So where can I bring somebody in?
This is one of the ways that we get to talk about God and teach each other and walk in that. And help other people know how to raise children and handle finances. So it's like what am I already doing? Where can someone else join me? The second one is where is there a mission opportunity? Which just means where am I around people who don't know Jesus yet?
Or where could I invite someone? What am I already doing that I could just invite someone in who doesn't know Jesus yet? So you've laid out your schedule. You ask where is there a community opportunity? Where is there a mission opportunity? The third question is where is there a gospel opportunity?
Where can I actually begin to show Christ? Where can I actually begin to share Christ? That's one of the things we're going to talk about in this coming week. Is how to explain the gospel. How to say it. Talk to people about it.
The fourth question. One. Which is kind of an underlying question. It's not one of the main ones. Is what needs to be cut? For some of you.
You say like in my evenings I watch some TV. And maybe there's a good community opportunity. You could invite some people to come watch The Walking Dead with you. Or Frasier reruns. Some of you it's. I could invite my neighbors.
I know that I found out that one of my neighbors is really into this show. So we're going to watch House of Cards together. I'm just saying popular shows. But something makes me think that one might have bad stuff in it. And I should have mentioned it. So I don't know.
That was not an endorsement. But maybe your neighbor really likes it. And you should watch it with him. I don't know. Some of you. It's.
I watch three hours of television every night. And therefore have no time to be around anyone else. And that needs to be cut. Some of you play video games like it's a part time Job. And with more intentionality than your part time Job. I have nothing against video games.
In and of themselves. Some of them aren't great. Some of that needs to be cut out. You need to invite a friend over. Play for a couple hours. And then go into the world and talk to humans.
Like you've got to look at your schedule and say. What do I need to cut? What doesn't work? Some of you treat your home like it's the escape from the world. So as soon as.
Introverts pay attention. As soon as you. Get off work. You run into your house. And the goal is to just have enough. Cushions around you.
That no one gets to talk to you. And that's fine. God designed you to be introverted. That's okay. One of the problems with the church. Is that extroverts stand up here.
And tell all the introverts. That they're wrong and sinful. And that's not true. But. You need to make friends. Like an introvert makes friends.
And you need to find ways to be around people. Because you can't just say. Oh I don't like that. Or it's hard. And never do it. And extroverted people.
Need to not say. I hung out with 30 people. That was mission. Did you have a real conversation with anybody? Do you remember their names? Did you just walk around and call everyone guy?
Maybe you need to build some real friendships. With people who don't know Jesus. And get around them. I've got a list of. Eight things I want to talk through quickly. Somebody.
This is just a list that was in the book. Everyday Church. It was written by pastors. Steve Timmis and Tim Chester. That Tim Chester guy sounds really smart. But.
Eight. A list of eight things. I want to. I want to just kind of share with us. As ways to intentionally be around people. Who don't know Jesus.
This is a list they give. That I think is helpful. First one is. Eat with non-Christians. Or eat with people who don't know Christ. You eat.
21 Meals a week. That's an average. Some of you. You're above average. I'm proud of you. You eat 28 meals a week.
That's well done. Some of you skip breakfast. You're at 14. You eat. You have to. God designed us to have to stop.
To eat food. To refuel. Eat with people who don't know Jesus. Invite them to lunch. Talk to your co-workers. Invite them to come eat with you.
Invite people in your neighborhood. To come over and eat. It's about to be summer. Go to your neighbors and say. Hey. After dinner this next week.
We're going to have a watermelon. But there's no way. The two of us. Are going to eat an entire watermelon. If we do. We will not feel good.
So we need you to come over. And help us eat this watermelon. We're going to be in our front yard. We just want to invite people to come. Find ways to get around people. Who don't know Jesus.
The second one they give is to walk. If you live in a walkable area. Of our city. Walk. For the majority of us. Because we live in Columbia.
And that doesn't really matter. We exist. Can't walk. In our city. Can't walk to the grocery store. Can't walk to.
So just walk around your neighborhood. Walk at the same time. Get to know the people. Who live in your neighborhood. One of the things. That we do intentionally.
Is we walk in our neighborhood. And we've gotten to meet. Our neighbors. Just walk around. Get to. Get to know people.
If you. Work at a place. Where you can walk. To get some food. Rather than ride in your car. Walk.
Be. Begin to care about the city. We live in. Begin to see people. Begin to. Start conversations that way.
To meet people. The third one they give. Is to be a regular. Go to the same place every week. Get coffee in the same place. Get breakfast in the same place.
Be around the same people. Go at the same time. This is for people who are saying. Look. I want to be a part of Jesus's mission. I just don't know anybody.
Who doesn't know Christ. And for Christians. That happens some. We become Christians. We start hanging out with the church. Eventually.
All of our friends are Christians. We have a lot in common with them. It's easy. We believe the same stuff. We're fighting for the same stuff. But he's called us.
To be out in the world. Using our ordinary lives. For extraordinary purposes. So be a regular. Get to know all of the wait staff. To have your community group.
Go eat at the same place. Every week. At the same time. And tip well. Even when the service is bad. Have the gospel affect your tipping.
You were terrible. Here's grace. Here's abundant grace. Above and beyond. Your. Worth.
At this. Today. Um. Hobby with people who don't know Christ. Is number four. Join a hunting club.
Join a gym. Join a local book club. Or start one in your neighborhood. Play tennis. Paint. Sew.
Join a local softball league. Little league. Parents. Little league. People will say. I can't.
I can't be part of the stuff. Our group's doing right now. Because our kids. Is playing t-ball. Some of you need to say. Parents.
We're not. We're not rotating off. I'm going to take this one. And I'm going to be there. At practice. And I'm going to get to know.
All the other parents. And I'm going to be a help coach. And we're going to hold a party. For the. For the kids. At the end of the season.
We're going to be the person. Who brings Gatorade. We're going to intentionally. Use t-ball. As an opportunity. To get to know people.
Love people. Serve people. And join Jesus. In his mission. Um. Number five.
They give us. To talk to your coworkers. I used to love it. When I worked. Uh. I used to work at Sears.
One of the things I loved. About working at Sears. Was my coworkers. Were stuck with me. My coworkers. Could not fire me.
Their only option. Was to quit. And I got to talk to them. I got to hang out with them. I got to share with them. I got to be their friend.
Go out of your way. To talk to your coworkers. Get to know the people. In the cubicles near you. Or that work on the same shift. Care about them.
Pray for them. Begin to pray for them. Before you go to work. When you leave. Get to know them. Be their friend.
A genuine. Actual friend. Number six. They give us. Volunteer with non-profits. Find a non-profit.
Serve once a month. Bring your family. Bring your group. Number seven. Participate in city events. Go to a fundraiser.
Or a clean up. Summer shows. Concerts. Talk to people. Get to know the city. Care about people.
Number eight. Serve your neighbors. Or get to know your neighbors. Some of you have lived in the same place for a while. You don't know your neighbors. Let me give you a couple of quick ways to do this.
We're going to talk more about how to use your house. And to be a good neighbor. But a couple of quick ways. If you move into a place. Go knock on everybody's door. And say.
Hey I just moved here. Here's one of the things that happens. Most people feel the obligation to be nice to the people they live around. They don't want to be rude. They will not naturally be rude to you. Go knock on their door.
And say. Hey I just moved here. I'm trying to meet people. And they will feel. Some sort of social pressure. To get to know you.
And talk to you. It's a great way to meet all your neighbors. To talk to them. To pray for them. If you see someone moving in. Go knock on their door.
Say. Hey Saul you just moved in. Wanted to get to know you. We live right down here. Talk to them. If you have a person.
If you have lived in the same place forever. And don't know any of your neighbors. You have a couple of options. You can. Make up. A neighborhood thing.
So that you have a reason to knock on their door. Hi. I'm a part of the neighborhood planning committee. Want to talk to you about the thing out front. Where we need to plant some plants. Hi.
Just talk to them. I'm a part of the neighborhood gathering group. It's a group you made. So you're part of it. You're not lying. Chairman.
Chairman. We're trying to do two cookouts a year. Would you be up for that? Maybe all of your neighbors say no. Maybe you find five that say yes. Have a cookout with them.
Some of you just need to knock on people's doors. And say. Hey. I've lived here for three years. And I've been a terrible neighbor. And I just wanted to get to know you.
Most of your neighbors will say. Yeah. Me too. Sorry. And you can talk to them. One of the things we do.
In our neighborhood. Is we walk. In the neighborhood. And. And. I will.
If I intentionally see my neighbors outside. Sometimes pretend to go get something from my mailbox. Or out of my toolbox. On my truck. So that I can say hey to them.
We walk. One of the things I do. When we're walking. And this. I break social norms. Just for the reason.
To be able to meet my neighbors. If I see a neighbor. And we make eye contact. But I can tell. That was it. They don't want to talk to me.
I will. While we're making eye contact. Do this. Hey. Way too early. But now they have to choose.
To not shake my hand. They have to be willing to break that. And most people aren't. So they. They'll go. And wait.
While I walk like 30 feet. So we can shake hands and talk. And I get to know my neighbors. And then the next time I see them. I can say hey. I already know them.
How's that thing? What's going on? Like. Just find ways to get to know your neighbors. Here's the thing. This isn't a trick.
We're called to be genuine Christians. Who really love Jesus. And then our goal. Is to be genuine friends. With people who don't. Let me explain something to you.
And if you're a Christian. This is true. And you believe this. We only have a certain amount of time here. This is temporary. There is an eternity to come.
And I believe 100%. That every person. Needs to meet Christ. Needs to hear the goodness of the gospel. Most of the people you live around. Think they know the gospel.
Think they know about Christianity. Think they know about Christ. And it's just that they've never really seen. Anybody truly living that out. In life. Christians.
True. True. Genuine gospel. Bible following believing Christians. Are the best people to be around. They should be gracious.
Generous. Forgiving. Loving. Serving. Sacrificial. Not condemning.
But joyous. And welcoming. And merciful. If your neighbors. Never come to know Christ. The best thing they'll ever get.
Is to live a life on earth. Around some Christians. Because it only gets worse from there. The goal is not. Just. See people meet Jesus.
That is the ultimate goal. Because if we truly believe what we say we believe. We want that for everybody. We just want to be friends with the people that are around us. Love them. Serve them.
Care for them. Pray for them. Fight for them. Be the person most likely to take them in. To give them some money. And to swap shifts with them.
Just to ease life a little bit. And show them somebody cares about them. Okay. Homework for this week. Look at your schedule. Pick a thing.
To do with intentionality. Some of you that means you need to cut something. You need to go for a walk. Some of that means you have. Coworkers that you've never really prayed for. Cared about.
Gotten to know. Some of that means you've got to go knock on the neighbor's door. But everybody. Who says they are Christian. Needs to do one thing this week. Everybody's in one of our community groups.
That's it. Just do one thing this week. To try to meet somebody. Get to know somebody. Begin to build a friendship with someone who does not yet know Christ. That's the goal.
Genuine friendship. With a genuine Christian. Let's pray. God my one prayer out of this. Is that we would all love you. With all our heart.
With all our soul. With all our mind. With all our strength. Because naturally. Out of that. We begin to love those around us.
I pray that we would be. Captivated by. The goodness of the gospel. And enamored. With your grace. So that we might begin to see the world as you see it.
And love those who are around us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Ordinary
Transcript
Alright, good morning. Grab your Bibles, go to John chapter 17. Today's going to be a little bit different. We're starting a new series. This whole series may feel a little different to us. John chapter 17 is on page 527, if you have one of these white Bibles.
We're going to get there eventually. We're not going to start there this morning. And the reason this series is going to feel a little different, most of the time, or I would say the majority of the time, which I guess that means the same thing, we just walk through larger sections of Scripture. We'll walk through a whole book of the Bible. We just got finished walking through three chapters in Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount. And even when we're doing a more, we're not actually going to walk through a whole book, we'll do like we're going to do in a couple of weeks or a couple of months when we're going to start in the summer going through Psalms.
And we're just going to park in one large section of text and just study it and talk about what it tells us, even as we're just kind of bouncing around because we're not going to walk through the whole book of Psalms because that would take a really long time for us. But today what we're going to do, we're actually starting a new series where we're going to look more at concepts that are found in the Bible, and we're going to be bouncing around a little more. So if you're used to us going to one place, staying there, walking through what it has to say, this series may be a little bit different, but we're still teaching biblical things. We're just going to have to look around a couple of different places to see it.
So I tell you that to tell you it's going to be a minute before we get to John. Don't start stressing out. You can say that, Dan. We're going to show some other Scriptures on the screen here in a minute. But as we get started with this series, I want to talk about a concept that I think will help us think through this.
There's memes on the Internet. For those of you who don't Internet very often, a meme is a picture with some words over it. There's memes about you had one Job, and when I used to spend more time on Twitter, I used to follow a Twitter account that was you had one Job. And basically it's just you take a picture of something where somebody messed up something that seemed pretty simple. You put you had one Job on it, and boom, you're a memest. You have made a meme.
But I want to show a few of them to us this morning as we get started. I like this one. And I can just imagine. I want to see the person who actually drove up and stopped at that gate because you can be sure it is the same person that would raise their hand at the end of class and say, you forgot to check our homework. That's who stops there. That gate is accomplishing nothing.
There's another one. I like this one. It pretty much sums it up itself there. The next one. Isn't that great? Like, I don't know which side was done first, but they had to be dodging something.
Or at some point he was like, look, I'm going to draw a picture and just started just driving around. And I don't know the rules there. Do you have to go around it? This one I like. You have to be trilingual to get this one. I guess technically he had two jobs.
Either way, didn't get him accomplished. This one, that's our second to last one here, came in first place. I think it makes you feel a little bit better because it rhymes with first. It's still third. And then this one, which is a little bit eerie. Unless you're going to culinary school, that's kind of scary.
But basically the concept with these, you had one Job, is it was a simple thing. There was just one thing you were supposed to do and you messed it up. And the truth is, that's kind of the church. Not that we've messed it up, but we have one Job. There's one thing that we're called to do as God's people. We have one Job.
Matthew 28 says it this way. This is Jesus. He's come. He's lived. He's walked with his disciples for three years. He's been training them.
They've been walking through life with him. He has been brutally murdered on a cross. He was wrapped up, buried in a tomb, dead. Three days later, he rises again, fulfilling all of the Old Testament promises, fulfilling the promises he had been making to his disciples and offering free grace and forgiveness to all those who would place faith in him. And then he takes his disciples and he says this. He tells them, go therefore and make disciples.
So he's talking to disciples and telling them to make disciples. So he's saying, go make people like you. A disciple is someone who knows Jesus and follows Jesus. So he says, you disciples, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. That means that they would place their faith in Jesus and be baptized in his name, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, meaning teach them how to follow in normal life. Teach them how to walk with me.
And behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. So this is called the Great Commission. And this is where Jesus takes his followers and says, here's your job. Be disciples who make disciples. Now, everything that we're called to do rolls up into this one command. Now, there's a lot, but we really have one Job.
Be disciples who make disciples. Know, love, follow Jesus and help other people do that. Believe and follow and help other people do that. Train them, teach them, share the gospel with them, tell them about the free forgiveness and grace offered through Christ and his vicarious death and resurrection on our behalf. That we would see and savor Christ and all of his goodness and all of his glory and that we would want others to know it. And in Acts chapter 1, Jesus says it, that he says you're going to be my witnesses, meaning that you're going to go proclaim this news of what I've accomplished to, and he says to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
That's his call to us. In 2 Corinthians, Paul says it this way, that all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. So what he's saying is that God in Christ was re-inviting the world back into a relationship with him. That Jesus was overcoming our sin that had separated us from God. Some of you maybe in here in this room are saying, I don't know how to, like, what do I have to do to be close to God? The truth is there, your sin stands in the way of you being reconciled to him, but that God through Christ made a way.
He re-invited us into a relationship with God. He reconciled us. And then Paul says he gave us the ministry of reconciliation, meaning that the church has now been called to go tell people this, to be involved in bringing people back to God. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their sins, trespasses against them, and entrusting to us, the church, the message of reconciliation. In this passage it says, therefore we're ambassadors, meaning we represent God to the world. In Romans 1, Paul says it this way, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship.
So he's specifically talking about the apostles. That would be the disciples and Paul. He's saying we've received grace, meaning he doesn't hold our sins against us. And we've received apostleship, meaning we've been intentionally sent into the world. That's what an apostle is, is a sent one. So he's saying we've received grace, free forgiveness, Jesus' work on our behalf, and sentness through Jesus.
And the truth is you could say that about the whole church, that we've, all Christians have received grace, and been commissioned, been sent, into the world. And then he says why? To bring about the obedience of faith, so that people would believe and follow Jesus, that they would, they would be disciples who make disciples, that they would be baptized, that they would therefore obey everything he's commanded. That's what he's saying. The obedience of faith for the sake of his name, that's Jesus, among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. This is our job.
This is the call to the church, to be disciples who make disciples, for the sake of Jesus' name, and his glory, among all nations. That's all people groups. So Jesus says go therefore, baptizing them, and make disciples of all nations. That's what we're supposed to do. That's the church's Job. That's what we've been called, commissioned, and equipped for.
And it's revolutionary, and eternal, and spectacular, that people would come to know Christ, place faith in him, and have their eternities altered, through his work, and his salvation, and his name, for his glory, that he's accomplished for us on the cross, and offered us free forgiveness. This is what we're supposed to do. That we believe that sin has broken the world, that it's marty, that it's wrecked shop, but that Jesus did not sit far away from us, but joined us in order to rescue us. That God in Christ was reconciling, bringing the world back to himself. And now, we're called into that.
That if you belong to Jesus, you've got one Job. It can be complex at times, it can be difficult at times, it's going to be a lifelong adventure, but it is to be a disciple, who makes disciples. And we see in the book of Acts, there's something in us, that calls us to this. In the book of Acts, you read where they catch a few of the disciples, they tell them, don't proclaim the name of Jesus anymore. The disciples say, we're going to do what God tells us to. Which I love that response.
Later, they catch those same disciples and say, I thought we told you not to proclaim the name of Jesus. And then they beat them. And the disciples leave, excited. They rejoice. It's a celebration. They walk out of their beating, and I can just assume, if they weren't so sore, they would have chest bumped.
And they are excited, that they received the glory and the honor, to be beaten for the name of Christ. And they tell them at one point, we're going to do what God tells us to, because there's no other name under heaven, by which men can be saved. We're not, like there's nothing else for us to do. There's at one point, they catch some of the disciples, they drag them into a different part of the world, at this point. And they say, these are the men, who've turned the world upside down. And if you've been around the church for a while, our church, in Christianity, grew up in the church, maybe you've read books, like David Platt's Radical.
Maybe you've listened to sermons, that call this forth in you. Maybe there's, there have been times, where you've read your Bible, or you've been reading through the book of Acts, and there's something in you, that says, I want this. You hear about missionaries, and you think, is that what I'm supposed to do? Is that what I'm called to? There's something in you, there's a fire in you, and at times, it's like someone takes billows, and pumps it, and just, it swells up in you. And there are times, where you look at your job, and you look at your life, and you say, is this, is this what I'm supposed to be doing?
You get off of a two hour long conference call, you hang up the phone, and you think, is this how I'm going to spend my life? You, you spend a week in classes, a semester in classes, and then you think, is this what I'm going to do? Am I not called, built for, more? There's some sort of internal longing, because God has equipped his church, and commissioned his church for this. There's a quote, from the Bourne Identity, I think that's the first one, it's the first Bourne movie, that I think kind of resonates with me, in this picture. He's, he's sitting, he doesn't know who he is at this point, he's a, he's some sort of like, assassin guy, and so like, on a park bench at one point, some dude tries to touch him, and he just like, kills three people, and then he has to run away.
So there you go, you're pretty much caught up, with the movie at that point. But he doesn't know who he is, he's lost his memory, but he has all these skills, and he looks at somebody with him, and he says, I can tell you the plate Numbers, of six cars in the parking lot. I can tell you that our waitress, is left handed, and that the guy sitting at the counter, weighs 215 pounds, and knows how to handle himself. I can tell you, that the best place to find a gun, is in the gray pickup truck outside, and that at this altitude, I can run flat out for half a mile, before my hands start to shake. And then he says, I don't know how I know that.
And he says, how on earth can I know all of that, and not know who I am? And there's part of that, that resonates with me, because there are these moments in life, where it just feels like, aren't I supposed to be doing something else? Isn't there something I'm supposed to do more? Shouldn't there? You hear a sermon about, or you read in the Bible, where it says that, somebody found a treasure in a field, and they sold everything they had, because it was so valuable to them, and you just kind of sit before God, and say, God, I want that for me. I want to so love you, and your kingdom, that this makes sense to me, that I would sell everything, that I would give up everything, that I would join you in everything for this.
There's something in us, when it says, these are the men, who've turned the world upside down, that go, I want to turn the world upside down. I believe that's infused in us, in Christ, and maybe you go longer periods of time, before you have that feeling, maybe you've never really had that feeling, but I think, as Christians, it's something that happens naturally, and normally at times, where that gets stirred up in our soul. So my question, for us as the church, as those who have been commissioned by Jesus, and have one Job, how's it going? How are we doing? Do you feel, after this past week, like a world flip upside downer?
Do you feel like this past month, I'm a world changing agent, for the kingdom of God? I think for most of us, we have these moments, where we feel this tension, we feel this call, we feel like, is this all I'm supposed to be doing? Is this all that there is? And there are places where we're serving, and working, and trying, but there's, it just feels like, I feel like I'm supposed to be doing more, and I think a lot of times, we feel like, I really want that, but normal life has gotten in the way. So I want to be a missionary, I want to live my life for his kingdom, but I'm going to, I got to pay back student loans first.
Yes, Jesus and his mission, but it's going to have to be week after next, because I got finals. Well, then I'm going to be on vacation for two weeks. Three weeks, three, four weeks from now, that's when I'll be freed up to have time. Some of you are saying, if I could just get my child to sleep at night, all night, then I'll have the mental capacity to do this. Right now, I'm doing great, just to not shout at my spouse, every second of every day, because I have zero mental, maybe some of you are saying, once my kids get out of the house, once they're in elementary school, some of you are saying, no, no, no, once they quit playing sports, some of you are saying, no, no, no, it's once they move away, and I'll have to see them twice a year, then I'll have the freedom, then I'll have the capacity, then I'll have the room, to actually be a part of God's mission.
Some of you are saying, yeah, I really want that, I want to join him in this mission, I know this is what we're called to do, I've heard this a thousand times, but I'm working really hard right now, to pay my light bill, and my water bill. It feels so often, like ordinary life, has gotten in the way, of this extraordinary call, that God's placed on us. That we're supposed to be actively at work, to see people's eternity changed. You know, so often people, people go to work, they fight, they labor, for someone's future on earth, so they'll argue with you, about saving money, or they'll argue with you, about the goodness of an education, and we actually, have been commissioned by God, to go to work, and to fight, and to labor for eternity.
The ultimate destination, for people in a place, where this life is about this big, and eternity keeps going, and going, and going, and going, and there's something, that feels like, I know that matters, and I know it's important, but life gets in the way, if I'm honest with y'all, at my house right now, we have a two year old, a lot of days, it feels like the main goal was, did he eat something, that resembled food? Did we brush his teeth? Is he wearing pants? Like if we can do those things, it was a successful day. And by the time, we finally get that boy in bed, he's not asleep, he's just in there, and the door is closed.
It's just exhausting, and all I know is, I'm going to go to sleep, and do that the next day. And for a lot of us, it feels like that's life. Like we're just, I'm just fighting to get, get his teeth brushed, get his pants on him, there's a lot of screaming, and a lot of crying, and that's just me and his mom. And this is the best we can do right now. I want to tell you all two stories. Well, I want to tell you a story, and then a couple of stories to kind of follow that up as we think about that this morning.
There was a Scottish guy named John G. Patton. He was in the mid-1800s. He felt called to go be a missionary to the New Hebrides Islands off the coast near Australia, but he was in Scotland. He felt called to go do this. There's islands where cannibals were, and part of his story, and I'm kind of paraphrasing this, he's telling people he's raising money, he's trying to raise support to go be a missionary there, and he has one of the pastors, elders of his church say, there are cannibals.
You're going to be eaten by cannibals. Wrote that to him in a letter. And he responds in a letter, basically, sir, with the utmost respect I have for you. You are on up in age, here soon to pass away, be placed in a box, be placed in some dirt, and eaten by worms. And whether I shall be eaten by worms or cannibals, I tell you the truth, I really don't care, as long as I get to spend my life for Christ and his glory. That for me is when billows hit the flame in my soul that I'm like, yes.
That's so beautiful. I hope I one day get to say, I don't care if I'm eaten by worms or cannibals, I'm just going to slide it into conversations where it doesn't even make sense. Like, it's so good. He goes. In his first year, he buries his wife that went with him, his children that went with him because of sickness. Spends the time perfectly alone on an island where everybody hates him.
There's a time in his life where he has to hide in a tree because some cannibals were trying to catch him. Had they killed him, it was very likely he would have gotten eaten. I don't know if at that point if he cared still or didn't care still. It says that he prayed and in that moment he felt closer to God hugging that tree than he had felt anywhere else. Eventually, some people on the island began to become Christians. Eventually, through God's providence, grace, and work of His Holy Spirit, the entire island comes to Christ.
So there was a guy in Scotland halfway around the world who felt called to go do this, was unwilling to say no, travels to an island he knew very little about, and sees it ultimately come to Christ. If that doesn't light your fire, your wood may be wet. Like that is an exciting Jesus at work story. I want to tell you another one. There was a lady who's part of our church family who moved to South Carolina from Iowa. Her name is Dawn.
She went to get her hair cut. There's a lady in our church family named Kelly who is very nice and talkative and invited her to come hang out with our church. Said, you should come. Oh, you're new. You don't know anybody. You should come hang out with our church.
Our church is so welcoming and loving and our community groups are great. And she said it all in a very clear and compelling way. And Dawn thought, no, no thank you. First of all, I'm sure y'all seem nice. I'm willing to bet you're all terrible. She's pretty close on that one.
We are sinners, but Jesus is at work in us. But she, by God's grace, has short hair and so she has to get her hair cut every five weeks, which I had to ask, like how often do you get your hair cut? Because of my hair, I have to cut it like every two weeks so it starts looking really weird. But like my wife goes once a quarter or something like that. I can't really keep up with it. But by God's grace, she has short hair, has to get it cut every few weeks and Kelly Weed does not stop inviting her.
Dawn does not stop not accepting those invitations. Eventually, Dawn felt like, okay, maybe I should give this a shot and I'm pretty sure Kelly will never shut up and I don't want to have to get a new haircut or a person. Sorry, Kelly, I couldn't think of the name right then. Stylist. And so Dawn comes. Starts hanging out.
Eventually starts hanging out with a community group and places her faith in Christ and has her eternity changed because she moved to South Carolina and had to get a haircut. There's a guy in our community group named Mike who hung out at a video game store, met a girl who worked there. Eventually, he had some stuff going on in life and asked her, you know of any churches? And she said, yes, mine. So he started hanging out.
He placed his faith in Christ. I got to spend some time last week studying the book of Colossians with him and I asked him, what was your take on spiritual stuff before you became a Christian, before you started hanging around? And he said, oh, nothing. I was like, did you believe there's a God or anything? He's like, no, that always sounded kind of stupid. I think bogus may be the word he used.
Bogus. It sounded bogus. And I was like, okay. But then you started hanging out, started believing there was a God, started believing that he had joined us on earth as Christ, had died for our sins and that you could have forgiveness and salvation through him. And he said, yep. Now, neither of those stories, unfortunately, have the pop and sizzle of cannibals.
I don't know how often Kelly went to work in absolute danger for her life and had to learn how to use her scissors as a weapon. I'll be glad to share some of those stories later. Hanging out at a video game store sounds so nondescript. And God, in his act of grace and sovereignty, was using it to change the eternity of people who live right here in our city and are now part of our church family. I think we're tempted to say, well, John G. Patton led a whole island to Christ.
And I would argue, no, he probably didn't. He led some people to Christ and then a whole bunch of fishermen led other fishermen to Christ and a whole bunch of islanders who were building nets. And they began to, I don't know what happens on islands a whole lot, but I've watched Moana recently. So something with coconuts, coconut getters, began to lead other coconut getters to Christ and that the whole island became to Christ through a whole bunch of normal people being Christians in their normal lives and pursuing their families. Now God had to use John G.
Patton to maybe set the spark. But we would say, yeah, but my life's so normal, it's so ordinary. And my question to you is, how much did God's grace have to go to work to save Mike and Dawn just as much as it would have to save anybody on that island? And how much did Jesus have to spill his blood to affect how much of an eternity in all of those stories? And it's the same. And here's what we're going to look at as we walk through this series is that God intends to use our ordinary, everyday lives for his spectacular, extraordinary purposes.
That God intends to use our ordinary, everyday lives, cutting grass, having hobbies, going to work, hanging out at a playground. He intends to use all of our normal to see eternities changed in the lives of those around us because that's what he's always done. John chapter 17. Told you we'd get there. This is Jesus praying the night before he's going to go to the cross. He's praying for his disciples.
We're going to pick up in verse 15. I do not ask that you take them out of the world so that I there is Jesus. The you is God, the father, and them is the disciples. So he's saying, I, Jesus, don't ask that you, the father, take the disciples out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. So the intention for his disciples is not that they would escape the world, but that they would be protected in the midst of the world.
That you keep them from the evil one. It's the enemy that's actively at work to see people not come to faith. They are not of the world, meaning that they have tasted, believed, in Christ and his gospel and that they have been transformed into having eternal life so they belong to him just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them, that means change them, grow them, build them up in the truth. Your word is the truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. and for their sake, I consecrate myself, meaning I'm going to the cross, that they may be sanctified in truth.
I do not ask for these only, these men that were with him right then, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. If you are a Christian, Jesus just prayed for you. He's at work praying for you. That those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Jesus takes his disciples and says, I'm sending you into the world just as I've been sent into the world. And I'm praying for you that y'all would be a team, that you would be one, that you would be in me as I'm in the Father so that the world will come to know that I've been sent, will come to believe the truth of the gospel.
But I'm sending you the same way I was sent. After this, Jesus leaves. He is crucified. He's buried in a tomb. He rises again victoriously and we're told in John chapter 20 that he shows up in a house where the disciples are which terrifies them. He shows them the holes in his hand and his side and then he says this, Peace be with you as the Father has sent me even so I am sending you.
That is what Jesus is doing. He's saying, as I was sent, you're sent. So I think it's fair for us to ask how was Jesus sent. Let's just make a few observations about the way in which he was sent. Most of Jesus' life was unspectacular. He lived in a rural town to poor parents.
Angel showed up at his birth. I'll give you that. But he was born in a barn so it's got to even out somehow. He lived his life working. He at one point goes back to his own hometown and he's doing miracles and teaching things and they're like, Isn't this the carpenter or the carpenter's son? Like, we know this guy.
So for most of his life he seemed like a normal kind of unspectacular, maybe gracious, maybe loving, maybe really good, obedient son, but he wasn't doing miraculous things. And then even in his three years of walking with his disciples, he performed miracles. He went actively at work to proclaim the gospel in so many beautiful ways and tangible ways, but a lot of his time was spent walking and talking and eating, sharing meals with people. One of the main issues that the religious leaders had against Jesus was that he partied too much. They accused him of being a drunkard and a glutton. Now he didn't party too much, but it sure looked like he almost did.
Because there was on a regular basis he was at somebody's house eating, spending time with them, celebrating, that he walked in the normal rhythms of life, that God, when he sent Jesus, sent him to be a human. The Son of God could have just cracked the sky open. He could have shown up like a lightning bolt. And instead he shows up like a baby and then lives his life in so many normal ways. It's surprising how much of Jesus' life was normal and ordinary given the fact that he was the Son of God. He had a surprising amount of a normal, ordinary life given the fact that he was the Son of God and we're sent in the same way which means move in, wear the clothes, speak the language, take part in the celebrations, be a normal person in normal life, actively, intentionally working that for God's glory and his name and his fame among the nations.
That's what we're called to do. Jesus did radically call us to allegiance to his name above all else that we would believe that every penny, every ounce of energy, every amount of money we spent for his name and his glory was worth it. And he does commission his disciples to go out into the world but as they go out into the world and people come to Christ they start up churches and say y'all stay right here and keep pursuing the city that's here. Some of you are meant to sell everything you have, to come up on stage one day like we're going to get to with Chris Romalia soon who is a friend of ours and talk about the place that you're going to be among the poor, to be among the hated, to be among those that hate you and we're going to pray for you and we're going to hand you dollars and we're going to send you out.
Some of you are meant to stay in the same job you have for the next 20 years being a disciple who makes disciples in the normal life where God's already placed you. See, I think we're called because we're sent as Jesus was sent into normal life. I think we're sent with a life apologetic. Apologetics is the field of argument where we give reasons to believe so that you'll have things like someone has a good reason why it's very likely that the world was created by a creator rather than just exploded out of nothing and there'll be arguments for these sort of things but we as the church are given a life apologetic meaning that as you live your normal life around the people around you your life bears testimony and gives a reason for faith. that the people around you begin to see you believe that this is real to you that the way you spend your money and your time and your effort and your energy and the way you neighbor and the way that you work and the way you raise your kid points to your love for Jesus and his gospel.
That's why so much of the New Testament is spent writing to household managers and household servants and moms and dads and husbands and wives and how to interact with the government and whether or not you should pay your taxes. If everyone was supposed to sell everything and go somewhere else the New Testament would read like why do you still have a job? Why are you still married? Run away! But it's written and so much of the bulk of the New Testament is taken up with here's how to have a marriage that points to Christ.
Here's how to spend your time and work in a way that points to Christ. Here's how to spend your money in a way that points to Christ. Here's how to actively live a life so that those around you see Jesus. The third way Jesus I think models this for us is that he lived a life of intentional invitation. He used to live the life of intentional invitation that he was constantly calling people to come be around him because ultimately his entire life was the intentional invitation of God to humanity for us to have a relationship with him again that we were designed to be God's children and we broke that and ran from that.
That's why whenever anybody says well we're all God's children the Bible says no that's actually not true. That was the intent but we've all run from the household. But that Jesus came so that God could adopt us again so that he could welcome us back in that we could become sons and daughters again. That Jesus' entire life was an intentional invitation. That God intends in our lives as we are sent as Jesus was sent into normal everyday stuff he intends to take your ordinary life and do extraordinary things with it. That's the point of the series title.
See what we did there? That's the intent. That your mundane that your simple and small would be used by God to change lives. And just think about your life if you're a Christian how did you become a Christian? Think about this for a second if you would say no I believe without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ died for me and that that truth has altered my eternity. How many of you grew up on an island as a cannibal?
How did you become a Christian? Think about this for a second if you would say no I believe without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ died for me and that that truth has altered my eternity. How many of you grew up on an island as a cannibal? How many of you just went to a normal middle school and had another student who was 13 years old who would not quit inviting you to a youth group because they had pizza and cute boys and eventually you heard the gospel
And it clicked. How many of you it was a co-worker who just you could tell that they loved you and that was weird for you at first until the day when your life hit the wall and they were the first person you thought of to call. How many of you it was a co-worker who invited you and invited you and invited you and invited you to the point that you thought I might just have to quit this job and you ran out
Of excuses so eventually you started hanging out and at some point it clicked and Jesus saved and rescued your soul and how many of you would look back if someone said tell me how you came to Christ you'd say nothing really to it nothing that special I just had a friend and you've just said my eternity was changed through some ordinary stuff that's what Jesus intends to do there's a story in Ezekiel 47 where Ezekiel the prophet
Is taken and he's getting to see a vision and there's an angel walking around with him and the angel's measuring everything and telling him showing him the temple and he's measuring everything and so a lot of this vision is taken up with Ezekiel being like and this is how big this room was and this is how big this room was and so when you're reading it it's hard sometimes to like keep staying focused on what we're looking at here but in Ezekiel 47 the angel takes Ezekiel out of the temple
And he's measuring the outside of the temple and they come to the side of the temple where a trickle of water is running out underneath one of the doors it's a trickle if you say that a lot it becomes where it doesn't mean anything but it's a fun word to say it trickles it's just a small amount of water like you kind of turned a faucet on like if you took a water bottle and you were out somewhere and you had to wash your hands so you couldn't do if you just turned it up that would be too much so you just trickle some on your hand
To get some of the dirt off maybe some of y'all have never had to do that but that's a thing it's a small amount of water coming out from under the door which is weird because it shouldn't be doing that but it's coming out of the temple and what we learn in this vision is this is a picture of what God's going to do so he's reset up his temple and there's a trickle of water coming out and then what we're told is that the angel says come on we aren't actually told that he says that but he somehow says let's go and water's trickling out
And they walk 500 yards this way and then the angel says stop and they walk across the water and when they walk across this water it's ankle deep now that is shocking and none of us are shocked so I'll explain why that's shocking trickles of water don't turn into ankle deep water without more water being added into it so a river becomes a river because of tributaries which is extra creek water runoff
Rain this is a trickle of water that has turned into ankle deep water this is shocking if you took your water hose and laid it at the top of a hill and just turned it on the amount of water would never get greater than the amount coming out of the water hose the ground's going to soak it up it would get wet but as long as it's a hill it's no point turning into a river and what we see is a trickle of water coming out and it's suddenly ankle deep
They walk 500 more yards they walk across and it's knee deep they walk 500 more yards they walk across it's waist deep they walk 500 more yards and they can't cross it and the angel looks at Ezekiel and says do you see this and then we're told that that river begins to wherever it goes it turns salt water into fresh water which means it brings life and that there are trees that begin to grow alongside of it and the tree of life grows alongside of it and the leaves are for the healing of the nations
And that those trees bear fruit that bring joy and life we're given this same picture at the end of the bible where there's a river running out of the city of God and the tree of life is there and the leaves are for the healing of the nations and what we're shown in that picture in Ezekiel is that what's going to start so small as a little Jewish man being nailed to a cross where trickles of blood run down and a little group of men who fell apart after that happened but he brings them back together and there's only about a hundred of them
Men and women that he sends out to be his church is going to become an unstoppable river because this was God's intent all along that something so mundane so simple so small so unnoticeable was going to miraculously spectacularly extraordinarily turn into something that's unstoppable and the truth is he's designed that to happen in our lives that we would join him in the normal parts of life and see eternities changed that God would take your ordinary
And do something spectacular and glorious and eternal with it that he would take the simple daily parts of your life and do something amazing see we believe if you're Christians that sin has messed up the world that there's brokenness and pain disease fear depression destruction loneliness and that we're commissioned by God to be his active agents to bring the gospel to bear
In all of those situations to see people freed and loved and welcomed and one of the ways we do that is we live normal ordinary lives of intentional invitation and so I just I want to put this out for us this morning as we think about this if all the Christians in our church all the people in community groups would intentionally build a relationship and invite one person into your life we would see the size of our church family double
If every Christian in our church family all of our members all the people who are in community groups would intentionally build a relationship with one person begin to invite them into our lives we would potentially see the size of our church family double we'd see people come to know Christ we'd see people welcomed in we'd see eternity changed through simple things like hey we're having a cookout you want to come
Through simple things like hey we're going bowling you want to come simple things like you want to go grab a cup of coffee helping someone cut their grass getting to know your neighbors there would be eternities changed now for some of you who've been around for a while you maybe just felt weird inside and here let me explain why when I said we'd see our church family double some of you went
Not because you don't want our church family to double but for some reason that sounds really church growthy and what's the point want to see just a whole bunch of people in this room there's some sort of skepticalness to you and that has to do with how we got started here's what I mean we started talking about this concept I started thinking about this concept I hated that sentence so some of that comes from me when we got started
As a church we intentionally started with eight people terrible church planning strategy by the way if you read any kind of church planning strategy stuff they see you need at least about 75 to be a church that exists and lives so if you get online and just google that they'll say don't start without 50 don't start without 75 your church won't make it we started with eight I was leading a community group I had never done that before
I've never been a pastor before I'm just winging it some of y'all think he's really bad at this I'm learning on the job you guys when we got started there was just eight of us and all we said was we wanted to be a family we wanted to love each other we wanted to know each other we wanted to pursue Christ in normal life and we were only willing to multiply groups and we weren't going to do anything on a Sunday where we invited anybody in until we had something real to ask them to join we did not want to
Open up put out signs have banners put out mailers get a bunch of people in a room and say Jesus is good we'll see you next week we wanted to say Jesus is good come see what that looks like in a bunch of people as they try to live a normal life changed by him we wanted to have something real to invite people into and the truth is we do you and your community group we have something real to invite people into now here's the other thing
That's real for me when I think about okay build a relationship with someone and invite them in and our church will grow we'll see more people become church family with us and some of that feels a little bit like we want a really big church like the point of it is a really big church but if I actually will think about my community group over the past couple of years and you would tell me that that means there's another Don you would tell me that there's another Mike
That there's another Russ that there's another Jack that there's another Ashley that there's another Quincy I'll sell out for that if you could look at your community group and know who wasn't there two years ago and say you mean to tell me if we hustle and grind and if I pray and if I'm intentional and if I open up my door and my house and my life to somebody we'll get another one of these we'll have another Tony yeah let's just do that and I know part of me and I've talked with my group about this before part of me knows
Things will have to change if we grow groups will have to multiply some of the people you've been walking through life with you won't get to see as much anymore and I've told my group the only thing that helps me with that because that hurts and that in some ways is so terrible to me to think that half of my group would have to be somewhere else as we invited people in and that by inviting people in and seeing people come to know Christ would mess up the great thing that we have and the family that we have right now but the truth is
I've got to love what we have so much to be willing to invite people in but the one thing that helps me get over that is that all the little tables we share right now are just a picture and a hint and a glimpse of the table we'll get to share in the kingdom you see the picture of this river it keeps going and we're told in Revelation that it's there in the kingdom and that there's going to be a wedding supper of the Lamb where Jesus takes his bride
To himself and I can't help but feel in that moment some of the people that I used to be in a community group with some of the people that I used to get to walk in life with that I don't get to see as much anymore that I'm going to get to see them as they sit at that table next to someone else who wouldn't have been there if our group hadn't have multiplied as I get to see them at that table as I sit with people who wouldn't have been there if we hadn't have been on our hustle there's going to be a moment where we make eye contact
And we're going to know without a shadow of a doubt every ounce was worth it every bit that we were willing to leverage our ordinary lives that we were willing to risk being made fun of that we were willing to put ourselves out on a ledge to make an invitation every time we made up a thing so that we could invite people into it all the money we spent bowling just so we could invite somebody the time we worked out a thing to go to Dave & Buster's
And invite people in and none of the people we invited came and we still had to spend all that money at Dave & Buster's that's a true story and it made me sad to tell it just then it's going to be worth it it's going to be absolutely worth it as we get to see people brought into his kingdom if every one of us would begin to pray intentionally and invite intentionally into our lives I'm not saying Sunday morning some we got people in our church
Who came the first time on a Sunday morning and became Christians so we're not anti that y'all know we every Sunday open the Bible and talk about Jesus you can invite anybody you want to here we're going to tell them about Jesus some of the people you're building with this room terrifies them and that wouldn't be the best invitation that wouldn't be intentional some people you're building with the first thing they need to be invited to is your community group we've had people who came first
To what they thought was just a Bible study it ended up being it's more than that and they eventually became Christians that's a great invite some people that's terrifying want to come to a house with some people who study the Bible that you don't know no some people your first invite is hey you want to sit at this table in the break room when we get our break today some of you it's hey
You want to walk down here and get a cup of coffee some of you it's hey a few of my friends and I get breakfast every week some of it's hey a few of us go get wings at 50 cent wing night at D's and that's the first invite but the goal is to see somebody walk in life with you so that maybe now maybe a year from now maybe five years from now as you built a genuine friendship and something happens
In their life where Jesus begins to pull on them by his grace he started something now so that an eternity is changed and there's one more voice gathered around the throne proclaiming the goodness of Jesus and his excellency forever the band's going to come back up if we begin to be intentional and invitational into our lives we'll get to see more people invited into the family Jesus' family that we get to be a part of all of the things that you love
About our church about your community group about how this gets to work are offered through the gospel to everyone in our city and most of them do not have this and do not know him here's what we're going to do for the next four weeks we're just going to talk about how do we do this next week we'll get to talk about normal everyday rhythms of life and how to use them intentionally for the kingdom the following week we're going to talk about how to use your house that every single one of us lives in a home and it's our most paid for asset and God has actually designed it
To be a weapon for his kingdom we're going to talk about the reasons why you don't want to do that and then why it'll actually be good the following week we're going to talk about how to share the gospel how to actually tell someone about Jesus clearly lovingly helpfully and then we're going to talk about how we get to do all of this together with our community groups I would encourage you not to miss if you do to catch up online so that you can walk through this in our groups with your community group
I would encourage you if you've just been hanging out a little while and you're a Christian and you want to be a part of Jesus' mission hang out for the next couple of weeks maybe join a community group just for the next four weeks so you can walk through this and see how we're going to try to apply this and be used by God in all of our normal and some of you God has been stirring in your soul to bite off way more than you can chew and I would encourage you to do that he's been stirring in your soul the billows have been blowing
For a while for you to sell everything and go on a mission somewhere for you to maybe lead a group maybe for you to say I think I'm called to lead a community group and I know that may not happen for another year and I'm terrified of that because from what I understand it's really difficult to walk with a bunch of sinners through life and to help them and pastor and shepherd them and I would tell you yes it is and it's beautiful and you'll get to see more of Jesus in it
And maybe some of you that's what you need to do but all of us are called to leverage what we have for God's kingdom and he'll take our normal our mundane our folding clothes our going to the park with our dog and use it for his spectacular purposes and I'm excited to see him do it among us as we get to love and know him more y'all pray with me God we ask that you'd use our ordinary and that we wouldn't waste it help us not to make excuses that keep us from taking all the things you've given us
And using them for your kingdom God I pray for the people in this room right now who've been postponing joining your mission that you would shatter their excuses that over the next few weeks you'd help us to see how we get to use our normal our ordinary for your kingdom I hope over the next few weeks you'd help us see the things we have to let go we have to give up we have to say no to in order to join you in your mission and God we praise you for all the ordinary that's happened to completely change our lives
For the better and for your glory in Jesus name Amen
The House on the Rock
Transcript
My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. The Bible starts off, it says, In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. The heavens and the earth. And it says that he made everything good. That all of creation was good and that it was intended to exist before him in a loving relationship.
That humanity is the pinnacle of creation. And that we were meant, humans were meant to exist in a relationship with God. And that was beautiful and worked out perfectly for like two chapters of the Bible. And then it falls apart. Like it was two people put on earth and it just falls apart. One of the things we see throughout the Bible is that any two people, any of us, it could have been us, it could have been not Adam and Eve, it could have been Greg and Tina, it would have still fallen apart.
The names wouldn't have been, you know, maybe it's not as the same kind of ring as Adam and Eve, but it would have still fallen apart. There still would be sin. There still would be brokenness. And what came out of that and what we see very quickly in the Bible is that questions arise because we were designed to exist in a relationship with God as our good and loving father and as our creator. We were designed for that to be good. And what happens is there's still his imprint on us so that we all feel like we have to wrestle with, ask this question of what is God like?
Who is he? What is he like? And then in response to that, what does he want from me? That that's a normal human question. And maybe people would say, what are the gods like? Or what is the universe like?
Or what's going on out there in the cosmos? And even the people who come to the conclusion that there is no God still spend a lot of time in this area of thought. There is no God. And you'd think they would come to that conclusion and move on, but they don't. They say there is no God. And then they still answer the question of how should we respond to that?
How should we live in light of that? But for most of history and most of humanity, even now on earth, the question is, what is God like? Or what are the gods like? Or what are the spirits like? And then how do we respond? And that's been a normal human question.
And there have been countless number of people who have come along and said, here's what God is like, and here's how we ought to respond. And when we're in the Sermon on the Mount, that's where we are today. We're finishing up our last sermon, last section of this. This will be the last week we spend on it. We're starting a new sermon series next week. Go ahead and go to Matthew chapter 7.
We've been spending three chapters of the Bible. We've spent several weeks just walking through what Jesus says. Matthew chapter 7, if you have one of the white Bibles on your row, it'll be page 474. We're going to start in verse 15 today. But Jesus is stepping into a situation where they were inundated with people coming along and saying, here's what God is like and here's how we ought to respond.
The biggest group of these people that did this, that taught, were the Pharisees. They said, here's what God is like. They studied what we have as the Old Testament, the law and the prophets and the Psalms and Proverbs, the wisdom literature and the history books. And they studied all of them and they taught, here's what God is like and here's what we have to do. Here's how we ought to respond. I mean, if we're honest, that's what a lot of us struggle with, wrestle with, are thinking through.
What's he like? How do I respond? What's my right response to him? And so the Pharisees came along and they taught calmly, patiently, systematically. Here's how we apply these rules. Here's what we do to make God okay with us.
Here's what we do to have him on our side. Here's what we do to have him be pleased with us. And so when Jesus comes along and starts teaching, a couple of things happen. Everyone listening to him is going, is he teaching the same thing the Pharisees taught? Or is he teaching something different? And the Pharisees sent people out to listen to him.
This was the largest religious group in Judaism at the time. They sent people out to listen to him to basically ask, is he teaching what we teach or is he teaching something different? And you'll see that in the Sermon on the Mount and as it continues in Matthew, if you continue reading, Jesus basically starts the Sermon on the Mount and then towards the end of it, plants his foot and says, I'm breaking from the Pharisees. We're doing some different stuff here. And that's what he's doing here. See, this is the last section of the Sermon on the Mount.
And he's really kind of finished the bulk of his teaching. And now what we're going to see today is that he gives us three distinct warnings and one way that we ought to respond. Three distinct warnings in Matthew chapter 7 and one way that we ought to respond. That's what we're going to look at today. But he's answering the question.
He's stepping into the realm of who is God and what do we need to do? How should we respond? What's the appropriate action for us? And Jesus is going to give us some warnings and then call us to a specific response. So let's pray as we begin this morning to read God's word.
Father, we ask that through your Holy Spirit, you would give us fresh ears to hear the warnings that we find in this passage. And fresh zeal and energy to respond. That you would break through barriers. That you'd help us listen well this morning. And that we wouldn't leave this place having had your words have no effect on us. But that you would make us tender and receptive to your word.
In Jesus' name. Amen. So he's coming to the end of the Sermon on the Mount. And he's giving us three specific warnings and then one response. We'll pick up in verse 15. This is the first warning.
Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Jesus' first warning is to beware false prophets. There's kind of a two-fold warning here. The first one is beware of false prophets. Realize people are coming along that are going to claim to speak on behalf of God. And they are intentionally misleading.
They're trying to make themselves look like sheep while they are actually ravenous wolves. These people are intentionally misleading. That's one of the things that we have to have as Christians. As people trying to figure out what God's talking about. What the Bible says is we have to have discernment. Which just means we have to have some sort of a radar up for is this person true or not true?
Is what they're saying true or not true? Are they a sheep or are they a wolf wearing sheep's clothing? That's what he's talking about. And he says you'll know them by their fruit. His second warning that's tucked in here in this first warning. It's kind of a two-fold thing.
Is that all bad trees, all diseased trees end up in the fire. And that's just a basic tree fact for them. You have a bad tree. You burn it. Like it's good for firewood. That's about it.
So he's saying though we will recognize false prophets by their fruits. And it's a real simple analogy. If you have a tree and it makes apples. So like it's a tree and hanging from it, connected to it are apples. What kind of tree is that? Y'all can do it.
I believe in y'all. What kind of tree? An apple tree. Yeah, that's all he's saying. He's saying you don't get apples from thorn bushes. Like if you, that just doesn't happen.
That's his point. So he says you'll know them by their fruit. So I think the appropriate question for us is what is fruit? What's he talking about? He says you'll recognize them. You'll know the difference.
That's the way we're supposed to spot false prophets. People who are intentionally coming along and saying here's what God is like and here's how we ought to respond. He says you'll recognize them by their fruits. He does not, however, tell us what fruits are in this first section. He just says you'll see them. You'll recognize them by their fruits.
And so I think we could sit and try to guess what fruits are. And I did that some while I was working on this. And then I kept reading and I feel like Jesus helps us out. So we're going to read his next warning. We're going to talk first about how I think that helps us understand fruit. And then we're going to spend a little time on that warning.
But the first warning is there are going to be people who come along and intentionally try to mislead. But you will be able to spot them by their fruits. Now we have to ask, okay, what are fruits? So let's look at verse 21. It's his next warning, but we're going to talk first about how this helps us with the first one. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
Okay, that helps us. We cannot say, oh, they say they're Christians. Oh, they say Jesus is Lord. Oh, they put Jesus Christ on their pamphlet. Like that can't be it because he says not everyone who does that is going to enter the kingdom of heaven. Not everybody who does that is okay.
So we can't have that be a litmus test, like the litmus test. It may help us because if we're Christians and we're trying to follow other Christians and they don't say anything about Jesus, that should be a red flag. That one's free. That's just to help you all out. You go to church. They don't talk about Jesus.
Not a good church. Okay. So he says, but not everyone. So that can't be the only test. We'll enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?
And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Okay. I think this helps us because fruits cannot be spiritual ministry, spectacularness, spiritual ministry stuff. He says, many will say to me, didn't we prophesy? Didn't we cast out demons in your name? Didn't we do many mighty works?
Like he sets the bar really high here so that for us who were going, okay, no, I hadn't, maybe I hadn't, like I don't prophesy and cast out demons. I hadn't, you know, I think that would include any type of ministry stuff. He takes it to the extreme, but I think it includes ministry. So when he says, you'll know them by their fruits. What we can't say is obviously they're right because look at how big it is, or obviously they're right because look at how many people have been baptized or obviously they're right. Look at this person.
Obviously they're right. They're in Sunday school every week. Obviously they're a Christian. They hang out with our group all the time. Obviously they're a Christian. They serve in kid city.
That can't be what he means by fruit. Still doesn't tell us what he means by fruit. It just tells us that it's not that. I think we're going to get to see finally in his third warning what he means, but let's go ahead and look at the second warning while we're here. This one is scary and should cause us to pause here. The first warning is beware.
There are false prophets who are intentionally leading people astray. They want you to think they're a sheep, but they're actually a wolf. The second warning is not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. And then at the end of this, he says, depart from me. I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness, meaning that this group of people claim Jesus as King, but are actually working against his good work in the world. This is a group of unintentional false prophets.
This is a group of people who would say, I trust Jesus. I know Jesus. I believe in Jesus. I serve Jesus. And they are working towards lawlessness into the world. They are sowing and leading people astray.
So let's read it again. And then let's look at it. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. And here's what that means. Very basically, just saying you are a Christian or just calling Jesus Lord is not sufficient for salvation. Just saying you are a Christian or just calling Jesus Lord, just claiming that, saying that out loud is not sufficient for salvation.
Not everyone who says this will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven on that day, this would be judgment day. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. The picture he gives us here is there's going to be a day when Jesus sits in judgment over the world. And there's going to be a group of people at that judgment. Who are shocked.
A group of people at that judgment who are baffled. And terrified. Because Jesus says, I don't know you. And they're going to respond. They're going to argue. They're going to say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Lord, Lord, Lord, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. But, but, but didn't we prophesy? Didn't I spend my life casting out demons? Didn't we do mighty works? Weren't we in service? Didn't we, didn't we do all this stuff?
And he's going to say, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. I never knew you. There are people who live in our state. There are people that you know, that believe with everything they have, that when they die, they will stand before Jesus and he will say, well done, my good and faithful servant. And on that day, he will look at them and say, depart from me. I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness.
That is terrifying. That for us in this room, who actively are calling Jesus Lord, that may not be you, you may not be in that place, but for those of us who are, and who are serving, and who are doing ministry, fill in the blank. There are going to be people who look at God and say, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Didn't I serve? Didn't I serve every week? Wasn't I there every Sunday?
Wasn't I there? Didn't I go to Sunday school? Didn't I get the perfect attendance award? There are going to be people who say, God, didn't I preach? Didn't I play in a church? Didn't I get to stir up the waters of baptism and baptize people?
Didn't you see? He's going to say, I didn't know you. There are going to be people who, weekly, do exactly what I'm doing right now. Stand before people, open the Bible, proclaim the gospel, and Jesus is going to look at them and say, I don't know you. That ought to shake us. Let's look at his third warning.
And then we'll look at what he says, how we ought to respond. Verse 24. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them. He's referring to the entire Sermon on the Mount and then also the bulk of what he's going to do. Everyone who hears the words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock.
And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell. And great was the fall of it. And when Jesus had finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. So they listened to him and he sounds more like a prophet than the people they're used to, than the Pharisees, the people who were studying the word and teaching.
But what his third warning was, there's going to be people who hear me and follow me and build their house on the rock and storms are coming, but that house won't fall. That's what wisdom looks like. But they're going to be a group of people who build their house on sand and when the storms come, great was the fall of that house. His third warning is that a house built on sand will fall. And sand, in this picture that he gives, is anything other than his word. Anything other than his word is sand.
But he gives us the way to respond. And he says it in both his first, his second warning and his third warning. And I want to read those now as we try to ask the question, what do we do? How do we respond? What is it supposed to look like if just saying Lord, Lord isn't enough? If people are actively walking around trying to trick us, if there's going to be a day when a storm comes and that we're going to see at that moment, you know you can't see a foundation.
Until a storm comes. That's what Jesus says in this story. You won't be able to tell the difference. Those houses are going to look the same. But there's going to be a day when a storm rolls through and house after house after house after house falls down.
And there are going to be some houses that stand because their foundation is on the rock. Look at verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. You could flip that sentence. It would be the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter the kingdom of heaven. Verse 24.
Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who builds his house on a rock. Jesus says that the call to us is obedience. That we do the will of his father and that we do his words. Not ministry success. But doing his words, doing his will, obedience.
What's he talking about? What words? What will? He's talking about everything he's already taught in the Sermon on the Mount. When he comes to this conclusion, he's saying if you do all the stuff I just said, so what is that? It's to be salt and light.
To trust him and to follow him and to live normal life bringing light and refreshment and goodness to everything around us. It's to teach his word to others. It's to not be angry but to reconcile quickly with those we've hurt or that have hurt us. It's to not lust and to fight for your marriage. It's to be honest and say what you mean. To not retaliate.
To turn the other cheek to overlook offenses. It's to hold your pride and your reputation and your finances with an open hand. It's to love your enemies and to do good to those who persecute you. It's to not practice all of your good works in front of other people so that they'll see you. It is to pray and to give and to fast but all in secret. Forgive others.
Don't hoard your possessions acting like all that matters is here on earth. Be generous ready to give and not to spend your life worrying about tomorrow and what you'll wear and what you'll eat to trust your father to not be judgmental to care about your brothers and sisters enough to address their sins and to live as if God is a good father who loves you to treat others the way you want to be treated. Now, what on that list sparkles and has razzle dazzle? What on that list is like a I'm following Jesus flare that shoots up into the sky and everyone says look at how amazing they are. What on that list would you see in someone and go oh obviously they're a Christian.
When we list off oh they're a Christian what do we say? When you point to someone and say I'm pretty sure they're a Christian and they say why and you say they gave money but I don't know anything about it. That's not how that works. We say well they're always at church they always do this thing they've done this ministry they run an orphanage they went as a missionary overseas like we list off all this stuff but who can do the list.
Jesus just said? Your mailman teachers students people in middle school you can't do hardly anything in middle school you can do this people who work in your office two cubicles down can do this people in our community groups that hardly say a word can do this the vice president of a region can do this and so can the sales associates missionaries sure women who homeschool their children absolutely there's nothing in here that is magical or beautiful it's a life of regular devotion that's the obedience.
Jesus is talking about when he says who hears my words and does them there's someone in your group your community group they've been fasting for four days you don't know because they're not supposed to do that as a show there are people in your community group in our church family who opened their wallets and gave money to someone the person who received the money doesn't even know where it came from people who get up earlier than they have to every day to spend time on their face praying.
For their families and our city and our groups and our community group leaders and for Jesus' will and the lives of those around them you don't know people who just show up to your group they're the person who brings shredded cheese every time it didn't even make sense this week they were just like put it in the refrigerator it'll work next week that are doing this they were prayerfully actively forgiving people in your group before they showed up they said Lord they hurt my feelings last week.
But I don't want to retaliate I want to overlook offenses help me to love them there are people who work with you that every day face an enemy at work that they love and serve and pray for that they don't undercut and talk about behind their backs Jesus says those who do my words those who do the will of my father that's the people who enter the kingdom and there's going to be a whole lot of ministry leaders and a whole lot of razzle dazzle that's going to stand before the king one day and say didn't I do this and he's going to say I don't know you.
Now if you've been around a while and hopefully because we work on discernment here hopefully some of you are thinking wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait time out time out time out time out isn't that work isn't that one of the things we say over and over again that religion is I do these things so God will love me but that Christianity but the gospel is that God loves me and therefore I do these things didn't you just say you have to do this stuff in order to be.
Okay didn't you just say you have to you have to do his word isn't Jesus just saying the opposite of the gospel here I have two things to say to that good point no and here's why I think I think he hid it in there and we're going to see because we have to use the rest of scripture to understand what he's talking about but I think he hid it in here he hid it in his tree and fruit analogy when he says you'll know them by their fruits a tree makes the type of fruit.
For what type of tree it is the fruit just shows it to you you can look at the fruit on a tree to know what type of tree it is but the tree is what makes the fruit here's what I mean you come to my house this isn't true this is pretend because I don't actually have a peach tree in the backyard but you come to my house and say I had a peach tree and you say man that's a beautiful peach tree and I'm like that tree is garbage and you're like why and it's like.
Because I have worked for five years to get that thing to make oranges I trim it the way you're supposed to trim an orange tree I fertilize it with orange tree fertilizer it exists I found it on Amazon every orange season I go pretend to pick oranges off of it just so it'll kind of get the feeling like it's an orange tree help it out a little bit now you're not a scientist but you know I'm stupid but you're gracious so you say that nicely to me hey buddy that thing is only ever going to make peaches and also.
Because I love you peaches are better than oranges like you might would coach me up a little bit you can't flex you can't manufacture you can't work to make a different type of fruit you have to be a different type of tree so when he says those who do the will of my father those who build their life on my words they'll bear this type of fruit they'll look like this there's a step in front of that that makes that happen.
Jesus has to change our tree Jesus has to uproot us and replant us he's got to change us on the inside because I know this because of what the rest of the Bible says and I want to show you a few places where Jesus says this clearly we have to change on the inside before the outside changes John 14 and we're going to just take a few quotes out of John 14 to help us see this Jesus says if you love me you will keep my commandments you.
See there is an obedience that follows faith there is an obedience that follows a love for Jesus if you love me you will keep my commandments that's verse 15 21 he says whoever has my commandments and keeps them he it is who loves me and then in 24 and 23 and 24 he says if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him whoever does not love me does not keep my words that's why he says you can.
Look at a false prophet and you'll know them by their fruits that's one of the reasons why in our church family we take so long to raise up leaders because the only way you can see it has nothing to do with can they talk well from the bible can they lead a good bible study do their prayers sound delicious like it's none of that the test is are they doing a whole bunch of character things that you can't even see the thing about not being able to.
See them is that they're hard to see it takes years to walk with somebody you gotta get stuck in traffic with somebody you gotta be at a restaurant when the waitress has completely forgotten your table exists you gotta be at their house when they're in the middle of a deep conversation and their child runs over and hits them with a stick and then spills juice all over their leg you gotta watch people count to ten a few times calm their soul back down that's why he says you'll know them by their fruit like you gotta get around them you gotta figure out how this works you gotta.
See all this underworking of normal everyday Christianity and that'll show you their heart Jesus later in Matthew's gospel says make the tree good and the fruit good or make the tree bad and the fruit bad the tree starts it we have to have a love for Jesus in order for this to happen how for the person sitting in this room who may be in that moment when we were talking a minute ago and I thought about this a lot who may be in that moment.
When you thought about yourself for a second before the king and he looks at you and says I don't know you what's going to be the first thing that runs out of your mouth what's your wait wait what's your Jesus no what are you going to point to what are you going to say to show that what I would do on that day and maybe you began to think okay okay okay okay okay okay I'm going to go love my enemies I'm going to go start forgiving this one person I have to forgive I'm going to forgive them I'm going to start giving money I'm going to start fasting I'm going to fast.
So that I have money to give but I'm not going to hell anybody here's the problem with that the only type of fruit you can manufacture is ministry fruit without a love for Jesus you cannot do the stuff he's called us to not for any amount of time you can do it for a little while without him refreshing your soul renewing your heart changing you from the inside out you can't walk around and love your enemies you can't forgive you can't not retaliate you can't fight.
For your marriage without him coming in and changing your heart to love in a way that's supernatural and beyond you you need Jesus to change your heart and then you can bear this type of fruit Jesus says not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven I want to show you John 6 38 through 40 because this is the beginning of God's will.
Jesus says for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me and this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day for this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day the will of the.
Father is that we would place our faith in Jesus that wasn't just words it was connected to our heart that when we talk about Jesus as Lord we talk about the way someone speaks about someone they love we talk about it the way that people who are engaged or newly wed speak about each other our little cheeks start glowing that we love him let me tell you how that happens Jesus Christ said I didn't come to do my will but the will of the.
Father Jesus lived a perfect sinless life and died on a cross to love his enemies and when his heart becomes connected to your heart you can start loving your enemies Jesus calls us to fight for our marriages to stay married and we see that he pursued his bride the church even gave his life up and we can fight we can hold on as his heart changes our heart Jesus didn't retaliate Jesus he took beatings on behalf of those who were harming him he prayed.
For them when his heart gets connected to our heart we can begin to change Jesus gave his life when nobody noticed and nobody cared and when that changes our hearts we start handing out money left and right without it being a show without putting our name on something see Jesus goes to work in us and then we become different Jesus came to save sinners and when you see that when you see how far you have fallen and how much you deserve you have earned.
For him to look at you and say depart from me I never knew you you work that way that he was cast out that he was harmed that he was cut and bruised and beaten and hanged and buried because that's what we deserved our hearts change and then we truly believe and place our faith in him and he goes to work in us to make us new he digs us up which is a painful process but that he plants a new tree there that bears good fruit the gospel leads to a changed heart which leads to evidences of faith the gospel love.
For Jesus changes our heart so that we love him that we our response is because we truly love him and then there's evidence of faith you can't manufacture it you can for a time you can a little bit you can struggle and try that's where you hear people say I tried religion it didn't work out for me it's because they were white knuckling it and it's exhausting so the question isn't do you do good things the question is why has your heart changed are you bearing this type of fruit.
Because you're this type of tree there's a story I've heard before there was a king he had a kingdom and he was in his court and somebody told him that the farmer comes in he stands before the king he says sir I'm a simple farmer I have about an acre of land and mostly I produce carrots and this week I dug up this carrot and he shows the king a very nice carrot as far as carrots go and he says I think this is the most beautiful largest carrot I will probably ever grow.
Because I love you and appreciate you as my king I just wanted to give it to you king looked at him saw that he was telling the truth kind of discerned his heart and he said you know what I know the farm you're talking about I own the ten acres behind it I want to give you that ten acres I want to make your one acre farm an eleven acre farm and you just tend to it as you can and as you can get to it.
But thank you farmer was overjoyed caught off guard by this leaves all excited there was a nobleman who was in the king's courts that day and he watched this and he thought all that for a carrot and this nobleman raised horses so he went home picked out his best horse took it to the king the next day says oh king my king this is the greatest steed I will ever breed it is the most beautiful from nose to haunch I don't know.
If I'll ever have a greater horse and because I love you and I appreciate you he's my king I wanted to give this horse to you the king looked at him saw his heart and said thank you you're dismissed the nobleman froze he was struck this is not how this was supposed to go at all this actually is a good horse and the king goes I think you're confused let me help you out the farmer yesterday was giving me the carrot you were giving yourself the horse there are some of us who are doing a lot of christian things.
Because we think it makes God owe us because it puts him in our debt because it's the best way we've been told to have a good life and have a good family and go to heaven and Jesus says there's going to be a day when I'm going to look at a lot of people who are going to be shocked and terrified because they spent their whole life serving themselves and there was no love that's why he says I don't know you we're not close you don't love me it was all a scam what's what's what's your motivation do you have a love.
For Jesus deep in your core so that even in the times when you're running and sinning you hate it and you long for him do you truly believe when you stand before the king are you going to stand and say I'm here because Jesus is good and he's died for me and his work has taken the place of my work I have nothing to give nothing to prove it's all him are you sitting here today building your life on sand your effort your work your goodness your name it's going to fall down it cannot last or have you dug deep anchored yourself on Christ and said I'm not going anywhere.
Because he's not going anywhere my only hope is him and he will keep me Matt's going to come back up he's going to lead us in a song and I just all these things I just want us to sit and reflect and I want you to ask what am I building my life on what am I banking on when I stand before him where is my hope found it is my fear that there are people in this room maybe you've been a part of our church.
For a couple of years and all you're doing is building a house on sand he hasn't changed your heart there's no love for him you got some ministry you got some work you've done some good things you share the gospel every once in a while you've seen people come to faith do you believe have you trusted in Christ as your king have you devoted your life to him Jesus helps us out here look at the sermon on the mount what kind of fruit are you bearing is there love.
For enemy is there service when nobody sees you do you pray and fast and give only to be noticed if no one knows you're going to do it are you going to do it do you forgive those who hurt you or are you holding grudges and have bitterness towards other people maybe Jesus hadn't changed your heart maybe he hadn't enraptured you and overwhelmed you by the forgiveness the free forgiveness that he gives all of those who harmed him and hated him.
Jesus love for us as the type of love that fills us up and colors us in and brings us to life and changes us so while Matt sings I just want us to sit if you will if you're willing I want you to ask Jesus the question is my life built on you or am I banking on something else have you really changed my heart and for those of you who know that's not you all you have to do is say.
Jesus I want you I love you I believe in you I trust in you it's the will of the father that all those who call in the name of the son all those who trust in him believe in him won't be lost that Jesus will lose none of those that the father has given him will you trust him today will you commit today for those of you who deal with anxiety and fearfulness and this stirred it up in you and you're being told right.
Now you've never believed you've never trusted your whole life is a sham okay believe and trust now say okay Jesus I commit to you now I love you now I want you now begin to grow fruit in me make me yours forever father through your grace and through the power of your holy spirit we pray that a sermon preached over two thousand years ago through the lips of your son who is going to die in our place for our sin and rise that we might have hope eternal we pray that your spirit would empower it again to.
Let us hear the warnings and heed the call that we might respond to live lives of simple unnoticed faithfulness as we love you God through your grace grant us faith help us to dig deep and plant our lives firmly on Christ the rock that will not move his word that will not change and the gospel that will stand forever though kingdoms rise and fall the gospel will stand and may we hide ourselves in you that we will one day stand before you.
Because Jesus was your good and faithful servant we'll be called good and faithful because we've been wrapped up and covered by Christ in Jesus name amen y'all sit let's think while Matt sings.
The Narrow Gate
Transcript
Well, good morning. As Christians, we celebrate two major holidays. We celebrate Christmas, which is where we remember that Jesus Christ was born, that he became a human, that he was God who was infinite and glorious and has existed for all time and that he became a tiny little useless infant. And then we celebrate Easter, which is that he grew up, that he lived perfectly, that he loved the way he was supposed to, that he cared about humans the way he was supposed to, that he worshipped God the way he was supposed to, and that he then ultimately was crushed for our sins, that he was crucified, that he was murdered, that he breathed his last breath, that his heart stopped beating, and that he was wrapped up, laid in a tomb, and left.
And that three days later, he rose again from the dead, fulfilling all the promises he had made, fulfilling all the promises Scripture had made, that the Bible says that all of God's promises find their yes in Jesus, that he is the ultimate fulfillment of everything God promised to do. And that's what we celebrate at Easter, that ultimately Jesus has accomplished for us what we could never accomplish on our own. He has fulfilled the law for us. He has been moral enough and good enough for us, and that by faith in him, we can have life. We can be forgiven of our sins through his grace, and we can have eternal life through Jesus.
That's what we believe. That's what we're celebrating. And we've been walking together as a church family through the Sermon on the Mount, which is one of Jesus' first long sections of Scripture that he teaches through. And we're going to pick right back up there today. We're going to be in Matthew chapter 7. If you have one of the white Bibles on the road, we'll be on page 474 in Matthew chapter 7.
And here's what we're doing. It may not feel Easter-y at first, because we're walking, continually walking through just what Jesus has been teaching. But the crucifixion, the burial, the resurrection didn't come out of nowhere. Jesus had been telling us all along about what he was here to do, what he was here to accomplish. He's been teaching us from the very beginning what he was going to do. And I think it's very helpful for us as we continue to walk through the Sermon on the Mount to see how clearly what he says today is a call to us as we remember and celebrate Easter that Jesus Christ rose from the grave, that this is a call to us about the vast importance of why he had to do that and how we ought to respond.
See, what we want to see today as we look at what Jesus is saying here in the Sermon on the Mount is why he had to go to the cross and how we ought to respond. I'm going to pray and we'll begin kind of walking through this this morning. Lord, we pray that's the power of your Holy Spirit. We would be changed. That we would see some spiritual reality clearly today, that you would grab our hearts and make us yours. And that for those in the room who are seeking, who aren't sure if you're real, aren't sure that you love, aren't sure that you exist, aren't sure that this is true.
We pray that you'd give them clarity, that you would show them your love and give us all wisdom as we try to follow you and learn a little more this morning. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. I like adventure stories, like really well told, good adventure stories. They do.
They just kind of captivate me. They draw me in in a way that other things don't. And I recently, about a year ago, year and a half ago, decided that I should probably start reading books. Um, I would read like leadership books or whatever, but I started like, no, I need to start reading some fiction. And so I started doing that. Um, and I read, uh, the Hobbit and I read the Lord of the Rings.
And can I just say something? Some of you right now, I just said, I wanted to start reading books. And some of you are book people. And immediately you were like in your little soul. You were like, yes, books books. And some of you were like, that sounds terrible.
Why would you read a book? That's what my wife is like. The other day I was laying in bed. I had my little, a little clip light on a book and she started telling me I look like I was at summer camp. I don't even know what that means. I've never been to summer camp, but I could tell it was derogatory and I should have felt shame.
But, but book people, can I help you out? Um, if you're talking to someone and you say, I really liked the Lord of the Rings and their response is movie or book. Is that a movie person or a book person? That's a book person. Yeah. Uh, and you'll say, oh, movie.
And they'll go, oh, okay. Can I, nobody wants to join your team. Stop. That doesn't help books. Like being smug about books isn't helping books. So book people just, just tone it down a notch.
You like books, but don't, don't be rude to other people who, who, and also watching all three of those movies is about as long as it takes to read a book. Those movies are long. But anyway, in, in, as I read through the Hobbit and, and through the Lord of the Rings, I just got kind of sucked in and I, I like action movies. I like adventure movies, but the problem with them is it's, it's a really passive experience and they're over so quickly. Unless it's like Braveheart and that was four and a half hours long or whatever. Most of them kind of, they go, they end, you're done reading this book.
Cause I'm kind of a slow reader and I'm trying to learn this thing, uh, took a really long time. And so it was like, I was in this adventure for, for a long time, especially since it's three books and each of them's like 300 and something pages. Like I really, I got into it and here's what they do though. Good adventure stories call you into, uh, remembering that you want to be a part of something that matters. You want to be a part of something real. It's like, as I was reading through the Lord of the Rings, it was like, I want to be a part of something that, that actually has weight to it.
That actually like, I want my life story to have a little more gravity to it. And I think that's what a good adventure story does. But I also, one of the things that was kind of captivating to me about the Lord on the Lord of the Rings is that the main characters are hobbits. Now, if you're not familiar with hobbits, they are very small. I'll describe them to you. They're, they're made up.
So don't go looking for them. They're small. Um, they're about like the half of the size of a human. They live in a place called the Shire, which is beautiful. It's got like rolling green grass and all they do. They sit around all day long with good tobacco, good drink, good food, good friends, having a good time.
And as I read the beginning of these books, I was like, I want to be a hobbit. Like I do. When I do hobbity things now, like eat supper twice, my wife fusses at me. I want this to be celebrated at my house. And there was something about it that, and, and there's, there's a beginning of both of the books where this, this wizard Gandalf shows up and yeah, I'm completely nerding out. Some of y'all excited.
The other of you just track with me. Keep going. Uh, there's a wizard. He shows up and he basically calls the hobbits. He says, do you want to go on adventure? At the beginning of one of the books, the hobbit responds, uh, adventures are nasty, uncomfortable things that make you late for dinner.
But he basically shows up and calls them into something more. And I will be honest with you. We would not know about these books if they turned that down. If the rest of the book was how their conversations went, what type of tea they drank, uh, which barrel of wine they opened, how gardening was going, we would have stopped. See, what's good about them is that this is common, small creature that gets called into something so magnificent, something more, more powerful, bigger than themselves. And in the Lord of the Rings, what happens is, basically Gandalf says to Frodo, and Frodo's the little hobbit guy, he says, you don't know this because it hasn't reached your hometown yet, but the rest of the world is growing dark and destruction is headed towards your door.
You don't know this, but eventually you can't just sit here without this coming to your very doorstep. And what he says is to not act is to act because eventually it's going to reach here. And he says, you've got to get up and do something. Now you've got to join this. Now you've got to move now into something that's hard and uncomfortable and difficult, but it's really your only good choice.
Because if you don't, even though it's comfortable now, destruction shows up. And here's what's interesting. As we get to this section in the Sermon on the Mount, I believe that Jesus has said the exact same thing. That in so many ways, Jesus has walked to us and as he's taught through the Sermon on the Mount, he's coming to a close. He's kind of beginning his ending here. We're going to finish the Sermon on the Mount next week.
And he's coming to an end and he basically is saying the same thing. You have to act. Because not to act is to already make a decision. That destruction is on its way and we have to respond. And so what we're going to see as we go through this is why Jesus had to go to the cross and how we ought to respond. So pick up in verse 13.
We're going to look at two verses today. And then we'll look at a few other places in scripture that'll be on the screen to help us kind of understand this a little more clearly. But we're just going to read two verses in the Sermon on the Mount. Now in the Sermon on the Mount, he's coming to an end. And what we've heard so far in the Sermon on the Mount, this is where Jesus starts off with the Beatitudes, where he says things like, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. This is where some of Jesus's most famous sayings. He goes from there into teaching us how to act and how we ought to respond to our anger, how we ought to love one another, how we ought to act in marriage and relationships and act towards lust. Then he starts telling us to be generous and to trust him, that God is our father and he'll care for us. This is where we get turn the other cheek and love your enemies. This is where Jesus teaches us the golden rule that we should treat others the way we want to be treated.
This is where so much of what Jesus teaches that we've heard over and over again in life is explained. And then he kind of comes to the end of this after he's explained that the church is salt and light and that they're going to be sent out into the world and what they're supposed to look like and what kind of people he's making. He comes to the end of this and he says, okay, it's decision time. He starts making a few things really clearly as he closes out and we're picking up in verse 13. He starts off with a command. Enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are few.
I'm going to read that one more time. Enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few. This is Jesus talking. He's speaking out of love and he's calling us to respond. Now, immediately when he says this to them, they would have pictured a city because all of their cities had gates and most of their cities had different gates.
So you would have the main gate or you might have a couple of main gates if maybe a big road ran through it. And then you would have smaller gates that people used for specific purposes, but you kind of had to have a reason to go to the main gate. Now, we don't have cities like that. I've never like ridden up to a city. It's not like you're going to Charlotte and you show up and there's gates around Charlotte. Like that doesn't really happen.
So the only thing I was thinking of like maybe theme parks would help you picture this or the fair. I think it's a fair example. My bad guys. It's not on purpose. I don't know whether to be proud or ashamed of myself. But here's what happens at the fair.
You drive your car. You pay for parking or you don't pay for parking because you're willing to risk it. You're like, I can park here. We'll see if my vehicle is still here when I get back. And you get out. And then what do you do?
You look. If you've never been before, you see where everyone else is walking. You think that person's going to the fair and you just walk with them. Eventually, the crowd grows and grows. And then you're all just, you're not even having to think. You're just walking with everybody else.
And eventually you show up and there are the gates and you go in. That's how it works. And that's what he's saying. There's a wide gate that everyone's going into. There's a wide gate that as you get closer to the city, you begin to see more people. And eventually you're just in a nice, easy path.
It's the main gate. It's paved. It's smooth. It's nice. And everybody's going in through that gate. And then he says, but there's another gate that's narrow.
The path to it is narrow. It's a hard path. It's difficult. And this is one of the things I think is very interesting in this text. When he's talking about the wide gate, he says those who enter by it are many. And when he's talking about the narrow gate, he says those who find it.
It's easy to just walk into the wide gate. He says there's actually some work that has to be done to find the narrow gate. And then once you find it, it's hard. But he says at the beginning of this, enter by the narrow gate. That's his call to us. Now, this should scare us a little bit.
Because what he just said was, there's a really wide gate with a really smooth path. Those who enter by it are many. And it leads to destruction. I can tell you something very clearly. The many that are entering by it don't know it leads to destruction. Because they wouldn't enter by it.
Like if they knew, if we knew that gate entered into destruction. Like if you could see, as soon as people walked through, like a monster ate them. We wouldn't go. You wouldn't be able to talk us into it. You wouldn't be like, hey, let's go there. And I'd be like, hey, let's go there.
And you'd be like, no, there's a monster. And I'd be like, yeah, I know there's a monster. Look how big the doors are. You'd be like, what does that have to do? Well, it just seems like you wouldn't even have to duck when you go in. There's a monster.
Yeah, but it's so smooth. We could squirt some dawn on this. Throw a little water and just slide right in there, bad boy. You wouldn't go. But he says many enter by this.
And it leads to destruction. That's scary. And what Jesus is saying is that this is life. That every person in this room, if you believe what Jesus is saying, if you think he's trustworthy, every person in this room is headed towards the wide gate or the narrow gate. And I think it's fair to say that if you have not made an active, intentional search, you can just assume you're walking with the many. Because he says those who find it, that there's taken effort, that it's difficult, that it's hard to find the narrow gate.
And for everybody else, they're just walking together towards the destruction. That's scary. If it's just been an easy process, if there hasn't been much work, if he hadn't thought about it, if it wasn't an anguished over decision, he's saying there's a really good chance. You don't know it. But you're walking towards the destruction.
And this actually makes sense with what much of the Bible teaches. See, the Bible makes really clear in Genesis that there's a good God who's existed for eternity. We find out as we read the Bible that he existed for eternity in relationship, that it's a Trinitarian God, that there's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that forever they have loved one another and cherished one another and celebrated one another. And it was out of that love and out of that goodness that it overflowed into creation. That God didn't make people because he was bored or needy.
He made people because he was relational and loving and good. And that God created everything good and set at the top of his creation humans. And we know that. We know that implicitly. Like when a lion eats a zebra, we just film it, watch it, teach kids about it. Nobody arrests the lion.
Why? Because they're animals. But when a human is harmed, murdered, or hurt, we automatically know this is on a different level. This is, we're above creation in a way. That God made us good and that God designed humanity to love him and to love each other. That we were designed to exist in a relationship with God the same way that children are supposed to exist in a relationship with their parents.
That that's what's best for them. That we know that. That for a child to have parents is the best route. That's why every Disney movie starts off with the parents dying. Because that automatically throws a wrench in the gears. That's why it automatically messes things up.
We know now there's going to be some drama, some difficulty. And what happened was humanity rebelled. You see, one of the gifts that God had given them and us is ourselves. Themselves. Have you ever thought about that? That you're a gift to you from God.
Your intelligence, your looks, your abilities. Everything you have, every breath you've taken in, every breath you've exhaled was a gift to you. That all of you that you've enjoyed was a gift. And see, when God gave humanity themselves, what happened was they chose to honor themselves, to love themselves, to pursue themselves more than God. We swapped God out. That's why Christians will often refer to the world as broken.
Or refer to humans as broken. It's because something's broken when it doesn't accomplish its intended purpose. We were supposed to love God supremely, to see Him as beautiful and good, and to love each other out of that. But we don't. We don't hold God up as supreme. So, for some of you, maybe you don't believe this.
Or maybe one of the things you've had the hardest time with with Christianity. And I've talked with people with this. My cousin's kind of like this. Where basically it's like, okay, I'm really, who is God that He would make people and then give a bunch of rules and then say, you failed the rules and then punish us? What is that? But see, the Bible says the biggest issue with us relating to God is not that we broke His rules.
But that we've completely distorted the way the world was supposed to work. That God, who is God, which makes Him the most lovely, the most holy, the most worthy, the most good, the highest of all, we've placed something else there. We've taken something else and we've said, this is worthy, this is beautiful, this is high and holy. The Bible calls that blasphemy or idolatry, where we've looked at something else and said, I love you more. I believe in you more. You're more worth serving and chasing and spending my life for.
In the book of Romans, Paul says it this way, it's going to be on screen. He says, For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. But they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. And then in Romans 1.25, he kind of sums it up this way. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie.
And worshipped, that means believed, was most holy, most worthy. And served, that means spent their life for. Their energy, their time for. They worshipped, they said, you matter the most and I will spend my time for you. The creature, that means anything that's not God. Rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.
Amen. And this is where I think Jesus' illustration of a wide gate makes so much sense to me. Because I feel like in life, I kind of am tempted to do what I do when I'm going to the fair. Which is get out, see where everybody else is headed, and go with them. That's what we've done, right? We've gotten out, we've started to grow up and we've said, okay, what matters the most?
Money? Money's really nice. That's a good one. And so we've begun to put that as highest and said, this is what's most worth serving. So that our time, our energy, our effort goes to that.
Some of us said, no, no, no, no. It's not money, it's relationships. Or it's sex. Most worth serving. Some of us said, no, it's actually to have people like us. It's to have some status, some power, some love from other people.
Some of us said, no, no, it's actually comfort. It's being able to rest. It's living life like a hobbit. That's the most valuable thing I could ever spend my time doing. But in all of that, we've taken God, we've set him to the side, we've said, this is more beautiful, more lovely, more worth worshiping, and more worth serving than you are.
And what Jesus says is, that's normal, that's natural, and it leads to destruction. That one day, as humans, we will stand before God, having swapped him out for something else. And that's going to be a terrible day for us. That this leads to purposelessness. That we spend our lives bored. Lacking.
Longing. Empty. Because the thing we were designed to do, we're not doing. The one thing that was going to set us right, worshiping God and relating to him, we've swapped it out for something else. And we spend our life feeling like this isn't correct. You ever tried to do a job and you don't have the right tools?
So that you're using the back of a screwdriver like a hammer? If that's all you ever did with your screwdriver, and if your screwdriver was sentient, it would think, this doesn't feel right. It seems to me like something is missing. That this is not what I was designed to do. And the reason we feel that somewhere deep as an undercurrent in our souls, that what we're chasing is always going to turn up empty. That even at our highest, it's so fleeting.
It's as if it was at the tips of our fingers and then it just disappeared. It's because we're broken. The thing that was going to set us right has been removed and we place something else there that will never satisfy. But Jesus says, there's another way. Now I want you to hear his sales pitch.
I used to be in sales. I want you to hear his sales pitch. Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction. And those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life. And those who find it are few.
If you're just looking at the gates and the paths, the narrow one sounds worse. So we don't know what's at the end of these gates. Like we said earlier, they don't understand the many that are walking into destruction don't understand that they're headed to destruction. Let's say we're walking along and all of a sudden there's a guy standing on the end of the path. And accidentally we make eye contact and he's like... But now we're like locked in, we feel rude, so we just kind of come over there and he goes, hey.
You want to go down a different path? Um, probably not. Wait, wait, wait, you didn't let me finish. You know how you like steep hills? No? Well, you see this path, how easy and nice it is?
Yes? I've got one that's way worse. It's got rocks. What? You know how fun it is to be chased by a bear? Like, we would not take this path.
Hey, you see all that stuff you've got with you? Yeah, you've got to put it down. Leave it right here. It won't fit. But if you come this way, it's going to be hard.
It's going to be difficult. It's going to be narrow. You're going to have to leave everyone else with you. If they won't come, you've got to come and leave them. It's a single file path. The only way we're taking that path is if we trust them enough to believe what's at the end of it.
You see, Jesus says there's destruction at the end of this one. But there's a narrow way that leads to life. It's narrow and it's hard, but it leads to life. And the wide and easy one leads to destruction. So the question put before us is, do we trust Jesus?
Do we trust him? Do we believe that what he's saying is true? See, he's called you to act. He says enter by the narrow gate. The question is, do you trust him? Do you trust him?
Do you trust him? Jesus goes to the cross because he believed this was true. You see, Jesus goes to the cross to open up the narrow way for us because he is the narrow way. I heard one time when a pastor was teaching this section, he said that we can follow the narrow way because there's one that goes before us. And I actually think that we've got to realize that the only way the narrow way was opened for us is that Jesus went to destruction for us. That he went to a cross for us.
That he paid the penalty for us. That what was going to be owed us when we walked through that gate and stood before God and said, measure me, judge me based off of my work. That the condemnation and the destruction that was going to be owed us. Jesus walked before God. When we read earlier where it says that the sky was dark, that the world was dark for three hours and then Jesus says, God, why have you forsaken me? You see, every time Jesus prays in the gospels, he says, Father, except for there.
There he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You see, Jesus walked before God and said, judge me, measure me, condemn me based off of their work, not mine. So that we can walk before God and say, judge me, measure me, condemn me based off of his work, not mine. See, Jesus in John 10, 9 says this. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.
That means that you get to walk through Jesus, that you get to go through Jesus. The Bible says he's clothed us in his righteousness. That we get to enter by Jesus. We get to go stand and say, it is only by Christ that I'm able to stand before you. And my hope and my faith is only in him. Because he went to the cross and he died for my sin and he rose from the grave and he conquered it for me.
And I can come to you because my sin was laid in the grave with him and it didn't walk out of the tomb when he did. Jesus says it this way in John 14, 6. Jesus said to them, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus is the narrow way that we can be saved. He's narrow.
It's just Jesus. Just through the name of Jesus. There is no other name under heaven or on earth or anywhere by which we may be saved. There is no other name. It is only through Jesus that we can be saved. He is the way, the truth, and the life.
And no one is going to get to the Father but by him. He's our hope. He is the resurrection. He has died for our sins and risen to give us a living hope. You are more sinful than you could possibly imagine. But we are more loved than we would ever understand.
That Jesus Christ has died in our place for our sin to give us life. And what Jesus says is there are two paths. There is a wide one that leads to destruction. And many are going to enter by it because it's easy and it's wide and they don't understand where it leads. But there is a narrow path.
And those who find it are few. And that way is hard. You have to give things up. You have to leave people behind. You have to accept a call into a life that does not make sense here. But if you find it, it leads to life.
I think we're like Frodo. I'm going to be honest with you. America is pretty nice. We get to watch on video and on our newsreels. Bombings. Chaos.
Destruction. We get to read about it in our feeds. We get to put our iPhone, Android in our pocket. And then go eat frozen yogurt. And forget all about it. We get to eat dinner twice.
But Jesus has walked to our door. And he says, if you aren't careful. You will ease your way to destruction. You will slide your way to destruction. Or you'll sit on your couch and destruction will come to you. And you won't even know it happened.
Get up. Start searching. There's a more difficult path. It's a lot harder to walk. But at the end of it, there's life.
And Jesus Christ is that for us. That he walked first this difficult path. That he went to the cross. That he took the destruction we deserve. And that in him there is hope and life for eternity. Don't hesitate.
Don't hesitate. Don't delay. Don't wait. Don't sit and ease your way to destruction. And Christians in the room. Who believe with everything that you have.
That you have found Christ. And that you will enter by him. And that you will be on the narrow way to kingdom. And joy. And hope. And life.
And glory. Do not be content with the many that sit near you. At your offices. That sleep near you. In your neighborhoods. In your apartments.
That are easing their way to what Jesus Christ says is destruction. We have a risen king. We will one day have all pleasures forevermore. All the goodness. Everything good on earth right now. Is only good because it reminds us of him.
And points to that place. Take the hard path. Give some things up. Spend some time for something that matters. Accept the adventure. And follow Jesus into life.
Pray with me if you will. Pray with me if you will. Father we ask. That you would help us not be okay. With simple and small and comfortable. But that we would join you in the everyday mission.
That you have called us into. God we pray that you would help us to clearly see. That wide and easy. Is the path that leads to destruction. And narrow and hard leads to life. Awaken our hearts.
Let people who have never placed their faith in you do so today. In Jesus name. Amen. The band is going to come back up. We are about to get to celebrate baptism. Baptism is the celebration for Christians.
Where when someone has placed their faith in Christ. We get to gather. We get to gather. We get to openly and publicly profess. Jesus is good. I'm not.
He is holy. I'm not. He is moral. I'm not. And I needed a savior. That we get to celebrate.
And re-embody. The death. Burial. And resurrection of Jesus. That's what baptism is. And in just a second.
There will be a young lady who is going to get in these waters. Is going to be baptized. And we are going to celebrate. As another child. Has entered the kingdom. Belongs to Jesus.
And has publicly declared. I'm going to spend my life on a narrow and difficult path. Because I believe that Jesus is good. That he's better than ultimately anything I can find anywhere else. And I'm going to follow him to life.
Where Good Comes From
Transcript
All right, we're in Matthew chapter 7 today. It's on page 474. If you have one of these white Bibles, my name's Chet. If this is your first time hanging out with us, I want to tell you a little bit about what we do, what we believe, who we are. We believe that the Bible is trustworthy, that it is true. We believe that the God that we meet in that Bible is loving and good.
And so we get together, we open the Bible, and we study it. We spend a good bit of time every Sunday. We just take the time to read what it says, to study it. We believe that it's true, so we then try to seek to apply it to our lives. And so that's what we're about to do now. We've been walking verse by verse through the Sermon on the Mount, which is probably the most famous sermon in the world.
Jesus preaches for three chapters, chapters 5, 6, and 7 in Matthew. And so we've just been going through chapters 5, 6, and 7, verse by verse, trying to understand what he's saying, what his point is, and how that looks for us to actually try to apply that in life. So we're going to be in Matthew chapter 7 today. We're going to pick up where we left off last week in verse 7. And I think we're in a bit of a danger today, just in our time this morning. And so we're going to read.
I think it will be most helpful for us to read the whole passage that we're going to look at this morning. And then I want to tell you what I think is a danger to us, what we actually need to be aware of as we study this this morning. So let's read it together. 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. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?
So, whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. That passage is so nice. It's so nice. It's like a warm blanket out of the dryer. Like, by the time we get here in the Sermon on the Mount, like, this is just, it feels like your soul just got home from a hard day of work, opened the door, and your house smells like fresh-baked cookies.
Like, that's how nice that passage is. That, oh, you ask and you'll be answered. Seek and you'll find. Knock and the door will be opened. God is like a good Father who gives good gifts to his children. So, treat others the way you want to be treated.
Like, if you have, like, the old school flowy Jesus voice in your head, this is where he gets most Jesus-y sounding. Like, you can almost see him penning a lamb where he's just, everything is said. So soft. And so smooth. Like, but the problem, the danger that I think we're in today, is that we've all heard this 1,000 times. We know this.
Like, even if you're not a part of a church, even if you've never studied the Bible, maybe when we just read, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, or treat people the way you want to be treated, you were surprised that that was in the Bible. You've heard that your whole life. You know that's the golden rule. You just didn't know Jesus said it. Or, you've heard even people who don't believe in anything, or just believe that there's a God, will tell you that he's a father, and that he's good. Like, that's mainline stuff.
So here's the deal. We'll read this. We're in danger of reading this section, that God's a good father, that he answers prayer, that he loves you, that he gives good gifts, and that you should treat others the way you want to be treated. And we'll all go, mmm, yes. When's lunch? And we'll move right on.
And here's the truth. As I've studied this this week, and I've thought about my life, and I know y'all, I've thought about y'all, I don't think we believe this, and I don't think we do it. This is such a beautiful passage, that it gets cross-stitched on little lacy pillows, and I actually don't think we believe it, and I don't think we do it, so let's cross-stitch that on a lacy pillow. Just put nuh-uh under it, I guess. Psych. Thanks, but no thanks.
That'll be on the backside of the pillow. So, here's what I want to do. I want us to see what he's saying, then I want to show you why I believe we don't believe it, and then, after we've done that, I want to show us how I think we can believe it, and how it can actually help us. Is that fair? Can we do that? Doesn't matter.
I'm going to. Let's pray, and then we'll start studying. God, we ask for your help this morning. As we approach some of the most, I think, warming, helpful, beautiful teaching that you give us in the Sermon on the Mount, I pray that we would not shoot past it, or convince ourselves that we believe it, because we know it, because we could repeat it, because we've heard it a thousand times. I pray that you'd help us to see with new eyes today, and evaluate ourselves well. We ask this in your son's name.
Amen. Okay, so, there is a difference between knowing something and believing it. There's a difference between having information in your head, and actually having it, it seep into your heart, and so that's what I, I think we all have this information in our heads, and I think it hasn't necessarily seeped into our hearts. So let's start looking at what he says. I just want to spend some time saying, this is what he says, and what it means, and then I want to say, here's why I don't think we believe it, and then we'll talk about how we actually can. So let's look at the first section first, verses 7 through 11.
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. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? So Jesus sets this up as ask, seek, and knock towards God. So you want to ask God, you want to seek God, you want to knock on God's door. That's what he's saying. That's why he ends and says, how much more will your Father in heaven?
So he's calling us, commanding us, he gives three commands here, towards prayer, towards pursuit of God, knowledge of God. So this would include reading your Bible, this would include serving, giving, this would include any pursuit that helps you believe in, trust, and know God, that you would ask him, that you would seek him, that you would knock on his door, and that he would respond. So he gives three commands and six promises. Ask, and it will be given. Anyone who asks, receives. Seek, it's a command, and you will find.
Anyone who seeks, finds. Knock, and the door will be opened. To the one who knocks, it is opened. So he tells us to do something three times, and then he gives six promises that pair with those. And it's actually really encouraging. If you're praying, if you're seeking, if you're the type of person that you're here today because you're just checking this thing out, you don't know how you feel about Jesus, maybe you think he was an okay guy, maybe you think he was a prophet, maybe you kind of grew up around people who you believe, genuinely believe this stuff, but you don't know where you stand, this is an encouragement to you.
Start asking your questions. Start seeking the truth. Start knocking on Jesus' door. Start trying to talk to him. Start trying to understand what's going on, and he promises he'll respond. And then I love the illustration he gives.
He says, which one of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? It's a rhetorical question. People are like, no, I wouldn't do that. Like, I said to my kid the other day, he's two. He wanted some fish for dinner, so I stuck a snake on his plate and gave it to him.
It was hilarious. Nobody would do that. Like, y'all should call the cops. That is terrible. That's the point. He's like, this sounds ridiculous because no one would do this.
And then he says, you who are evil know how to give good gifts. He looks at them, looks at us, and says, y'all know you're messed up, right? Yes. You know you do pretty terrible stuff. Yes. Right.
But you wouldn't do this to a kid, would you? No. That's the point. That your God, your Father in Heaven, loves you so much more. How much more is he going to give good things to those who ask him? He's saying, nobody comes back empty handed.
You get to go to God and make your request. You get to go to God seeking and searching and he responds. But he actually tells us something that I think makes this so much better. He says, verse 11, if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things to those who ask him? You know why that makes that so much nicer? He doesn't give you the thing you ask for.
He gives you good things. Sometimes what you ask for is a good thing. Sometimes it wasn't. He's not a genie. And I think a lot of us think it would be really nice if he was. But let's think about that for just a second.
If God just answered all of our prayers. First of all, that would mean all of our prayers, not just yours. So you may think my prayers are great. It's like, right. But if he's just going to answer everybody's prayers, your neighbor's an idiot.
No? Y'all's neighbors are great. The guy lives two doors down. Like, if he answers everybody's prayers. And you know how afraid you'd have to be about asking for the exact right thing? All right.
Let me give you an example of God not being a genie. When I was in middle school, I think in sixth grade, I was reading my Bible. That may be weird. I used to read my Bible. I'd read two chapters a day starting when I was about 12. I was reading my Bible and I would come across stuff where it said, if you have faith, anything would happen.
Like, God can answer prayers. If you have faith, you have faith. So I started trying to test this out. And what I would pray for before I would go to sleep, and I must have done this for a couple of months, was that I would wake up with a full beard. This is a legit, real prayer I had when I was in sixth grade. And I would wake up and think, I must not have enough faith.
I'd keep reading my Bible. I'd try it again the next night. And I kept thinking, maybe one day it's just going to happen. Here's the thing. You know how terrible that would have been if I'd have woken up in sixth grade with a full beard? My parents would have had to have taken me to the doctor because that would have been like a really scary thing to have happened.
I would have been like, no, I prayed for it. And they'd be like, no kid, like we got to go get you tested. Something wrong here. Also, like I'm really glad I didn't have to shave constantly through middle school. Some of you did. I'm sorry.
God didn't answer your prayer, I guess. I don't know. I didn't have to shave all the way through middle school. But eventually, and I don't think, I don't know if this has anything to do with that consistent amount of prayer in seventh grade, but I am the only one of my two brothers, there's three of us, who can actually grow a full beard. So they should have started praying in middle school.
They might have worked out. One of them can grow an amazing mustache and he cannot ever not grow that because when he shaves it it immediately pops back out, but that's about it. And the other one can grow a really awesome, like Fu Manchu, but that's it. That's why he rocks a Fu Manchu. He's one of our group leaders and you don't ever see him do anything else. They can, though, to make it fair, God evened it out, they can get a tan.
My skin just turns red and then falls off. So maybe he gave me a beard to protect my face. Here's the thing. God's not a genie. He gives good gifts. I have a two-year-old son.
He, when he turned two, was like, I'm going to start talking now. So that's been pretty cool. When he wakes up in the morning, he and I get to eat breakfast together a couple days a week because we both get up early and we'll eat breakfast before I go to work and I'll fix him breakfast. And on a very consistent basis, at least a couple times a week, he will say no to all the breakfast options. No eggs, no cereal, no Pop-It, which is how he says Pop-Tart, which is basically candy. But his mom is still asleep so I can feed him what I want.
But then he will, he'll go, because he's thinking about the options of things and he'll go, candy, chocolate, Pep-It, which means peppermints, which would be a terrible thing to eat for breakfast. He just likes them. And I will say, no, you're not eating candy for breakfast. Like, that's just not going to be good for him. If he ate it that morning, he would think it was delicious. He would think this was the best thing that ever happened.
But, it actually, he wouldn't understand the consequences later in the day when he didn't have any energy and he was frustrated. He wouldn't understand if we did this over time, like if I always let him eat candy every time he wanted to or if I always let him stay awake at night when I tell him it's bedtime and he says no sleep, I was just like, well, you know your body, bud. If you don't want to go to sleep, I'm cool with it. Like, that would be terrible for him. If he just ate candy and slept on his schedule, it wouldn't be good. So, I'm a father.
I care about him. So, I'd say no. Like, I'm slowly teaching him that bacon is better. That's what I'm doing. And here's the promise that Jesus makes here is that you get to go to God and ask. You get to walk to him every day and say, God, candy, chocolate, and peppermints.
And he, because he's a good father, gets to go, no, but I am slowly going to show you that bacon is better. Like, that's the promise here. That he's good. That he gives good gifts so that we get to ask him, but then we get to trust him. We get to ask. We get to seek.
We get to knock. But then we get to trust that he's going to take care of us, provide for us, and give us actual good gifts. I think that's the first thing Jesus is teaching here. Now, I want to show us, if I can, quickly, why I actually don't think we believe this. I'll start by kind of giving us an illustration, help us picture this. When I was growing up, my dad, I mention him periodically because he's a big figure in my life, and I'm really blessed to have the dad that I have, but he is a very intense man, and I slept so soundly in my house when I was growing up.
Because if you broke in my house when I was growing up, good luck. My dad is the equivalent of an angry bear in some ways. And so I just, I'd hear a noise and I'd be like, if that's a bad guy, good luck, buddy. I'd just go back to sleep. I didn't care. I wasn't afraid.
I wasn't scared. My dad would walk around the house at night. He would check things out. Like, I was never worried about this. I've had him before tell me that if, like, I was in a situation when I was in T-ball, and a coach was yelling at me, and I told my dad, like, I was kind of worried because there's a grown man yelling at me, and he was like, look, as long as he yells, it's okay, but if he touches you, you let me know, and I'll break every bone in his body. And my dad was serious.
Like, he'll go to the penitentiary for me. I didn't even bat an eye at that. I was like, all right, sounds good. So, a coach would yell at me, and I just wouldn't even flinch. Like, I, and that was how I slept. Like, my whole life, I just, I just knew that was the person who lived in my house, and I was going to be okay, and I could just rest because I knew if something went down, he would handle it.
He had our back. He was going to protect us. He would take care of us. I knew that. Like, I, there was never even a question in my mind. Fast forward to the time that I get married.
I get married, and my ability to sleep soundly disappeared. Every little noise. Like, there was something in my house, it would be like, like, it was like a cricket sneezed, and I'd be like, because suddenly, my dad wasn't there anymore. I had to do this. And my wife, who weighs about 100 pounds, it's never her turn. Like, we don't have a schedule of like, if someone breaks in on Tuesday, that's your turn, or I got the last one.
It's never like, hey, babe, you're up. Like, that's always my job. And so she would say, that's nothing, go to sleep. And I'd be like, yeah, you can say that, because if they come in the door, it's suddenly my problem, not yours. I'm going to go walk around and check. And so on a consistent basis, a couple of times a month, ever since I've gotten married, maybe a couple of times a week, just depending, sometimes a couple of times a night, I'm walking around my house looking for stuff because I heard some sort of phantom noise, and I won't be able to go to sleep until I find the person and attack them.
I also have it mapped out in my house which rooms I'm checking first and how I'm doing it, because, you know, I've got to pay attention to people getting behind me and stuff. I know what's up. Here's the thing. Here's why I think we don't believe this. Much of our lives, much of my life, is spent not in the peaceful, restful sleep of someone who knows their father is good and there and can handle it, but is in the restless, wakeful, tense, worry of is this going to work out is in the state of I have to make this work. I'm the one responsible.
So when it comes to work, when it comes to family, when it comes to children, when it comes to relationships, we're not living our lives as people who are at rest because their father is good and there. We're living our lives as people who have to be in control and make everything work out. You see, he says your father's good and good things come from him and you can trust him and you can ask of him and you can seek him and you can knock at his door and you can know that he'll give good gifts, but I think we spend so much time worrying about our ability to make this work that I just don't think we truly believe that. And I think it's not just our worries, our fears, our anxieties, our nightmares that betray us.
I also think it's our hopes, our dreams, our ambitions, and the thing that we'll get on our grind for because what he says here is that good things come from God and I think for many of us, if you were going to say good things come from, you wouldn't end the sentence with God. You wouldn't end the sentence with Jesus. You wouldn't end the sentence with a heavenly father. You'd end the sentence with something like good things come from popularity, good things come from having a lot of friends. Good things come from being able to rest and vacation. Good things come from money and we know this when we're looking at our bank accounts that we've tied our hearts to it.
We know this when we're paying attention to our children. All the things that we put so much weight and pressure on, I just believe that we don't spend our life in the restful peace that this offers and so I think we don't actually believe it. We could say it. You could quote it to somebody. You would tell somebody in your community group that. God's a good father.
He's got you. I just want you to know they're sitting on the other side going it doesn't feel like that and I can't trust that right now. I really need my finances to work out. And you're going no, he's a good father. He's got you. But five months later when you're looking like you might lose your job and they're saying God's a good father.
He's got you. You're going it doesn't feel like that and I don't see that and I really need my job to work out. And I just think we don't truly believe this. It hasn't really sunk into our heart yet. Let's look at verse 12.
We're going to do the same thing. We're going to see what it says. I'm going to try to show you why I think we don't really believe this. We don't really practice this. So whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets.
So he's kind of coming to a conclusion here in the Sermon on the Mount the next couple of weeks as we go into Easter and the week after we're going to be finishing up and Jesus is going to kind of he's going to basically have said everything he's going to say and then he's going to kind of conclude it with let me be really clear about a few things. So this is kind of the end. He's actually tagging back to verse 5 chapter 5 verse 17 where he talks about the law and the prophets and he says so it's kind of in conclusion treat others the way you want to be treated. Do also whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them.
Where he talks about the law and the prophets and he says so it's kind of in conclusion treat others the way you want to be treated. Do also whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them. This is the law and the prophets. There's a book I heard about recently by a guy named Robert Fulham it says all I really need to know I learned in kindergarten I want to read y'all a little bit from the first chapter of that book
He says all I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten these are the things I learned share everything play fair don't hit people put things back where you found them clean up your own mess don't take things that aren't yours say you're sorry when you hurt somebody wash your hands before you eat flush warm cookies and cold milk are good for you
Take a nap every day when you go out into the world watch out for traffic hold hands and stick together he says everything you need to know is in there somewhere the golden rule that's this that's Matthew 7 verse 12 to do unto others as you have them do unto you or treat people the way you want to be treated he says it's in there the golden rule and love and basic sanitation ecology politics
Equality and sane living what he says is if you took any of those concepts and extrapolate them out into adult terms we'd be great things would work out fine if countries would put things back where they found them and clean up their own messes if everybody just followed the rules that you learned in kindergarten we'd be fine and here's the thing I don't think there's anything on that list we would disagree with some of you might disagree with naps and we'll begin the church discipline process soon
I don't think there's anything on there that we would disagree with but we also don't do that in life we just don't like treat others the way you want to be treated if we were in high school and you forgot you had a presentation today but it was on that you could show up to class be reminded you had the presentation walk up and wing it and you'd do fine because you can make arguments for that everybody can make an argument for why treating others the way you want to be treated makes life better we just could
But we don't do it we don't actually practice that that just means that in life you would think in every situation how do I wish they would act towards me and then you would use that as your framework for everything he says this is the law and the prophets this is what all the Old Testament was getting at in so many ways was just trying to get you to treat people the way you want to be treated but let's look at this if you're buying a house how honest should the seller be about the house's
Issues quality things that have happened things they've just fixed how honest okay thank you if you're selling a house 65% honest is okay mostly honest like I was pretty honest plus I kind of fixed that thing and you can't really see it unless you knew that it happened and looked in that corner with this type of lighting alright you hear a really good secret really good piece of information about someone it's like crazy interesting
And you know that other people want to hear it someone hears something like that about you how do you want them to respond I think I'd like for them to say something like that doesn't really sound all that true plus if we told people about it I don't think it would be that helpful maybe we should go talk to him and sort it out now that's how I'd like for them to respond but I can tell that I don't do that by how annoyed I would be
If a person said that to me after I told them something really interesting I don't think that's actually very helpful to spread around I think we should go talk to them and maybe you should apologize for telling people their information about their personal lives I would be like I hate you right now you just made that secret not fun at all and I would be actively fighting against people doing unto others like I'm glad I would love for people to do that towards me but I don't want to do it
Towards other people like that's a very difficult thing to do when the trash can's full or the sink is full how do you want people to treat you how about your neighbors or your waiter if you were a waiter or a waitress and you are just really having a rough day life's been going really poorly you have more people in your set you got scheduled because people had called out and so you were the one person who showed up because a couple people were sick and so you're handling
More tables than you can handle right now and you're not doing a great job because you had some stuff going on in life and you're a little bit frustrated that you're there and so you actually aren't the best waiter or waitress that day how do you want the people eating meals to treat you I want them to be pretty forgiving and gracious and to just assume I'm having a bad day and to tip me better because of it but if I'm sitting at the table
You've been sitting at a table and you're like frustrated about the service and you say something and a person at your table says they may just be having a really bad day how annoyed are you with them it's like maybe they're a terrible waiter it's possible he's having a bad day because he's a moron no just me come on this is what I'm saying like we know how honest do we want people to be how forgiving
How gracious how generous we can answer that question easily I can answer how I'd like to be treated so easily and then if you walk through my life and say let me show you how you treated this person let me show you how you spoke to them let me show you how you responded let me show you how you responded to their anger like for the most part I think my rubric is treat people how they're treating me if you're really nice there's a good chance
I'll be nice if you're rude I'll be rude if you've already done something to me if you've been spreading rumors about me and I suddenly get the chance to do that like there's a there's a chance I'm gonna go let's do this and that's the opposite every single one of us could stand up here and tell how beautiful the world would be if we just did this but we don't do it see I don't think
We truly believe that God's good and that he's our father and I don't think we actually practice this even though we would argue for it even though it would not automatically pop out of our mouths if we were dealing with a child where somebody would do something we go hey is that how you'd want to be treated I just don't think we believe it I don't think we do it here's why well let's look at this here
I think Jesus gives us a clue in the text as to how we can actually treat others how we can actually live out the golden rule I think he gives us a clue in the text I want to show it to you it's at the very beginning of verse 12 so I'll read that again in case I lost you so it's a two letter word it begins the sentence here's what it means in light of what I've already said that's what it means so like
You've been using the word so since first grade you use it all the time in normal language it's a concluding word you say stuff like I'm really hungry so I could eat anywhere somebody's like where should we go to lunch you say something like I don't have any money so I'll go with you wherever because I'm not going to be eating I'm going to be watching you like you take a bit of information you say so and now you have a conclusion and so it's weird to me because
Jesus says so whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets he says it as a concluding statement to some stuff that doesn't seem real connected to me he just got done saying that God's a good father who give you good gifts and then he says so treat others the way you want to be treated and it feels a little bit like he went A B green and thought we were supposed to catch that like it's just it feels a little weird
I don't know why he jumped to this but actually as I got to thinking about it it seems to make a lot of sense I think the primary reason that we don't treat others the way we want to be treated is that we don't want to lose if you treat others the way you want to be treated if you actually sit and spend any time thinking about this you're suddenly going to go wait I'm the only one who ever cleans up every time I see the sink is full I fill it up when a co-worker has been spreading rumors about me and then the boss comes and asks me
How I feel about them I'm suddenly supposed to think how do I wish they would treat me and even though I don't really like them try to find something gracious to say and maybe highlight some of their good qualities rather than just dogging them as best I can here's the problem with that I won't get a promotion how honest would I like someone to be if I was interviewing them real honest but I don't think I'd get a job if I just sat down and was completely honest with every question they asked
If I didn't put a little bit of spin on it some of you just thought yeah no you can't be honest in an interview that's my point like we don't believe the reason we don't do this is we don't want to lose we don't want to come in last we feel like there's so much pressure for us to make it work out for us to get it for us to accomplish it for us to make this work so that when Jesus says your God's a good father and good things come from him so treat others the way you want to be treated what he's saying is
You'll quit looking to others and to the world for all your good things so you'll actually be free to just treat them well you see when we spend all of our time looking at everybody else and needing them to fill us up and to make us okay that we believe that our good things are out there at our jobs and in our relationships and in our friendships and in our money when we believe all the good exists out there we can't treat people the way we want to be treated but once we believe
And fully know that God is good and our good comes from him then we're free then you're free to actually love people the way you want to be loved you're free to treat people the way you want to be treated see the reason I'm anxious and the reason I'm worried is because I feel like I'm going to lose I feel like I'm going to I'm going to mess this up I'm going to come and last other people are going to get ahead of me I'm going to fall behind so I can't treat people the way I want to be treated because I've got to get an edge I can't always just be serving and showing up early
And leaving late and filling in everybody's schedule every time they don't show up for work I can't be the only person who fills in slots for people who are sick that can't be just me but that's because we're not fully believing that our good comes from him we believe our good comes somewhere else we're actually asking and seeking and knocking in so many other places trying to find the good in life and we've forgotten that he's a good father who gives us our good things let's think about it this way if we're in a river and we're drowning
Just a couple of us if you're being washed down a river and you're drowning you're trying to keep yourself up the only way to keep yourself up if you've got other people around you is to grab them and pull them down it's the best way to get your head out of water is to grab somebody and pull them down if that's all you have around you is to grab something and pull them down but if it's just people if it's just the people around you all you can do is drown them a little bit so you can get some air but if as we're floating along someone's able to grab a hold
Of a root or a big tree limb or even the trunk of a very small tree suddenly they can pull themselves out and then they can help everybody else out in the river not because they're strong or amazing but because the tree is I think that's what Jesus is saying that as long as we believe that good is out there at work and in relationships and friendships as long as I believe that the good of my life will come from my wife do you know what will happen? at best I'll drown her I'll spend my life trying to get all the good
Out of her I can get and she won't be able to handle it she'll be the reason I'm happy and I'm okay and fulfilled and satisfied and I'll drown her or I'll drown if you're looking to your job and that's where good comes from if you're looking to your finances and that's where good comes from if you're looking to relationships or marriage or future marriage and that's where good comes from the best thing that can happen is you can either drown somebody else or you can drown see we're running around asking seeking and knocking so many other doors
And so many other places we're searching in so many places and asking so many people and so many entities and jobs and everything trying to get it to find our good and what he says is once you realize he's a good father and good things come from him then you're anchored then you get to be like the person standing on the riverbed holding on to a tree who can just give and it's not a problem to give because you know where all the good stuff comes from where all the strength comes from you've got a firm grip on him and his roots are dug deep and you are anchored
That's why he says you have a good father who'll give you good gifts so treat others the way you want to be treated but until we know that he's a good father and until we know that he gives good gifts we won't actually ever be able to do that now for some people in the room you're saying okay I've asked I've sought I've knocked that's a lie I begged I pleaded I searched I dug I read I prayed I wept I was banging on his door and cancer won
They still left it was a train wreck and that's a lie if you're going to stand up there and tell me that that was a good gift from a good God I'm out I don't want to tell you that if Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7 is all Jesus did this was all he did was walk around and teach things like this I'd be with you if all he did was maybe teach stuff like this and then heal some people if all he did was teach stuff like this and then maybe he fed 5,000 people and maybe he walked on water if that was all he did I'm with you I think that's a lie because I've stood next to people
In our church family and people I loved and I've watched things that I could not in any way say that's a good gift that I could only sit with them and cry and say I have no clue how a good God is even going to make anything of this this looks terrible and evil and broken and I am so sorry and if this was all we could hang it up we could walk away and I'd go with you but today is Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is in the Christian calendar it's the celebration that Jesus rode into Jerusalem
And he had people yelling Hosanna in the highest they were proclaiming his name they were worshipping him they were waving palm branches it was beautiful and they were celebrating that he was a good teacher and a good prophet who could feed 5,000 people and who could heal the sick and make the blind see they were celebrating all of that about Jesus and if it was just Palm Sunday I'd leave if it was just he said stuff like this that God's good and he's a good father and he's going to take care of you some of you are saying I was asking for bread and he gave me a stone
But you see Palm Sunday is a week out from Easter you see this Thursday we get a picture of Jesus Matthew's story isn't done here we get a picture of Jesus in a garden sweating drops of blood dripping out of his head as he begs his father if this cup can pass from me let it he's asking his father if I cannot have to go to the cross if there's another way let that happen and then he ends his prayer with not my will but yours and his father said no there's not another way
But this is the only way I'm going to be able to give good gifts and this is the only way I'm going to be able to bring good about you see the primary thing that on Good Friday that happens is that Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross that he was massacred that God's greatest gift he ever gave was an execution that his wrath was poured out on Jesus in our place and that it was in the midst of that pain and fear and upheaval and chaos that he was turning the world on its head
So that we could actually have good gifts so that he could actually pursue us and redeem us and set us free from sin and give us himself and if it was just this if Jesus just taught and did some miracles I'd walk away with you but because he didn't we get to stand with each other and say I don't know how this is good I think it's a train wreck I know that sin's at work here but I trust that Jesus is good and I know that he's trustworthy because of the cross God definitively made this true when he when Jesus was nailed to a cross when he gave his son for us
He definitively guaranteed that he is good and he is for our good because he loves us enough to give his son for us Romans 8 verse 32 says he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also with him graciously give all things give us up give all things give us all things see the promise we have in the cross is that God's not withholding from you he's not going to give you a stone he's not going to give you
A serpent he is good and he definitively proved it on the cross now your circumstances may not work out the way you want them to what you're praying for may not be what you get but you can trust definitively and forever that he is good and he is for your good because he gave us his son and how much more will he not give us all things how much more is he not using that to redeem us and to make us okay some people say I trusted God and he failed me
The truth was we trusted him to fulfill our plan and our wisdom and he didn't but because of the cross we can know that he's trustworthy so that we can continue to trust him when it doesn't work out the way we want to that's the promise we have in the cross and that's the king that we have and that we follow in a few minutes when we get done here there's going to be about 30 children running laps in this room it's going to be a lot
It's a lot to take in if you don't have kids I'm sorry I have to try to like I got one he's running around I have to pay attention because every once in a while he just scoots out the door and it's like I really don't want him running out in the parking lot but there's just a pile of kids running around here and one of the coolest thing to see about children is when something happens that scares them or if they just suddenly realize that they don't see their parents anymore have you ever seen a kid do this so they're running around playing
And it's like ah ah ah and all of a sudden they'll go ah like they just they lose it my son says mama are you mama are you that's what he does he runs around he'll like he'll freak out there's one little boy in our church his dad and I were talking the other day and his dad kept trying to put him down and his son was fine but as soon as he would do this he would go ah ah
And grab him he's like I'm not going anywhere you've lost your mind you think you're setting me down here with all these other kids running around it's something bad going to happen I ain't going to trust these people it's built into them that protection and safety and goodness comes from their parents and we as a church have to have it soul level bedrock deep built into us that all of our good
Comes from God or we'll never be free we have to be so fixated on the cross so changed by his love for us so overwhelmed by the grace that was given to us that we don't have to be good or moral or perfect or fix ourselves or clean ourselves up but that he died for us so that we could be clean that he loves us so much that he gave his own son for us that we can be welcomed into the family and it's got to be our natural reaction
That when things in life aren't going well that we're just grabbing onto our father and saying okay I'm alright if you're here I can trust because you're here you see so many times we get shipwrecked because the thing that we were holding on to to tell us we were okay was a relationship and it just can't keep you afloat the thing that we had grabbed onto to tell us we were going to be fine was money
And it just can't keep you afloat and we have to train ourselves that when anything happens our head snaps around we run to God and that we're already just nestled in the crook of his arm holding tightly to him and knowing that all my good comes from here so I'm actually now free to love people the way I'm supposed to I'm free to give free to care because I'm firmly fixed in Christ and what he's done for me and in the father
Who's good who gives good gifts I do want to say this he says ask seek knock those are action commands us being firmly rooted in this good God involves us pursuing him so that we actually know how good he is so this means praying this means reading our bibles this means taking time to really be
Devoted to our community group some of you are kind of in a group but it's optional for you because you have a lot of other things that you're asking seeking and knocking and wanting to have fill you up and fix you this takes actually saying no this is this matters because it's one of the ways that I tether myself to the cross tether myself
To God's people some of us this is money you'll make you'll set aside money for anything you care about so one of the bible tells us is what Jesus said earlier that our monies are our monies our money is tied to our hearts and some of us just need to start giving need to start setting aside money to just try to move your heart a little bit to begin
To trust and believe some of this is serving it's an action that needs to be taken so I just want you to think if you just need to say okay I can set aside time for my favorite tv show I actually work my whole schedule around it or it's not uncommon for me to binge on Netflix but it's hard for you to pray for more than
Three minutes maybe you're asking seeking and knocking is just saying I'm going to set aside time every day I'm going to pray for at least 15 minutes I'm at least going to stay in the chair even if my mind wanders one of the things I do if someone's like I have ADD I can't pray I set a phone alarm for three
Minutes I'll only be distracted for three minutes then it beeps and I restart it and remember I was supposed to be praying some of you it's bible reading you say well I don't really read you know all the stats for your favorite sports team maybe you watch that on ESPN but they're also bible apps that
Will read to you so I really have very little like we have way more opportunity to get to the bible than anybody else ever has in history but he says ask seek knock and then he promises you won't miss out it won't be a waste of time I will respond I'll open the door I'll answer you'll find it's worth it so I would just challenge us as we
Try to begin to fully not just know but believe that he is a good father so that we can actually be free to love people the way we want to the way we're supposed to that we would actually act on that not just not alone and go home and go right back to what we were doing and miss out on what was so beautifully promised to us by the by Jesus who
Loved us so much that he gave his life for us let's pray God we ask that you would give us the courage the determination and the discipline to ask seek and knock that you would help us to see all the places that we're running to right now believing that good things come from there all the doors we're knocking
On all the things we're seeking all the all the questions we're asking that ultimately just lead to our own destruction and our own failure Lord show us where we're drowning and drowning others so that we might begin to actually pursue you and to begin to realize where all the good things really come from
We love you we praise you in Jesus name amen
Judgement
Transcript
Well, I am really excited this morning. In just a minute, I'm going to have the privilege of calling Spencer Carey up here. He is going to be walking us through the next section of the Sermon on the Mount this morning. I just wanted to kind of tell you a little bit about him and what's going on. A little over a year ago, I got a call from him. I went to school with him at Presbyterian College.
He just said that he felt called to plant a church in Lexington, South Carolina, and was planning on being down here and just wanted to grab coffee. So we got together and talked. Then this past June, he and some of the Antioch guys started being around, and Spencer actually started hanging out in the office. We basically just said, we want your church plant to be good, and we want to be your friend, so come hang out. He kind of came in with this idea of, I'll hang out, learn what I can. Probably half of what they do is dumb, and I think he found it's only about 15%, and I think he was really excited.
We brought him in, and we just kind of, one of the things we do in our meetings, we said you can be involved in all of this, but we have in our meetings, we have view seats, voice seats, and vote seats. So a view is, you're welcome to be in here, but you're just looking. You're not talking. And a voice seat is, you're a full-fledged member of the meeting. You can say everything you want, and at the end of all the things you said, the vote seat people will then decide what we're going to do, so that you get to say all of your words, and then vote team gets to be like, good. And then we get to make a decision.
And so we kind of said, look, you're a view seat, and we put him in in a couple of our meetings, just kind of hanging out, watching, and then we would kind of go around, everybody would talk, and then we'd be like, okay, Spencer, do you have any thoughts? And then he would say his thoughts. And we did that for about two weeks, and we started realizing that all of the things Spencer had said were pretty good. And so about two weeks later, we said, hey, just be a voice seat. Just say your words when you think them, because it's been really good. And so we've been blessed to have him around, to have the Antioch church family around.
They've been hanging out kind of on this back row, and they have a community group. We actually get to celebrate with them in baptism on Easter. And so it's just been a beautiful, encouraging thing, and we want to actively help plant more churches. And you may be thinking to yourself, or you may have had conversations with people when they find out you're a part of a church plant, and they say something along the lines of, don't we have enough churches? My answer to that is, nope. We want the world crawling with churches, with people actively trying to follow Jesus and be his people and see more people welcomed in.
And we think we've been specifically designed to reach certain groups of people and to pursue them. And we want as many churches as possible that are faithfully following Christ and trying to see people become disciples of him, that help make more disciples of him. And so we want to forever be planting churches. And so we're excited to be able to partner with Spencer. Spencer, if you want to come on up. We're excited that he's here this morning and going to be able to teach from the word for us.
And so we have him come up here. I'm going to pray for you, buddy, and then I'll get out your way and let you open the Bible and let you start. So y'all pray with us. Father, we thank you that your Holy Spirit is still working to call people to use them to expand your mission. And whatever role that is, we praise you where you empower people and use them. And we thank you that we got to be a small part in the story of Antioch Church as they begin to pursue the people of Lexington.
We pray that we would continue to have a role to serve them, to love them, to be generous towards them in however you have you see fit. Pray, Lord, that you would speak through Spencer this morning and use him to teach us and to help us grow in our love for you. In Jesus' name, amen. All right. Good morning. I know how Chad feels now when he says that.
Yeah. So like you said, my name is Spencer Carey. We moved back in June to start the work of planting Antioch Church on the other side of Lexington, the Lexington side, going towards Gilbert. And we decided to call this church Antioch. It is a city in the New Testament in the book of Acts where the gospel explodes. The gospel moves there.
The city is changed. And then Paul and Barnabas, they come and they spend a year there. And then they are commissioned out on the first missionary journey of Paul. And it changes Europe. It changes the whole world from that city. And we want to be that.
We want to be a church that impacts Lexington well with the gospel. We want to see people changed by Jesus. And then we want to be a sending force down the road that can send people to change the rest of North America and the rest of the world. So, yeah, we moved here in June. Didn't really know what this would be with you guys. We know we needed a sponsor church if we wanted to get money.
So we're like, all right, well, let's let's I know Chet and Matt. We went to college together. Let's start this conversation. And it started with a conversation. It has blossomed into a friendship and a partnership that we never expected. Your church family is loving and caring.
And that isn't normal in church planning. It should be. But it's not. And we are so thankful for you guys. And I'm thankful that I get to open up the world with you this morning. I feel like as Matt and Chet were thinking through, what's a text that I can preach?
Since some of you don't know me that well. What's a text that I can preach that's easy? It's not confrontational or controversial. So they said, give him judgment. And that's where we are. Matthew 7 verses 1 through 6 this morning.
We're going to be walking through one of the most misunderstood passages in the New Testament. It's one of the more popular ones. People that have never really read the Bible in our culture can at least reference, didn't Jesus say, don't judge? Tupac had a song. I didn't even realize this until this week. He had a song called Only God Can Judge Me.
That Only God Can Judge Me phrase shaped our generation in ways that I didn't even realize. It was kind of my anthem. Throughout my teenage years, I wasn't a Christian. I was in rebellion. One of the guys that I used to get high with back in the day, we're all at Wendy's. He says, dude, I'm getting a tattoo.
I was like, tell me more. He's like, I'm getting a tattoo that says Only God Can Judge Me on my back. I was like, that's really cool. I want that. When I turn 18, I'm getting that too. Praise God, I did not.
I became a Christian at 17. If you have that tattoo, that is fine. That is just not my taste. But that was my justification for why I could live the way I wanted to live. And I feel like our culture is symptomatic of our culture. We live in a postmodern culture.
And to boil that down for our purposes, that means that I can live my life on my terms. It's my truth. And you don't get to speak into it. And that was my life. It shaped much of how I acted. I didn't think I had consequences for my actions.
But here's the deal. The idea that God would judge me should have never been comforting. I wasn't a Christian. I wasn't changed by the gospel. It should not have been a comfort. And I feel like so many people have a very similar story to me.
They had this Tupac philosophy blended with Matthew 7 that justifies the way that we want to live. So, this morning, we're going to walk through this passage. I want to see how the New Testament uses the word judge. I want to see how it's being used here. And I want us to see how this shapes our view of others. So, I'm going to pray real quick and we'll dive in.
God, thank you for your word. Lord, I pray that you would block out any distractions that we may have this morning. You would speak to us that we receive tough teaching like this. You'd open our hearts for it. In Jesus' name, amen. All right.
So, we'll do the first two verses of chapter 7. Judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use it, we'll be measured to you. All right.
So, in order to understand this text, we have to see how the word judge is being used. Like I said earlier, I think our culture has a ranging view of this word. But I think if you had to define how it uses this word, it's making any kind of statement about anyone's actions or character or anything of that sort. So, if that's kind of your running definition, here's my question for you. Does that definition really hold up? Does that narrow definition of judge hold up?
Like if I say that if you like Pepsi more than Coke, you're crazy. Is that crossing the line? Because like when I go to a restaurant and I order a Coke and someone says, is Pepsi okay? I look at them funny. Because Coke is objectively better than Pepsi. How about if you say, I love Nickelback.
And I say, I don't think you have good taste in music. Is that okay? Am I crossing the line with that statement? Can a pastor who maybe preached here last week, stand up in the pulpit and make the ridiculous claim that a Moe's burrito is better than a Chipotle burrito? Now, we're not talking about chips and queso. All right?
We're not talking about cost. I'm saying just the burrito itself. Can a pastor make that absurd claim? They can. Is that crossing the line? How about if you have a neighbor that has a dog and it's the middle of July and it's melting here because we're in Columbia.
And they leave a dog chained out to a tree with no water all day long. Is it okay to say, that guy doesn't deserve to have a pet? Is it okay to call the authorities? Is it okay to make that judgment? What if you have a neighbor that's beating his kid? Is it okay to say, they don't deserve kids?
I'm calling the police. Is it okay for us in our culture to look at other cultures that mistreat women so badly, that treat them as property, that rape and do all kinds of terrible things? Is it okay for us to say, that's not okay? Can we make judgment calls like that? So at this point, I hope you see that our culture has a really fuzzy and unhelpful definition of judge.
And it's unhelpful as it is unbiblical. So I want to walk through some passages real quick to give us a New Testament, a biblical definition of what judge looks like. The first one comes from 1 Corinthians 5.12. It says this, For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? All right, so context for this.
At the beginning of chapter 5, Paul highlights a case of sexual morality. It's actually incest. A man is sleeping with his father's wife. And they haven't done anything about it. They haven't addressed it. So Paul in verse 11 before this says, Don't associate it with them.
Don't eat with them. After this verse in 13, he says, Purge the unrepentant man from the congregation. He practices church discipline. Get him out. So the way that we see judgment used here is accountability.
Paul wants accountability for the church. So he commands them to judge those inside the church. So judgment holds the idea of accountability. That's one positive definition of it. A second one is discernment, which is determining through good judgment. So later in Matthew 7, we'll get to this in about a month or a couple weeks, Jesus talks about discerning false teachers by their fruit.
And what he means is you have to judge them by the way they live. Our culture looks at that and like, that's crazy. But Jesus did this all the time. I mean, he calls the Pharisees, the religious leaders at the time in Jewish culture, he calls them whitewashed tombs. He says, you look clean on the outside, but you are dead on the inside. Jesus and John the Baptist call the Pharisees a brood of vipers, which is kind of a creative insult.
That he says, you are a viper. You are venomous. You are the offspring of snakes. So he makes that discerning call that we see later in Matthew 7. So those are some positive uses, discernment, accountability.
Then we get to this, verses 1 and 2, and this is definitely a negative use. So what is Jesus trying to say here? First, we have to look at who his audience is. He's got the crowds. He's got the disciples. In the middle of all that, he has this group, the Pharisees.
This teaching, verses 1 and 2, is an indictment on them. He's calling them out. This group was known for being very cold and condemning towards anyone who wasn't holy like them. That was their MO. And in these two verses, man, Jesus is fighting against some righteousness and hypocrisy that is so prevalent amongst these religious leaders. So the way that judge is being used here leans towards meaning condemnation.
So we've got three different uses. We've got accountability and discerning. These are two positive uses. And we've got cold condemnation, which is the negative use. I think one of the clearest examples of this comes from Luke 18. Jesus tells a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector.
And he says in Luke 18, Pharisees must have been fun at parties. I mean, they... This is the kind of stuff that Jesus was dealing with. This pride and self-righteousness. That's who he's calling out. So I think it would be most helpful if we looked at verse 1 and 2 and it was read like this.
This is the kind of thing that Jesus was dealing with. Don't give condemning judgment toward others or you will get the condemnation you deserve. For with the condemning judgment that you practice will be given right back to you. With the same measure you dish it out, it will come right back. That should scare the pants off of us. I mean, it should because the condemnation that he's talking about that you'll get if you dish it out is hell.
And when we hear teachings like this, I think what we do is we distance ourselves from the Pharisees. We're like, well, at least we're not the Pharisees. We're not... I'm not prideful or self-righteous. That's... I'm not condemning.
That's not me. And I think we fail to see that we have that embedded in our flesh. That we've got a little Pharisee that lives inside of us. I'll give you a few examples. It's tax season. If you did not know that, you should do your taxes because tax day is coming.
And when you do your taxes, maybe you don't report all of your cash earnings. Maybe you shave the Numbers a little bit. And when you're doing that, you may be thinking, I'm just doing... This isn't a big deal. I mean, I'm not Bernie Madoff. I'm not Wall Street.
That's not me. And you've compared yourself and condemned a group of people to justify yourself. Do the same thing with sexual sin. It's just a little bit of pornography. It's just a little bit of explicit content. At least I'm not the porn star.
At least I'm not the stripper. At least I'm not the man running around on his wife. And you've condemned other people to justify yourself. Maybe you have somebody in your community group who is always coming and confessing the same sin over and over again. And if you're not in a community group here, maybe it's somebody in your family or friends that makes the same mistake over and over again. And when they do, your first reaction is, well, of course.
It's cynicism. Well, of course they would. That's who they are. That's what they do. And you're not led to compassion. How about another scenario?
What are the thoughts that go through your head when you were standing at the checkout line in the grocery store? And you see somebody that has their snap card, which is food stamps back in the day. Their snap card in one hand and they got an iPhone in the other hand. What are the thoughts that go through your head? Well, I'm just being discerning. I mean, if he or she's got a snap card, she shouldn't have an iPhone.
She shouldn't be able to pay for that data plan. You don't know them. You don't know them. They may need that iPhone for their job. And they also might have three or four kids that they need to feed. You don't know them.
And you are quick to condemn others with your thoughts. We do the same thing with if you own a business or you're a waiter and somebody from a different race or a different socioeconomic class comes in. And you've already sized them up based off of stereotypes before you even talk to them. We do the same thing when we're in downtown Columbia. And we're walking and somebody who's homeless comes up and says, can I have some money? What are your first thoughts?
Drugs? Alcohol? I mean, we do this all the time. And about a month ago, we walked through this. There is a helpful way to help others. But what we're looking at here is we're diagnosing the heart.
And we do it all the time with simple things. That church doesn't do church like us. That couple doesn't do finances. I wish they could just live in a budget like we do. I wish that this couple that has marital problems would just listen to us. And they would have a marriage like us.
I wish that this family would discipline their kids like us. And we position ourselves in a prideful way and we condemn others. And we have thoughts like this that happen all the time. And here's the deal. We as Christians, we don't let those thoughts go unexamined. That's not our play.
We are called to diagnose those things. To see where they're coming from. And ask Jesus to go to work on those parts of our heart. And as Paul says, to crucify that sin, that flesh, and put it to death. That's our calling. Because self-righteousness is a cancer.
Self-righteousness is a cancer that affects so much of our judgment and discernment. So Jesus, he wants us to check ourselves before checking others. And that's what we get in verses 3 through 5. We get a pretty extreme example. He says this in verse 3. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but you don't notice the log that is in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your own eye when there is a log in your own eye? You hypocrite. First, take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. So in college, I studied abroad. I did something called semester at sea. And we spent a semester traveling on a ship around the world.
It was a really tough semester. And I made a friend on that ship as we were traveling that, there's no way to say it, he had really, really bad breath. Like, could have been halitosis, I don't know. And we would talk, and he would be getting closer to talking to you, and you'd just be like leaning back, like, yeah, okay. And you, I mean, because you didn't want to get too close to his face. And I remember thinking the whole time, like, do I say something?
Has anybody said anything to him? Like, has his family said something? Have his friends said anything? I mean, he's got a girlfriend back home. She has to know. Like, I'm thinking, what, should I say something?
And the whole trip, I didn't say a word. Like, I was a terrible friend. Fast forward six months. Six months later, it's Christmas. I've got a stocking. Typically in my stocking, I get fruit, some candy, some toiletries, stuff like that.
And I pull out of the stocking a bag of mints. And then a second bag of mints. And then mint-flavored gum. And as I pull all this stuff out, as Chet would say, it was an aggressive amount of mints and mint-flavored gum. And I was like, and I'm not Columbo. Like, I'm not really quick.
Like, we watch movies with my wife, and I'm not quick to figure out the ending. But I read into it. I was like, you know, I feel like my mom is trying to say something. So I was like, Mom, what's the deal? It's a lot of mints. It's a lot of gum.
What are you trying to say? And she said, well, once you got to college, you started drinking coffee, which is fine. But afterwards, your breath is really bad. You should keep these on you throughout the day in your car, in your dorm. It'll be helpful. And I was like, no.
There's no, that's, you know, I push back because I'm argumentative sometimes. And then my sister jumps in and says, no, no, no, it's terrible. You need to do something about this. We're in the teaching team this week, and someone, I can't remember who said it, someone said, what if it was you on the ship just talking to him and it was coming off his face? I never thought of that. I was like, no.
That was not the case. That was not the case. But that's a helpful story that explains this. And Jesus, he gives a really hyperbolic exaggeration in this story. He compares a tiny little splinter to an entire beam. Now, I want you to visualize the absurdity of that, like how crazy that looks.
Like somebody's got a four by four beam sticking out of their eye. And they see somebody with a splinter, and they're like, I got it. I mean, just they're, I hit them in the face, and they don't know what's going on. And they're just reaching awkwardly to grab it. It's a silly picture. It looks ridiculous.
And I think what Jesus is saying here is when you're blind to sin, and you're trying to correct others, you look silly. You look ineffective. What Jesus wants is humility-soaked accountability. That's what he's calling for here. Humility-soaked accountability. Not the cold condemnation that the Pharisees dished out.
But here's the thing in this teaching. I feel like people miss this. If they're big on the hypocrisy part, and they miss what he's saying, he still wants accountability. That's what he's calling for. He says, then you will see clearly to take out the splinter. So we have to see that.
As a Christian, we are called to hold others accountable. We're just called to work through our own junk before we deal with others. So this passage, it has a two-part command for really people on both ends of the accountability spectrum. All right? On one end of the spectrum, we've got people that are quick to confront and slow to reflect. And on the other end of the spectrum, we've got people that just hate confrontation.
All right? So if you're on this end, people might say you're blunt. All right? If you're quick to confront, you're slow to reflect like you have good company. King David from the Old Testament, one of the biggest figures in the Bible, he was quick to confront. One of my favorite stories from the Old Testament is when David, he sins.
He has an affair with a woman named Bathsheba. She conceives to cover it all up. He has her husband killed, one of his soldiers killed by sending him to the front lines. And then he looks all great because he says, well, I'll take her as my wife so that she doesn't have to remain a widow. Here's the thing. God does not let sin remain hidden amongst his people.
The New Testament says that he disciplines those whom he loves. And that's exactly what he does. He sends his prophet Nathan. Nathan comes to David. David is the king, which means he's also a judge in the land. And he comes to David and he says, David, there's a man in the land who had many sheep.
And then there was another man that had one sheep. And the man that had many saw the man that had one. And he saw that sheep and he said, I'll have it. And he took it by force. And as David's hearing this story, he's steaming mad. And he says, I want to find that man.
I want justice to be done. And Nathan, in the middle of his anger, says, David, you're the man. You're the one that took Uriah's wife. You're the one that slept with her. And he's got a four by four beam sticking out of his eye. And he's trying to point out a splinter.
So if you're on this end of the spectrum, if you're like David, if you're quick to confront and you're slow to reflect, you have to start a new pattern of confrontation. You have to be slow. You have to, maybe it's hard for you to see things. Maybe you invite somebody from your community group or a trusted brother or sister to help you point out stuff. But here's the thing.
If you are this, if you're quick to confront and slow to reflect, like you need to change. You need to repent of that. Start this new pattern of confrontation. Maybe when you see sin in somebody else, you take a few days to pray, to ask God if that's going on in your heart. Bring others into it. Address it.
And then examine others. So that's one of the spectrum. If you're on the other end and you just hate confrontation, like maybe you're completely content to just let people live their own lives, make their own mistakes, make their own decisions. And as we talk about accountability, you're like, well, I guess I'm supposed to. And maybe there's somebody in your community group that is blind to a sin. And you're like, well, somebody else would take care of it.
Like we have other people in our community group. We have community group leaders. Like isn't that a pastor's Job? You might be thinking, but if I talk to them, like I might lose them as a friend. Like it's going to make it weird. They're going to get really, really angry at me.
And what you've done in those moments is you've placed your comfort, your need for friendship or approval over their sanctification, over them knowing more of who Jesus is. And if I'm honest, like that's kind of where I land on this spectrum. Like I don't hate confrontation. That's not me. Like I'm willing to confront people. I've done it before.
It's not like I'm not scared of it. If I'm honest, I just get lazy. Like it's a lot of work to do this because I know if I see someone else who's blind to something, that means I got to stare at my own junk. And I know I got a lot of my own junk. And that's not fun. And then I got to wade through that.
I got to pray. And then I know that I'm called to walk in the light. So I got to bring others into this. And then we got to address this together. And then I have to go and confront them. And it's a whole long process.
And if I'm honest, I don't want to do it. It takes a lot of energy. And I'm a pastor. That's just, I don't want to do it. I say, I'll put it off until next week. Or maybe sin will resolve itself since that's how sin works.
And I put it off. If you are like this, this kind of selfishness is terrible for biblical community. It's terrible for your community groups. Because when sin doesn't get confronted, it destroys lives. It wrecks marriages and families. It spreads like a cancer.
God calls us to do the tough work of confronting one another in love. That's our calling. And it's hard. It is hard. Living out the gospel in community, it's difficult. Confronting others, it's hard.
And sometimes, sometimes it doesn't go well. There was a time my wife and I, we moved to Louisville, Kentucky. We're from here, but we moved to Louisville. We spent five years in Louisville at our sending church, sojourn, community church, and in seminary. And the first couple friend we met, we got to know, they were kind of our best friends for about a year and a half. So we got to know them, and I started to recognize a pattern in the husband.
We started seminary at the same time. He had a job. He worked for a computer company. And then he also was at a church. A few months later, he leaves that job and that church, and he goes to a new church to be a worship pastor for a season. For about a few months of that, he leaves that job at that church, goes to a new church, starts a new job.
Then he starts another Job. Then he quits seminary. Then he moves to our church. Then he says, well, we're going to move to Chicago. Then he says, we're not moving to Chicago.
And then a few months later, he says, we're leaving sojourn in our church. And they didn't really give a lot of good reasons. So I said, man, let's get coffee. Let's talk about this. I sat down. I was like, man, I pointed all this out.
I was like, I feel like you make a lot of really quick decisions. You don't really pray through it all. You don't really think through that dragging your family like this, this pattern of life is not sustainable. And I tried to point it out. And then that was the last conversation we ever had. This is one of our best friends.
The last conversation we ever had. A few months later, I realized we hadn't spoken. And I texted them. And I was like, hey, man, I've been a bad friend. Let's get coffee.
Let's connect. And he texted back. He said, let's call this what it is. We've grown separate ways. Have a nice life. What do you text back to that?
I was like, all right, take care. And I fought over that conversation like a hundred times since then. Like, what did I say? What could I have said differently? How did I approach this? Like, what happened?
And I could take that instance and say, you know what? That's a reason why I don't have. That's why you don't confront people. Because you lose friends. And it's not worth it. And I could believe that.
But I don't. Because here's the thing. First, I was being faithful to the teaching that Jesus teaches here. I was being loving towards my friend by calling that out. And I've had dozens of conversations before them and since then where I've confronted somebody in love. They have confronted me in love.
And yeah, it's not always gone perfect. It's not always been pretty. But what came out of that is both of us knowing more of Christ. And as 1 John 1.7 says, you have true fellowship when you walk in the light together. Meaning, we grew closer as friends. So I do it all over again.
Because in God's kingdom, he wants his people to check our hearts for sin and self-righteousness and whatever before we check others. Like, no matter the cost, that is our calling. So the first five verses here. Jesus, he fights against that cold condemnation. Then he lays out why we do biblical accountability.
And then we get to verse 6. Walking through the Sermon on the Mount is heavy. Like, if you've been here for the past couple of months, like, this is weighty stuff. And sometimes Jesus says things. Like, I feel when the disciples go, what? Because every now and then he says something where I'm just like, what did you say?
And that's kind of what he says here in verse 6. In verse 6 he says, do not give dogs what is holy. And do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. I mean, you read that and you're like, what did you say? All right, so firstly, that picture, it's connected to what we just said, to judgment and accountability.
So we've got to take it in its context. Now he doesn't fully explain what he says. He just keeps teaching. And there have been a lot of pastors and a lot of theologians who love Jesus deeply, who have studied this, and they've come to different conclusions. So with our brief time left, like, I don't want to nail down, like, one interpretation for us.
I want to really give one helpful application that I think is faithful to the teaching here. So given the immediate context, which is correction, correcting your brothers and sisters, I think what he's saying here is don't spend your time correcting those who don't believe. Don't hold unbelievers accountable. They're outside of our faith. So Jesus' context, he's speaking to a Jewish audience.
Jews did not, dogs and pigs were considered unclean. That may be difficult for you to see this because some of you have dogs that are like children. They've got ten sweaters and they sleep with you. We can't import our view onto this. Dogs were like the vultures of the ground in their time. They cleaned up after everyone else.
They're considered unclean. And when you read this, what he's doing is he's making a comparison between dogs and pigs to unbelievers. And as you study that, you're like, wow, like that. Really, Jesus? Like, that's a heavy comparison. Here's the deal.
I don't think from the text and from the context, I don't think that what Jesus is saying here is he's making a statement of value. I don't think he's making a statement of value. I think he's simply saying, like, you wouldn't have your dog eat off of fine china. We have a dog. We have a little dachshund. He looks cute.
He's actually a really bad dog. But we love him sometimes. And after I've eaten a meal on our regular dinner plates that we've had for the past, since we got married about almost six years ago, I set the plate outside and he cleans it up. We just now got fine china and we use that. He ain't touching those plates. So you wouldn't have your dog eat off of fine china and you wouldn't throw your pearls before pigs.
So don't focus your effort on holding unbelievers to values that we find precious. Morality doesn't save people. Only belief in the finished work of Jesus on the cross and the empty tube saves people. So if you're the kind of person that holds your family or friends or coworkers to values and morals that we find precious, I think what Jesus is saying here is stop. Stop doing it. I do.
I'm a church planner, but I'm a bivocational church planner. I do real estate as well. And every now and then in real estate, you'll walk into a house where you first walk in and you're like, wow, this house looks really good. They painted the walls. They've changed out the flooring. And then as you dig into it, you see there's major problems with the house.
It has termites that have eaten through the walls. The foundation is crumbling and falling apart. The house is a mess. And C.S. Lewis, he has a metaphor like this. He says when God comes in to change our lives, he doesn't come into our house and basically just paint and change some things.
He completely remodels the house, rips out everything, replaces everything to a brand new creation. And if you're the kind of person that is trying to force morals on those who don't believe, you're trying to put paint on the walls. And what you need to see is that they don't need paint on the walls. They need an entire new house. So stop forcing morality on those who aren't ready to receive it, who aren't ready to receive what is precious.
Like love them, share the gospel with them, but don't force morality on them. All right, so that's verses one through six. Here's something you don't hear in the church very often. Tupac got it half right. He got it half right. God is our ultimate and final judge.
The gospel teaches that we deserve judgment, that we've incurred wrath, and that we deserve punishment. It teaches us that one day Jesus is going to return. He's going to make all things new. But when he does, there will be a day of judgment. And a lot of pastors and theologians disagree on how that's going down, because when you read Revelation, you're like, huh? But there's one thing we can all agree on.
It's a terrifying picture. Judgment is coming. But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus came to rescue us by taking that judgment that we deserve on the cross. Colossians 2.13-14 says, And you who are dead in your sins and the sinful nature of your flesh, God made alive together with Christ, having forgiven us of all our trespasses. Hear this. By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, this he set aside, nailing it to a cross.
Like, see that picture. All the record of debt. Past, present, future sins, all placed on Jesus. And the judgment we deserve was death. This he set aside, nailing it to a cross. What a beautiful picture of the gospel that we have in Jesus.
So here's the deal. Like, we all have self-righteousness. We all have pride in our hearts. Like, we have hearts that constantly condemn. So Jesus took that condemnation for us on the cross.
We have four by four logs that are jammed in our eyes. So Jesus was nailed to a log so that we might be a community that holds others accountable. So we're being transformed as a community into those that don't condemn, that love and hold each other accountable. That's for us as those who believe. But here's the deal.
If you've never placed your faith solely in Christ, like the gospel has not changed you. Paul has a picture of an old creation and a new creation. In 1 Corinthians. If that picture for you isn't true, this passage cannot be a comfort anymore. Like, you can't use it as a comfort. It's a warning.
This passage cannot be your excuse to live your life on your terms. Tupac, he got it right. You will be judged. We just hope that you will be judged in Christ.
True Treasure
Transcript
Good morning. My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We've been walking verse by verse through the Sermon on the Mount, so we'll be in Matthew chapter 6. If you want to grab one of the Bibles on the row, or if you brought your Bible with you. If you don't own a Bible, this is our gift to you.
Go ahead and take this one home. We want everyone to own a Bible. We'll be in Matthew chapter 6. We'll pick up in verse 19 today. There's a TV show. It's a game show.
I don't know actually if it's still on, but it's called Let's Make a Deal. And I never watched the old one. I did watch the one with Wayne Brady. And in that show, everybody, for some reason, I don't think it has much to do with the show at all. Everybody dresses up in a costume, which makes it slightly more interesting. But everybody's dressed up.
It's like a big Halloween party. And then basically in Let's Make a Deal, you play some random games, kind of like in Prices Right. It just doesn't have anything to do with prices. But you play random games, and then you win something. And then what they do is they'll say, okay, you have $50. I'll trade you one of these two boxes for that.
So they kind of let you pick something, and then you'll trade. Or at any point, you can just say, no, I got the $50. I got $1,000. I got two watches. I'm just going to quit. I can walk away with what I have.
And then by the end, when they make it to, like, the main thing, they'll actually have a couple of curtains or doors with Numbers. And you can trade what you won for what's behind curtain number one. Or you can trade what you won for something behind curtain number one or curtain number two. So, like, there'll be a time where maybe you won a Vespa. Like, I actually watched one where a guy, that's just a fancy moped. That's what a Vespa is.
Had won that, and they basically were like, all right, you want to keep that, because you're going to look great riding around on it. Or do you want what's behind the curtain? And, like, the guy kind of debated for a little while, and I actually watched one where they said, okay, I want what's behind the curtain, because behind the curtain, you don't know. It could be a boat. It could be a car. It could be two Vespas.
You just don't know. You don't know what's going to be behind the curtain. So the guy took it, and what they do in that game is if they have actual prizes, and then they have zonks. And so I was watching in the break room at work one day, and they opened it up, and it was a zonk. It was, like, piles of trash and some goats. Now, I'm from Edgefield, so I know some people who'd be like, I get to keep them goats.
But no, you didn't get to keep the goats. It's a zonk. You lose. He trades in his Vespa. He gets nothing. And what they don't do in that game is they don't give you a lifeline.
They don't let you, when you get to the end, go, okay, I want to do my lifeline. I want to call my friend up from the crowd. I want him to go look behind the curtain, and then I want him to come back out and tell me if I should take the curtain or not. Like, they don't have that in that game. There is nobody who gets to go see what's behind door number one or door number two or door number three. They don't have any kind of thing in that game because it would ruin the point of the game.
But what we're going to see today in the Sermon on the Mount is that Jesus is saying he got to peek behind the curtain. He's coming and coaching us up, and he's saying, I've seen what's behind the curtain, and I'm going to tell you the trade to make. That's what we're reading today. That's what we're going to see where Jesus gets to this point in the Sermon on the Mount. He's saying, I know both what you have in front of you and what's behind the curtain, and I'm going to tell you the trade to make. So we're going to pray, and then we're going to begin to study this this morning.
God, we thank you for your love and your grace and your pursuit of us in the midst of our sin. We pray specifically today that as we study this section of the Sermon on the Mount, that you would help us see clearly. And once we have seen clearly, once we clearly understand what you say, what you teach, and how we ought to view this, I pray that you would change our hearts so that we can believe it. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Chapter 6, verse 19, it'll be on page 473 if you're in a white Bible.
This is Jesus teaching his disciples. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So Jesus looks at his disciples and he says, don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. But do lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust don't destroy and where thieves don't break in and steal.
That's the premise of what we're looking at. And then he says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Now, I think it's easy for us as Americans to read this and go, okay, don't lay up for yourself treasures on earth. I get the concept. It's very difficult for us to actually believe it. Actually put this into practice.
Because this is our American system. This is the American dream. Dream. This is what we, this is, this, we've bought into this hook, line, and sinker. That the goal of life is accumulation. Stuff.
We have TV channels devoted to this. So what HGTV is, is here's how to make things better and nicer. Here's how to lay up treasures on earth. I watch the, uh, the show Shark Tank. I enjoy it. Um, it's, it's, uh, basically people come in front of investors and they do a business pitch.
And I like it. I have a business degree. Probably would have done some sort of business stuff if I hadn't been felt called to do what we're doing now. And, uh, but the underlying premise of that show is get rich. That's the dream. That's the goal.
That's the hope. That's the stuff that we celebrate. They'll come in and they'll be like, this lady, stay at home mom, began making mayonnaise in her garage. But now her mayonnaise is on all the shelves and it's like, oh, the mayonnaise dream. But it's not just what she did.
It's the fact that it makes her rich. It brought in money. Now we know she's happy. That's the story we're told. Now we know she's okay.
She has money, you guys. That's why when they, they, people come in and they have this really dumb idea and the investors are like, you're stupid. And then they make them leave. They walk out and they cry and they're like, I'm not stupid. I'm going to make my dreams come true. Why?
What's the dream? I'm going to make money off of this stupid idea. And then I'll be okay. It's what we bought into. I know, one of the ways I see this in my wife and I, and I know that it's like, it's sunk into our heart. So this has become the, the way we think about the world, the way we progress, the way we grow is some sort of accumulation.
Exactly the opposite of what Jesus just said. Don't lay up treasures for yourself on earth. And we go, okay, Jesus sounds good, but it's actually seeped into us. This is the air we breathe as Americans. One of the ways I see this is the way that my wife, Anna and I speak to each other. Because we've been married for going on eight years now and we just kind of dream about the future.
We'll just talk about future us. Future us. And here's the thing I've noticed about future us. Future us always has more disposable income than current us. Future us goes to Disney World. Future us goes to visit New York.
Future us goes to Europe. Future us maybe has jet skis and hangs out on the lake, you know, for mission. Like for the opportunity to invite people in. Now we can tell them about Jesus. Future us always has, oh, future us has some, a little bit of land. So a little bit of, you know, some acreage.
Future us has a, a, a little bit larger house. Future us. I don't know if y'all met future us. Future us is doing pretty well, actually. We don't, we don't brag about it. We're very generous, but we're generous because of all that extra disposable income we have.
We have never once had a conversation where I was like, you know what I was just thinking about? You know, in a couple of years, we have a couple more kids. And you and I are more financially strapped than we have ever imagined. You know what I was just getting excited about? You know, right now I'm counting calories, but I'm pumped that in the future I won't have to do that because I just won't have enough money to buy food to eat. Never once have we had that conversation.
First of all, because that's a sad conversation. Second of all, because we've bought into the idea that the way you progress in life, the way we know that we're growing and doing better, how do, how do we, how do we measure that? When you ask, am I further along now than it was a year ago, then five years ago, then 10 years ago? So often the question is, what kind of car am I driving? What kind of house am I living in? Where am I at financially?
Where am I at business-wise? And here's the thing. This hunt, this treasure-seeking never stops. There is not an end to it. It does not stop. Because, and the way I know this, I know it so clearly in me, and I just want you to take a second and think about you.
There are things that you have currently that you told yourself five years ago if I could just have that, then I'd be okay. There are things that you have currently that you told yourself a year ago, five years ago, ten years ago, if I can just get my own place, if I can just own my own house, if I can just get a car, if I can just get a nicer car, if I could just get a new job, if I could just get my degree, if I could just get my other degree, if I could just get a better Job, if I could just be promoted. There are so many things that if we were able to walk back to you five years ago, you would have tell us so clearly, so bright-eyed, so hopeful, if I could just make 10% more, then I'd really be doing it. And you are now.
And what's happened is we just swapped it out for something else. It does not stop. This treasure hunt that we are on does not stop. And Jesus steps up, looks at us as clearly as he can, as much as he can try to get us to make eye contact with him. And he says, don't. Don't lay up for yourself treasures on earth.
They rust. They get eaten. They get stolen. They do not last. It is not worth it. That's what Jesus is saying.
That's what he's begun to tell us here. And here's the thing. I think he uses treasure for a reason. First of all, he is very much speaking to financial treasure. He is talking about your money. He is talking about your wallet.
He is talking about your bank account. But because he uses treasure, he's also helping us see that it's not just the money. It's where we place value. It's earthly treasure. Things that will just end on earth. The enjoyment will just end on earth.
That's what he says. Don't lay up treasure on earth. Don't gather things where the sole goal, where the end point for it, the most you can enjoy it, is earth. So for some of you, you're going, oh, I'm not that worried about money. Maybe not. Maybe you don't need a lot of money.
Maybe you're not one of these lavish people. Maybe for you, the goal is just comfort. That your earthly treasure is just comfort to be insulated from the world. You don't need a big house. You just need a really soft couch. You don't have to have a boat.
That's crazy. But you have to have what? What is it that you've begun to say, this is what my money exists for? Some of you could care less about money, but you do care about rank. You do need to be promoted. You do need to be the supervisor.
You do need to be the site manager. You do need to be the regional manager. You do need to be the vice president. Like, you've got to be promoted. And here's what he says. That labor, that work, that effort only works out for a short amount of time.
And then it falls apart. Then it rusts. Then it's eaten. Then it's gone. And the most you got out of it was some earthly treasure. Some of you, it's just status.
You're chasing after degree, after degree, after degree. You don't care about money, but you do want people to look at you and approve of you based off of how intelligent you are and how many random letters and Numbers you have in front and behind your name. It's earth treasure. A lot of it has to do with what's the goal. What are we trying to get out of it? I was walking around with my son at the zoo the other day.
And we have a zoo pass and we like it because it's better to take him to the zoo, set him down and follow him around the zoo than watch him burn a hole in our carpet running circles in my living room. And that's actually why Future Us has a few acres because we're going to get a runner across a tree and hook him to a harness. And then I'll just be able to look out the window and see he's okay every once in a while while he runs back and forth and tears up that part of the grass, but that's okay. It's in our backyard. Also so that people can't see him from the road. So anyway, we're at the zoo.
He's running around and one of the things I saw was a couple of little girls ran by and they had face paint. And this is brilliant. So this is a good, if you want a business idea and you're on Shark Tank, this is a great way to make money and to live the dream and be happy is to become a face painter because every kid that you face paint becomes a walking billboard. So that they run off with their face paint and some other kid sees them and goes, oh my goodness, I want my face painted. I want to look like Elsa. Which by the way, is the biggest scam.
They tell these little girls they're going to make them look like Elsa and then they put blue swirls all over their face. Have the kids even seen the movie? She never looks like that. At no point does she get blue swirl face. But anyway, my favorite one is the Spider-Man face.
They put on little boys or they do like Tiger or whatever. But anyway, kids get face paint and that's great. And they're so excited. And this is the best decision they've ever made in their entire life. And parents do it. They let the kid get face paint.
Why not? None of those parents are going to let their children get that same thing tattooed on their face. They're not going to. Why? Because as an adult, you can see further down the road than a six-year-old can. And what is going to be the best, most amazing decision they've ever made is going to be absolutely ridiculous.
And you'll look at them if they wanted it to get permanent. Like if they were doing this and the face painter person was like, just so you know, this will last 10 to 40 years. You immediately would like attack them. Are you crazy? You can't put something on their face that's going to last that long. Why?
Because it's going to be awesome for second grade. This amount of time in their life. That's why it lasts a week. They cry when it's gone. Good. Last two days, you scrub it off that night because they've got to go be around other humans later and they can't keep looking like a half-weirdo version of Spider-Man.
But it would be awesome. If they got a tattoo, it would be awesome. They'd be the coolest kid in second grade. But you know that life goes beyond second grade and you're going to say something to them along the lines of, this will be great in second grade, maybe half a third grade. It's going to be really troublesome when you're trying to get a date for prom. But let's look beyond prom.
You're going to need to go on Job interviews later. You'll be memorable. But nobody's hiring Spider-Man guy. That's what Jesus is saying. He stepped in and said, you're chasing after earth treasure and that's going to be amazing for 50 years. That's going to be the best for 50 years.
That title, that success, that name, that house, that car, those cars, that amount of wealth, that bank account is going to be so wonderful for something as small and as trivial as half a century. See, Jesus has walked out from behind the curtain. He says, he sees into eternity and he says, don't do it. Don't buy into it. Don't make that decision. It's a terrible trade.
He says, hand in the Vespa, take what's behind the curtain. That's what he's saying. Because he sees further than we do. He knows more than we do. And what seems like such a great idea now actually isn't in light of eternity. And if we're Christians, if we actually believe this, we're people of eternity.
We live forever. That's what Jesus gave us was eternal life. Eternal. Forever. And we're making decisions that only make sense for 50 years. Not for 100.
Not for 150. Not for 250. Not for 1,000. Not for 10,000. Not for 10 billion. That's how long we're going to live.
We're making decisions that make sense for 50. And so Jesus is trying to help us. And he's saying, stop. It's a bad trade. So what's he say?
Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth and rust destroys, where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Do you know what he's assuming about you? You know, he's assuming about me. We want treasure.
Treasure. He does not say, do not lay up treasure. Treasure is bad. Do not value anything. Valuing things is bad. What's he say?
He says, go for the better treasure. Go for the more long-lasting treasure. Make the best treasure hunter decision. When we were created by God, we were designed in some ways to be treasure hunters. What I mean by that was, we were designed to see value. To make correct, appropriate, intelligent valuations of things.
This is better than that. We do this naturally all the time. You go eat somewhere and you'll think, this is a really good burger. But it's not as good a burger as that burger. And it costs $2 more. We have this argument all the time around the office about people going to Chipotle and Moe's and then trying to decide which one's better.
But we're designed to do that. That's why people get so amped up about that argument. Because they like Chipotle and they're wrong and other people try to graciously point it out and they won't repent. It costs more. The chips aren't free and no one greets you. Plus it stinks of hipster.
We're supposed to make valuations of what is good and bad and right and wrong. We're designed to. But here's what happened. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, made the wrong choice and they messed up our value system. They made it to where our hearts chased the wrong treasure. When they were supposed to supremely value God as the ultimate treasure and then everything else would make sense.
We would love our spouses. We would love other people. We would love and value life and all the things that God designed to be good and enjoyable would have fallen in line because God was in His right place. What Paul says in Romans is that that got messed up. That when they chose to value something else themselves higher than God, our whole value system got messed up. And so when we look at earth and say this is what is valuable, this is what is to be treasured, the only way that's going to get reoriented or changed is by Jesus fixing that.
So we're going to live in a broken world where we're tricked constantly by money and cars and relationships and Chipotle. Our value system is going to be off. And Jesus is stepping in right here to try to reorient it for us, to try to fix it for us. In some ways, what's happening and especially so ridiculous and silly in the church, when we gather together on Sundays and say, our treasure is in heaven. There's probably a song that says that, that we would all stand up and sing. Our treasure is in heaven.
Yeah, that's right. You're wondering why I don't sing more often. We sing, take the world, but give me Jesus. We sing that song. And it would be like if all of us living over here in South Carolina in the gold rush era heard that there was gold in California. And we said, we're going to go seek the treasure.
We're going to go to California and we're going to get the gold. And we started going. And every time we stopped, we were going to camp out a little while. I went into the woods and started cutting down trees. And you said, why are you doing that? And I said, I'm going to build a house.
And you said, buddy, we're leaving tomorrow. Stop. Or if every time we stopped, I went and gathered really neat pine cones or pretty rocks. And so we're only a little way in and I'm already loading up our caravans with stupid stuff. You're like, hey man, first of all, as soon as we get to California, we're going to dump all your stupid rocks out and fill these bags with gold, which are better than rocks. Secondly, quit.
We don't need these. And every time we stop, I start building a house. Eventually, you would be like, I hope you get dysentery. I am so sick of you being on this team. But we're Christians.
And we're saying, our gold's in heaven, our treasure's in heaven, what we value's in heaven. And then we're running around and living the opposite. And Jesus, because he loves us, because he loves his disciples, is looking at us and saying, stop it. It is a bad trade. You're going to build this house, you're going to labor over this, and then we're moving. You're going to work really hard for this, and then we're going to throw it out.
When we get to California, we're throwing all your rocks away. They're not going to matter. And he's looking at us and saying, when you meet the king, when you step into eternity, everything you labored for and everything you toiled for and everything you worked for is going to be gone. And it is not going to matter. But there are going to be some things that we can labor for now, work for now, that make sense in light of eternity.
There are treasures. There are rewards. He just got done in the beginning of chapter 6 saying, don't practice your righteousness so that other people can see it. That's earth treasure. That's what he's talking about. Don't practice your righteousness.
Don't be really holy and really good and really devout and pray really well and read your Bible and practice your Bible verses in order that other people can know. Look at how good they pray and how much they know about their Bible and how nice they are and how well behaved. Don't do it. That's earth treasure. That's them valuing you here. What he says is, do it in secret.
Do it privately so that you'll be rewarded by your Father who sees in secret. Give in secret so that you'll be rewarded by your Father who sees in secret. You see, there's ways for us to now begin to lay up treasure in heaven. Begin to make decisions that make sense in light of heaven. Some of the ones he gave us just then were praying, fasting, giving. In other places in the Bible, he's going to say, give to the poor.
Sell your possessions, give to the poor and buy for yourself money bags that don't grow old. Or he's going to say, Paul's going to say for us in 1 Timothy, he says, as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty. That means arrogant. Nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share. So he doesn't say it's wrong to be rich.
What he says is, tell the rich people to be really generous and to not place their hope in money. To do good, to do good works, to pay for people, to provide for people, to feed people. Thus storing up treasure for themselves is a good foundation for the future so they may take hold of that which is truly life. In Matthew chapter 25, he looks at people and he says, y'all fed me when I was hungry. You clothed me when I was naked. You visited me when I was in prison.
He begins to lay out for them, here's why you're rewarded. Here's what I noticed. Here's what you cared about. We're told over and over again that we should live our lives for the mission to see people come to know Jesus, that we should make intentional, tactical decisions with our time and our money and our jobs and our income and our wealth and our intelligence so that we can see more people come to know Christ because at the end of our lives, our short little 50 year blip that we're here, all that's going to matter is what we did for Christ and what was for his kingdom and everything else is going to be burned up and gone.
So Jesus says this, let's pick up in verse 22. In the middle of this section on money and he's going to get back to money, he's going to get back to treasure, he says, the eye is the lamp of the body. Now he's speaking in a kind of an idiom they would have understood. They believe mostly that your eye actually projected light into the world and that your eye was connected to your heart. So he's already talking about the heart, where your treasure is, there your heart will be and so now when he starts talking about your eye, they immediately connect that to heart as well.
We don't connect it in the same way. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? So what he's saying is if you don't see this, if your view on this is wrong, if your understanding of this, your vision here is short-sighted, you're going to live your life in the dark.
And how dark is it going to be? But if you see this, if it's well lit, if you understand what the implications of what he's talking about, then everything makes sense. Everything's lit up. Some of you are kind of clumsy. So periodically, you bump into things in a well-lit room.
Most of the time, you don't. But if you have to walk through a room in the dark, one of the things that happens at my house is I will be getting ready for bed, Anna will be in bed, I'll cut the light off and I'll have to walk around our bed. And I think probably 40% of the time, I hit something on the way. And I don't hit things gently. It's not like I'm tiptoeing through this room. You'd think I would learn by now.
But there are times where I hit the bed and the whole thing slams against the wall and shakes. And she's like, what's wrong with you? And I was like, well, who hid a bed in here? And Jesus is saying, you're going to walk around in the dark. You're going to make terrible decisions. Decisions you wouldn't make if you saw this clearly, you're going to look like a fool.
My family used to play a game called Blind Man's Bluff. We'd take one of my dad's dress socks, clean one, and tie it around our face like a blindfold. And then we would all be in one room on the carpet and then there was like linoleum or whatever. And the game was, whoever had the blindfold had to get everybody else out. Starts off fairly simple because the room's kind of small. You can't see.
They can. And then you'd tag everybody and get them out. And once you got everybody, game was over. Or once it got down to the last person they had won or something like that. For years, when it was my mom's turn, my dad would let her tag him out first. He would get off to the side.
Then he would signal to his three sons to join him quietly. And then we would all stand and watch as my mom jumped around in the room trying to tag people who didn't exist. And my dad would go, right behind you. And she would like jump backwards and he'd go, oh, you just missed him. And then eventually, he would send us all back out there to get tagged so that she didn't know this had happened. She listens to the sermon periodically.
This may be the moment she finds out. I'm not sure we ever told her. Everybody in the room saw clearly but her and knew exactly what was going on. That was the point of the joke. She looked kind of foolish. We got to enjoy it.
Jesus says, this one isn't funny. You look foolish and no one's going to be laughing. You're missing it if you don't see this clearly. You're in utter darkness and how great is that darkness. And American Christians, we've bought it. We've bought it.
We are supremely good, maybe above all else, all the other churches in the world at laying up earthly treasures. And Jesus says, it's going to work here and it's going to be gone. And we need to live our lives for heavenly ones. Let's keep reading. No one can serve two masters. This is verse 24.
No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. What you do on earth will have two places that it terminates. You will either live a life on earth where all of your work, your energy, everything that you do terminates, ends on earth. Or, your life on earth will terminate and end never because it's sent forward into eternity. That's where he talks about being generous, being good, living your life with, I understand that eternity matters so I've got to make decisions in light of that.
I know all of y'all huge country music fans. Tim McGraw has a song called Live Like You Were Dying and people lost their mind when that song came out so that it got way, way overplayed. They should have played it on the radio like twice and we could have just moved on. They played it way too much. Jesus is saying, live like you weren't dying. Make decisions that only make sense in light of an eternity.
If I've died for you and rescued you and redeemed you and given you eternal life, start making investment decisions that last beyond 30, 40, 50, 80 years because you cannot serve both which is so helpful and so terrifying but it means that your decisions, your effort tomorrow, your life this week, your business decisions, your life goals and decisions for the next 10 years or 15 years or 20 years, they will either go towards earth or heaven. That's it. Pretty clean cut. The things you buy, the way you spend your time, how you interact with people will either go towards earth enjoyment or heaven enjoyment.
Will either go towards you believing that your treasure is here or you believing that your treasure is in eternity. And so that's why Jesus calls us to live lives as if we understand eternity exists. So this means that you should sacrifice. You should throw parties just to invite other people in, just to build friendships. You should spend the money you would have spent on something else to welcome people into your home and to build relationships. You should stay in the neighborhood you're in even though you have the opportunity to move to a nicer one so that you continue to build relationships with the people around you.
You should stay in the job you're in even though you have the opportunity to transfer and make more money because of the relationships you've built. You should say, Jesus, I'm sacrificing. I'm going to do this with my life so that I can see people come to know you. You should take a job in your field that involves serving people and connecting with people and working towards the good of others rather than your good, your benefit, your bottom line. You should get up early to pray. You should get up early to serve and give up some sleep.
You should give up time to help others study the Bible and learn how to study the Bible. There should be time where you give up your nice evening where you were going to enjoy yourself to go sit next to someone else and let them cry and you join them in crying and mourning and hurting when you didn't have to. You see, middle class Americans can insulate themselves for the world. We don't have to be around homeless people. We don't have to be around people that are hurting and broken. We don't have to be around people who are messy and make terrible decision after terrible decision after terrible decision and continually harm their lives.
We can be insulated from that and what Jesus is saying, no, uninsulate yourself for the sake of an eternal decision that makes way more sense. That's what he's calling us into. So, you'll either spend your life for earthly goods or heavenly ones. You'll spend your life for earthly gain or heavenly gain. what's the purpose of your savings account? What's the purpose of your job? What is the goal of your time?
What do you dream about and long for? If Jesus went back right now and over the past month answered everything you had prayed for and everything that in conversations you had said, I hope this happens. I wish this would work out. This is really what I'm shooting for. If he walks back right now over the past month, gathered all of that information and said, done. Let me ask you a question.
Would that go on into eternity or would it stop 50 years from now? Would all the things you're dreaming and hoping and longing for and begging Jesus to work on, are those going to be heavenly kingdom treasures? Are those going to be things that one day you'll stand in front of him and be excited that he answered and be so proud and happy that you got to be a part of it? Or is it going to be one day when you walk in front of him and you realize that everything you've built up and everything that you've piled around you and everything that you've lived your life and energy and sweat and tears and heart and longed for is going to be gone?
What are we serving? Is it going to be eaten, stolen, and rusty? Or is it going to enter into the kingdom where the heavenly king reigns and everything stays forever? Okay. So Jesus says this, you can't serve God and money and immediately he knows our response.
And so he goes from, I think, being really kind of intense to being really gracious and pastoral. You can't serve God and money and what we want to say is, okay, even if I hypothetically agree with you, quit my job? Because if I go to work, serving money, right? Quit my job? Don't feed my kids? Starve and be naked.
It's the rebuttal, right? 25. Therefore, I tell you, so because of all this, because you can't serve God and money, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not more of more value than they? Of which of you being anxious can add a single hour to a span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon, that was the great king in Israel's past, in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, he will not much more clothe you, O you of little faith.
So our response is, I would die, I would starve, I would be naked, and he says, no. If you're living your life for serving God, how much more is he going to take care of you? Is he going to provide for you? And then he takes two things that are so easy to see. He says, look at flowers. You ever just been caught up looking at flowers?
You're just walking along and seeing a bunch of flowers are in a field and it's like you almost wrecked your car because for some reason this entire field just turned yellow and you're just like, wow. Places that are well manicured, you're just like, this is so, like maybe my neighbor's yard, not my yard, but other people's yards where they have like flowers and stuff. It's so beautiful. He says, listen to the birds. It's about to be spring. We're about to get to see flowers and birds and here's what he says.
God's paying attention to each one of those, clothing them and feeding them. You'll be fine. Now, I wouldn't argue. We talk about this all the time. I would not say, everyone in here, quit your jobs. That's serving money.
What I would say to some of you, quit your job. You need to go do something else. Maybe you're supposed to go to the mission field. Maybe you're supposed to go to some hard to reach place, spend your life sweating and toiling and then eventually be beheaded and go meet the king. Living a life that only made sense in eternity. For many of you, I would say, don't quit your job but begin to serve God in your job.
Use your money to serve God and use your time at work to serve God because he's intentionally placed a missionary in a place where there are no other Christians. That most annoying co-worker of yours that drives you crazy, that is bitter and angry and hateful, yeah, Jesus put you there for them. To begin praying for them, to begin intentionally inviting them to things, to welcome them into your home, to share meals with them, to confide in them, let them confide in you, to love them and care for them so that they might come to know Christ. Why don't you start living your life in your job as if you believed eternity existed and mattered?
That's what he's going to say. Here's what I love about this illustration because it's so simple that he gives us. He says, consider the birds, consider the flowers, how much more value do you have than them? I grew up watching some Batman movies and cartoons and stuff. Here's one of the things that would happen often in Batman movies or cartoons. Batman would find the Joker or any other criminal villain but we're going to go with Joker.
This was back when Batman used to talk like a normal kind of, maybe intense person but like a normal person before Batman talked like this all the time. So that, you know, he can't be Bruce Wayne normally because he's so hoarse from yelling at criminals. This was a normal Batman where he would just like talk like he cared about justice. That Batman. And he would come to the point with Joker and Joker would have Robin, the boy wonder and he'd have him like dangling over a pit with sharks or something and then he would have like whatever girl Batman tended to be interested in or Commissioner Gordon hanging over here and he would basically pitch it as like you can only save one of them.
And so here's what's happening in this scenario. Batman comes to meet the Joker and the Joker says, welcome Batman. I'm so happy you're here. I'm going to do an impression the whole time. I don't even know this sounds like a Joker. I'm doing it.
I'm so glad you're here. You can only save your friend Robin, the boy wonder. I see dangles over this pit filled with sharks. Ha ha ha ha ha. Or you can save, you won't have enough time, this beautiful bouquet of lilies dangling over this pit of acid. Which will you save?
And Batman's like, wait, Robin or lilies? Beautiful perennials. Yeah, I'm just going to, can I just start walking towards Robin? You can press the button whenever you want to. What about the lilies? Yep, put them in the lava.
Acid, sure, don't care. Lilies, we will make more. That's what Jesus just said. He said, no one even hesitates on this. You were birds. You.
You were flowers. You. God's taking care of flowers. He's taking care of birds. You. He's not going to leave you hanging.
And, here's the beautiful promise that we have in scripture. That in the moments when the world would gather around and say, yeah, they went on that mission trip and they were killed. They went to that mission field and they were beheaded. Didn't God leave them hanging? The Bible's going to step in and say, no, he did them a great honor. They got so much more eternal treasure in that moment than I may ever get in my entire life.
God said, you're going to live your life for me. You're going to spend your time for me, your money for me. Have I got great reward for you? This is going to be a train wreck here. Oh, but it's going to be so beautiful. You're going to see such glory and such honor and such magnitude of reward that your father has been watching and caring for you.
Your parents aren't going to understand, your friends aren't going to understand. This is going to make no sense here. But let me tell you something. Second grade's really short. There's so much more to come. And then he promises in that, I'm going to provide.
You'll eat. You'll wear pants. He does not promise jet skis. But he promises rewards so far beyond we could imagine. See, one of the things he talks about is we get heathered treasure or money bags that don't grow old. I think one of the reasons the Bible isn't really clear on the treasure is because we wouldn't understand it.
We don't understand the value of the eternal treasure. We don't have a concept for it. So what he just says is it's going to be better. He's asking us to trust him. And here's the thing that Jesus came to do for us. He came because he really believes this.
That's why he lived his life sold out for one purpose, for the kingdom, for the glory of God, for his name. That's why he went to a cross to die at a very young age to rescue and redeem us because he understands the trade was worth it. That's why Hebrews said that for the joy set before him he endured the cross because he's invited us into an eternal kingdom. That's what he's come. He put his money where his mouth is. He believes this and through the cross we can have an eternal life.
We can be brought to him. Verse 31 Therefore do not be anxious saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for the Gentiles seek after all these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them. For many of you in the room maybe that is your primary anxiety and concern. I don't know how I'm going to pay my bills. I don't know how I'm going to feed myself. I don't know how I'm going to feed my kids.
And the promise here is so beautiful. Trust him. You worry about his kingdom. You worry about people needing to know him and he'll take care of you. But for most of us as Americans our anxiety when it comes to money and clothes and food is not am I going to starve and am I going to be naked?
No, it has way more to do with brand names and am I going to look good? So he says the Gentiles are chasing after all these things. This is what they worry about. See it used to be there was a guy who lived in your town and he cobbled shoes. He was a cobbler. And he would make basically the amount of shoes for feet that were in the town.
You might own two pairs of shoes dress pair like your Sunday pair and your regular other pair and then most of the time you didn't wear shoes because they just couldn't. When they made robots that make shoes and we got you know production lines in gear they have to sell us way more shoes than we have feet so that's where advertisement comes in. They've got to sell you not just you need shoes. Have you seen advertisements that are like you need shoes? No. They sell you on an identity.
They sell you on value system. This is the difference between Hanes and Abercrombie. Hanes is selling you a shirt. That's why they tell you stuff like it doesn't have a tag it'll stay tucked in. Why? Because it's just a white t-shirt.
They've got to sell you on the shirt. Abercrombie sells clothes but they're not selling you on the shirt they're selling you on style. If you see an Abercrombie a bag at the mall the guy on the bag doesn't have a shirt on. Buy our shirts and you cannot wear a shirt and be cool like this guy. And I see that and I'm like I want to be cool like that guy. Maybe if I buy a shirt I can have abs.
Like that's it's a trick. I won't get abs and I'll look weird in the shirt. That's why I bought Hanes Stay Tuck shirts. Like that's that's the ad pitch that's working on me. But we're being sold.
We're worried about all these other things. And here's the thing. It's not going to matter. Jesus is stepping in saying let me explain something to you. Browning Glock LuLaRoe all the cool things you saw on Pinterest Ford not going to make it. They're not going to make it.
There is going to be stuff that does none of those are. And I know some of y'all thought LuLaRoe's going to make it. Not going to make it. We're being sold a lot. And we're going to spend our lives chasing after things that are going to matter for a year two years three years four years Apple not making it. Some of y'all like Android might not not going to make it.
I know the texting thing is cooler not coming. 33 seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Remember all these things are food and clothing. Care about his kingdom his righteousness care about people meeting Jesus care about God's holiness on earth care about people being fed and his justice and care about him at work and everything else will take care of itself. That's the promise. And as much as he can he's trying to make eye contact with us.
He's trying to say do you see this? Do you hear me? Eventually this is all that's going to matter. And he proves it when he goes to the cross to redeem us and to buy for us in eternity by trading in his life. And he calls us to the same. To live our life for his kingdom and his glory and his name because that's ultimately all that's going to matter.
There's a poem by C.T. Studd who was a missionary who spent his life in Africa and China. The refrain in it is only life only one life which will soon be passed only what's done for Christ will last. Only one life which will soon be passed only what's done for Christ will last. Verse 34 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Worry about his kingdom worry about his glory and don't worry about anything else. He'll provide he'll care he'll tend there is no choice for him it's a no brainer when it comes to flowers and birds and us. He's got you. The band's going to come back up here and here's the question for us all your life right now if your goals came true if your hopes and dreams everything you've been talking about everything you've been laying in bed thinking about everything you daydream about if it all came true is it done in 50 years? Do you have a really nice comfortable retirement? And that's it?
Do you drive really nice cars your whole life? And that's it? That was the trade you made? Some of us are sitting down right now at the face tattoo station and Jesus is saying get up stop this is silly you see he's you could take everything all the cool stuff you saw on Pinterest all the ways to trick out a bathroom you learned about from HGTV the house the jet skis the cars the status the title the manager position the master's degree you could take it all and pile it up they could lay out before you everything you would ever achieve or earn in your life that would be put in your obituary that people would read and say he's accomplished so much and you could pile it up and if it wasn't done for Christ it's going to be gone and Jesus is walking out from behind the curtain and he sees your life and he sees every ounce of potential you have and every bit of work you'll ever put forth and all the amount of intelligence and effort and time you've got on earth and he looks at you and he looks at that pile of stuff and he says take what's behind the curtain so I suggest we start opening up our wallets we start opening up our homes we start opening up our time our schedule we start opening up our hearts to love people who are hard to love and we begin to live as if we realize one day this is done and there's an eternity to come with a high king who's worth it and reward that we can't even understand or fathom right now that'll make all the silly decisions we made right here so blatantly obvious and every time we invested in something that mattered so epically worth it let's pray God I ask that right now through your Holy Spirit you would change our hearts God we need you to reorient our hearts to value what matters don't let us fumble around in the dark but help us to see clearly your eternity that you bought for us through your blood and your sacrifice on the cross may we place faith in you for an eternal life and then may we live as if we actually believe that life is to come God I pray that our church will be filled with people making decisions that only make sense in light of eternity and I pray that you would give us through the power of your Holy Spirit faithfulness to stay there may we invest in heavenly treasure and laugh at everything else along the way in Jesus name we pray Amen because spices come to rise and HAR
Small Talk and God
Transcript
Well, all right, how we doing this morning? All right. Grab your Bibles, go to Matthew chapter 6. Maybe that'll wake you up. We're going to be in Matthew chapter 6. We've been walking through verse by verse through the Sermon on the Mount.
We're just spending a couple times, a couple, spending some time and several weeks in this section of text where Jesus is teaching his followers what it's going to look like for them to follow him, what it looks like to be his people. We spent last time we were together, we talked through a section where Jesus is basically saying not to practice your righteousness in front of other people, not to to pray or to give or to be generous or to serve for the purpose of having other people see you and think, wow, look at how they pray, give and serve like to not have people look at you and think, what a wonderful person. And he says, if you do that, if that's your purpose, if that's your goal, if you stand up and pray and you pray so eloquently that it was like you poured honey in everyone's ears and it was so beautiful and they thought, man, I'll never be able to pray like that. What he says is, if that was your goal, goal accomplished, everyone thinks you're great at praying.
They can listen to it. I'm not going to. That's basically what he's saying. If your goal is to serve in a way that shows everyone how well you serve and how, how sacrificial you are and how generous you are. And that was your goal was so that everyone could see how great you are. You did it.
Well done. Everyone saw how great you were. Everyone saw how sacrificial you are. It doesn't actually count. Like I'm not rewarding that. And so he says to do all of these things in secret.
And then he rewards them. And in the middle of that section, he says, here's how you ought to pray. And so we just kind of moved past it last time. We're actually focusing in on it today. And we're just going to talk about how do we pray? How basically he's going to talk about what makes prayer effective and how do we do it?
Like, what do we say? And those are the two things we'll spend our time looking at today. So let's before we talk about prayer, let's pray. It just feels right. So let's do that.
Lord, we pray that you'd bless this time we have this morning, that you'd help us to grow in what it means to pray, understanding prayer, and that this would be a people that prays, that we would be a church that prays for your kingdom and your glory in this city. In Jesus' name, amen. So let's pick up in verse 5. We're going to look at Jesus is saying, don't do this, but do this. And we're going to kind of see what he's hinting at here, what he's teaching us here. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.
Now, a hypocrite is someone who pretends to be something on the outside, but is actually something different on the inside. So he says, don't be like them, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. So that's what we were just talking about. He's saying if your point of your prayer is to be seen, well done, you did it. That's all you get, though.
So, verse 6. But you, when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And so as he begins, he's basically saying prayer is about you and God. Prayer is about you and the Father. That's it.
So that's why he says go into your room, close the door, pray in secret. The point of prayer is for you to communicate, speak to, relate to God. That essentially prayer is a conversation with God. It's listening to him and talking to him. That's what prayer is. Now for some of us, when you hear that, that prayer is a conversation, maybe you get a little uncomfortable.
I know that we have, increasingly I've had people tell me they have social anxiety. I think it's just because we've labeled something, people now know what to call it. What they mean is when they get around people, they get uncomfortable. And there's a lot of people I know that just like having small talk is very awkward and difficult. I'm not the best at it. I do have this in my favor.
I don't feel uncomfortable when things get uncomfortable. So I've been in conversations and thought, oh, this has gotten awkward. But there's part of me that just kind of enjoys that. I just look around at the people who are like really struggling with the fact. So it makes me not the best person to have small talk with because you may be sweating bullets and feeling terrible.
And I'm like, this is interesting. Like this just, sorry, that happens. But I do know there are a couple of things I've worked on to try to be better at talking to people. Because when we started a church, one of the things you do as a pastor is you have to talk to people. And I wasn't the best at it. So I've worked on a few things.
And I can tell you a few things I've worked on. One of the things I was told, I was told that it's better in a conversation to be interested rather than to be interesting. And so they just said, just ask questions. So I do this. And I remember I met one of the guys who's in our community group now. I met him when we were working at Sears together.
And after we'd been talking for a little while, he goes, dude, are you like in school to be a cop or something? And I was like, well, why? And he goes, you just asked me 20 questions in a row. Like that's enough. And I was like, oh. This guy named Quincy brought one of his friends to our community group a couple weeks ago.
And I was talking to him. And legitimately he looked at me and said, okay, that's too many questions. I'm done. Stop asking me questions. And I was like, I'm overdoing this, I guess. But what I thought was being interested has turned into an interrogation.
And this is also part of the problem that I have is that this is my listening face. So if you're talking to me and I'm interested in what you have to say, this is how I'm going to be looking. And if it gets more interesting, there's a good chance, like if we're at a table or something, I may just start leaning in. So I've been in conversations with people where they start getting uncomfortable because they think I'm disagreeing or I'm upset by what they're saying. And with just cause, did y'all just see my face? And so they start being like, well, maybe, maybe it's not quite that.
And like, like you start trying to retract some of what they're saying. And when they do that, I get more interested in like, what are they, what are they talking about now? And so there's times where people get uncomfortable and I do this. And I start looking at them like, what, what, why did you stop talking? What are you, you know? And then I realized, oh, I look like a crazy person.
And so I've tried to work on this, but it makes it worse. I'll go. Raise my eyebrow, smile a little bit. And I do that some of the people who know I'm working on this. So they'll be talking to me and I'm going, and they're gonna do this worse.
You really got to quit that. But for some of us, when you hear, uh, it's a conversation immediately, you go, oh, I'm terrible at conversations. Like I, I don't know how to carry on a conversation. And it feels like if prayer is a conversation that makes it even more difficult. I'd love for prayer to be something that I, I recite. I'd love for prayer to be something that I memorize.
When Jesus says, this is the model prayer. And he says, this is how you ought to pray. I'd much rather just memorize that and say it. But no, what he's saying is it's a conversation. It's you talking to God, but he's going to give us some help there. So he says in verse seven, when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do.
Gentiles were non-Jewish people. Um, so that'd have been the Greeks or Romans that were around them for, they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him. So the two things that Jesus is going to help us with today, it's going to tell us what makes prayer effective, what actually makes it work. And then how do we do it? And in this section right here in verse seven and eight, he's answering what makes it effective because that's the, that's the thing he's addressing.
He says, the Gentiles think that they'll be heard for their many phrases. I think they'll be heard because they talk so much because of their presentation. And I think that's what some of us think that if I'm going to have to talk to God, my presentation has to be good. I have to say the right words and in the right way. And I have to kind of know how to pray. And sometimes you'll hear someone else pray and you'll think, well, that's how you're supposed to pray.
I can't do any of that because we begin to believe that it's how we present it, what we say, the words we use, the phrases we use. And that's what he's saying. He's saying that Gentiles think this is how you have to do it in order to be heard. And their tactic, their method was to just say things over and over again. And he's saying it's not that. It's not your presentation.
Because imagine if you got to go in front of Congress to lobby for something or to make an argument for something, something you deeply care about. We would be very concerned with our presentation. What do we look like? What are we saying? What are we asking for? Are we going to have charts?
Are we going to use PowerPoint? Are we going to have some sort of well-crafted argument? And he's saying that there's a temptation for people to believe that when I pray, I have to present it well. I have to pray correctly. And he just says, no, that's not what makes it effective. And he tells us in 8 what makes it effective.
Do not be like them. For your father knows what you need before you ask him. And then he says, pray like this. So he says, what makes it effective is not your presentation. What makes it effective is that God is your father. That he knows you.
He knows what you need. He's intimately related to you. He cares about you. He's paying attention to you. That image of a father is a beautiful imagery. I recently became a dad.
We celebrated my son's two-year birthday. Two-year-old birthday. His second birthday. There we go. We celebrated his second birthday. I don't know.
St. Patrick's Day. Two days ago. And being a dad, I get this picture a little more now. And I understand what he's saying. And he's like, I am supremely interested in my son.
Like, if we're in a group of other children and I hear them, like one of them crying. I'll go, oh, is that? And I'll look. And if it's not my kid, I suddenly don't care anymore. It's like, not mine. Doing great.
Rock and roll. Like, you get to where you can tell the difference between your kid crying. I've been in rooms with dads and we have a kid in the other room. And they'll go, whose is that? And I'll be like, no, it's not mine. That's not what he cries like.
That you get, you care. I have never been that interested in children. They come over and tell you stuff. And I'm just like, uh-huh, that's great. Yeah, mm-hmm, all right. But my son, when he wants to tell me something, like I sit on the floor and just listen to him babble.
He doesn't even know how to use words right yet. And I think everything he says is really interesting. It's not even English. He's learning a little bit. We did ask him the other day how old he was. And he said, come on.
I don't know. And I was like, I am so proud of you. Most parents would be proud if you knew how old you were. I'm proud of this answer right here. But I'm very, like, and that's what he's saying.
God's saying, I'm your father. So with my son, I've held him until he fell asleep. I went and laid him in his crib. I've taken his shoes off so he'd sleep better. I've watched over him. I've disciplined him because I care about him.
One of the things that we talk a lot about, my wife and I, is like, how do we raise him? How do we care for him? How do we discipline him? One of the things that's implemented at our house is if he's throwing a fit, if he's crying, he doesn't get anything. Except for maybe spanked. Because we don't want to train him that the only way to be happy is to be miserable.
The only way to get what you want is to throw a fit first. So if he throws a fit, he doesn't get anything. I'll say, look, you're not getting anything from me like that. You better stop crying unless you want to get spanked. And he's beginning to learn crying and throwing a fit isn't the best way to be happy. It's a good way to get spanked.
But I've disciplined him because I care about him. I want him to be well adjusted and have joy. And when Jesus says, your father knows you, he knows what you need. He's interment related. He's saying the same thing. God's looking and saying, I've watched over you while you slept.
I've cleaned up your messes. I've disciplined you because I care about you. I've walked with you through life. And I'm interested in you and what you have to say. I'm interested in what's going on with you. And this promise is not fully realized or is only fully realized through the gospel.
You see, Jesus is talking to his disciples and he's saying, this is what my people are going to look like. And when he says, he's your father, Jesus actually purchases that right for us. For those who have placed faith in Christ, he purchases that right for us on the cross. I'm going to read a few sections. Galatians 4 says this. Ephesians 1 says this.
I'm going to read something from Romans 8. But it says, for all those who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into the fear. But you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs.
Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. He's saying that through Christ we've been adopted into the family that the Holy Spirit's come into us. And it's not that God is like our father. If you are a Christian, God is your father. That you've been adopted into the family. Later in Romans he says this.
For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. In order that he, that's Jesus, might be the firstborn among many brothers. That Jesus is the eldest brother in God's family. And that all those who place faith in him have been adopted and are children and heirs. When he says he's your father, he doesn't mean, here's an image. He's saying this is the reality.
For those who will follow me. For those who will belong to me. For those who are mine. When you pray, you're praying to your father. And he loves you. And he cares about you.
And he knows you. And that's what makes prayer effective. You don't have to do it well. You don't have to craft good arguments. You don't have to pray eloquently. One of the things I've noticed by having my son who doesn't, cannot articulate what he wants.
Is that I'm trying to figure it out. When he comes to me and says, I don't go, look at here boy, unless you learn to enunciate clearly, you will never get anything in this household. And then push him. I don't do that. I don't. I go, pat pat.
What the heck is a pat pat? I try to figure it out. And that's what he's saying. When you come to your father, you don't have to come to him with eloquence. Or the right words. Or a perfect formulated argument.
You don't have to flatter him or butter him up. You just get to come to him because he cares about you. That's what makes prayer effective. Is that God, if you are in Christ, has redeemed you, adopted you, has made you his own. And his love is for you and over you. And he is your father.
He's not like your father. He is your father. Prayer gets to be that when we speak to him. But then Jesus does help us with the second question, which is, okay, that's the tone. That's the attitude. That's the posture of the conversation.
But how? How do we actually pray? And I think when we're asking that question, what we really mean is what do we pray? So I remember being in middle school and asking my dad, how do you talk to girls? That was a legitimate question I had. Hey, like, how do you talk to them?
And I knew English, how to formulate sentences. What I really didn't mean was how. What I meant was what on earth do you talk to a girl about? How do you begin this? What are the topics? What do you say?
Like, what's the appropriate? How do you pray about? How do you pray about? Like, that's what I think Jesus is answering when he says, pray like this. I think he's answering us. What do you pray about?
What do we need to talk to God about? What are the things that should be on our prayer list? And so here's my hope. As we walk through this, we're going to kind of just go through and say, here's what he's talking about. And my hope is for us as Christians, not only that we would be praying, but that as we walk through this today, if you see anything and you think, oh, I don't ever pray about that. That you'd put it on like it would become a normal way for you to pray.
Normal topic for you to pray about. Because I think that's what he's helping us with here. So let's pick up in verse 9. Pray then like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. So remember, he's saying our Father.
To remember who you're speaking to, he's our Father, but he's also our Father in heaven. So he's vast and massive and glorious and good. And then he says, hallowed be your name. Some of you maybe have different translations. You may have translations you may have. May your name be honored as holy.
That's a good translation. We don't really use the name hallowed. But it means may you be above everything else. May you be honored, respected, revered, glorified. So when he says this, when you begin to pray, some of what we pray about needs to be just praising God for who he is, for his gloriousness, for his goodness.
And this isn't flattery. This isn't me in high school talking to one of the cafeteria workers and slightly flirting with her to try to get an extra cookie. That's not it. It's not when you talk to God, you've got to butter him up first with like, oh, God, you're so special. And then secretly bring out the thing you really want. No, this is the appropriate way that we would begin praying.
That we would acknowledge how good he is. And this is what we do naturally for all things that are good and massive and glorious. So, like, let's say you ran into, it's always been interesting to me, when people meet someone famous, they spend the first little bit usually telling the person who they are and why they're famous. You're Michael Jordan. You're the greatest basketball player who's ever lived. And Michael Jordan's thinking, I'm so glad you told me that because I did not know.
You're Aaron Rodgers. Like, you know, like we would just, you're Neff Campbell. Like, I don't know. You just be popping off with like, you tell them who they are. That's like one of the ways that we would react. The other thing that we do when we see something glorious, we were watching a sunset last night, hanging out with my family.
And we're talking and we would just all stop and be like, look at that. And then you say things like, it's so orange. And the person next to you goes, yeah. He's saying that's one of the ways we ought to begin praying is by coming to God and saying, God, you're glorious. You're honorable. You're beautiful.
You're loving. Not only does it, is it the appropriate response for us when we see someone so good and so glorious, but it also puts us in the right frame of mind to who we're speaking to and what we're talking about. I think the other thing that we need to see here when we say and begin praise with, hallowed be your name. May you be above all else. We're also praying, God, help me to love you more than I love money because I'm so tempted to think that it is above all else. Help me to love you more than I love romance and relationships because I'm so tempted to believe that they're above all else.
Help me to love you more than I love success and approval and having everyone clap and pat me on the back and tell me I'm great because I'm so tempted to believe that that's above everything else. God, may you be above everything else. So do we pray like that? Is that part of your normal praying to praise God, to glorify him? Verse 10. He says, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So God's kingdom and Matthew talks a lot about it or Jesus talks a lot about it in Matthew's gospel. God's kingdom is his rule and reign on earth. It's his righteous rule and reign on earth. And it's it's also the advance of the gospel. All of those who believe in him and faithfully follow him. That's his kingdom.
And it's it's his justice and his equity and his righteousness and his care for the poor. It's that's his kingdom as it moves forward. It's all the good things that come along with those who've been changed by the gospel and their work on earth. And so one of the ways we ought to be praying is that God's kingdom would advance. That's us praying for justice. That's us praying for fairness, for truth.
That people who commit crimes would be caught and convicted and people who did not commit crimes would would not be convicted. That that would be handled well. That we would we pray for God's right rule that people wouldn't take bribes. That that there would be fairness and equity and love. But it's also us praying that people would meet Jesus.
That for many of us and many of our friends and for the majority of the people in the city, they're facing a Christless eternity. That there will be a day when they stand before the king and all that will matter is that Jesus pay for your sin or are you going to. And that we would care and pray and say, God, this would be lists of names for us. God, be at work. Let your kingdom advance at my job in school. Let your kingdom advance over my neighborhood and begin asking specific people that God would save, that his kingdom would advance in.
I think when he says your will be done, I think we also have the freedom to any time we really have no clue what should happen or how something should work out. We just get to say, God, let your will be done. Let the way this should look in heaven look here. The way I should respond if I was a perfectly heavenly creature, let me respond that way. Empower me to do that. I think we also get to pray that his kingdom would advance in our hearts, that we would love truth and justice and honesty and all the good heavenly qualities of Jesus so they would be at work in us to change us.
So do you pray about those things? Is that a normal way for you to pray? Is that on your prayer list? If not, it should be. Because these are the things that Jesus is saying we ought to pray about. Verse 11.
Give us this day our daily bread. Um, this is just you get to pray for provision and normal daily stuff, small stuff that he would. This is where you get to say, God, I have a light bill. Could you help us pay that? I've got doctor's appointments coming up and I'm gonna have to be able to pay a copay or I've got insurance debt. Oh, that we just begin to pray for normal stuff.
Will you feed us? Will you care for us? I also want to point out that this is a daily prayer. He says, will you give us this day our daily bread? Meaning that he assumes you'll be praying to God daily and about these things on a very regular daily basis. Um, all the things that he's given us here.
This is normal stuff. I've heard some people before. For some of us it seems like there are some people in this room who maybe never pray prayers in this category. I've had someone tell me before, like, their shoulder was hurting and I was like, well, I'll pray about that. And they said, no, don't bother God with trivial stuff. And it's like, first of all, he's outside of time.
So he's okay. Like, he, he's good. He's not busy. He can handle it. Second of all, he's your father and he cares about you. So he cares that your shoulders hurt.
He may not fix it, but we can pray about it. Like, we, you can pray about all the normal stuff. For a lot of us in this room, this may be the only stuff you pray about. That it's only, uh, stuff that's coming up, stuff that's on your schedule, stuff that's going on. And that's, that's good. We ought to pray about that.
We ought to pray about our bills. We ought to pray about our life situations. We ought to pray about the things we need. He says he knows what you need. Go ahead and ask him. He cares.
But that shouldn't be all that we pray about. But this is the area where we would be praying about paying bills, getting a job, got a test coming up. I remember when I was in school, I always prayed, Lord, help me remember everything I studied and help me guess well. That was my test prayer. Everything I actually studied, let me remember that so that I didn't waste that time. And also, let me just, just work some, some of your grace on this test.
But that's, we get to pray about those things. The last, the last section we're going to look at here, it kind of shifts, I think. But still things that we ought to be praying about regularly. So he says, and forgive us our debts. This is verse 12. And forgive us our debts as we also forgive, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. I think we're familiar with the term debt. It means that we owe something. So some of us have school debt or credit card debt or house debt or car debt or debt, debt, debt, debt. And when he says this, he's talking about not just, not financial debt, but actually a sin debt. So that's why some versions will say, forgive us our sins or forgive us our trespasses, where we've stepped over the line, where we've missed the Mark, where we've harmed someone or we've sinned against you or others.
And he says, forgive us as we've forgiven those who've sinned against us, meaning that when we sin, we have debt with God and debt with others. So that there's a human debt from sin and a debt with God, a cosmic, eternal debt of sin. And so he says it's a normal daily thing for his followers who are speaking to the father to repent of sin, to ask for forgiveness. And here's what I want us to see here. This is actually a beautiful invitation into some freedom and joy and grace that I don't want us to miss out on. So I've heard some people before say that when you become a Christian, Jesus pays for all of your sin, past, present and future.
And that is true. All of your sin is covered, that you stand clothed in righteousness because of Christ. And so then they'll follow that up with, so Christians don't actually have to repent anymore. They don't have to acknowledge their sin anymore. It's already paid for. So you should not ever be as a Christian.
Just don't worry about it. Go, you're free. And I've also heard people say, no, you've got to repent of everything. And you've got to think about it and you've really got to figure out what it was. And you've got to know exactly. And you've got to take that to God.
And if there's anything going on, you better repent, repent, repent, repent. And really what Jesus is saying is that, first of all, can I just point out? Jesus, who's training his followers what it looks like to be his people, goes ahead and assumes they're going to daily have some things to repent about. Now, if Mill City Church doesn't say amen about anything, I think we say amen about that. We're going to have some stuff to repent about. There's going to be some things that we mess up, that we fail in, that we hurt each other and hurt God and rebel.
Like he just assumes. He's talking to his disciples, the 12 guys who he's training. He says, look, guys, when y'all talk to God, go ahead and know you've got some stuff to talk about. That's so freeing to me. And what he's saying is you're invited to have your debt forgiven. That you ought to acknowledge your sin on a regular basis and repent.
But that repentance is a celebration of the fact that my debt is paid. You get to go to him and say, forgive it. Forgive this debt. If there was going to be a place set up in downtown Columbia where all you had to do was show up and get debt forgiven, how long is that line? How long is that line? How amazing is that store or government program?
Where just your debt's wiped away. And that's what he's saying is you get to come to God and say, thank you. This is a celebration of the cross that Jesus paid our debt. And so we get to ask for forgiveness. So if you're a Christian, it should be a normal thing for you to repent.
For you to acknowledge sin where you've sinned against people in your community group or people in your family. And you repent. You go to God and say, forgive me. Wipe this debt clean. And you go to them and talk to them about it and ask for and repent there as well. So it's a good mixture of both.
We should acknowledge our sin. But when we acknowledge it, it's not grovelly fear based. It's celebration. Jesus, be at work in me. Continue to forgive me. Help me to walk in the forgiveness you've bought.
It's joy. He clarifies, though, because he says a statement here that I think he says, give us. No, sorry. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. So he either means kind of at the same time as we or in the same manner.
And so then in 14, I think he clarifies for us. So jump down to verse 14 because he's going to kind of answer what he was saying there. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. I think it's easy to not like those two verses, not because they're confusing, but because they aren't. What he said there was pretty clear.
Your forgiving of others is how you will be forgiven. If you forgive others, you're forgiven. If you don't forgive others, you're not forgiven. Now, Paul and Jesus later are going to flip this and say it as if you're truly forgiven, you will forgive. So Paul says we must forgive as we have been forgiven.
So he's saying that our action comes from the forgiveness we've received. Jesus here makes it sound like your forgiveness comes from how forgiving you are. Here's the thing. They're tied together. And here's why this matters immensely. And here's why this matters immensely.
If you genuinely understand the sin debt that was between you and God and the bridge that had to be, the chasm that had to be bridged by Christ on the cross and the amount of sin that was forgiven you, you are enabled to, by the gospel, forgive others. You're able to. You will. That's the way this is laid out in scripture, that you will forgive. So Jesus here says if you're not forgiving, you aren't forgiven.
If you don't forgive, you won't be forgiven. And here's one of the issues I think we have. When we say I'm a Christian, which means I believe that God has forgiven my debt. And then we look at someone and say, but I could never forgive them for what they've done to me. Because what they've done is real. Actually harmful.
Actually damaging. And you say I could never forgive them. Here's what you have articulated. I am bigger, more glorious, and any crime committed against me is more heinous than crimes committed against God. And that is not true. And that is not the gospel.
Our sin debt committed against God is so heinous, wicked, despicable because he is so glorious and so good that once he forgives that, we're able to forgive everyone else. I do want to help us out here. Forgiveness does not mean that you feel good inside or that it is not difficult. I have people say to me before, it's like I want to forgive him and I choose to forgive him, but I'm still angry or I still hurt and I'm still trying to process this and I'm still. And it's like, yeah, our model for forgiveness is a cross. It is not easy or comfortable.
Jesus chose to go to the cross in order to forgive us and we choose to forgive because we believe that he did that for us. And so Jesus is saying that as we forgive, it may be a process, it may be painful, it may hurt. We're choosing to absorb the pain ourselves rather than put it on them. So Jesus says, as we pray, repent and acknowledge our need to forgive others. Verse 13. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So he says, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sinned against us or forgive us our debts as we've forgiven our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So lead us not into temptation. The Bible kind of lays out that we have three enemies. The flesh, the world, and the devil.
That we actually are your own worst enemy in some ways. You've lied to yourself more. You've tricked yourself more. You've harmed yourself more than anyone else has. That you actively choose to rebel against God. That you're at war with yourself.
So that's the flesh. The world is that the systems that exist around us that help us sin, that help us rebel. Well, so maybe you have a hard time controlling your eating habits. And you're battling yourself. But then, you know, snowballs just opened back up.
And they've opened one on every corner. Krispy Kreme exists. And so do buffets. And it's like it's just so difficult. Maybe you have lust issues. That you struggle with pornography and lust in every television show ever.
That's one of their goals. And they've made the internet have free, accessible pornography. That's our flesh and the world. That temptation exists around us. And then the Bible says that we actually have a real spiritual enemy. The same way that we have a real spiritual God and a real spiritual savior.
Who joined us in humanity and died on our behalf. That there are spiritual beings and we have a real enemy. That is actively waging war to keep us from Christ and to send us to hell. We have three enemies. Jesus says it's normal daily for Christians to pray about all three. The flesh, the world, the devil.
That we would pray, forgive me of my sin. Keep me from temptation. And deliver us from evil. There's some translations that will even say the evil one. Being as explicit as possible. So deliver me from temptation means we get to pray.
God, these are the things I struggle with. Help them not show up. Keep me far from them. When temptation comes, help me get away. It's not a sin to be tempted. It's a sin to sin.
Jesus was tempted. When Satan came to him and gave him temptations to sin. They were actually tempting. That's what a temptation is. It's not just a band. It's something that tempts you to sin.
So when Satan looked at Jesus and said, I'll let you be king of everything without a cross. I'll let you go straight to a throne without a cross. That was actually tempting. But Jesus resisted. He was delivered from temptation. This also can be basically us praying.
So if you have a little kid and you're walking through a store, you may intentionally skip an aisle. Because you just don't want to have to argue with them about they're not getting the things on that aisle. This is saying, hey, God, drive the cart far away from the aisle. Or if you're southern, keep my buggy out of that aisle. Whichever you'd rather say. But that's the prayer.
Keep me from temptation. And then deliver me from evil. That we as Christians would actively be aware that we don't just wage war against the flesh. But that we have an enemy that we can't see. And that we should be praying that his works and efforts would be thwarted. And that God would keep us far from him.
Keep him far from us. And that we would be delivered. It seems to me that people often will pray, maybe one or two of those, that maybe you're one of the people that notices your own sin very clearly. And that when things happen, you are always very quick to say, I'm sinful. I'm to blame. Some people will more quickly notice that the world tricked you.
That your friends are tempting you. Or that the world is tempting you. So you'll pray about this. Other people may be more willing to acknowledge that Satan is at work and blame things on him. And Jesus says yes to all three. So pray about all three.
Don't just acknowledge your flesh. Don't just acknowledge your world and your terrible friends that try to tempt you. And don't just acknowledge that you have an enemy. Acknowledge and pray about all three. Okay. We have a good father who cares about us.
Who intimately knows us, loves us, and has adopted us into his family at the cost of his own son. That Christ came to pay for our sin and to bring us to the Father to open up a seat at the table for us. So we get to pray. Three practical points on prayer. Set aside time. Jesus says go into your room, close the door.
Do that. Some people say, well, I pray, you know, just small times throughout the day. Or I pray, you know, when I'm riding. I pray when I'm driving. Or I pray when I'm in the shower or something. And it's like that's great.
And I think we should be praying. But I also think he says have an intentional time where you get away from everything. You close the door and you pray. And so I would just say for us as a church as we're going to pray, make some time. We make time for the things we care about. Make time to pray.
To spend some time talking to the Father. Secondly, just talk. You get to speak to a Father that cares about you. It doesn't have to be fancy. It doesn't have to be well planned out. Just talk.
Just pray. Just speak. Converse. It can be really awkward. That's fine. He knows you're awkward.
This isn't a first date. He knows you. You're not tricking him. If you show up, if you went into this room and wrote out a beautiful, eloquent prayer and then came into this room, he just saw you. Just talk to him. You're okay.
It doesn't have to be pretty or special. Just pray. Talk to him about the things you care about. Talk to things about worrying you. Talk about nothing. Just tell him he's great for five minutes.
That's fine. That'll help you. Pray. Thirdly, to help you learn how to pray and what to pray about, I would encourage you to do two things. Open your Bible and read it as a conversation. So let's say we're reading through the Sermon on the Mount.
You're reading through it at home. You're in your room. You've intentionally set this time aside to pray. And you come across something where he says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. You may need to stop right there and say, God, I don't believe that. And I have such a hard time being meek.
The only times I felt like I inherited anything, I fought for it. And I have such a hard time believing that. Help me to believe that. Help me to understand that. Treat it like a conversation. When you hit something, you realize you need to repent.
When you hit something, it's just like, God, that's so beautiful. Because I'm mourning right now. And you say you're going to comfort me. Thank you for being the God who comforts those who mourn. Just use it as a conversation to teach you how to pray. Secondly, you can pray Psalms or epistles.
So you can pray Psalms or there are sections in Paul's letters where he says, this is what I'm praying for you. So you can just steal. I'm going to pray that for my group for a week. I'm going to pray that we would all understand the height and depth and length and breadth of God's love for us. That's my prayer for us right now. So you can just pray sections of scripture.
The same way that a child learns how to speak by having someone else speak to them. There's a reason my son said, come on. He didn't get that, make it up on his own. He got that because that's what has been spoken to him. So have God speak to you.
Use the scriptures to teach you how to pray. I also just want to point out that at the back end of that prayer, there's a section where Jesus is basically saying it's normal for Christians to pray. Keep me. Protect me. Defend me. Keep me from sin.
Keep me from falling. Keep me from running. Keep me close to you. And that ought to be a way that we pray. We praise God for his gloriousness. We pray for his kingdom to advance.
We talk to him about all the normal things going on. We acknowledge our sin. And then we say, God, keep me close to you. Keep me with you. Help me make it to the end. Band's going to come back up.
And we're going to sing. And praise God for his goodness. And celebrate that this is how we get to pray. Let's pray together. Father, you're glorious. You're holy.
And I pray that we would revere you and honor you and love you above all else. We ask, Lord, that your kingdom would come. That you would use our community groups to advance your kingdom on earth. That there would be more joy and more family and more love and more grace and more forgiveness and more justice and righteousness and equity. And more and more and more people who have been saved by the grace and the forgiveness that are found only in Christ. We pray that your kingdom would come through our community groups.
We pray that your kingdom would come in our community groups. That we would repent of sin. That we would acknowledge your holiness. That we would learn to obey. That we would learn to agree with your word and submit to it. We ask, Lord, that your will would be done.
In all the situations going on right now that we don't know how they should end up. We don't understand fully where you're at work. We can't even see beyond the next two steps in life. We pray that your will would be done. That it would look the way it ought to look. That it would look as if heaven for a moment touched the earth.
We ask that in your name. We pray, Lord, that you would provide for us. That you'd help us to pay bills. That you'd work in our health. That you would help us to do well in school and at work. That you'd help us to raise our children.
Or to grow up and to treat our parents well. We ask that you would daily take care of us. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to see our sin clearly. That we would repent often and celebrate in the grace and the joy that's offered to us. That repentance is a privilege that we have. That we don't carry debt because you paid for it.
And God, we ask that you would so free us up in the forgiveness and the payment of debt that you've given to us. That we would forgive everyone who sins against us. That those who've been holding on to bitterness would see your glorious grace for them. And that they would be empowered to forgive. God, keep us far from temptation. And keep us far from the enemy.
That his works would not be present here or active here. That we would walk in the full conquering freedom of Christ the King. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Y'all stand listening.
Righteousness: Before God or Others?
Transcript
Good morning. So over the Christmas holidays, I had a little bit of downtime, and when I just kind of want to relax and chill, I'm a TV person. So I just decided I would pull up Netflix on my phone and just kind of start trying to find a TV show to watch, just something kind of mind-numbing. And my go-to is always comedies. So I'm an office person, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, for obvious reasons.
But I had caught wind of a particular show I used to watch with my dad. I caught wind that it was on Facebook, and so I was just kind of scrolling, on Netflix, and so I was just kind of scrolling through, trying to find it, trying to find it, and then there it was, The West Wing. I could tell by your, like, judgy smirks and laughter. Some of you don't share my excitement. For the two of you that do, you're welcome. West Wing's on Netflix.
But I did. I used to watch that show with my dad, and for some reason, I've always been interested in politics. I'm not a super political person, per se, but just politics in general has always kind of interested me. So, like, why do people run for the offices they run for? How do they kind of choose their platforms? How do they raise money?
How do they do all this stuff? And as you're looking at elections or even watching some of these TV shows, there's this perception, this theme that kind of runs through them about the question of kind of the motivation for why politicians are running. So, you look at politicians and you think to yourself, like, are they running? Like, are what we're seeing on the outside, so the speeches, the handshaking, the sacrifice, the service, like, is that coming from a genuine heart of American patriotism, or do they have other motivations? So, are they running for the good of the public or for the good of themselves?
Or maybe the more basic question is, what's their motivation? And I think the reason that politicians are such an easy target for this question is because of how public their platform is. There's something to having every aspect of your life kind of lived under the microscope or being in the spotlight, being visible to others, your life kind of being portrayed on the news that makes you begin to wonder about the motivation behind why people do the things that they do. And up until this point in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has been talking about what citizens in his kingdom should look like.
What should they look like? What should their perception be? How do they stand out from the culture around them? And Jesus has used language like, we should be light. So, in essence, it's going to be visible. And he's been talking about his followers being kind of held to a higher standard.
So, things that they would say would be, not just don't murder, don't hate or be angry. Not just don't commit adultery, don't even lust. Not just love your neighbor, but your enemy also. There's been a heart level theme to everything that Jesus has been talking about, not just the external. And we're going to see that continue today as Jesus begins to press in on what's our motivation behind the things that we do. Why do we do them?
And here's the deal. In this section, Jesus is going to lead off with kind of the main idea. And then he's going to give us three examples to illustrate it. And very rarely does Jesus do this in his teaching or in his parables. And I think the reason that he does it is to give the main idea and to show how all the other three things that he's going to talk about next are connected to it. The three things he's going to use as an example are giving, praying, and fasting.
These are three actions that devout Jews, faithful Jews would have already been doing. But Jesus is going to go deeper than just the action. He's actually going to take the emphasis off of that and begin to ask the question, what's the motivation? Is it genuine, heart level love for God, following God, or is it something else? And so what we're going to see is that Jesus actually cares as much about our reasons, our motivation for doing things, as he does about the actions themselves. So I'm going to pray for us and then we'll hop into the text.
God, I'm thankful that your word is clear. I'm thankful that we have it so that we can learn and study and grow. God, what we're talking about today is difficult to see and we need your Holy Spirit to expose it in us so that we have the ability to respond appropriately. God, this is your word. I pray that you would teach it this morning. Holy Spirit, I pray that you would fill me and speak through me.
In Jesus' name, amen. All right, grab a Bible. If you don't have a Bible, just grab one of the white ones that we have in the seats and go to page 473. We're going to be in Matthew chapter 6 today, beginning in verse 1. I will say this. If you don't have a Bible, take this one with you.
We want everyone to have a Bible. So just take it with you when you go. And again, the way Jesus begins is he starts off with the main point. So really, we could just throw the main point up on the screen and talk about it from there. And that's what Jesus does. He starts with what's the motivation.
So chapter 6, verse 1. It says this. Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. I'll read it again. Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.
For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. So once again, Jesus leads with the point. What's the motivation? He says, beware, be on your guard, fight against any urge or temptation to practice your righteousness in front of other people to be seen by them. And so when he says practice your righteousness, basically what Jesus is getting at is any action or activity that anyone would do in following God or as worship to God. So basically, anything that we have in the Bible is what Jesus is going after here.
And the three examples that he's going to use are praying, giving, and fasting. But he goes beyond just the action and he qualifies it. He says, doing righteous deeds is what people should do just to beware of doing it in front of people so that they'll take notice. Jesus understands that by nature, these actions at times are going to be done in front of people. In fact, Jesus, in the next section, he's going to pray in front of people. His point is this.
You're going to do these things in front of other people. He just says, don't do them just to be seen. That's not the point. Jesus says, be on your watch that any action that you're doing to ultimately bring glory to God, or that's an act of worship or an act of obedience or following him, isn't done so that other people will see it. Because if that's the case, the way he ends the verse is, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. And here's why I think it's so important that Jesus leads with this idea, both for his original hearers and for us today.
For most of us, we're unaware that this is even happening, much less a problem. It's just kind of sneaky. For most of us, you don't walk around questioning your motivation for why you do the things you do all the time. We just don't. That's not natural for us. For the most part, when we're doing good things, or even like when we're doing something specifically that the Bible tells us to do, we don't question our motivation because we're just trying to be obedient.
Like we're just trying to follow and do what the Bible says, but Jesus is pointing out that there's a danger when we're following him, when we're trying to be obedient, that we'll begin to slip into thinking more about what other people think about it than we do the original intention of the action to begin with. And it's sneaky. Again, we don't question our motivation all the time. And so what he's basically getting them to do is look at these three examples and ask, am I doing this because I genuinely appreciate love, want to follow God, or is it something else? Or is it so that other people will notice?
And again, he's assuming that they're already going to be doing these actions. He's just saying, check your motivations. So verse 2 is where we get our first example. Pick it up there. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Notice that he says, when you give to the needy, not if you give to the needy. Remember, Jesus is already assuming that people would be doing these things. He's just beginning to question their motivation. He's taking the emphasis off of the action itself and going more towards the motivation.
The Bible's clear in teaching that Christians should be generous. We should give. We should specifically look for people who are in need and try to meet those needs. The Bible tells us that basically everything we have has been given to us by God and it belongs to him and we're just his money managers. The part of the way we know the gospel has actually begun to affect our hearts is if it has begun to affect our wallets. But again, here, Jesus is putting the emphasis on their motivation rather than the action.
You see, giving to the needy in Jesus' day would have been a fairly public action. So whether you were going to the temple itself or going to a synagogue, there would be an alms box placed in kind of a public location and you would go and you would take your offering and you would put it in that box. In fact, in Mark 12, we see Jesus and his disciples, they're sitting in the temple watching people give when a widow walks up and she gives a very small amount but Jesus praises her because she didn't have very much but she gave out of her poverty. She gave all that she had. So it was this public thing.
And I had the opportunity to go to Cleveland, Ohio last year on a mission trip and that Sunday morning that we were there, we got the chance to worship with another church and it was kind of a charismatic church. I mean, the music was awesome. The preaching was awesome. It was just an awesome time. Like, I mean, people dancing, clapping. I mean, I was in it.
And the way the service ended was that they got everybody back up and we started singing. And everybody's dancing, they're kind of clapping. And I mean, I'm loving it, okay? But as I'm dancing and singing, I start to notice that people are leaving. But it's not like everyone's mass leaving.
It's just kind of like by rows almost. And I turn and look over my shoulder and the one exit to the room, there are ushers on either side with buckets and they're getting it too. That was how that church did their offering. So the one door that everyone funneled through was the door that you gave. Ain't nobody forgetting their checkbook in that church. There was no like shimmy and bye or like I left my checkbook in the car because those ushers were like, just like closer and closer to you on the way out.
But I just, I thought that was crazy. We're, you know, we're a little more low key. We kind of put our box and our computer to the side and we just remind you about it. Nobody's in your face, giving you the old shoulder shimmy. But it was visible.
So giving in Jesus' day was visible. And even if you were just giving to somebody on the street who is needy, who is begging, someone who's in that position is going to go to the most high traffic area so that they can attract attention so that hopefully somebody will see them and give to them. It was a visible thing. And Jesus is not saying, never give money publicly. He's saying, don't let your motivation for giving be about the people who are watching. It's not about that.
He literally says in verse 2, and it's my favorite, he basically says, don't toot your own horn. Don't sound a trumpet before yourself as you go to give. It's not about the people who are watching. And Jesus does give us a picture of what faithful giving looks like. He says, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that it's in secret. And you guys understand that it's nearly impossible for your left hand to be doing something that your right hand doesn't know about.
Try it when you get home. You'll be amazed. Your brain controls both hands. So Jesus is using exaggeration. It's hyperbole. He's saying that the posture in us giving shouldn't be about who sees it.
Shouldn't be about who knows about it. Whether it's the mount or the person we give to or the situation. He's saying that our response as we give should be, our response should be responding to what Jesus has already done for us. It should be the gifts that we've already been given. That's our reason for giving. So, should we give?
Yes. And is it going to be public or visible sometimes? Yes. Jesus' point here is that when we give, it doesn't have to become a Facebook status where we put hashtag blessed to bless. He's saying that maybe if we're going to give, maybe we show up early before a gathering and put our money in the give box or use the computer so that nobody sees it. He's saying that if our neighbor has a need and they don't have gas money, that the next conversation at our community group isn't all about how we help this one person.
He's saying that our heart and our attitude needs to be in worship to Him. Not about the other people who know. And that's sneaky. Again, we don't question our motivations all the time. But I think if we would begin to, we would say, maybe they're not as righteous as they should be.
And he continues on in verse 5. And this is going to be a little bit bigger section. But this is the section on prayer. And as we get to the back half of it, you're going to see that it's going to be familiar to most of you. It's what's known as the Lord's Prayer. Next week, we are going to specifically teach through the Lord's Prayer.
So I want most of our attention to be spent on the first part. What is Jesus saying about the nature of us praying when it's going to be visible? Verse number 5. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them. For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
Pray then like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. So again, we're going to focus on the first little part of that. So my question becomes, does this prohibit all public prayer? Goodness, I hope not because like 15 minutes ago I just prayed in front of y'all and I don't want y'all analyzing the fact that I just prayed in public. That's not what He's getting at. It's obviously not the point because Jesus prays in front of people.
Right here in Jewish culture just to give us a little bit of a background what He's talking about. In Jewish culture there were specific times throughout the day that it was just known that people would stop and pray morning, midday, in the evening. And what He's saying is there were some people who would kind of go off by themselves and pray quietly, maybe not even out loud, maybe just whispering to themselves. but then there were others who would kind of go out into the more open areas and raise their voices and with eloquent speech begin their prayers so that others could hear them. His original hearers would have known exactly what He was talking about.
And what Jesus is saying is that there are those who love to stand and pray and let everyone hear their prayers so that the people around them start looking and going, dude, my elbow and the person beside him is praying. That's a prayer. You listen to this? Oh, what perfect theology. Did He just say propitiation? I don't even know what that means.
Do you know what that means? Jesus is saying there's a temptation when we're praying out loud to begin to think about what others around us are thinking. Like, are they taking notice? Do they, are they impressed by the words that I'm saying? He also says don't pile up empty words or phrases to impress others or for that matter to impress God. God's attentiveness to your prayer is not based off of how many theologians you can quote or how many sections of scripture you can recite or how long you can go without taking a breath.
That's, that's not the point. He says pray simply. If you look at the prayer that Jesus prays, it is a short, simple, direct, heartfelt, genuine prayer. He says, don't do it so that others can see it and don't heap up all these phrases and empty words. When I was in middle school and high school, they would have this event once a year. It's kind of across the nation.
It was called See You at the Pole. And so there's this one day of the year that all the Christians were supposed to, before school, you would go out to the flagpole and you would circle around the flagpole and you would pray. I've got concerns about the fact that we were around the flagpole and praying. But, anyways, so you would get out of your car and you would walk out there and everyone's already in a circle. You know, sometimes they were holding hands at which point I'm always scoping out for the cutest girl like, where do I, where do I break into the circle? Here.
I'm sorry, I need to hold your hand. And so you're in this circle and basically you're praying about all kinds of things. You're praying for your school, you're praying for your country, all kinds of different stuff. And the way it would work is you would kind of say a short prayer and if you didn't want to pray, you just squeeze the person's hand next to you. So, a couple sentence prayer, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, next person would pray. And we're all in a circle, everyone's heads are bowed and their eyes are closed and all of a sudden into the bright morning sky.
Father God, Father God, we thank you, Father God, for this day, Father God, because you are Father God, Father God. And like my head, like I just, immediately head shot up because I was like, who is this person? And they prayed for five minutes and all I can remember from middle school is that they said, Father God, 84,000 times. Now, I do not know what the heart level motivation was going on inside of the man that was praying that. What I do know is it looked like it was very showy, it was very loud, he said, Father God, to the point, I can't remember anything else that he prayed about and what Jesus is saying is that when our prayer begins to be more about the people who are watching or listening than it is about communication with God, we've messed up.
We've missed the point. And let me give us an example of kind of how this can show up in our lives, okay? So imagine, imagine you're hanging out with a group of Christians or you're hanging out with your community group and you're wrapping things up and someone looks at you and says, hey, will you pray to close us out? Sure. So you pray out loud as your group meeting times kind of come into a close.
No big deal. Well, the next week you show up, there's a period where you need to pray and someone looks at you and says, hey, hey, will you pray? You're really good at it. Okay, sure, I'll pray. And so you start praying but now the whole time you're inside your head. You're thinking, wait, I'm good at it.
What does that mean? Is that, okay, all right, so I'm praying. Then you're so inside your head that now every time when your group gets together and there's an opportunity to pray, you say, well, I'll pray because now you've, you know, you're the good prayer so you need to make sure that you're the one that's praying for your group or you're in a group setting and you're going around in a circle and everyone's praying and rather than praying alongside of the people who are around the circle, you're actually sitting there thinking, okay, what am I going to say when I pray? What are the words that I'm going to use?
I don't, you know, I don't want to mumble. No stumbling. It needs to be perfect. And that didn't even cross your mind weeks ago. It can slip in that easily and I think all of us have a little bit of apprehension when it comes to praying out loud in front of people because we go, I don't want to sound, I don't want to sound silly. I don't want to say something silly.
I don't want to sound like a third grader. But Jesus is saying that there are times when our prayers are going to be public. And if the point of our prayer is so that other people notice and pay attention, then basically, basically, Jesus is saying if it's for them, then good. They can listen to it because I'm not going to. It's missing the point of what prayer is supposed to be. So let me just give us a couple of questions to consider specifically about prayer.
Okay? Do you volunteer to pray when your group gets together because in your group you're kind of good at praying? Do you only pray when you're around people so that it seems like you've got a deep prayer life? So what I mean by that is like do you, when you're by yourself, you don't pray a whole lot but if there's a chance to pray in front of people, you're up for it. When people have situations going on, do you tell them that you'll be praying for them? And if you do that, do you actually go away and pray for them or did you just tell them that so that they thought you would do that?
When you have a good quiet time or devotion time, you've been reading your Bible and praying, do you take your phone out and take a picture of your Bible and your coffee cup and run it through that best Instagram filter and then put it online because you have, I mean, it's not about you. You just want people to know. And here's the deal. The reason it's so easy for me to ask these questions is because that's what God's been dealing with me for the last couple of weeks. Guilty. All those things.
All of them. And it can be so subtle that it sneaks in that rather than prayer being communication with God, it becomes about who's watching, who will take notice, what are other people thinking. So, God's been dealing with me about this. But Jesus does lay out what correct posture and prayer should look like. He says, go into your room, shut the door. Prayer is meant to be communion with the eternal God, so let's make it about that, not about what other people are thinking or hearing.
And here's the deal. There's a way to actually do that. There's a way to talk to God like that when you're in front of other people. It's just thinking, believing, realizing that it really is just you and He talking. And listen, that takes work. It takes work to not be thinking about what everyone else is thinking as you're praying.
Jesus says, we've got to begin to check our motivations and let prayer simply be the part of our relationship where we get to have communication. And then He moves on to the third example to kind of illustrate this point in verse 16. Pick it back up with me. It says this, And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret.
Okay, let me just say this. Of the three examples that Jesus gives, this is probably the one that is most foreign to us. And maybe we just don't emphasize it or talk about it as much as we do praying and giving. And so I want to take just a little bit of time to kind of camp out here and talk about it. We've actually never really talked about fasting at length in a sermon. So if you're a definition person or a note taker, here's kind of our working definition of fasting.
Fasting is abstaining from eating food for the purpose of pursuing God. Fasting is abstaining from eating food for the purpose of pursuing God. And even as I was preparing for this message, there are a lot of wonderful reasons why you should fast. But really the one that I find most compelling is that as your hunger begins to grow, the more easily you can see your own weakness and dependence on God. So in the same way that you get hungry or if you're like me, you get hangry, your body needs, craves food.
When you go without food for the purpose of pursuing God, it shows you how weak and frail and dependent you actually are. And in the same way that the body craves, needs food to survive and thrive, we need that kind of relationship with God to survive and thrive as well. And so when you look in the Bible at the times that people were fasting, they would fast to go along with their prayers. There were times where they fasted at different festivals or feasts. They would fast at times of repenting and mourning. And even as you move into the New Testament, you would see people fasting as personal devotion or they would fast before they were going to make big, wise decisions.
Jesus looks at his disciples in a situation. He's talking. He says, they're going to fast when I'm gone. So Jesus had the expectation that his followers were going to fast when he was gone. So fasting was and is a part of the New Testament church.
And part of what Jesus is trying to emphasize here, specifically in this situation, is that there were people when they would fast, he says, don't be like the hypocrites and look gloomy or disfigure your face. Sometimes when people would fast, they would put on what's called sackcloth. So just imagine like wearing a burlap shirt. Awful. Okay, so they would put on sackcloth and then sometimes they would put ashes on top of their heads as well as kind of like a sign of mourning. And basically what would happen is these people really weren't bathing during their time of fasting and I don't know if you all know this but the Middle East is kind of hot and so the ashes would kind of drip down over their faces and onto their sackcloth.
As well as kind of like a sign of mourning. And basically what would happen is these people really weren't bathing during their time of fasting and I don't know if you all know this but the Middle East is kind of hot and so the ashes would kind of drip down over their faces and onto their sackcloth. So when it says they disfigured their faces, it's not like if you were eating like a sour warhead
Or something like that. it's more like their appearance just they look disheveled and Jesus is saying that there were people who were fasting and they were going through this process so that people would see them as devout and holy so that they could get approval from other people just for their willingness to go without food and again Jesus says they've received their reward.
If that's the reason that they're fasting is just so that other people will see it then they've gotten their reward which is other people will take notice but Jesus keeps going and he says when you fast again not if you fast when you fast Jesus' expectation is that people would be fasting and this continues down through the New Testament to us today he just says wash your face
And anoint your head in other words it shouldn't be visible to other people by your appearance or by your words this is something that is between you and God when I was in high school I remember I got to class one day I sat down in my seat nobody was really in there yet just a couple of us I was early go figure and as I was sitting there there was a guy a couple of seats away and I'm just sitting there minding my own business I don't even remember
What I was doing but all of a sudden I hear oh man what's going on over here so obviously I took the bait and I just I just turned and said hey man you alright yeah oh man I'm just I'm super hungry okay and I'm I'm pretty sure I can't remember this I'm pretty sure we had just left lunch
So I just asked I was like dude did you did you not eat lunch he said nah nah man I didn't eat lunch just took the bait my next question why and he goes oh man you know me and some of the kids in my youth group you know we're fasting right now so you know we're not eating and man it's just it's just so tough and you know
I'm just I'm doing it I'm in I'm sold out I'm not going to give up it's really sarcastic I was like okay I just turned back in my seat and again I don't know what his heart level motivation was in that moment but the amount of grunting and sighing to then draw my attention I had to question like was he was he just trying to get my attention that's what Jesus is saying here
When our motivation for any amount of righteous action begins to be so that other people will notice we've missed the point and there is no reward from our father who is in heaven and here's the deal with fasting specifically I get it this is kind of weird for us you're basically depriving yourself of food so that you grow closer to God but here's
What I believe when you go away and try this you will be surprised at how close and how connected you feel to God I promise you that it's this time of just reminding yourself of your need and your dependence on him the times that I have fasted have been very very helpful for me and here's here's how fasting works okay the time that you would have spent eating you're going to abstain from food and you're actually
Going to spend that time with God whether it's praying or reading your Bible or singing worship songs like however you best connect with God and in those moments when the pains of hunger begin to to gnaw at you you're going to get to remember how much you need God that you actually need and depend on God more than you ever do on food and I will tell you one of the most
Helpful thing about fasting for me is it reminds me that food is not God food is just food that is so so helpful for me and let me say this if you're hypoglycemic or you're worried about any health concerns or health risks I would just caution you to use wisdom in terms of your specific needs if you want to have a conversation
About that when we're done I would love to but I believe that all of us fasting would be good for all of us and I would encourage you to do it and biblically fasting is abstaining from food but I think you can take that principle and really kind of apply it to abstaining from anything for the purpose of knowing God more so for some of us I think abstaining from TV
Would be a really good thing or maybe abstaining from coffee try that one boy that's fun for some of us maybe abstaining from playing video games for a time maybe abstaining from social media for a while and specifically with social media here's what's so dangerous for us in this day and time in the world when it comes to social media the point of social media
Is for you to put something up whether it's your thoughts or feelings or pictures or whatever for the purpose of other people seeing it that's actually the point of putting it up on social media so I think we've got to be careful as Christians to think like what's the motivation behind why I'm using
Social media or putting something up I think it would be very helpful for us to begin to question that but at the end of this fasting section I actually left off the last part of verse 18 so I want to go back let's actually pick it up we'll go all the way back to 17 it says this but when you fast anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting
May not be seen by others but by your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you your father who sees in secret will reward you in fact this is Jesus includes this phrase in all three of the examples that he says your father who sees in secret who sees your righteous deeds done with pure motivation will reward you
So we've already seen Jesus clearly lays out what it looks like when our motivations are off that the reward for that is just that other people will notice that they're going to see it but he says that there actually is a genuine reward when it's done with the right motivation so the question becomes what's the reward if there actually
Is a reward what is it so is it is it circumstantial is it based off of whatever the action is so like if I give and I'm generous is it that God's going to bless me and give to me Bible says some stuff like that is it is it if I pray that God's going to answer whatever prayer I pray
No we know that's not that's not it is if I fast and sacrifice that God's going to make my he's going to bless my life and it's I'm not going to have any other hardship other than when I'm fasting we know that's not true either it can't
Be the gift has actually got to be bigger and better than that even a lot of the answers that I just gave that are wrong those just terminate on us they're temporary there's got to be a reward that the creator of the universe the king
Of kings and the Lord of lords would give to his creation that is worthy of being something he would call a reward so the question becomes what gift would God give that he would think this is the best gift
For my creation himself the reward that God gives us is himself and so if just now you kind of thought to yourself okay saw that one coming and it doesn't actually stir your affections for him I think you've just
Gotten used to smaller gifts to the approval to the clapping of tiny hands to the watching of tiny eyes rather than the good reward that God gives us which is himself and here's the way that works here's how
That's possible Jesus willingly came to this earth and lived a perfect life that we couldn't live he died on the cross the death that we deserve to pay for our sin the punishment that we deserve and then he
Rose from the grave so that we could have new life in him and could be made into a new creation now and if that's true then the reward that we get is God himself relationship with God has been made
Possible so that we can repent of our sin and place faith in him which means this if that's true that means that every bit of your action and activity and obedience here on this earth isn't to earn God's favor
Or to merit his wrath for those who are in Jesus it means that your action gets to be a response of gratefulness and thankfulness for what God's done because Jesus died for you you get
The relationship with God which then means that praying and giving and fasting and reading your Bible and any other righteous action that the Bible calls us to gets to be simply to enjoy God
That it's not about it's not about what others think or what others see it's not even to earn something from God it's a response so when the Bible calls us to give and to pray what it is going after is communion with God you
Get you get the one who holds the universe in the palm of his hand and he wants to have an intimate relationship with you so that all of those actions get to be just to
Enjoy him there were some theologians in the 1600s that got together and they wrote what's called the Westminster Shorter Catechism and I think it helps sum up what Jesus is getting at here so well
I want to say this here's what they wrote man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever we'll say that again man's chief end is to glorify God
And to enjoy him forever the point of all of our action gets to be because we get God and we want more of him and that through these things we get to
Enjoy him now and forever more so my question for us this morning and really the question that Jesus raises through this entire teaching is what's what's our motivation is our
Motivation for the things that we do to honor him to know him more or is it something else so that others might see and here's what I want you to do I want you to actually ask right now
Holy Spirit where where am I doing this because it's sneaky some of you as we went through you immediately it immediately started going off but some of you may need to ask
Where am I doing this where's my motivation so that others will notice versus relationship with God is it my social media account is it conversations inside of my community group where am
I just doing stuff so that other people will notice even further than this where am I not doing stuff because of what other people would think
If I did so where's my obedience just motivated by what my wife would say if I did that or what my group would
Think if I did that it's sneaky guys and God's faithful God's faithful to lead us in repentance and so I want our response this morning to be twofold
As we repent repenting means turning away from sin and turning to God I want us to repent of where our motivations are off so the first question
Is this that I want you to ask where are my motivations where am I motivated by what others think versus communion with God sit
And ask that like right now if you don't know if God hasn't shown you yet just sit and pray ask him to show you
Where you're selling yourself short because of the cross you actually get to repent of where your heart is off and the second part
Of that repentance is where do my actions need to change to actually match that repentance so that if my heart is changing what
Needs to change about what I'm doing you're going to have a chance to respond here in just a minute some of you may just
Need to sit and pray and weep and think about where your heart has been chasing after smaller gifts rather than the gift of
God himself and who cares what people think if that's what you need to sit and do some of you need to stand and
Sing and praise God and raise your hands and thank him for the goodness of the gospel and it's not about what people think
Sing at the top of your lungs if you want to raise your hands if you want to some of you may want to
Give you've been convicted about giving you may want to do that go for it but don't let it be so that other people would
Notice church you're free we're free for those who are in Christ our relationship has been purchased by Jesus which means that all of
Our actions get to be to enjoy him a good loving holy God band is going to come back up in a second we're
Going to stand and sing I just want you for a second imagine if we as a church followed Jesus from a place of
Pure motivation rather than being worried about what others think of us all the time imagine imagine how free we would be how much
Joy we would have think about the genuine types of relationships we would have both with God and with each other so let's let go
Of the approval of others and enjoy the reward for our actions done with pure motivation which gets to be genuine fellowship with God and
With each other let's pray God I pray that all across the room right now your Holy Spirit would be working and moving God that you would lead us to
Repentance God I know that you expose sin in us we need you to expose the sin in us and I thank you for the
Joy that repenting is because it means we get to turn away from something that is ultimately destructive that will not satisfy us to
A good loving God that we get to continue to pursue righteous living and following you in obedience but we get to do it
From a place where we're not earning anything we're actually just getting to enjoy our relationship with you so God all across this room
I pray that you would do work as we respond to you we pray in Jesus name amenxurl --app my-app auth oauth2 zachpippin
Enemy Love
Transcript
All right, how are we doing this morning? All right, I don't know how to take that. We'll be in Matthew chapter 5. Hopefully we'll get better, wake up a little bit. We're in Matthew chapter 5. We're walking verse by verse through the Sermon on the Mount.
We're spending a good bit of time this spring just walking through, studying what Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount, how we can apply it to our lives, how we can begin to live as if we know this, trust this, believe this. So we're just spending some time in these three chapters in Matthew. So Jesus kind of begins the Sermon on the Mount by saying he's building a culture. But he begins by proclaiming a message that's going to change the culture of the people who are going to follow him. He's beginning to say, I'm starting a kingdom, and this is what we're going to be like. This is what my people are going to be like.
And it's any of you who have ever gone from one culture to another, have gone even just in the U.S. You can go from southern culture to kind of the northeast or the west coast, and you'll see that there's just some differences in how people think and how they act, how they treat one another. If you ever go overseas, there's just some different cultural things that happen. And that's what Jesus is saying is he's building a culture. I remember in college I got the opportunity to go to Romania on a mission trip, and we were just serving with some churches that were already there, and we were traveling around and getting to preach in different churches.
And preaching in Romania was interesting because everything took twice as long because you would say it, and then your translator would translate it. And it's interesting, too, because you don't know, like, I like to cut up jokes and stuff, and I think that's probably even worse. When I was in college and preaching, like, that was like half of what I did. And that you just don't know the Romanian churches. It's like, I don't know what to do. So I remember the very first time I was going to preach in a Romanian church, I was thinking, I kind of hope I had something to kind of break the ice a little bit, try to get people on board with what we're doing.
And I walked up, and I stand in front of everybody. It's a small church. There was an aisle right down the middle, and there was just two little sections of pews, and one section had only men, and then there was a section of only ladies, except for my two brothers, who had sat on the ladies' side. Because we didn't know. We didn't know there was a men's section and a ladies' section, and that was a cultural thing for them. That's not really, like, not taught in the Bible as a way to do this, but it was just how they were expressing their culture.
And I remember walking up and being like, jackpot, I got a way to start this off. And my brothers didn't realize it until I pointed it out, that they were sitting in the ladies' section, and both of them were like, you could see them tense up like, should we move? What have we done? But they were real gracious towards us, not knowing what to do. But there's just something about, there's these different cultures where this isn't okay.
You stand out if you act this way. This is the way we're going to behave. And that's what Jesus is doing in the Sermon on the Mount. He's saying, this is what my people are going to look like, and if you say you're a Christian, if you say you're a part of the kingdom, this is how you behave, and you should stand out. It should be odd in two ways. If you are a Christian in normal human society culture of the world, Christians should stand out.
He says, as a city on a hill, that there should shine, that there should be something different about us. And if you say you are a Christian and do not behave this way, if this isn't your posture, you should stand out among Christians. You should look weird. The church should have its own distinct, this is how we respond. This is how we act. This is our culture.
The reason I say that is because what we're going to look at today, Jesus says three very difficult, very hard sayings here that are difficult to apply, difficult to live with. And I know our attitude when reading the Sermon on the Mount a lot of times is to make it law. It's to immediately start saying, okay, well, what are the rules? Where does that apply? How far does that go? When Jesus is working to say this is what people are going to be like, this is the culture we're going to have, not to say here's rule number one, here's rule number two, here's rule number three.
He's painting a picture for a type of people. And that means that as we approach it, we're asking what's our posture, what's our attitude, how in general are we going to act? These are examples of that, not here's this rule and you just perfectly apply it and you're okay. And if you can kind of figure a way around it, that's okay because he's giving rules. He's not, he's giving a way of life. That means that as we walk through life, there are going to be things that aren't covered here, but then we're going to say, okay, well, how does that apply given the posture we're supposed to have as Christians?
If you don't get that, this is going to be really confusing. So does that make sense? We're on page where he's building a culture, he's making a type of people. Okay, cool. Let's pray.
And then we'll jump into the text. Lord, we ask for your help. We pray that you would bless the proclamation of your word. We pray that you would bless the healing of it. That we might receive it. That it might change us.
And God, we ask that you would bless the healing of it. That we would live this way as we follow you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. We're going to pick up in verse 33.
So Jesus is continuing to teach. Here's kind of what we're going to look like. Here's how my culture, this is the group of people I'm making. Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old. So he's been quoting the law, the Old Testament law, and how people have been teaching it.
And then he's been kind of correcting and saying, you've been following it like it's law. What I'm saying is follow the heart behind it, the culture behind it, the pattern, the posture behind it. So you heard it said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. That rule in the Old Testament was, if you promise God you're going to do something, do it. That was the rule. Don't swear falsely.
If you promise God, if you make a vow to God, follow through you. And he says this. But I say to you, verse 34, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair black, white, or black. And I know that we can now, by boxing, or beating up your head, especially with my church, but it doesn't stay that way. Let what you say be simply yes or no.
Anything more than this comes from evil. So this is the first difficult thing we're going to look at today that Jesus calls us to. And he's calling us to integrity, to honesty, to when you say yes, mean yes. And when you say no, mean no, don't have some sort of secret thing behind it. And when he talks about taking oaths, what they were doing is they would say, I swear by heaven. I swear by Jerusalem.
I swear by the earth or by my head. And then when they kind of weaseled out of the oath they had taken, they were like, well, I didn't make a vow to God. Had I made a vow to God, I would have followed through with it. But I just promised by Jerusalem. And so what Jesus says is, hey, all of it belongs to God. Heaven's his, the earth's his, Jerusalem's his, your head is his.
Stop it. Like he's in all of it. Not just when you say, I swear to God, does it shoot a flare up and he goes, oh, what was this about? Let me write that one down. No, he's paying attention to us on all levels when we're speaking. And he's saying, have integrity, be honest.
Quit trying to get away with things. So, here's what this means. Very, very straightforward. Tell the truth. You say something, it should be true. That's the point.
Be honest. Don't have to live a life. He says anything else comes from evil. The reason he says that is if sin hadn't entered into the world, we wouldn't need to have an extra special yes. Yes would be yes, no would be no. We wouldn't be tricking each other.
An oath is just, I double promise yes. This is an extra special yes. This one's a yesy yes. That's what an oath is. So when somebody tells you a story and you go, promise?
You're just saying, like, you swear? This really happened? Is this an extra special yes? Or is this one of those yeses that actually isn't a yes at all? That's what that is. That's why he's saying everything else comes from evil.
Like, the only way we had to start doing this was the lies in the world. This is when you say, I swear my mom is great. Or just you tell somebody something and they say, that's a lie and you say, that's money. It's the same thing. It's this. This one's for real.
They say, no, just when you speak. Yes or no. That's it. Quit all this other stuff. Let me give you an example of how this plays out. So when I was growing up, we used to do tactical misrepresentations of the facts.
The tactical misrepresentation of the facts, which is you represent facts. Like, it's true. And then you let them draw the conclusions they would like to do. I'll give you an example. In high school, I went to a bathroom. Took my shoe off.
Put it up in the air. Took my wallet out. Tossed it up in the air. I took my keys out of my pocket. Tossed it up in the air. And I walked to the nurse's office.
And I said, I'd like to go home. I was just in the bathroom throwing things up. Both of those statements were true. I would like to go home. I was in the bathroom throwing things up. Had the nurse asked what, I would have said, my shoe, my keys, and my wallet.
I'm going to head back to class. Or when I tried to play it off, it's like I had a really bad diet. Like, I just eat terrible things. She let me go home. It was excused. That's deception and is outside of what Jesus is calling us to here.
Technically, I did not lie. But in a way more real sense, yes, I did. So Jesus is saying, have integrity. I'll show you another way that this plays out practically in life. I go to my wife. I said, hey, the guys in my group, we're having a poker night on Friday.
Is it cool if I go to that? She says, yeah, that's fine. I mean, it's my one evening off, and I'll just stay home and watch Archer. And I say, you sure? She says, yes, fine. Do whatever.
That'll be okay. I said, okay. Then I go. And then when I come home. Yes, y'all, you're aware of what I'm talking about. So I walk in the house.
I'm also in the future. You walk in the house, and then she's sitting up. Archer's already in bed, and she's like, I cannot even know. I'm smart, so I'm like, what on earth are you talking about? You should have known. Like, I can't believe.
And it's like, you know what I'm saying? She said, it's fine. But secretly, it was a love test. And here's what happens as we begin to do this in life, where we let integrity kind of break down, is you can't even pick a restaurant when this begins to happen in a relationship. Hey, you want to go? Do you want to go to this burger place?
Yeah, that's fine. Oh, it's fine? So it's not fine. No, I'm okay with that. No, you know, whatever. You want tacos.
You always want tacos. Let's go eat tacos. You can just have 15 tacos and be happy in your little heart. It's like you cease to be able to even talk to each other. So if your spouse is just coaching on how to apply this, your spouse says, I want to go to this thing, and you think, I don't want you to go to that thing, don't say, sure, go to that thing with this secret.
I don't want you to go. I don't want you to go. Have a real conversation. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. This is one of the things we teach in premarital counseling all the time. Say what you mean.
Don't mean it. And then if you do this, here's how we handle this in my house. I'm sorry. Right. Um. But you said that you don't.
So it's not fine. No, I'm okay with that. No, you know, whatever. You want tacos. You always want tacos. Let's go eat tacos. You can just have 15 tacos and be happy in your little heart. It's like you cease to be able to even talk to each other. So if your spouse is just coaching on how to apply this, your spouse says, I want to go to this thing, and you think, I don't want you to go to that thing, don't say, sure, go to that thing with this secret. I don't want you to go. I don't want you to go. Have a real conversation. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. This is one of the things we teach in premarital counseling all the time. Say what you mean. Don't mean it. And then if you do this, here's how we handle this in my house. I'm sorry. Right. Um. But you said that you don't. So next time, don't say that.
And just make sure that you're not going to click the line. That'd be fine. it's not quite approached that way but it's close um here's the thing like be honest be be truthful uh and don't expect people to be able to figure out what you what you're doing here and don't intentionally deceive people Jesus is saying stop that just be honest for some of you in the room practically this is going to be very difficult because you have made a practice of deceiving maybe it's in small things maybe it's it's uh you just kind of some of you you feel like this is the only way you can do your job there's no way I could do my job as a salesperson if I just was completely honest there's no way I could do my job as a mechanic if I was just completely honest like this some people act like this well this is just how our our industry works that's not true there is a distinct way to be a christian in every industry you're in some of you just life is like this with your spouse you just kind of lie a decent amount um maybe even over small things the beginning for you because stopping yourself from lying when you really practiced in it is hard the beginning for you will be coming back and saying what I just said I know I said it this way I actually said it that way on purpose of you to believe this uh and not a need to be honest one of the some of some of us in life have met someone have known someone maybe in our family maybe we weren't here and we were too much just honest when I said yes and yes and said no and no and that was refreshing beautiful and helpful
Okay so if that was difficult I have good news it gets worse um go to verse 38 you have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth that is old testament law it is in three different places but I say to you do not resist the one who is evil but if anyone slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other also and if anyone would sue you and take your tunic let him have your cloak as well and if anyone forces you to go one mile go with him two miles give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you this is one of the most well-known uh passages uh that in the bible one of the most well-known sayings that Jesus has that we would turn the other cheek that we would go the extra mile we still use these terms uh here here's what he's getting at and I think it's helpful to understand the eye for an eye tooth for a tooth law that was given in the old testament was given as a way for Judges to judge properly it was not an interpersonal way to interact it was for Judges to make right judgment and it was to um limit excessive punishment as well as to a smaller degree keep from having a major issue happen and then someone gets a slap on the wrist but mostly it was it was saying payback isn't double you knock my out I don't get both of yours I just get one that's what an eye for an eye a tooth for tooth was was a no excessive punishment it led the punishment to crime and it was given to Judges to make wise judgment but they have begun to use it the same way we use it
So something happens to us someone at work lies about us makes it hard for us to get a promotion and we say well which means here it comes the bible's given me free reign to retaliate that I get to do to you what you did to me someone lies about you someone uh offends you someone harms you and we we quote it as well I get to retaliate I get to make it even I get to get even and Jesus says no that's not that's not our culture that's not what we look like um that's not how we're going to act I do think when you read by itself
Verse 39 but I say to you do not resist the one who is evil if you read that by itself it becomes you immediately want to say okay I have like a thousand questions I think two of the main ones that pop up are we're not allowed to stop hitler that side of the argument or the if someone breaks into my house I'm not allowed to defend myself I think that that those two questions are helped by the context because everything Jesus gives after this when he says don't resist the one who's evil because he talks about personal the personal implications of this so being slapped having someone take your property
Having someone impose upon your time and then having people ask to walk he's not talking about nations military laws this rule was actually given to Judges that's assumed that there would be Judges and rulings and laws but he's just saying quit applying this personally as I can retaliate against you the bible has other places where it talks about the rightness of an army the rightness of a military that he's going to never put his force so I think it's wrong to take this and push it into every aspect of life and say make sure they don't have cost
I don't think that's ever so appropriate in understanding the context of what he's talking about so he says in your personal life when it has to deal with your person you here's how we respond and so I want us to to look at what he is saying because I think it is very difficult if someone slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other also he does not say attacks you although I do think if someone were to to strike you not just open hand slap you but to to uh punch you or attack you
That there is room for christians to hold this with some uh tension and say I think we've got to at least wrestle with the implications of Jesus so for the person who says I have a family and if someone breaks into my home I believe I'm called to defend myself I would say I think you have warrant there in scripture to pay attention to that to hold that view I also think you need to consider how to respond in a way that is in line with this that has some sort of a posture here so that when someone says
Uh they have their concealed weapons permit and they act like I hope somebody starts on with me I don't think that's in line with the culture Jesus is talking about I think that would be something that you would need to consider think about way out for someone who says I don't have wife kids if someone breaks in my house my main goal is just to get out of my house I don't want to harm them I believe that when he says that if they sue you and take your clothes that'll include being robbed and I'll just do what I can to get out of this situation even though
In south carolina I have the castle doctrine which means that I can uh kill that person and then walk away but I believe that I'm a christian I've been called to a different culture I think that's fair I think that's within this I do think Jesus knows he's mostly speaking to being slapped and being slapped is not a major physical injury it hurts your pride it is degrading let me give you an example you're at a restaurant you see a couple and it's tense and then one of them
Let's say the lady just to help you she jumps across the table and starts trying to like call the guy's eyes out and choke him I would think look at this situation this is a hot mess both of these people have serious problems like there's there's something that's happened in this relationship to cause this now let's say she splashes water on him and open hand slaps him and walks out I don't think what a terrible lady I think I want to look back at him does that make sense an open hand slap
When he's talking about being struck it is a you are beneath me you it is an affront of pride and character this is the same as if someone lies about you who undercuts your character I can tell you right now that if if another grown man comes at me and punches me I'm gonna be angry I'm gonna have a hard time handling that if he open hand slaps me I'm gonna come real close to me and here's why he punches me he thought I better do a good shot on the first one because this is about to get serious if he open hand slaps me his thought process was I'm gonna learn whatever I want
This guy is a weak, weak, small and I'm telling you the logical implications of me being an open hand slap are gonna be so much harder to deal with than someone just attacking you that's what Jesus is talking about he is addressing when someone comes after you your name when someone comes after you you're right when someone comes after you're self-warned you don't get to retaliate that's not the posture that we have they lied about me I'm gonna lie about this they kept me from getting a promotion I'm gonna keep them from getting a promotion or they got the promotion over me because they lied I'm gonna do everything I possibly can to get them fired
And he said no that's not our culture it's not what we're gonna lie he keeps going so personal pride personal insult and he says if anyone would sue you and take your tunic let him have your cloak as well you see Jesus is teaching that his people that the church and the people who follow him and his kingdom are not going to walk around demanding their rights that our goal as christians is not to say well this is my legal justification and this is my legal right but that we're gonna hold that with an open hand
That we're not going to demand and impose ourselves on others but that in situations where someone's wrongfully suing us or rightfully suing us we're gonna hold very weighty how do we respond when I'm talking about you and how do I show the praise when someone is evil and insulting me when someone is imposing upon me how do I show the praise how do I model the way that Jesus is responding up to see Jesus says if he sue you for your tunic that's your inner garment give him your outer garment as well he says respond
Not the way they would assume you would respond I'm gonna sue you and take your tunic man I'll give you I'll give you both right now and I'll make this right right now I'll see you in court no you won't let's handle it right now what you need what's restitution how can I be gracious right now he's saying these people are gonna look for if anyone forces you to go one mile go with them two miles you see what Jesus just did in these three instances he says if they attack your pride in your name
Your self worth if they attack your stuff or if they attack your time all christians are gonna hold down with another how many of you how many of us would say well I'll give some time but I won't give my stuff or how many of you say well I'll give my stuff but I'm not giving any time how many how many of us have said things like I can't be friends with that person they're just too many they just need too much for me I can't be friends with them they take up too much of my time I can't
I can't be around them anymore all they ever do is ask me for stuff and Jesus is saying his people are ready for that have an open hand because they have an open heart 42 give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow you the christians are supposed to be the people who follow Jesus who are his people and his kingdom are supposed to be open handed when someone asks
For something when someone asks to borrow something even though they haven't even given back the other thing they borrowed he says our response is yeah it's just stuff yeah it's just my time oh yeah it's just part of my reputation that's what his people are I want to specifically take a second on this one
The borrowing give to anybody who asks if you because of our location we live near columbia some of you live in columbia there is a decent amount of hand handling that happens and so one of the immediate responses to this is anybody comes over and asks for ten bucks as a christian I'm supposed to just give
Ten bucks that's one of my fun choices one of the things I've wrestled with in the parking lot and someone comes over and I have a really good inclination with the people that are telling me some story about having to get back to orange bird or their mamas and get enthrined and they've got to catch
Them like am I supposed to just hand them 20 bucks I want to say a few things on that real quick one is if you come to the conclusion yes yes Jesus says give to those who beg beg beggars that's what they're doing give to beggars yes I will give you the ten bucks
I'm not going to give them the ten bucks and let Jesus sort it out I'm going to respond faithfully to what he's called me to and just be open handed and give to beggars and let him sort out how they respond to that we're going to do you think that the people who are homeless in our city in those situations in our city are in those situations for a
Reason if we lived I grew up in edgefield if we lived in edgefield I think I would approach this passage differently we don't live in edgefield we live in columbia there are multiple homeless shelters in downtown that will help people get out of homeless situations so the way that my wife and I handle
This is we've had this discussion I've told her my wife said and I said and I said and I said and I said and I said and I said just give to those who borrow and her response was okay somebody walks over and says I want your truck appropriate christian responses here
I like my truck so I was like hold on a second uh move out of your house here are the keys this is your question it looks like again I think if someone said I think that's what Jesus called me
To and I'm going to just do this in faith I think there's some room for I don't know how I would say you're wrong although I'm not sure that's what he's getting at here's here's the way we handle this our yes is on the table someone comes and asks us for help if someone comes and asks us
For money if someone comes our yes is on the table although we will slowly over time define what that yes looks like giving you ten dollars a day so that you can stay on the street and keep a habit going is not us loving you that harms you so we put our yes on the table and then we say here's what we'll do we're actually
Going to invest more time we're going to invest more energy because we're going to try to help you get off the street rather than just doing this one time thing and then at times as we have done that as we have said we're not going to keep giving you ten dollars a day but here's what we will hope you do we'll hope you
Get in the same business we'll hope you get in the same business and we'll have other programs and we'll have people then tell us yes because there's a reason why they're doing this and at that point I feel like we have done it and we can do to say yes to actually give to those new people
So what I think people do this is what I'm just why I'm explaining this and trying to help I think what people do is say well giving that person ten dollars isn't going to help them they're just going to use it to further their habit and so they use not harming people with giving money to just say no and what I think we need to do is have a
Qualified yes that's what our church does we help people our goal is to put significant amount of money towards getting people off the street getting people jobs getting people in we don't just help them by maintaining the lifestyle they have help them by saying yes here's how we're doing it and I think that's what
Jesus told us that our stuff our turn and our reputation is made the ones that are okay here's how I do think at times we try to respond to this and I think Jesus covers it but I want to point it out we say okay yeah but they're ungrateful yeah I did that but they're a jerk
About it yeah okay okay I did I did go you know I was trying to do this but they're they're rude or they they waste it and that's why I think Jesus begins by saying do not resist the one who is evil because I think anything we could put in the yeah but there category
Eventually we'll just fit on the category I think Jesus covers that today at the beginning of the set right this is how we can do come on that's that's that's hard I think it's 42 43 this is our third difficult
Teaching that gives us respect you have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy that's not in the law love your neighbor is but then people took it to the they kind of said well that's true and this has true so our response
The way we're supposed to live is to love our neighbors and hate our enemies he says but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you here's what happens as soon as God says love your neighbor our response is who's my neighbor we even see that in the in the gospels
Where somebody comes to Jesus and ask him that who's my neighbor and so Jesus says love your neighbor and love your enemies and now you shouldn't have any follow-up questions who's my neighbor love them all the way over to who's my enemy love them okay what Jesus
Just said was love people and he's going to tell us how to love our enemies but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you persecute means they are actively trying to tear you down destroy you destroy your
Way of life take you out remove you from the picture they are persecuting you they are actively that may be a co-worker that may be a neighbor that may be someone who just Acts like you don't exist they're doing things actively
To harm you and he says pray for them and don't pray things like God get them you may pray God change them God help me to love them but pray for them so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven for he makes his son rise on the evil and the good and sends his rain on the just
And the unjust so he says that God does this this is how he treats evil people the sun rises on them it sets on them rain falls on their crops just like it falls on good people's crops that God is gracious in creation
To all of them and that our response should be the same so here's let's think about this for a second we have enemies ISIS for example Al-Qaeda all the other number of people out there in the world who are actively trying to harm we have real enemies I believe that
That includes them so when Christians say I think we should just carpet bomb the Middle East and start over I want to respond no I don't think we can arguably we solve some problems but we can't that's not appropriate that's not
Our posture that's not like we can't do that we're supposed to love them we're supposed to pray for them pray for their hearts to change pray for us to be able to interact with them well pray for I think one of the ways you pray for someone who
Is actively seeking evil is that their plans wouldn't work out so that they have less to stand before God and be judged to her God help that to fall through be gracious on them let them change let their plans be terrible and not work but pray
For them but I also think this applies to normal everyday life and most of us will not interact with people from ISIS so those will and again if you are in military or desire to be in military I'd love to speak with you about that because I don't believe that's exactly
What Jesus is talking about here and I think there is some room for conflict inside of nations on nations we don't have time for it but for most of us who will not be facing an enemy on a battlefield I want to help
Us see something our culture we've gotten tribal it just means each one of us has begun to say this is the people I belong to my uncle my uncle Abel is from Nigeria when he was born
They cut tribal marks into his face and packed it with dirt and salt so that his entire life he is marked by which tribe he is he sees anyone whose face looks like that he can immediately begin to talk to
Him because he never was from my grandmother was on an airplane saw a guy with the same tribal marks as my uncle immediately was like she immediately knew you're from you're from Obamachal Nigeria like immediately because he
Marked himself he did but he finished him he was one of the last they kind of stopped this he's one of the last guys to have this done that last generation but we do this to ourselves we kind of announce which tribe we're a part by how we dress
By if you're ever in a meeting and everybody pulls out a computer you can kind of see which tribe you're a part of are these all PCs are these all Macs if you've ever met a person who uses a Mac and you open a PC
Around them you'll know they're a Mac person by how they go I said to someone the other day man my computer's slow he just walked off I was like well what the heck like this is the thing we've marked ourselves you can
Walk into a high school cafeteria and you can see people who've labeled themselves it's made easier by the fact that they're all together in chunks but you can tell is it a white guy with pink shorts he's announcing things about
Himself they made fun of us because when we ordained a pastor all of us had beards and we were wearing plaid we've marked ourselves we've done this in the way we dress in the way we speak we we've become tribal but see it's it's beyond
That get on facebook sometimes and you begin to see who belongs which tribe are they a part of and here's what happens we have grown increasingly unable to get all more people in office how many have been flipping to facebook
And told somebody to repost something from fox news limbaugh wire federalist I think that's what you know I think that's what you immediately thought okay I get it someone post something for
Black lives matter or reposted some article about how clinton should have won or somebody's posting stuff about make america great again and you immediately thought okay good to know who's your enemy who's the person who's destroying america
Who's the person who's ruining the family who's the enemy of progress you see we might would say this includes the refugees and this includes isis but then if we see somebody who is a part of an organization in the
U.s we think well I don't ever have to talk to them I don't have to be their friend you could do this during election time and see who had signs in their yard for bernie or for trump and you immediately
Could know well they're part of that group so they're my enemy I'm against them and Jesus says no love them pray for them care about them get to know them now this is hard how do you as a christian relate to someone who
You fundamentally want their plans to not work out how do you how do you relate to people who absolutely you disagree with on so many levels that's a good question and I think we'll figure it out as we try but I think we've gotten really really good at hanging out with our tribe and demonizing
Everybody else this happens in theological circles we're the only people who read the bible right God have grace on the idiots don't know how to study the bible like I mean this happens we do this and Jesus is saying love them get to know them care about them
Now you may not feel warm and fuzzy inside that's not the word he uses he uses a word that's an unconditional love for all the times you don't feel warm and fuzzy for the people who are very difficult this means that this is your neighbor who always parks in front of your house when you talk to him about
Him this is the co-worker if this kind of thing bothers you drinks out of your mug or actively will always ask you for help but will never help anybody help this is your boss who means you in front of other people there's some people in your life
Who have made themselves you in front of your your life who have you in front of your your life who have you in front of your your life who have you in front of your your life very good I think this is helpful for us to think about I was watching some of those animal planet
Like dog shows this was a while back but they catch a dog they rescue them from a terrible situation they set them down put a ball in front of them and then they reach down and snatch it have you all seen this like right when the dog is about to eat and if the dog tries to bite
Them they think oh it's violent put it down have you all seen that they do this I remember watching that thinking are you kidding me I would try to bite you if you snatched my plate away from me like and this dog just came out of a terrible situation how is it ever going to not act like that unless
People get around that care about it and change it and I think that's part of what we've got to understand as we say this person is toxic right but how do they get un-toxic they have some people who are unwilling to they have some people who sit them down and say hey we've got to talk this can't be how our relationship works I love you
I care about you I want the best for you but this isn't how we're talking to you I love you I care about you I'm not going anywhere but you got to be honest with me I love you I care about you I'm not going anywhere but we can't have it to where when you want attention you throw a fit or you set your house on fire figuratively to get people to come pay attention to you we've got to work on this
It's the only way they grow having a two-year-old has helped me with this the only way he'll act like a normal human in society is if there are some people around him who keep loving him through the fact that he has no clue how to do that and that's the way it is for some people that's what God's called us to who's your enemy and how do you begin to love them okay he says this verse 46 for if you love
Those who love you what reward do you have do not even the tax collectors do the same and if you greet only your brothers what more are you doing than others do not even Gentiles do the same you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect so what he just said was if you love the good and the bad the evil the just and the unjust those who are easy to love and those who are really hard to love you'll start looking like sons of your father
And then he says if you only love those who are easy to love but you get away from those who are hard to love everybody does that that's not what my people look like my people like a group of people who hold their reputation their finances their material their time their energy with an open hand and love all the people who are hard to love that's my people that's my church this is impossible without Jesus you cannot do this without Jesus some of you who are
Going to try to make this a long go okay I'm a white knuckle and love all the unlovable people it's not gonna happen and some people will break themselves over this rule and say well I'm done I can't I can't be like this is how it's supposed to work this is ridiculous to call me this you cannot do this without Jesus Disney's remaking Beauty and the Beast this will be a live action one this will be a real piece which you're seeing in the story
Line there's an 11 year old prince so she curses him until he turns 21 if he can find somebody to fall in love with him he won't have to see him she was a little heavy and they don't love you they don't okay then's the breaks kid so this is the story that unless he can find someone to love him
He will remain at peace and I love this story because I think we all so badly want that to be true but we know that through our decisions and our attitudes and actions we are thinking to learn but many of us are very aware of that and the hope that someone can do the wrong and love us and love us I think that's not that easy
And that's what happens in the gospel unless you see that Jesus has already done this for you he has no hope to live this unless you see that Jesus fulfilled all the promises of God and was perfectly honest and had perfect integrity on this world on your behalf you'll never be able to have it in any kind of real way
In life unless you see that when evil people imposed themselves on Jesus he actually did turn the other cheek he actually did allow them to take every bit of clothing that he had off of his back that he actually did carry a Roman cross up a hill that he actually did have everything robbed of him stripped of him that he actually
Was able to stop it as the son of God had all of the rights in the universe to stand and say this will not happen but laid them all down on our behalf and that he did that to pray for and care about and love his enemies whenever he ends until you see clearly that Jesus has done this for you and that's the only way you were saved in the first of your life and that was the
Only way to change from a thing so they're loving them because they're loving them and they're loving them and they're loving them and they're loving them only for Christ and I hope you're saved and I hope you're saved and I hope you're saved and I hope you're saved
And I hope you're saved and I hope I want to tell you two practical ways things that we can meditate on think about that I think will help us actually carry this out in life have you ever seen an adult argue with a child to the point that they both look like children have you ever seen this like it turns into like I can already tell like I've got a
Two year old he can barely talk I got so frustrated with him the other day I had to like set in his crib and leave the room and I know I should be like a well adjusted adult but it's difficult and I can tell you there's going to be a time where I'm with a four year old in Walmart and he's going to be like well I hate you I hate you yeah and look like another four year old like have you ever
Seen this like there are these moments where you want to look and be like hey unless you act like an adult that kid doesn't have a chance unless you see more clearly than the kid can this isn't going to work out and I think as Christians that's one of the positions we get to take in the world is that we get to see some things we're privy to some things
That other people aren't so we get to act differently and it's going to be really easy to act in the sense two things that I think we get to hold in our minds because of the truth of the gospel that will help us apply this one is the eternal ramifications of the mission that God has through Christ reconciled the world to himself and he has given us the ministry of reconciliation meaning that as Christians
We have a responsibility for the eternity of the world that they will one day stand in judgment before God and we all will and as Christians we believe we'll stand in judgment before God and say my hope is in Christ as that Psalm said earlier I'm clothed in his righteousness alone like the only thing I have is what Jesus has done for me and so what Jesus calls us to to be the father
To be imposed upon to love those who are harming us if we can remember that most likely we'll go into a Christless eternity and my interaction with them may be one of the only times that you can see the grace of life in the face of evil which is the relationship I have to Jesus grace in the face of evil I think it will help us we pray for the last Holy Spirit help me care about this person's soul
More than I care about my stuff help me care about this person's eternity more than I care about my time that they've asked for the second one is I think the eternal ramifications of God's blessing the truth is if you are a Christian your hope is eternal you have an inheritance that is undefiled unperishing and unfaded kept in heaven for you people can take all your stuff they haven't taken anything from you people can take
All your time that's a drop in the bucket of eternity people can take your life and they've just shot you into an eternity of true life and real life before the king I think if we'll remember the eternal ramifications of the mission and the eternal ramifications of the full and free blessings that we have in Christ we actually can live with a culture that Jesus calls us to we can actually begin to know
What we've done this kingdom and I want you to remember you saved sinners and pray for Jesus about good for those of us who have messed this up in the past who are terrible at this right now the absolute thing that we need to repent up I think the best I want you to know that we can and use the saved sinners and hope that we're there and we have an eternity to follow this morning God we thank you
For your grace thank you that you saved sinners that you loved us enough to die for the enemies that you loved us and that you called us to love so that we have a model for it and we also have to be about to do and the power to actually protect us I pray that you would help us to look like this that as years go by that this would be a good description of our church family that we would look
Like we belong help us to not retaliate help us not help us not
Marriage and Divorce
Transcript
Good morning. Grab your Bibles. Go to Matthew chapter 5. It'll be on page 473 if your Bible looks like this. Here's what we're doing. We're taking, we're just kind of walking through every week.
We're walking through the Sermon on the Mount. So that's Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. And we're walking through and just kind of taking it as we come, seeing what Jesus says, trying to understand what his point is and what we can learn from what he says. We're kind of in a section, and we've been in it for the past couple of weeks, where Jesus is, in his teaching, he's pointing out our approach to the law and our general tendency, their approach, our approach to take God's rules and then try to figure out, okay, how do I work around these? To kind of approach with, am I just doing exactly what it says, then I'm okay.
And Jesus is basically running through a hit list and intentionally picking some fights, intentionally using as examples some very tense subjects to try to point out how we like to say, am I living the right way, am I doing the right action, and disregarding what the point of it was in the first place. That our hearts matter as well as our actions. And so Jesus talks about anger. He talks about how we treat people we dislike. He talks about lust. He talks about marriage.
Like, he just kind of goes through a list of hot button issues and just presses all of them, and then he keeps moving. So thanks for doing that. And so that's kind of, that's what he's doing. He's trying to show us how we approach the law. And basically, our general tendency is, what's the rule? Where's the line?
How close can I get to the line? How much can I try to wiggle around this? Is that exactly what was said? My granddad told me this story one time when he was growing up. It was in like the 1930s, and he used to just eat butter. Now, I don't know if that's a thing you do, and I don't know if it is, if anyone's ever told you that's weird, but it is.
So like every time I've been at a fair and seen that they have fried butter, I've just thought, gross. And I guess my granddad, when he saw that, was like, dear diary, jackpot. Like, he just would eat butter. And so to the point that his mom was going somewhere, now butter, then, like he had like, they had like a mound of butter on a plate in their, I guess like whatever kept stuff cold. Ice, chest, freezer, refrigerator thing, whatever they had in the 1930s. I know that butter was different because they weren't buying like sticks.
They had like a mound on a plate. She told him before she left, it was such an issue that she's leaving. She has to tell him not to eat the butter. So she's going somewhere, and she looks at him and says, do not lay a finger on the butter. And he says, yes, ma'am. She leaves.
He opens the refrigerator. Puts his hands behind his back. He leans in and bites a large chunk out of the top of their butter. Closes the door. Walks off. Just pleased in his heart.
She gets home, sees what happened, sees that it's clearly just he bit it. And he doesn't even get in trouble. She was like, well played. I did say finger. I would have tore him up. Jesus' point as he's going through the section is that's what we do with any kind of rules we're given.
That's the natural inclination of the human heart is to say what exactly is the rule. What words exactly were used. And then try to figure out how to get what we want in and around the rules. That's our goal when it comes to rules. And so he's pushing back on that and saying, you've missed the point. Like my granddad missed the point.
The point was don't eat the butter. He missed it because he just focused on, he knew the point. But he figured out a way to get around it. And that's our goal. So whenever we come to the Bible and we say, what exactly does it say?
Jesus is going through this and saying, no, you've missed the point. That's not how this was supposed to be approached. So as we study the Bible, we try to understand what was the point he was making. What's the point in the context we're given? We don't want to just take a verse and say, here's what these words are without understanding the greater context. But as we've been studying this passage, we also believe that we can put weight on the actual words here and bear down on it.
And so what we did was the first week we talked, we said, here's the big picture. Here's what he's saying about the law. Here's what he's saying about how we fail and how we approach the law. And then we've gone back through and we're just saying, okay, what exactly is he saying and what can we learn from it? And so today we are going to spend time on the Christian sexual ethic, what the Bible teaches and how Jesus approaches human sexuality and marriage, what the overall Christian sexual ethic is. And I've got a quote here from C.S.
Lewis. He's a theologian from the 1900s. And he says this when talking about Christian sexual ethic. He calls it chastity, which is just Christianity's approach to sexuality. He says chastity is the most unpopular of the Christian virtues. There is no getting away from it.
The Christian rule is either marriage with complete faithfulness to your partner or else total abstinence. And so we would even have to amend that now because when he was speaking, there was no gay marriage. But Christians actually have to step in now and make it even more unpopular by saying we actually believe the Bible says that it's heterosexual marriage with complete faithfulness or else total abstinence. And he's right. He says this is the most unpopular thing Christians say. This is the worst virtue we have.
And he keeps going. He says now this is so difficult and so contrary to our instincts that obviously either Christianity is wrong or our sexual instinct is wrong. Or our sexual instinct as it is now has gone wrong. One or the other. And he says of course being a Christian I think the instinct has gone wrong. I want to quote another well-known theologian Scarlett Johansson.
I read this in the Huff Post this week. Scarlett Johansson is an actress. If that just threw you off you don't know who she is. She's talking about monogamy and she says that she appreciates it. She appreciates monogamy appreciates marriage but that it's so hard and so difficult not only for her but for everyone else that it's unnatural. She believes it's unnatural for us to be monogamous.
To have one person that you devote all of your romance and love to. And C.S. Lewis is noticing the same issue. This is so against how we think and feel and want to approach. It's so contrary to our nature that something has had to go wrong. Either Christianity is wrong or we're wrong.
And that's what Scarlett Johansson is pointing out. She's saying it's unnatural. Natural it's just so difficult that it cannot be what it was what it's supposed to be. This can't be what we're made for. And so here's what we're going to do is we look at what Jesus says today. We're going to look at the words he says which Jesus kind of just throws a one-two punch and keeps moving.
He says very harsh things very Just kind of brings the hammer down and then keeps going. So what we're going to do is we're going to look at what he says and then as best we can we're going to try to understand what the big picture Christian teaching is. We're going to look at a couple other passages in the Bible to help us get our our head around this approach to human sexuality. And I think today is just going to be a little hard. I think it's going to be it's going to be hard. We're going to have to keep fighting our own intuition our own instincts as we try to understand what the Bible is saying.
For many of us as we look at specifically divorce it's just going to be painful. It's just going to be a hard morning. That for some of us who come from families where divorce has played a big issue for some of us who have been divorced some of us who are maybe going through a divorce currently or some of us who are considering divorce and thinking that is our our current best option today's just going to be it's just going to be painful as we try to understand this but hopefully by the end we'll get to see why the Bible says what it says and why ultimately Jesus is better. But let's let's we've agonized over this in preparation and it's going to take us a while to kind of say what we feel like needs to be said this morning.
But let's pray pray for us pray for our hearts pray for the people around you this morning that the Lord would help us to listen. God we thank you that as painful as it is you don't leave us alone when it comes to difficult situations and difficult issues that when we've made a mess of things you step in you step in by teaching us you step in by addressing us and speaking to us but ultimately Lord you step in by taking our sin our pain our brokenness and dying on a cross for it that you step in by joining us in the midst of it so God I just ask that you'd help us to listen that you'd help us to to find words to speak to you with to pray as we wrestle through this and ultimately we ask that you'd help us to believe to believe that you are better that you are good
Even when we can't see that and we ask for your help in Jesus name Amen We said early on as we started the Sermon on the Mount that Christians are designed to look different and that this is one of the areas where Jesus just kind of talks about church being salt and light that we're supposed to stand out in culture and that sexuality and our approach to marriage is one of the areas where Christians are just going to look different you're just going to look weird you're going to stand out in how we think about this and how we approach this you're going to have people around you say are you kidding me and we're going to have to say no I'm not and here's ultimately why I think it works out even though I have some of the same difficulties
And reservations that you have but culturally we're kind of all over the place when it comes to marriage this is this is I don't know if y'all have noticed this if you're watching any movie that has to do with like romance and relationships if the main characters start off not married the movie ends with magical they got together they're going to get married wedding stuff how many cartoons are like it's a wedding and they just ride off like I was I've got a little kid now and I'm watching more Disney cartoons and my wife likes them
So we watch Cinderella and I'm pretty sure this is the one where they like no Snow White they meet in the woods and just sing to each other it's really weird and then then they get married and then at Cinderella they meet at a dance dance with each other and then her foot fits in the shoe boom they get married they ride off in a carriage and then it says the curtains close and it says I lived happily ever after and I'm like do you know how awkward
That carriage ride is? these cats haven't even talked to each other like he doesn't even know she's got the most annoying laugh in the world like this is going to be so difficult for them but that's how movies work so like Hitch or whatever the end credits is like a wedding and they're like dancing around or whatever and that's it we've reached it magic happy land but if the movie starts off with the couple married the marriage is the problem like if it's a relationship romance movie and it starts out like
There's conflict and there's drama and there's tension and there should be because that's what makes a good movie conflict and drama and tension if you watch a movie that doesn't have tension it's a bad movie but those are our two competing messages that we get marriage is the route to happiness and to fulfillment romance is how you know who you are sexuality is who you are and it's the route to becoming a complete person and because we believe so much that romance
And sexuality are the route to happiness we treat a lot of marriages like marriage is the problem marriage is actually what's hindering me from being full from being fulfilled from being complete and so it's Jesus is speaking into that when we listen today that's how we have to hear and here's the thing as Christians we're going to look crazy I saw this stat recently I thought it was very interesting the National Center for Biotechnical Information did a study and their website is a.gov website
I'm not quite sure where they fall in our government structure but they do testing on stuff they did a study and they just got a bunch of TV shows and they coded them and 82% of them had sexual content some form of relationship marriage sex some 82% of the shows they got they said that American youth and I couldn't figure out how they were defining that American youth
See 14,000 depictions of sex a year on television 14,000 so I had seen that statistic I thought it was really interesting and I was thinking I know this has to affect how we think about it like this amount of exposure to sex and sexuality and marriage and like the messages we're being told like I know that's got to affect how we're thinking about it and then I read this in a book called Switch
Talking about it's kind of a psychology book sociology book about how to get people to make decisions and it said in the 1980s a Harvard professor named Jay Winston heard about designated drivers from Scandinavian countries he heard that Scandinavian countries had this concept of a designated driver where when you went out drinking one person wouldn't drink so they could drive and he knew that they were having seeing good results
That people were being safer there was less fatalities and road incidents incidents so he wanted to bring that to the US he's a Harvard professor he wanted to create out of nowhere a social norm did not exist in the US as far as he knew he's one of the only people who'd heard of it that they were doing this in other countries so he decided that the best way to do it was just to expose
People to it even if it was fictional didn't actually exist in real life if it was fictional so what they did was they got 160 television shows primetime TV shows to give it 5 seconds 160 television shows to give the concept 5 seconds they got The Cosby Show Mr. Belvedere Cheers Who's the Boss LA Law if you recognize some of those shows you just dated yourself they started in 1989
1988 By 1991 3 years later they got 160 shows to give it 5 seconds 3 years later 9 out of 10 Americans had heard about designated drivers 37% of all Americans including infants had actually been a designated driver now the infants weren't but they included all of them in their study 54% of frequent drinkers had been driven home by one they made it up and just stuck it in cheers did it 160 times
In 3 years everybody knew about it 40% Americans had actually been one youth including us with our adult we get to watch all the shows we want a mature show I can watch whatever I want my mom ain't telling me what to watch youth see 14,000 depictions of sex a year how much are we seeing and if you are going to tell me that does not affect how we think about it I'm going to be very inclined
To disagree with you if you're going to tell me that the amount that we see depictions of relationships how to communicate to each other how we ought to think about marriage how we ought to think about love how we ought to think about lust how we ought to think about sex we're going to see thousands of these hundreds a week if 160 depictions of a designated driver can change an entire nation in 3 years how many years
Have you been watching TV it's absolutely having an effect on us and Christians are going to look crazy if we stick to what the Bible says so let's read let's read what Jesus says it's going to be difficult to read and let's begin to walk through how we're supposed to understand this and think about it pick up in verse 27 you have heard that it was said you shall not
Commit adultery so Jesus again is kind of saying this is what the law is this is what the rule is but I'm trying to explain to you what the intent was and the fact that your heart matters not just your actions but I say to you verse 28 that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart if your right eye
Causes you to sin tear it out and throw it away for it is better that you lose one of your members than your whole body be thrown into hell and if your right hand causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away it's better for you that you lose one of your members than your whole body go into hell it was also said whoever divorces his wife let him give her a certificate of divorce
But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife except for on the ground of sexual immorality makes her commit adultery and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery Jesus uses harsh language to talk about very sensitive subjects and ties it to the concept of absolute eternal weight when he says that this needs
To happen otherwise hell hangs in the balance and in a culture where romance and relationships and sexuality and marriage is held up as the way to find fulfillment and the way to define yourself this is just hard to take in a second we're going to walk through and kind of just say here's what he says here here's what
He says here here's what he says here before we do that I want to take one quick zoomed out view at the bible's approach to marriage to help us understand why Jesus says this as harshly as he does God designed male and female brought them
Together in Genesis it was the first wedding he kind of presided over it the goal was that there would be monogamy one man one woman together devoted to each other as husband and wife they would leave their parents they would cleave to one another they would
Be one flesh God intentionally in the beginning of the bible took a naked man a naked woman brought them together and said y'all gonna go be one flesh and that's the first
Marriage so he tied marriage with sexuality sin enters the picture and it gets really messed up and if you want to read a lot of graphic depictions of terrible sexual Acts you need to look
No further than the old testament where it doesn't mince words and talks about a whole lot of sexual deviance that happens it is kind of weird when you're reading the bible and you feel like this is inappropriate
That's an odd experience to have when you're reading the bible but that's what happens in Ephesians 5 paul says and we're gonna look a little bit more at it later but paul says that the secret to marriage the mystery about it is that
It was originally intended to point us to the gospel that when God presided over the first marriage he meant for it to point us to the gospel which is Jesus's love for his people Jesus's love for
The church Jesus's love for his bride that's what the church is called Jesus's bride that marriage is meant to point us there that's why christians believe that marriage is a paint by Numbers meaning that all of us should get the same
Picture that husband wife together for life is meant to be pointing us to a bigger more real to a true reality of Jesus's love for the church that's the secret behind marriage that was the point
Originally that's why christians are very rigid about what we believe about marriage and sexuality because we believe sexuality sex and romance were designed for marriage and that marriage was designed to paint one picture and point us to the gospel my wife and I went to johnston south carolina
Yesterday which you may not have ever heard of because it barely exists a friend of mine works kind of around the state and he called one time and said I just left the middle of absolute nowhere he said I thought kind of columbia was nowhere this is like you got to get lost in nowhere
To find this place and I was like what and he said johnston I was like that's where my wife's from that's where my high school was and you are correct it is in the middle of absolute nowhere we're coming back from there last night riding down highway one and
It's kind of you know highway one just kind of weaves its way through south carolina and every once while we'd see a sign that would say gilbert and point that way or lexington columbia and point that way and they'd have these little Numbers on them that meant this is how far
You are away these are the mile markers this is how far you're gonna go we'd ride for a little while in that direction we'd see another one that said lexington columbia and the Numbers had gotten smaller they want to on them the reason
Is it's pointing to an actual place it's got to point a direction it's got to have an actual number that corresponds to something because you're going to a real place christians believe the same thing about marriage and the gospel that marriage is meant
To point towards Jesus it's meant to point towards his love for the church it's meant to point towards and so that's why we get very rigid and specific about it's got to look like this it's got to be this way all husbands should act
Like this all wives should act like this like we christianity steps in and is very concrete about it because we believe it points to one clear picture sex designed for marriage it has two major functions recreation and procreation that means
It's fun and it makes children it's the way God designed it intentionally designed to be enjoyable intentionally designed in healthy adults to make children when everything is working properly there should be children I saw something
Recently that said that the reason there was an argument for easy access abortion and contraceptives that said pregnancy is just too great a cost for something as small and simple as sex and as a christian my response to that
Is there's a reason why sex causes pregnancy like it was meant to happen inside of a marriage where there was a male and a female there to raise a child like that's how it's supposed to work it kind
Of feels like if someone argued that they needed to lower the penalty for accidentally shooting someone with a gun because the penalty of you know killing someone and having to go to jail for it is just too great a cost for something as fun as pistols and my immediate response would
Be pistols were designed to harm people and you say no no I just use it for fun and it's like yeah but that we still have to have some regulations around this there's got to be some rules because that's what it was made for it feels the same
It feels like that's the argument it's like no it was designed for a purpose now I think immediately especially if you haven't been around the church much hadn't read your bible when someone walks up here opens a bible says hi I'm a pastor let's talk about sex there's this immediate like oh here we go women cover yourselves up hide
Sex is dirty wrong and bad save it for your spouse there's some sort of we just got liberated we just got free we just got to use our sexuality to give us power and now immediately it's like no get it out of here it's terrible it's gonna ruin society bible treats sex the way
It does because it believes it has greater value than you do it believes it's more powerful than you think it is there's a reason why you don't have to get a license to drive a moped if you hit someone on a moped you get hurt your moped
Isn't hurting anything like you run into my truck with your moped I'm hopping out hopping back in that's it like that's how it works like there's a reason why you have to get a license for a car and the reason why you have to get a bigger more intense license for an 18 wheeler
Because they're powerful they have more capability there's more to them there's a reason why the bible steps in and draws real clear distinct lines around sexuality and marriage because God designed it to be potent to be powerful it's because it's lifted up as it matters when Christianity
Says that you should dress modestly it's not because we have a low view of your sexuality it's because we have a high view of it I believe it belongs to you and to your spouse and you should like that's why like if you came to me and said oh you're so ashamed of your money with your safety deposit box I'm not ashamed
Of it I like it I don't want you to have it oh you got a safe you're ashamed of your money it doesn't make any sense and that's that's the same way Christianity treats it that it matters it's valuable so as we read through this I want you to just as as much as you can let's try to
Listen and see what Jesus is saying we're going to move to another passage in a minute to try to help us understand it more because they also disagreed with it both the Pharisees and his disciples there has to be greater clarification and we get
That later in Matthew so verse 27 you've heard that you should not commit adultery I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart Jesus ties lust which is a sexual
Desire that's carried out visually as adultery I do not think so adultery specifically means you've kind of cheated on your spouse you've broken that relationship with your spouse that's what the word adultery means he's
Saying that lust is the same thing going on in your heart he's pointing out that you've got to stop sin while it's in your head before it gets to your heart before
It makes it into action he's saying it's the same issue I don't think he means to say that if you lust outside of being married so a non-married person lusting free and clear I don't
Think when he uses the word adultery he meant to say that lusting outside of marriage is fine I think it's possible he actually means all lust is actually an offense against your spouse whether you have one right now or not
Because all sexual desire was meant for a spouse and nowhere else that's the rightful place for it then he says if your right eye causes you to sin tear it out throw it away it's better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell if your right hand causes you to sin cut it off throw it away it's better for you
To lose one of your members than your whole body go into hell we spent all our time on that last week talking about the graveness of sin the seriousness of sin and how much more serious Jesus takes it than we do it was also said whoever divorces his wife let him give a certificate of divorce he's quoting Deuteronomy 24 there and he's speaking into a situation where they said
The rule says give her a certificate and so there was consistent amount of write a certificate hand it off like you could just anytime your wife was disagreeable to you you could get a divorce and so Jesus is speaking and saying you think you're accomplishing this by following the letter of the law but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife except on the ground of sexual
Immorality and that's a different Greek word than he's used so far he means active sexual sin so that would be for them it would also include like if you married someone who had told you they were a virgin prior to getting married and then you found out they weren't because that was a grave issue in their culture it would include that it would include sexual
Sin while married with another person any kind of sexual action so adultery he's saying unless there's this going on unless they've already broken the sexual relationship you make her commit adultery whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery and so what Jesus said was there is no route from
Divorce outside of them already committing adultery outside of them already breaking the covenant through sexual sin there's no route that does not lead to greater sin greater brokenness he teaches this on a regular basis he teaches it here in Matthew 6 he teaches
It in Mark he teaches it in Luke it seems like it was something that he taught on a semi-regular basis so jump over to Matthew 19 because Jesus has taught this so much this very
Kind of aggressive controversial idea that you can't just get a divorce and be fine you can't just say well we filed the paperwork we're good that he actually has religious leaders show up to question him about
It Matthew 19 verse 1 now when Jesus had finished these sayings he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond
The Jordan and large crowds followed him and he healed them there and Pharisees those are religious leaders came up to him and tested
Him by asking is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause he answered have you not read that he who created them from
The beginning made them male and female and said therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife
And the two shall become one flesh so they are no longer two but one flesh what therefore God has joined together let not
Man separate so his response to can't we just get a divorce when we want to his response to that marriage is a sacrament meaning that
It belongs to the church it doesn't it belongs to humanity God designed it from creation and gave it to humanity that's what Jesus
Goes back and says no this is a creation ordinance it's given to humanity therefore and then he ties sex to it he says they'll become one flesh that's
Specifically talking about sex he says that they'll become one flesh and let not anybody tear that apart is never the goal of marriage to get
A divorce and so they have an issue with this they respond and they said to him what I think we want to say
Then why did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away what they just said was Deuteronomy says
Write a certificate Bible boy he says haven't you read they said you read it was a tree and that's hard to take but
His point when he responds to them was he says the hardness of your heart what he says is Moses was riding into a
Very messed up situation where this had gotten out of control and because of people's hard hearts marriages were a train wreck and because
Of people's hard hearts they weren't going to fix them and so Moses had to decide a system for how are we going to
Handle this but that was not God's intention that's Jesus' answer and that sexuality was designed for marriage so that sex outside of that
Covenantal relationship in marriage leads to sin and once you have covenanted with someone the only thing that works to break that effectively is sex with
Someone else adultery and I'm so thankful for the disciples in this passage verse 10 the disciples said to him if such is the
Case of a man with his wife it is better not to marry I have struggled immensely with this section of the Bible and
With what Jesus teaches about marriage and when I read the disciples I just say thank y'all for saying that to him I have
Struggled with what I want Jesus to say about marriage and what I think he actually does say about marriage and the disciples step
In and they say hold on a second the only way to end a marriage is a sin train wreck that's it no this
Person was bad you're okay he says no the thing that destroys marriage is sin and ultimately when there is a broken marriage if people move
On and remarry there's adultery he says that in Matthew Mark Luke that if so in what he said in Matthew 5 if your husband divorces
You and she remarries she commits adultery do you know how hard that is to take if you actually think about that what if
She had nothing to do with the divorce what if he just sent her off and he said no what happens is when they
Get remarried there's sin that's how they start their marriage now he does call it a marriage he doesn't say they're never married again
Or that one doesn't count but he I stand with the disciples some where I'm looking at what Jesus says and I go hold
A second what about this type of marriage you're telling me there's no way to get out of that outside of it being broken down by sin
There's no what about this lady whose husband is like this husband whose wife is like this like I want to bring to him
Pastoral situations that I'm aware of so here's what he responds with and I think I think it's helpful it helps win me over
I think it's refreshing I'm not completely won over by his response but Paul helps us later and we're going to Ephesians 5 to
Read what he says but here's how Jesus responds not everyone can receive this saying but only those to whom it is given I've
Heard people read that before and go oh okay good so not everyone has to stay married just the people who receive what he
Just said but Jesus keeps talking that's not what he means not everyone who receives this saying but only those to whom it is
Given for there are eunuchs who have been so from birth and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men and there
Are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven without going into too much detail about eunuchs they
Were sexually abstinent he's saying that you can be sexually abstinent for receive it Jesus backs up what the bible says which is some
People are going to receive marriage and they need to stay married some people can't receive that they're not given to marriage some people
Are going to be abstinent abstain completely from sexual activity and that's fine and if that's what you want to receive receive that so
The disciples say hold a second you mean to tell me there's no way out of my marriage and it'd be better off to
Not get married and Jesus says yeah that's fine and let me just say for single people in the room Jesus says yeah that's fine
You don't have to be married to be a complete human you don't have to have sex to be a complete human that's not
The path to fulfillment that's not the path to happiness that's what we believe as Christians he's not married he never has sex this
Seems so crazy to our culture who are so sex crazy that we made the da Vinci code which is like obviously he had to
Have a secret girlfriend nobody's that happy without a girl or some sort of love interest we have all these kind of like and
Jesus says no I'm a full complete perfect human for the next person who says this in the Bible and says it more forcefully
Is Paul he says that in first Corinthians chapter seven he like doubles down on it he says I wish all of y'all would not
Get married and then you could focus more on Jesus mission he says the guys who are worried about making their wife happy the
Wives are worried about making their husband happy he says I'm just trying to do what Jesus wants I got all the free time
In the world people are like I gotta get home my wife is cooking dinner he like I ain't gonna get home I'm working for
Jesus that's what Paul says I wish y'all could not get married but if you want to that's fine that's what Paul says not
Exactly like that I paraphrase a little bit but that was his point you can be a full complete human and never get married
But he says if you do get married the point of marriage is to stay married that's the goal that's that's Jesus' stance on
This I want to take a second before I kind of got down to I figured out as I was working through this my
Biggest argument against this and that's where I want us to end this morning but before we get there I want to take a
Second and just kind of with what we've said so far I want to sum up a few things if you are single I want
To take a second and speak to single married if you are single some of you are going to get married that's good the
Bible says marriage is good some of you are not going to be married Christianity is the first group people who came along and said
You can be a full complete human and never be married that's great it's celebrated some of you are going to get married some
Of you aren't that's fine for those of your goal as you follow Jesus is to abstain sexually until you get married that will not
Make all of your married sexual activity magical and amazing I don't I think that's been told to people in the church like if
You save yourself for sex it's going to be the most amazing thing no sex is designed for marriage it's designed to be good
Saving yourself sexually for marriage is designed because you are supposed to devote yourself to your spouse and covenant with them and say everything that belongs
To me belongs to you that's what sex is supposed to be marriage is not going to save you it is not how you level up
As a person some of you are thinking I've got problems but when I get married it'll fix me I'm lonely and sad but when I get married
It'll fix me if I can just get married then I'll know I'm cared about then I'll know I'm complete then I'll know I'm whole
That is not going to happen and if you would like to know whether I'm telling the truth ask a married person if getting
Married fixed them or made them whole and complete and utterly satisfied it doesn't work that way wasn't designed to the Bible never points
To marriage as the you're fine so if you're not married you're single in the room marriage is fine it's good don't believe it's going
To fix you it's not how you level up as a human it's not how you become a whole person it's not true if
You're not married in the room and you do not you're not going to get married you're not supposed to God has laid that
Out for you that's not how life is going to work for you you're fine you're a full complete human I do want to
Talk to the married people in regards to single people married people stop stop acting like marriage is the thing that has to happen
To your single friends stop acting like they don't count as a person until they are married stop asking them who they are dating
Stop watching them have a conversation with a friend and walking over and going stop it just stop if you have a single friend
Who is trying to date people and want you to set them up go for it if you have a single friend who has
Not asked you to do that stop marriage did not complete you did not fulfill you did not magically make you an amazing person
It did married people we have to if we believe this if the church actually believes this if we are going to stand with
Any amount of credibility and look at a person who has been divorced and say that we believe that you should not get remarried
If we stand with any amount of credibility and look at someone who struggles the same gender attraction and say that you should live
Your entire life not married if we're going to stand with any amount of credibility and look at someone who says I just don't
Think I'm supposed to get married and we're going to say we agree with the apostle Paul that that's beautiful and you should spend
Your life for Jesus mission if we're going to say that with any amount of credibility we have to open our homes on holidays we have
To open our homes on random Thursdays we've been taught that the route to life the time to have a roommate if you're a
Certain age we've over sexualized everything we've got to open our homes Anna and I struggle with this because we're both friendly kind of introvert
People we struggle at times with wanting our house to just be the place where we sit and don't think or interact with people
And we struggle with that being how we interact with each other we have to work on that but we struggle with not wanting
People but we've got to we've got to open our homes we can't just say oh that's great be alone forever we've got to have
People over for Christmas and Thanksgiving and we've got to have them over random nights of the week to help us raise our kids
And to help us love well and serve well also and this one's going to sound weird and it's weird to me and I've
Been working on it and it's still weird we're going to have to physically touch single people in non-sexual ways super weird to say all
Right got it out there this means put your arm around somebody we have acted like if you were single and you need physically
To be touched get a cat or a dog if you're single and you want someone to act like they like you get a
Dog if you want someone you have to pursue and they hide from you and act like they don't care about you get a
Cat we should be able to sit down put arm around somebody sit close to them share a couch hug somebody for longer than
Two seconds guys that's super weird for me I don't like touching people I'm working on it I got some people that I'm intentionally trying to be like
Hey good to see you and like keep my hand there like longer than I want to which was beyond the first time I
Touched them so but I believe it's important also we've got to quit stealing the word love from the Bible and making it only
Mean romance how many times have heard first Corinthians 13 read at a wedding that's the one that says love never fails love never gives
Up love never ends like I'm not quoting it perfectly but I think I actually started singing some sort of a pop song in
The middle of that but you know which one I'm talking about the word there Paul's writing to a church not a couple he's
Writing to his people writing to the church and saying this is our love for each other we've acted like if you're not in
A relationship you don't get the real full meaning of love that's not true the reason that's good to read at weddings is because
It's meant to be single people you get to live a full robust real life people who are not single who are married have deep
Meaningful friendships with people where you share intimate details about your life with single people let them do the same it makes what Jesus
Says tenable we have to follow up our actions with what we say we believe okay married couples in the room take divorce off the
Table don't bring it up in arguments don't hold it over top of each other don't think about it that's not the intent I say
This to people periodically even if your goal is just happiness on earth best shot at that is the spouse you're married to that's
The way the Bible lays it out best shot is the spouse of your youth that's the best shot you got at it divorce
Is painful and traumatic harmful every person that you're married to is a sinner and broken there's no shame in struggling there's no shame
In getting counseling we do counseling there's a recovery program we'll help if you're in our church family we'll help pay for marriage counseling we
Think it's perfectly fine at times to say we've had the same argument 1300 dimes we only know how to run this track we need
Somebody else to talk to that's fine all good marriages that last have seasons where they could have just hung it up you talk
To any marriage that's last any couple that's lasted they have seasons where they say yeah we could have just walked away this five
Years was terrible if you are married in the room and this is not your first marriage I have a couple the answer to
That is quite possibly with as strongly as Jesus says it quite possibly and the next question is so what do I do how
Does that work there's a story in John chapter 8 where they catch a lady who is in committing adultery at that moment they
Bring her to Jesus and they say we just caught her adultery what are you going to do the law says we should kill
Her and Jesus says whichever one of y'all is sinless throw the first stone the rest of us will follow you one by one the
Bible tells us starting with the oldest to the youngest so young people in the room who think you're sinless pay attention to the
Old people who put their stones down and walked away Jesus looks at her and she says am I not condemned he says they haven't condemned
You and neither do I go and sin no more there's forgiveness in Jesus and your marriage counts your marriage is real every time it's
Talked about Jesus treats it like a marriage stay married repent where you need to repent and move forward in the freedom that Jesus
Doesn't condemn you you get to move on don't make it worse fight for this marriage make this marriage good and beautiful make it
Point to the gospel you're free and forgiven there's hope if you are divorced and single your marriage was not meant to end that way and I'm sorry
Marriage is painful divorce is painful I'm going to talk about that on the ride home divorce is painful in some ways it's more painful than a death there's a lot of regret and shame and despair and guilt and I want
You to know Jesus pays for our guilt he takes our shame where there's regret he's a redeemer meaning he steps into broken messes cleans them up makes them more beautiful than they ever were where there's despair
He's our hope the bible never holds up marriage as the thing that's going to fix us it never holds up romance is the thing that's going to fix us or make us whole it always only singularly solely
And forever points to Jesus to do that there's hope for you given the circumstances of your divorce you may not be supposed to get remarried we would love to talk with you about that struggle with you over that
Wrestle through the scriptures together on that and then walk with you in life whichever way that plays out romance is not essential to our happiness and fullness and that was the biggest complaint
I had as I was reading what Jesus had to say about marriage and divorce is that I feel like when Jesus says if you get a divorce you should not get remarried or when he looks at single people and says some of you should just be single
Forever I have been indoctrinated to believe that marriage is one of the primary ways if not the primary way that romance is the primary way sexuality is the primary way to define who you are and to
Find fulfillment and happiness and the Bible never even comes close to saying that so when the Bible looks at anyone and says you shouldn't get married it does not think it just robbed you of happiness although I would have a hard time saying that
Because there's a part of me that believes I am if I have to counsel a divorcee and say I believe the Bible tells you that you should not get married again there's part of me that thinks there went happiness but Jesus never thinks
That the Bible never says that it never holds marriage up that way it never looks at romance that way it only always points to Jesus singularly and solely for our joy and hope and delight and satisfaction and fulfillment and it even
Does it in the midst of when it's talking about marriage go to Ephesians 5 as we finish up this is what wins me over this is what makes me go okay I trust you even though I don't like some of this even though I would have tried to lay it out differently in my own
Wisdom and even though I know that that time is very lacking verse 25 Paul's talking to husbands and wives he's talking beginning in 22 to wives we're going to pick up in 25 as he paints a beautiful picture of what a husband's supposed to look like and he's going to tell us why he says it
That way so page 569 if you have one of the white bibles in the rows chapter 5 verse 25 husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her so he says here's how you ought to love he's pointing to Jesus this is the picture of
Love that we have that Jesus loves the church and he gave himself up for her the church is everyone who's placed their faith in Jesus that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot
Or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish in the same way husbands love their wives as their own bodies he who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes it and cherishes it just as Christ does the church because we are
Members of his body therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh this mystery and that that word's also secret this mystery is profound and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church however even though it refers to
Christ and the church let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband Paul says the secret behind marriage the mystery behind marriage is that it ultimately points us to the really good husband it ultimately points us to the true
Husband Jesus who loves pursues and gave himself up for the church marriage is not the fulfillment completion road to happiness Jesus is marriage is only ever meant to point us to Jesus so if you're married
That's how you ought to love that's how you ought to serve if you're not married that's how Jesus loves and serves that's the way it works all of it ultimately is pointed to Jesus and his love for
The church and his love for his people only he can ever fulfill us make us whole mend our souls love us the way that a good husband ought to love English theologian J.I. Packer
Explains it this way it says through setting his love on human beings God has voluntarily bound up his own final happiness with theirs it's not for nothing that the Bible habitually speaks of God as a loving
Father and husband of his people God was happy before they were made he would have continued happy had he simply destroyed them after they had sinned but as
It is he has set his love upon particular sinners and this means that by his own free voluntary choice he will not know perfect and unmixed happiness again until he
Has brought every one of them to heaven he has in effect resolved that from now on and for all eternity his happiness shall be conditioned upon theirs a good husband a good father has their happiness
Wrapped up in their children in their spouse can't be fully and unmixed happy without the other being happy and fulfilled and complete and what
It says is that Jesus looked at the church and says I'm tying my happiness to yours when we want to respond that this is
Against our happiness and we want to use a trump card do whatever makes you happy Jesus has said I love you and therefore I've
Tied my happiness to yours and I'm also worked up some questions that we get frequently asked when we talk about this we're going
To do some Q&A here in a second I'm going to pray for us Raz is going to come up here and we're going to
Walk through a few questions but let's pray God we thank you for your word we thank you for your help we pray that
You'd help us to trust you to believe in you to follow you even in places where we don't understand where we don't know
Why things are working the way they're working or why your word says what it says pray that you'd help us to look to
The cross to know that you are for our good that you have joined yourself with us both in our despair and in your
Happiness in Jesus name we pray amen we do this from time to time where we do some Q&A we usually try to open it up
For people to send in questions this time specifically we also had some questions that we just know get asked on a regular basis
When we talk about this topic we answer a few questions and then we hope that this kind of Q&A is just the beginning
Of it we are wide open about any of this so this is Raz he's one of our pastors I'm going to read out questions we're
Going to tackle them pretty quickly give a biblical answer rather than a case by case kind of answer because there's a million hypothetical situations that
Everyone can dream up when each question comes up on the screen so let's look at the first one okay the first question is when
Is it okay to get a divorce let me start by saying that that's pretty similar to the question that the Pharisees asked the Pharisees came and said
Is it okay to get a divorce for any reason so to ask the question when is it okay to get a divorce or really to
Ask any question that presupposes that divorce is an option is going to be difficult to answer because it's kind of the wrong question if
Divorce is presupposed as an option then the Bible is going to say stay married the answer is marriage is not supposed to end in divorce and so this is one of those questions that
Is saying I'm looking for a divorce what are my options here and the Bible's immediate response is going to be marriage is good you're married you should stay married divorce
Is not an option unless it really has to be now that opens the door for when does it really have to be and that
Makes this question become actually a whole lot more serious because if it's asked in an inquisitive way then it's missing the point but if there's some
Serious sin issues going on in someone's life it really has to be a more targeted question about which how bad does the sin
Have to be how frequent is the sin can it be resolved is staying married no longer an option and I think typically we
Get our intentions in asking this question are typically off that that haven't been said the two kind of most common cited specific instances
Are the ones we read today in Matthew 5 and 19 where Jesus says except for sexual immorality which would be active sexual sin in the marriage in their
Culture would also have included sexual sin prior to the marriage because they would have said that that broke the covenant you had lied about being
Sexually pure it's a little bit different in our culture and usually people know what they're getting into when they get married sexual immorality also Paul in
1 Corinthians 7 has to address a different situation because when Jesus talks the church hadn't begun yet fully when Paul is writing two churches and saying if
You are a Christian you got married you and your spouse are married everything is fine but you became a Christian and suddenly your
Whole life view has now changed about what is okay what is not okay and your spouse says I don't want to be married
To you anymore and they just leave they're not a Christian but they just say I'm kind of done with this because I can't
Handle you being a Christian and our life being this way Paul says you're free which there is some argument over whether or not that
Means free to not chase them down or that means free to get remarried ultimately all of the situations that lead to divorce are
A mess and they're painful and we want to walk shoulder to shoulder with you through it be as helpful as possible help fight
For your marriage to last and to get past this stuff but we want to have any of those conversations we can I think
Also because the Bible doesn't say this the next follow up question is what about abuse so our response to that first of all
Is if that is you and you are in this room we want you to come talk to us Paul says this in 1
Corinthians that I think helps us with that if I can find it I I am going to read it out loud to the
Married I give this charge not I but the Lord this is verse 10 the wife should not separate from her husband but if
She does she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband and the husband should not divorce his wife I think that helps
Us out where it's like you shouldn't do this this isn't the goal but if you have to leave leave but with the goal
Being reconciliation not moving on and so to get out of an abusive situation to get out of a broken situation is actually okay
You should do that we want to help we have some full grown men that want to talk to your husband and but the
Goal should be reconciliation that your husband would repent that you can work this out or that you would stay unmarried because of how
Messed up it's gotten so what kind of like Paul lays that up let's go to the next question does being a new creation in christ mean
That a marriage that happened before you became a christian does it mean that that marriage doesn't count because you're not a new creation yeah
Sure does being a new creation in christ mean that a marriage that happened before you became a christian doesn't count okay so new creation in
Christ that's a quote from Galatians and more specifically probably second corinthians five um that's kind of taken out of context I have heard that and I've heard pastors say
That I've heard people say you know once you become a christian whatever happened in the past doesn't count I think when Jesus says bases it off of
Creation and just applies it across the board to all marriages I don't think that's actually true I think you're taking that out of context and
Applying it to something that that it's not meant to apply to what he's saying is you are made new all of your old
Sins pass away the same way that all of us are free not condemned from all of our sins we are a new creation
But that does not change some of the consequences of what's happened in our past and how we ought to move forward in faithfulness
And obedience so no I don't think so I think if that were true then we would have seen Jesus telling people once they
Become a christian they have to get remarried and there is that never ever happens if people are not it is never considered invalid
And even when he talks to the woman at the well he refers to all of her marriages as marriages all of them are
Considered treated as if they were all actual marriages does the bible ever clearly say what sexual immorality is first of all we do
We usually I only want to ever make the bible define a word when I kind of want to disagree with what I think it means
So that may not be you that is me also just when I'm going to I'm going to help show y'all what I do whenever I
See something in the bible and I really want to know what it means Raz what's that word mean in Greek he does Greek
I did that a bunch for this sermon is that a real question yeah sure okay so the Greek word that is translated into
English is sexual immorality is a word in Greek it's pornea and pornea used to be translated to fornication back when people used to say that word in English but they don't say that
Word anymore so it doesn't make sense to kind of cram into the biblical vocabulary so sexual immorality is the word that they the
Phrase that they used to translate pornea and what pornea means in Greek is any sexual act that occurs outside of a heterosexual monogamous for life
Marriage so a lot of people say what does that mean though what does that include that includes a bunch of things anything that is outside anything that is sexual and physical outside marriage is included
In that that's prostitution incest that is sex before marriage that is it covers a lot of things and I think what Chet was saying is that we want to argue with definitions that's only ever a thing when we want to get away with something when we want
To say what I'm doing doesn't count nobody hears you shouldn't murder and says yeah but let's define murder see what the Greek word said let's see what 10 different translators translated as oh they all said murder I wonder if it counts
If it was an accident I wonder if it counts if I did it to 50 people at once nobody makes arguments trying to justify things nobody questions the definition of a word until they're trying to justify something at least that's the most often time I want to maybe you're just curious
But that doesn't usually happen question they didn't have this at least not in the form that we have it does that apply to pornography that's a good question we have taught from this platform in the past that sexual immorality that pornography and
Sorry for the language masturbation falls under sexual immorality as a result of Che was saying just during the sermon that we sweated this passage a lot in the past week we kind of went Pharisee on it and tried to define terms and understand it like to the letter of the law
So that we could teach clearly on this which I think at times we were missing the point but this question came up for us today we were missing the point today no no no not today during the week sorry during the week when
We were trying to dissect this passage and find out what does it actually say we were pulling a Pharisee move and saying yeah but does it actually mean this and sure Jesus was saying stay married the question was does pornography count there are there are
Three terms that we used from the Matthew passage in Greek it doesn't matter what they were in Greek in English they are lust adultery and sexual immorality through discussions this week and research and trying to dig into the Greek text I think most likely now it
Doesn't really matter at the end of the day but most likely pornography fits more into the lust category and less into the sexual immorality category at the end of the day Jesus just said any man who looks at a woman lustfully has committed adultery in their heart and that's a big deal and we're not saying no longer an issue
You guys just go ahead and deal with like no it's still in the same category we still have sin issues when it comes to pornography and masturbation and stuff but it's probably not one of the categories that Jesus has just said you can get divorced over this it's I think it's ripped out of that category because if if somebody's struggling with
A pornography addiction we wouldn't say your next step is to get divorced that's just I think that misreads the text even if someone was struggling with sexual immorality we wouldn't say that and that's not what Jesus would say either the goal is to reconcile to repent
And to move forward okay yeah let's go to another question what if someone gets married and then they realize realizes and then realizes they made a mistake our third question answerer also I would be inclined to agree with him that
That there and this is what this is what this is what the conversation I get to have with people when they ask I'm just not sure if the person I'm married to is the one because we've pumped that idea into the world that you have a soulmate
Or whatever one true soulmate which by the way comes from Greek mythology where souls used to be have like two heads four arms four legs and the gods cut you in half and you have one true soulmate that idea does not come from scripture
It comes from some weird soul cut nonsense stuff from mythology here's our answer to that and here's the Bible's answer to that are you married to them they're the one I have good news for all you married people it's the
One you found them that's how it works stay married fight for the marriage you have you're married to the one keep it going make it work and yes in some ways you're going to realize you made a mistake
Because you're going to think I thought this was going to fix me and be magical and they're terrible and also I've learned I'm way more terrible than I thought and so yeah fight for it make it good and seek counsel where you need it
But yeah you're married to the one so go make it work that's the last question if you have more questions hang out with the community group this week talk about it as a group I think that would be a really good way to handle
I would suggest probably don't come up with hypotheticals because as soon as you come up with hypotheticals you're probably asking the wrong question also if something was unclear today from what was said because periodically things are just come over talking to me I'll be hanging out right here to make sure that that it's clear and if
You're gonna be upset I at least want to make sure you're upset for the right thing not something I should have said better all right you wanna pray for us and we'll get sure let's pray God we thank you for Jesus and the power that he has to reconcile us to you even though we're fallen even though we're sinful I pray for the
People in our church family who are dealing with some of the mess that occurs when when sin enters into a marriage and starts destroying things and I pray that they will seek you that they will seek what it is that you're calling them to and I pray that as a church family we can rally around those people and encourage them to seek Jesus in all things pray for a church family in general that we would hold marriage tightly with a
Biblical standard that we would hold sexuality tightly with a biblical standard and that we would constantly pursue you with our lives in all of it it's in Jesus name
Relationships in the Kingdom
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We are in Matthew chapter 5. We have been walking through the Sermon on the Mount. We're in our fourth week.
We'll be in Matthew chapter 5. It's on page 473. If you have one of the white Bibles, it's in the row. So in this section, we actually kind of walked through this part last week. We looked at Jesus' big point through this overall section where he's basically saying, you've heard the rules, you've heard the law, but I'm saying it's actually more than that. It's greater than that.
It's deeper than that. It's not just about your behavior, but it's also about your heart. And so we said that we were kind of looking at that idea and that we were going to spend a couple of weeks looking specifically at the topics he covers as he goes through that. And so he says, again, it's not just the rules, but it's about what's going on inside of you that matters. And so specifically as we kind of look at this, we have, I think, an advantage over the disciples who were hearing it for the first time. Because here's how this works.
We know about the cross. If this is your first time ever hanging out with a church, you still most likely know that Jesus died on a cross. If you ask people about Jesus, they'll say he died for our sins. Whether or not they believe that or not, whether or not they really know what that means, they've heard it. Most likely. We get to look back at everything we read, everything Jesus teaches, all of Scripture.
We get to look back at it through the cross. We get to understand the full implications of it because we know the whole story. See, the Bible is, from beginning to end, it's telling a one cohesive story. From where it begins in Genesis to where it ends in Revelation, it's one cohesive story that God is telling that he's unfolding throughout time. So, the disciples would have heard what Jesus taught, and then continued to go with him and walk with him, and they wouldn't have known the full extent of his meaning until after he rose from the dead. And then they would have to go, Oh, that's why he said, Like, I feel like they had these conversations, like, You remember that time where he said this, and we were all like, I have no clue what he's talking about?
I now know what he was talking about. Like, they got to do that. Like, if you, let me give you an example of this. There are some movies that you can never watch the same way twice. The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, Like, you can't watch them, and then watch them again, and something, like, The Sixth Sense does such a good job that if you watch it, when it's over, you're like, I'm gonna need to watch that again. Because you almost, like, want to argue with, they didn't trick you that well.
And you watch it again, you're like, this all makes sense. Like, does that make sense? Like, you see what I'm, like, I've said sense so many times right now, because of the name of the movie. The Sixth Sense, We can't watch it the same way twice, and that's the way it is for us with the gospel. We can't look back at what Jesus is doing. We can't look back at the Old Testament without seeing it through the lens of the gospel.
So when Proverbs tells us how much God cares about the poor, we get to go, Yeah, but not just cares about them, but comes one of them. When the Bible tells us how close he is to the brokenhearted, we get to say, Yes, he's not just close to them, he becomes, he joins us. When the Bible says how much he hates sin, but also how much he loves us, that fully gets unraveled, that picture gets made crystal clear in the cross, where he hates sin so much he dies for, but loves us so much he was willing to die gladly for us. So as we read this text today, we're going to read it as Christians. We're going to continually look back through the cross to help us understand fully what Jesus means here, the greatest extent of what he's trying to say.
So we're going to be talking about anger and reconciliation. So anger and then our broken relationships and how we need to mend those. So today is going to be a lot of fun. I'm going to pray for us, and then we're going to start reading the text. God, we thank you for your grace. Thank you for the gospel that we get to stand before you, being made holy and blameless and above reproach because you died for us, because you actively came to reconcile us to yourself.
I pray that today specifically your Holy Spirit would be at work in us to help us to see, see our hearts, see our anger, see our relationships the way you see them, that you would lay us bare, that you would expose us before you and before your word, that you would graciously and in your kindness lead us to repentance. In Jesus' name, amen. We're going to pick up in verse 21. Chapter 5, verse 21. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.
Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. So Jesus says, you've heard not to murder. He doesn't disagree with that, but he says, you've heard if you murder, you'll be liable to judgment. What I'm saying is that if you're angry with your brother, you'll be liable to judgment. He says it's not just your actions, it's not just this major big sin. You ever notice that in our community groups or when you're talking in the Christian circles and you'll say stuff like, I know I have sin, it's not like I've murdered anybody.
And Jesus is saying that actually isn't really coherent. What's going on in your heart? Are you angry? Are you holding on to anger? Like he sees everything and it all matters. It's not just your actions or your big bad sins.
It's actually what's going on internally. Now, we spent a good bit of time on this in our Killjoy series where we talked about anger and kind of how it's killing us and robbing us of joy. We did a little more time than we can today on kind of a theology of anger. Here's the thing. The Bible tells us that God gets angry. It also tells us that we should, in certain circumstances, be angry.
Romans actually says, be angry and do not sin. So anger is an emotion. It also is an appropriate response to brokenness and sin and legitimate harm that has been caused. Like there are certain things we should be angry about. But the question is, what are we doing with our anger?
How are we responding in our anger? And so Jesus says that when you are angry at someone, realize that that's to be questioned. That's to be examined. That God is going to look at our hearts. That we are liable for judgment in our anger against each other. And specifically here, I think because he's going to use the word brother throughout, that he's specifically helping them see deep, meaningful Christian relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ, but also just relationships with those we're around, that we know personally.
He's going to go further later and talk about loving our enemies, but mostly today it's going to be about our relationships with those in front of us. Okay, let me help you see a picture of this and what Jesus is getting at. Let's read back through this and kind of help us see what he says and then I want to give us a few examples. But I say to you, this is verse 22, I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. So that's an internal anger.
Then he says, whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. So he's increased the judgment, not just judgment, now it's the council, you're going to face more people, but it's, you've acted on it now. You've said something, you've flown off the handle or you've been talking behind someone's back, so it's, you've insulted them. Then he says, whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. So it seems there that he's either just gotten more specific, so you're angry and then more specifically a type of anger is insult and more specifically a type of insult is saying you fool.
I think he's also saying that that's internal, it's what you've acted on and then we'll see in a minute that fool, in a lot of ways, kind of has to do with your attitude towards them, your contempt of them. All right. Hopefully in your life, you have known some grandmothers. I want you to think back to, hopefully, hopefully you had your own grandmothers, but also hopefully your life was enriched by other people's grandmothers or other grandmotherly type ladies just kind of making you one of their grandkids. I hope that's happened. It's wonderful when it does.
I hope that you've been invited to as many loving, grandmothery type relationships in your life as possible. I want you to think about the fact that maybe it's your grandmother, maybe it's just some lady that lives on your street. I want you to picture for a minute a sweet, gentle, I mean, makes a mean pecan pie grandmother. We'll still let you eat it if you pronounce it pecan. Like she's sweet, loving, here's what I think, here's what I think we need to see and what I think Jesus is pushing on us a little bit. If you got to know her and got to talking with her, you might find over time that there's a certain group of people that she would never attack, never go out of her way to harm, never murder, but there's a certain group of people that she doesn't have much nice to say about them, isn't really going to give them much time in her life, isn't really going to care about them.
Maybe she draws that line straight across racial lines. Maybe it's not that well defined, maybe it just has to do with skin tone, but those people don't have much value to her. She's maybe not going to pop off with a lot of racist things, but maybe you just, as you get to know her, you realize there's a whole segment of people that she just isn't going to have anything to do with. Maybe it's not that at all. Maybe there's just a few individuals in her life that you found out you're not even really allowed to talk about in front of her. She'll say stuff like, we don't mention Clara Jones in this house.
That's all I have to say about that. Because there's something that's happened, there's some sort of a relationship, there's something that's broken down. Maybe it's just a type of person. Lazy. Those people with, those people who, every once in a while this stuff just comes out, and here's the thing. All of us know intrinsically, feel the weight of, I'm going to be held accountable for my actions, that all of those who have murdered, every time you watch one of these shows about murders and they talk to the family and stuff, they'll often say, I know one day he's going to meet his maker.
I know one day she's going to have to be held accountable for this. We know that intrinsically. But what Jesus just said was, every murderer on death row is going to have to stand before God and be liable for judgment. But so is every little old lady. She's going to have to walk up and lay her heart bare before God. Every single one of us is going to have to lay our heart in front of him, depending on our attitudes and our anger and our contempt for others.
There's a person you went to school with, very quiet. You don't remember him. You vaguely do. If someone showed you a picture, you might kind of remember. That's just quiet. It was not warm, but friendly, cordial.
Some of you work with this guy now. Like he went to school with some of you and now he's at some of your jobs. Like you, kind, not going to cause any problems. Not going to show up and disrupt anything. It's just, yeah, there, doing his homework, doing his job. but inside, seething with anger towards teachers, friends, boss, family, just eating away at. Not going to hurt anybody.
This person isn't going to show up with a weapon. You knock everything out of their hand. They're almost like going to apologize to you and pile it all back up, but there's something inside of them at work. That's what Jesus is talking about. That little old ladies and kind gentlemen, he's looking at our hearts. He's looking on the inside to see what's going on.
So, let me ask a few questions. Help us see this a little better. But I say to you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Okay, so some of you are like a match. Your anger fires up, fires off, blazes up, and then it's gone. That's it.
You knock the thing over and then you're like, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have acted like that. You, maybe, you just, you, and then you, like you can't, but there's like, he says every time there's anger going on, like that's questionable. Some of you aren't a match. You're like a smoldering coal. Nobody even knows you're on fire. But you're just, inside, you're smoldering.
Every once in a while it flares up. I know, like I have a fire pit in my backyard and sometimes I'll have a fire and then I'll hose it down and I'll go inside and it'll be completely out and I'll come back later and it's caught on fire again because there was stuff still down there smoldering. Some of you, that's the type of anger, that it's a long-term burning anger. So, who do you have bitterness towards? Who do you have anger towards? Whose name makes you just kind of go, who is it you don't want mentioned around you?
Who, what situations and circumstances are you most likely to be set off? Jesus says all that deserves to be questioned, looked at, repented of. He says, whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. Okay, some of you are good at insults. Some of you aren't good but you give it the old college try and you get in an argument and you're just gonna, you're just gonna say something. You're just gonna take a shot.
Some of you know how to completely destroy someone. The closer you get to them the better you are at it. Some of you, you're not insulting anyone to their face. You just have a whole lot to say about them when they're not around. And he says, that's an issue. That's, don't just think, well I haven't done this big action.
I haven't just actively harmed them. He says, no like, insulting someone. Be liable to the council. And then he says, whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. So as I was reading about this, that could just be an example.
He could just be giving you an example. He is not specifically, some of you maybe have heard, don't ever call somebody a fool. Call whatever else you want. But Jesus said, don't say you fool. That's not, like it's either just an example of an insult. One of the commentaries I read said it actually means empty headed person and that it in some ways is more of a tone or a posture than a specific insult.
So really it has to do more with contempt than anything. It's people that you've written off. So can I, let me just tell you how this works for me. Let me be a little honest with you here. Um, so I'm kind of, uh, self-righteous, religious, meaning that I think I can follow rules and do a good job. I'm not overly rebellious.
It's just kind of my, my MO. So, um, when I read the Bible, I'm mostly, other than, by God's grace, realize that he justifies me. I try to justify myself as I read. So, as I was reading through this, uh, whoever murders, okay, I haven't. So, it's like, cool. Uh, but I say to everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable for judgment.
And when I really got to thinking about that, I don't have a very short temper. I used to, um, and I would get angry and punch people. I don't do that, um, as much anymore. Uh, by God's grace, I'm not, I don't have a short of temper. I was thinking about it recently. I thought like maybe I've grown.
It also may just be that I'm not on playgrounds anymore. So nobody's putting their hands on me. Um, so I don't know if we went into the lobby and you started pushing me how I would handle it. But for the most part, in normal adult society, I don't have a big temper. I don't really throw stuff or cuss or anything like that. Uh, sorry, that's, yep, I can't, I don't cuss when I'm angry.
Um, then it says, whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. I, I mostly kind of take myself off the hook there because it's like, well, I only sarcastically insult people, but those are my friends. I don't really use words as weapons and arguments. Like I'm, that's not really my thing. Mostly because when I get angry, I don't talk well. Um, so that's not really, I, I don't, I try not to say stuff behind people's backs.
So, so far in this list, I'm kind of like, I'm okay. Uh, and then it says, whoever says you fool. And that I really think is contempt. It's just writing someone off. And this is where Jesus just flays me. Let me, let me give you some phrases from my vocabulary.
He's an idiot. And the way, when that comes out is you're telling me a story about someone who's done something that was what I think an idiot would do. And I do my hand like this to mean you don't have to acknowledge them. He's an idiot. Uh, I, I, this is in my vocabulary. I can't stand him or I can't stand people who, or, and it makes me sick when contempt is the belief that because of our actions, attitude, intelligence, life, circumstances, we're better than someone else.
Now, I don't know where Jesus called you out. That's where he called me out. I don't know if for some of you, you've, you're really good at holding a grudge. I'm not. I don't think that's any particular, I'm not bragging. I don't, I actually think it says that my memory's not that good.
Some of you are very good at holding a grudge. Some of you fly off the handle all the time. Maybe you're quick to repent. Some of you, maybe you're, you, you use words as ballistic missiles. I don't know, but I, I feel like every single one of us at some point on here, there's something as Jesus begins to unfold our heart that begins to show up. But it keeps going.
So, okay, so he starts this sentence with so, meaning in light of the fact that all of this makes you liable for judgment, in light of the fact that if your attitude of anger continues, you stand held accountable for it, in light of that, so, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother and then come offer your gift. So what he's saying is if you're, if you're bringing your gift to the altar and these were Jewish people he was talking to, so they would have gone to the temple and they would have brought first fruits from there, if they had fields, they would have brought fruit, they would have brought, they could bring wine as an offering, they could bring grain as an offering, most often they were bringing an animal for a sacrifice. They'd bring a goat or depending on their wealth status they would bring like a small bird.
Here's why they were bringing it. If they're bringing a sacrifice they're bringing it to the altar to say, God I have sinned and I need to be forgiven. So he says, if you're going to the altar and you're going to worship, you're going to repent, you're going to stand before God and say, I need you to forgive me because I have fallen short. He says, but if you're doing that and you haven't tried to make restitution with your brother or if you're doing that for some other reason but you realize there's someone who has something against me, he says, go, leave it, stop. God doesn't want it right now, you need to go talk to your brother.
Later in Matthew he's going to say, if you have something against someone else, you need to go to them. So just so you know, if you've sinned against someone, you know they're mad at you or you just know somebody's frustrated with you or if you're frustrated with somebody, the responsibility is on you to start the conversation. As a Christian, we're supposed to go to the people that we have broken relationships with and try to work them out. Go to the people that we know have been hurt by us, go to the people that we've been hurt by and talk to them. You see, Jesus is saying that your relationships with others matter in your relationship with Him.
Indicate your relationship to Him. That you can't say, I repent of this thing but actually not try to make restitution. That God, I want you to forgive me for what I said and you're just praying but you're not actually talking to them. Practically for us, we don't take goats to places. Nobody brings a burden here for us to sacrifice it. One of the ways I think this applies to us is that you've sinned against someone and you asked Jesus to forgive you but you don't ever talk to them about forgiving you.
So you're going to pray, God, I shouldn't have said that. Forgive me. And He's going to say, why didn't you talk to your wife? Why didn't you talk to your friend? Why don't you go reconcile with them? Why don't you go ask them for forgiveness before you come sit with me and talk about forgiveness?
I think that's what Jesus is getting at there. To realize that we can't go to God in repentance without also going to our brother in repentance that we've wronged. To realize that true repentance shows up in the way we live our life. And here's why. I said earlier we were going to look back through the cross. Here's why.
I'm going to show you this is in Colossians. For in Him, this is Colossians 1, 19 through 22, for in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. That's Jesus who is God with us. And through Him to reconcile to Himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of His cross. And you, that's the church, those are Christians who were once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds. He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him.
As Christians, we believe this. We believe that we were alienated from God, that we were enemies of God, that we had actively rebelled against God and harmed God and completely deserved destruction and wrath, but that God became a man and went to the cross on our behalf to reconcile us, to bridge the gap, to buy us back, to redeem us, to cover all the wrongs that we have done. That's what we say we believe as Christians. That's the centerpiece of our faith. And that's why I think Jesus takes reconciliation so seriously because it's the task He is here to accomplish. He's coming to redeem us and reconcile us back to God.
When I was growing up, I have two brothers. I still do. But I have two brothers. I have an older brother and a younger brother. Now, if you are a middle sibling, don't come up to me after this and say, oh, isn't it worse to be in the middle? You are wrong.
It's great to be in the middle. Being the middle kid is the best. You are confused. I don't know why. Have you ever talked to middle siblings? They're like, oh, being in the middle.
It's like, no, it is amazing. There's so many great things about being in the middle sibling. All right, so my older brother, like if you're the oldest, a couple of things that are problems with that. One is, when do you get to start being free and leaving the house? When you turn 16 or when you are able to get a car or a friend who's also 16 and your parents are like, but if you're the middle, when do you get to leave? When your older sibling turns 16 because your parents do this.
They're going somewhere and you're like, I want to go. And they're like, no, you can't go. And then you go to parents and you're like, he won't take me. And then they look at him and say, take your brother with you. And you think, thanks, my parents are going to bat for me. Do you know what it is?
They want both of you out of the house. It's not that they care about y'all's relationship. They care about some quiet. But like, that's, when I was growing up, I got to hang out with my older brother. Like when I was 13, like just picture this, I get to hang out with my older brother who's driving and go do older brother stuff. Like I did, I was allowed to hang out with him as long as I didn't talk and I was cool with that.
And so he was like, just keep your mouth shut. That's one of the ways I developed my sense of humor, which still I wish sometimes my older brother was with me. Because here's what would happen. We'd go out somewhere and I would just like mumble a joke to him and then he'd be like, shut up. I'd be like, okay. And then I would mumble a joke and he'd go, that's pretty good, say it out loud.
And then I would say it out loud and people would laugh. And he helped me develop a filter. And there are days when I wish he still stood next to me so I could whisper the thing I just thought and him go, please never say that out loud. But then I could come home and my younger brother was like nine and I could immediately go from hanging out with like high school kids and keeping my mouth shut to playing Legos and it just meant I was a good older brother. I could grow up quicker and slower. It was great.
Also, when my older brother did anything, my parents were like, oh my goodness, our first kids are driving. Oh, he's mowing the lawn. Like there's pictures of everything. When he went to college, they were like, he's going to college. And then like, I just, nobody noticed me. I just started driving.
They were like, here are the keys. Go get milk. When I went to college, they were like, bye. Like my parents, like my mom cried when they dropped Logan off at school. My parents were there for like 15 minutes with me. They were like, here's your room.
All right. Here's five bucks. Bye. Bye. When my younger brother left, it was like, our baby's leaving. We're going to be all alone.
They freaked out about everything that he did. I just got to skate. Now, if you want like pictures of your childhood, sure, being in the middle is terrible. I get that. We really, like my older brother's a thousand videos of them just filming him when he's like an infant and they're like poking him and making faces and laughing. We have a video.
I kid you not, my mom pans the camera over to me. This is Chet. He's about nine months old. This is all he does. And then immediately goes back to Logan and is like, tell me a story. And they follow him around for like an hour.
And then there's a thousand videos of my younger brother because he was at home while we were at school. And so if you want like your history to be documented, don't be in the middle. But otherwise, I don't want to hear it because it's great. But here's one of the issues I have being a middle brother. My older brother would pick on me, you know, older brother stuff, smack you because they could get away with it, trick you into eating food, like sawdust. He put sawdust in salt one time and told me it was flavoring.
It was not. It was sawdust. Hold you down and like do the like, see how long they can make their spit go and suck it up before it hits you in the face. You know, good older brother things. And so when my dad would like fuss at my older brother, he would take his time on any amount of him picking on us. He would like try to explain to him how bad it was and how I felt or whatever.
But then when I did it to my younger brother, my dad would look at me and go, don't you know better? He would look at me like, how on earth are you doing this to your younger brother with as many times as if I had to have the conversation with your older brother about doing this to you? And I honestly feel that is the response we deserve when we in the church have broken relationship after broken relationship where we are unwilling to reconcile. That it honestly, it's like God's looking at us going, do you actually believe what you say you believe? Do we? You see, when I say, too much has happened or we're just too different or have you seen what they did or what they said, like it's, the gap between us is just too far.
We can't be reconciled. We can't have a good relationship now. What we're saying, if you are a Christian, is that somehow this gap between you and an individual is further than the gap between you and the God of the universe? The sins that they have committed against you are greater and more heinous than the sins you committed against the creator of everything? That the distance that has to be traveled, that the time that's like, is greater than us and God? You see, if we actually believe that Jesus Christ forgave us of our sins and reconciled us to the creator of the universe, then we can be reconciled with anyone.
That he can actively go to work because the gap between us and other humans is minuscule compared to the gap of infinity between us and God that he bridged through the cross. Here's what I think is happening and two major issues when it comes to this. Here's something I think maybe we argue with. We'll say, yeah, but he was legitimately wrong. Like, the sin is real. And here's what I want you to see.
As Christians, we are more set up than anybody to specifically call out sin, to address it fully, and to forgive. Most of you, your families, if they weren't Christians, operated on one of two systems. Your friends operate on one of two systems. You do something actually wrong or someone does something actually wrong and the system is we acknowledge that it was wrong and we punish because we don't have any other way to acknowledge. Or we acknowledge that it was wrong and we cut ties. They lied.
They actively harmed our relationship. Like, you legitimately acknowledge it. But then what do you do from there? Punish for an amount of time maybe through silent treatment or punish for an amount of time until you feel better or feel like you're over it or just completely write somebody off. The other option is we don't talk about it. We just cover it up, sweep it under the rug because there's no way to handle it.
Christians, we get to walk into every situation and just pull the rug back. Fully and freely address the actual sin that is present knowing we have a broom and a trash can. That Jesus Christ redeems us from sin. Forgave us. We are fully equipped to forgive. To acknowledge sin.
That's what Jesus is doing on the cross. That's what God is doing on the cross. To fully acknowledge it and pay for it. 1 John 4.20 says this. If anyone says I love God and hates his brother he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
John is not mincing words. He was there when Jesus said this on the mountain. He was there when Jesus died on the cross. He was there when Jesus rose again. And John writes a letter to a church and says if anybody says I love God but he hates his brother that's a liar. I want to help us see why.
2 Corinthians 5.17-21 says this. Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has passed away behold the new has come. All of this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That ministry of reconciliation in small picture is how we relate to one another but the big picture is that we help other people be reconciled to God. That we actually believe that everyone you know and work with can be redeemed of their sin and reconciled back to God.
He's given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses that sin against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ meaning we represent him on earth. God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him that's Jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus reconciled us to himself gives us the ministry of reconciliation and here are two major issues I think that have gone to work that we need to realize when it comes to our relationships with others when we're not willing to reconcile. First one is this we've let some other story become our main story. You see for Christians this should be the story. This is our main story. This is the framework we build our life around that there is a God who we were meant to relate to perfectly that we have rebelled that our sin has broken that but that Jesus has redeemed us and forgiven us and we get to spend an eternity with him and we've been given a ministry of reconciliation seeing other people come to knowing that wherever we work wherever we play wherever we live that we're active in the part of trying to reconcile people to God because this is what God's given to the church.
But some of you some of us we have such anger over politics because we've allowed the American story to outweigh the gospel story. We have such anger we've completely have contempt for other races because we've begun to believe that our family history our genealogy our skin tone has become a bigger story than the gospel story. Some of us have broken relationships with individuals because our personal happiness has become bigger than the gospel. We're actually supposed to understand that reconciliation is one of the primary tasks we're called to both that people would be reconciled to God big picture and in small picture we'd be reconciled back to people.
But when we're unwilling to forgive and unwilling to reconcile it's because we've begun to believe that something else is bigger and more important. And here's the biggest issue with this. If a Christian is not willing to reconcile is not actively trying to reconcile we are lying about the gospel. We're the group of people that stand and say you can be forgiven of anything and you can relate back to God but I'm unwilling to forgive this person and I'm unwilling to have a conversation with them. We are a liar. And we stand lying about the gospel.
That Jesus redeems sinners and welcomes people back to himself and that all of us can be forgiven. Our behavior means that we actually don't believe that. That's what John is saying. That we can't say I hate this person and I love God because that's not how it works. That God actually goes to work in our heart to change us. I think one of the ways this works is not that our forgiveness of others and our relationship status with others saves us.
The Bible would never say that. But it does say things like you'll be forgiven the way you forgive and you'll get the measure with which you measure out and as he keeps going in this passage in Matthew 5 he says this verse 24 leave your gift there at the altar and go first be reconciled to your brother then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to the court lest your accuser hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and you be put in prison. Truly I say to you you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. I think that's practical advice about how to not go to court with people and try to reconcile quickly.
About how to not go to court with people and try to reconcile quickly. I also think that in the bigger scope of what he's saying here it's an image of do not face the king do not face the true judge when you haven't been actively seeking to reconcile and to work out your relationships don't have a line of accusers
That stand and point to you as a liar who said you believed the gospel but didn't actively try to practice it. And here's what I think it is as the Bible addresses this and on a regular basis we'll be talking about because we forgive the way Jesus forgave
And we reconcile the way he reconciled and we get to join him in this I think it's like income verification so when you go to get a car and they're like no credit check or you go to apply for a house and they say it's no credit check
A lot of times they want income verification some of you went to get a mortgage and you had to give income verification what you were showing them was that this money is in my account and will be continually put in my account
You weren't working you weren't proving it you were just bringing them some pay stubs you were just bringing them some let me show you how it comes in I think that's the way forgiveness it's just proof of how much grace and forgiveness and love
And peace and joy have already been applied to our account by Jesus it just shows it it's just a paper trail if you begin to see somebody who has a life of continually being at peace with those around them forgiving reconciling pursuing
It's just a paper trail it's not earning them anything it's just showing what's in their account that's why it matters that's what it is is that we're showing that infinite grace and infinite forgiveness and infinite joy
Have been applied to me have been given freely to me and so I actually have a well that never runs dry that I can pull from when it comes to loving and relating and forgiving okay let me show you a practical way this
Shows up and then we'll wrap it up for the day as we kind of walk through this we live in the south there are a lot of churches on a decent regular basis I get to talk to people who are just kind of visiting and they'll say yeah we're here we're just
Checking this out and we've got some other ones kind of on our list to check out and here's the truth I have I know a good bit of pastors in the area I have like five to ten churches that I could immediately recommend to people that I think are healthy
Biblical pursuing Jesus pursuing the gospel trying to see people come to know Christ like I'll help you make that list that's the conversation I actually have with people when they say they're visiting and they're going to keep checking out other churches
I'll usually say okay two pieces of advice check some of these out make your search quicker these are ones that I appreciate secondly don't do that forever because you get in this weird shopper mode with church and you're showing up trying to
Figure out does this meet my needs and it's weird it's not good for your heart that's not the way Christians were intended to work but here's what I know to be true because there are so many churches around here and because I know how people work
If you hang out with our church long enough we will offend you and not just the like American version of offend where we hear a thing and go I'm offended I'm talking like legitimate sin against you we were wrong offend you or and or you will offend us
Sin against us you were wrong offense we will harm you or you will be harmed by us wait that's the same thing we will harm you or you will harm us we sometimes jokingly say that's our mill city guarantee
Like that's how that's going to work we're a group of sinners and let me tell you what's going to happen you're going to have two options when you become have a relationship breaking down when you have frustration between you and someone else
Or someone in your group is really just making it hard for you to even show up because you're so frustrated with them mad at them they continually pop off with offensive things they say stuff that maybe they don't know is offensive sometimes they do
It on purpose sometimes they've actively gone to work to seem to harm you here's what's going to happen or you've done the same and you don't know how to get leave or grow leave go to
Another church they'll show up do you know how excited they'll be if you just show up to another church next week they'll smile at you they'll say how are you doing it's nice to meet you what's your name they'll say come do
This thing come join in this thing like it'll be so easy you can leave or you can grow you can begin to do what the bible actually says christians ought to do and if you leave
And stick with another church it'll be another year maybe two years maybe six months here sometimes it's like two months it didn't take as long you'll have
The same opportunity you can leave or you can actually begin to look like the bible says christians look like which is to have really tough conversations to
Actively have to forgive someone to have to repent of sin some of you I don't know you it's your first second Sunday hanging
Out with us you're here because you chose leave from your other church and as lovingly as graciously I can say this to you I would vote that
You go back and grow and if you need help trying to think through that some of you maybe that was the situation and
You've been here for six months now you're in a group you've been here for a year now here's what I want to tell
You next opportunity you get grow choose grow choose repent choose look like Jesus says we ought to look like so here's what we're
Going to do because we want to look like Christians here's what we're doing today we're going to practice this by practice I mean
We're going to do this first if you are in here and you are not a Christian I want to join Paul in saying
We appeal to you we plead with you we implore you is what Paul says to be reconciled to God I want you to
Know that your sin can be forgiven I want you to know that Jesus does love you he does want a genuine actual personal
Relationship with you I want to implore you repent of your sin and be reconciled to God if you haven't done that yet I
Would love to talk to you about how to do that how to place faith in Jesus how to begin to follow him if
You are in here and you say I am a Christian here's what we're more than we understand that there's going to be pain
There's going to be death before there's resurrection we understand there's going to be death before there's life that we have to acknowledge our
Sin that we have to work it out before we get to be freed from it so we're going to have some conversations in a
Second we're going to start playing some music and we're actually going to We're going to repent of an attitude of contempt where we just wrote somebody off, where there's somebody sitting on the other side of the room here that you just won't talk to anymore because you read something on Facebook and learned that they were an idiot, so you don't have to listen to them anymore. We're going to repent. We're going to ask for forgiveness. We're going to go to people who have hurt us and we never told them. So, some of you, this is going to be, you're going to have to talk to your dad, you're going to have to talk to your kids, you're going to have to talk to your spouse. I've got a few kind of guidelines for us and things I want to address before we do this. First, I want everybody to begin by praying and asking the Holy Spirit,
When we get started here in a minute, I want you to just bow your head and pray and say, Holy Spirit, if there's somebody I need to reconcile with, if there's somebody I have pain with, if there's someone I need to talk to, I need you to tell me. Some of you already know. Some of you don't. Some of you have attitudes towards people that have grown up over time and you don't even realize anymore. I used to work on swimming pools from the time I was like 13 until I was coming out of college. Even beyond that, I worked on them some when I moved here. I would go to people's houses all the time. I would have to go around behind their house and work on stuff. And here's the thing, I am aware that dogs bite people, but I'm not overly afraid of them. So I would go to people's houses, dogs would come out. I'd just kind of, you know, stare them down, make sure they knew I would fight them if they came at me and, you know, could get to work.
Except for Cocker Spaniels. If I walked into someone's backyard and saw a Cocker Spaniel, I would like start sweating. My heart rate would start beating and I would be like. And if y'all don't know what Cocker Spaniels look like, they're small and like curly haired, cute, fuzzy little kind of dogs. And I was like, like had something going on. Like I could, like I don't. And it took me a while to remember that when I was growing up, my neighbor had a Cocker Spaniel that used to bite me every time it saw me. I apparently had like bottled that up and forgotten about it. Because I remember leaving someone's house and being like, why did that dog scare me? And then she'd be like, oh well. And then later saw another Cocker Spaniel and was like. And it was like, what is wrong with me? The reason I say that is some of us are going to need to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal something to us that has grown up.
And we haven't, we don't know. Some of you, that's going to be your spouse. You're getting along really well. You actually in some ways are flourishing. But there's something that happened that y'all never really talked out. That you never really forgave. And it's begun to change how you relate to one another. Some of you, that's going to be a sibling. Some of that's going to be your children. That you're holding some sort of frustration over something that you never really talked about. And it just affects how you relate a little bit. It's just a misstep every once in a while. But it needs to be spoken about, forgiven, confronted, confessed. So we want to ask the Holy Spirit to show us. We want to listen. If you pray and say, Holy Spirit, who do I need to talk to? And a name comes to your mind. Don't think no. No, I don't. Ask why. Ask how.
Ask what about.
We're going to go to people who have hurt us and we never told them. So, some of you, this is going to be, you're going to have to talk to your dad, you're going to have to talk to your kids, you're going to have to talk to your spouse. I've got a few kind of guidelines for us and things I want to address before we do this. First, I want everybody to begin by praying and asking the Holy Spirit, when we get started here in a minute, I want you to just bow your head and pray and say, Holy Spirit, if there's somebody I need to reconcile with, if there's somebody I have pain with, if there's someone I need to talk to, I need you to tell me.
Some of you already know. Some of you don't. Some of you have attitudes towards people that have grown up over time and you don't even realize anymore. I used to work on swimming pools from the time I was like 13 until I was coming out of college. Even beyond that, I worked on them some when I moved here. I would go to people's houses all the time.
I would have to go around behind their house and work on stuff. And here's the thing, I am aware that dogs bite people, but I'm not overly afraid of them. So I would go to people's houses, dogs would come out. I'd just kind of, you know, stare them down, make sure they knew I would fight them if they came at me and, you know, could get to work. Except for Cocker Spaniels. If I walked into someone's backyard and saw a Cocker Spaniel, I would like start sweating.
My heart rate would start beating and I would be like. And if y'all don't know what Cocker Spaniels look like, they're small and like curly haired, cute, fuzzy little kind of dogs. And I was like, like had something going on. Like I could, like I don't. And it took me a while to remember that when I was growing up, my neighbor had a Cocker Spaniel that used to bite me every time it saw me. I apparently had like bottled that up and forgotten about it.
Because I remember leaving someone's house and being like, why did that dog scare me? And then she'd be like, oh well. And then later saw another Cocker Spaniel and was like. And it was like, what is wrong with me? The reason I say that is some of us are going to need to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal something to us that has grown up. And we haven't, we don't know.
Some of you, that's going to be your spouse. You're getting along really well. You actually in some ways are flourishing. But there's something that happened that y'all never really talked out. That you never really forgave. And it's begun to change how you relate to one another.
Some of you, that's going to be a sibling. Some of that's going to be your children. That you're holding some sort of frustration over something that you never really talked about. And it just affects how you relate a little bit. It's just a misstep every once in a while. But it needs to be spoken about, forgiven, confronted, confessed.
So we want to ask the Holy Spirit to show us. We want to listen. If you pray and say, Holy Spirit, who do I need to talk to? And a name comes to your mind. Don't think no. No, I don't.
Ask why. Ask how. Ask what about.
Religion vs The Gospel
Transcript
Hi, good morning. Like I said earlier, my name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We are walking through the Sermon on the Mount, some of Jesus' best-known, most-heard teaching that he has. It's the longest section of him just straight teaching in the gospel. So we're going to be in Matthew chapter 5.
And what we're doing today is we're going to kind of take a big-picture look at a large section of this. And then over the next couple of weeks, we're going to come back and look at the specific things that he says as he's walking through. But I want us to kind of zoom over it a little bit today and look at his major point that he makes. And then the next couple of weeks, we'll spend some time looking at the individual parts and exactly how we try to apply some of that as Christians. Jesus is teaching his disciples. He's begun to train them what it's going to look like to be his followers, what it's going to look like in his kingdom that he's setting up.
And they were thinking really small. They were thinking he's setting up an earthly kingdom. Jesus is going to set up an eternal kingdom. But he's beginning to teach, here's what my people are going to look like. Here's how you're going to act. Here's how you're going to be.
And today he's going to say some stuff that I think is very helpful for us. Before we get started this morning, I have a question for us, something to think about. What does God want from you? What does he expect? So if you're...
I think it's a fair question for most people that believe that there is a God. I think it's a fair question to say, well, what does he want? What does he want me to do? How does he want me to act? If Jesus is making a group of people, they're going to be called Christians, Christians, what does he want them to be described as? If we took a poll in the United States and said, what are Christians like?
People just had to write down what they thought. What would God actually want them to write? What do you want them to say? What does he want? Well, I think that most of us, or the most often heard answer you'll hear will be, God wants us to be good people. He wants us to be good.
And then I think it's fair to ask, okay, well, what does that mean? Does that mean following the rules? God's got rules. Learn the rules. Follow the rules. Learn your rules.
You've got to learn your rules. Is that it? Is that the point there? Have you ever met a person, you don't have to look at them right now if they're here with you, that cares, cares so deeply inside their little heart and soul about the rules? Have you met this person? Maybe you know one of them that is pleasant.
I don't know if I've ever met one that was overly concerned. Like that was the purpose of their life was to know the rules and obey the rules and follow the rules and learn the rules. And you've got to know the rules. And when they enter into any situation, what are the rules? Their following of God was, I've got to behave. I've got to know the rules.
It does something to a person. And it's not pretty. Those people don't turn out to be gracious, loving, helpful people. Like it hurts their little soul. I don't know. Like they're not pleasant.
Later you find out if you know them long enough. They actually aren't that good at following the rules. They just over time got good at pretending like they were. So if you were to say that God really just wants us to follow the rules, I would argue he at least wants us to not turn out like that. To do that well. So some people are going to reject that.
They're going to say, no, it's not. It can't just be about the rules. They're going to say, no, being a good person, it's about your heart. It's about being happy. Some people tell you, God just wants you to be happy. God just wants you to love.
It's about your attitude way more than it's about your ability to follow rules. It's really more about your intentions. That sounds really nice. It feels very flimsy though. Kind of like it falls apart if you think about it for a while. That you're really going to argue with me that all God wants from people is this like happy, floaty, if you felt good inside, then you did it.
It's like no rules. Doesn't care at all. There's no guidelines. And then people will start adding in, okay, well, this guideline and this guideline. And you'll find if you get to people that really say, no, God just really wants us to be happy. They still have a set of rules that they will aggressively adhere to.
They may have spread the boundaries out, but they're going to say, no, okay, this type of happy person. Not that type of happy person. This type of person whose intentions are okay. Not sociopathic people whose intentions they thought were okay. There's still going to be some sort of fencing in. And so I think it's helpful for us to ask, what do you want?
What are we supposed to look like? How is this supposed to play out in life? Jesus is going to answer that today. Okay. And I think it'll be helpful for us to see it. I know that the disciples, they had to have this question.
As they're trying to figure out what it's going to look like to follow Jesus, they had to have this question. See, they're Jewish. Jesus was Jewish. They had the Old Testament. What we have is the Old Testament. That was their Jewish law.
And Jesus is coming along and he's saying stuff that has to do with it. He's some sort of a religious teacher, but he didn't go through the normal route to become one. And so they have to have some serious questions about what are we going for here? How much are you going to follow after the Old Testament? How much are you going to, which they would have just, I guess, just called it the Testament. How much are you going to follow after that?
And how much are you going to, like, what are we changing here? And so Jesus begins to answer that. In Matthew 5, verse 17, I'm going to pray before we start reading the text. God, we thank you for your word. Pray that it would train us and change us. God, we ask that you would help every person in this room today clearly see their own heart as it stands before you.
We ask that because you love us and you're good to us and you're gracious. In Jesus' name, amen. Matthew 5, verse 17, you'll be on page 473 if your Bible looks like mine. Do not think, this is Jesus speaking, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. Okay, so that's our Old Testament. The law is the first five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and then the prophets is going to include everybody else.
We kind of have divided them differently. We'll have history books and we have the wisdom literature and the prophets. But Jesus is just saying, don't think I've come to abolish all that you've been taught, all that you've been trained, everything you've studied, every Sabbath. Don't think I've come to abolish that. Don't think I've come to get rid of it. They had to have that question in their mind.
Do not think 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, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. So Jesus just said the entire Old Testament law, the prophets, every time a prophet stood up and said, this is what God is like, this is what he cares about, this is how you ought to act, this is how you ought to care about injustice, this is how you ought to care about the poor, this is how you ought to handle your money. Every time a prophet did that, in our pages of the Old Testament, that's in force.
That applies. He's not coming to get rid of that. Every law in the Old Testament that says this is how to live, this is how to act, this is how to treat your neighbor, all of it is in force. It still applies. That's what he just told them. He said, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass until it's all accomplished.
Okay, so an iota or a dot, that would be the same in English as saying, those are just two really small marks in their writing, that would be the same as saying, not a dash on a T or a dot on an I. Not the cross of a T or a dot of an I will pass away from it until all is accomplished. And he says, until heaven and earth pass away. Now, I don't know how heaven's doing. I'm pretty sure earth is still here. So let me just throw this out there.
The law is in force for all of your lives because when the earth passes away, I'm pretty sure you're not going to be doing so well. Now, some of you are like, I'm getting on a spaceship. Best of luck to you. The rest of us are not going to be doing well. The law is in force. That's what Jesus just said, until it is accomplished.
Let's keep reading. Therefore, because that's true, because the law is in force, therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness, that's your morality, your goodness, your standing before God. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. He just brought the hammer down and it's completely lost on us.
He said, unless your righteousness exceeds the scribes and the Pharisees and all these Jewish men just went. And we were like, who? That doesn't mean a whole lot to me. Scribes were the people who studied and memorized the Old Testament. They were the lawyers. See, their law, their Old Testament law applied to their civil laws, their ceremonial laws, their religious laws, their moral laws, and their laws relating them to each other.
And scribes are the people that knew them in and out. If you had a question, you went to a scribe. And what they said was binding on you. They would say, this is how you have to apply that. So the scribes were constantly getting together and riding up and saying, this is how we apply this now.
Here's how we apply this now. Here's how this looks now. Here's how you do this now. Now, the Pharisees were the leading religious party of the Jewish people that were the most strict. To the point that Jesus at one point when he's talking with them, he says, you strain out a gnat. Because that was an unclean animal.
They couldn't drink it. So if a little bug got in their drink, which all of y'all were like, I would get it out too. Sure. But they didn't get it out because they didn't want to drink a bug. They got it out because that bug was unclean. They cared so much about following the rules.
They were the best rule followers. And what Jesus just said was, your righteousness, your rule followingness has to exceed those who've made it their life practice. Has to exceed those who've, this is what they've built their entire life around. See, the Jewish people looked up to the scribes. They looked up to the Pharisees. They thought they were the ones crushing it.
They were the ones that God loved. They were the ones that were doing it well. It would be like if he looked at you and said, you have to out follow God. You have to out perform, out righteous the Pope. And it's like, bro, this is his whole Job. That's all he does.
And he wakes up in the morning and thinks, don't mess up being the Pope. That's what scribes and Pharisees did. Like, he says that's what you have to do. You have to exceed them. And he begins to explain his argument before he even says that. What he said was, anybody who relaxes any part of the law will be called least.
But those who enforce all of it will be called great. You see, what the Pharisees were really good at was saying, this part of the law doesn't matter as much as this part of the law. They followed the ritualistic ceremonial law to a T. But Jesus is going to argue with them consistently that they forgot about justice. That they forgot about mercy. That they forgot about love.
He says, you're doing great over here. You've missed weightier things. And so Jesus is going to say, all of it matters. All of it. And then he's going to, over the next section while he's teaching, he's going to begin to show you, not just the rule part, but the heart as well. Not just the external actions, but what's going on inside of you as well.
So if you don't mind, because Jesus was teaching this, they were just going to hear it. I am going to just read some of the sections he's going to hit in a second where he begins to show you not just this, but this. It's going to be hard to follow along if you're trying to read as well because I'm going to skip around and I'm going to pay no notice to how well you're keeping up. I'm just going to read through some of this to help you see it. So I would just encourage you to listen because they would have heard it this way.
Jesus is going to just kind of say, not this, but this, and I'm going to walk through this fairly quickly. You see, Jesus is going to, as he's teaching this, he's going to say, it's not just the rules. It's also the heart, but it's actually, it's both. For the people who say, it's just our intentions and whether or not we're loving, he's going to say, no, rules matter. And for the person who says, yes, up top, Jesus, rules matter, he's going to say, you're kind of a jerk and your heart needs to change. It's not, it's not picket signs.
It's not peace signs. It's both. And I don't mean like a picket sign with a peace sign on it. I just mean both have to be in play. So here's what Jesus is saying as he begins to teach.
You've heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder. And whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who's angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever says fool will be liable to a hell of fire. You've heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Again, you've heard that it was said to those of old, you should not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is a footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not take an oath on your head, for your head cannot, you cannot make your hair white or black. Let what you say simply be yes or no. Anything else comes from evil.
You've heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the cheek, turn the other to them also. You've heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
See, what Jesus just went through and said is your righteousness, your goodness has to exceed the scribes and Pharisees. It can't just be, I behave well. I've never murdered anybody. He says, no, are you angry though? Do you look down on people? Do you have relationship issues?
Do you have people that you're holding bitterness towards that you haven't reconciled with? Some of you are saying, I've never cheated on my wife. I've never cheated on my husband. I'm perfectly chaste when it comes to hearing. He goes, yeah, but how's your heart? You see, Jesus begins to go through and say, it's not just your actions, but it's your intentions.
It's both. It can't just be, oh, my intentions were good. He says, no, the rules matter. But it can't just be, I follow the rules well. He says, no, your heart matters. And then he says something that's terrifying.
We're going to put it on the screen. It's in your Bibles. Verse 48. As he finishes this up, he says, you, therefore, must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. You, therefore, must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. You, therefore, must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.
He means it. It's not hyperbole. It's not exaggeration for effect. You see, earlier when we said, what does God want from us? And I think if we had handed out index cards and everybody had written something down and we passed them up here, sat up here for a little while and just read them, I doubt that anyone would have written perfection, nothing less. I think all of us would give room for effort, intention.
What Jesus just said was, he walks through and says that God is paying attention to what you do on the outside. And that the God of the universe is paying attention to what's going on on the inside. And his standard is perfection. Now, remember your English class. Just for a second, picture yourself in English class. Teacher gets up.
Says, I've got an assignment for you. It's a 25-page paper. Immediately, you die a little inside. They begin to go through the rules on, you know, MLA or Turabian or what kind of citing you're going to give, what kind of bibliography you need, how many sources you need, what the regulations are on how many spaces and on your footnotes and how they want the title page. They begin to go through all of this. And then they say, teacher looks at you and says, now, here's how this paper is going to work.
It's 25 pages. Using this rubric, this guidelines. I'm going to proofread these. I'm going to have a friend of mine who proofreads for a national publication proofread it. I'm going to run it through a computer program to proofread it. We're looking for every English grammar rule that has ever been made.
All of them. We're going to be keeping up with compound possession errors and alternate subject and verb agreements and punctuation and spelling and everything. And if you make a mistake, we will stop grading. You will receive a zero. And this is 100% of your grade in my class. I say we revolt immediately.
Complete anarchy. Do you know how much, how many people would be, if this is middle school or high school, how many moms and dads are showing up and being like, you've got to be kidding me. How many of them are like, I want her to write a 25 page paper and I'm going to grade it. And she gets fired. Like how many people would be showing up? Like how many, how many crying 19 year olds are in the dean's office?
Do you know Jesus just stood Jesus. And looked at those who were going to follow him. And, and by looking at them was looking at us and said, all of it matters. All of it applies externally and internally. And the rule, the system is perfection. Now, as best I can, I want to explain a few things to help us get to this point.
Because I think for some of us, we're immediately going, either he has to be exaggerating or I'm done. Part of the problem is if he's telling the truth and if he speaks on behalf of God, you can't drop this class. You live on earth. You belong to him. You don't get to exempt. You don't get to, you don't get to, there's no add drop to being a human.
You stand before a holy God. But let me explain to you kind of how we got here. Here's what the Bible says. The God of the universe is good. And out of his own goodness. Out of his own beauty.
Out of his own truthfulness. Out of his own grace and love. He created the earth. He created it because he was loving. Not so that he could have something to love. But because his love overflows.
He created it because he was good. He created the earth good. That the earth existed. He made humans specifically to mirror him. To image him and to exist in a relationship with him. The Bible says very quickly that humans, because they existed, because they had personhood, they could then choose between worshiping God or trying to exalt themselves.
If you hadn't read it, spoiler alert, we chose ourselves. We chose ourselves. I want to be most important. I want to be most highly honored. I want to chase after the things that I think will make me happy. That's what humans did.
That's where hatred and racism and genocide and theft and murder come from. That we broke the good world that God had made. Here's what the Bible says. God made this world good. It rebelled against him. And that God, the God, the creator God, is a good judge.
He's a good judge. So I'm explaining what that means. Good Judges condemn the guilty and release the innocent. That's what a good judge does. For example, I say there's a doctor. Great doctor.
Amazing doctor. He's like Dr. House from the show, but likable. Like Dr. House and that other doctor that hangs around with him. Like if you mixed them together and he was as good as Dr.
House, but like friendly and kind of like a good person. He works at a hospital where they bring him the toughest cases, not only from that hospital, but from around the U.S., around the globe. He figures them out and he does it with friendliness and a smile. He cures you of your random disease and then gives you a cookie. Like he is amazing. He goes on trial because it turns out.
This is hypothetical. Don't get stressed out. Turns out he's also a serial killer. Yeah, right. A little messed up. He, he, like three people a year.
Not patients. Just, you know, random people. His lawyer is not going to stand before the judge and say, judge, I motion that we just throw this case out. And here, here's why. Math. My client last year saved 100 lives.
That's close to two a week. That would have died otherwise. We've got affidavits signing. This guy said, I was going to die, but then I didn't. 100 of them. And he only killed three people.
100 Minus three. He's at a plus 97 for the year, judge. How many people did you, how many lives did you save last year? The judge is not going to say, good point. The judge is going to say, guilty. Because when the question of perfection comes in, the question is not, what's the good stuff you've done?
The question is, have you ever done something wrong? Has he broken the law? You see, Jesus just looked at his followers and said, all of it matters. All of it's in force. And when you stand before the judge of the universe, the question is not, are you mostly good? The question is, where and when and how have you failed?
And he's a good judge who doesn't acquit the guilty. He's a good judge who doesn't let you walk. Now, for some of us, we're going to, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I get your little scenario. I understand how that works. Can't be like 51% good and 49% bad or whatever.
That I don't get to erase my bad deeds with good ones. I get that. But you're going to tell me that the God of the universe, not just with murderers, not just with heinous people, not just with genocide, but that he's going to look at someone like, I'm going to go to jail for life over unpaid parking tickets. That's it. That's how God works. If I've lied once, if I've broken the rules once, if I've stepped out of line once, if I, sure, okay, I've lied.
I've broken some relationships. I've got some people I'm still mad at I won't talk to. Yeah, I've intentionally said things in my life to hurt someone's feelings, went out of my way to do it. Yeah. But the God of the universe is going to make me walk in front of him and then he's going to declare me guilty over small stuff like that?
I understand that argument. I understand that feeling because I feel it. Let me explain the problem with that. Let's think about art for a second. I like to draw. I like to paint.
My mom for Christmas gave me some oil paints. So I've been watching Bob Ross on Netflix. And painting. Little Bob, like happy trees and happy clouds and all that kind of stuff. They're not that great, you guys. To be honest with you, I'm trying to learn.
Bob Ross is way better than me. But I put some energy into him, put some effort into him. But I'm not, I mean, like most of us aren't like, you don't know much about fine art. Maybe you do. But we've heard of people like Michelangelo, Van Gogh.
We know about the Mona Lisa. We know about the Sistine Chapel ceiling. So let's say you messed up one of my paintings. Let's say you did it on purpose. You were mad at me. I did something to hurt your feelings.
So you were like, I'm going to hurt his painting. And then you feel bad about it. So you come to me and you say something along the lines of, look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have poured paint all over your painting. It's not that big a deal.
I hope you can forgive me. And you really wouldn't think it was that big a deal. And here's why. I'm not that good of a painter. It's not that good of a painting. You're like, I'll buy you some more paints.
I'll get you another canvas. Let's call this one a wash. I'm sorry. But if you walked into the Sistine Chapel and threw a paint-filled water balloon at the ceiling, or if you walked into the Louvre and you threw ink or paint on the Mona Lisa, there's no getting that back. You've messed up something that's priceless. Michelangelo can't step back in and do another one.
And here's the problem, the massive problem with us when we look at the God of the universe and say, seriously? I lied seriously? I intentionally said something to hurt someone's feelings? Seriously? I broke a relationship and you're going to hold that against me? You're going to declare me guilty for eternity?
Seriously? Seriously, what we're saying to the God of the universe who created truth and beauty and love, he painted them as on a tapestry that he wove them into the world so that love actually exists. It's real. We feel it so that truth is actually beautiful and glorious because he's beautiful and glorious because he poured himself into these. When we look at him and say, seriously? I just lied.
What we've done is we took the beauty that was truth and we intentionally marred it and we intentionally broke it. When we say, look, it's just a relationship. It's just unforgiveness. What we did was we took love and we intentionally harmed it maybe again and again and again. And we've looked at God and said, you're really small and your glory doesn't matter that much. Can't you just let this one slide?
It's not that big a deal because what we believe is that he's not that big a deal. That he's not very glorious. He's not eternal. He's not beautiful. That love and truth aren't actually as beautiful as he says they are. You see, the reason a lie works is because truth exists.
The reason it snuck past somebody, the reason you're still getting away with it is because somebody's actually believing that it's truth where you've counterfeited it and then you've begun to look at God and say, you need to cut me some slack. It's not that big a deal. I think you're getting a little carried away. I think you think a little too highly of yourself. Do you know how arrogant we are? That we would look at the God of the universe who demands that we be perfect to be in his presence and say, you've got to be kidding me.
Do you know how small we are? Do you know how much we've intentionally destroyed all the beauty and the glory that God has woven into the world? And do you know how little we care? You see, Jesus stood and said, perfection is the standard. And we want to argue because we actually don't believe God's that perfect or the truth is that glorious or the justice matters that much or the mercy or the love really are as beautiful as we say they are, as he says they are. We believe God's really small.
So what do we do? If that really is God's standard, if Jesus really does speak on behalf of God, if that really is the condition that all of humanity finds itself in, that we're going to, it's not just a 25-page paper, it's your life, and the standard is perfection, what do we do that one day we're going to stand before a good judge and we are going to bring with us all of our sin, that we're going to walk before him with everywhere we've ever failed, what do we do? Go back to verse 17. 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, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. You see, Jesus stood before his followers and he's going to press into them how much their sin matters and how much perfection is real and how much in order to walk before God you have to be blameless. But he said as he began, I've come to fulfill it and I've come to accomplish it. And Jesus uses the term accomplished a couple of times in the New Testament. And I want to show you three of them because I think it helps us understand what he's talking about here. This is from Luke 12.
I have a baptism to be baptized with and how great is my distress until it is accomplished. He's talking about what is going to happen at the end of his life, which is the cross. That's his baptism that he has to be baptized with. In Luke 18, he says it this way. He takes the 12 aside. See, we are going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written about the Son of Man, that's himself, by the prophets, will be accomplished.
You see, Jesus said he's going to fulfill the law and the prophets. John 17, this is right before he's going to the cross the next day. I glorified you on earth. He's praying. He's talking to God. Having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
You see, what stands at the center of Christianity is not that we're supposed to be perfect. What stands at the center of Christianity is a cross and an empty tomb. You see, if this is where it ended, with God sending Jesus to declare to us be perfect, then this would stand at the center of Christianity or some teaching that Jesus had. But Jesus' teachings are pale in comparison to the cross. Because what Jesus came to accomplish was the cross, where he came to fulfill the law and accomplish what it said was going to be accomplished in the prophets. So Jesus stepped in, lived a perfect, sinless life on our behalf, and died on the cross for us.
I want to read a section of Isaiah 53. I'm going to run through it kind of quickly. But I want to show you how he fulfills the prophets. This is Isaiah. Who has believed what he's heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he, that's Jesus, grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, as one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he's borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But 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've turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, that's Jesus, my servant, make many to be accounted righteousness. He shall bear their iniquities. You see what the Old Testament promised over and over again was that God was a good judge.
He was not going to acquit the guilty. But then prophets began to say there's going to come someone who's going to carry the guilt for us. There's going to come someone who's going to bear our transgressions, bear our iniquity, bear our sin. Who's going to take all the times that you stepped out of line in your heart or in your actions. And he's going to place them on himself and he's going to die for them. You see Jesus lived perfectly.
And he fulfilled the law. He loved perfectly. He obeyed perfectly. He fulfilled the law. That he could walk before God blameless. That he could stand before the Father and say test me, try me, weigh me.
And God would have to accept him. So he didn't deserve death. He didn't deserve punishment. He didn't deserve wrath. He was holy and blameless. But he not only fulfills the law, he fulfills the prophets.
Which says there's going to be one who's holy and blameless. There's going to be one who's righteous. And he's going to take the sin of us. He's going to take our guilt, our pain, our punishment. And he's going to die for it. And by his righteousness, many will be accounted righteous.
He's going to pay our debt so that on our debt it says zero. Jesus means it when he says perfection is the standard. But see what the Bible says is that Jesus is our perfection. And that we get to be clothed in his righteousness. And we get to walk before the Father blameless and pure and holy. So Colossians says that he's going to make us holy and blameless and above reproach.
Corinthians says that he who knew no sin became sin for us so that we could be made into the righteousness of God. I think we often have the question how? How does that work? How does placing faith in Jesus, how does me trusting in Jesus transfer all my sin to him so that when he died that God punishes him for me. And then takes his love and his grace and his redemption, his righteousness, puts it on me and then loves me. How does that work?
The Bible doesn't really answer that question very clearly. But the Bible tells us very clearly that it works. That Jesus' death on the cross in our place works to give us his righteousness to take away our sin if we place our faith in him. So Jesus says in John, he says, the work is to believe on him whom you've sent. That we're to believe in Jesus and our sin can be taken away. That's the gospel.
That Jesus fulfilled the law and the prophets and that those who place faith in him are made perfect. If you are in Christ, you are perfect. Your sin is gone. When you walk before God, he's not going to have anything to weigh against you. He already condemned Jesus for it. You can't be condemned.
I want to take just a second. You see, we have to go from saying the law is my righteousness or my behavior is my righteousness or my intentions are my righteousness. How do you answer the question when I meet God, what will I say he needs to equip me on account of? What am I going to say I tried? Am I going to say I was mostly good? What the Bible says is we get to stand and say Jesus is my righteousness.
If I get to walk before God and say I'm made holy and righteous and blameless because of Jesus, not because of anything I've done. Jesus is my righteousness. Christ is my righteousness. He's what makes me perfect. He's what makes me okay. So I want to take just a second to help you see how this begins to show up.
You see, if we believe that our work, our intentions, our ability to behave, if we believe that that's what makes us okay, it does something to us. It hardens our hearts. If you believe that your effort is what makes you okay before God and he's going to weigh you based off your actions and your intentions, it doesn't soften you. It doesn't grow you in love towards him. It hardens you. He becomes like a boss or a landlord, not a father.
If you had a father who looked at you and said, in order to be my child today, here's what you have to do. And then you can be my child. And then you can share my table. You wouldn't grow in love towards that father. Your heart would harden towards him. You see, but Jesus says our heart has to change and our actions have to change and that he's ultimately going to fulfill this for us.
So I just want us to show when it comes to acceptance, if you believe that it's based off of your work or if you believe it's based off of Jesus' work, that's what we're going to talk about as we finish up our time this morning. I just want to help you identify this in your heart because some of you may be sitting here and saying, yeah, I believe that. That's basic. That's Christianity 101. I get it. Jesus made me okay.
Y'all talk about this every week. I've been here a couple of weeks. This is all y'all talk about. Some of y'all, you're saying that. That's cool. Come back next week.
We're going to talk about the same thing. Jesus is awesome. We're going to talk about him every week. But some of you say you believe that, but then you actually live as if you still think it's based off of you. Some of you are going to say, no, I believe the gospel. I believe that Jesus died for sinners.
But then you're going to live your life. You're going to practically walk as if you think he's going to weigh you at the end of your life and not base it off of Jesus. And I want to help us identify this a little bit. Acceptance. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to call one religion because that just religion says I'm going to do my work and this is what's going to make me okay.
So we're going to call this religion just any amount of my effort, my works, and then we're going to call the other one gospel. Is that fair? Doesn't matter. I'm doing it anyway. Acceptance. Religion says I obey, therefore I'm accepted.
The gospel says I'm accepted, therefore I obey. One of the ways that begins to show up is what's your acceptance of others? How open to you? Do you have standards they have to meet in order to be okay? Do you have standards they have to meet in order to be able to be a good member of your community group? You may actually believe that you have standards that you have to meet for God.
Motivation. Why you do what you do. Religion says, religion's motivation is based off of fear and insecurity. I have to put in work to be okay. The gospel's motivated by grateful joy. Jesus is good.
He's glorious. He's a king. He loves me. I get to follow. I get to live. I get to pursue.
I get to be generous. Obedience. Religion says I obey God in order to get things from God. I obey him so that he owes me. The gospel says I obey God to get God. I delight in him.
I delight to resemble him. One of the ways this shows up in your community group, if somebody's struggling with something, what's your go-to? Here are the rules you need to follow. Here's how you messed yourself up. It's because you're sinning. Or is it, let me tell you how Jesus is good.
You see, those who believe in the grace of God will go grace first and still care about the rules. They understand that the rules still, obedience still matters, but they know that Jesus pays for our disobedience. So we get to say, hey, let me tell you the good news right now. You're not going to be punished for your sin because Jesus was. If you're in Christ, you're okay. Now, let's repent.
Let's change. Let's own our sin and let's move on. Here's how the difference is in how you handle circumstances. Religion says, when circumstances in my life go wrong, I'm either angry at God or myself. Because religion believes if you're good, you deserve a good life. So when your circumstances go bad, you're either mad at yourself because you must have been bad, you must have done something wrong, or you're mad at God because he owes you.
I did true love weights. Where's my husband? Those of you who grew up in youth groups. I'm not watching those kind of movies. I've been really generous. I've how on earth can you do this to me?
Or if you haven't been behaving well recently, God's punishing me. But see, the gospel, circumstances in life go wrong. I struggle. But I know my punishment fell on Jesus. That while God may allow this for my training, he's going to exercise fatherly love. He's not punishing me.
He's not mad at me. I'm not being, he's not looking at a particular sin and saying, I'm bringing the hammer down. He's saying, I love you. I'm going to train you. I'm going to be with you. If you believe that God punishes us for our circumstances, you have a lot less grace for people in bad circumstances.
You may not realize you do that with yourself, but if someone around you is struggling, how much are you going, yeah, but I bet they did something. They really brought it on themselves. How they handle criticism. When you're religious and you're criticized, it crushes you because your life is based off of your perception of yourself. I have to be good. I have to be okay.
I have to be well-liked. Criticism destroys you. If you believe the gospel, criticism is unpleasant. It's not going to get nice. But it doesn't destroy you.
You realize that your value isn't based off of how much people like you or how well you do at things. You get to rest in the grace of Christ. The other thing that happens is if you're religious, you actually become way more critical because you need other people to be bad so that you can be seen as good. Here's a difference in prayer. I forgot to say this. Tim Keller made this list.
He's a pastor in New York. He's really smart. I did download it from the internet. Here's what happens in prayer. Religion says my prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I'm in a time of need. The main purpose in prayer is to control your environment.
Prayer, when you believe the gospel, consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. The main purpose of prayer is to fellowship with God, to appreciate and enjoy Him. Here's how confidence works. Religion, your self-view swings between two poles. You're either living up to the standards and so you're prideful and confident or you're failing miserably and you're depressed. That's the only way religion works.
Either you're doing a good job and you got swagger or you don't want to see anybody. If you're religious, when you sin or life gets hard, you disappear. We'll see you again in a couple weeks when you get it back together. Because you can't be around people unless it's going well. You're depressed. You can't talk.
You can't answer your phone. You can't let people know you're having problems. Your confidence just bottoms out because it's based off of you. And let me explain to you. If you're religious, your confidence is going to bottom out because it's based off of you. But in your gospel, people who believe the gospel have humble confidence.
You know that you're terrible. You know that you're a sinner. You know that you have nothing to offer God. You know that if you stood before Him on your own account, you would not be labeled perfect. We can't even do the 25-page paper thing. I don't even know all the Old Testament laws.
I'm so grateful that Jesus fulfilled them. I know I'm a sinner. You know that. But also, you know that you get to walk before God because of grace, because of Jesus' work. It can't be taken away from you. His effort, His achievement.
You get to walk before God because of Jesus. You get to walk before God with Him looking at you the way He looks at Jesus. You have absolute humility and absolute confidence. Last one, identity. In religion, your identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard you work, how moral you are. And so you look down on those you perceive as lazy or immoral.
Your identity is tied to your effort. In the gospel, your identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for you. You're saved by grace. So you don't look down on those who practice something different. Because you know that only by grace you are what you are. And you can rest.
Knowing that they're not taking away Jesus' good work. Your sin does not out-sin His grace. Your rebellion can't crush the cross that we get to be repentant. We get to place faith in Jesus. The band's going to come back up. We're going to sing.
We're going to sing. That's the gospel. That's our hope. That God's standards for us are immensely high. But that He loves us so much that He achieved them for us.
That nothing less than perfection will do. But He loves us enough to accomplish it, to rescue us, to redeem us, to make us His. If you're in the room and you are not a Christian, you can be. Because Jesus did all of the work. If you've ever looked at the church and said, what a group of messed up people. They're such hypocrites.
Right. We're the first people who raised our hand and said, I messed up. I can't do this on my own. The people who are still religious and are trying their hardest to be perfect, they look way better than us. The people who followed Jesus around were the people who said, I have no chance to attain perfection. And Jesus says, yes, but I attained it for you.
You just get to trust Him. You get to push all your weight onto Him. You get to stand before the God of the universe one day and walk confidently before Him. That you know He'll welcome you as a father welcomes a son. Because Jesus has gone before you to take your guilt and your punishment. That you have no fear walking into that courtroom to face that judge.
Because He's not a judge, He's a father. That for those of us in Christ, one day we will be greeted and welcomed and given a seat at the table. And not a person there will say, look at what I've done. Every person there will say, look at Jesus and what He's accomplished for me. That my sin does not follow me. My sin does not scar me.
My sin does not stay with me. I love the fact that when Jesus rose from the grave, He could still show the scars in His hand and the hole in His side. The only person marked by our sin in heaven is Jesus, not us. And there's not a soul who will boast in anything but Christ in that kingdom. So if you have something to boast about, and it has to do with your effort, your work, your intelligence, your ability, you will not be in that kingdom.
When you walk before the king, when you stand before the judge, and you say, weigh me and try me, you will be found at fault. You will be declared guilty. You will be condemned. But when you walk before the king and say, Jesus was condemned for me, and I stand on grace and grace alone, that there was a Christ who came, who fulfilled the law, who fulfilled the prophets, and I trust in Him with all my heart, and I believe in Him, and everything that I have, and that He alone is my righteousness, and He alone is my hope, and He alone is my life, you're welcomed. Because that's the perfection that we get to attain through Christ.
If you don't know Jesus, I beg you to place your faith in Him. Because one day we all stand before the king, and He'll either be a judge or a father. You'll either be held accountable for your sins, or Jesus will. You'll either stand on your own righteousness or His. Let's pray.
God, I pray that with perfect clarity through your Holy Spirit, we would all see our standing before you. That we would see in our hearts clearly how we would stand before you without Christ. And that we would see in our hearts clearly how we can stand before you with Christ. And for those of us who placed our faith in you, I pray, Lord, that we would rejoice, that we would rest, that we would worship, that we would boast in you. And that for those in the room that have not yet placed their faith in you, who are still trying to prove themselves, who are still trying to work it out, who are still trying to stand before you and say, here's why I need to be welcomed, or here's why you're wrong, and this system is broken.
God, I pray that through your grace you would humble them, that you would rescue them, that you would make them yours. That right now they'd make a conscious decision to follow you. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
The Cultural Apologetic
Jan 22
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We're in our second week studying through the Sermon on the Mount. We'll be in Matthew chapter 5. We'll be on page 472.
If you have one of the white Bibles in the rows. If you don't have one of these, we'll be in Matthew chapter 5. There's a New Testament scholar and he's a professor at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. And he wrote a short book. His name is Larry Hurtado. He wrote a short book entitled, Why on Earth Did Anyone Become a Christian in the First Three Centuries?
So it's a short book with a long title. Why on earth did anyone become a Christian in the first three centuries? And here's his basic point. He said, if you're a historian and you're kind of honest about history, we have to ask this question. We have to look at history and ask, why would anybody become a Christian? Because when Christianity began in the Roman Empire, it was aggressively, widespread, vastly persecuted.
It was the most hated religion that existed. If you became a Christian, if you associated with Christians, if you said, I'm a Christian, declared yourself a Christian, there was social pressure. You could be kicked out of your home. You could be kicked out of your friendships. There was financial pressure for a lot of Christians weren't allowed to be in the guild. So let's say you were a blacksmith and you became a Christian.
There was a good chance they would just say, well, you can't be a blacksmith anymore. There was actual physical, like you could be arrested or murdered. And so he actually says, nothing like the repeated and increasingly hostile stance taken by the Romans towards Christians existed. Like there's, we've never seen anything like it. How increasingly hostile and how aggressive they were towards Christianity. So you have that on the one hand, that Christians are aggressively hated.
And it grew. It grew so fast that three centuries later, it was the majority of the Roman Empire. That Christianity grew so quickly. And he basically says, you look at history and you've got to ask why. He says, you know, like if you look at the first three centuries of Islam, Islam grew in its first three centuries. But they did it by conquest.
He said they did it on a horse with a sword. But Christianity grew at the other end of that sword. It grew through persuasion. It grew through relationships. It grew through talking people into, hey, jail guard. Would you like to also be arrested?
Like, like it grew that way. It grew in crazy ways where Christianity flourishes while being persecuted. And he says, why? And as we begin to look at the Sermon on the Mount again today, as we pick up where we left off, we're going to see that Jesus actually begins to build in this dynamic into his very earliest followers. That you're going to stand out and be disliked, but also it's going to be very compelling and beautiful. So people are going to hate you, but I'm going to work in that.
That's kind of Jesus begins to build that into his followers. And so if you'll look in Matthew chapter 5, we'll pick up in verse 1. I'm just going to kind of summarize the first 10 verses. That's where we spent our time last week. It's online if you weren't able to be here with us last week. The first 10 verses, Jesus is doing what we call the Beatitudes, which is basically the blessedness, the beautifulness.
Here's what flourishing looks like. Here's what the good life is. And he starts to say, here's what my people are going to be like. So he starts talking about characteristics of the people that are going to follow him. And he uses this kind of like all of those who type language. So everyone who, and it's kind of, we said last week, it's like at your first day of basic where the drill sergeant, well, maybe he comes out.
I've never been, so I'm just making stuff up. I also can't talk the way drill sergeants talk because I'm pretty sure I'd get fired. But go with me here. First day of basic, drill sergeant comes up and says, for everyone who's mean as a rattlesnake, who's never had any fear, who doesn't know how to quit, and kind of goes through this big thing and says, you'll do fine, welcome to the army or something. And like, that's kind of what Jesus is doing. He's saying for all those who, he's painting this picture of this is the type of person we're going to be.
And if you were in basic and you were standing in formation and you were listening to the drill sergeant, you'd be soaking up everything he said because you knew this is what I'm going to have to be. This is the type of person I'm going to have to be like. That's what Jesus is doing. And he just got done in Matthew chapter four, healing people, traveling around. It says he would heal paralytics and people that had never walked. He would just tell them to get up and walk.
It says he had rule over spiritual forces. Those who were under demonic oppression, he was just commanded to leave and it would. And so now he goes up on this mountain and he starts teaching his followers. It says he's talking to his disciples and they're hanging on every word he says. Because he's in control of everything. He's shown his power.
And now he's saying, here's the type of people we're going to be. Here's the type of people I'm going to make. And so what he says is those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. He begins to lay out. This is the type of person he begins to say, if you're like this, this is the blessing that God answers this, that God responds to this. This is the type of people we're going to be.
And so in verse 10, he says this, he's finishing this up. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And then he turns in verse 11, he says, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you. So he, he turns from all those and now he's beginning to directly address his followers. And that's, we're going to pick up today. I want to pray before we jump too far into this, um, as we, as we try to see what, what it looks like, uh, as Jesus shifts and begins to specifically train them, what it looks like for us today.
So let's pray. God, we thank you for this opportunity that we have to study your word, uh, to gather, uh, and to spend devoted time to learning, uh, so that we might spend the rest of our time to living, um, that we might actively walk as people who have been changed by you. We pray Lord that you would bless this time that we have, and that you'd help us to look more and more, uh, like your son in Jesus name. Amen. So he takes this, this, all those who language.
And then he begins to specifically start training. He says, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and other, all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. So rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So, uh, Jesus is, he's been the whole time saying stuff that's completely backwards from what we think blessedness looks like. What, what the good life looks like.
So he said, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. And he says, blessed are you when you're persecuted. And, and immediately it's like, no, like that's the stuff I don't like, but he's saying, no, this is actually good. It's good when people make fun of you, revile you, misrepresent you. Persecution just means to be subjected to something that's bad, to be subjected to something that's uncomfortable.
So, uh, we, we mostly use the term for very aggressive, uh, beatings for people to be, uh, murdered or put in jail. So Christians in America can be persecuted because it just means for a purpose, because of your identity, because of your, your, uh, claiming to be a Christian, that someone subjects you to something uncomfortable. I just want to say though, as all the Christians in this room, as we are Americans, let's not use the term persecuted when it comes to someone in our office, disliking us. I realize you may be subjected to some discomfort, but you just sound silly given what's going on in other parts of the country, other parts of the world.
So we can be reviled. You can technically be persecuted, but don't say that. I don't sound being, just say they don't like me. They're misrepresenting me. I think this happens all the time. Misrepresentation is one of the biggest ones I see in our culture.
And we're blessed for it. You ever watch a TV show and then they introduce a Christian character? And if you've been a Christian for a while, uh, as soon as they introduce a Christian character, I'm like, crud, because I know they're not going to be likable. Like I know how we're viewed in culture. They're going to be, uh, aggressively, um, judge, judgmental, aggressively hypocritical. They're going to be one of the characters that says all this stuff and then Acts a completely different way.
Other than Ned Flanders, most of them are very hypocritical. Ned Flanders is just goofy. Now I know that you may have met Christians like that. Super judgmental. I would say they are also misrepresenting Christianity, but Jesus says, this is what's going to happen. People are going to say things about you that aren't true.
They're going to misrepresent you. They're going to straw man you. They're going to argue against you. They're going to call your names. And that's blessed. And here's what he says.
And I don't think this would have been lost on his original hearers. And I think it's huge for us today. Verse 11, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. So just remember that, that what we get to do as Christians, when we're called names, when we're misrepresented, when we're cussed, when we're called narrow and bigoted, and all the things that are going to be thrown at us, he says, just be happy.
Because you get rewarded for that. But then he says this, your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. What he just said was, this group of people I'm making comes in the line of the prophets. Now that's huge. And I don't think it was, I don't think the disciples missed what he just said there. Let me explain what a prophet was.
In the Old Testament, we have prophets. Your book, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, like these people were prophets and they spoke on behalf of God. They were humans that stood in and said, this is what God is like. This is what God cares about. So Jesus just stands in front of his followers and says, I'm making you into this type of people.
And then he says, and rejoice, because they've done this to all the prophets. Meaning that, this is what you get to do. This is the role and the office and the position that you get to fill. That the church that Jesus is building has a prophetic role in culture. That the church is the group of people that get to say, this is what God is like. And this is what God cares about.
Now, that should get your blood pumping. That's exciting. That's weighty. And it's kind of terrifying. Because how's the church doing on that? Are we able to say, look at the church in the U.S.
Look at the church around the world. That's what God's like. That's what God cares about. But that's what Jesus is saying. This is the role that my people are going to fill. Now he's going to tell us how.
So he told us, like, the way we're going to exist, the type of personalities we're going to have, the characteristics we're going to have. Then he tells us the office you're going to fill, the following a prophetic office. And now he's going to start talking about what that looks like. So verse 13. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? So I've heard sermons, and I think it's worth thinking through and spending some time meditating on all the different characteristics of salt. I don't know if that's his main point, but let's just, for just a second, talk about salt just so that we're all thinking about the same stuff. Salt is in the white shaker on your table. It's the one that has fewer holes because it comes out faster if they're the same color. Like, you've got to look at the top and try to figure out which one's which.
It's the one that has fewer holes. That's the salt shaker. If yours has more holes, you did that wrong. If you get home, you've got that backwards. All right.
Salt was common. It was used to flavor things. So if you add salt to chicken and to green beans, it doesn't make them both taste like salt. It makes the chicken more chickeny and the green beans more green beany. If it starts taking like salt, you added too much. Salt was also used to cure meat.
It still is, but they had to do it a lot more because they didn't have refrigerators. So salt was used, if you were going to eat meat, you either ate it right now or you salt cured it or you died. Like you got botulism or something. You had only three options. You couldn't wait and eat it without salt curing it. So they would salt cure meat.
It would preserve. But see, I'm not sure that's Jesus' main point. I want to make one observation that I think immediately should stand out to us. He did not say, I'm building a people and you're the gold of the earth. He didn't say, I'm building a people and you're the diamonds in the rough. No, He said, you're salt, which is common and cheap.
Its value actually outweighs its cost. It's very useful. It just doesn't cost much. There are salt mines all over the place. He says, you're salt. You're going to be everywhere.
But His main point that I think He's making because it's what He actually says is you are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? So He just got done talking about persecution. So He says, you're going to be disliked, but be excited about that. You're the salt of the earth, but if you lose your saltiness, you're useless. What He's saying is when you're persecuted, don't stop. Don't stop doing the stuff that people dislike.
Don't start shaving off the rough edges of Christianity. You're going to stand out. You're going to be disliked, but you can't just say, well, let's just get rid of all the stuff people don't like. That's heard repeatedly, culturally right now. That's said repeatedly to the church from culture and from other people in the church saying if we would just get rid of this thing, then everyone would like us. If we would just get rid of this, I've heard, if we would just get rid of the cross.
Like, I mean, it's okay to kind of, like, I know it's in there, but we talk about it too much. It's too bloody. It's too gory. It makes God sound crazy. I've read these articles. If we would just get rid of that, then people wouldn't have a problem.
It sounds so archaic. Let's not talk about God's judgment. Let's just talk about His love. It's like, yeah, I'm for talking about God's love, but the Bible talks about both. It's actually His love that makes Him hate sin so much. He's not indifferent to us.
He loves us. So He hates sin. I've heard, if we would just give up on this social issue, if we would just change our stance on this political issue. We're so backwards. We're behind the times. We're getting left by history.
If we would just get rid of this, then we'd be fine. But let me explain what happens. Because this has happened in churches, in our culture, in the U.S. Now, if you came to my house and I said, you should add some salt to that dish. And you said, oh, I don't want salt. I don't want to change the flavor of this.
I want it. And I said, oh, no, no, no. My salt actually quit being salty a long time ago. It doesn't do anything. It's the same flavor as what you have because it tastes like nothing. Go ahead and add it.
Your immediate response would be, why should I add it if it's exactly the same flavor? That's what's happening in the church. When we actually get rid of all the things culture doesn't like and we say, we look just like you guys, the immediate response is, then why do I have to wake up early on a Sunday? Why do I need to come to your thing? Why do I have to be a part of your little community group? Why on earth would I give y'all money if you look exactly like I do?
I'm already crushing it. I already look exactly like me. I don't need to be at your thing. See, the church can't do that. That's what Jesus is saying. When we give in to cultural pressure, we lose our saltiness and we're useless.
Jesus just looked at his disciples and said, stay salty, my friends. That's what he said. Keep it. Even though people are going to like it. Even though they're going to tell you to stop. Stay salty.
That's what Jesus is telling us. Then he keeps going. That's him pointing to the you're going to be disliked part. You're going to stand out. You're going to be all over the place. You're going to be calm.
And this is one of the reasons why we talk about everyday church, everyday discipleship when we say normal everyday life or the everyday stuff of life or in your normal rhythms of life. We say this all the time. If you read anything, we write that phrase way too much. Normal everyday life. The everyday stuff of life. In your normal rhythms of life.
Where you work. Where you play. Where you go to school. We say this all the time but that's because salt is supposed to be everywhere. We're not supposed to be distinct and separate. We're supposed to be distinct and then in every single dish.
You're supposed to be at the school you're at. You're supposed to be in the job you're at. You're supposed to be in the neighborhood you're at. We're not supposed to all start communes and go live on a mountain. Jesus said this on a mountain but then he made them all leave. They didn't get to stay.
That's what salt gets to be everywhere. Flavoring everywhere. Preserving everywhere and being all up in the middle of everything. That's what the church gets to do and being disliked for it. Welcome to the club. That's what Jesus is telling them.
You're going to be hated but it's okay. You hold a prophetic office. This is how it's always worked. Verse 13. Nope. That's where we just were.
Verse 14. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way let your light shine before others so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. So Jesus looked at his disciples and said you're going to fulfill a prophetic office.
You're going to be disliked. You're going to be salt. Salt. Don't lose your saltiness. You're also going to be a light in darkness. People don't light a lamp and then cover it.
Like you've never been to someone's house and they have a lamp. You say it's really dark in here and they go oh I've got a lamp it's lit but it's under that really big blanket. Nobody does that. You wouldn't light a lamp and then put a giant shade over it that kept it from being bright. There's no point. That's what he's saying.
Like I'm lighting a light and the goal is for it to be seen. A city on a hill can't be hidden. Now we live in this area and it's Columbia like lights everything up and there's also street lights everywhere. I don't know where y'all come from if you're familiar with what it's like to be in the middle of nowhere and it be really dark. I didn't know the difference until I moved here. I used to live in Edgefield.
There's nothing in Edgefield. I mean there's some people there and they have like a school and like a hospital but if you get hurt and you can make it to another hospital maybe you should do that. Like there's not a whole lot going on in Edgefield. I remember my cousin coming to visit us one time and he got all lost trying to find our house and then he was like why is it so daggum dark out there? Y'all can't afford some street lights? And I remember thinking what?
Like I've never even noticed that. And then I went home for Christmas this year and I'm riding down the road that leads to my parents' house and I was like it's really dark. I'm glad I know where it is because it's aggressively dark out here because I've gotten used to street lights and I felt a little bad. I was like the little redneck inside of me is dying a little bit. But I've gotten used to street lights and I remember thinking it's really dark and that's what he's saying because in their culture they didn't have street lights.
You had lights but you'd put them out at night and the only things that would still be lit up were cities. I actually looked this up this morning because I remember them talking about it in school but I couldn't remember the exact distance but they did a study out in the middle of the desert they had people get up on top of mountains so that they were higher up and the curve of the earth didn't mess them up and they lit candles and they measured how far a human can see one candle. 30 miles when there's nothing else in the way. When it's pitch black you can light a candle 30 miles away. That actually said that that's due to the curve of the earth that humans could probably see it up to about 100 miles but we're not really able to test that because we don't have tall enough stuff.
What Jesus just said was is the church is a city on a hill that you can see from miles that you can't hide it. The church is supposed to be not only like salt in the middle of everything but like a city on the hill shining drawing people in beckoning people. So if you lived in this time and Jerusalem was up on a hill and if you were able to see clearly to it in the middle of the night and you saw it 30 miles away that meant that if you were walking you were still a day and a half away if you walked all day long. Most likely three days if you were like us and took some breaks. Military troops when they walk all day long can make about 20 miles.
I was like seven need a nap. I'm going to need some of that salt cured meat I brought with me. Like that's what he's saying that you could see it so far away and it drew you in that that's the church. So the church is a prophetic office that is both salty and disliked and yet attractive and beautiful that it draws people in. That's what Hurtado was talking about when he wrote why on earth did anybody become a Christian in the first three centuries. What he was saying was the church was so hated but people kept coming.
And I want to say why why this matters before we get into some of the other stuff Jesus is going to talk about and how I think we can think about it. Verse 16 In the same way let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Now in the Greek they have a different word for you and you plural. So they're much like Southerners who have you and y'all. This is y'all. That's what he's talking to.
In the same way let y'all's light shine before others so that they may see y'all's good work and give glory to y'all's Father who is in heaven. That's what he's saying. So he's talking about the church collectively has good works that stand out in culture. We have viewpoints viewpoints and opinions and cultural changes about us that make us stand out in a negative way and we also have good works that make us stand out like a city on a hill. That Jesus is creating a group of people that are going to stand out for him. I think it's important for us to see that he's talking specifically to y'all because later in the Sermon on the Mount he's going to say do all of your good works in secret.
But here he says do it like a giant city on a hill. And here's what he means and here's one of the best ways I think I can explain this is the church collectively is supposed to have good works. You individually are supposed to just be lumped in with the group. So we do a give series every year at the end of the year. We raise money. This past year we raised money for Samaritans as well.
We're actually in the process of getting that furniture that we're going to buy for them. We're going to be taking it over there towards the end of the month or the beginning of next month. We're actually going to rally everybody to kind of get together help load this in help clean it up. If you're not able to do that we'll try to take some pictures. But here's the thing with our give project.
We're showing up in the name of the church in the name of Jesus. We're not walking over there and saying hey we just want to give you a list of all the individuals and how much they gave. That's not the point. We're not going to stand up here and talk about how much we collectively gave our collective generosity us as Jesus followers collectively not individuals how much people gave. That's what he's talking about. Like you individually should do some good works but you should do them in a way that it clumps up together with what Christ looks like what his bride looks like on earth what the church looks like.
In a way that it clumps up together with what Christ looks like what his bride looks like on earth what the church looks like. So here's I mean we've done the same stuff with stuff we do here at Glen Forest stuff we've done at Hope Bridge stuff we've done at Gentle Pines we've had groups and our church family has gone over on a regular basis to Gentle Pines which is an apartment complex over here. One of the best stories I heard this past year
When we were doing Thanksgiving stuff was people who came over and said I just moved here and I was talking to one of my neighbors and said I was a little bit worried that my family wasn't going to be able to do a Thanksgiving meal and they said oh no no no there's a church that comes over here every Thanksgiving you're good you'll get to have a Thanksgiving meal with your family and that's so cool and that's collective church
Getting to point to the Father and here's why that matters the church should have good works that are seen so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who's in Heaven not to y'all but to your Father see that's that's what Jesus came to do Jesus came to have have all of his works point us to the Father that he that he would die for us
That he would rise again conquering death and sin for us that he came to redeem us to bring us back to the Father to give us back to the God who is infinitely valuable infinitely worth worship and glory so that the church everything we do good works wise is infinitely worth it because we point to a God
Who's infinitely worth it that's the reason why this matters the church stands in a prophetic office where we're supposed to stand out and people are going to dislike us but also it's going to be beautiful it's going to draw people in and it's going to point them to the Father because it's going to say here's what God does among a group of people not just
Oh I have a neighbor and he's really nice but actually no let me come invite you to hang out with my group let me show you what a group of people look like let me invite you to a city where everybody's different that's the point this is actually why membership matters why we took the time last year to say this is what membership means this is why church discipline matters because the church collectively holds a prophetic office that's why it matters that we police each other
That's why Paul writes stuff like if someone in your if someone he said I don't judge the world I'm not talking about people who aren't in the church people who are in the church if they claim to be a Christian and they're actively pursuing sexual morality don't even eat with them don't have anything to do with them follow the processes of church discipline with them aggressively pursue
Them changing their hearts because the church stands in a prophetic office we say this is what God is like and this is what he cares about so we have to care about how each other follow Jesus and pursue Jesus together that's why we want to be in community groups where you're knowing people and they're confessing sin and we're growing together because we're
All standing and saying that collectively we represent God that matters it's weighty okay to try to help us see this I want to spend the rest of our time there's tons of these where we get to be salty and gracious where we get to have the characteristics that he talks about being poor in spirit and mourning and humble so some of y'all some of you I know y'all some of y'all
Heard be salty and you got so excited because you're like everybody already doesn't like me and I'm super annoying at work you didn't think that you don't think you're annoying you think you're standing up for the truth I don't know why you sound like a redneck when I'm making fun of you but I know some of y'all some of y'all saltiness is easier the aggressive kind of
I'm not backing down stance church stance I get that but he says to do it as those who are meek those who mourn those who are poor in spirit those who are peacemakers like the characteristics the way we hold vehemently to what we believe in has to be gracious and loving and welcoming and kind compassionate now some of y'all you're great at that you're great at being humble and meek
If it means quiet but when it comes to actually standing firm in some beliefs and not just cowing down to what everyone else around you you struggle with that we're called to do both to be salty but graciously humbly now Jesus as he continues the sermon on the mount is going to walk through several different areas where I just have as I've been reading this was just thinking that these are good examples because he keeps pushing this this is all one big message
He gives it's not separate little ideas he keeps pulling this idea all the way through and this is areas where we get to be prophetic in our culture that they got to be prophetic that they got to stand out as salt and light and we get to also and so I just want to point out three areas that Jesus is going to get to in the sermon on the mount that I think we have a distinct opportunity as the church in the United States to absolutely be outlandish crazy subversive
Frustrating and attractive beautiful like I think there's a couple of places where we get to do that in our culture that Jesus gets to and that I just want to point out as we think through this to try to help us understand more fully how to do this the first one is enemy love so Jesus says don't pray for those who persecute you bless those who curse you love your enemies
If someone strikes your cheek give them the other also if they take your cloak give them your other one like he he goes aggressively against retaliation and enemy hatred now American culture has shifted aggressively to being very no matter what the issue partisan very much here's the line these people are okay and these people aren't because it's easy to pick on this I want to talk about red states and blue states
Democrats and republicans because it's all fresh in our minds even from this past week where there's inauguration but also protest here's one of the things that has begun to break down our culture has lost the ability to disagree graciously we've lost the ability to do that you see that was one of the things that the early church was so beautiful that stood out so so crazily they were in a culture that valued power
That valued honor it was a shame and honor culture so that when someone disrespected you you disrespected them back you had to keep your honor they were they were into a culture where they were persecuted and hated and what did they do they loved their enemies they prayed for them they were gracious and humble they looked outlandish subversive to what everybody valued but it was also beautiful they forgave those
Who had harmed them but see our cultures American cultures lost that y'all watch nightly news we could play this would be like a sobriety drinking game watch the nightly news and take a shot every time one of them says that was a really good point I just changed my mind you don't even have to buy alcohol it's not going to happen they don't have discussions where one of them goes that was really valid I've never thought about that before they don't have discussions they just wait for the other person to try to catch their breath so they can shout something else
And then the person who's hosting always gets to go they always have the last word because they have like the button that shuts that person's screen down sometimes if you listen to talk radio they'll cut the person off and then just get to talk about whatever they want to you can tell that the person on the phone is no longer on the phone anymore they got to say about two sentences they cut them off and then they just start it'd be great like I would like to get one of those for my marriage but we've lost the ability we've lost the ability
To disagree we've lost the ability to humbly be able to listen to somebody I have to fight for this whenever I get in arguments with my wife I had to do this the other day where because when she says good points I don't want to acknowledge that they're good I want to win that's the point of the argument I had to stop myself and go no you're right about that I'm wrong but see Christians are in a distinct position so if you if you hang out with really blue people or if you hang out
With really red people you know what I'm talking about so if you're in a really democrat circle or really republican circle I want you to do something because this is where we get to be really salty next time they're just blasting someone I want you to go out of your way to say something nice about the other side yeah but I really appreciate how they hold this position I think they do this better than we do and watch them look at you like because here's the truth only Christians don't have our value based off of our position
In response to other people's position see if I place my value in being a republican or being a democrat then I actually need the other side to be wrong I need them to be terrible people I need them to be the people who are ruining our country so that I can be okay if you're in school you're in high school and you're in the cool group you actually need people to not be cool they have to be not cool people so that you can still be cool there has to be
Someone on that if you're in the not cool group you're edgy everything y'all y'all are into is super weird nobody gets what y'all are talking about because it's all alternate and you have to like spend an hour on the internet just to find this thing and even when you watch it no one understands what the point was if that's you you need really basic mainstream people who don't get it you need people who point out how weird your clothes are
Right you need them they have to exist and they have to be weird they have to be so different from you if you're cool you have to have uncool people but Christians don't need that we know we're poor in spirit we're meek we're humble we know that our only value comes from Jesus that's it we don't bring anything to the table that makes us good or smart or right or the best we get Jesus
So guess what whichever group you're in whichever side of the aisle you're on Christians get to be the leaders in saying that was a really good point they do that better than us let's open our table up to everybody you're welcome to sit here you're welcome among me I'm going to try to understand you I'm going to start having events where the church gets to be the leaders and pulling a bunch of people around the table that don't think like them don't look like them and they don't have to
Demonize them or make them the bad guy this will make you stand out be disliked if you're in the cool group and you make a non-cool friend and you bring them to the cool group you have now made all of your friends less cool but it's beautiful and the reason the church is in a position to do this is because our God who was our enemy tore heaven and earth apart to make his enemies
His brothers that's what the cross is that's who his people are they didn't understand that when he was saying it but they were going to get to see it later how much he would go how far to the ends of the earth God would go to love his enemies so the church is in a distinct position in our culture in their culture and in our culture to hold this to be salty but attractive second one that Jesus is going to get to later and we'll spend more time on is the Christian sexual ethic what Christians say
About sex in their culture was crazy it was crazy Christians so in their culture if you were married probably the wife shouldn't sleep around but the husband was expected to anyone that was below his kind of level if he slept around with someone on the same level that was looked down on but anyone who was below slaves prostitutes just whatever you were supposed to it was normal
It was accepted Christians came along and said oh and it was also accepted that you would sleep around a lot before you got married and Christians came along and said no one man one woman monogamous forever relationship that's the only place that sex exists Jesus was even going to say like lust isn't okay which is just so far a step beyond what they were even thinking about like he like so
They just came along and said no and they seemed it was subversive it was outlandish and they stuck to it it was crazy fast forward 2000 something years Christians haven't started seeming more normal when it comes to sex I don't know if y'all have picked up on that we're holding to the same stuff and we're very much disliked for it we're narrow minded we're bigoted we're crazy you're made fun of if someone finds out that you are waiting till marriage
To have sex they have like a thousand questions why this is the first one what what it's probably the second one after you've answered why we just look backwards here because we believe Christians believe that marriage points to the gospel that it's actually a picture of Jesus' love for the church so that all marriages on earth are supposed to be a paint by Numbers they should all look the same because we're all trying to point to the same picture and they should be forever
All of life because that's Jesus' love for the church doesn't change his continued pursuit his continued love it doesn't change we believe that that sex exists as a covenantal renewal so it only happens in marriage and that humans are fine if they never get married and never have sex that's the other thing that seems crazy to our culture you've got to be married to become a complete person to level up to move to the next stage if you live your whole life not married what are you doing? and if you're not married
And not sleeping around you're insane at least American culture says you are church Christian culture says no it's fine because we believe wholly different things about marriage we believe that it images God's love for us that Jesus' pursuit of us his continued love for us like y'all see this where we get to stay salty but also be winsome and attractive and gracious in our opinions and the way we hold it
And the way we pursue it and the way we love people in our church family who are single and are going to remain single for life the way we invite them over to holidays the way we treat them like family the way we expand what Jesus says family looks like we get to to look differently in the way we rally around couples that are hurting and people that have gone through divorce and how we love and how we serve and how we pursue and how we remind them what matters
And what's true Jesus is going to get to that the third issue that I think is helpful for us to see this picture of us being salt and light is how the church is supposed to love the poor see Jesus starts talking to them about love for the poor and giving to the poor and relating to the poor and mourning and being poor in spirit and that's completely backwards from their culture that was one of the things that stood out so starkly against the Roman Empire that people were even writing letters
And saying we got a bunch of Christians in our area and not only do they take care of their poor but they're taking care of our poor not only are they taking care of their sick but they're taking care of our sick also the way Christians went out of their way to adopt children and to rally around those who were hurting and sick and diseased you see we're set apart even now to do this distinctly to outpace our culture and how generous we are to outpace our culture and how much we love the poor
You see our culture American culture is fine with love for the poor but your family is going to think you're weird if you start giving up on the American dream to mourn with those who mourn if you start giving up on the idea that happiness and wealth are tied together and that happiness is the point of life and you start embracing mourning and poverty you're going to have people start saying wait what are you doing that's
You know they're poor for a reason right they've caused that themselves they're all crazy they're on drugs and we get to say yeah sure maybe okay but I've been blessed I have a God who was beyond rich who became broken and poor and humble for me I have a God who's beyond powerful who took on the ultimate position of meekness for me
I have a mansion in the sky you talk about sounding crazy I have a hope that bank accounts can't touch I have a wealth that makes America look pathetic and China who owns all of America's money also look pathetic I have a security that is well beyond the $100,000 backed up by the US government I got more gold than Fort Knox I got a hope and an eternity that is so secure
And a promise that every time a dollar walks out the door it's sent to eternity it's not lost Jim Elliot who ended up dying for his faith as a missionary I love this quote he wrote it in his journal he says he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose and the church is in a distinct position to say who's hurting who's hurting
Because Jesus chases who's hurting that was the point of the cross and we get to stand shoulder to shoulder and we get to walk money out the door I hope and pray that as our church family that every year at about this time when you start looking at your tax returns and you start I hope everybody gets to hit the charitable giving Numbers that lets you start doing the tax deductions on that I hope every single one of us see that number
Rise every year I hope every one of us has a lower standard of living I'd love to have a church where nobody had cable or direct TV except for one person so we could throw some Super Bowl parties but I'd love for us to have a church where so much money walked out the door where so many people were not just given a hand not just given but actually we're just like I'm going to hold your hand until we get there I'm not just going
To give you a hand up I'm going to give you a hand like I'm going to be with you this whole time I'm going to help you have money in your savings account part of my money in my savings account isn't even designated for me it's for you like that the church gets to be so radically distinct there because we have such great promises that we get to be salty that people get to think you're crazy that you get to look weird
And you get to say yeah I know but we get to be so beautiful and what happens and why that matters and why we actually have to live this see our apologetic has to move beyond being able to prove to somebody that the tomb was empty I think that's helpful being able to prove to somebody that it makes more sense that God created the world I've watched some of that stuff it's very helpful for me I believe that stuff is true but our apologetic
Has to start being a lived out church culture one where we get to say no no no let me show you a group of people let me invite you to my community group where you get to see a people whose view on relationships whose view on finances whose view on people who they disagree with is so radically different that you're going to be uncomfortable but it's going to draw you in we have to live this we have to be able to point to the church in the U.S. and say that's what
God's like and that's what he cares about that was Jesus' point that's the prophetic office that he's called the church into the band's going to come back up I have a few questions for us are you doing this are we doing this do our community groups look like we believe that we have an eternal hope and an eternal husband we have a God who broke the divide between heaven and earth
To rescue his enemies to take their pain as his to die their death do we look like that? see it's not it's not just big stuff it's simple stuff where we get to love our enemies where we get to be generous it's not just politics it's your neighbor who's in the homeowners association who is the just the most frustrating person who's ever existed who gets out of their car and measures your grass with a tape measure and you think you're at my house I think
What's the law I can kill you and I don't get in trouble like and you throw a party and you invite them and your neighbors are like why is that guy here? or if they don't come and your neighbors start talking about them you step in and say hey guys I don't think this is helpful I don't think this is appropriate for us to talk about this person like we get to love our enemies and so at lunch tables in break rooms we get to we get to be generous to the poor
Every month as we set our budget that we get to start setting aside money that's not going to be ours and we just start praying Jesus this money belongs to you all this money belongs to you so help me start setting my budget like I believe that and help me start seeing needs that I hadn't seen before and help me be willing to hand money to people who are ungrateful and don't deserve it so that I'll understand how ungrateful
And undeserving I am help me to actually live so that I could look at my bank account and say yeah she believes in eternity he believes in eternity they have a hope and a kingdom and they can't be touched they have unfading treasure come in to be salt and help us to collectively as a church shine are we doing this this is what our groups look like if not let's start let's start looking like a group of people that can say this is what God's like and this is what he cares about if you're not in a community group
And you're not a Christian my invitation to you is get into a community group we eat a meal we talk about Jesus you don't have to talk you can just eat you don't have to eat there's a lot of carbohydrates in most of our groups so if you're on a diet bring some salad but come be around a group of people that get to try to live like this is what Jesus is like this is what God's like this is what he cares about that gets to repent of sin that gets to care about what our actions look like that get to care about what each other's actions look like because we hold a prophetic office
But get to do that with meekness humility peacemaking if you're a Christian and you're not in a group get in a group so we can begin to collectively live this out in more practical daily ways so that your group can start serving your group can start giving ultimately let's all begin to pray that our group would be filled with generous humble people who go out of their way for the hurting who care about people enough to start awkward conversations we get to live this we get to point to it
That's our call that's the office we hold as a church we get to hustle until one day we get to meet our king and enter into the kingdom that he's prepared let's pray God we thank you that all of this is in response to your cross that all of this is in response to your love that all of this is in response to what you've already done for us the way you've already loved your enemies the way you've already pursued those
Who had nothing to offer God I pray that we would look in our community groups in our church that your church in this country in this city in this state that we'd begin to be able to point and say that's what God's like and that's what he cares about that when we when we pointed to what we believe and what we do the immediate response would be oh yeah that makes sense I see that if you believe that of course you'd act
This way God we thank you and we love you and we ask for your Holy Spirit to help us in Jesus name Amen