Jesus Calls Sinners

Jesus Calls Sinners

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning. Grab your Bibles, go to Matthew chapter 9. We are working our way through the book of Matthew. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. And excited to see y'all this morning.

If you are new, if this is your first time hanging out with us, one of these blue Bibles will be on page 475. If you don't own a Bible, take this one with you. That's our gift to you. We want you to own a Bible. Charles Spurgeon, who's a pastor in England, about 100 years ago or so, he said, the legalist in us is older than the Christian. That for all of us, the legalist in us is older than the Christian in us.

Meaning that the legalist being the person who wants to adhere to and follow the law. Wants to be good enough. That's the default mode of our hearts is that we approach the world with, I've got something to prove and I've got something to earn. And that I want to earn what I get and I want to have value in my own labor and through my own work and through myself being able to accomplish my salvation and my value. And so we approach God that way. We approach religion that way, which is what am I supposed to do?

What do I need to do to be one of the good ones? What do I need to do to adhere and be good enough? And so as Christians, we preach and proclaim grace, which is the opposite of that. Which is that Christ has done for us what we could not do for ourselves and that he has given us what we did not deserve. And we sing songs like Amazing Grace, which, if you're unfamiliar with the song, is about grace and how amazing it is. And we celebrate this, but there's part of us that rejects grace, that is uncomfortable with it.

That even after we place faith in Jesus and even after we've sung that song and even after we've celebrated grace, there's part of us that still doesn't quite feel comfortable with grace. We don't like it. There's still part of us that wants to have like, yeah, okay, but there's like a minimum standard you have to reach. And these people underneath it, he didn't save those people. Those people are the worst. We still kind of have that creep in.

Or when we're dealing with God and when we've sinned and we've run, we feel like, oh, even though we're a Christian and we would say, oh, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that he would redeem, save a wretch like me. We sing that. But when we actually feel wretched, when we actually are face to face with our wickedness and our sin, do we burst into song? Or do we feel overwhelmed and we want to beat ourselves up and we want to atone for our own sin? One of the ways that we see this practically show up so often is that when someone tries to, when we're in need, when we're weak, when we need help and someone tries to help us and we don't want to accept help, we don't want to accept the money they would give, we don't want to accept the help they would offer, we'll accept help when we don't really feel like we need it.

Man, it's super nice that you'd help me move. But when we actually really, really need it, it's harder for us to accept it. And that's because there's part of us that does not like grace. Doesn't like neediness. Well, we're going to read a story this morning where Jesus is interacting with people just like us. He's interacting with some terrible sinners like you.

And he's interacting with some people who reject and fight against grace and have some questions about it. And this is a really, really hope-filled, joyous story where Jesus is just amazing. So let's pray and let's study this together. God, we think of this time we get to spend together this morning studying your word. And we ask that each of us would take one step further into understanding, resting in, celebrating, and praising your glorious grace. In Jesus' name, amen.

Matthew 9, verse 9. And Jesus passed on from there. So he's been teaching, he's been healing. And he saw a man called Matthew. I want to ruin it for you. He becomes one of the disciples.

He later writes a gospel called the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 9, verse 9. Matthew 9, verse 9. Matthew 9, verse 9. You're reading his book, you guys. It's going to go well for Matthew.

Jesus passed on from there. He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, follow me. And he rose and followed him. What just happened was amazing. Earth shattering.

We don't quite understand this. We're going to take a second to try to dig into this a little bit. First of all, Jesus consistently, if you've noticed, walks up to people at work and demands that they follow him. And just a basic principle is that Jesus is not opposed to inconveniencing you with his presence. So some people are sometimes like, now's not a great time for me to follow Jesus.

He doesn't care. Now is the best time. Start now. When I get some of this stuff sorted out, he's like, no, now. So he walks up to him while he's at work at the tax booth.

But here's the thing. We maybe don't appreciate the IRS. Maybe when you have to deal with the tax man and he comes to you to audit you or whatever, you're upset with that person. But in general, you're upset with the role that they're fulfilling, not them as an individual. We don't just hate tax people. We dislike the organization they work for.

Well, this is different. Tax collectors in Israel were the worst. Absolutely hated. And here's why. The Romans were occupying Israel at this time. Tax collectors worked for the Romans.

But tax collectors were Israelites who had paid for the opportunity to levy taxes on their own people so that the foreign Romans could occupy them. So Israelites didn't like Gentiles, didn't get along with them, but those people were born into their Gentileness. These tax collectors were a part of Israel who were supposed to be people who fought for the promised land, defended the promised land against evil oppressors, and they had paid money to become tax collectors so that they could help oppress you. It gets worse. Not only were they traitors, they got rich doing it. They were a traitor with a nicer car than you have.

And a swimming pool. They were... The way it worked was they had a certain quota they had to reach for the Romans. So they had to get a certain amount of taxes, tolls from the area they were in. Anything more they took was theirs. The system was designed for them to be so hated that they loved the Romans and wanted to keep oppressing the people around them because if the Romans suddenly were out of power, they were in trouble.

So they cheated, they overtaxed, and they were quite wealthy doing it, and they had the Romans backing them up. And they were supposed to be people who fought against the Romans, defended against the Romans. They were supposed to be your blood, your people. They were hated. And this was universally understood. This is why Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5, verse 46, says, For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?

Do not even the tax collectors do the same. Jesus uses them as a sermon illustration for the worst people possible. They're universally understood to be awful. He's like, Garbage people do that. I'm not talking about like trash collectors. I'm talking about people who are human garbage.

That's the way he uses them in this sentence. A way that we would all, like if we structured any sentence, you can put any people group in that. If we use that sentence on stage, people would be upset with us. When I walked down, they would be like, Really? Doesn't matter what people group you picked. I'm tempted to just pick five just to annoy people right now so you can feel how it was understood.

Does that make sense? He's just using them as like, this is a whole group of people we agree are terrible. And everybody's like, yeah, they're the worst. If they can do it, shouldn't you do more? That's the way he structures this. So, it's not like Jesus didn't know.

He walks up to Matthew at the tax booth and calls him to follow him. It didn't like he ran into him at the market and they struck up a conversation and Jesus didn't know who he was. Didn't realize his occupation. Was just talking to him. He's like, you know, son, I like the cut of your jib. Do you want to be one of my disciples?

And then later it's like, oh, you're a tax collector. No, he walks up to the tax booth. Now, he's in his own city. That's what the beginning of chapter nine told us. We didn't read that this morning, but it's in there. Matthew, which would be Capernaum.

His hometown is Nazareth, but in chapter four, it tells us he moves to Capernaum. So, he's in his own city. So, he's well known. He's been healing. He's been doing these things. Matthew would have known who he was, but as far as we know, this is the first time he's ever talked to Matthew.

Maybe he's paid taxes to Matthew. Jesus walks up to him, says, come follow me. And Matthew does. It says, he rose and followed him. It gets worse. Or better if you're Matthew.

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, this is verse 10, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? Okay, so there's a decent amount we've got to unpack to try to understand what's going on here. Jesus goes to Matthew's house. We get that from Luke, tells us that it was Matthew's house, not Jesus' house. Jesus goes to Matthew's house, so he enters a house of a tax collector, which would have made him unclean.

Nobody would have done this. No Jewish people would have really had any interaction with Matthew as a tax collector other than to pay their taxes. They definitely aren't going to his house. Jesus goes to his house. Matthew invites all of his horrible sinner friends, his tax collector buddies, and just regular run-of-the-mill sinners. Now, we use the term sinner as in like, well, we're all sinners.

We're using the more further down the line Christian understanding of the word. But when it's used here in a Jewish understanding, it's a whole class of people who are also the worst. Tax collectors and sinners is how it's phrased sometimes. Sometimes it'll say tax collectors and prostitutes. The way it's understood is that it's people who have just absolutely rejected the notion of following God and being a good Israelite. They're the people who just have just kind of said, this isn't for me.

They're just doing what they want to. So they're Jewish people, but they're Jewish people who aren't good Jewish people. That's how they would have understood it. They've rejected God. They've rejected following him. Now, also in the class of sinners would be people who had physical ailments.

There's a group of people that would have fit in there as well just because they were understood to be struck by God, harmed by God, that they had done something bad or their parents had done something bad. But this is the worst collection of rabble. And Jesus is reclining at the table with him, celebrating with them, sharing a meal with them. So Jesus goes from the tax booth, calls this person to follow him. Jesus chooses Matthew. It's not like Matthew came to Jesus all repentant.

Jesus goes and chooses Matthew and then they go have a party. So the Pharisees say, they call some of Jesus' disciples and they ask him, why does your teacher, why does your rabbi, this guy who's been going around and teaching and explaining the law and he's been teaching in our synagogues, why does he hang out with tax collectors and sinners? Now, the Pharisees had taken legalism and they'd gone pro. They're amazing at it. You think your uptight church lady that you grew up with, no, no, no, no. Pharisees would smoke her in legalism.

They had added extra rules that they followed. They were amazing at it. They were the most uptight, well-controlled, in the lines. They knew all the rules and they followed them. And so they taught people. They taught in synagogues.

They let Jesus teach in their synagogues. Most of them were, this was like the main class of people that would have synagogues and would help structure for everybody how we're supposed to follow the Lord. And so Jesus has been teaching. He's a rabbi. He's got a following. He's been healing people.

And then they come and say, okay, hold on a second. What is he doing? What on earth is he doing? Now, to help you understand a little bit more of this, if Billy Graham, in the height of his ministry, went to a party at the Playboy Mansion, if we just heard, if TMZ just came out and Votie Bauckham or John Piper was at a rooftop party with R. Kelly, when you hear that, the way that makes you feel with like, ah, brrrr, where? Who?

The conversations that would happen. People would be sharing links. That would go out. We have a little group chat thing with our pastors. I would send that. You guys, what's up?

Is this good? Bad? Seems bad. Because here's what we would be okay with. Let's just be real.

I'm okay with a tax collector following Jesus if really quickly the tax collector looks like what I think a follower of Jesus should look like. So if they said, he's got a tax collector, and then when they went and they looked, the tax collector, ah, like had dirt on his head and looked sad. Like Jesus had just spent, like, I don't know, an hour shaming him. He'd be like, yeah, look at that. Repentant garbage person who's becoming, Jesus will train him. He'll turn into a, he'll become a disciple.

This will be great. Look at him. He's reading the Torah. He's memorizing it. Okay. Like if you heard that R.

Kelly had been hanging out at Votie Bauckham's church, you'd be like, yeah, okay, all right, R. Kelly. Probably just so you look a little better, but okay. We'll see. Right? Right?

No, no, no, no. Jesus goes to his house. They're having a party. And you walk up on it and you go, oh, I don't feel good inside about this. I'm uncomfortable because it looks like, it doesn't look like a tax collector started following Jesus. It looks like Jesus started following a tax collector.

So the Pharisees are like, point of order. I got a question. Point of personal privilege. I need to talk about something real quick. So they ask, why is he doing this?

What on earth is he trying to accomplish? Verse 12. But when he heard it, he said, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. for I have come, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Okay, so Jesus says, he hears it and he says, those who are well have no need of a physician.

So Jesus is saying, I'm a physician. And he says, I came to call not the righteous, but sinners. But this isn't how you do this. If you're going to be a rabbi, if you're going to teach people, you pick from the people who've already shown some promise. Matthew has not shown promise. He's done the opposite.

He's derailed everything. He's actively chosen to rebel against God. He's, he's, he's oppressing others. And Jesus says, here's my guy. I'm adding him to the top 12 starting lineup. He says, I came to call the sick.

Those are the ones who need a doctor. Those are the ones who need healing. And then he says, go and learn what this means. And this is a normal kind of rabbi phrase, where they would just be like, good question. Why don't you go study this section and we'll talk some more. So he just rabbis them.

And he rabbis them from the book of Hosea. Hosea was a prophet that God told to marry a prostitute. He marries her. It doesn't go well. She runs off. God keeps telling her to chase her down.

He keeps chasing her down. He keeps bringing her home. She keeps running off. It's a big mess. He says, this is a picture of what it's like for me, God, to love you, Israel. That's God's point in the book of Hosea.

Well, in Hosea, he says, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Jesus says, go study Hosea. Specifically this section. Come back and we'll talk. That's his answer. No, not yet.

But that is it. That's it. We're going to look at it again later. So, verse 14. Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

And Jesus said to them, can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. And they were on an old garment for the patch tears away from the garment and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wine skins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed.

But new wine is put into fresh wine skins. And so both are preserved. Okay? Jesus calls Matthew from the tax booth. They go to heaven. Sinner Party.

Now, Jesus wasn't sinning. He's accused of it. Later they call him a glutton and a drunkard. He wasn't sinning. He never sinned. But he was hanging out with sinners who sin.

So he's at tax collector Sinner Party. Pharisees show up. They're the supreme legalists of the day. And they say, what is he doing? Why is he hanging out with these bad people? And then disciples of John show up.

This is John the Baptist who was the precursor prophet to Jesus who called people to repentance. And the disciples of John and John do not get along with the Pharisees. So much so, if you look back at chapter 3, the Pharisees show up to John where he's baptizing in the wilderness and he says, who told you to repent? You brood of vipers. Not a nice phrase. So they don't get along but they come and they say, hold on a second, we fast, disciples of John, who were following after John's baptism and his call to repentance, we fast and the Pharisees fast but y'all don't.

Now, the Pharisees, there were times in the Old Testament where God calls the nation to fast and they would have fasted. The Pharisees added extra times that they would fast. They would fast twice a week. It seems as if the disciples of John were still practicing that. They would fast twice a week. It seems as if Jesus' sinner party is on a fast day.

He's reclining at the table eating money paid for by tax collectors, eating food paid for with the money from tax collectors on a fast day. It's what it seems like. Now, maybe they've just been watching him long enough to know you don't fast but they come to him in the middle of a party and they say, why, why? We're hungry. We're fasting. You aren't.

What's up? And then Jesus gives this answer. He says, can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? So Jesus is the groom and he says, wedding party. We're celebrating. He says, the day will come when they will mourn.

That's the connection between fasting and mourning. Fasting is this sackcloth ashes. You don't eat. You would mourn your sin. You would mourn brokenness. A lot of times these people would have been fasting because they were under Roman oppression.

Which they would have seen as punishment by God. So they would be fasting for their sin and for the sin of the nation and asking God to get rid of Roman oppression. And Jesus is hanging out with the Roman oppressor people. He says, they will fast. They will mourn. Not yet.

And then he talks about, nobody, let's read it again. Verse 16. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. For the patch tears away from the garment and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed.

But new wine is put into fresh wineskins and so both are preserved. This is not a cryptic saying where they were supposed to go try to figure this out. They would have understood what he was talking about in general. It's a very straightforward concept. It would be like if I looked at you and said nobody adds diesel to a car that runs on gasoline and you don't go swimming with your iPhone in your pocket. You'd go, right.

That is true. That's what he's doing. He's just a straightforward example. When you have clothes and you wash them and you wear them over time, they draw up. That's what fabric does. So he says, if you get a hole in some old fabric, you don't patch it with new fabric because as soon as you patch it with new fabric and then that new fabric draws up, it makes a bigger hole.

Nobody does that. You patch old fabric with old fabric. They're like, right. Everyone knows that. Then he says, nobody puts new wine into old wineskins.

Wineskins, a big leather pouch, you could put wine in it. That's what it was for. Made out of skin. Following so far? Yeah. If you put new wine in that has not fermented yet, when it ferments, it swells.

Let's off a gas, it swells up. If you put new wine, unfermented wine, into an old wineskin that was made out of leather and has already stretched, when it starts fermenting, your wineskin rips open, you pour out all your wine. Nobody does that. You put new wine in an unstretched wineskin, then when it ferments, it lets off a gas, the leather stretches, and everything stays fine. That's all he's saying. But his point is, I'm doing something different.

I'm not going to be practicing all the practices y'all practice. I'm doing something different. I'm doing something new. And because I'm doing something new, I'm not pouring it into the old system. It's going to be different. It's going to look different.

So you have the Pharisees who are saying, why are you hanging out with these people? And you have the disciples of John saying, why aren't you doing the good stuff, the right stuff? And what you have here is the starter pack for legalism. If y'all want to become a legalist, let me tell you how to do it. Pick a group of people that will be the bad people. Step one, super easy.

Who don't you like? Boom. Those are the bad guys. Usually, if you want to do this well, they need to be people who are bad at a thing that you are good at or that you place a lot of value in. So if you are an amazing mom, pick bad moms.

Boom. Nailed it. You've accomplished step one. What people have liked to do throughout time and history is pick something that people can't control and that you can't control. Skin color. That's a great one because you don't lose your skin color and the other people can't change their skin color.

So pick that. Nationality. People love that one. That's a good one. Pick a whole nationality and say, these are the bad guys. We're one of the good ones because you can't lose your nationality.

It's great. You don't even have to really accomplish anything. Super simple. That's step one. Pick the people who are going to be the bad people. If you work really hard, pick lazy people.

If you're rich, pick poor people. If you're poor, pick rich people. Super easy. If you already picked your person, good. That's step one. You can put a lot of people in there.

Step two. Pick the stuff that you're going to do that makes you one of the good people. Pick the practices. Pick the things that offset you from those people. We've done it. We're legalists.

And you've naturally done this your entire life. This is the default mode of our hearts. That you would have people that you look down on and things that you do that make you one of the good ones. That's what they were doing. The Pharisees were saying, these are the bad people. Why would you hang out with them?

And the disciples of John are saying, aren't we supposed to be practicing these things? Don't they make us good? And I feel for, I connect with the disciples of John. Because the disciples of John also look down on the Pharisees. I'm super good at that. I look down on them.

They're the bad people. Disciples of John. Here's what they were doing. They got called into following through repentance. They started off well. We're going to repent.

We're going to acknowledge our sin. We're going to turn from our sin. And then they started practicing some things as they practiced repentance. And then what they did was it started off so good. We're going to do these things because they're good things to do. And then they went, and because they're good things to do, and because we do them, we're going to become some good people.

That's the temptation. We don't know exactly. They're trying to understand. They're coming to Jesus. They seem genuine, but there's this temptation to say, we practice the right things. Therefore, we're one of the good guys.

And Jesus says, I'm doing something different. What was he doing? Hosea 6, 6. This is what he said. For I desire steadfast love. That word there is translated steadfast love quite often in the Old Testament from the Hebrew to English.

It can be translated from steadfast love to mercy when you translate it from Hebrew to Greek. Jesus is quoting this passage, steadfast love or mercy, work. I desire steadfast love. Jesus says mercy in the Greek and not sacrifice the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Jesus said, go read that. Go think about that.

Here's what he's saying. He's hanging out with tax collectors and sinners because what he wants, what God wants, is for us to know him and receive mercy. For us to know him and receive steadfast love. And for us to be people who because we know him, because we have a knowledge of God, we offer mercy and steadfast love to others. Jesus is saying, I'm doing exactly what he, what the Hosea says he desires. Not sacrifice, not work, not prove yourself.

See, that's what the Pharisees wanted to do. They wanted to say, we're the ones who do this, this, this, this, and this. Therefore, we're the good guys. The disciples of John seem like that's what they're asking. It's like, hold on a second. Is there something that we're supposed to do?

Why aren't y'all doing the things that make us some of the good guys? And Jesus just says, mercy. Not sacrifice. It's not what you give up. It's not the debt you pay. That's our mercy.

That's our steadfast love. The knowledge of God that you would just know Jesus. That we would understand who God is and what he's like. Not burnt offerings. Not religious practices. So here's what this means.

This is what Jesus has come to do. He's come to offer grace. Mercy. To people like Matthew. Matthew went from the tax booth to the table with Jesus. Based off of what?

Jesus. Jesus. Jesus just calls him to it. What did Matthew do that made him one of the good ones? He responded to Jesus? Nothing?

What had he done to earn something? What had he done to begin to cut out his position and to make himself lovely and beautiful and lovable? Nothing. He went from the tax booth to the table. And then there's these groups of people sitting outside who can't get around the table with Jesus. And they're going, hold on a second.

Are we supposed to do the stuff? And Jesus says, mercy. Not sacrifice. Not your works. Not your accomplishments. Mercy.

Steadfast love. Come pull up a seat at the table if you're sick. If you're a sinner, you're welcome. If you're sick, wretched, you get a seat at the table. If you think you're righteous, if you think you're well, you don't go to the doctor. If you think you're righteous, you don't need God.

You just need some good rules to follow.

The Healing of the Paralytic

The Healing of the Paralytic

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning, my name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We're going to be in Matthew 9 today. The first eight verses you can go ahead and flip there. We're going to be on page 475. If you don't have a Bible, and the blue Bible is on page 475, you can follow along with us.

But we do encourage you to follow along as you walk through this story today. When I was in seminary, my wife and I both worked for an organization called Community Life. It is a Christian non-profit that the goal, if you know some of the folks who have done apartment life in our church, it's very similar. The goal is that you would put Christians in apartment complexes, and they would help develop the community through events, through connecting neighbors to neighbors, neighbors to what's happening in the community as a whole. And you would develop the community and use that as a means for mission, that you would make disciples through being a team on site and living there.

And my wife and I did that for a couple of years. And then a couple of years later, my boss, he said, I want to make you the regional director over Louisville and eventually over our Memphis region. So I oversaw those regions. And it was my job to help make sure that teams were accomplishing what we set out to do. And every year we do this once a year retrain, refocus training. And there's one year that we did it.

You have a bunch of different sections in the training that we're doing. We're refocusing a lot of the things that we work on in the program. And one of them is just refocusing on making disciples, asking how is that going? How are we reaching people? What does that look like? And one year in particular, there was a team that got hired not long after we were hired as a team.

And I had watched over the next few years as they started to get more into some different preachers. They started to detach a little more from their church. They wanted to see more of their apartment complex as their church. They got more into social justice. And I watched this transformation slowly start to happen. And then this one year that we did this retrain, refocus, we got to this section on making disciples.

They just kind of came out and said, I don't think we're actually called to make disciples. I don't think we're called to actually share the gospel with people. I think our main calling as Christians is to really love the people in our apartment complexes. To serve them. To care for them. And it got heated.

Because one of our other teams, they were a couple that was a missionary on the mission field. They came back and were here for a few years. And they were working with us. And they just fired back and said, you can't be serious. No, the Bible says we're clearly called to make disciples. We're clearly called to share the gospel.

What point is helping people if they're going to spend an eternity in hell apart from Jesus? And it just got heated. And what was happening there was that there were different people that were arguing for what they thought the heart of God was. What they thought the gospel was. And it was a reflection of a greater debate that has happened in the American church over the last 100, you know, 120 years. There's been a growing movement amongst Christians to ask the question, should we be caring for others or should we be sharing the gospel?

Should we share the good news or should we share our lives and share meals and serve the poor? That has been a debate that has raged on over the last 100 years. And because everything right now in culture is at a fever pitch and everyone gets crazy about literally everything, right now is the most heated I think it has ever been. And today we get to look at a story that speaks to this. We get to look at another miracle that Jesus performs and actually see how it applies to this debate. And the actions of Jesus will actually give us a picture of how we should respond and what the heart of God looks like.

So let me pray and then we will jump into the story. Father, I thank you that you love us. I thank you that you give us a story like this to teach us. God, I pray that you would help us listen. And that you would change hearts. We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Alright, so. Verse 1. So last week we saw Jesus was in this region called the Gadarenes. It's a region that has more Gentiles, non-Jewish people. He gets in a boat.

He actually comes back to more of his home base where there are more Jewish people. And anytime he's in a more Jewish region, the crowds come to see him. I mean, Jesus is the most popular person in the land at this point. So when he comes, the people come out in droves. And we see that part of this group that has come to see him is a man, a paralytic, who's on a mat. And we learn from Mark's gospel that it's four men carrying him on a mat, on a bed, to come and meet Jesus.

Now, paralytic is a pretty broad category. There are some people who have paralysis that they can do more, that they can function more, that need less help. There are other people that need more help. It's a pretty broad category. I learned quite a bit about just disabilities in college when I spent a summer in Myrtle Beach with our campus ministry. I lived with three other roommates.

And one of my roommates had cerebral palsy, which is a genetic muscular disorder. And, you know, he came down and his parents brought him. This is kind of a big deal for him to spend his first summer away from home like this. And they just said he's going to need help. And he did. He needed help, you know, getting ready for the day, you know, transportation to and fro.

And I learned a ton from this guy. His name is Mike. Just about humility, just about his outlook on life. It was such a blessing to spend a summer with him. But I also learned a little bit about our culture and how we respond to disabilities.

That our culture, for the most part, actually does a somewhat decent Job of making accommodations for disabilities. We have government programs. We have building codes. We have parking codes that show up. And I saw a little bit of how that worked. And I would say we're pretty good as a culture.

But I also learned we've got a long way to go. Just this summer and being with them, certain bathrooms we would go to. And it just wasn't very conducive to someone who had disabilities. That we'd be in certain restaurants. The way they were laid out, it was hard to get a walker into certain places. So I learned that we had a long way to go to make accommodations for those who are disabled.

But as a whole, our culture right now probably is one of the better times in history to actually struggle with and have disabilities because of all the accommodations that we make. That is very different than this culture. And this culture didn't have wheelchairs, didn't have certain government programs. They did not make a lot of accommodations for the disabled. You had to hope that you had family or friends that would take care of you. And if that was not the case, you would spend your life begging in the streets.

So outside of just the fact that this culture didn't make a lot of accommodations for those who were physically disabled, there's also a social stigma attached to it. There was a belief that if you had some type of disability, that something you did wrong, that something that your parents did wrong, that your bloodline must be cursed. And I got to see a little bit of what this looks like. There's still parts of the world where this is still a thing. When we were in Egypt this summer on our mission trip, we got to know a pastor named Pastor Jurgis. His entire ministry is devoted in that region of Egypt to helping reach people with disabilities.

Because in their culture, if you have a disability, it is stigmatized. Your family hides you away. They put you in a part of the house and they don't want anyone to know that you exist. So these people spend 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years in hiding. 40 years of not being taken care of well. Because the thought process is that if the village, if the other people know that we have someone with disabilities, they're going to think there's something wrong with our bloodline, therefore we're not going to be able to marry off the rest of our kids, which is very important in their culture.

So these people would spend their lives heading away, thinking that they were a problem. And this pastor would spend his time putting his ear to the ground, figuring out maybe this family actually has someone that is disabled. He would be invited into their home. He'd get to know the parents. They would act like that they don't have anyone in their home that would be disabled. And he would either do one of two things.

He would lead the parents to Christ and change their perspective on their child, or he would finally have access to go and meet the individual. He'd share the gospel with them and help them see that they are beautifully and wonderfully made in the image of God, that they have value and worth. It was an incredible ministry to see in action. But it also was a little bit of a picture of how socially stigmatized disabilities are, and really what this paralytic would have been facing his entire life. Not just the challenges of being paralyzed, but also the stigma of being in a culture that looks at you like this.

But we can at least tell one thing specifically about this individual. There are at least just four people in his life that care. Four people that get him on a mat and bring him to Jesus. Verse 2, it says, And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed, and when Jesus saw their faith... I'm going to pause there for a moment. This is the Cliff Notes version of the story in Mark's gospel.

We get a demonstration just more of what their faith looked like. These four men put this paralytic on a mat. They carry him for what could be miles. They get to a house where Jesus is teaching, and the crowds have so filled up the house, so filled up the outside of the house, they don't have access to Jesus. So they climb up on top of the roof.

Pull him up on top of the roof with him. They cut a hole in the roof, and they lower him so that he can be in the presence of Jesus. Which this is an aside. This is the main point of the story. But what a cool picture.

I get so convicted when I read this story. They do whatever it takes to make sure that he can be in the presence of Jesus, that he can meet Jesus. Man, what would it look like if we as a church would move heaven and earth, we would do whatever it takes to have friends, neighbors, coworkers, family members, we would literally cut holes in the roofs of houses so that people could meet Jesus. Not the main point of the story. It's an awesome demonstration of their faith. And Jesus recognizes this.

This is when Jesus saw their faith. He said to the paralytic, Take heart, my son. Your sins are forgiven. Now this is different. This is different than how Jesus has responded throughout most of these healing stories. He has been healing people left and right.

That is the reason why the crowds have come out to see him. He has a reputation for healing all kinds of people. And that makes sense that they would come and see him if you told me that there was a doctor in the area that could heal back problems. It's like, no, no, he doesn't treat them. He will literally heal them. I would be like, where is he?

And I know some other people in our church that struggle with back problems. They would be getting in their car and we would go and we would see him. And if he saw us and he said, all right, I'm so glad you're here. Let me tell you something. Your anger is forgiven. The sin is forgiven.

I'd be a little thrown off too. It's like, bro, I thought you were going to heal. My suffering. The crowds are a little bit thrown off. This is a different response than he has given thus far. And it really throws off the religious leaders.

In verse 3 it says, And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, This man is blaspheming. The scribes are a part of the religious leadership in Israel. And they say he is blaspheming. He is dishonoring the name and the character of God. And if you understand a little bit of Old Testament law, Their response is not completely off base in some respect. Because forgiveness of sins was a process.

In the Old Testament law, there was an entire sacrificial system that was set up. The sacrifices were to be done in a very specific manner. And if the priests did this in a very specific manner, And if the people had repentant hearts, Of all of this lined up, Then the sacrifice would be accepted. The animal sacrifice would be accepted. And forgiveness would happen. Jesus bypasses all of that.

He says, Your sins are forgiven. And they are floored. That he would actually say this. Which means, Either, Jesus is crazy For what he just said. Or, He believes that he is really God. Either he is crazy or he is God.

Because only God has the power To forgive sins. Which is why we say, When other religions that take the Bible and say That Jesus didn't believe he is God. It's like over and over again. No, he absolutely It is displayed. He is God. And in verse 4 it says, But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, Said, Why do you think evil in your hearts?

Now there's a couple of clues here That point to the divinity of Jesus. Firstly, The scribes said themselves, That's a way of saying they thought it. They thought, This Jesus is blaspheming. Blaspheming. Jesus knows their thoughts, Reads their thoughts back to them. If anyone can read your thoughts And articulate them back to you With that kind of clarity, It's a clue that something miraculous is happening.

Another clue we get from the text here That is showing the divinity of Jesus. This is the third miracle in a row. Chet was setting this up a few weeks ago. These miracles happen in sets of three. This is the third miracle in a row. It shows the power and the divinity of Jesus.

A couple of weeks ago, We got to see Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. And he displays his Genesis 1, Genesis 2, Creative power, And tells a storm to stop. Last, we got to see his power over, Not just creation, But the spiritual realm, As he casts out demons, And demons shudder in the face of him. And this week, We get to see that Jesus has power To forgive sins. And the people, Man, they've been so, I mean, Put yourself in their place. They had to be so excited About Jesus coming and healing.

I mean, this paralytic has spent years, Possibly his entire life, Not being able to walk, All the social stigma attached to it. But Jesus addresses a deeper need. The people are spiritually broken. They are broken. He addresses that first to show A need forgiveness of sins. It's understandable that it might be A little bit thrown off.

Because that's what we do as humans. It's our nature. The physical needs that we have, They're the most in front of us. It's the most pressing. It's the ones we feel the most. And it's human nature for us To just want to see those get met first.

Because it's human nature Just to see what's right in front of you. I've learned a thing about children. They are like velociraptors. They're fine Until they start opening doors. And then it gets dangerous. Our son learned how to open doors A few months back.

And They're outside playing in the backyard. We have a fenced-in backyard. And my daughter comes. And she says, Bridgers! That's our son. Bridgers!

Bridgers! And either she said the gate Or we made the connection That he had gotten out of the gate. We used to have gates That were unlocked Because my daughter was never adventurous. We now have locks. I run out the door. Dead sprint.

I look left. I see the gates open. And I see my son. And he is ten feet from the street. He's going to walk into the street. So I grab the closest thing to me.

I grabbed a rock. And I hit him right in the back And dropped. Now I ran and scooped him up. Brought him back. I was like, Son, you can't do this. I showed him the gate.

I'm trying to show him You can't. This is dangerous. You can't go out here. He's a toddler. This is right in front of him. This is, of course, Open the door.

Oh, the street. I want to walk into the street. He doesn't see the danger Of what's ahead. And we get older And we get wiser. But that's human nature.

We see what's right in front of us. The most physical needs. We don't understand The spiritual nature of things And how dangerous it is. For us, We don't acknowledge The spiritual reality That our souls are eternal. Jesus gets that. And he addresses this.

He says, Your sins are forgiven. And when the scribes Think this to themselves, Jesus addresses it. Verse 5. He says, For which is easier To say, Your sins are forgiven Or to say, Rise and walk. But that you may know The Son of Man Has authority on earth To forgive sins.

He then said to the paralytic, Rise, Pick up your bed And go home. And he rose And went home. When the crowd saw it, They were afraid. And they glorified God Who had given such authority To men. I love Jesus. I love his response In situations like this.

Because the first thing he does Is he flexes on the scribes. He says, Which is easier? To say, Your sins are forgiven. Or to say, Rise, Get up. And then he uses This very physical healing, This very physical demonstration To show The spiritual reality Authority has Over sins. That you would know That authority Over sins.

And this man, I want us to miss this. He does actually address The physical. This man has probably Been dreaming. Dreaming. Of what it would be like To actually be able to Stand. To be able to Walk.

And he Strengthens His legs. Gets up. Takes a step. He's healed. All the stigma. All the shame.

All the pain. Gone. And he picks up his mat. And I would like to think He skipped home. I would like to think That he went home And he danced In front of friends And family After years Of not being able To walk. And the crowds See this And they're afraid.

Because they recognize What the disciples Have been recognizing. This is no mere Man. Something Much bigger Is happening.

Jesus Heals the Demonized

Jesus Heals the Demonized

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning. Tell you what, I should have paced myself. I thought Sunday school this morning at Casey First. I need to show some really anthem banger songs. And I should have paced myself. All right.

My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We are walking through the Gospel of Matthew. We are finishing out chapter 8 today. So you go ahead and flip there in your Bibles.

We're going to be on page 475 in those blue Bibles. You'll want to follow along with us as we walk through it. I had a friend in college that the more I got to know his story, you know, I realized that we have different backgrounds and different upbringings. And the more I heard his, the more I realized, man, that is way foreign, way different than anything I'd ever heard before. He, his father is British. And the stereotype of British families is that they're, they can be a little cold, not as affectionate, not as warm.

We as Americans are more emotional. And in British families, the stereotype is that they're a little more cold. And his family really fit the stereotype pretty strongly. Because I'd talk to him and he would be like, I'd say, yeah, what was it like, you know, growing up? And he'd just say, you know, honestly, we just kind of passed, you know, family in the house. And we didn't really talk a whole lot.

We just kind of did our own thing. And so did y'all, did y'all reflect on? Did y'all hug? No, we didn't do any of that. We got, you know, we ate meals together, I guess every now and then. But we just kind of led our own lives.

And the more he talked, I just was like, that's not, that's not a normal reality. That, and he thought that that's how most families were. That that's, well, that's how, that's how he was raised. And that's why, did you really think a lot of families are raised the same way as we are? And I was like, man, that's not, I'm sorry, like, that's not the way family is supposed to be. It's not this cold, callous environment that you grew up in was not the norm.

And as he started to experience Jesus for the first time, he didn't grow up in a household that talked about the gospel. He didn't go to church growing up. And the more that he started to encounter the gospel and understanding where he came from, it began to clash. There was something that he'd been missing, a reality that he had missed out on growing up. And that was the love of Christ. For the first time in his life, he was in a community of Christians.

He was experiencing love that he'd never seen, never felt before. And finally, he became a Christian. And, and it changed his reality, opened up a new perspective for him of how things are supposed to be. And we as Americans love stories like that. We love hearing testimonies like that. That is an easy concept for us to wrap our minds around.

That you would be confronted by the love of Christ. And that would expand your, your view of reality. The reality is, is this story today is not easy for us to wrap our mind around. We're going to be talking about demons today. And as American Western Christians, this is something that we don't have strong categories for. When we get confronted by this reality, it's hard for us to really understand it.

Largely in Western culture, as they looked at stories like this in the Gospels, as we're walking through today, as Jesus is casting out demons. It's been rationalized and explained away that, well, actually, you know, they didn't have science back then. So a lot of what he was encountering was schizophrenia or epilepsy. And they just thought that as demons. And I'd say that there absolutely probably were physical realities to a lot of these situations. But I also say the Bible speaks truthfully when it says there was demonic influence involved.

That is exactly what is going on. If it's not rationalized, we'll just kind of move quickly. I guess we're uncomfortable with the story as it is. We're like, all right, let's get back to the healing stories. Let's get back to some of those because this is a little bit weird for us.

We don't have a strong view of this as Westerners. And it clashes with the reality of the Bible. But I would argue that many of us in this room, like my friend in college, live in a reality that you think is normal. And the Bible wants to blow that up and expand it. That there is a spiritual realm. That demons are an actual reality.

And as uncomfortable as it is to walk through a story like this and realize that it is a present reality, my hope today is that our view, our scope would be expanded. And we'd leave it with a better understanding of how the demonic actually works in the world today. And that God willing, for some of you, you would find some freedom. So let me pray. And then we'll jump into the story. God, I'm thankful that you've given us stories like this that challenge us.

God, I pray today that you would speak to us. And I pray in the name of Jesus that you would help us hear what you have to say clearly. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, verse 28. And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes. So this is some setting.

Last week we walked through the story. Jesus and the disciples are on the boat in Sea of Galilee. A storm comes and Jesus displays his miraculous power. And he rebukes the storm and it ceases. And it shows the creative power of God that is in him. This is Genesis 1, Genesis 2, authority over the cosmos.

That Jesus displays this magnificent power. They step off the boat into this region of the Gadarenes. This is a region of Galilee that is heavily Gentile. We're going to see in a moment how that shows up. But he's been ministering to mostly Jewish people.

And he's in a region where there are Gentiles. So he has this big miraculous event. They step off the boat in this region. Verse 28. When he came to the other side of the country of the Gadarenes. Two demon possessed men met him.

Coming out of the tomb. So fierce that no one could pass that way. So they're traveling in this region. And the text tells us two demon possessed men came. Now I'm going to get more into this later.

But I want to help remove I think some unhelpful pictures here. That word demon possessed in the Greek is demononza. It literally means demonized. We get demon possessed because this is in translation. The New Testament is written in Greek. And one of the earliest most popular translations in the English language was the King James Version.

The King James Version translated this back in the 1600s as demon possessed. And we've kind of inherited that word for the last few centuries of translations. And I think that word is a little bit unhelpful for two reasons. Firstly, it literally means demonized. To be affected by demons. But the real big reason I think that it's unhelpful for us when we hear that.

Is because we can't hear demon possessed. And not think a girl on a bed head spinning exorcist. We can't not think found footage demon possessed films. Like the whole Hollywood genre of demon possession has really confused that word. So when we hear that, I want you to hear affected by demons and stay with me.

These two men are affected by demons. They are coming out of the graveyard. And it looks like their go-to activity when they come out of the graveyard is to block the path that comes into the town. Now, they're going to get in the way. Which I would argue is a reason why when you block someone in an interception, that is literally of the devil. Can't prove it from this text.

It's just inherently true. So they block this path. And then they step in the way. And it says, verse 29, Behold, they cried out, What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? And I like to picture this scene.

This may not be helpful for you. But I'm going to say it anyways. Y'all remember one of the greatest shows from the 90s? Not Seinfeld. Not Friends. Y'all remember Hercules?

With the thespian Kevin Sorbo? The bad guys never just gradually showed up. They just jumped out of the trees. Like right in front of them. They jump out of the path right in front of them. They had their little call-out session and it would begin.

They jump into the path and they start shouting at Jesus. What are you up to, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? And the Gospel of Mark gives us some more. And the same story gives us a window-end, a little bit more of the details. That these are men that were bound with chains.

And they had been breaking these chains and getting free. That they are men that would cut themselves. So they think bloody, scarred up, wild, angry, screaming men. That are oppressed and affected by demons. And they cry out. There's a little bit of the demons speaking through them.

They cry out to Jesus. Because they recognize just how powerful He is. Just how much of a threat He is. And they try to cut a deal. Verse 30. It says, Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them.

And the demons begged Him, saying, If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs. And He said to them, Go. So they came out and went into the pigs. And behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea. And drowned into the waters. Now, admittedly, the pig part of this story is just odd.

It feels a little bit out of place. Have you all seen The Greatest Showman? We watched that movie like a hundred times in our family. Our kids love it. The movie begins with the, you probably heard the song, The Greatest Show. That's the opening track.

And it closes. The whole movie is bookended between that song. And it closes out at the very end. And Hugh Jackman is handing off the circus to Zac Efron. He wants to watch his kids grow up. And then he rides into the city, New York City, on an elephant in the snow.

And then he embraces his family. And it shows like they're going to live happily ever after. And it's this big crescendo, this big finish. And it ends. And you're like, wow. That elephant scene was weird.

That makes no sense. If you ride ten miles in the city in the snow on an elephant, that doesn't make sense. What happened to the elephant? Did they just leave it in New York City? It's confusing. And it feels a little bit out of place.

And that's a little bit when I read this story. It's like the pig's part is just, it's odd. It feels a little bit out of place. And as we try to understand a little bit what's going on here, understanding the scene that Mark's gospel says, this is a legion of demons. These are thousands of demons that are in these two men. And they're begging Jesus, don't, if you're going to cast us out, cast us into this herd of pigs.

And Jesus says, yes. Yes. And they go into the pigs. And the pigs go cliff jumping. And they die. It just, it feels a little bit out of place.

Why did he just destroy them? Why did he cast them out? Why did he grant their request? It feels a little bit odd. And to be honest, I don't have a very solid, firm, this is the reason why. I don't think the text gives us a firm reason as to why he does this.

We get a little bit of a window in of some possibilities when you read the last part of the passage. Verse 33, it says, The herdsmen fled, and going into the city, they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region. So it's possible that what Jesus is doing here is he's doing this big display of power that the pig herders see it, and they go in and spread this throughout the region.

It's possible. I've heard other people try to explain this and say, well, actually, this is 2,000 plus pigs that we learn from in Mark's gospel. This would have really decimated their local economy. This region would have been greatly hurt by this loss of pigs. So what Jesus is actually doing here is he's showing the value of human life over the material.

It's possible. This is also a Gentile region. We know this is a Gentile region. We can tell directly here because Jews, the pigs were unclean. They would never keep pigs like this. So it's possible that Jesus is showing up into a region.

He's been doing ministry mostly with Jewish people. But this prophet who's stirring up the land has come into the city or come into their region, and all of a sudden he's done this big event where he exercises some demons, and he throws them into some pigs, and it could be possible that by their response and saying we don't want you to be in, just leave this region, that they are scared. There's a few different reasons I'm sure that you could come up with. We don't really know for sure why. There are two clear things that we can see in how this passage ends. First, demons are harmful.

They are destructive. They have plagued these two men probably for years. And then when they leave, they enter a herd of pigs, and that herd of pigs dies. They are destructive. And the second thing we can tell is that they obey the voice of Jesus. Jesus has power.

I want you to imagine 3,000 of the baddest, scariest warriors. Think 300 Spartan-style warriors raging in to battle against one man. And they are yelling, and they are screaming, and they're getting ready to pull their swords, and they fall on their face and beg for mercy. If you saw that in a movie, you would say, what kind of power? How scary is that man? That is the power of Jesus on display here.

As the pigs jump into the waters, and the Mark's Gospel tells us that the men were freed of this oppression. At least one of them goes throughout the region declaring what had happened. And when you finish this story, you might think, this is a little bit weird. I want to just kind of back out of this and keep moving on, because our American Western view of this kind of reality doesn't make room for stories like this. But I want to take the rest of our time to actually lean into this reality.

That demons still exist. They still have a place in this world. I want to let that sink in. And when we do that, it will open up a new perspective. And like my friend in college, who when he encountered the love of Christ for the first time, it changed his perspective on everything. I want to press in a little bit here, as uncomfortable as it may be, and open our eyes to the reality that the demonic realm still exists.

And when you understand this, when you get this, it opens your mind up and you see the world in a completely different way. Alright, so, to do that, I want to give us a theology of demons. This is going to come out in three different sections. The first is the nature of demons. The second is their activity. And the third is our response.

Let's start off with the nature of the demonic, the nature of demons. I said this a few, you know, a month ago in the temptation narrative as we walk through Jesus being tempted by Satan. To understand demons, we've got to understand a little bit that it's said. There's a lot more said about Satan than there is the demonic. We have to have a proper understanding of who Satan is. Especially for those of us that are a little bit open to this reality.

Because we like to think, sometimes people say, oh, the devil did this, the devil did that, like he's under every rock, like he's listening in on every conversation. It is very helpful for you to understand Satan is not omnipresent. He is not in all places. He's not behind every single thing that happens that is bad. Now, a better way to see that is that he is the head of evil. He's the head of a network of demons that are seeking to destroy the good fabric of God's creation.

Now, somebody may have been up here preaching, I don't know, a month ago and said accidentally that Jesus is the head of all evil. He misspoke. And upon finding out that he said that was mortified. So, very clearly, definitively say today, no, no, Satan is the head of all evil and it's better to see the work of demons as a larger network that is accomplishing the purpose to destroy what is good in this world. Satan is called the, well, Satan means adversary. So, by nature, the demonic is adversarial.

It opposes what is good. Satan is also called the accuser that demons deal in accusations. It's called the murderer. He is, destroys things. He's called the father of lies that he deals, that demons deal in deception. It's called the enemy.

He is an enemy of God. He is called the tempter that demons lead us into temptation. He's called destroyer. He's called Beelzebub, which loosely means Lord of filth. They are the very embodiment of evil in this world and they seek to destroy what is good, especially those who are made in the image of God. That is their nature.

Second, I want to look at the activity of demons. I know at some point some of you still may be on the fence. You might think, okay, I'll concede. The Bible teaches that demons are reality, but still, like still, now, like I've heard this happening in other countries, but is it really happening here? I would argue that the majority of you, if not all of you, have had interactions with the demonic and you have been unaware. And I want to make you aware of this this morning so you actually see it in its activity.

It's kind of like when you have a friend that gets a car and they get a Ma, that's an interesting choice. I don't see a lot of those on the road. Then all of a sudden for the next three weeks you see that car everywhere. Either your friend and everyone else got the car at the same time or you are now cognizant of it. You are now aware of it and you are starting to see it. And the hope is as we walk through this that you'll be cognizant of how the activity of demons and how they work and you'll be able to see it.

Because in our rational western culture, we actually don't see many versions of what's on display in the story today. Like not many of you are going to walk in a target, on your way in a target, a crazy person jumps out in front of you who is being afflicted by demons and screams at you and won't let you in to target. That's just not, it can happen, it's not the norm. I'd argue that also this story is a more extreme version. In Matthew 4 he's healing, he's casting out demons, he's doing this and all of a sudden this big story happens. That isn't a normal version of what happens in our country, in our area.

I heard someone argue it this way. It's an argument largely based off of C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters which is a book on the demonic. And he said in our rational, modern, post-modern western culture, how foolish would it be for the demonic who are by nature destructive and deceitful and want to pull us away from following Jesus. How foolish would it be for them in a culture that has largely rejected God? Largely rejected Jesus?

How foolish would it be for them to just reveal themselves, to peel the curtain back on the spiritual world? How foolish would that be? Because if you actually see what's going on in the spiritual realm, if you actually see the demonic face to face, it begs the question, if this is real, God must be real and the gospel must be real and I need to respond. You look at other cultures that are more animistic, you look at certain cultures in Africa and different parts of the world, their encounters with the demonic is a lot more like this story. And it makes sense because they already have a category for that and the goal is to keep them from believing in Jesus.

But in our culture, we're more rational, it would be foolish for them to reveal themselves in this way. So, if they don't reveal themselves in a way like this, then how do they? How do they have, if I'm making the argument that they have activity in our lives, that all of us have had run-ins, what does it look like? Since they are deceptive by nature, dealing in lies and accusations, I argue what Jesus argues in John 8, 44, he says, you are of the father of the devil and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies.

I would argue that in our culture, this is how they are going to operate. This is how we see them operate. They deal in deception and accusation and lies. And we have seen this as we walk with people in our church. We have seen this kind of activity where it has come in and there is deception and there is lies and there are accusations. So I want to take a few minutes and walk through a few different examples of what this looks like and how we have seen some of this play out and how the forces of evil in this world are seeking to destroy us.

First example is discouragement. What we will see sometimes is that in the subject matter of discouragement, the demonic attack Christians, they attack people in our church. Let me give you an example of what this looks like. How many of you have been in a group? Everyone's friends, you're having fun, it's been a great night, you're gospeling one another and then you leave group and you have a thought that comes in. It's almost an external voice but it sounds a little bit like your own and it says they don't really like you.

They don't really care about you. They just have, they're friends, they just have to be friends with you. They don't actually think you are a part of this. How many of you have felt that when you've left a situation just discouraged feeling alone like no one cares? How many of you have heard some type of voice that says no one really loves you? No one really cares about you?

No one cares to want to get to know you? You don't have value. How many of you have heard a version of you are a fake? You are a fraud. Like we're talking about Jesus is better than everything else. We're a gospel-centered community on mission.

You hear this voice that comes and says you don't really believe that. You don't really, you're a fake. If they knew what was going on behind the curtain, if they knew what was going on underneath the surface, you'd be exposed. You'd be a fraud. You don't actually believe this gospel. How many of you have heard voices like that?

How many of you heard some version that is attached to your past or to your present, some version of you are dirty, you're gross, you're sick. And it's this persistent, sometimes subtle, sometimes overt discouragement that keeps you from believing and applying the gospel. Shows up in hiding, it's a different category. How many of you have been in a group where it's a night where everyone's confessing sin? People are confessing real struggles. And you're like, this is the night.

I've been carrying this burden for years. It has been heavy. I'm tired. I'm ready to actually practice what 1 John 1, 5-10 says. I'm ready to practice walking in the light. But then this voice comes in and says, but if you do that, you can't put that back in the box.

Once they know, they know, and they're going to look at you different from now on. In fact, the only thing they're going to see is your sin. And then you close up and you say, no, I just haven't been reading my Bible enough lately. It discourages us and keeps us in the hiding. And you hear a voice that says, you can't share that. You can't go there.

You're going to lose control of the situation if you don't actually open up. If you actually open up in this area, and it keeps us in hiding. Another way that it keeps us in hiding is maybe you're tempted by sin, and you hear this voice that comes in that says, I get away with this. You can get away with this. Do it. Nobody needs to know.

And it's subtle, and it comes in, it's like, maybe I could actually get away with this. Maybe I could commit this sin. Another area is prophetic, what I'll call prophetic failure. this was me in seminary. I had this persistent voice that as I'm preparing for ministry, as I'm preparing for what's next, this voice that would come in and would say, you're going to fail. This whole thing is going to fall apart. You're going to blow up your family.

You know those pastors that have real public meltdowns that blow up your ministry. All of this is going to fail. And for years, I heard this over and over and over again, attacking the weakest parts of my sinful nature, saying, it's all going to fall apart. You are going to fail. And finally, I'm talking with Chet one day, and he starts asking questions. He says, man, that's not normal.

It is not normal to hear that persistent over and over and over again. Maybe some of you have that kind of version that you are consistently hearing a voice that says, you are going to fail and everything is going to fall apart. Maybe it's in the area of sexual temptation that in the hardest fights against sexual temptation, the hardest, longest nights where you are fighting to believe the gospel, fighting to flee. There's a voice that comes in and says, just do it. Get it over with. Pull out your phone.

You're going to fail. Just give up. Get it over with. Maybe it's someone in your office, and she's cute, and you're hearing this voice that says, you know what, just enjoy yourself. Do it. Take a risk.

Nobody has to know. love you like no one else has loved you. You deserve this. It lures us into sexual temptation. How about self-harm? That's something we've seen in our churches. We walk through people that there is this voice that comes in that just says, kill yourself.

End it. End the pain of this life. Just get it over with. people hear that. It's a refrain that comes over and over and over again. Drive off the road, hit a tree, fill the tub, find a gun, do it. Another area is self-medication.

Some of you that drink, there's an encouragement to have another. No, you can do it, have another. Keep going. Numb the pain of this life. It's been a long week, you deserve this. Maybe it's prescription medication.

Take some more. It'll get you through the day. Maybe it's simply as eating. That in really stressful weeks, there's this encouragement. No, you deserve this. Keep eating.

Go. Order double. Fill yourself. Maybe it's the area of anxiety. For those who struggle with anxiety, there's a voice that comes in that sounds like you got to keep everything together. You got to maintain control.

If you don't maintain control, if you don't figure this out, everything is going to fall apart. And it stirs up more anxiety. And it's like, no, you got to grip harder. You got to figure this out. And it stirs up more anxiety. I'll give you one more example.

This is identity identity attacks. How many of you have heard a voice that comes and says, you are a bad mom. You're a terrible mother. You are failing your kids. Look at all the other moms on Facebook. They've got it together.

They're doing activities. They're going places. Their kids are going to love them. You're a terrible mom. father. How many of us have heard some version of, you can be just like your father. You're a terrible father.

Some version of, you're a terrible Christian. You're a bad Christian. You follow Jesus. You're a bad Christian. Some version of, you're a joke. No one respects you.

You're a terrible employee. You're a terrible boss. This happens over and over and over again. That is a sample of the things that we hear. And people think that's normal. That it's normal to have a persistent voice in your life that says these things.

Let me tell you something. If you struggle with depression and you are struggling to get out of bed in the morning, what if a real person, maybe a friend, comes into the house, sits on the bed beside you and says, don't get up. Just go back to sleep. Stay in bed. There's nothing for you out there. You know this is not worth it.

Stay in bed. Also, if you do get the energy to get up, why don't you go ahead and kill yourself? We've been playing about it. We've been talking about it for a while now. What if someone came into your house as you're raising your kids and everything that happened, every meltdown that happened with your kids, they just said, you are a bad mom. You're a terrible mom.

You're going to fail them. If a real actual person came into your house and did these things, you would say, get out. You don't, you're awful. You don't belong here. Get out of my life. I don't need that kind of negativity.

But that is an actual reality that we are unwilling to accept. That there is, there are demonic forces in our lives that are discouraging, that are accusing, that are bringing lies, and they don't have a place amongst the people of God. You might think, well, no, you really over planned this. You might try to rationalize this and think, no, that can't, some of this can't possibly be from the enemy. Well, let me give you four options for what it can be. It is either God saying these things to you, which we know is not true, based on the Bible.

He is loving, he is good, he is perfect, he is holy. He would never say these kind of things to you. So that option is off the table. It's either secondly, your flesh, which sometimes that is true. Sometimes that is a reality, that your flesh does terrible things to you. But let me tell you something.

For those of you that are hearing persistent things like this, your flesh isn't that good. It's not that crafty. You are overselling your ability to destroy yourself. So I would argue that for some of you who are receiving persistent lies like this, no, you're flesh isn't that good. The third option is it's the world, and that is also a possibility. There are things that have been said to you by friends, family, coaches, teachers, parents, teachers, stuff that you've heard over and over again for the last year, five years, ten years, that you've heard the last 20 years.

That is a reality. Let me tell you something. What they said 20 years ago, they probably don't even remember you. They certainly don't remember what they said. So that's not the world coming at you over and over again with that type of skill and persistence.

It's either one of the two I just mentioned, the flesh or the world, or it's the very real possibility that it is the enemy, that it is the demonic, that they deal in deception, they're called the father of lies, that Satan is like a lion that is seeking to devour someone, 1 Peter 5, 8, that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, cosmic powers of this present darkness, Ephesians 6, that we get example after example after example in the gospels of demons oppressing and afflicting people, that it is time to accept the reality that this is true. You need to understand that you are in a war and unless you wake up you will never learn to fight back and you will never find freedom. Half the battle is realizing that you're in it and that it's a reality. You might be thinking, but if I talk about this, they're going to think I'm crazy.

I'm a pastor who is telling you I have been there. thinking this persistent voice, that's got to be me, that's got to be something, that can't be, it's an actual reality and once you finally accept that you are in a world where the demonic is all around you and is whispering lies to discourage you, to keep you from following Jesus, that is half the battle. And once you understand you're in the battle, then you can actually respond. Last thing is our response. it is recognizing that the power for freedom from this type of oppression, the power resides in Jesus. It is found in Christ. Think, look at the story.

Thousands of demons come before the feet of Jesus begging, pleading. Jesus has that kind of power and there's so much power that is bound up in Christ. It's simply the mention of his name causes them to flee. In Mark's gospel chapter 9, this man starts following Jesus and it says John, the disciple said to him, teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name. We tried to stop him because he was not following us. And Jesus, but Jesus said, do not stop him for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able to soon afterwards speak evil of me. for the one who is not against us is for us.

And there's a lot going on there, but there's one very clear application. There is power in his name. This guy starts following Jesus, starts going around and casting out demons in the name of Jesus. There is power bound up in his name. We see this in the book of Acts. Paul is traveling around in Acts 16.

There's a woman who's afflicted by a divination, demonic spirit. And Paul said, in verse 18 it says, and she kept doing this for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, in turn said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out of, it came out that very hour. And once you get past the kind of humorous part where he was just annoyed for a few days and finally took action, you see there is power in his name. It's not a formula that we use.

It's not a tag online that we use. It's a reality that that power comes from Jesus and what he has done for us. And the clearest, most powerful example that we have of that is found in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. One of my favorite passages in the Bible, one of the first scriptures I ever memorized was Colossians 2, 13 through 14, where he says, and you who were dead and your sins, your sinful nature, and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made alive together with Christ, having forgiven us all of our trespasses, all of our sins, by canceling the record of debt that stood against you with its legal demand.

This he set aside, nailed it to the cross. That's the celebration of the gospel that we come and take from the table every week. That our sin is covered and paid for. It is a beautiful aspect of the gospel, but the next verse that follows really brings it home for this. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them. The rulers and authorities are the cosmic powers over this present darkness.

It is the demonic. Because of the cross, He puts them to shame. He destroys their work in a way that nothing else can. There is power in His name because of what He has done for us. So how do we practically respond?

I'm going to leave you with four quick things and then we'll close out. First, you need to recognize that you're in the battle. You need to recognize the oppression. Some of you have been hearing stuff like this for years. And you've tried to explain it away. You've tried to ignore it and it has not left.

And you've got to understand you're in it. You are in the war. They are coming for you and they will not stop. Their goal is to destroy you. I want you to hear that. Their goal is to destroy you and keep you from following Jesus.

So you've got to recognize what you're in already. Second, you have to understand that you, if you are a Christian, if you've trusted in the finished work of Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit living inside you. You have the God of the universe, the God in whom demons flee from and fear is living inside of you. You have power. You may be oppressed but you are not weak. Well, you are weak but He is strong within you.

We need to recognize the kind of power that is for us and nothing can actually stand against us. Third, oftentimes when we see this it is done together. We see in the Gospels over and over again someone is oppressed and then someone who has the light comes in and frees them from oppression. You can pray yourself in the name of Jesus and go to war but a lot of times it is hard in the midst of it to actually understand everything that is going on so we value doing this together. We have a process that we do in counseling and care in our church called Freedom in Christ where we walk people through this.

It is an extended prayer session sometimes anywhere from two to three hours where we are covering a whole bunch of different aspects in our lives and we do this together because all of us are going to face this at some point and we need someone to come in and preach the Gospel to preach truth to expose the reality that is before us and lastly we respond by praying in the name of Jesus. That is our hope. There is power bound up in His name. It is not a formula it is a reality. That when you pray in the name of Jesus we want you to pray boldly. It could be depression it could be anxiety it could be sexual temptation it could be any of the number of things that I just went through.

We want you to pray boldly in the name of Jesus that there is power in His name specifically addressing areas of sin and we also want you to pray continuously. The reality is is that some of you will experience freedom but sometimes it does not last.

Jesus Calms the Storm

Jesus Calms the Storm

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Grab a Bible, go to Matthew chapter 8. We're walking through the book of Matthew together. One of the fun things about children is that they don't have any sense. And that's kind of why God gave them parents, so that someone who does have sense is around them. I'm watching them. I have an 18-month-old.

And one of the funny things is there are certain things that, like he's 18 months old, he's a year and a half, whatever, and there are some things that he just absolutely is not afraid of at all that he should be. He should be afraid of it, but he doesn't have enough sense to know, like outlets. He shouldn't mess with those, but he thinks there's something going on over there that my parents are keeping from me, some sort of secret fun that they don't want me to be in on. And there are other things that he really probably shouldn't be that afraid of, and he's terrified. He just, he doesn't know, he doesn't know how to, what's scary and what isn't, and when he should be afraid and when he shouldn't be.

And so the other day, I put him in the bed of my truck, which is like a traveling playpen. It's real nice to have a truck and little kids. I just, I need to put him somewhere. I set him in there. But he's gotten to where he can climb, so he climbed up on the toolbox.

And then he was running towards the edge and stopping. And then looking at me and laughing, because he could see the fear on my face. And apparently this is a fun game. Because I'm like, whoa. Which is a really terrible idea. When you're primarily just a head, you don't run to the edge of things and stop over concrete.

I mean, it's equivalent of like me on a two-story building. It's like you don't, it's not a good idea, but he thought that was a fun game. And not afraid of it at all. And then last week, we're in here, after everything's over with, and he's, right now he cries a lot if he's not with his mom. He prefers her over me. I was shocked when I found out as well.

So I've been taking him away from her, and letting him cry, and explaining to him, this is not how we're going to live our life. You cannot just only cry and harass your mom. And so I've just been walking around with him going, no, you're going to calm down. You're going to learn to love me. I am your father. So we were doing that here last week, and he had calmed down, and I said, all right, you can go run around and play or whatever.

So I set him on the ground. Well, he didn't want to run and play. He wanted to go find his mom. So I was standing over here. He took off running over to where she was. I was just watching him.

She had left. So he runs over there all excited, and then he's like having a look at everybody's face, and he's like, all right, not my mom, not my mom, not my mom. And then you could just see him like getting scared because it turns out she can move. And she wasn't where he left her, and he was like, he started freaking out. And some of y'all are like, yeah, that's terrifying. Being around other humans is the worst.

But he got really scared, and then he just bolted back over to where I was, and I was like, yeah, that's right. I'm great, aren't I? But he had this moment where you could just see. He realized, I'm in over my head. Like, I can't, I don't know these people. I'm not sufficient by myself.

This is terrifying. I'm not okay. I need somebody else. And the reality is, we grow older, and there are certain things we learn are bad and scary and that we should avoid. But for the most part, there's still a real similarity between us and the 18-month-old is that there are a lot of things that we feel like we have in control, that we have under our authority that we can handle, and we don't know how close we are to just falling off the edge, how close we are to having that perceived control and that perceived safety taken away from us, and there are these moments in life where it becomes very, very clear that we're in over our heads and that we need help, that we are beyond our sufficiency, and that we are actually very small and very weak.

So we're going to read a story this morning of the disciples coming to that conclusion and how they interact with Jesus and what we can learn from their interaction and ultimately from Jesus' response, and hopefully it'll be some good news for us this morning. So let's pray, and then we'll start reading the Bible together. God, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for what you have come to do for us in Christ. And we ask that this morning as we study your word that you would grow our faith and that we would leave here knowing more about you and trusting you more fully. In Jesus' name, amen.

So Jesus preaches a Sermon on the Mount. He comes down. He's been healing people. He's been having these interactions with disciples. What we left with last week was it said this big crowd had come. He had healed their diseases, and then he saw the big crowd.

He said, let's get in the boat. Let's go to the other side. Jesus' plan was not to have one big central ministry where he did healing. He was going to go proclaim the gospel, travel around, and eventually die. So his signs, his healings, were to show the world what it looked like when the kingdom advances and to show the world his authority, but he ultimately wasn't here just to heal people.

So he says, let's get in the boat. Let's go. He gets in the boat with the disciples to travel across the Sea of Galilee. And so the Sea of Galilee is kind of like an egg-shaped sea. It's about seven and a half miles one way and 13 miles, 14 miles another way. And so it's a fairly big lake, fairly big sea, but it's not massive.

And so they get in the boat, and they're going to travel across. So we're picking up in 8, 23. When he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea. So the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep.

Okay, there's a lot in that sentence, so let's talk about this. They were in a fishing boat, most likely, because he had disciples who were fishermen, so they're in a fishing boat. We found some of those, about 27 feet long, seven and a half, eight feet wide. It's fairly big. Mark tells us that he was asleep on a cushion in the stern, which means he was at the back of the boat on a cushion, which was apparently some section designed where you could lay down or rest. And I think it's most likely that it was in the stern of the boat.

There was like a little top deck and a little place you could crawl underneath. The reason I think that was likely is because the boat was being swamped with water, which means it's filling up with water, and Jesus is still asleep. I think if he were out on the deck, getting absolutely soaked, he might would have woken up. But it's a big storm, he's asleep, and the best assumption here is that he's absolutely exhausted. So he's fully God, but he's also fully man, and it's been a long day, and he's beat.

And so he lays down and falls asleep and stays asleep in the middle of a storm. He was fully human, so I'm assuming he's having some weird dreams, but there's a big storm going on, and there's rocking the boat and crashing over to the point that the waves are coming over the side of the boat, and the boat is being swamped, which means it's filling up with water. So this was not good. The word great there is the word megas, M-E-G-A-S, similar to our word mega. So there arose a mega storm on the sea so that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep.

Now, I haven't spent much time on boats. I've spent some time on boats, but not much time on boats. And we have very accurate, helpful weather forecasts. So if it's going to be bad weather, I spend zero time on a boat. Because that's a bad time to be on a boat. Jesus tells them, let's get on the boat, let's go.

They go, and a storm comes in. Now, there are mountains next to the Sea of Galilee, so storm clouds would form over and then just drop down onto the sea. And where there are no trees, then winds can pick up. It can become a big mess in a hurry, and that's what happens. And it's possible the disciples who were used to boating, when Jesus was like, let's get on the boat and go, we're like, hmm, seems like a bad idea. We don't know.

They get on the boat, and they go at Jesus' direction, and now they're in a big storm. So I had a hard time picturing what it would be like to be in a big storm on a boat, so I went to YouTube, and I looked up boats in storms, and I found a fishing boat in a storm, and we're going to watch it for just about 45 seconds to see and help us feel what was going on here. So we're going to show this, and then we'll keep talking. Thank you. Thank you. So there are times where the boat is completely sunk down.

You cannot see. They would have been surrounded by the ocean. They would have been tipping up, tipping down. It's a mess to the point that water is filling up the boat, and that boat would be bigger than the boat they would have had, and if you noticed, water would pour into it, and then you could see it pouring out the sides. I don't think they had that sweet setup, and so it also wouldn't have been as deep of a boat. They were in a mess.

Now we're going to keep reading, and we'll see that it absolutely is a mess, and I'll be able to prove it to you in just one second. Verse 25. And they went and woke him, woke Jesus, saying, Save us, Lord, we are perishing. Save us, Lord, we are perishing. Now, a couple of things are at play there. I think it's helpful for us to understand.

One, we see as the story plays out that they did not really expect him to be able to save them the way that he does. So, hey, if I ruined it for you, he does save them. But they're surprised when he does. They went to him, waking him up, because they had reached the point that the only plan they had was, wake the holy man, maybe he can talk to God for us. The best plan they had. And I can tell you, there was a lot in between the storm rolling in and that moment, because they waited until it was almost over.

They woke him up and said, Hey, hate to wake you up, but you're about to die. We're all going to die. Sorry to bother you with this news. The boat is sinking. There were four fishermen on the boat. We don't have many disciples were on the boat at this point, but we know that four of them were fishermen.

Peter and Andrew, James and John. When it first started, they didn't go, Oh, a storm's rolling in. Wake up Jesus. If someone had said, should we wake up Jesus? I feel that one of the four of them, it's not in here, but I think given how life works, one of them would have said, why? What does he know about boats?

We got this. That when it first started, they were just doing what they did. Steering the ship. Yelling out boat things to each other. That if you were a disciple on the boat and you weren't used to being on boats, you would have had to find a way to get out of the way and hold on to the side. You probably were praying, but they're, they're going back and forth and they're saying, batten the hatches, hoist the jib, scuttle the brisket, you know, boat stuff.

But they would have been yelling back and forth to each other. And at some point, they would have felt like, we got this. We've been in this kind of thing before. And then there would have been at times where if you were paying attention and you were looking at their faces, you would have realized that without so many words, they quit saying good things to each other and they started looking at each other. That Peter and Andrew, who were brothers, looked at each other like, I think we're going to die. That at some point, they reached the place where they said, we've just got to wake up Jesus.

Tell him we're going to die. Ask him to save us and see what happens. Because we've gotten beyond our ability. It's tipping down. Waves are coming. This wave's rolling and you're thinking, maybe this is the last one.

Maybe this is the one that flips us over. Maybe we can, and at some point, they're no longer in control and they know that they're very small and very weak and in over their heads. And it was clear to them to the point that they go run to Jesus and just say, save us. Not even really knowing what he can do, but just, they've reached the point where the best chance they got is, somebody pray and we think he's got the direct line, best chance of getting through. Now, pause this story for a second. This is a real actual story that happened with them out on water, but for us, I connect with that.

If I was one of the disciples, my first reaction wouldn't have been a little storm rolling in and thought, yeah, I just talked to Jesus about it. Easy. I'd have been doing what I, oh no, I got this. I can handle this. I'll put my head down. I'll get to work.

We got this. We don't have to worry. We're fine. I might have said a prayer along the lines of, Lord, help me got this. Help me be great. But that, that'd have been it.

They were just working to accomplish what they could do. What was it? And some of you feel that. Some of you know that right now. You're, you're, this makes sense to you. You're in a midst of chaos, brokenness.

You're looking at life going, I don't know which one, which wave comes. It's finally going to sink this ship, but I, maybe this one, maybe that one, it's coming. And you've already done all the things that you could think to do. That's what you went for first. You had the conversations. Maybe you saw a counselor.

Maybe you've gotten on some medication. Maybe you've tried to work it out with the situation with your children or with your finances or with work or with your boss or with your mental state. And you, you've tried to make the changes and do what you possibly could and none of it seems to be working. And with each thing we try, we get more desperate and more fearful. And then, at first, maybe we were hopeful we can handle this. We just do a few things and then slowly we try another thing and we try another thing and we try something else and eventually it starts going, I don't have anything else to try.

I don't know what else to do here. And maybe you've reached this point where all you're doing is trying to rouse Jesus. Let's see what happens. So they went to him and they woke him saying, Save us, Lord. We are perishing. And he said to them, Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?

I have a problem where when I think things, a lot of times it just is immediately translated on my face. So there are times where I look at people like, just when they say something, and I have a feeling that the disciples at times had to look at Jesus like, And this feels like one of those. Like Jesus says things and sometimes in church we go, Oh yes, Jesus. But it's like you woke him up. The boat's tipping. You got in the little hole.

You're smacking your head on things. Water's rushing in. And you said, Wake up. We're about to drown. And he says, Why are you afraid? And it's like, What?

Because I'm drownable. Like it feels like, it's like, What is that response? What is Jesus getting at? Don't you think they just looked at him like, What? Why are you afraid of you of little faith? So what Jesus is saying is that fear and faith are opposed to one another.

That the way they approached him was fear. They were shook. They didn't approach him like he was big and good and holy and capable. They approached him at the end of their rope terrified. They didn't have faith because he was their last chance. Last ditch effort.

Well, let's try Jesus. All the good plans have fallen through. And so he's saying that this fear in the midst of chaos and things that none of us, none of us would look at this situation and say, chickens. They shouldn't have been afraid. I wouldn't. If you told me you were out on a boat and it was getting swamped and it was shaking and you were terrified and you said, I was scared.

And I looked at you and said, I wouldn't be scared. You should stop being my friend because I'm the worst. But Jesus is calling them to something that sounds crazy. That in the midst of something that absolutely should be terrifying that no one would fault you for being scared. He says, why are you afraid? And he says, oh, you of little faith.

That if they'd approached him the way that the centurion approached him. See, the centurion came to him earlier in chapter 8 and said, I'm a man who's also under authority. Just say the word. Jesus said, I haven't seen faith like this. And he heals a paralytic without even having to go. He just says, go, he's healed.

And they didn't approach him thinking, you're capable, you can just say the word, we know you're in charge of everything. They approached him terrified saying, is there anything you can do? Help us. And he says, why are you afraid? Oh, you of little faith. But he doesn't just say that.

And I don't think he said it. The way I read this and the way I understand Jesus, I don't think he said it angrily as much as just a little bit like, why are y'all scared? Like, you don't understand? Why are you afraid? Oh, you of little faith. And then, look at this.

Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm. And the men marveled saying, what sort of man is this that even winds and sea obey him? The reason they didn't, you can know they didn't approach him in faith is that when he tells the winds and waves to stop and they stop, they said, what on earth just happened? If they didn't know he could do that, if they approached him like he was capable of it, then they would have been like, told you, knew it, thanks Jesus, you can go back to sleep. But that's not what they did.

They wake him up. He says, why are you afraid? Oh, you of little faith. The boat is rocking. Jesus is probably getting wet. He walks out and he fusses at.

That's the southern term for rebuke. He chewed out the winds and the waves. He says, Luke tells us, he says, peace be still. And if you ever watch like a Jesus cartoon, he says it like this, peace, be still. But that's not a rebuke.

Just so you know. Like, if your boss came to you and said, peace, be still, you wouldn't go home and go, I almost got fired today. Got fussed at. That's not how it works. He fusses at the weather like it's a misbehaving child. And then the weather obeys.

So there's this massive storm. Waves are rolling. Jesus rebukes it. And it stops. And it says there was a great calm. It uses the same word.

So it went from being a day that was a mega storm to mega calm. Like, awkwardly, aggressively calm. To where the boat probably was still having to like figure out like, oh, okay, we're okay now. But they were the only ones like putting ripples in the water. Wind stops. Waves stop.

And I'm assuming they stopped as like an epicenter from where Jesus says it and just flattened out. Like the only thing you could see in like a cartoon or something where it doesn't make any sense and the physics don't work but Jesus is in charge. So the waves and the wind just went whoop. And then the disciples are like, who is this? What kind of man is this that the winds and the waves obey him? You see, a holy man, a prophet would have asked God.

Holy men and prophets could speak on behalf of God if God told them something first. There are times where there's stuff going on and we'll see Elijah who's one of the best prophets ever. He gets down and he prays and he has to pray seven times. Jesus doesn't pray. He just tells the weather what to do. Don't, if you've heard this over and over again, don't add your little church filter to this.

This is crazy if you're on a boat with somebody who can do this. They knew he could heal but this is apparently in some absolutely different category. And it is, biblically. You see, the waves and the ocean and storms, these were good representations of chaos and evil completely outside of human control. If you're on ground, you have some ability to kind of control yourself unless there's like an earthquake and the ground opens up and swallows you like you've got some control but they understood when you got out on water you were losing some control. You had no real ability to handle.

That was the other thing they understood with weather. Like we have no ability to know when the weather's coming, what it's going to do. It's the same thing they understood with like wild beasts. And throughout the Old Testament we see that God is in charge of wild beasts and he's in charge of the weather and he's in charge of the ocean. And so when Jesus does this, the answer to the question is what kind of man is this is God. That's the kind of man.

A man who is also God. I'm going to read some from Psalms a couple different places and then we'll look at one together but I'm going to read a few. So Psalm 29 verses 3 and 10 says, The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders the Lord over many waters. The Lord sits enthroned over the flood. The Lord sits enthroned as king forever.

It's God who's over the water. Psalm 93 says, The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunder of many waters. Mightier than the waves of the sea.

The Lord on high is mighty. So the ocean is terrifying. The flood is terrifying. And Jesus is scarier. God is scarier. Proverbs 8, 27 through 29 this is wisdom speaking talking about being there at creation.

It says, When he established the heavens I was there. When he drew a circle on the face of the deep. When he made firm the skies above. When he established the fountains of the deep. When he assigned to the sea its limit so that the waters might not transgress his command. It says that God put the sea and drew a line.

Looked at the sea and said don't cross it. And the sea said yes sir. That's what Job 38 says. And Job there's a man named Job who's had a lot of calamity and trouble and pain in his life to where he begins to question God and ask him what's going on and God shows up and what God says is not here's why this happened. What God says is here's who I am. He says this in Job 38 8 through 11 he says who shut in the sea with the doors when it burst out of the womb when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors and thus said thus far shall you come and no farther and here shall your proud waves be stayed.

And doors and thus said thus far shall you come and no farther and here shall your proud waves be stayed. This is the God who controls the weather and that Jesus when he says peace be still when he rebukes the wind and the wave and it listens he is God. That's what the disciples would have seen that's what Psalm 107 this will be on the screen

I think it's a helpful picture of what they just went through and how the Old Testament talks about a similar situation it says some went down to the sea and ships doing business on the great waters they saw the deeds of the Lord his wondrous works in the deep for he commanded and raised the stormy wind which lifted up the waves of the sea they mounted up to heaven they went down to the depths their courage

Melted away in their evil plight they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits end then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress he made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed I love that verse because that's what Jesus says peace be still hush

Hold your peace shut your mouth stop he hushes them and tells the waves to be still that's what God does here and that's what Jesus does there that he is God verse 30 then they went then they were glad that the waters were quiet and he brought them to their desired haven let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love for his wondrous works the children of man let them extol him in the congregation

Of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders Jesus controls the weather and the disciples are amazed Luke says they're terrified Luke says they were scared of the storm and then terrified of Jesus and that seems fair because he's now scarier than the storm if the ocean is scared of Jesus and you're scared of the ocean you should also

Be scared of Jesus that's how that works so they were like okay if he's in charge of this like this is crazy that he is this powerful that he commands even the weather so the Bible is showing us and Matthew is showing us that Jesus is not just God over sickness he's not just king over some brokenness on a human level but that he's actually the God over creation that he's over

Over chaos and the things that are completely outside of our control and Jesus says why are you afraid oh you of little faith basically if you knew who I was this conversation would not be so frantic now what happens if they're all on a boat with him again and a storm starts coming I would think at that point they would be like oh Jesus has this

Let him sleep let's wait until it gets kind of intense and then we'll just wake him up and ask him to control this like if you were about to go out to sea and it looked like it was going to storm and people were like it's a bad time to go I think the disciples would be like well is Jesus going to be on the boat because we'll be fine and if he's not going to be on the boat probably good point

We'll just stay over here because at that time they would begin to understand who he is and what he's capable of I think my approach would be different the next time if I understood who he was and what he was capable of and how much more for us if you belong to Jesus and know what he's done how much more has he done than show his power

In calming a storm how much more has he displayed his greatness and his trustworthiness how much more has he shown us what he's capable of that we might run to him and trust him and not be swallowed up in fear and doubt and anxiety because we are an anxious fearful people if right now

We had to list out all the things that could go wrong some of you without even being prompted do that on a regular basis just in your head are constantly running through nightmare scenarios of all the things that could fall apart and all the things that could possibly just unravel you feel this more acutely than others you feel this fear and doubt over your life over your finances

Over your health over the health of those around you over the relationships that you have some of you have a conversation with someone and it seems weird and then on your ride home or after you get off the phone you run through 15 scenarios of what possibly could be going on and how this relationship will fall apart and how you won't have friends anymore

And what they were actually thinking and we are fearful some of us have situations with our spouse or with our children and we're fearful some of us are in the midst of an actual terrible storm things have fallen apart the boat is being swamped and we keep asking the question is when is the next wave going to just

Roll us over when is this going to end and the only end we see is a terrible one and Jesus says in the face of that why are you afraid don't you know who I am why are you afraid don't you know how big I am and how good I am and how capable

I am why are you afraid why is your faith so small and I don't think he says it like he's fed up with you I think he's pleading with us why why are you acting like this why are you afraid there's some situations I have with my four year old

Where he's freaking out I'm trying to get him to do something and I'll look at him and say boy I'm your daddy I'm not going to hurt you I'm not out to get you I think I'm not I'm not afraid why are you afraid why do you keep acting

As if you're completely out of control and that you were the one who was in control in the first place part of the reason we're terrified is because we're trusting ourselves and yes you aren't very trustworthy if it's just you yeah let's be terrified but Jesus

Is saying have faith trust me grab your Bible go to Romans chapter 8 because our story if you know Jesus your story your anchor is better than just he can control the weather your hope is more firmly

Founded than just we saw him do this Romans 8 Paul is writing to the church and he's talking about this idea of us being fearful and problems and pain doubt and sin and everything that could absolutely swamp us

Verse 31 what should we say to these things if God is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up

For us all how will he not also with him graciously give us all things we're terrified we're terrified Paul's looking at us the way Jesus is

Looking at us saying take a deep breath catch your breath hold on a second if God is in the boat with us what who are you going to put outside of it if God is on this side of

The battlefield who are you putting on the other side that now we should all be afraid I'll give you a minute when you

Make a very good list ball it up throw it away it's garbage it cannot handle God and he says if he would not

Withhold his own son from us how will he not give us everything how is he not going to accomplish all that he's promised

If he's already given you his son if Christ has already bled and died for you what why are you afraid what's going to

Take that from you what's going to crush you what's going to destroy you what's going to win he keeps going he gives us

A list gives us two actually he says who shall bring any charge against God's elect it's God who justifies if God makes you right

If God pays for your sin if God redeems you if Jesus christ went and died in your place who's going to crush you who's going to destroy you who's going to

Cast you into hell who is to condemn christ Jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised who is at

The right hand of God who indeed certainly is interceding for us who shall separate us from the love of christ tribulation that's terrible

Horrible circumstances distress we don't use distress much take the dis off stress persecution famine nakedness danger sword as it is written for your sake we

Are being killed all the day long we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered no in all these things we are more than

Conquerors through him who loved us you are not more than a conqueror through you you are not more than a conqueror through the

People around you you are not more than a conqueror through your own work or your own ability or your own intelligence or your

Own morality you are more than conqueror through him if he's in the boat it's not going to tip up ultimately we will not

Be sunk we will not be swamped now I say ultimately because I gotta make something really clear here this does not mean for

Believers that we won't have storms it actually doesn't mean that for believers the boat will never be shipwrecked just read the book of Acts Paul

Was on a boat he goes to the centurion on the boat in the middle of a storm and he says hey I've got

Good news nobody's going to die but the ship is going to crash the reality is some of us will lose our jobs some

Of us will lose family members some of us our faith our health will fail some of us will have divorces some of us

Will have children that in an instant as we're passing through an intersection leave us some of us will get sick some of us

Our children will get sick some of us will not make it through the next year five years ten years and none of that

Will win none none of it none of it will conquer you because in Christ we conquer that our hope is held secure by

Him who rose from the grave that we can face anything and it will be painful and it will be devastating and there will

Be times where we're leaning into Jesus and just begging him help save redeem work and the answer in that moment will be no

Not in the way you want not in the way you've planned but he's good and he has us and we will not be

Conquered doesn't matter what it is it's the fall the most wonderful time of the year it's getting colder there's football the other day when

I got to put on one of my thicker flannel shirts I just stood in the mirror smiling at myself I watch football in

The fall one of the things that's stressful and frustrating about football is I don't know how the game is going to end I

Have a good guess I'm a Carolina fan there's been some times over the past couple years and especially more often when I lived at

Home with my parents because they had like a DVR thing that I would have to work or something and I would miss the game and I

Know some people it like ruins them to find out what's going to happen in the game but I would just keep up with it

And know and there were some games that I went into knowing that we won I knew and then I loved it when the other team

Started doing well I didn't mind it at all if I knew we were going to win and we were down by 24 points

In the fourth quarter I just knew I popped some popcorn this fourth quarter is about to be really good that's why I like

Some of the movies that I like some of the ones that are supposed to be really cliche type movies where the good guys

Win and culturally right now people are like that's boring that's not art it's like I don't care stack the odds against them and let them

Overcome I love that story you have conversations with some people who are like yes but I like movies where the bad guys win

Or where it's just really convoluted I am very intelligent and I like movies that are stupid but I'll say to him I don't like

That he goes but it's more real and I'm going to be honest with you that's not real for me because I belong to

Jesus the end isn't convoluted the bad guys don't win I am not conquered you can stack the odds however you want it can

Fall apart however you want it does not end with us shipwrecked if you belong to Jesus that is not your reality if you

Hold fast to Christ you will not be sunk let them throw whatever they want cancer death divorce let them run off let your

Finances fail go bankrupt we conquer he rules he reigns he rose he was dead and buried we have the phrase that put the

Nail in the coffin which means that was it it was over not for us Christians rise because Jesus rose and in Christ we

Conquer I don't care make a list make a list like Paul makes a list and then ask can this separate me from the

Love of Christ can it snatch me out of his hand can it overpower him will this destroy him is he weak in the

Face of this no never has never has been never will be he rebukes the waves and they stop and we can trust that

If we're in the middle of the storm he's not asleep because he doesn't care for us he's asleep because he's not afraid that

If he doesn't seem quick to run in in this moment it's not because he doesn't love you it's because he's not scared and

His response to them is the response to us why are you afraid just trust me why are you afraid just have faith and

The way we respond to this is we don't have faith in ourselves we don't have faith in our faith we don't say okay I'm

Going to be strong enough to believe well enough we just begin to look at him and to understand who he is and what

He's capable of grab your bible open it up and start reading about the God who told the ocean stop here and don't go

Any further and trust that he can do the same thing in your life read about the God who came to earth because he

Loved us so much that he died for your sin and rose again and then offers you his love and his life in you

And then trust understand him is big and good and holy and capable not you it's okay to be small it's okay to be weak when

He's going to pick us up and carry us through when he's the one who conquers not us in a minute we're going to take communion

Where we celebrate that Jesus Christ bled and died to save sinners and that in him you're okay and in him you might be

In the middle of something right now where you're just waiting for the next wave to actually swamp the boat and you think this

Will be the end of it and it will be over and in him you might be exhausted and fearful but in him hope

And there's life and there's a future and we can trust so in a moment you take a minute to pray to run to

Jesus not in fear but in faith talk to him about all that stands looming over you and threatens to destroy you and then

Come take communion celebrating that Jesus Christ is the one who died he's the one who rose and if God has given us his

Son how will he not graciously give us all things let's pray God we thank you that in you we have hope that you

Are big that you rule over the storm that whatever right now threatens to undo us you are sovereign over it you hold us

In your gracious hands and you hold the storm and it moves at your will and that we can trust you that if we

Placed our faith in the risen Christ we will not be conquered just as you will not be conquered in Jesus name Amen

The Cost of Discipleship

The Cost of Discipleship

Chet Phillips

Transcript

It's good to see you all this morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab your Bible. Go to Matthew chapter 8. We're walking through the book of Matthew.

We're looking at the life of Jesus, specifically as told by one of his disciples, who is trying to present to us who Jesus is and why we ought to love him, serve him, follow him, believe in him. One of the things that happens a lot in movies and TV shows when there's a courtroom scene, specifically if that's one of the main things about the show is courtroom stuff, is that the lawyer that we're rooting for will have been doing poorly. It's not going well for him, you guys. It doesn't look like it's going to work out. And then all of a sudden, they have an idea, and they start asking questions that in some ways seem a little unrelated to the case.

So they start asking these questions, and eventually the defense lawyer, because it's usually a defense lawyer, stands up and says, Objection, Your Honor. What does this have to do with the case? He's badgering the witness. Other lawyer words. And the judge will say, I'll allow it, but you better be going somewhere. And our lawyer that we're rooting for says, I am your lawyer.

I am your honor. Thank you. And then they keep asking the questions, and then eventually they've asked question, question, question. Then all of a sudden, you think we're over here, and they walk over and go, Well, if that's true, then, and they present their case. And this happens in all the great law dramas of our age. Liar, liar, legally blonde, my cousin Vinny.

In some ways, that's what Matthew is doing in chapters 8 and 9. He's showing us something here. Saying, Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. And then he goes, If that's true.

And he walks through something that seems unrelated in some ways, and says, Then this. He does that three times. In chapters 8 and 9. We're going to look at the first kind of set of that. But I just want you to look at the headings first.

I usually don't like the headings. You know, the authors didn't write those in there. If you have a Bible that has the little headings, and the sections are broken up. The author didn't put that there. Other people who printed the Bible put that there to try to make it helpful. Sometimes it is.

Sometimes I disagree with the heading they gave it, and it's like, Why don't you just let the Bible speak for itself, and quit adding your own little thoughts in here. But we're going to use them today. So, if you'll look, it's, Jesus cleanses a leper, the faith of a centurion, Jesus heals many, the cost of following Jesus. That's what we're going to look at today. But then he does it again.

Jesus calms a storm. Jesus heals two men with demons. Jesus heals a paralytic. Jesus calls Matthew. And then there's this question of fasting that's connected to that. And then it does it again.

Girl restored to life. Jesus heals two blind men. Jesus heals a man unable to speak. Harvest is plentiful. Labor is few. And then it goes into this whole discipleship thing.

So he goes, Miracle, miracle, miracle, following Jesus, discipleship. Miracle, miracle, miracle, following Jesus, discipleship. Miracle, miracle, miracle, following Jesus, discipleship. So he's saying, notice these miracles, but his point is over here. So that's what we're going to look at today.

We're going to look at the first three, but then we're going to come back through and go, okay, but here's his point. Y'all ready for that? Doesn't matter. We're going to do it anyway. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for how good you are. that you are powerful. You do perform miracles and that we can know you and relate to you and have hope in you. So we pray that you would, through your Holy Spirit, help us to understand your word, to believe it and to follow you. In Jesus name. Amen.

Matthew chapter eight, verse one, when he came down from the mountain. So he had just been giving the sermon on the mount, teaching about what the kingdom would look like. And now he's going to begin to kind of apply that and press the kingdom into the world around him. So he says, when he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him and behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him. Okay. So this is our first story is a leper.

This first picture that Matthew's giving us about Jesus's miraculous power, his authority is this interaction with a leper. Now a leper was anyone who had a skin disease that was contagious. So there's an actual disease we call leprosy, but this also, the term here would have included other skin diseases that were contagious. And skin diseases are painful and awful. They just are. They can be debilitating.

What would have happened here for this person to actually be called a leper meant that they, not only did he have this skin disease, but he was actually kind of included in this group in society. And that was very painful and problematic. So let's, let's talk first about the ailment. He would have had a skin disease that was growing or continuous or contagious, would have had open sores. If it was leprosy, would have slowly began to lose his limbs, would have lost feeling in toes and fingers and extremities like nose, ears can fall off, would have potentially had his skin turn white, would have potentially had open sores.

If you've ever had just really bad sunburn, and think about how much that affected you and how much it hurt and was awful, and you worked to try to get rid of it. For anybody who's had continuous skin issues, it's painful and hurtful. But in their culture, it was beyond that because they didn't have good ways to treat it. And they knew it was contagious. They removed lepers from society. So this is Leviticus 13.

This was the law for those suffering with leprosy. It says, The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose. And he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, Unclean, unclean. He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone.

His dwelling shall be outside the camp. He shall live alone. You lived alone or with other lepers. You wore torn clothing. You were to make your hair look disheveled. And if that didn't work, you were to yell out, Unclean, unclean.

You remember in middle school, when you got a really big pimple on your face and you felt like it would glow in the dark? This doesn't have to just be middle school. This still happens to us as adults. I would pull out a pocket knife and cut my face. I'd rather have like a cut on my face and make up some story than walk around with some giant... Like it's a thing that we feel like people just notice and see.

It hurts us to have just some kind of skin thing. You ever spill something on your shirt? Like I spill stuff on myself periodically and I think, well, I'm announcing to the world that I'm an idiot today. Or, like I'll go out of my way to like go get a new shirt, change my shirt, get my wife to bring me one or something because it's like... And you feel like it's obvious. Leprosy was in their skin.

And they had to yell out, unclean, unclean, that they were marked by this. Separate from the rest of the world. Not only was it physically debilitating, it was socially, emotionally. You can even add in spiritually that you'd be wondering why the Lord had done this. Were you hated by God? You were cast out.

And so this leper pushes his way into a crowd. I don't know if he was yelling unclean the whole time. You ever have a hard time pushing your way into a crowd? Start yelling unclean as you walk through it. I bet people will be like, I don't know what that means, but I'm going to just back up. Makes it all the way up to Jesus and says this, Lord, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.

Knelt before him. So potentially this was very painful for the leper. We don't know, but maybe he had had open sores on his leg. Knelt before Jesus and says, if you will, you can make me clean. And that is the opposite of the way we usually say that. We usually say, if you can, will you?

If you can do this, will you? He doesn't say that. He says, if you will, you can. I know who you are. I know what you're capable of. And if you're willing, you can do this.

That's actually a really good way to pray. Lord, you can do this. I'm just asking, will you? Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. The way that's written in the Greek is to make it, it's similar to the way it's written out in the English here. That stretched out his hand is to make that moment last a while.

It's to show how much this happens. So this guy kneels before Jesus. He's a leper. He is unclean, potentially contagious. If you touch him, you become unclean. And Jesus did something that potentially got an audible gasp from everybody in the crowd because he reaches out his hand and touches him.

Which if he's a teacher, he, he ought to know not to do. It's potentially the first time this leper has been touched in who knows how long. Jesus touches him. I will be clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. If Jesus touching him didn't get a gasp, this did.

There's a story in 2 Kings where a guy named Naaman interacts with a guy named Elisha. And Elisha tells him to go wash himself in a river seven times. And it says when he came out, his skin was like a baby's skin. My guess would be this was a similar process. This guy could have starred in a little commercial with how supple and beautiful his skin just became. For those of you who've had braces, you remember when you had them taken off?

And so you licked your teeth like a weirdo? Because they felt so smooth and amazing. I bet this guy was just walking around like rubbing himself. Like you guys feel this. See how nice he felt. Can you imagine when he got to go back and be in society again?

He got to walk into a market. He didn't have to yell unclean. I bet when he came around the corner sometimes and he's startled, there was this reaction to almost yell out unclean because he was used to having to do that when he saw people. And he was like, Oh, no, not anymore. Actually, instead of unclean, you want to hug? When he got to go be back around family, like Jesus just heals him.

Jesus says this, see that you say nothing to anyone. That's a little sad because if I was a leper and then I wasn't a leper, like I, I'm not, I don't even play for the Gamecocks. I want to talk to you all about the Georgia game because it's just such great news. It's wonderful. But if you were a leper and Jesus healed you, you'd want to tell everybody, but he says, don't do that.

Go, show yourself to the priests and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a proof to them. So there was this process when you were unclean, you went to the priest, they would check and see if you had leprosy, they would declare that you had leprosy and you'd have to go on. And there was a process for when your leprosy had kind of run its course, you could go back to the priests and they could declare you clean and there would be this process of sacrifices that you would do. He says, go do that. Again, upholding the law, not getting rid of it. And Jesus says, go practice what you're supposed to practice and be brought back into society.

So Jesus takes someone who was the lowest of the low, cast completely out, was not welcome, was unclean, was marked by this, covered by it, felt it in their skin painfully in any way that you would look at it, emotionally, physically, socially. Jesus heals him. And then Matthew just moves on. He's going to tell us another story. So the second picture he's going to give us is this story about him interacting with a centurion and healing the centurion's servant.

So he says this, when he had entered Capernaum, so he came down from the mountain, met a leper outside of the city where the leper was supposed to be. And then he went into the city. When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly. And he said, I will come and heal him. So the centurion comes.

Now a centurion was a Roman officer. The Romans were occupying Israel, which was the land that God had given to his people. The Romans had conquered them. They were occupying them. He was not well liked. He was powerful, but he would not have been well liked or well received among Jewish people.

Not only was he a Gentile, which they weren't supposed to eat with, weren't supposed to interact with, weren't supposed to have at their home. He was a Gentile, which meant he was unclean and he could make Jewish people unclean so they would have avoided him. But he wasn't just a Gentile. He was a centurion, which was a person of power who would quell rebellions, who had authority over the Jewish people, which they didn't feel like was a just or right authority. And he's a powerful person, but he comes to Jesus. And in Roman society, he was highly, would have been highly looked up to, well off, wealthy.

So Jesus interacts with someone very low and someone very high, back to back, even though the Jewish people would not have appreciated or liked the centurion as a centurion, although this one, we find out in other gospels, is an okay guy and has done, is fairly well received among Jewish people-ish. So he said, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering terribly. So it would seem like the servant was able-bodied at some point. He would have to have been. And we don't know if he got a disease that slowly debilitated into being paralyzed or if he had an accident. It was just some sort of physical calamity.

He fell off a roof. He got run over by a wagon, crushed by a rock. We don't know, but he's suffering. So now he's paralyzed. Feet are crushed. Legs are crushed.

They aren't working. He's got some kind of disease. He can't move, but he's in pain. So the centurion comes, shows love for his servant and says, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering terribly. Jesus said to him, I will come and heal him, which is interesting because as a Jewish person, he shouldn't go to a Gentile's house, but he says he will because he's Jesus and he does what he wants. And the centurion replied, Lord, I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed.

For I too am a man under authority with soldiers under me and I say to one, go and he goes and to another, come and he comes and to my servant, do this and he does it. He comes and says, my servant's suffering. Jesus says, I'll come with you. And then he has the audacity to say, no, no, no, no, no. Like if you did this and Jesus said, I'll come, I'd just be like, sounds great, let's go. He says, no, I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof.

He lowers himself, he humbles himself and then he says, he not only humbles himself, he exalts Jesus. He says, look, I know what it's like to be in charge. I tell someone to go, they go. I tell them to come, they come. I tell them to do this, they do it. All you have to do is say the word.

This is, this is beautiful understanding on the centurion's part as to who he's talking to. That's the way Jesus responds. He says, when Jesus heard this, this is verse 10, he marveled and said to those who followed him, truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. he looks at the people with him and says, hey, this Gentile gets it. Y'all see this centurion that y'all dislike? He knows who I am. He's the first person who's talked to me like I'm in charge of everything.

Bingo, 1,000 points to the Gentiles. Like he, he said, I hadn't seen this. The Jewish people don't, don't understand. I hadn't seen this in Israel because what you would usually think with someone who heals and performs miracles is that they are close to God and they are a conduit for God's power, God's authority, that they work in submission to God and that he runs his power and authority through the conduit, which means he's got to be there. He's got to touch. He's got to do whatever for God to work his authority through it.

But the Gentile says, you're not a conduit. You're in charge of everything. We've been working to try to get a power pole moved. We've been making some phone calls trying to see if we can get a power pole moved potentially. And as we've made these phone calls, if we got a hold of the person who is absolutely in charge of dominion, as high as you could go up, when we talked to him, we would say, will you say the word and have this moved? Not, get in your truck and come move this power pole.

Because they don't move the power pole. They're in charge. Someone else moves the power pole who gets paid hourly or whatever. Like they, they get to make a phone call and that's what he says. You're in charge. Just say the word.

And Jesus goes, he says he marveled. It's the only time that says this about Jesus. Jesus' mouth popped open. He said, all right. Nobody else understands that. You're the first person who's acted like you know who I am.

Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. Gentiles are going to understand this. Gentiles are going to make it to the kingdom. But those who should understand this, the Jewish people will be cast out.

That's what he says. In that place, out in the outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And to the centurion, Jesus said, go, let it be done for you as you have believed. And the servant was healed at that very moment. All right.

The Bible doesn't say this. But let's just for a second think about that servant. Paralyzed, suffering greatly, in a lot of pain. Maybe he was told the centurion is going to go see if he can find this person to heal you. The centurion's going to go get help. And you would be thinking, hopefully he does that.

You would be honored that the centurion cared enough about you to do that, that he would humble himself to him, run an errand and go try to do this for you, that he was going to try to find help. But you'd be waiting for the healer to show up. And then, while you are suffering greatly, laid up somewhere, in excruciating pain, and your legs do not work, immediately, instantaneously, you're better. Now, I feel like if that were me, I was laying in excruciating pain, and suddenly, all the pain was gone. I would be like, oh, I'm dead. I just died.

That's the only way that works. Like, you can slowly, gradually have pain get better. You can shift, and maybe it gets a little lessened. You can take some medicine, and then over time, realize it's not as bad as it was earlier, but we don't have instantaneous, amazing fixes. But you'd have been like, maybe you just wiggled your toes.

You'd have gotten out of your bed. You'd have looked back and seen if your body was still there, because you don't know how this works. You've never died before. You'd walk into the other room. Everyone would look shocked to see you, and you'd be, that's either because I'm walking or I'm a ghost. Can you imagine?

Do you know who met the centurion when he came walking back to his house? I'm guessing this guy. Maybe the first chest bump in unrecorded history as he celebrated that his legs work again. Again, all that was made up, but it was an instantaneous healing of a paralytic and Jesus has displayed his power. Next story. When Jesus entered Peter's house, so when outside the city, inside the city, now inside a home, he saw his mother-in-law laying sick with a fever and he touched her hand and the fever left her and she rose and began to serve him. that evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick and this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah.

He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. So the third picture that Matthew gives us is that he heals Peter's mother-in-law who's laying in bed sick with a fever and having healed somebody from leprosy and having healed somebody from being paralyzed. This one feels a little more trivial but isn't that good that Jesus works in the normal regular sick? We don't know how feverish she was. Maybe she was really bad off but he walks in, he touches her hand, she's fine and goes and starts cooking. That's the way that served reads it.

It seems like it includes food. Maybe I'm just reading that in there because that sounds great. She goes and begins to serve and she's healed and then it says he sits there the rest of the evening and he heals. Anybody who's brought to him, he casts out demons we're going to talk more about that but we believe that there are evil spiritual forces that actually harm people and that Jesus is in charge of them. He casts out demons and he heals all who are sick and then Matthew says he did this, this is the point, he did this to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.

Alright, so Matthew said this story, this story, this story. We're going to go back and I want to point out something that Matthew, that has happened in all these stories that has been included as we've walked through and then where Matthew takes this when he begins to talk about following Jesus. So let's look at the leper. Jesus has this interaction with the leper and then he tells him, go practice the sacrifice, not only have I healed you, but go practice the sacrifice, go to the priest and walk through what they tell you. Well in Leviticus 13 it tells us, here's what you do with a leper and in Leviticus 14 it says, here's what you do with a leper when he's no longer a leper and what they do is, they show up, he has to get two birds, some scarlet yarn and some hyssop, they kill one of the birds, then they cover the other one with the blood and the hyssop and they tie the yarn to it and they set that one free.

One of them is a sacrifice that dies, one of them is a sacrifice that carries the uncleanness away. This is the same thing, same type of practice that they do on the Day of Atonement. It's actually what Jesus does for us that he dies for our sin to atone for our sin to pay for our brokenness and our iniquity and he rises from the dead and carries our sin away. So what Jesus tells this leper is it's not just, what Matthew's showing us is it's not just this physical thing that happens but this also connects to what Jesus is ultimately going to do. So in this story of the leper we see sacrifice.

The next day, the next week, you can go ahead and show that, the next week, this comes into the story, the next week, they would have come back and actually had a sacrifice to atone for sin. So it's not just that he's healed physically but that Jesus cures us and makes us clean. Not physically, not just physically, but spiritually. That he went from being unclean to clean because he met and interacted with Jesus. So they would have sacrificed the two birds, they would have waited the week, then they would have had a sacrifice of a lamb to atone for sin.

The second story is of this interaction with the centurion. Centurion comes, he shows faith, says, when Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. So what overshadows this, what is inserted into this, what Jesus even kind of changes the subject from healing to this meal in the kingdom. That Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are in the kingdom and that the Jewish people would have thought, okay, when I die, I get to go join them at the table.

And what Jesus says is centurions will be sitting at that table. People from the east and from the west will be sitting at that table. But there will be people because of a lack of faith who should have been there who won't. The sons of the kingdom who were supposed to share in that meal will be cast out. Jesus takes what would be just a physical thing and he brings it all the way into the kingdom. And he says they'll be cast out into utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Do y'all believe what Jesus believes? That there is an eternity for those who have faith and trust Jesus and know who he is where you share in all the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob where you're gathered around the table and that there's an eternity for those who do not see him for who he is, do not understand who he is where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, where there is heartbrokenness and bitterness and pain so much so that people are grinding their teeth. So Jesus takes what we would want to make just a story about how, look at how he heals and he pulls it all the way into the kingdom and says, I'm telling you, this is what it's about. And the third story, Matthew ends by quoting Isaiah 53, 17.

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. So Isaiah 53 says this. This is the one that he's translated. Again, Matthew knows Hebrew so he just translates it into Greek as he's writing this. It says, Surely he has borne our griefs.

That's what he translates took our illnesses. And he has borne our diseases. He's carried our sorrows and that's what he translates bore our diseases. So you can translate borne our griefs and carried our sorrows the way that Matthew translates it. It's a perfectly fine translation. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.

And what Matthew's doing is he's kind of stradding the line for us. He's saying, Matthew uses real physical terms, diseases, illnesses. But when we translate Isaiah 53 because of the way it goes, it keeps going into further, it talks about sin and iniquity and the spiritual things. And so we just translated a perfectly fine way to translate it, which is griefs and sorrow. And what Matthew's doing is he's saying, this Isaiah 53, this suffering servant is who Jesus is. That when he heals people, it's to show you that he's this servant who has come to not just carry away physical things, but ultimately what that continues to say, which is spiritual things.

We esteemed him stricken and smitten by God and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

All our sin has been placed on Jesus that he keeps going in that passage and talks about him as being like a sheep led to slaughter, that he is this sacrifice that will take our sin and our uncleanness and he will bring us in and make us okay that he'll give us his righteousness. So Matthew is saying, do you see what he does when he interacts with people on earth? Guess what? He's going to do that at a cosmic, eternal level. He is this servant, this king. We would be tempted when it says he took our illnesses and bore our diseases in verse 17.

We would be tempted to think that just means that he took them away, he sent them away, but it says he bore them, he carried them. It means that Jesus took all this on to himself. So you have this picture of the sick mother and in front of it Matthew puts the suffering servant. He says, this is what this is about. This is who Jesus is. This is what he has come to accomplish.

That our sin would be placed on him, that it wouldn't just be our physical things that he takes away. And then Matthew does something that again, when you read this whole chapter, it's miracle, miracle, miracle, following Jesus, miracle, miracle, miracle, following Jesus, miracle, miracle, miracle, following Jesus. So he goes from this to following Jesus because he's about to say, your honor, I'm about to make my point. Verse 18. Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side and a scribe came up and said to him, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.

All right. Scribes were people who knew how to read and write. They would have studied the law. They would have known the law. They would have helped interpret the law. They were well thought of.

They were in a higher social class. So if you moved out of the way for a leper, you might also move out of the way for a scribe, but for completely different reasons. The scribe comes up to him. Jesus is telling him, hey, we're going to get on boats and leave. And the scribe says, teacher, rabbi, I'll go with you where you're going. sweet. Sounds nice.

Jesus has been recruiting disciples so far. He's only got some fishermen. Scribe sounds good. Here's what Jesus says. Foxes have holes. Birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

That's it. The next verse is another disciple as he changes the story to something else, another interaction that Jesus has. Maybe that response makes perfect sense to you. I'm a little confused by it. I had to look at it a bunch. Scribe comes and says, I'll follow you wherever you go, which is what you think that Jesus wants people to say to him.

That's an appropriate response. We would encourage that from this stage. Follow Jesus. You should do that. If someone came down at the end and said, I want to follow Jesus wherever he goes, I think we would say, that sounds great. Not.

Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Now go think on that and go sit back down. Answer me these questions three. Like it sounds like a riddle. Like what has happened here? But I think because Jesus can see into our hearts, you see this scribe, it seems as if he comes up and his hope is that by following Jesus, he will advance.

He sees this big crowd. Here's a good teacher. I'll come and this will be a good new promotion in life for me. And Jesus looks at him and cuts right through it. He says, buddy, foxes and birds are better off than I am. I'm about to go sleep on a rock.

You want to come? There is no advancement or promotion that way. There is no greater wealth that way. You get on that boat, things aren't great. It gets harder from here, not easier. It gets worse, not nicer.

You want to come be homeless? Let's roll. It's aggressive. He cuts right to, I think, the heart of the issue with this scribe. He keeps going. And another disciple, this is someone who would have been trying to follow him or has been following him, said to him, Lord, let me first go and bury my father.

Seems like a really, genuinely, perfectly fine request. Now, there's some debate. I'm going to explain the debate real quick and then I'm going to tell you why I don't think it really matters. Some people say, that means his father just died and he's got 24 hours to bury him as is Jewish custom. So he's saying, I'm going to come to the other side but let me go bury my father.

Some people think that it's just a phrase they use which means, I'll follow you as soon as my dad passes and I can handle all of that. So basically, let me tend to my father as he ages, handle all of that, make sure I get the inheritance set up, make sure all that works out and then, I'll follow you. Here's Jesus' response. Jesus said to him, follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead. Now, I would like to think that it's just kind of in the excuse realm of like, let me tend to my dad as he ages and the reason I would like to think that is because Jesus' response is very aggressive because if this man just came up and said, my dad just passed, may I bury him and Jesus said, no, get on the boat.

It feels like that's harsh but I think Jesus is doing the same thing with the scribe that he's doing with this guy and that's why I think it doesn't really matter. I think Jesus is cutting to the heart of the issue and proclaiming his supremacy in both instances. We want to look at this. We want to look at these stories. We want to look at the story of the rich young ruler and we want to ask the question. Rich young ruler, Jesus interacts with a guy who's super rich.

Jesus tells him, sell everything you have and he says the guy went away sad because he was really rich. And we ask, wait, does that mean I have to sell everything I have in order to follow Jesus? We read this one and go, does that mean we're supposed to all be homeless? Like I've got to live worse than birds? We read this and go, does this mean we can't tend to our parents or bury them? It's wrong for Christians to go to funerals?

No, I don't think so. I don't think that's what Jesus is teaching because I don't think he directly ever teaches that. I actually think it's not that bad. I think it's way, way, way, way worse. Because I think that whatever you most value, most treasure, whatever it is that you would put in between you and Jesus and say, Jesus, I'll follow you if this gets to happen or Jesus, I'll follow you as soon as I get to take care of this. That's the thing that Jesus is going to look at and say, maybe not.

How about no? How about instead of coming to me with conditions, you just understand who I am and realize it's worth it. How about you actually, if you had your eyes open, saw that I can banish leprosy because I'm going to take it down to myself, saw that I can heal a paralytic without even going over there, explain to you that there is a kingdom where there will be a table set where those who have faith will be welcome no matter where they come from or who they are. And there is a kingdom where outside of it is darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is a kingdom where those who are in are welcome and joyous and there is an eternity for those who do not understand who I am where they will be crushed and it will be overwhelmingly painful and dark.

How about you understand that I'm the one who came to take away sin and iniquity, to die, to redeem your soul and how about instead of coming to me with conditions, you just come. I think Matthew tells us these stories and says, look at who Jesus is and then he goes, so, are you going to follow him or is it only under the condition that it works out well for you? Are you going to follow him but just as soon as? You know, I really feel called to this but I'm going to have to wait until my kids get out of school. You know, I'd really love to be that generous. I really would, Jesus.

I would do that but I really just got to take care of this first. God, as soon, you know, I would sell everything, I would give up everything but my dad really expects me to take over this business. He really wants me to handle this and you know, I'm not supposed to dishonor him and Jesus just says, how about you just follow me and understand who I am? We don't know how they responded because that's not the point. The point is, how are you going to respond? You're not in charge of them.

You won't be held accountable for whether or not Jesus' response to them affected what they did and what they didn't do. You'll be held accountable for what you do or don't do. You're not in charge of their excuses. You're in charge of yours. You're not in charge of the responses of people in general in America or the people that hang out in your group. You're in charge of yours.

Some of you have something right now that you're saying, I really would follow Jesus but I'm going to have to be able to keep this. You know what Jesus' response to that is? No follow. Deal's off. No negotiating. Do you know why?

He loves us. He dies for our sin. He takes away our leprosy. He heals us from our inability to heal ourselves. He welcomes all those who just trust Him and He loves us enough to not let us have the stupid thing that would get in the way. Do not sit in here and believe that Jesus is the God who can get rid of leprosy, who's the King of the kingdom that welcomes people for eternity.

Don't sit in here and believe that He can banish paralytic, He can heal a paralytic at a word. That He's the one that takes away sin and then let something temporary and small or the opinions of someone else keep you from being hell-bent on following Him. Do not let something get in the way. There's some of you in this room who need to become a Christian and you need to do it right now. You need to repent of sin and you need to run to Jesus faster than you've ever run to anything else, to anyone else and you need to say save my soul. No conditions.

Take it all away. Give me everything. Give me nothing. I don't care. Give me you. You don't need to walk to Jesus and say I'll follow you if.

You just need to run to Jesus and say I'm yours and actually begin to follow. There's some people in this room who you say I am a Christian. You would be listed as the one that says a disciple said to Him. So you'd say I'm a disciple. Okay, well they're here. A disciple said to Him let me do this then.

Jesus said no. There's some of us in this room who are disciples who need to go to Jesus and just lay the thing down. What is it? What are you holding on to? What are you frustrated with Him about? What do you think He ought to give you?

What do you think He owes you? He owes you nothing. He's died for you. He's given everything. Everything that you own now belongs to Him. There's some of you now who need to give up fear and become missionaries.

You need to begin to pursue your co-workers and your classmates and your neighbors. There's some of you in here now who need to let go of your wallets who need to let go of your time. There's some of you in here now who need to let go of your children. Keep parenting. Sure. But Jesus doesn't owe you anything when it comes to them.

He's given you everything when He died on the cross. There's some of you that need to let go of your spouse and let them be a sinner that you're married to and not your savior and your hero and the person that you have to do everything for and that everything has to work out in order for you to continue to trust Jesus. We've got to lay it down and just walk to Him and say, clean slate, I'm yours. He's good. And He's better than everything else. And if He wants to take away your sickness, if He wants to take away the pain, if He wants to fix it, He can say the word.

But sometimes He doesn't want to. If He will, He can. Sometimes He just wants you and you just don't get to set the terms. Some of you need to be group leaders. Some of you need to go into full-time ministry. Some of you need to plant churches.

Some of you have been called to be missionaries and you need to go. There's some people who are supposed to be missionaries in Columbia, South Carolina. There's some people who are supposed to be missionaries where they work right now. But some of y'all have been told to go to another country where you don't know the language and you don't know the people and you're supposed to go and sleep outside and you need to go. Don't stay here another year if you're supposed to go. If you're supposed to be a part of a church plant, go.

If you're supposed to submit to the call to not make any money and go be a pastor or go be whatever, go do it. If you're supposed to lead a group, go do it. If you're supposed to be committed to your group and you're supposed to win, you say you're going to bring some food, bring some food and quit making excuses and have your wallet and your heart open, do it. But don't sit with something in the way. He's too good and he genuinely saves sinners and he really can banish leprosy and he can make it to where we can walk and he can give us hope and he can give us life but he died for us and he owes us nothing.

And Lord, help us if we let something silly stand in the way and then we're out where we're weeping and gnashing our teeth and Lord, help us if we let our neighbors go somewhere where they weep and gnash teeth and we never told them anything. God, forgive us. In a minute, we're going to take communion where we celebrate that we actually believe that Jesus died for sinners and his blood was shed for us and his body was broken for us and we need to really genuinely consider is there something that is keeping us from actually following Jesus and repent and then take communion because we're free and forgiven for all those who will run to him and place faith. That centurion didn't know the law.

He didn't have anything to offer. That leper didn't have anything to offer. That paralytic wasn't even there. But we need to walk up and just say, Jesus, I trust you. Help me and be forgiven and free. Where you are, pray.

Ask the Lord to help you see it. Ask the Holy Spirit to show it to you. Repent. And then let's take communion as people who are redeemed by Christ, saved from our sin and our brokenness and given hope in him. Let's pray.

Lord, help us to follow you. Too often we put something in the way. We say we see what you're capable of and who you are that we understand your glory and your goodness and then we let something so small stand in the way of us just following. We ask for your help. Your Holy Spirit would empower our obedience. May we trust you and know who you are.

And God, if there are people in this room who have never surrendered to you that are standing far off, may they see that you die for sinners, that you love them, that you welcome them, that you are the king and that only you will sit on the throne. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Sermon on the Mount - Part 2

Sermon on the Mount - Part 2

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Well, it's good to see you all this morning. As Raz said earlier, as we've continued this conversation with the First Baptist Church of Casey, they approached us a while back about what it would look like if we merged, if basically our leadership kind of came over there and we became one congregation. And so as we've continued that process, they'll be voting. And sometime this fall, probably, on whether or not they feel like the Lord's leading in that. And so today we are trying to help them kind of understand what we look like and how we go about things. And we wanted to kind of put our best foot forward.

We're going to be preaching over there this morning, and we wanted that to go really well. So I'm here. Grab your Bibles. Go to Matthew chapter 5. We are in the Gospel of Matthew, and we are walking verse by verse through the Gospel of Matthew. And as we have gotten to the Sermon on the Mount, we are approaching this a little bit differently.

We taught through the entire Sermon on the Mount at the beginning of 2017, I believe. All that's online if you want to study any of this in particular. But we're just taking two weeks to kind of get a big overview, try to understand how this fits in this Gospel and what Jesus is communicating. And so Spencer walked us through last week about the weighty version of this, that if we're standing looking toward salvation, and if this is the price of righteousness, this is the standard for righteousness, then none of us make it out alive. I sitting over there last week was just overwhelmed by how sinful I am and how much I fall short when it comes to what Jesus is calling us to.

And then Spencer got there and he said, yes, this bears down on us, but Jesus Christ fulfilled the law on our behalf. And he accomplished this through his work and so that we have hope in him. And so we're going to approach this a little bit differently today. We're going to read back through it from a different vantage point. One of the things that I appreciate about different cultures is how they think about the world, how they approach things differently. There's a lot of different etiquette.

You don't realize where you're from, the home you grow up in, the place you live, your nation of origin does a lot to tell you about how to think about the world. It does a lot to tell you how we're going to approach this. You're just kind of given this culturally. It's trained in you. This is how we think about this. This is how we'll act.

It shows up in small things like etiquette. You take classes where you try to learn like which fork am I supposed to use and how am I supposed to, what do I do to be respectful? So there's some cultures where in order to be respectful, when you show up, you better take your shoes off before you go in their home. It's very disrespectful not to. There are other cultures where they don't think about your shoes at all, but you better take your hat off. There are other cultures where it swaps around depending on how you greet each other.

There's just a lot of different things. I was asking Phoebe Garcia. She's from the Philippines, and she used to not be a Garcia. That kind of gives it away. Her last name used to be Smith. It's a very Filipino name.

She's from the Philippines, and I was asking her what some of the cultural differences were. She said one of them was when an adult entered a room or showed up, everybody had to greet them by kissing them. You'd go kind of kiss cheek to cheek. And so she said she'd be hanging out at her house with 10 or 15 of her friends. Her mom would show up, and there would just be this. Everybody would line up to greet people.

And she said it was real weird when she came over here because she was like, how do we greet adults? She's like, what am I supposed to? I just wave at them and say, hey? That's super offensive. That feels weird. She said she had to just teach herself.

When an adult shows up, do nothing. She had to, like, restrain herself. That kissing cheek to cheek, Ben Johnson, I asked him about some of this. They did that as well in Lebanon where when you greet people, you would kiss them. And he had been over there for about a while, a couple years, working as a missionary. And he came back, and it had been a long flight, and he was exhausted.

And he ran back to his home church in Georgia, and he ran into the guy who worked on facilities there. And he went to say hey to him. So without thinking, he grabbed him and went to kiss him. And the guy shoved him across and was like, hey, hey, what are you doing? Because that's not what we do here. It's different.

He also, one of the things he learned was if someone invites you to their home for dinner, etiquette is you bring dessert. That's the rule. Everybody knows that. Ben didn't. So he was super rude for, like, a year straight.

People would invite him to their home, and he would just walk in. And they just thought Americans are rude. But it's like he didn't know the rule, you guys. But there's just certain things etiquette-wise and culture-wise that are different. I remember my uncle. He's from Africa, Obomashaw area, the Yoruba people group.

And the first time some white missionaries came to his town, he just was blown away. Because this adult comes in with his young son, and his young son climbs up in a tree. And you don't climb up in trees. And he was waiting for his dad to snatch him out of the tree and beat him. And he didn't. He just let him climb up in a tree.

And the reason you don't climb up in a tree in the village he's from is because if you fall out of the tree and hurt yourself, you're just hurt. They don't have a way to fix you. I asked, what would happen if you broke a bone? He said, you'd go to the doctor. He'd get you to bring a chicken. He would take the chicken.

Like, if you broke your leg, he would take the chicken. He would break the chicken's leg, and he would give you the chicken back. And he would say, while the chicken limps, you limp. When the chicken starts putting weight on that leg, you start putting weight on your leg. What if a doctor did that in the U.S.? You're going to need to fill out these forms.

This is your first time as a patient. We're also going to need you to bring a chicken. But the rule was, in his town, if you climbed up in a tree, any adult in the village could come, pull you out of the tree, and spank you. Any adult was allowed to spank any child for doing anything dangerous or unhelpful. And I'm just, just as a cultural study, I'm going to test this out at Walmart later today. I'll let you all know how it goes.

When Raz first moved here from Australia, the way they do rent in Australia is weekly. So he was working out his whole budget. He had some money saved. He raised some support to come here and to go to school. And he found a place over near CIU, and it was in a little trailer park over there. And he was going to rent a trailer for himself, and he thought it was going to be a pretty good deal.

And he could maybe get some roommates. And they told him, I think it was like $500 was the rent. And he was like, oh, that's pretty steep. He's from Sydney. You know, rent could be $300 or $400 a week. But he was like, $500, okay.

So he worked out his whole budget. He's thinking, all right, you know, $2,000, $2,500 a month. And he showed up. And it's not weekly. It's monthly. And Raz was like, I'm rich.

And I told him it was good. It didn't work the other way because I'd have been going to Australia being like, oh, $400. Sweet. And I'd have gotten evicted. Wouldn't have been ready for that. So there are these different things that just happen culturally where culture just defines for you how we view things, how we act, how we walk through life.

And it's little things, simple things like that that you just get used to and you don't realize this isn't how everybody thinks. This isn't how everybody processes things. It's easier to go unnoticed if you're in a culture where you're the majority, where most everybody thinks and Acts like you. It's more noticeable when you're in a culture where you're the minority and you don't understand exactly how to fit into the culture. So you notice this more.

It's called culture shock when you transfer to another culture and you're the minority and you don't understand how to just go along with normal everyday life. It shows up more. But there's a lot that it tells us about how to view money and how to view time and how to view relationships and how to think about the future and the past and family. There's a lot that it goes into. And what we're going to look at today as we look at the Sermon on the Mount is we are not going to stand back looking towards salvation, but we are going to stand from the position of salvation that Jesus Christ, if we have placed our faith in him, has redeemed us, has fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law on our behalf.

And now we are learning how as citizens of heaven, citizens of the kingdom of heaven who belong to Jesus, how are we to view time, money, relationships? Like we're going to begin to see what's our new culture. Because if you belong to Jesus, I don't care your country of origin. I don't care your native tongue. You are a citizen of a kingdom that will last forever. And we, there are certain characteristics that go along with that kingdom that we are meant to exhibit in life.

That's how we're going to view it. As those redeemed by Jesus, how are we to think as people who will live for eternity? How are we to live and act now? How does that change how we view the world? We're going to approach it that way. Let's pray and we'll jump into where he begins in chapter 5.

God, we thank you for your word. We thank you that we can, if we've placed our faith in you, approach this as people who are redeemed. We can approach this as people who have been saved by grace, who have been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of your beloved son. And that we might learn how we ought to view the world as kingdom citizens, as those who will live forever. We ask for your help as we do this, that your Holy Spirit would empower this. We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Matthew chapter 5. Now we're going to jump around a little bit, but we're going to start where he starts. And then I'll try to just pull out some, see how this shows up, some of these ideas. But we're going to start here.

Matthew chapter 5. Seeing the crowds, he, that's Jesus, went up on the mountain. And when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now that word blessed means the good life.

They've got everything that is good, everything that is right. They will be blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So the poor in spirit belong to the kingdom. And the rest of these are going to be people who are in the kingdom. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you. And other all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Okay, so he holds up this idea and he says, these people are blessed. Blessed are those who mourn.

Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who are persecuted. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit. Now, if we were walking and we just got to pick, if there was a list of things that you could choose, I want my life to be categorized by. And these were on the list. I don't know how many of us would, oh, mourning, yep.

Okay, let me take some meekness. Yes, I'd like to be poor in spirit. Oh, persecution. Give me some of that. Like, we wouldn't think this is the list of blessings. Like, if you were getting to pick, but he's saying this group, this people, it's going to look backwards here, but they're the ones who get everything.

And then at the end he rolls it. So he says, blessed are those, blessed are those, blessed are those. Blessed are you when you're persecuted for my sake. So now he's rolled it and said, this group of people who are blessed and look backwards in this culture, it's actually you, his disciples, and it's tied directly to himself. He ties it directly when you're persecuted for my sake. So he's saying that you're actually going to be, he's talking from the position of God, that you're persecuted for righteousness, persecuted for my sake.

So he's saying, this is the people who belong to me and they're the people who are in the kingdom. They see God, they receive mercy, they're comforted. This is the kingdom. That's true blessing that we would be comforted, that we would see God, that we would receive mercy. That's the people who have placed their faith in Christ, they're the redeemed. So if you are in the room and you are a Christian, some of this meant this is who you had to be to understand this need for the gospel.

You had to understand that you were poor in spirit. Because if we read through this last week and Spencer said, this is the standard of righteousness, and you sat back and thought, I'm already 80% there. Give me another year or so, I'll get up to a full 100. And then God will gladly have a parade for me and accept me into the halls of greatness. If that was you, you will not believe the gospel. Not until you understand that that is not true for you.

But some of us last week, I was sweating. I knew that Spencer at the end of the sermon was going to tell us that Jesus was good. And I felt terrible. I'm over there thinking about how awful of a sinner I am and how much I fall short. And the reality is I do and I am and I'm now. That's how we get to approach God as poor in spirit.

I have nothing to offer. And he redeems us and we receive mercy. That's you. Now he's going to begin to tell us how we ought to look. So he says, 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 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 that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

So he says, This people are distinct from culture. As distinct as salt is from food. If I said, You know what's really good on your steak? Little bits of steak. Just changes the flavor. That's not how that works.

Oh, you know what's really good? If you take a potato. This is for real. If y'all take a potato. A baked potato. And you open it up.

And you stuff it with more baked potato. Oh. Nobody does that. You put something different in it. That's why he's saying about salt. Is that it changes the flavor.

It changes its distinct. And if it's not distinct, it's a waste of time. A light that is hidden is useless. Salt that is not distinct from the food is useless. He's saying be different. And he's going to begin to tell us how.

This culture needs to show up. I have a four-year-old and a one-year-old. My one-year-old can walk now. And is moving well enough for there to now be altercations at my house. Where I will hear screaming, hollering, crying. I'll come in the room.

My one-year-old will have picked up something hard. Hit my four-year-old in the head. My four-year-old will have turned around. And fireman kicked him to the ground. I have to come in and go. I look at my older son.

I say, Archer, stop. You cannot do that. He hit me in the head. He's one. He's one. I made him stand up the other day so he could see the height difference.

I said, that's about me to you. And then I just pushed him to the ground. And I was like, do you see how easy this is? I'm going to write a parenting book at some point. It's going to be great. And sometimes my wife is like, what are you doing?

I'm like, I'm just winging it, hoping for the best. But I look at him and I say, you have to act differently. What I'm expecting from your one-year-old brother is not what I'm expecting from you right now. You should look differently. And this happens all the time where I'll tell my older son, I'll say, that's not how we think about that. That's not how we act.

We're not going to behave like that. He's learning. And in some ways, I think that's what Jesus is looking at us right now and saying, you are going to exist forever. As someone whose sins have been taken away, you are going to have all of your good things kept for you in heaven. Act differently. Look different from the rest of culture.

If you, who will live forever, treat money and time and sin and relationships and good works the same as everybody else, you're confused. We're going to be different. You're going to be different. Sometimes I look at my son and I say, you're four years old. Act like it. And I think Jesus is looking at his disciples and saying, he's looking at us and saying, you're going to live forever.

Act like it. Because so often we run around here stressing out and acting as if we will not exist eternally and we look silly. My one-year-old screams and cries when he wants something because he cannot speak English. My four-year-old, when he does it, I say, stop. You look silly. You can use words.

And there's times where we look silly. Because we're living as if we won't exist for eternity. So the first thing that I think Jesus does, and I'm just going to pull some of this out. We're going to jump around a bit. Citizens of an eternal kingdom worry about their hearts, not just their actions. Citizens of an eternal kingdom worry about their hearts, not just their actions.

Another way of saying that is citizens of an eternal kingdom worry about the eternal consequences of their life. We see this as Jesus begins. He says in verses 17 through 20 that he didn't come to abolish the law. He came to fulfill it. And that none of the law is being taken away, but it's going to be upheld. And then he actually says your righteousness has to be beyond the scribes and the Pharisees.

Well, the scribes and the Pharisees were very good at meeting the letter of the law, of behaving. Of behaving. What do I have to do? And he says, no, it's beyond just your behavior. It's beyond just your actions. Who are you?

What's going on inside? So let's see. He talks about anger, lust, divorce. He says this about anger. 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. And he goes on to say if you're offering your gift and you realize that you have something against somebody or somebody has something against you, that you would go work it out. He says because they have something against you and they take you, you'll eventually be carried off to court and locked up and you'll have to pay every penny. And that means not just here, but ultimately that you'll pay the price.

Lust. You have heard that it was said, this is verse 27. You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you 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 that your whole body be thrown into hell.

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. In both of those he mentions hell. He's saying eternal people consider eternal consequences. Which makes sense. Eternal people consider eternal consequences.

And he begins to point out that it's not just our behavior, but it's who you are. What's going on inside? If the law is to be upheld and we are to behave. And the whole process of being good is that we would behave. That we would follow the rules. Then you just need to know the rules and you need to do them.

And your attitude doesn't really matter. That's how the Pharisees approached it. Just follow the rules. What's going on inside doesn't really matter. Punch the clock. Check off the list.

Present it to God. And you're fine. If salvation is about faith and worship of Christ. If he's upheld the righteous requirement of the law for us. If he is what we read in 2 Corinthians 5.21. That he became sin for us.

That we might become the righteousness of God. If we've been made righteous. Meaning the righteous requirement of the law. The rules have been upheld. Then you know what really matters?

Do we actually love Jesus? Are our hearts drawn to him? What is our attitude? You see that? You see how faith turns that on its head? That if it's moralism.

Then you better behave. And who cares what's going on inside. As long as you can keep yourself in check. But the gospel is. Your behavior has been met by Jesus. Do you love him?

That's why people in the church can look like such a mess. Failing all the time over here. But consistently drawn to Jesus. Who redeems sinners in repentance. Fighting actively against our sin. And trusting that it's what is internal.

That matters. And taking very seriously the consequences of sin. That we understand there are eternal consequences. That eternal people think about the world. In an eternal way. That it's not just our actions.

But our hearts. That matter. This is why when you get with your group. And as you're trying to walk. And follow Jesus together. Are we asking the question.

How's your behavior? Or are we asking the question. How's your heart? Are we loving Jesus? Is that leading us to repentance? Is that leading us to hate our sin?

Or are we just trying to behave good enough to get in? Secondly. Is that leading us to repentance? Is that leading us to repentance? Is that leading us to repentance? Is that leading us to repentance?

Is that leading us to repentance? Secondly. As he pulls this through. I think citizens of an eternal kingdom. Are open-handed. With their temporary possessions.

And positions. Some of the stuff that he says in this. Is so difficult for us to take. So difficult for us to understand. So difficult for us to apply.

Is because it's so difficult for us to consider. Eternity. That eternal citizens. Don't care that much. About their temporary position. And their temporary possessions.

Because we're going to last forever. That eternity is written in our heart. That we belong to a different kingdom. That our treasure is elsewhere. So he says.

Go to retaliation. Verse 38. You have heard that it was said. An eye for an eye. And a tooth for a tooth. 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. That is one of the most. Heinously.

Un-American passages. In the Bible. Someone slaps you. Do not defend yourself. Nope. I have castle doctrine.

Which means I am a castle wherever I go. And can defend myself however I would like. I do think it does not just mean. Physically assaults attacks. I do think it means slaps. It brings disgrace upon you.

Dishonors you. You ever heard someone say it was such a slap in the face? And you know what we usually follow that up with? I can't believe they would act that way. It was such a slap in the face. I will never.

Ever. Let them. Get myself in that situation again. Be put in that. That was such a slap in the face. I can't.

They will never. And Jesus says. It was such a slap in the face. I primed myself. For the next one that's coming. I'm going to put myself right in the back in the same position.

I'm not defending my position. I'm defending my honor. I'm not trying to display to the world how I will be respected. It says if you're sued. Let them have it. Someone begs from you.

Give it to them. Someone wants to borrow something from you. Hand it over. Who can do that? People who aren't tied to their temporary possessions. Who can be absolutely not tied to their temporary possessions?

People who have greater possessions elsewhere. People who are going to live for eternity. One of the things they tell people who are traveling. They'll tell you to get. You can get a secret belt. That you can hide all your real important stuff in.

Like your passport. Your credit cards. And your money. And then you can have a wallet. It has some money in it. But it's not that important.

And that way. When all the foreign criminals. Rob you. You just hand them your wallet. You're supposed to act. Like it means a lot to you.

Oh no. Not my wallet. And you hand it to them. And you walk away. Unfazed. Because of your utility belt.

The reason you can hand over the wallet. Is that it actually doesn't hold all the things that are good. The reason when someone sues you. And they just take your stuff. Or someone slaps you. And brings shame upon you.

You can just allow it to happen. Is because we're eternal people. And all our good stuff is elsewhere. That there's treasure beyond the horizon. That there's a reality of hope and honor beyond the horizon. And it's held in Christ.

We can only approach this through faith. Faith in what Jesus has accomplished for us. That he's paid for our sins. So our hearts matter more than our behavior. That we might run from sin. Because Jesus hated it so much.

And it was such a big deal that he died for it. And that we might be able to walk. Holding all of our position and our possessions loosely. He keeps going. He talks about giving to the needy. He talks about all these good works.

But I want to jump to. Do not be anxious. This is Matthew 6.25. 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. Yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not more value than they? And which of you by being anxious. Can add a single hour to his 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 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. Will he not much more clothe you?

Oh you of little faith. Therefore do not be anxious. Saying. What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear?

For the Gentiles seek after these things. And your heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God. And his righteousness. And all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow.

For tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. The reality of an eternity. Allows the temporary things. That would hold sway in our life. And claim our allegiance.

And our hope. To not have that much. Pressure. And presence. In our lives. That we can trust God.

Who knows us. Who loves us. Who knows we need these things. How many of you need to hear. Worry about today. Sufficient for tomorrow.

Is its own trouble. My wife. When she has something looming over her head. A week out. She will torment herself. For a week.

She's working on it. I don't. I don't remember stuff well enough. I put it on the calendar. And unless my phone reminds me. I'm not going to show up.

I forgot. But worrying about. What's coming up. But. I was reading this. And I don't feel like.

I'm an overly anxious person. But worrying about. What I'm going to eat. Worrying about. What I'm going to wear. Yeah.

Okay. I worry about that. I think about that. That holds sway in my life. I'm not free. There are things that grab.

A hold of my heart. But that we're meant to be. Free. Free. My dad is an entrepreneur. At different times in our life.

We've been doing well financially. He's been doing well financially. Other times. Not so much. Okay. But he's always busy.

Very hectic. He has a business partner. Same way. They were riding through Augusta, Georgia. One day. Stressed out.

Frustrated. Talking about some stuff. Some business stuff. They were trying to work on. That wasn't working out. And they rode up under an overpass.

And there was a guy sitting up. On a hill. Under the overpass. You know. Tucked up in there. And leaned back.

His hands behind his head. In the middle of a work day. I realize what I'm about to say is not true. He was leaned back. But I don't think his hands were behind his head.

Because he had a cigarette and a drink. He had a cigarette and a drink. And he was just hanging out. And they're sitting there at the light. Stressed out. And they looked up at him.

My dad said. He and his business partner were like. Look at that. His business partner said. I haven't been that relaxed in years. He was.

The reality is. That person probably could relax. Because he didn't have much to worry about. And what Jesus is saying is not. Don't have a job. Don't.

Don't have a home. He's not saying that. What he's saying is. Realize. You don't have that much to worry about. You're not that good.

One of the reasons I enjoy golf. Is that I'm not good enough to be frustrated. I also like the woods. I do. I go to my dad's house. And walk around the woods.

Golfing gives me some of that as well. I'm not good enough to be frustrated. That's what Jesus is saying. You're going to live forever. And you can't even. Who by being anxious.

Can add an hour to his life. Rhetorical question. No one. You're not strong enough. You're not good enough. Just hold.

Just. Just trust me. Do you know how freeing that is? In the Harry Potter books. There's a little boy named Harry Potter. And.

There's this giant that shows up. And he's all. You're a wizard Harry. Harry. And he takes Harry. And he tells him he's a wizard.

And he's going to take him to wizard school. And. One of the things that Harry finds out. Is not only is he a wizard. His parents were. And he's rich.

There's a bank. Guarded by goblins. That no one can break into. And Harry has a lot of money there. And that all happened in like a day. And I think there was a lot of.

Joy and freedom. From what I can tell. In the books. For Harry to suddenly find out he was rich. But if someone just showed up.

And was like. Hey guess what. You're rich. And we've kept it safe. And it can never be taken away. The reality is.

Even in that fictitious world. You can break into that bank. And steal things. So it's not even safe there. But for us.

Who have an eternity held fast by Christ. None of it can be taken. There's a song that we sung some. And we play some. And it says. When I met you.

I didn't know you had money. I didn't know you were a king. And then the chorus is. You've adopted us in. And you've made us your own. I love that line.

Because it's just this idea. That when we come to Christ. We don't realize. All the other good things. That come along with it. We get saved from our sin.

But I didn't know. That everything else good. Was thrown in. That's what he says. Seek righteousness. Seek the kingdom.

Trust me. And everything else good. Comes along. And it cannot be taken. So quit worrying.

One of the least loving things. It seems to say. To someone who suffers with anxiety. Is stop being anxious. You're welcome. But that's what Jesus says.

And it's not. That the world is going to crush you. Or that you're big enough. He just says. I'm big enough. Stop being.

What he says. Is stop being anxious. You're too small. You're too small. I look at my four year old all the time. And I say that.

Calm down. I'm here. I'm afraid of monsters. Boy I'll punch a monster in the face. I'm worried this will happen. You don't have to worry.

I'm here. What he doesn't say is. Stop being anxious. You'll be strong enough. I'll give you five tips. To rid yourself of anxiety.

He says. Stop being anxious. It will do you no good. You're going to die at the same time. That's really what he says. What are you worried about?

You will die. When we say. You're welcome. You can't add anything to your life. I'll provide for you. You're okay.

It can't be taken from you. Eternal people. Hold. With an open hand. Temporary possessions. And positions.

Three. Citizens of an eternal kingdom. Pursue eternal reward. Start back up at six. 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. Okay. He says. Don't practice righteousness.

In front of other people. To be seen by them. And he follows that up with. Not. Because that's bad. He says.

Because you will get. No reward. This is interesting. He brings this idea. That we're rewarded. For doing good things.

As long as the purpose behind it. Wasn't. That we would display to everybody. How good we are. And isn't that a real temptation. I want to be good.

But for some reason. I really want other people. To know. That I'm good. I want to do. I want to do.

Random Acts. The Acts of kindness. When nobody's looking. But I really want someone to see. Y'all feel that? That's what he's saying.

There's this real temptation. To do what you're supposed to. But the reason behind it. To be kind. To give to the needy. Is what he talks about.

Praying is one of the things. He talks about. Fasting is one of the things. He talks about. Generosity. This idea that we would do.

All these things. But the purpose behind it. Would be. Hey look at me. And he says. If you do that.

You get your reward. People looked at you. They saw it. They noticed it. They clapped. They put your name on the thing.

They honored you. That's it. That's your reward. He says. No. No.

No. Eternal people. Think about eternal reward. We're supposed to want to be rewarded. For our good deeds. Did you see that?

We have entered in. With this idea. Of that would be wrong. Shouldn't we just do good things. Because they're good. I don't know.

He says. Do it. So that you get a reward. I really. Have thought about this some. The idea.

That we should do good things. Because they're good. So I should just. Be generous. Because generosity is good. What I'm doing.

When I do that. If I say. Generosity is right. And so I'm just going to be generous. There's this internal transaction. That happens.

Where I add. To my self-righteousness. I'm just a good person. I don't need the reward. I'm not doing this. Because.

Isn't it greedy. To pursue reward. I'm not doing this for reward. I'm doing it. Because I'm good. I'm adding to myself.

Righteousness. Y'all know something. I try to do some of these things. On this list. I try to give some money away. You know why?

Not because I'm a good person. I would not give money away. I like it. I want to use it for stuff. But we do.

Because I'm trusting. That what he says here is true. That we'll be rewarded. That he sees. That he sees. I'm walking to him in faith.

Saying I trust you. And people say. Wasn't that greedy? I don't know. If somebody came to you. And said.

I have a good investment opportunity. And you said okay. And you looked into it. And you trusted the people. Who were going to do it. And you said okay.

I'm going to invest $10,000. Would anybody jump up. And go. That's really greedy? I don't know. Doesn't seem like it.

If I'm saying. I trust Jesus. So I'm going to put some money. Towards this. I'm going to put some time. Towards this.

I'm going to put some prayer. Towards this. I'm going to put some fasting. Towards this. Because I trust him. And I actually believe.

At the end of time. I will spend eternity with him. In a place where he promises reward. I think that's faith. Because the only way. You can spend your time.

And money and effort. Doing that. Is if you actually trust. That this is going to work. That you're going to get there. That he's going to pay for your sin.

And that the eternity is real. And there are times. Where we just look silly. If you got a job. Let's say you were offered.

To go work in France. For let's say eight weeks. And they were going to pay you. A hundred thousand dollars. So you said.

I'll put up with French people. For eight weeks. Because you're racist. Nationalistic. You said. I'll go.

I'll do it. I'll put up with it. I'll do the work. I'll figure it out. I'll get over there. I'll be there for eight weeks.

And I'm going to make a hundred thousand dollars. And while you were there. You rented. Got a lease on a little place. A little house. And when the first paycheck came in.

You thought. You know what this house needs? A fireplace. A fireplace. And so you added a fireplace. To the place you were renting.

For eight weeks. And your next paycheck came in. You said. You know what makes fireplaces awesome? Swimming pools. And you put one of those in.

Eventually. If someone cared about you. They would look at you. And say. Hey. Nut.

What are you doing? You're going to be here eight weeks. You don't live here. This is not your house. You're going back. To your other home.

Quit spending all your money here. On things you can't take with you. That's what Jesus is saying. You're going to exist. For eternity. Look at verse 19.

619. Do not lay up for yourselves. 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 nor moth. Nor rust destroys. Where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is. There your heart will be also.

If you are going to be redeemed by Jesus. And live for eternity. Act like it. If your good things are kept there. Act like it. Eternal people.

Seek eternal reward. This is the main idea. Citizens of an eternal kingdom. Love Jesus. And it shows up. In the everyday stuff of life.

That the everyday stuff of life. Is affected by. An eternal culture. It is affected by. An eternal mindset. We're going to jump to the very end.

Of what Jesus says. And we're going to pull down. Some of the ideas. That he talks about. In chapter 7. But he says this.

Everyone then. This is 724. Everyone then. Who hears these 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. 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 great. There is an eternity to come.

There is a kingdom of heaven. And there is an eternal hell. And Jesus says. Everything he says. In the sermon on the mount. From the vantage point.

Of someone who knows. About eternity. And has had it written. In his heart. Who knows it. Can't not see it.

He looks. At his disciples. And he says. There is a kingdom. Where true blessedness is. There is a kingdom.

Where hope is. There is a kingdom. Where reward is. There is a kingdom. Where good things are. There is a kingdom.

That belongs to me. Where you see God. Where you receive mercy. There is a kingdom of hope. There is a kingdom of joy. And there is a hell.

Where there is destruction. And where there is pain. And where living a good life here. Living a whole life here. Doesn't matter when you get there. If you don't know me.

Everyone who hears this. And builds their life on it. Banks on it. Is wise. Because that will stand. Every bit of money you have sent towards eternity.

Will stand. Every bit of time that you have sent towards eternity. Every time you have let something go. Because you are an eternal. Citizen of an eternal kingdom. With a better king.

It will stand. It will stand. Everything else will fall. He says. Beware of those who come to you. And proclaim.

Hold themselves up as false prophets. But outwardly. The ravenous wolves. He says. You will know them by their fruit. Then he.

Underneath that says. Not everyone who says to me. Lord. Lord. Will be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven. But those who do the will of my father.

And then he says. That on that day. They will say. Didn't we cast out demons in your name. And do mighty works in your name. And they will say.

Depart from me. I never knew you. If you cast out demons in Jesus name. If you do mighty works in Jesus name. And at the end of it. He can still look at you.

And say. I don't know you. I think that means. There's a lot of really. Seemingly normal. Small stuff.

That shows up in life. In the everyday stuff of life. Where we actually believe. That we're going to last forever. So that.

What our hearts are doing. How we're treating others. Where our anger is. Where our lust is. Not just our behavior. But what's going on.

Where our trust is. Where our hope is. Infinitely matters. Because we have such a good and glorious kingdom. I think. Like Paul.

Who got swept up. And got to see it. And God brought him back down. And I think Paul. Landed back down. And went.

Yep. Everything here is stupid. Except. Everything that will make it there. To live is Christ. To die is gain.

I'll live for him. Everything will be about him. Everything will be for him. And the day they behead me. Because that's what they did to Paul. I'll show up there.

And infinitely gain. Beyond imagine. Beyond imagination. There's a guy named Wang Yi. I want to read a quote. He's a pastor in China.

Facing persecution. In the Chinese church. He wrote this letter. And he said. When I get arrested. If I get arrested.

If I'm in jail for more than 48 hours. I want y'all to publish this. They published this. At the end of last year. He is still in jail. If he is still alive.

He says. For the mission of the church. Is only. To be the church. And not to become a part of any secular institution. He's saying.

This is why I'm not going to fight communism. I'm just going to be. A Christian here. From a negative perspective. The church must separate itself from the world. And keep itself from being institutionalized by the world.

From a positive perspective. All Acts of the church. Are attempts to prove to the world. The real existence. Of another world. The Bible teaches us.

That in all matters. Relating to the gospel. And human conscience. We must obey conscience. We must obey God. And not men.

For this reason. Spiritual disobedience. And bodily suffering. Are both ways. We testify. To another eternal world.

And to another. Glorious king. Spiritual disobedience. Means we're going to keep being the church. Regardless of. If the state says we're allowed to.

And then he says. And bodily harm. Because bodily suffering. Because at some point. They'll round us up. That's what he's saying.

And he's. In his situation. That is accurate. He says. To another eternal world. And to another.

A glorious king. I hope. God. Uses me. By means of first. Losing my personal freedom.

To tell. To tell those. Who have deprived me. Of my personal freedom. That there is an authority. Higher than their authority.

And that there is a freedom. That they cannot restrain. A freedom that fills the church. Of the crucified. And risen. Jesus Christ.

When someone tries. To take our possessions. When someone tries. To take our position. And we open handedly. Let it go.

We look. Distinct. From the world. And we proclaim. A hope. Of an eternity.

That cannot be touched. And when we. Argue. And fight. For our rights. And we argue.

And we work. To show. How righteous we are. So that we might be held. In high standing here. We display.

To the world. That I just want. The same things you want. And my life will end. Around the time. That yours does.

And my hope. Is here. But when our money. And our time. And our effort. And our work.

Testifies. To another world. We put God on display. And we live as if. We believe. The gospel.

That we have an eternal king. And an eternal kingdom. And we've been set free. From everything here. That we have nothing to gain. And nothing to lose.

Other than what Christ will reward us with. On that day. Raz and Christy. You're going to come back up. And we're going to sing. Together.

And we're going to take. Communion. Which is us. Physically. Representing. A spiritual reality.

That when Christ's body. Was broken for us. The power of sin. Was broken over us. The power of sin. Had over us.

Was broken. That when his blood. Was shed. We were washed clean. That when he rose. We rose.

And that we. Have. Eternal. Life. That if you've placed your faith. In Jesus.

The righteous requirement. Of law. Has been fulfilled. And that you will exist. For eternity. And that we're free.

To live like it. So in a moment. I want us to pray. And ask. Lord. Where have I forgotten?

Where am I living. As if I'm just a kingdom. Of here. I just live in this kingdom. I'm just a citizen. Of the U.S.

I'm just a citizen. Of this place. Where am I. Acting as if. This thing matters too much. Set me free.

That I might live. With eternity in mind. And then we're going to take communion. With the hope. That all of this is true. Trusting that Jesus did rise.

And that our sin has been paid for. And that you. And your future. And your eternity. Are secure. Let's pray.

Let's pray. Thank you for coming and getting us. Thank you for coming to redeemed sinners. Who could not save themselves. Thank you. For the grace.

And the eternity that you offer. And Lord. In your grace. We're small. We so easily forget. Help us to love mercy.

Help us to keep our hearts pure. In repentance. As we hate. Sin. And think about the eternal consequences. Help us to be poor in spirit.

That we might come to you. For all the good things. That you might give us. Help us to mourn. Remembering that all our good things. Aren't here.

The purpose of this world. Is not to just be happy. In this moment. Help us to be meek. To not push for our rights. Or defend ourselves.

To trust you to do that. Help us to rejoice when persecuted. Help us to look like citizens of your kingdom. Help us to be so in love with you. That eternity never leaves our gaze. Ride it in our souls.

We might be free. That we might trust and walk with you by faith. And how we interact with one another. And how we work. And how we serve. And how we secretly do good.

That we be free from our reputations. And our possessions. We ask you to bless us by your spirit. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Sermon on the Mount - Part 1

Sermon on the Mount - Part 1

Spencer Cary

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Below is the full-length clip of the video referenced toward the end of this sermon.

Calling Disciples

Calling Disciples

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I am one of the pastors here. We are in Matthew chapter 4, so if you'll grab one of the Bibles, it'll be on page 472. If you grab one of the Bibles, it's on the pew near you. This morning, the title of our sermon, the title of this message is The King and His Call.

The King and His Call. Did I sound like a real preacher? I'm working on it. If we move forward with this union with KC First Baptist, we'll be preaching to real Baptists, and so I've got to practice and get ready. We're going to be starting in verse 12. Actually, today we're going to walk through this text, and then we will be heading over there.

So if this is your first time, usually joining us on a Sunday, usually what happens is when everything's over, we hang out for a good bit of time. There's a lot of talking, a lot of hanging out. We've cleaned up everything, put everything away, and there are still people just standing around talking to each other. And so that won't happen today, though. So today we're going to finish up and say, everybody, sprint out of here.

And there's a few things that we'll have to do real quick to get out of here. So if you feel like that was super weird, everybody just took off. It's because we're all going to go eat. I actually talked with Miss Louise. She said they got the room ready, and they have put down different colored placemats, and you're supposed to sit at a designated color. That way we don't all sit together with at least breaking a rule.

So the goal being that we would get around. Your job today is to get to eat a nice meal, but really to make a friend and try to get to know somebody over there at KC First Baptist as we continue this conversation with them about is the Lord leading here and what it would look like for us to be one church family together. So we are going to look at, though, this morning, Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew is beginning to call disciples. He's beginning his ministry. So last week we saw the temptation of Jesus where he withstood the temptation of the enemy that he did not sin.

He was tempted, but he didn't sin. And now he is beginning his ministry. And so we're picking up in verse 12. It says, now when he, that's Jesus, heard that John had been arrested, that's John the Baptist, he withdrew into Galilee. And I know you're thinking, just like a Baptist, to get arrested. That sounds true.

What happened was John was preaching this gospel of the kingdom and then he began to actually call out Herod the king. This is a different Herod from when Jesus was a baby. This is Herod Antipas. It's his son. But he begins to call him out for some of his behavior.

And so not a thing that you really get to do in a place with a king. We get to say whatever we want to about our president. He can't just arrest people, but they didn't get to. So he starts calling out the king for some of his behavior and some of the things he had done that were wrong. And the king has him arrested. We'll find out more about that in Matthew chapter 14.

But it says, when John was arrested, Jesus moved. So it says, leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. So if you look at this map, that's Mediterranean Sea, Jordan River's running down here. This is where he was. It was in that area, kind of in the Judea area, close-ish to Jerusalem. And then he moves up to Capernaum by the sea of Galilee.

Now, it doesn't seem exactly like he's running from Herod. If you'll just leave that map up for a minute. It doesn't seem like he's running from Herod because that's all Herod's territory. So in some ways, it just seems like he, and when John is arrested and John kind of moves off the scene, Jesus begins his ministry and he begins it here. And Matthew tells us the reason he starts there is that he's fulfilling prophecy. So John the Baptist is preaching this kingdom message.

And when they come to him and they say, who are you? He says, I'm not the guy. The guy that's coming after me, I don't even, I'm not even worthy to untie his shoes. I'm not even allowed to touch his feet. He's so far above me. And then Jesus steps on and is the guy.

He's the prophesied one. He is the one who's stepping in as the king to fulfill what has been written in the Old Testament, to fulfill the promises of God for the people of Israel. And Jesus is doing that. So that's what it says. It says he moved to the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. And those are two of the tribes of Israel.

So that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. And he quotes. It says, This is Isaiah 9. If you actually go read in our Bibles, Isaiah 9, it's written a little bit differently. And that is because it's most likely that Matthew, who was Jewish, took his Jewish Bible. And when he was writing his gospel, he just did his own Matthew translation of that text into Greek for his purposes to highlight what that text is saying.

So it's slightly different than when we sat with the original Hebrew and wrote it out in English. He writes it out this way. They're translating the Greek here. Him translating Hebrew to Greek and then us to English. And then we went back and translated it from Hebrew in Isaiah 9. But it's saying the same thing.

And what he's highlighting is a couple of things that I think are very interesting. He's saying Jesus starts. He's a light shining in a dark place. In Galilee of the Gentiles. So he's that's called foreshadowing.

He's highlighting for us that Jesus is not just going to be here for the Jewish people. That's going to come out more fully later. But Matthew's just kind of tipping his hand a little bit. But he's also highlighting that he starts in Zebulun and Naphtali in these northern tribes. That was the first place that the kingdom began to fall apart. That's the that's where the Assyrians came and took.

So they came down into the north and they took the northern tribes. And so Jesus is stepping in and he's starting in a place where everything fell apart, where everything was broken, where everything was dark, and he's becoming this king. He's stepping forward to complete and fulfill this prophecy. And if you read the rest of this, I'm going to read it for you from Isaiah 9. It says, You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy.

They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult, and every garment rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And of the increase of his government and of his peace, there will be no end.

On the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth, and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. So he says he's fulfilling prophecy, and he highlights which prophecy, and then if you read that, he's saying he's the king. This is the one coming in the line of David who is going to fulfill this prophecy. What he does is he starts, where everything's broken, where everything's dark, and he is a light shining in a dark place. And some of us became Christians, placed our faith in Jesus, and we knew that.

That's exactly why we came to him. We said, I'm in a dark place. I'm broken. I'm busted. I'm at the end of my rope, and I need you. I need you to redeem me.

You went to him saying, I need you to shine light here, because I'm in the dark. I'm overwhelmed. I'm crushed. And there are others who try to become Christians not from that position. Who try to place their faith in Jesus, and in a much more clean, controlled fashion. So you try to, you know, maybe you want just this area of your life.

He can mess with that. Like, I'd like my children to behave, and if Jesus can figure that out, okay, I'll follow him. I'd like my finances to be good, and if Jesus can handle that, okay, I need my health to be okay. But there's this other stuff that we just want to keep in the dark. It's almost like we think we're Mufasa, and he's Simba. And we bring him up, and we say, everywhere the light touches is your kingdom.

But Jesus says, what about that shadowy place over there? We try to look at Jesus and say, you must never go there. That's my personal business. Like, we just, we want to look at him and say, you're not allowed there, but the reality is, Jesus goes to the dark place. Like, as soon as you invite Jesus in, he goes, I'm heading over there, and I've got some work to do. And some of us have fought that as a losing battle, where there's this thing that we're trying to hold on and say, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's mine, and that's not how Jesus works.

And when Jesus comes in, he goes where it's dark, he goes where it's broken, and he begins to restore and to redeem as a conquering king. And sometimes it's painful, but it's very, very good. So let's keep going. It says, from that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So let's see this for a second.

This is exactly what John the Baptist preached. So John the Baptist preached, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He got arrested, and Jesus was like, I'm going to start preaching. What should I say? The exact same thing. Now, when you're in a kingdom, and you publicly begin announcing, everyone change how you are.

That's what repent means. Surrender. Change. Feel sorrow. Be different. Change from your sin.

Run from your sin. Change. And you begin to proclaim, in a kingdom, a kingdom is coming. This has political implications. There's a reality to, this is kind of a dangerous message to walk around in a kingdom proclaiming. For you to act as if there's a new kingdom coming, but that's exactly what Jesus is doing.

And Matthew just said, hey guys, he's the king. And so Jesus begins to proclaim, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now let's talk for just a second about the kingdom of heaven, and how they would have heard this, and understood this. They wanted the kingdom of heaven. In reality, so do we. So does our entire culture.

We have this longing for, we're able to understand that this world is broken, that there are things that are wrong with our surroundings, that things don't work the way they ought to, and there's this longing in us to have them fixed. This is what we do. We argue about how do we best get to, now some people aren't going to call it the kingdom of heaven, but that's what we're ultimately working for, where things work, where there's no injustice, where there's no crime, there's no poverty. Even as we argue about guns in America, the end of the line, everybody hopes, is that people aren't randomly shot with guns.

It's an argument about how to get there. Do we take them all away? Do we just arm everyone? Can't shoot me if I shoot you first? Nobody can shoot if nobody has guns. But we're still trying to, the ultimate goal would be that this would work.

That this would be good. That there would be some form of peace, there would be some form of happiness. And then when he proclaimed this, he's saying all the prophecies that we've seen coming, that you've heard about, that the lion will lay down with the lamb, that we'll take all of our weapons of warfare, and that we'll turn them into farming tools, that there will be joy, that there will be peace, that there will be no more. This prophecy that we just read, that the enemy, the oppressor, will no longer, the rod will be taken out of his hand, he won't have any power, all that was used for warfare will be taken away, that there will be joy, that there will be hope, there will be peace.

He's proclaiming that, that's the kingdom. You want that. If you could just say, look if my house could just be, as if it were in the kingdom. Where we got along, where there was joy, where there wasn't strife, where there wasn't pain, there was no tears, there was no mourning. He's proclaiming this, he's walking around saying, this kingdom has come. And so if it was just that, if it was just to be happy, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

It's imminent, it's present, it's walking, it's marching forward. But that's not the message. The message is, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So I've got bad news. You're not welcome in the kingdom. You don't fit.

That's the assumption with that statement. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Meaning the kingdom is coming and you aren't a good citizen of it. See, the assumption when we talk about politics, when I talk about politics, when I would be arguing with somebody or whatever, my assumption is, your assumption is, when somebody puts a Facebook post or rant, depending on how they wrote it, depending on where they placed it, their assumption is, I'm one of the good ones. People thought like me, if they acted like me, they understood what I understood, if they saw what I saw, then we'd all be fine.

We'd all get along. If everyone would just read my somewhat incoherent Facebook post. You don't know exactly my point, but you know I'm angry. I mean it. If you would just read this and know exactly what I meant for it to mean, then we'd, harmony. We'd all be doing well.

That's the assumption. If somebody started proclaiming to you, repent for the kingdom of Bernie Sanders is at hand. Repent. Trump is president. Change your ways. The assumption would be, you don't fit.

You need to change so that you can fit. And their assumption would be that they already did. But Jesus is proclaiming this, a kingdom that he's the king of, and he's telling you, you don't fit. If you had a perfect kingdom, if there was a family that was a perfect family, perfect, sinless, and they adopted you, that family is now messed up. That's how that works. There are no jails in the kingdom of heaven, but if they just let me in, they'd have to build one.

I would mess that place up. I would be like, why don't y'all have speed limits? And they'd be like, speed what? I'd be like, I got it. Never mind. And in a week, they'd post speed limit signs because there's one nut riding around here with reckless abandonment.

Like, you know what I'm saying? We wouldn't fit. So he says, repent for the kingdom of heaven and there's something in us that wants to assume, yeah, that's for the bad people. And let me tell you, you are right. But it's quite possible that you made the bad people category too small.

That is for the bad people. But there aren't bad people and good people. There are bad people and Jesus. Welcome to the bad people. You aren't allowed in the kingdom. This is the most exclusive message that can be proclaimed.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Everyone who hears the voice of Jesus has to change. You are not welcome. You do not fit. And it is the most inclusive message ever proclaimed. Because everybody who repents, you're welcome.

The only way to exclude yourself from the kingdom is to think that you already deserve to be in it. If you think you're in, you're out. That's why when the Pharisees showed up, John the Baptist called them a brood of vipers and said, who told you to flee? Y'all don't think wrath's coming. Who told you to flee? Which Pharisee looked at you and said, we better change?

If you think you're in, you're out. And if you know you should be out, you get to be in. The person who comes forward and says, I don't deserve this. I have not earned this. I am not good enough. I am not welcome.

Jesus says, you're ready. Join the kingdom. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's the message to everybody. And that is an exclusive message. You are not welcome unless you realize you're not welcome.

And then it's the most inclusive message you'll ever hear. Then you get to be brought in. Jesus makes us deserving as we repent. As we walk forward and say, I don't deserve this. He fulfills this as he dies on the cross for our sin. It's a kingdom that's unfulfilled.

He's proclaiming this message, but ultimately we're going to learn how this works. is that he's going to take everything we needed to repent of and he's going to absorb the wrath for it. He's going to take the punishment for it so that we might be brought in. So I'm sorry. Actually, I can't. I'm not sorry. If you're, if you thought you were one of the good ones, I hope that, I hope that you understand that you are not.

And if you want people to get close to you, join a community group. They'll help point it out. You just don't have enough friends who love you. If you still think you've got everything together, someone needs to, to tell you about it. If you're married, you know, probably someone's told you. You have a roommate probably did the same thing for you.

But since we're all failures, we all get to be welcomed in if we'll repent. But he keeps going. That's his general call, but we're about to see this specific call. It says, while walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, that's a rock, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. I always appreciate how Matthew wrote that. He's like, there's like a twist in it, like he leaves us hanging for a second.

They were throwing nets in the sea. They were fishermen. It's like, oh, okay, that was weird before then. It's like, they were fighting bulls, for they were bullfighters. That's kind of how he wrote it. So that's what he writes it out.

He says, they're casting net in the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately, they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets. And he called them. Immediately, they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus walks around. He proclaims this general message, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then he's walking by the sea. He sees two brothers working. And he walks up to them and says, follow me, I will make you fishers of men. Seems as if he probably just began walking off.

Because they dropped what they were doing and followed him. If he had stood there, I think they probably would have stood there too. But he was just like, you, you, follow me. And they do. Now, Matthew writes this on purpose so that we feel the abruptness of this. This was abrupt.

John tells us that they had kind of heard about Jesus, knew a little bit about him through John the Baptist's ministry. They had met him. There was a little bit of, but this is the moment when they really kind of said, okay, we're going to follow you. And he hadn't done things to really prove he's been proclaiming this message. It feels like he just made eye contact and they kind of felt like they had to say yes. He does, he Acts like a king.

If you're watching a movie and a king rides up and then he goes to a town and he sees a farmer and he says, join me. War is upon us. The farmer person says, yes sir, king sir. Not, well, I'll come in the middle of something. That's the way Jesus rolls up and just says, follow me. And they're like, okay.

And he calls specific people. He actually begins to interact with and intersect their everyday lives and their trajectory of their life is changed forever. And this is kind of how it feels that he still works. Like, there's some of you who maybe feel like, I became a Christian because I heard this message. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. I began to learn what the kingdom was.

I began to learn how I could repent. I began to learn who Jesus was and I came and I said, I need to repent. I need to come forward. I need to lay this down. I need you to take my sin. I need to be free of it.

I realize I don't bring anything to the table. I'm not one of the good ones. And there are other people, if you talk to enough Christians, if you're not a Christian, you start asking people. Some people will say, yeah, that's kind of my story. And there are other people who will tell a story that sounds a lot more like this. I was minding my own business.

Jesus rolled up. I don't know. I'm following him now. He just kind of told me to. And it felt like I had to. That's the way that works.

There's this little bit of like, I just, I don't know. It was like, there's some people who will tell stories about if churches would do altar calls all the time. There's stories of people who said they were doing one and they just felt like the Holy Spirit put them in a headlock. And it was like, I really felt like I had to walk down and say I'm going to follow Jesus or I was probably just going to die. I don't really, felt like the alternative wasn't a good one. And that's kind of what happens here.

He comes to these fishermen and he tells them and he's very disruptive. So that's the first thing is that he says, follow me. We're going to just kind of take this statement and look at it because this is what it works like. You follow him that they would drop what they're doing. Follow him meant where he went, they went. What he did, they did.

If he retreated and prayed, they'd retreat and pray. If he fasted, they fasted. If he ate, they ate. If he ministered, they ministered. That's it. I love that it says, casting their nets into the sea for they were fishermen.

There's nothing amazing about a fisherman. It's not the most glorious. It's not terrible. Blue collar, normal. He said to them, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

So that's two of the fishermen left nets. Then going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother in the boat with Zebedee their father mending their nets and he called them immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Now they're all fishermen. It says they were all holding on to nets but it says Peter and Andrew left nets and it says that James and John left a boat and their father. The reality is we may be coming from similar places but we're all going to feel like we left something different to follow Jesus. That there are some things we had to give up.

We couldn't hold on to anymore. And what he calls them to is probably not something they had ever really been dreaming about. He's changed the whole trajectory of their life. I don't think when he said I'll make you fishers of men they were like about time. Catching fish you've got to catch too many. I've been saying for a long time if we catch people they're bigger.

I don't think Andrew looked at Peter and said told you million dollar idea. He's tagging in on something they understood fishing but he's going to transition their entire life to something else that he's taking them and changing them and this is what it looks like. You don't get to look the same after Jesus calls you. And they have to follow him they have to do what he says. So for us it's a little different than for them.

I think in some ways it's a little simpler for them because you wake up where's Jesus? He's walking that way. Let's walk that way. Where's Jesus? He's staying put. He's praying.

We just we get to you lay eyes on him and you you do what he does. And for us you need to wake up you need to open your Bible. You need to learn how to walk with the Spirit. You see if you watch if you read the Gospels they follow Jesus around. If you read the book of Acts the Spirit sends them around. If you read the book of Acts and you just look at where it says the Holy Spirit it'll say the Holy Spirit sent them here the Holy Spirit commissioned them to that the Holy Spirit told them they couldn't go there the Holy Spirit like we if you're a believer open your Bible and learn how to walk with the Spirit but every day it ought to be about what they were doing which is opening the Bible and saying where to?

What do you have for me? What do you want for me? Learning how to walk and follow Jesus but life fundamentally changes as we do that. So he says follow me. Then he says I will make you fishers of men.

Their job keep their eyes on Jesus. His job change them. Their job keep their eyes on Jesus keep in step see where he's going go with him. His job to fundamentally remake them. He's going to turn them into something different. This is the same thing that happens with us.

Go with him. His job to fundamentally remake them. He's going to turn them into something different. This is the same thing that happens with us. As we place our faith in Jesus we're supposed to keep our eyes on Jesus but he makes us new. That he changes us. He goes to work in our souls. This is what 2 Corinthians says it will be on the screen. 2 Corinthians 5 we're going to read 14, 15 and 17 it says for the love of Christ

Controls us because we have concluded this that one has died for all therefore all have died and he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. When Jesus called them he had not yet proven what he was going to do it had not fully been confirmed it had not been laid out when he calls us he's already died

He's already risen he's already conquered the grave there's hope for us and what he says is that we because we're Christians now because you place your faith in Jesus we know that when he died we all died when he rose we all rose and now it says therefore a verse later if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old has passed away behold the new has come

Come follow me and I will make you new that's what he does and guys this is so fun to watch in other people it's kind of hurtful sometimes when it's you but let's just talk about other people for a second as we get to see people in our group meet Jesus it's so fun to watch how they change and sometimes it really does feel like

Spiritually there's them wanting sin but having Jesus remake their heart and he's just dragging them along and they can't even explain it you're like you're different and they're like I know it's so weird like I don't know like part of me wants that part of me wants this and it feels like Jesus is winning and then when you're walking through that sometimes you're seeing how he works in you

And how he changes you and how he pulls you along and sometimes it's painful but he makes us new and he does this all at once when you believe that you die with him your sin is gone and he remakes you and he makes you new that if you were to die at that moment and you stood before God you'd be a new creation but he also the process of sanctification means that he does this slowly over time functionally in our lives and that ultimately he's going to make us into new creations here that our trajectory

Has changed our life has changed and that he has claimed us and nothing will be the same again he says I will make you fishers of men so he's going to do it he's going to accomplish it he's going to change them he's changing their trajectory and then he says I will make you fishers of men so they understood fishing alright so if you came along you met Peter and Andrew

And they were sitting in the ancient Israel version of an Adirondack chair and they had a net laid out in front of them in the sand and you said what you doing and they said fishing for what fish I'm I'm not a fisherman I don't want to step on your toes feels like this is an ineffective way to go about that you're like well it was real hard to get in a boat

Early try to find where the fish were you can't really see them under the water you had to tend to the nets all the time they got kind of gross so we just thought if we laid the nets out here we wouldn't have to fool with all the extra stuff that goes along with the difficulty of fishing and maybe we could catch some fish this way and we'd at least be able to see them coming so the reality is when he said you're going to be

Fishers of men that immediately triggered a bunch of stuff that made sense to them they understood that means we've got to go to them we've got to plan ahead we have to think we have to intentionally put ourselves in a place for that to work this is going to be hard work if they had been farmers he might would have said we're going to start farming

For men but he says it in a way that they would have understood that they were going to have to go out of their way to try to see this happen and that's the reality that as he works in us we want more people to meet Jesus as he changes us we want more people to have what we have and that means

We have to get around people and get out of what is comfortable and normal for us that we might see them come to believe in him he's saying we're going to go get more people for this kingdom you're going to walk around with me and we're going to invite more people in and that's really good news and it means that if we are Christians

We're called to the same thing that he's going to change us and that we're going to go around and try to see more people come into this you ever watching a movie and some people are hiking and they're in the woods maybe like the Appalachian Trail they come up on a log cabin and there's like smoke coming out of the chimney and the music's

Changed so we already know this isn't going to go well plus you probably know what type of movie you're watching you know this is all right it's getting tense door opens crazy old guy steps out beard spittle gun every time I ever see that I think that's the life if I could just live in the woods by myself on a mountain

Play a harmonica not have my wife say quit playing that harmonica she can come but in this imaginary thing she likes the way I play the harmonica but just not have to know people not have to be around people that when I was in high school and summer came I would say bye to my friends they were my actual friends and then I would see them again when school started

And I would not think about them the entire summer I didn't even notice they were gone Jordan Surratt and I have conversations like this every once in a while and you can watch those words physically hurt him if you don't know Jordan Surratt just imagine a person who has way too many friends I would love to live on some land we moved to

Columbia South Carolina where it's like $30,000 an acre from a place where it was like $3,000 we live in a neighborhood where I have intentionally knocked on all my neighbors doors harassment to try to get to know them when I feel no intrinsic desire on my own to know anyone

I would just shave my head real short just with the thing the little clippers because that's easier for me but I've been told that it makes me harder to talk to and also look like a white nationalist or something so I grow my hair out and psychotically mess with it all the time we're in a

Community group that we're committed to relationships that we've built that they're good for our souls we live in a place where I don't feel like we're allowed to move from our neighborhood both my wife and I would rather just live in the middle of nowhere and we do this because we believe that there are people who do not know Jesus and one

Of the best ways for us to get to know them is to live near them and knock on their doors and harass them to find out where they are to be where they are we intentionally moved to plant a church because we felt like the Lord told us to moved to a place where we will not own land

I mean a little bit but not like land like I have to like wear clothes walking around outside my house I grew up in the woods you didn't have to I mean it's optional and I think we'll do this for the rest of our lives and I've told Anna I've said I think maybe maybe the Lord will let us

Live far away from people in heaven and maybe in heaven we won't care but we'll be one big family and we'll love each other and this will be really beautiful and the reality is that's my little bit of a story on how he's worked in me for that but he's doing the same thing for you if you're a Christian

He's calling you to fish for people he's calling you to some of you that means you're having to get to know your co-workers some of you that means you've given away so much money that the last car or house you bought you could have paid cash if you'd have just saved it some of us have

Intentionally changed our budget intentionally changed our schedules joined extra leagues started watching other people's children hosted parties hosted our community group gone out of our way to have really uncomfortable conversations for ourselves all for the sake that we believe that Jesus Christ is actually the king that he actually does have a beautiful kingdom this invitation is real

And he's brought us in and therefore we cannot be the same will not be the same cannot be the same life will not look the same there is a kingdom where there is no more brokenness where there is no more pain there is a kingdom where sinners are welcome and made new there is a kingdom

Where there's joy and hope and peace there is a kingdom where actual lions lay down with actual lambs and there's a kingdom where an actual lion of the tribe of Judah laid his life down as a lamb to sacrifice himself that we might be brought in and cause us to join him in seeing more people welcomed terrible awful sinners like us welcomed into a joyous kingdom

That they do not fit in and would not deserve outside of the blood of Jesus Christ Peter and James Andrew and John their life never looked the same every single one of them that is listed is killed for their faith John is boiled alive in oil and then put on an island in Patmos so he dies of old age but in jail melted and they have spent the last couple thousand years in the

Presence of the king awaiting for a kingdom that will descend from heaven and reclaim the earth see Jesus does it first through his own shed blood and then he comes as a conquering king and that we get to invite people in to repent and to be welcomed so I don't know where you are I don't know if you're in the zone where he's called you to follow him and there's some things you're trying to hold on to that you've

Got to drop I don't know if you're not in the practice of getting up and open your Bible and asking the Holy Spirit to lead your day but you need to start so that you might follow him and he might make you new I don't know if you're in the zone where he's currently sanctifying you and you need to just yield to him and see what he changes because it's good for your soul I don't know if some of us are in the zone where we say I'll follow Jesus I read my Bible

But we are not actively trying to see other people welcomed in and that is what we are meant to do as we are commissioned by the king that was why he brought them along was that he might make them new and that he might get more people in but the hope is that we would follow Jesus that he would make us new that we would join him in seeing more people welcome the band's going to come back up we're going to sing we're going to worship this Jesus who redeems sinners who

Welcomes the bad guys through his own shed blood that we might be made new and that we might be sent out to join him in his mission let's pray God we ask that if anybody in here thinks they're one of the good ones that they would repent that they might see their sin and be welcomed in we pray for those that you are putting pressure on that you're making eye contact with that you are calling by name and saying follow me we pray Lord that you

Would through your spirit give them the power the strength the fearlessness to let go of what's holding them back we pray that we'd be a people that wake up and follow you and we ask Lord that as you change us and make us new that you would empower us to join you to see more people brought in we might be people who proclaim this kingdom message that everybody's welcome through the blood of the cross amen amen

Thank you.

Temptation

Temptation

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We are in the Gospel of Matthew. We're in week two. We're going to be in chapter four, verses one through eleven today.

We started off the Gospel of Matthew last week in chapter three, which was the announcement of John the Baptist. Jesus, the kingdom is at hand and introduced this theme that we're going to see throughout the Gospel of Matthew. The kingdom has come and the king has arrived. And I said last week that part one of Jesus beginning his ministry, part one of this beginning of this kingdom was at his baptism. It's a miraculous, powerful, even Trinitarian event. Jesus goes into the water.

The heavens open up. The Holy Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove. The Father looks at the Son and says, This is my Son with whom I am well pleased. It's this big, bold entrance. And I said that was part one. And part two of the beginning of his ministry is this week.

And it starts off in chapter four, verse one. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And it kind of takes a pretty interesting turn, which brings up a whole bunch of questions. The Holy Spirit leads Jesus out to be tempted in the wilderness. Is it possible for Jesus to fall to sin? Is that what's happening here?

How is it possible for God to sin? Why is he beginning this ministry with this period of testing and trials? And the more that we dig into it, you start to see there's some differences between Matthew and Luke and how they tell this story. What is happening? There's some big theological questions, which get easier, because today we've got to dive into the incarnation, which is always easy to understand how Jesus is both God and man. But we'll wade through some of these questions, and what we're going to see as we wrestle with a very serious subject is more of the gospel on display.

And it is a serious subject. This is the temptation of Christ. This is Jesus in the wilderness being tempted by sin, which for many of us brings up a whole bunch of different struggles, a whole bunch of different hurts, and a whole bunch of different fights as we were against sin. So I'd say there are probably two groups of people that will hear this, two groups of people that can approach this text. The first group is a group of us that realize we have a real war with sin. We feel it.

That we feel this daily battle of going to war with the flesh, going to war with the enemy. We have real battles with sin. We feel the shame of sexual sin and temptation. We feel the weight of anxiety and warring against that. Some of you came off a week where you went off the handle in a fit of rage, and you were still reeling from that. We understand this as a people that struggle with jealousy and strife, that messes up relationships we have with one another.

We feel this. The first group of people, we know this. This passage is real for us in a way that others, it's hard for us to see. But we vividly see this. And I want to say today, as we walk through this, this passage brings hope, that it brings good news to you. But there is a second group of people that I'm sure that looks at this, and is going to hear a lot of this and say, okay, I would admit that nobody's perfect.

Everyone has some sin. Okay. But the way that you're talking about this, and the way that you're going about this, seems a little bit dramatic. It seems a little bit over the top. I don't think that what you are going to describe is as big a deal as you're actually making it out to be. I had a professor in seminary that he told us this story of cows being slaughtered at a specific slaughterhouse.

And he said, at this slaughterhouse, they would bring the cows in, and they'd shove them onto a conveyor belt line, and they'd go up the conveyor belt line, and they'd be slaughtered, turn into hamburger meat and steaks. And it scared the cows, and it unnerved them. And that matters because what was happening was, is that the meat was tainted, that a cow that has a bunch of hormones raging through its system because it's scared right before it dies, that's not a good stake. So they devised a system, this gentle system that they bring in the cows. They put them through this nice gentle shoot, and that gentle shoot was meant to kind of make it feel like being next to a mother calf that was comforting.

Then they ease them into the slaughterhouse. They bring them through on this gentle path up the slaughterhouse conveyor belt, and then slowly they're starting to go up to be slaughtered. This cow has got his friend right in front of him. He's like, Carl, how's it going up there? You doing all right? Carl?

Carl? Boom! Done. Turn into steaks and hamburgers. It's a pretty graphic story. And his point was, that is exactly what temptation is like.

It lures you in. It makes you feel comfortable. It gets you with your guard down, and then slowly as it lures you in, it destroys you. And we've seen this. And we feel this. In our culture, the church feels this.

As temptation lures you in. As a click on the internet turns into pervasive use of pornography and affairs. As a simple jealous thought with a friend turns into an absolute false narrative that ends in an explosive argument and parting. Like, we feel this. It lures you in, and then it brings you in to destroy you. That is the reality.

And if you think that all of this is dramatic, you are mistaken, and you are on the conveyor belt, and you cannot see where you are going. And the hope today is that as we walk through this story, you would see the reality of your situation. That temptation is real, and that there is hope for all of us. So let me pray, and then we'll dive in. God, I pray that you would help us see the seriousness of this. That we'd feel it.

God, I pray that you would help us see the good news of this. That as we walk through this story, we would glean from how you battled against the devil. And that ultimately, we would see the hope that comes from this. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so, Jesus is being taken by the Holy Spirit out to the wilderness to be tempted.

We're going to walk through three different temptations that he goes through one by one. But we've got to start off in that first verse. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Alright, two things out the gate. First thing you see is that the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is leading the second member, Jesus, out to be tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Which brings up all kinds of questions.

Like, what? What is happening? Is it even, is it possible for Jesus to fall to sin? I want to say very clearly, temptation in and of itself is not sin. It is the luring you in to sin. But is it possible for Jesus to fall here?

Well, the complicated answer to that is yes and no. I'm about to give you a very unsatisfying answer as we wade through some paradoxes and mysteries that come with the incarnation. Jesus has always been God. Eternally has existed as God. A hundred percent God. When he became man, which we celebrate at Christmas, he took on humanity.

He did not give up his divinity. He did not give up being God to be man. He was a hundred percent God, always has been. But when he became a man, we celebrate at Christmas, he took on a hundred percent humanity. This is not a 50-50 exchange. He is a hundred percent God and he is a hundred percent man.

It is a mystery that we will never fully understand. So, because he is fully God, he cannot sin. It is not his nature to sin. Because he is fully human, he is weak and it is possible. How that works out, we do not understand. It is a mystery.

We are finite beings trying to understand the infinite. So, now that I've sufficiently broken our brains on that, we have a second barrier to get through and that is Satan. That we as a Western American culture don't really have good categories for the devil. We don't. We just, we're confused by a whole bunch of stuff that for centuries, for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, Western art has really trivialized Satan. Shows up in art as, he's got a pitchfork.

He's kind of threatening, but not really. And that kind of has shown up in our culture. If he's not trivialized and made light of, he's romanticized by different parts of our culture. Cultic circles, by metal, metal, by different dark art forms that really celebrate Satan. And then if you're not confused by that, Hollywood, who has made billions of dollars off of demons. I mean, from The Exorcist, which, I mean, for many of us, movies like this is our first interaction with demons.

My first two interactions with this subject were when I was five and I watched Ghost, which should lead you to question my parents' decision and let me watch Ghost with them. But it was terrifying because there's little demons that come up and take people to hell and ghosts and it scared the mess out of me. My second interaction was The Exorcist, y'all. I watched that when I was eight or nine and it scared the pants off of me. I slept. It was the only time I ever slept on my parents' floor in their room.

I mean, it was terrifying. And I mean, y'all, paranormal activity, there's like ten of those. There's Conjuring movies. There's Annabelle movies. There are billions of dollars made off these franchises. And it all confuses who he is.

It all either makes light of or too much of. And I just want to take a moment and briefly say who he is and who he isn't. So this is who Satan is. He is an individual. He is an individual. That we get from the Old Testament that he was an angel that once led a rebellion against God and God cast him into the earth.

And his goal ever since then has been to destroy the fabric of God's good creation. That he shows up in the garden in the form of a serpent. He tempts Adam and Eve and causes them to rebel against God. This is what he does. He's called a deceiver. He's called the father of lies.

He's called the prince of this world, which means he has power in this world. He's called the tempter. He is an individual who has power to deceive us in this world. Now let me explain who he is not. He is not omnipresent, which means he is not in all places at all times. Because sometimes the way we talk about him is that he's literally listening in to every conversation.

That he's behind every problem. He's not, because he's not God. We can't talk about him like he's at all places, like he's behind every rock. He is not. It's better to have the framework that we see in the Gospels, that Jesus is the figurehead of evil. And there are demons that are all over the place in the Gospels.

It's better to see that and not falsely attribute that he is everywhere in all places at all times. So he has power in this world, but he is not God. That is who he is. And he shows up here to tempt Jesus. All right, now we're through those two barriers.

Let's jump into the story. Verse 2. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. This is how Jesus has chosen to prepare for this moment. That if you were part of our fasting and feasting sermon a few months ago, this makes sense. That part of fasting is physically weakening yourself so that you might be spiritually dependent on God.

So what he's doing here is he's physically weakening himself. And Luke gives us some more details that this is an extreme fast. He has not eaten. We talked about the general fast where you'd fast throughout the day and you'd eat at night. This fast is an extreme one. He has not eaten for 40 days.

All he has done is he has drank in water. That's it. He has physically weakened himself that he might be so spiritually dependent by the Holy Spirit and God the Father for this moment. Because this is a cosmic battle that has been waiting. Ever since the garden, ever since Adam and Eve fell, there's been this moment that the whole Bible has been building up to. That in the garden there was a proclamation that one day a seed of Eve was going to come.

And he was going to crush the head of Satan. He was going to have his heel bruised. And it's looking forward to this moment when Jesus has this showdown with the enemy. It is a cosmic battle with a lot of anticipation. Think anticipation. Have you ever seen Save a Private Ryan when they're getting ready to...

The ships are getting ready to hit the beaches of Normandy. It's getting ready to... The doors are getting ready to fall. There's this moment where they're just capturing this waiting, just anticipating for this battle to go down. This is a battle of cosmic proportions. And it's getting ready to go down and Satan comes into this scene.

Verse 3. And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. He is called a tempter and he gets right to work like he did with Adam and Eve. So before we get to his first temptation, we've got to capture a little bit of what his motive is. That yes, he does seek to kill, steal, destroy. He does seek to destroy the good fabric of God's creation.

But what is his goal specifically here? And you see a little bit of in how he addresses Jesus. He calls him Son of God. This is a challenge to his identity. And what we're going to see is that he is going to attempt to use Jesus' power against himself. This week, Chet sent me a podcast.

And at the end of it, they had this discussion on Russian interference in democracies. Which, slow your roll. I'm not going where you think I'm going. Just breathe. But it was interesting because what they were describing was is that they've been largely on social media all across the world in democracies.

They've been creating memes and fake videos and fake Facebook groups. But what they were getting at was is kind of the why behind all of this. And it really goes back to their leader. That Vladimir Putin, before he was the prime minister, before he was a KGB agent, he was the president of a judo club. And that many of the oligarchs who helped rule Russia were also a part of this judo club. Judo is a mixed martial art form.

The general, and I'm not an expert on this, if you want to know more about this, you can talk to Boneweed. He does Kung Fu. But the basics of judo is that you use someone's force against themselves. They come at you to throw a punch, you divert, use their force against them. And that makes sense when you look at Vladimir Putin. That's how they have engaged in this type of quiet warfare for years now.

That they interfere in democracies and what they do all across the world is they seek to exploit weaknesses and to use countries' power against themselves so that they will divide them. So they have fake memes and videos. They spread throughout all of our culture and other countries throughout the world. They'll exploit racial division. They'll exploit division between left and right. One of my favorite examples of this, they did this in their own country.

They took this actor that works on behalf of the Kremlin, on behalf of the Russian government, and she acted like a feminist who was angry at manspreading. And if you've ever heard the term manspreading, it is when a guy takes up too much room on a subway seat or a bus seat. So she went into a subway and attacked men who were manspreading and took bleach and poured it on their crotches. And it got everyone riled up. Left and right. It was like, you know, the feminists on one side were like, yes!

And people on the other side were like, this is the worst! They do this all over the world because they seek to use our power against ourselves in order to divide us. And I cannot think of a better description of what Satan does. He absolutely comes in to use your power against yourself. He seeks to divide us. And that is exactly what he is doing here with Jesus.

He's seeking to divide him and separate him from fellowship with the Father in order to divide him. How does the last verse of chapter 3 end? It is God the Father saying, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. What is the first thing that Satan says? If you are the Son of God. He goes right at the heart of his identity and right at the heart of his present weakness, which is food.

He has not eaten for 40 days and 40 nights. And he says, use your power. Command these stones to become loaves of bread. Eat. Fill yourself. Don't suffer anymore.

Be satisfied. And that's a real temptation. He hasn't eaten for 40 days. If he came to us after like 4 hours, some of us would be like, maybe. I mean, it's just, he goes right at his weakness. His eat.

Jesus, just break the fast. Listen to me. Listen to my words. Use your power. You have the power to feed yourself. You have the power to be filled.

He is seeking to break him from the Father, finding his strength from him to trust the word of Satan. Take my provisions. It's so much like the garden. He says, eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Be filled. You are missing out.

So he comes at him. And then Jesus responds, because this is bigger than bread. Verse 4, it says, But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. So he quotes Deuteronomy 8, which is a passage where Moses is trying to teach the nation of Israel, You need more than manna. You need more than bread. You need to live by every word that God gives you.

You have deeper needs that are bigger than the physical. You need to be reminded of your spiritual need, that you need God's word. And there's a lot of stuff that's happening here, that there's some connection between Moses and Jesus. But there's a real practical implication of what Jesus does here that I do not want us to miss. Jesus, the God of the universe, when going to war with Satan, quotes scripture. He uses the word of God to go at Satan.

That is how we should operate. We should see the Bible as a weapon. This is what Paul picks up on in Ephesians 6, when he tells them to put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. He's giving a metaphorical picture of how you would defend yourself against evil. Then he gets through all these different aspects of the armor, and then he gets to the sword of the spirit.

That is the word of God. The Bible is an offensive weapon that we use against the enemy. It is a way that we will combat his lies, that we will undercut his deception. The author of Hebrews picks up on this, and Hebrews 4, it's a weapon that's even used against our own flesh. It says, It is a weapon that is meant to be used against evil, and we have to see it as such. Because here's the deal.

If you don't know the Bible, you cannot quote it in a moment's notice. In the deep, darkest moments of temptation, if you don't know the word of God, you can't use it as a sword. You have nothing in your arsenal to go to war. That is why for the past couple of months, we have said in multiple sermons, and we're going to continue to say this, we want to grow in scripture memory in our church. We want to know the Bible. We introduced this a couple months ago, and we're continuing to roll this out, that every month we have a scripture memory verse.

It's going to be on the transition screens, before and after gatherings. It's going to be in your group content every week. Last month was Romans 6.23. This month is 2 Corinthians 5.17. And the hope is, is that we would memorize the word, that we'd store it deeply in our hearts. For the next 36 months, we're going to roll through a bunch of different verses, that had on different aspects of the Christian walk.

So we want to challenge you in your groups, to be doing this. To get together. So when you come together every week, have you memorized the passage for this month? The kids, we're doing the same curriculum as them. And sojourning kids, they're learning the same verses. So families, get together.

Memorize scripture. We need this. We need an arsenal. We need a sword. We need an offensive weapon, that will go to war with the enemy, so that we will withstand, in the moments of temptation, and we'd follow the model of our Savior, and that we defend ourselves against evil. So, get through the first temptation.

Verse 5. When the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against the stone. Now, before we dive into this temptation, I want to address the differences between Matthew and Luke, and the way they tell this. Matthew puts this temptation second, Luke puts it third. They flip-flop their second and third.

I addressed this a little bit last week, that we are dealing with ancient historians, that the gospel writers tell their history, tell these stories differently. That we tell most of our events, this happened, and this happened, and this happened. That's not how the gospel writers tell these stories. They tell them theologically and thematically. They are doing different things in their stories. And I said there weren't a lot of examples, in our own culture of doing this.

I have one that I can come up with, and that is football highlights. Have you ever watched sports highlights? Every now and then, they don't tell, this happened in the first quarter, this happened in the second quarter. Every now and then, a star is born. A kid from Orange County, California, rises up. Ryan Helensky, against Charleston Southern High School football team.

And it's like, you watch those highlights, and they're not tired, they don't care about the game, they care about the star that is born, that hopefully will bring us out, of the ashes of mediocrity. And it'll tell it thematically. And that is what they are doing here. They are doing different things, with these stories. Matthew, puts the third and final temptation, which deals with the kingdom, because it fits into his theme of kingdom, in the gospel. Luke is doing something different.

He has a little bit of a focus on Jerusalem, so he puts Jerusalem out of the third temptation. So, that's to explain that difference. We're going to see this happen throughout, the gospel of Matthew, and how they tell stories. Alright, so with that in mind, let's look at the two aspects, of this temptation. Firstly, Satan addresses him, if you are the son of God, he is continuing to challenge his identity. It is a subtle deception, very similar to, what happened in the garden.

Did God really say? And I want us to really, to understand this. Because I, I would argue, the enemy is doing this, in your life, in some form or fashion. Y'all ever been in a group, where, someone comes and says something nice to you, they give you some encouragement, and then immediately, you walk away, and you think, ah, did they really mean that? Did, did they, did they even like me? I, I don't, I don't really believe this.

It's almost like, it's someone telling you, they don't really believe that. They don't, they don't really mean that. No one really loves you. You ever feel that? That's a subtle deception, that sows seeds of doubt. It's the same reason why, when you fall to sin, and instead of running to grace, and to Jesus, and his mercy, you go to self-loathing, and self-hatred.

There's this voice that comes in, and says, are you really a son of God? Are you really a daughter? Are you really a Christian? Because if you were, you wouldn't be like this. It's this subtle deception, that seeks to deceive us. He does it again.

If you are, the son of God, throw yourself, off the pinnacle of the temple. That's the highest point, of the temple. Just, throw yourself down. You'll be protected. And what does Satan do? He quotes Psalm 91.

He quotes scripture. See Jesus? You'll be taken care of. Go ahead. Do it. That highlights that scripture can be used for good, but it also can be used for evil.

For those of you that are still paying for cable, if you turn on TBN, Trinity Broadcast Network, you're going to see this. You're going to see a televangelist stand up, and say, come on, 2 Corinthians 9, sow your seed. God wants to take care of you, wants to bless you. It's a misuse of the Bible. It is literally out of the playbook of Satan. It is satanic.

Satanic. In the most literal use of that term, it is satanic. People do this all the time with the word of God. They twist it for their own selfish gain and purposes. And we'll do this as well. We will seek to justify ourselves.

When we don't like the Bible, it's like, I'm pretty sure the passage says something different. We feel this in our own church. And I've seen this in other churches, that there's this idea that if you're living together and you're not married, someone comes and confronts you. He says, ah, this is what the Bible says on sex before marriage. And it's like, ah, no, it's okay. We're good, because we're married in God's eyes.

And it's like, no, that's not what the Bible. You know, you have to enter into a covenant of marriage. You are misusing the Bible for your own gain. We do this. We use the Bible for reasons that are not what it was designed for. And we have to check ourselves.

And Jesus sees right through this. He understands what he is doing. And he fires back. Verse 7. Again, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. He is not going to test the protection of the Father.

Because what Satan is doing here is he's still trying to undermine his relationship with the Father. He says, Jesus, do it. Just make the jump. You'll be okay. Angels will come. You'll be taken care of.

He seeks to undermine this in causing him to question God's goodness. It will actually take care of him. I know that we have done this. I feel this. Anytime that any of us lose a loved one, how many of us question, does God, if he cared, what if he intervened? Wouldn't he protect us?

Would he take care of this individual? This happens in providing. The promotions that we miss out on. The jobs that we don't get. Does God really love? Does God really care?

Does God really protect? Does God really for my good? There's this question that comes in that makes us almost want to even test that out. If God loves you, prove it on these terms. Take the jump. See what happens.

Here's the deal. Jesus knows that God loves him. He knows that the Father has infinite love for him. He knows in a moment's notice if he needed the protection, he would get it. He tells Peter this much later on in Matthew, in chapter 26, verse 53. In the night that he was betrayed, they come to take him.

Peter takes a sword, starts wielding it around. Not very well, because all he gets is an ear. But Jesus looks at him and he says, do you not think that I cannot appeal to my Father and he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels? He knows that he's taken care of. He knows that in a moment's notice, he could call angels from heaven, he would be protected. But Jesus doesn't question the love of God based on circumstances.

He understands that certain circumstances will require you to suffer for a greater purpose. And that is something for us to remember as well. So Satan whispers these lies and Jesus, he knows who the real enemy is in this situation. And that's the hope. The hope is as a church that we would grow in this, that we would be so aware of false lies that come in from the enemy that we remember who the real enemy is. There's this moment in the second Hunger Games in Catching Fire.

Every now and then, some teen fiction is good, y'all. But in the second book, Katniss is getting ready to fight in the quarter quail. And her trainer, Hamish, comes and there's a lot of confusion as to who's the good guys, the bad guys in this battle. And Hamish says, remember who the real enemy is. And we need this. We've got to remember this.

This happens all the time in counseling. I have two people that are frustrated, that are fighting. And I say, hold up. Who's the real enemy? It isn't the person across the table. We have an enemy that wants to destroy your marriage, who wants to sow division, who wants to bring lies.

We've got to remember who the real enemy is. So this one fails. He comes for a third round of temptation. Verse 8. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, All these I will give to you if you will fall down and worship me.

And Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan. For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. And the devil left him and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. So Satan takes Jesus to a high mountain, shows him all the kingdoms. Look as far as you can see, Jesus. These are the kingdoms.

These can be yours. Just bow down. Worship me. The uncomfortable reality here is that Satan does have power. He has this kind of power. Jesus calls him in the Gospel of John the ruler of this world.

That is a title for someone who has authority in kingdoms of this world. that he has power. And Jesus sees right through it. He quotes Exodus 23, 25 reminding him that God the Father is the only one worthy of worship. And then he departs. Satan leaves. Luke tells us he leaves for a more opportune time later.

And Jesus is so physically weak in this moment, spiritually in need, that the angels come down and minister to him. And then it ends. That's the end of the temptation narrative. And it kind of has a little bit of an odd ending. It kind of feels a little bit off. Like, what actually just happened here?

Like, power is a real temptation. We feel that. That God offers us, or that Satan offers us things that we'll take them, that we'll try to advance. Okay, there's some real power, but what's the big deal about this being the final thing that he offers all of this to Jesus? Why is this such a big deal? I want to close with two reasons why this moment is huge and two reasons why our God is so good.

First, Satan offers exactly what Jesus came for. Y'all, we remember how this started, right? Matthew 3. Behold, the kingdom of God is, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is why Jesus came. He came to have a kingdom that was encompassing all the kingdoms, that was bigger.

He came to be the king of kings. Satan offers him exactly what he came for. Global domination with his kingdom, that's it. That's the end game. Satan offers it up to him. And he offers him a much easier path.

Man, this is a path with no suffering, with no pain, with no abandonment, with no cross. And to think he could have taken that offer and he would have avoided his friends leaving him. He would have avoided the torturing and the excruciating pain of the cross. He would have avoided God the Father whom he's enjoyed perfect fellowship with for eternity, pouring the full cup of his wrath on him. He could have avoided all of it. The offer was right there.

All he had to do was to bow down and he could have avoided all of it. But he chooses the harder path because a bigger and better kingdom is in mine. And how does the gospel of Matthew end with the Great Commission? Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. All of it. Go therefore and make disciples.

That ultimately, because Jesus chooses the cross, we get a better kingdom. And that we get to be a part of this kingdom. Where the first Adam failed, the second Adam prevails. He rejects the offer of Satan and the kingdoms of this world for a greater, eternal, bigger kingdom that because of his blood on the cross, all of us get to be a part of. That is the good news of the gospel that we get to celebrate part one. Here is part two of why this is so good and why our God is so glorious.

We go to Hebrews 4, verse 15 and 16. It says, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. I want you to hear that. Who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in a time of need. Jesus endures all of this temptation for you and for me.

He comes. Feel this. The God of the universe comes, takes on human flesh, and then endures all of this temptation. I mean, that's what the text says. In every respect, in order that he might sympathize with our weaknesses, which means when the God of the universe humbled himself, everything was thrown at him. He understands sexual temptation being thrown at you.

He understands the passions of this world being thrown at you. He understands the struggle. He gets it. He walked in our shoes. Jesus knows what it feels like to want to be tempted to hate your enemies. But he doesn't.

On the cross he says, forgive them for they know not what they do. He knows what if the temptation for anger to come and this righteous anger where you start moving over into unrighteous anger, he stops. He knows the struggle. He knows the struggle of fighting sin. Temptation was thrown at him. He prevails.

He, in every respect, was tempted and tried. God, and he prevails. And he knows what it feels like to be so physically weak, to be so spiritually exhausted. The moments in group where you are so tired, the week was so hard, you feel how hard it is to follow Jesus and all you need is people in your group to just sit with you, to be able to say truth to you. He knows what it's like to have angels come and minister to him. Jesus gets the struggle.

Y'all, we have a high priest who gave up being in the heavens to take on flesh for us so he could walk on our shoes and show us the way. We do not have a distant deity who just stands in the heavens and says, obey. We have a God who got his hands dirty, who came down in the form of man, endured every temptation, and perfectly obeyed the law so that we would have a perfect record for us so that we have a Savior to stand in our place. We have a God who got his hands dirty. That is perfect love. It is love that we don't deserve.

It is the reason we get to celebrate and join in worship every week. That this King came, endured all the temptations, suffered in our place, paid the penalty that we deserve for sin.

Welcome to the Kingdom

Welcome to the Kingdom

Spencer Cary

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Transcript

Good morning. So, last week, on a Friday, I was getting ready to preach this sermon as we start the Gospel of Matthew. And it looked like that it would be a very small possibility that our thirdborn would come. So I called Tim Olson over at Midtown. And I was like, hey man, just letting you know, small chance this might happen. Would you be prepared to preach a sermon on Sunday just in case it does?

He said, yep. Saturday morning, it was not a small possibility. She did come. So, glad that Tim Olson got to come and preach last week. Glad we got to see some exposure. It's a grassroots kingdom network that we are a part of.

Tim and I went to seminary together. I'm excited for their church plan as they're going up to Charlotte. But we take Matthew to this week. So we're starting off Gospel of Matthew, be on page 472 in your blue Bibles that are around you. Go ahead and flip there. So in stories, in books, and even in movies, oftentimes they'll have this kind of preface, intro type beginning where you'll get some introductory details, you'll get some facts, some themes that kind of go into the rest of the story, and then the meat of the story picks up later.

Think like Jumanji, like the original Jumanji. It starts, you get a little picture of what happened with the game back in the 1800s. All of a sudden, you're in the living room, and Alan Parrish rolls the dice, and it gets sucked into the game, which, when you are eight and you see that, it is terrifying. You were fine with playing Candyland at that point. Like, it's just... And then the movie picks up.

Here's the back story, and then the rest of the story begins. And that is how the Gospel of Matthew starts. The first two chapters is a preface, it's an intro, and the story really picks up in chapter 3. So we're going to start in chapter 3, also, because we want to save Matthew 1 and 2 for Christmastime. So we'll come back to Matthew 1 and 2 in Christmas, in the Christmas season, but we will be jumping into Matthew 3.

Our encouragement for this series is that you would have a Bible. Whether you bring one, or you grab one, or you pull one up on your phone, there'll be a lot more text that we're walking through in the Bible as opposed to on the screen. So, Matthew 3, page 472 of the Blue Bibles around you. If you don't have a Bible at home, please take that. That is our gift to you. All right, so in Matthew 1 and 2, which we'll get to at Christmas, some themes are introduced.

It becomes very clear early on in the Gospel of Matthew why the early church put it at the front of the New Testament canon. So when the early church had all these scriptures, the Old Testament and the New, they had a general understanding of how the Old Testament would be done. They had to figure out what are we going to do, how are we going to organize the New Testament, where are we going to put these scriptures, these books. They placed Matthew at the front of the New Testament because it is filled with Old Testament references and Old Testament scripture quotations and allusions that look back to the Old Testament.

It is the doorway from the Old Testament into the New. But there's also a theme that picks up early in Matthew that runs throughout the whole Old Testament and then comes front and center here at the beginning, and that is the kingdom. The kingdom and the idea of king. And that is what we're going to see a lot as we walk through today in Matthew 3, but also the rest of our time in this gospel. Now, a couple things before we jump at that because we've got to work through some of our understandings. Firstly, we don't have really good references for what a king and a kingdom are, not the way the Bible talks about it.

When we think of king or we think of kingdom, we might think, oh, the closest thing we have is the president. And it's like there's some slight parallels. Each administration brings some change. But it's not the same. I mean, maybe if Trump or Obama had eight, nine turns back to back to back, that might get the feeling of what's happening here, but that's not close. Maybe some of you watched The Crown on Netflix, which is a good show.

You've gotten really into British monarchies, and you're thinking that's what kingdom looks like. And it's like not quite. She just kind of rubber stamps laws. She doesn't really have any authority in parliament. Maybe you have different things that you saw growing up. Maybe you love Lord of the Rings.

Maybe you really enjoyed when King Joffrey died. Maybe you love stories like King Arthur. We have all these different pictures of kingdoms and kings, and they don't quite relate. So a little bit later, we're going to have to readjust our mindsets and understanding what king and kingdom are. But the second thing we need to know and we need to understand, for the connections that we do make today with kingdom and king, we have to understand that we trust in some very bad kings and in some very bad kingdoms.

One of the most popular subject matters in political science, sociology, psychology right now, is the idea of tribalism. Tribalism is the idea that over our evolutionary history, we've always been tribal people. And because we're tribal, right now, we've kind of organized in tribes. It's really popular right now because everyone's trying to figure out, why are we so angry? Why do we hate each other? Why are people screaming on the TV?

Why is social media, it used to be like for nice pictures of food and kids, and now it is long, crazy, angry rants. And everyone's trying to figure this out, and they've come to this conclusion that it's tribalism, that we are a result of our evolutionary history, that we nationally form tribes, and in our tribes, whether you're in the Trump train or you're in the Bernie camp, like you have your people and you talk to your own people and you have this little echo chamber where it's just you guys talking, and then all of a sudden, when you interact with anyone else, you're lobbing grenades. And it's like that. I like some of the observations that come out of that.

I think it is helpful. I think they have missed the point. I do not think we have a tribal problem. I think we have an allegiance problem. We have an allegiance problem that we naturally give ourselves away. We pledge our allegiance, for lack of a better term.

That's what we do, because we are made in the image of God. We were made to worship God. When we, because of the fall, and because of sin, we will naturally give ourselves away to created things, to created people, and not the true king. That we have an allegiance problem, and we have trusted in bad kings and bad kingdoms, whether it is socialism or it is capitalism, whether it is sexual freedom or moral superiority. Maybe you long for the days of Kennedy or the golden era of Reagan. Maybe you love woke culture, and that is something that you have all been about.

Maybe your newfound Julian life is owning the lips. And if you could just find that meme that will make you happy, that you can just bring liberal tears, that is the camp that you have aligned yourself with. Maybe it is political correctness. Maybe it is being a jerk for the sake of being indecent. We have lined ourselves up with bad kingdoms and bad kings, whether it is people that we like, whether it is Ben Shapiro or Bill Maher or Joe Rogan or Jink Uger, Rush Limbaugh, Keith Oberman, down the line. And if you take a step back from all the chaos and all the crazy of our culture right now, you start to see this isn't really a tribal problem.

It is a problem of allegiance. We have given ourselves to bad kings and the bad kingdoms. And in this season, right now, in our culture, I am so incredibly thankful that we get the Gospel of Matthew. that we get to walk through this Gospel because out the gate, He is going to call us on it. He is going to show us that we trusted in bad kings and that a better kingdom awaits, that there is a better king. We are going to see this come out, come out. We are going to see this go throughout the Gospel of Matthew and it shows up here today.

So open up to Matthew 3 and we are going to see the moment that the king steps onto the scene and ushers in His kingdom. And as we listen to what Matthew has to say, our hope is, is that we would allow ourselves to be challenged and to be pushed, that maybe, just maybe, we've swapped out the king for some really bad kings and we've given up the kingdom for some lesser temporary kingdoms. So let me pray and then we'll get going. Lord, thank you so much for the good news of the Gospel, for the biography of Jesus that we get to spend time in. God, I pray that you would speak to us and that we would listen.

I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, first six verses. In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, The voice of the one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him. They were baptized by him in the river Jordan confessing their sins. Alright, I want to go back to that first phrase. In those days. Because we need to understand something before we jump into the Gospel of Matthew.

The Gospel of Matthew and the Gospels themselves and really largely a lot of the narratives in the Bible are not written the way that we understand how history is told. They are not written chronologically. There is a general chronology. Jesus was born. Later he dies and he rises. But everything in between, if you try to read the Gospel of Matthew as a sequence of events, you are going to bang your head against the wall.

They did not write the Gospels chronologically. They wrote them thematically and theologically. That is what they were doing. And that is because in our culture, we largely are influenced by historians that have a white, Western, European understanding of telling history, of telling stories. That is why we understand this event happened and this event happened and this event happened. And I will be honest, it is a little boring.

That is why a lot of people do not like history. It is the way that we tell it. That is not the Bible writers. That is certainly not the Gospel writers. They were from 2,000 years ago. They were Middle Easterners and from Asia Minor.

They were not the same as us. So here is my disclaimer. If you are a skeptic, if you consistently challenge the historicity of the Bible, the accuracy of the Bible, if you want to completely dismantle it because it doesn't fit into your, I would say, cute, white, Western understanding of how history and stories are told, I would just call you to pause for a moment and accept that maybe, just maybe, these ancient storytellers who are not like us told history a little bit differently, told stories a little bit differently. Just put that out there. Because the reality is I get really frustrated because like one of the greatest storytellers of our time is Christopher Nolan.

He did The Dark Knight and he also did a movie called Dunkirk which is the Battle of Dunkirk. Everyone loved Dunkirk because of how he told the history of it. He did it with, have you ever seen it? There's all kinds of time loops and everything's all over the place and everyone loves it when it's Christopher Nolan but when the Bible does things and when the Gospels do things a little bit out of order everyone loses their minds. And we need to know that because early as next week we're going to see some things that Matthew and Luke are doing differently. Alright, that's my disclaimer for the rest of the Gospels.

Alright, in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Alright, so before we get to what he was preaching let's take a look at the man, John the Baptist. John the Baptist, his last name was not the Baptist. Alright, I'm thankful that the early church gave him this distinction because there are a lot of Johns in the New Testament and it's helpful but he was known for baptizing. We could say he was Baptist he was our original Baptist. We can look back to him.

It's fine. But he was known for being Baptist. So, a couple of things about John the Baptist. Here's what we know from the Gospels. Him and Jesus were related. They were probably cousins.

That's the best we can tell is that they were cousins. That his mother Elizabeth and Jesus' mother Mary when they met in the Gospel of Luke that John the Baptist slept in his mother's womb. So there was an interaction there. Then we know that he spent the majority of his time preparing for preparing for ministry for this moment out in the wilderness. So he didn't have a whole lot of interactions.

So it's safe to say what we're going to see today might be one of the only significant interactions that they had. But he spent the majority of his time preparing for ministry in the wilderness and I would love to spend a few moments in walking you through all the theories as to why he was in the wilderness. But I'm going to spare you. If you want to nerd out on that later we can talk. But we see a description of him in verse 5 of what he looks like.

And the way that Matthew describes him is actually going to be a picture of the rest of the Gospel of Matthew. This whole section right here has tons of allusions. Meaning it alludes back to the Old Testament. And then we get a quote of what John the Baptist looks like. And every Jewish Christian who heard this in its context would understand what he was getting at. It says he wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist.

And that is a quote from 1 Kings 1.8. He wore a garment of hair and a belt of leather around his waist. And every Jewish Christian who hears that description thinks Elijah. This is the second coming of Elijah. This is a prophet who is just like Elijah. Elijah is one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament.

He's beloved. He's a wild man. So the picture here is he's a wild prophet just like Elijah. And I would say probably even wilder because he ate locusts and wild honey. Which is pretty crazy. He's edgy.

He has an edgy look and his message is even more so. It says, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Alright. So we are going to get a very heavy dose of this understanding of kingdom.

Matthew uses kingdom of heaven over and over again in this gospel. The other gospel writers, they use kingdom of God over and over again. It means the same thing. It's getting at the same idea. So for us to understand what he is getting at and what the people would have felt when John the Baptist says the kingdom of heaven is at hand, we need to have a better understanding for what king and kingdom means.

And seminary I had a professor, his name is Jonathan Pennington, he was very helpful in expanding some of my categories here and a lot of his stuff shows up right here. So, when the first century Jews go out and they hear John the Baptist saying, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Their minds go to the promised Messiah. Messiah. See, when a king came, even if it wasn't a Jewish king, when a king came and his rule came and they conquered a nation, everything changed. Everything changed and there was this long expecting hope that a Messiah was going to come.

So when a prophet in the wilderness says, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, their mind goes to Messiah, Savior King. This would have been the king that was promised, the king that was better than the greatest kings in the history of Israel. We're talking King David and King Solomon, the two biggest kings in their history. This king was going to be like them but even better. He was going to bring the protection that David brought. When David ruled as king, the people felt safe.

When David ruled as king, they had provisions. The economy was good. They had food in their bellies. That a king was going to come and bring protection and provisions. He was going to be a philosopher king, a sage like Solomon, one of the wisest men that has ever lived until Jesus comes. There's this long hope that this philosopher king, this protector, this provider, this Messiah, savior king is going to come.

And there's these prophecies that are prophesying his coming. In Jeremiah 32, there's this hope that shows up a lot in the Old Testament. It's the hope that a new covenant is going to come. In Jeremiah 32, 40, it says, I will make with them an everlasting covenant that I will not turn away from doing good to them. There's this hope that this new king was going to come. He was going to bring change.

He was going to establish this new covenant with the people. There was this hope that a king was going to come that we see in Isaiah 9 for to us a child is born. To us a son is given and the government shall be on his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. Feels Christmas-y, right? That's because there's this hope, this hope that this Messiah is going to come and his rule is going to be good and he's going to change their current circumstances. He'll be better than David.

He'll be better than Solomon. And he was going to bring a new covenant that would be providing, that would be the wisdom, leadership, the protection they've been thirsting for for centuries. Because it has been a long time in the land. Shortly after, David and Solomon, the nation splits in two. Then after that, they abandon God and God brings judgment.

And then one by one, nations come through and the Assyrians come in in the 8th century and completely just destroy most of the people and the land, taking the ten tribes and scattering them. And what they don't finish, the Babylonians come in in the 6th century and deport the rest of the tribes. And this is destroying their identity. Everything they were built on, they destroy and then the Persians come and rule over the people. Then the Greeks come and rule over the people of God.

And now we have the Romans at the time of Jesus. And with every kingdom and every bad king that came, they lost more of their identity and their hope started to fade. But there was this hope throughout all of it as the prophets spoke that one day a Messiah was going to come. A Messiah was going to come and he was going to change everything. And that's what they've been waiting for. And there were 500 years of silence.

No prophet in the land. No one speaking on behalf of God. Very dark. And then in the wilderness, a prophet comes. He rises and he starts to preach of this kingdom that is coming. And now the people have hope. verse 3.

For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, the voice of the one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. See, this is a quotation from Isaiah. And they hear this. And the original Christians that are reading this are feeling this. This is the one that Isaiah spoke of. This is the one who's going to prepare the way.

He's going to be the herald. He's announcing that the king is coming. And even in this quotation, there's a little glimmer of what this kingdom is going to look like. Because this was written by Isaiah to the Babylonian exiles, to the Israelites who were scattered abroad, saying prepare yourself for your return. And what's happening here is that he is showing us that the whole nation is in spiritual exile. They are in spiritual exile.

They are lost. They've lost identity. And John the Baptist has come to prepare the way for this new covenant, this new hope. And with each detail that we're getting, we're getting more of a picture of what this kingdom looks like. And also, John the Baptist is gaining a big following. He has got people coming out in droves to come and see what this prophet has to say.

Verse 5, it says, Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him. And they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. So, I would love right now, I would really love to take five minutes and make a plug for why we believe in baptizing, professing believers, and not infants, professing believers by immersion. Because it's John the Baptist. This is the moment, right? That I could just take some time and unpack it.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time and that is not the main point of this passage. But I will say this, that this baptism is unlike anything that anyone has seen. I mean, this is completely new. There are some loose connections in the Old Testament law talking about purification by water. There were some people that were doing some types of water rituals before John the Baptist comes. But nobody was doing this.

No one was bringing people out to the river to be baptized for their sins. That was not happening. This is a new sign. Which is why we as Baptists believe with a new covenant comes a new sign. That's all I'll say. Come talk to me later, I'll baptize you later.

Alright. So then we get to verse 7 and we get a taste of his message. And it is a message that is dangerous to the status quo. It is a wild prophet who is a threat to the political and religious system. Verse 7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers.

I love John. He is a renegade. He looks at the Pharisees and Sadducees who were some of the most powerful people in the land and he says, You brood of vipers. And here's why. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were in bed with the Romans. The Romans were in bed together helping keep the people in check.

They had sold themselves out. The beauty and really how the Romans conquered empires is they would conquer you and they would say, You want some of your culture? Keep it. You want some of your religious practices? Keep it. And they would keep the people in check by giving them a little bit of their culture, a little bit of what they could practice.

And then over time, they would slowly start to assimilate the culture. They'd have some power brokers they would use to keep the people in check. But slowly they would inject their culture. And that is why this period of time, this period of Judaism is called Hellenistic Judaism. It is the blending of Greco-Roman values and Judaism. And because of this, there are people that are purists.

They don't like that this pagan culture has blended with Judaism. And that is why consistently in the history of Israel and the Roman Empire, they are rebelling and rebelling and rebelling all the way up until 70 A.D. when they rebel and there are no more rebellions because they completely destroy them. So the Romans need help and they have two ways of keeping the people in check. The first is King Herod, which we will see back in Christmas and in the Gospel of Matthew. There's a long line of Herod and his sons that rule the people. And if you look at the Roman Empire, you study their history, they didn't have a lot of kings that served under Caesar.

But because the Jews were so, they were consistently rebelling, they had a king that helped keep the people in check. But the people didn't really respect Herod. They just didn't. I mean, they saw he was an obvious sellout. So the second group of people that the Romans used to keep the people in check, that was the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

These are the religious leaders. These are people that the nation respected. These are the people that they feared. When they spoke, people listened and they got in line. And on top of that, John the Baptist sees right through the religious charade. And so much of what the Pharisees and the Sadducees are doing is they have this empty legalism where you act like you were doing good.

You have this outward good, but inside you were dead. And you're just presenting good works before God. He sees and he cuts right through it. He calls them a brood of vipers, which is snake offspring. And a lot of times when you get stuff like this in the Bible, we've got to do some put this into context for us because a lot of statements like this don't translate. That one still translates.

You call somebody a snake, you have assassinated their character. You have called them sneaky, venomous, corrupt, deadly. All things that are very accurate as we see that they're the ones that help assassinate Jesus later. And what's happening here is we're getting a theme that is introduced. This is going to be Jesus versus the religious rulers, as we see throughout the gospel of Matthew. So, he calls them a brood of vipers and he says, Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. The sad thing is the Pharisees and Sadducees thought that they were bearing fruit. They thought that they were good. They thought that they were righteous. They were presenting their good works before the people but inside they were dead. It was a charade.

It was not true repentance. It was not the correct response before a holy and perfect God which is, I am an unworthy sinner in need of grace. So, he calls them out and he keeps going. Verse 9, he says, And do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. John the Baptist comes and he preaches this message that shows up throughout the whole Old Testament and that is just because you are an ethnic descendant of Abraham does not mean you are an actual child of Abraham and does not mean that you are a child of God. He says, God can raise up children from stones. Raise up Adam from dirt. You think that because you are a child of Abraham that you are going to have a covering that this is going to work out well for you. That is not how this works.

The only people that have the right to be called children of God are those who do the will of the Father. That is a message that shows up throughout the Old Testament and John the Baptist just preaches it right to their face. bear fruit or be cut down. Repent or experience the fire. John the Baptist is the original fire and brimstone preacher. He absolutely brings it. He is fearless.

I can't undersell how powerful these groups are. And he is absolutely telling them exactly like it is and then he makes a shift. Verse 11. He says, I baptize you with water for repentance. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I.

Whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork, which a winnowing fork was a tool that used to separate the wheat from the chaff. The wheat you use for bread. The chaff you threw away. Winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear the threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn.

But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. And now we see John the Baptist and his purpose coming into full view. This is a man. I want you to remember this. There has not been a prophet in the land for almost five centuries. No one is speaking on behalf of God.

He shows up and the crowds are coming out. The masses are coming to see him and he pauses and he says, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. It's not me. I'm just a set up man. Now the main event is coming.

You've been to a concert and got really excited about the opening act. That's just, you don't do that. Raz's dad was in a band in Australia and they opened up for ACDC back in the day. How cool is that? And Raz, I've had dinner with Raz's dad. He's a really, he's a good mate.

Like he's, I like him. And if I could go back in time, it'd be really exciting to go to that concert. And I like his dad, but I would not be excited about him. I'd be excited about seeing ACDC. Like that. You don't get excited about the opening act.

You wait for the main event. And that is what John the Baptist is trying to show. He's like, I'm not, I'm not it. There's a greater one coming. There's a mightier one coming. You don't get it.

I'm not fit to tie his sandals. And in a culture that thought feet were so socially beneath you and dirty, this is a great statement of humility. So I'm not worthy to tie his sandals. You don't get it. I've got this water ritual. I've got this thing that I'm doing, but he's got something that is bigger.

He is going to baptize with fire. And here's what he is getting at. The king is coming. And when he baptizes, he is coming with flames. Either you will be caught up and changed by this fire, like we see in Acts 2. This is looking forward to the Pentecost of Acts 2.

Either you're going to be changed by this fire, like the early church, who placed their faith in Jesus. You'll be changed into something completely new in this brand new kingdom. Either you will be changed or you will be consumed. It is your choice. And if you do not, if you were not changed, if you do not follow this king, you will be consumed by the flames like chaff. So repent.

The kingdom is at hand. I mean, you get it. You start to understand why John the Baptist ruffled some feathers. And there's a reason why he's later killed and beheaded because of the things that he says, because of the truth that he stands in. So if this prophet who has amassed a following, unlike anyone in the land for centuries, who the people are, who the people love and who the people actually respect, because he stands up to the establishment.

If this man is saying, it's not me, there's someone mightier who is coming. The people are waiting. Who is this one? And then finally, the king shows up on the bank of the Jordan. Verse 13. Then Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan, to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.

John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? But Jesus answered him, let it be so now, for thus it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness. Then he consented. So Jesus shows up at the bank of the Jordan, and John the Baptist says, I'm not baptizing you. You've got to baptize me. And that's an appropriate response.

Because John the Baptist, his baptism was a baptism of repentance. It was for sins. And he's saying, no, no, no. You, I, Jesus says, no. This is to fulfill all righteousness. And in the Gospel of Matthew, righteousness means obedience to the Father.

Obedience to God. This is the necessary step in obeying this plan of God because Jesus isn't coming for a baptism of repentance. He is coming for a baptism that will initiate an entirely new kingdom. His baptism is the start of the initiation of the kingdom that is now at hand. This is part one. Part two is next week, which we'll get to in Matthew 4.

So John the Baptist consents, and here is the scene. Verse 16, Man, I want to imagine what this scene would have looked like. We get these words. It is so hard to picture how glorious this is. How miraculous this is. The heavens, Jesus goes in the water.

The heavens open up. Light shines down. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit, descends like a dove on Jesus. God the Father, I want you to feel the Trinitarian language here. God the Father speaks from heaven, says, This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. This event is big.

It is bold. It is the way that a king makes his entrance. It is how a king steps on the scene to usher in his kingdom. And so it begins in the Gospel of Matthew, this unfolding kingdom of God that we're going to get to experience over the next 18 months as we walk through this Gospel. And there are so many things that we get to see. We get to see Jesus outshine the philosopher kings of old with wisdom that was never seen before and is never going to be seen.

The wisdom in the Sermon on the Mount, the wisdom in his parables, that we get to see him go toe-to-toe with the establishment. Toe-toe with fake religion and the religious leaders. We get to see Jesus care for the least of these and the sick and healing the broken, which does two things. It shows the heart of God that God cares for the hurting and the broken. But ultimately, his healings and his ministry of caring for the least of these is a greater picture of a kingdom that when it is finally finished, there will be no more sickness, there will be no more hurt, there will be no more pain.

That we get to see in this message of kingdom, we get to see discipleship on display. That throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus' primary ministry is to the disciples. Over and over again, you're going to see he's teaching the disciples, he's teaching the disciples, he's spending time with the disciples, he's getting away with the disciples, that he's pouring into a few that they might impact the nations. We get to see mission as he sends out the 72 and as it closes with the Great Commission, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I command on you.

We get to see the mission of God on display and here's what we get to see. The ultimate hope with this kingdom is that when this kingdom comes, it is for the spiritual exiles, which is you and me. Peter Gentry and Steve Wellen wrote a book called Kingdom Through Covenant. They described it so well. They said the kingdom of God refers primarily to God's kingly and sovereign rule and it is especially tied to God's saving reign that is broken into this world and the coming life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. The ultimate hope of this kingdom is that a king came from heaven and he sought us and he initiated a kingdom and every kingdom that has ever been established in this world has been done through blood.

Every kingdom that has ever been established in this world has been done through blood. The blood of hundreds, the blood of thousands, the blood of tens of thousands, but this kingdom takes one man's blood. And his blood is so pure and so rich and so good and so powerful that it establishes an eternal kingdom that has no end. A king has come. And because of his death and because of his resurrection, all that this king requires is faith. The entrance into this kingdom is simply trusting in the king who came from heaven to rescue us and that faith is our allegiance.

It is our allegiance to the one true king. Over and over again in this gospel we are going to be challenged. Which king and kings are you trusting in that is not the true king? Which kingdoms are you hoping in that is not the eternal kingdom? You will not make it out of this book without over and over again having to ask that question. Whom do you bow the knee?

We are going to see this over and over again that it is not about history of tribalism. It is about allegiance. Who are the things that we are bowing to? What are the things that we are valuing so much in this world? Where is our allegiance? Is it in a political system?

Is it in a political party? I mean that is something front and center for our culture right now. Put so much hope in men that will be dead in a few years. So much hope in ideas that will eventually fade away. We put all this stock all this hope in people lose their minds when they don't get the temporary king that they want. We are hoping in lesser kings.

Is it the American dream? Is that the kingdom that we are building on? We are so tempted to see the here and now that it is this life with these worries with these cares with this money with this retirement with these toys. What kind of kingdom are we hoping in? Is it here and now? Is it the sexual revolution and freedom that has so come up through this culture?

Is it all about identity at this point? Is that the kingdom that we are hoping in? Is it the pride and self-righteousness of the Pharisees? And positioning yourself as better than other people. What kingdoms and kings are we hoping in? Where is our ultimate allegiance?

You will not make it out of this book without being challenged on that over and over again. But here is the good news of this book. That as we wade through the gospel of Matthew you will not make it through this book without seeing that this king is better than any king that ever came. That this kingdom is better than any kingdom that you could ever hope in. That we have a king a warrior king who came from heaven and defeated sin at the cross. That we have a philosopher king who gives wisdom and insight that is good for our souls that is eternally true that we have a provider king that provides for your needs that you don't have to worry about all the things of this world that he's going to provide for you now but more importantly he picks up your head and says no there's an eternity worth caring about.

That we have a king who holds the world in his hand and that is important for those of us that are driven by anxiety and control. We have a king who controls everything because we don't have to. We have a good king that we get to look and see and savor in the gospel of Matthew. So as we walk through this be challenged. Who do you bow the knee? Which kings are we hoping in?

Which kingdoms have we sold out to? And taste and see that we have a better king and a better kingdom and a better God and we get to celebrate that every week as we come to the table.

Worthy

Worthy

Tim Olson

Transcript

Well, good morning. How are we doing, church? Yeah, so good to be with you guys. Like Matt said, my name is Tim. My wife and I and a team of folks are getting ready to be sent out around this time next year to plant Citizens Church in Charlotte, right on the east side of Uptown. And so we are, in a lot of ways, where Mill City was, what, seven years ago, six years ago now.

Just getting ready to build a team and great support and all of that to be sent out. And so excited. It's good to be with you guys. Let me encourage you real quick before we dive into God's word. You guys, what you are doing here matters, not just in West Columbia, South Carolina, but across the southeast and across our country and around the world. So for us, as we get ready to do what you guys are doing, to do church planting, it is such an encouragement to get to be here and to see you guys worshiping and celebrating the risen and ruling King Jesus.

And so keep it up because you are having more of an impact than you know through the way that you are living and following and pursuing our Lord. So Spencer and I were friends back in Louisville at seminary together. And so he called me on Friday and I knew when that call came that this might be what it is going to be for. And so he let me know, hey, there's about a 30% chance that you're going to be up there on Sunday if you could come preach for us. And then I woke up Saturday morning to about a 90% chance. And then about four o'clock yesterday, he said, there's a 100% chance you are preaching for us.

But the good news for us this morning is that whether we have two days or two months or two years to prep a sermon that God's word, he says, will never return back to him void. Amen. It's the good news that God's word is still true and it's still good. And so we're going to stumble through it together. And as Matt said, sit under its authority because God is true and he's good and he knows better than us. And so that's what we're going to be doing this morning.

Psalm 99, if you got a Bible, if you need one, there should be some on the rows. If you grab one of those Bibles, it's page 287. Page 287, Psalm 99. We're going to start there and then we're going to hop over eventually to Isaiah. But here's where I want to start us this morning.

So A.W. Tozer is a theologian who in the 1960s wrote a book called The Knowledge of the Holy. And this book, it's a little over 100 pages, kind of became an instant classic on the attributes of God. And in this book, Tozer just walks through the different attributes of God. But here's how he starts.

And this is where I want to start us this morning. His very first sentence, his whole thesis for the book. This is what he writes. What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Not what we do for a living.

Not where we went to school. Not how good our college football team is, which, amen for all us Gamecocks. Right? Not who our family is. Not how much money we have. Not where we live.

Not our zip code. But the most important thing about us is what we think about God. Because what we think about God is going to impact and affect everything about how we live and move and have our being in the world. All right? So if you believe that God is just some distant sky fairy who's here just to kind of bless your life with whatever you want to do, that is going to affect how you live.

Right? You're going to walk around in a certain way. You're going to act in a certain way. Alternatively to that, if you believe that God is some great policeman in the sky who's watching and waiting and he's just like, boom, sin, got it. It's going to affect how you live. It's going to affect how you live and move and have your being in the world.

And so all I want to do this morning for us is to talk a little bit about, hey, if that's true, if the most important thing about us is what comes into our minds when we think about God, then what do we think about God? What are we supposed to think about him? Who does the Bible say that he is? So we're going to start in Psalm 99. Matt already prayed for us. Let me pray one more time.

Father God, thank you for your word. And thank you for the privilege that it is to get together. And thank you that you are good and that you're powerful and that you're sovereign. And as we're going to see this morning, that you're holy. That you dwell, set apart, distinct, separate from the rest of creation, but you're active and working and moving. Thank you for Jesus.

Thank you for what he's done for us on the cross. God, let us be encouraged. Let us be challenged. Let us be equipped by your word this morning to go do every good work that you have for us. I love you. Pray all these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. Psalm 99. We're going to start in verse 1. Here we go. Psalmist writes, The Lord reigns, but the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned upon the cherubim.

So this is a dual reference. So on the one hand, the psalmist is talking about the Ark of the Covenant. And so the Ark of the Covenant was something that the Israelites kept in a part of the temple called the Holy of Holies. And on the Ark of the Covenant, there were two angelic beings called cherubim that were carved. And the Israelites knew that God's presence dwelt in the Ark of the Covenant for them. And so what he's talking about there is that God sits enthroned upon the cherubim as he's talking on the one hand about the Ark of the Covenant.

And on the other hand, he's talking, hey, in a very real sense, God is enthroned upon everything. That he is above the angelic beings. That he's above all of creation. That he is above all things and all people. Keep going. He writes, Let the earth quake.

The Lord is great in Zion. He is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he. So if you're the type of person who writes in your Bible, you want to underline that, highlight it, start, whatever you got to do.

Holy is he. That's going to be a key where we're going this morning. Verse four. The king in his might loves justice. You have established equity. You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.

Exalt the Lord our God. Worship at his footstool. Here we go again. Holy is he. Underline it. Highlight it.

Star it. Verse six. Moses and Aaron were among his priests. Samuel also was among those who called upon his name. They called to the Lord and he answered them. In the pillar of the cloud, he spoke to them.

They kept his testimonies and the statute that he gave them. Oh, Lord our God, you answered them. You were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings. Verse nine. Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain. Here we go one last time.

For the Lord our God is holy. Third time. God is holy. So in Psalm 99, the psalmist is proclaiming how great and mighty and awesome our God is. And he goes and says he's holy. He's awesome.

So last summer, my wife and I had the opportunity to go visit her brother and sister-in-law who live just outside of Calgary, Canada. So over kind of on the west part of Canada. And they live just a few hours from Banff National Park, which I don't know if you've ever heard of Banff, but it's one of the most beautiful places in the entire continent, especially. Maybe the world. I don't know. But it's wonderful and great.

And so one of the things that Banff National Park is known for, it's in the Canadian Rockies and it's known for its beautiful lakes. So it just has a ton of incredible lakes. And so we went to visit some of these. And one of those lakes is called Moraine Lake. And so Moraine Lake is tucked back about five miles from the main road. So you have to kind of drive this curvy road and then you park in this little parking lot.

And then you walk up this little hill and this is what you see. This is Moraine Lake. Yeah. And I'm not a big nature person. I talk about this a lot at Midtown. I just, it's not for me.

I don't understand. I can just look at pictures. I don't need to go see it. Totally fine. So I'll tell you how my wife, like a normal person, reacted.

So we walk up the hill and we see Moraine Lake. And she literally grabs me on the arm and says, oh, wow. Isn't it incredible? And I'm like, totally. Yeah. Listen, her response is a little picture of what the psalmist in Psalm 99 is saying.

Our response should be to the bigness and greatness of God. He says, look at him. Exalt him. Worship at his footstool. Why? Because he's holy.

Because he's distinct. Because he's set apart. Because he's wonderful and beautiful. The way that theologians often talk about this otherness, this incredibleness of God, is an attribute called his transcendence. His transcendence. It means that he's above us.

That he's separate from us. That he's distinct. That he is outside and around and away from his creation. And yet he's distinctly working and active and in the middle of all of it. That he's other. That he's unique.

That he is distinct. That he is set apart. There's no one like him. God is incomparable to anything or anyone else. No one is on the same playing field as our God. He stands alone.

That's what it means by transcendence. And the chief way the Bible, specifically Psalm 99, talks about God's transcendence is through his holiness. Right? So I love the way that Psalm 99 reads. So the psalmist is just going along.

And he's like, God executes justice and righteousness. And by the way, he's holy. And oh yeah, and the priest. And he forgave. And he avenged wrongdoings. And by the way, he's holy.

Like it's just flowing out of him. He can't contain it. God is holy. He's holy. He's holy. I can't not talk about the holiness of God.

Now for many of us, when we think of God's holiness, we think about morality. Right? So we think, all right, God is holy, so that means he's upright. Or he's good. Or he's morally pure. Or morally perfect.

And that's part of it. But the biblical idea of holiness is much bigger than that. The biblical idea of holiness is much bigger and richer than just morality. So in the Old Testament, the word that we have translated as holy is the Hebrew word kadosh. Kadosh. And what it means is it means sacred or set apart.

Kadosh means that God is sacred. He's distinct. He's other. God's holiness means that he is transcendent. He's outside of. He's totally unique.

There's nothing like God. And we see this set apartness of God through attributes of God that he alone has. Right? So theologians often call this his incommunicable attributes. They're attributes that you and I don't have that God alone has. So his eternality.

Right? So God is eternal. God has always been. He always is. And he always will be. There's no place in time that God has not been.

And he's immutable. He's unchangeable. God is always the same. You and I change based on whether we're hungry or not. Right? God never changes.

He's always the same. He's always been the same. He always will be the same. He always is the same. God is omnipotent. He's all powerful.

He sustains the entire universe. He holds all things together. Do this with me real quick. Everybody take a deep breath in. Then let it out.

The Bible would say that any of us could breathe just there and then because God gives it as a gift. He is the one who gives breath to our lungs. He sustains all things and he holds all things. I learned this a few months ago. It blew my mind. Did you know that there are over a hundred billion galaxies in our universe?

A hundred billion. So we live in one, the Milky Way. There are a hundred billion other Milky Way type galaxies in the entire universe. And the Bible says God holds all of it together. He's omnipresent. That means God is always everywhere fully.

So there's nowhere in history that God has not been there fully. That means right now this morning at what 11.05 a.m. Here at Mill City, God is here with us and he's present fully. Just like he's on the other side of the world caring for people and feeding people and loving people fully. And he's not distracted. He's not a little bit here and a little bit there.

He's always everywhere fully. God is omniscient. He knows all. He knows everything. I think about this. God has never had to learn anything.

God's never been surprised by anything. He knows everything that will happen and everything that could happen. God is sovereign. He's in control. He rules and reigns, which is good news. I don't need to be in control of my life.

Amen? God is. He's sovereign over all things. And if you're tracking with me, if you're thinking correctly, your mind should be a little bit blown right now. Right? Like words just don't really cut it when it comes to describing the holiness and magnificence and awesomeness of God.

We can't wrap our minds around his holiness. Tozer, who I quoted earlier, said it really well. He said, we know nothing like divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may fear God's power and admire his wisdom, but his holiness he cannot even imagine.

God's holiness is a dimension of God that consumes his very essence. So to be God is to be holy. That's what it means to be God. Here's how theologian R.C. Sproul talks about it. He says, So let me say something that you might not agree with at first, but let me show it to you from scripture.

So if you have a little pause, that's okay. Just trust me. We're going somewhere. Let me prove this to you. God's holiness is the most important thing about him. God's holiness is the most important thing about him.

God's holiness is the most important thing about him. Which if you're following with me, that might raise a couple of questions, right? Like, are we sure? Right? Like, I've heard God is love, right? So if we took a poll around this room, I said, show of hands, who thinks God's most important attribute is love?

I think most of us would raise our hands, right? After all, 1 John 4. God is love. And is he love? Yes, absolutely. But God's love is not the most important thing about him.

His holiness is. Let me show you. Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6. Turn over there. If you're in our Bibles, it's page 330.

330. Isaiah chapter 6. It'll be on the screen as well. Let me show you this from Isaiah. So Isaiah is a prophet in the Old Testament, and he has this encounter in the throne room of God, and he writes about it in Isaiah chapter 6, verse 1.

Isaiah writes, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. So I don't know what picture you have of angels, but mine is not six-winged creatures, right?

Like, this is intense. So Isaiah is in the throne room, and these seraphim are flying around with six wings. Verse 3. And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. So seraphim are flying around the throne of God, and they're shouting, Holy, holy, holy.

So in English, we have different ways of communicating emphasis, right? So if you write something down, and you want to emphasize it, you want to say, this is what I'm, this is what's most important. This is what I'm talking about. You might underline it. You might highlight it. You might make it bold or italicized.

You might put an exclamation point. You might use a bunch of emojis. I don't know whatever you do, but you emphasize it with something. The same way when we're, when we're talking, when we want to emphasize something, I've been told, especially when talking to my wife, which I'm working on, I repeat myself a lot. She says not to do that. I'm trying, right?

We repeat ourselves a lot. It's a way of saying, hey, what I just said is important, so I'm going to say it again. Coincidentally, that's also how the Hebrew language works. That when they wanted to emphasize something, they didn't have punctuation marks like we have punctuation marks. And so to emphasize something, they would repeat it over and over and over again. There was another thing they were doing when they repeated it, and that was they didn't have a way of taking things to the superlative degree, right?

So if I'm trying to describe something as being higher than something else, I might say, this is high, this is higher, and this is the highest, right? Or you have big, bigger, and biggest. We have ways of saying this is the most. This is the superlative. That's what they would do in the Hebrew language, is they would repeat something. And so what's happening here in Isaiah 6 is the seraphim are flying around the throne room of God, and they're saying to each other, God is holy.

No, wait, he's holier. No, no, no, wait, he's the holiest. And you have to get this, Isaiah. The most important thing about him is that he is the holiest, that he stands alone, that he stands apart, that he stands separate and unique and distinct. He's holy. He's holy.

No, no, he's the holier. No, he's holiest. They're emphasizing this to him. And if you read scripture, the holiness of God is the only attribute ever used in the entire Bible three times in succession. It's the only one ever used. Holy, holy, holy.

So we never read that God is love, love, love. We never read that he is grace, grace, grace. We never read that he is compassion, compassion, compassion. Now, is he love? Absolutely. Right?

First John 4, 8. God is love. But get this. His holiness is actually what defines his love. All right, so y'all tracking with me?

God is not just love. He's actually better than just love. He's holy, holy, holy love. That means he's the author of love. He's the one who defines love. That means his love is like nothing you can ever imagine.

Nothing you've ever experienced. Not only is God grace, but he's holy, holy, holy grace. That means his grace is distinct and unique and set apart. We've never experienced anything like it. It's incredible. Not only is God compassion, but he's holy, holy, holy compassion.

His holiness is what defines all of his other attributes. It's what makes him God. It's what makes him unique, that he has all of this about him that is distinct and unique and set apart. He's holy. It's who he is. God is holy, holy, holy.

So let me give you one important implication of this, what this means for us. This means God is not like us. This means God is not like you, and he's not like me. He's not like any of us. God is God. So the Bible tells us that God created man in his own image, right?

The Imago Dei is what theologians call it, that you and I, we are reflecting God. We are made in the image of God in a unique way, right? So we can do things as God's image bearers that other aspects of creation cannot, right? So you and I can love, and we can create culture, and we can create art and beauty, and giraffes don't, right? You and I can build culture. We can build societies.

We can make laws. We can grow the world. We can have dominion over things in the earth, and trees just stand there and look pretty and give us oxygen. But you get the point, right? We're unique. We're just, we're reflecting God in a unique way.

But what can happen is when we hear this, that we are created in the image of God is we can begin to believe the lie that because we are like God, that God is like us. Let me tell you this morning that you are like God, but God is not like you. He doesn't think like you do. He doesn't reason like you do. He doesn't live and move and dwell in the world like you do. He's holy.

He's distinct. He's set apart. He's unique. And if we're not careful, if we begin to believe that God is like us, that comes with a lot of false, fake ideas of who God is. Right? So we begin to believe that God is like some really great human.

Like he's like us, but he's stronger than us, and he's more powerful than us, and he's bigger than us, and he's faster than us, and he's faster than a speeding bullet and can leap tall buildings in a single bound. That's God. Like, no, that's Superman. But close. No. It's not.

God is not like a better version of us, or we can begin to believe that he's like a great grandpa. Right? Like God is the world's greatest grandpa, that he's up there in the sky with a big white beard, and he's just saying, yeah, keep it up. Keep going. Good Job. We can begin to think that because we are like God, that God is like us, but God is not like us.

He's separate. He's holy. He's set apart. He's unique. Now, the most helpful way I've found to understand this is to think about the Son. Right?

So God's holiness, in a weird way, let me try to stay with me, is like the Son. So the Son is unique, right, at least in our solar system, and it's immensely powerful. Right? The Son is powerful. The Son, in many respects, is our source of life. It makes life continue on in the world.

You can take this metaphor, and you can say that the whole area around the Son is also holy. Right? So the closer you get to the Son, the more powerful and intense the Son gets. Because the Son is so powerful and good and generates so much life, this also makes it dangerous. Right? But if you are not of the same essence as the Son, and yet you get close to the Son, it is not good news for you.

But this is not because the Son is bad. It's because the Son is too good. Right? The Son is too powerful. The Son is too distinct and set apart. So the Son is not dangerous because it's bad.

The Son is dangerous because it's so good. It's so powerful. So if you and I, who are not of the same essence or nature as the Son, get close to the Son, it is not going to go well for us. In a very small way, that's a little bit of what God's holiness is like. All right, so Hebrews 12 says that God is a consuming fire.

That means if we're impure, if we're not of the same essence of holiness, His presence is dangerous to us. His immense goodness makes it dangerous for anything to get close to Him that's not His equal, that's not holy like He is. And this is a problem for us. And it's a problem for Isaiah. Look back, verse 3. Isaiah 6, verse 3.

And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called. And the house was filled with smoke. And I said, Woe is me. For I am lost.

For I am a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. So have you ever been somewhere where they've gotten with someone that you love and they've gotten really bad news? Right? So an instant death of a loved one that came unexpectedly.

Or something happened and someone's being rushed to the hospital. Whatever it is. And whenever they get that call, their response is not half-hearted. Right? It's not, oh man, that really stinks. Usually what happens is they have a visceral, emotional, bodily response.

Right? A lot of times they break down. They can't stand anymore. They just start weeping. You think about the good version of this. So whenever you get good news.

Right? So Spencer and Anna. Right? Whenever their child is born. I'm sure there was so much excitement. So much joy and laughter.

New life has come into the world. And when you go to a wedding. Right? Whenever the bride is walking down the aisle. Everyone always turns and looks at the groom. Right?

Why do they do that? They do that because they're looking for his emotional response. He can't help it. This woman that he loves, he now gets to be with forever. Or everyone's favorite YouTube videos of soldiers returning home from war. Right?

Have you guys seen these? It's usually a school assembly and a kid is there in front of everyone. And they're kind of hanging out. And then their mom or their dad who were overseas walks in the room. And they just break down and lose it. And start crying and weeping.

And you at your computer start breaking down and losing it. And crying and weeping. It's a visceral, emotional, bodily response. We can't help it. Something has happened that is great and wonderful. We've seen something or heard something that has happened.

And we just can't be the same. That's what's happening to Isaiah here. He sees God. He sees the holiness of God. The throne room of God. And in a very small way, those experiences we have are what's happening to Isaiah.

He sees God. And he sees the throne. And he sees the train of God's robe filling the temple. And seraphim are flying around saying, Holy, holy, holy. And Isaiah's only response is, Oh no. I'm in trouble.

Right? If this is who God is. If this is how great he is. How wonderful he is. How awesome he is. How holy and majestic he is.

I am in trouble. I can't be near him. I'm not of the same essence as him. I'm not of the same level as him. He's holy and I am not. I'm unclean.

And I dwell among a people who are unclean. And I can't be near God. The whole story of the Bible, church. The whole story of the Bible is that we were made to be near God. Right? You and I, from Genesis 1 to the very end of time, are existing to be near God.

To dwell with him in perfection. To dwell with him in holiness. To live with him forever. And so what do we do with that? What do we do with the reality that God is holy and we're not of the same essence as him so we can't be near him and yet we were made to be near him. Let's see what God does about it.

Isaiah 6 verse 6. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. From the altar of God comes Isaiah's forgiveness. Right?

From God himself, from God's holiness, Isaiah is made holy. And for those of you who know your Bible, you know where this is going. Right? 740 years later comes a man named Jesus who is fully God and yet willingly humbles himself and comes to earth as fully man. Born of a virgin. Living and experiencing all of life yet was perfect and without sin.

Was the only one who is the same essence as God. Holy. And yet he, in his holiness, goes to the cross and willingly gives up his life. takes our unholiness, our unrighteousness, our uncleanness upon himself. Three days later, gets up out of the grave, defeating Satan, sin, and death so that we could be given his righteousness and holiness. Same story. From the altar of God comes our forgiveness.

From God's holiness, we are made holy. So I want to land the plane this morning with the Tozer quote we started with. So he writes at the start of his book what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Because seeing God for who he really is affects everything about us. And so, that's kind of two responses this morning. For some of us, we need a little bit of an Isaiah 6 response to seeing God.

We need a little bit of a, oh no. Right? If God is like this, if he's holy, if he is distinct, if he's set apart, if he's righteous, then there's no good deed that I can do. There's no work that I can muster up. There's nothing I can, it's not a scale, it's not, well I hope my good outweighs my bad a little bit. It's not a, well I hope I followed enough things, or I hope I did enough right things.

No, God is not of the same essence as us. He's distinct and set apart and holy. And so we cannot go near that holiness except by the imparted, the given holiness of Jesus to us. He has to give us his righteousness. And so, for some of us, we were walking around with a view of God like he's just some great grandpa, or he's like some magical sky fairy, or he's like some policeman in the sky. We need to hear, hey, hey, God is bigger than you, and he's better than you, and he's holy, and he's righteous.

Jesus, you don't earn your way to him. You don't do enough good things to get to him. And so some of us this morning, we need to see God, and we need to go, oh no, I'm in trouble. Is there any help for me? And we need to see that that answer is in the person and work of Jesus, who loves us, and died for us, but didn't stay dead, but got up out of the grave. So some of us, we need a, God is holy, and I'm not, and I'm in trouble.

Jesus is there, and he's the answer. He's the redeemer. He's the one who calls us back to God. And for others of us, we need a little bit of different response. We need a response of gratitude and thanksgiving. So there's one other place in scripture that we see the throne room of God being surrounded by the seraphim, and that's Revelation 4 and 5.

We won't turn there. Let me just talk to you about it. So in Revelation 4 and 5, we again get a glimpse of the throne room of God, and seraphim are again flying around the throne, but this time, it's not just Isaiah that's there. The throne of God is surrounded by all of those who put their faith and their hope and their trust in Jesus, and the seraphim are flying around, and the throne is surrounded by all who trust in Christ, and the seraphim are shouting, holy, holy, holy, and you know what the people's response is? It's not, woe is me. Their response, Revelation 5, their response to seeing the holiness of God is not, oh no, I'm in trouble.

Their response is, worthy is the lamb who was slain. Oh, wow. God's like this, but yet Jesus has come, and he was slain on my behalf. He gave himself up on my behalf. We're not saying anymore around the throne, woe is me because God is too holy. We're saying, worthy is Jesus who made a way for us to be here and to be in the presence of God where we were meant to be forever.

Until that day, until that day that is guaranteed for all who trust in Christ, until that day, we get little glimpses of that worship every time we gather on a Sunday. Every time we gather and we get to sing about who God is and what he's done, we're reminded, oh yeah, worthy is the lamb who was slain, and one day we're going to be around the throne of God worshiping and celebrating him forever. And so this is just really good reminders and really good practice. We get to celebrate Jesus now. We get to take communion. So as the band's coming up, every week when you guys gather, you take communion.

And communion is a way of remembering on the night that he was betrayed, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and he broke it. He said, this is my body given for you. And in the same way, he took a cup of wine, and he said, this cup is the cup of the new covenant, sealed by the shedding of my blood. For every time you eat this bread and you drink from this cup, you're announcing my death until I return. And so you guys take communion every week. You take a piece of bread and dip it in the juice, and you're reminded of what Jesus has done for you.

And you remember that one day he's coming again, and he's going to rule and reign forever, and he's going to make all things new. And until that day, we remember, and we practice, and we rehearse, and we remind ourselves of what Jesus has done. It's the gift of communion. If you're a Christian, just a second, we're going to invite you to take a minute and pray, confess what you need to before God, and come and take communion. Be reminded of what Jesus has done for you. If you're not a Christian, we would ask you not to take communion, but rather than take communion, we invite you to take Christ, to believe on him, to see God in all of his holiness, and say, I'm in trouble if I don't have Jesus pleading on my behalf.

I invite you, you can come talk to me, you can talk to Matt, you can talk to Raz, who's upstairs, you can ask us, hey, what does it mean to put my faith and my hope and my trust in Jesus? Because I see God's holiness, and I'm not like that. I need help. I'd love to talk to you about what it means to put your faith in Christ. But I'm going to pray for us, and then we get a chance to celebrate.

Church, see this as a celebration. Jesus has died, but he didn't stay dead. He rose again. He's coming back. Pray with me. Father, God, we are so grateful.

God, I'm so grateful. Revelation 4 and 5 is our future. It's not uncertain. It's not maybe. It's not I hope. It's a guarantee.

It's not only a guarantee. And one day, you're going to return, and you're going to make all things new, and you're going to rule and reign forever like you already are. I'm going to be surrounding your throne, singing and worshiping, seeing your holiness, seeing your distinctness, your set-apartness, your greatness, and our response. It's going to be, yeah, we're sinners, but worthy is the lamb who was slain, who gave up his life. He didn't have to, but he wanted to. He went to the cross.

He took our sin, our unrighteousness, our uncleanness, our shame, our guilt, our brokenness, our running and rebellion against you. He took all of that on himself. He became unclean so that we could be given his righteousness. We could dwell with you forever. And so, have we forgotten that? This morning, God, would you remind us?

Would you enliven us back to the good news of the gospel through your spirit? Now, if there's anybody in here this morning who says, yeah, my response is, woe is me. I don't have Jesus pleading on my behalf, but I want him. I want to put my faith and my trust in him. I want to turn from being an enemy of God to be welcomed into the family. God, would you, by the power of your Holy Spirit, work in power and work in might?

You're good. Thanks that we get to celebrate how good you are throughout the week and then we get to gather together on Sunday and just sing. Take communion and remember how good you are, how good you've been, how good you will be. I love you. I pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

You guys can take a minute and then take communion when you're ready.éré's community today.

Fellowship

Fellowship

Chet Phillips

Transcript

It's good to see you all this morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We are in the last week of our Abide series where we are talking through ancient practices for enjoying God. Grab your Bible. Go to John chapter 15.

If you have one of the Bibles in the row, one of these blue ones, it'll be on page 526. If you don't own a Bible, take this one home with you. That's our gift to you. We want you to own a Bible. We want you to read it. That's actually how we started this series, talking about reading the Bible, how important it is for us to enjoy God that way through His Word.

I remember the first time somebody asked me, how have you been enjoying Jesus, or are you enjoying Jesus? And it struck me, it was a little odd. I wasn't prepared for that question. I'd grown up in the church, but the idea of enjoying Jesus and enjoying my relationship with Him was not something I had ever considered. Like, if they had looked at me and said, have you been obeying Jesus? Like, I was ready for that question.

When was the last time you repented of sin? Tell me what's wrong with you. Like, I'm ready for those. But then when it was, have you been enjoying Jesus, or how are you enjoying Jesus? I wasn't ready. Every week on Sundays, we come in here, we set things up, we do a walkthrough.

It makes our sounds work, and we walk through the order of kind of how we're going to do things, make sure people know who's going to read Scripture, all that kind of stuff. And last week, I had to bring my son with me, my four-year-old. So we went up there to do the walkthrough. I sat him in a chair. I said, sit here, be quiet. And he did that moderately well.

But one of the songs we did last week was Psalm 34, and it's called Taste and See That the Lord is Good. So as we were reading through it, they said, okay, and then we'll do Psalm 34, Taste and See That the Lord is Good. And my four-year-old went, gross. And for a lot of us, that's kind of our natural reaction to the idea of enjoying God. Is this like, uh, is that okay? Like, am I allowed to do that?

Like, obey, serve, follow, submit. Like, I'm ready for those terms. But the idea of enjoying God makes me catch a little bit and go, is this all right? Are we okay to do this? So, uh, in the, the book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, it's written by C.S. Lewis.

They're on a boat and they are out, um, uh, adventuring and discovering new lands. And they go to this island and they come up on the island and they walk up, uh, and there's this table, beautiful, ornate table that is massive. And it is covered with every type of delicacy you could find. The most beautiful display of food you have ever seen at a buffet or your grandmother's house looked childish in, in front of this. It looked like something a kid made out of Play-Doh. Like, this was beautiful and delicious.

And it's sitting there out in the middle of nowhere on this pavilion and there's nobody around. And so the story is they, they walk up on it and some of the sailors, they've been to sea for a while, they really want to eat this. And other ones are like, don't touch that. Like, we don't know whose it is, but this feels weird. Like, this is odd. There should be some people here.

And if they're not here right now, they're going to come back and we can't just be piled around their table eating or it's enchanted. It's magic. It'll kill us. I don't know, but this is sketchy. And I was reading that and I thought that would be me. That would be my, I'd be going, huh, huh, huh, huh.

I know it looks good. Let's hold off a second. This may not be the best thing. I don't usually just walk up. If you found a dinner table in the middle of the woods, I probably wouldn't just be like, oh, cool. Let me eat.

Like, you know, you would just hold off. And I think that some of us, as we're talking about enjoying God, there's this, ah, should we? Is that okay? Is that how I ought to think about this? And Jesus takes the head of the table and says, pull up a chair. That we are meant to delight in God.

That we're meant to enjoy him. That the invitation to abide in Christ is an invitation to joy and delight. This is throughout the scriptures. This idea of delighting in the Lord, delighting in his law, delighting in his goodness, tasting and seeing that he is good. That we would see his glory, but that we would enjoy how good he is. Spencer, as we were talking last week about creeds and confessions, he quoted the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

And the beginning of it says that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Jonathan Edwards, who was a U.S. pastor and a missionary to Native Americans, says God is glorified not only by his glories being seen, but by its being rejoiced in, meaning enjoyed. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. God designed the world to display his glory that it might impact our hearts and our minds that it might be delighted in and enjoyed. And that makes sense if you think about it, that if God is supremely glorious, when we saw his supreme glory, we wouldn't go neat.

I will just submit to that. No, we would, we'd be swept up in it. We would delight in him that if he is really good, when you grew to know him, it would be really good. We have the phrase, people say the proof is in the pudding. The original phrase is the proof of the pudding is in the eating, meaning your pudding might look nice. I'm going to need to taste it first.

Then I'll tell you. That's like if you see banana pudding and it's yellow, it might not be good. They may have not done this right. Maybe it is. Taste it. And that's what it's saying.

This idea that we would not only just see God, but that in seeing and knowing him, we would draw close to him and we would enjoy him. And that's our hope through this series. As we've talked about Bible reading, as we've talked about prayer, as we've talked about Sabbathing and serving, as we've talked about feasting and fasting, as we've talked about confessing, that we would verbally sing and confess with our mouths. These are all ancient practices that church has done forever. And the point is to draw close to the Lord and to delight in him, because to know him is to love him and to be loved by him and to be swept up in how good he is.

And this is our last week. And so we're kind of summarizing the series and we're going to talk through our last ancient practice. We're going to talk through fellowship, that we would love one another and that by loving one another, we are designed to enjoy God in that way. So let's pray. And then we're going to jump into John chapter 15. God, we thank you that in giving yourself for us, that you also give us to one another and that you empower us to have genuine relationships and walk in your love together.

We pray that as we study this today, that we would not just hear it, but that we would do it, that we would become those who practice what your people have practiced for centuries. We ask for all the help you will offer us by your grace and your spirit in Jesus name. Amen. John chapter 15, verse nine, Jesus is talking with his disciples. This is the night before he is going to be betrayed. Actually, Judas is off betraying him currently, and he's talking to his disciples and he is talking to them, praying with them, and then he'll go to the cross the next day.

And he says this, this is the same passage we started this series. And this is right after he says, abide in me. I'm the vine. You're the branches. Unless you abide in me, you cannot bear any fruit. You will do nothing.

This is right after that. He says, as the father has loved me, so have I loved you. But the same love that the father has for the son, he has for us. And he says, abide in my love. Abide means dwell in, live in, rest in. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

Just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. That's again the same idea that to know the Lord and to rest in him and delight in him is to have joy. That that is the invitation. That is not begrudging submission, but that there is joy. And then he says, this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.

So I want to show you this verse 10. He said, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. Just as I've kept the father's commandments and abide in his love. And then you skip a verse. And the only reason we did that was so that it could all fit on the screen. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.

So he says, keep my commandments. And then he says, this is my commandment. Now he has other ones, but he's highlighting this one in the middle of this conversation. He's saying, if you will keep my commandments, you'll live in my love. And he says, and this is my commandment. This is it.

This is the primary one. Love one another. And so by loving one another, we practice abiding in the love of Jesus. By loving one another as he has loved us, we practice, we walk in, we participate in the love of Jesus. And for anybody who's been a part of the church for some time, you probably have seen that and felt that. That one of the ways that Jesus loves you is that his church loves you.

And one of the ways you feel loved by Christ is how his church loves you. When you're having a hard time, when you're hurting, when you're sad and people call and care and show up, you feel loved. You also maybe have noticed that when you go out of your way to love others, you feel the love of Christ. He empowers it in you. And so there's this idea that we receive the love of Jesus as we are loved by one another. And that we are a conduit for the love of Jesus as we love others.

But this idea of loving one another helps us abide, helps us live in the love of Jesus. That we were meant to belong to one another. That Jesus was rescuing and redeeming for himself a people. That the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever together. That every time you get a picture of heaven, it's people piled around the throne. It's not individuals lined up getting to see him one at a time.

It's that we belong together as a family redeemed by Jesus. That we get to belong to Jesus. That we get to interact with him and that we get to love one another and abide in his love together. I saw a tweet recently. This is such a normal practice for Christians. This idea that we would belong to one another, that we'd have real deep meaningful relationships, is one of the most normal things for Christians and one of the weirdest things for our culture.

That's why we love TV shows that display it. Love TV shows that display people who have real deep genuine friendships. Because we long for it and we are incapable of doing it well. Y'all notice that? How the shows keep the same characters for long periods of time. And how that never happens in your life.

Your life has so many spin-off shows where new characters have come in and ones have gone out. Because we have this extremely difficult time of relating to one another. I saw a tweet recently that said, Nobody ever talks about Jesus' miracle of having 12 close friends in his 30s. But it's the truth. That we're so bad at having relationships and sustaining them. We desire this.

But if you are in a community group, you are bizarre to our culture. You are. The only thing that brought y'all together is Jesus. So maybe people will kind of go, Okay, I understand. Maybe y'all are supposed to do this. But you're having deep, meaningful relationships where you're sharing life with others.

Where you're confessing sin with others. Where you are intentionally overcoming the fact that the people in your group are exceedingly annoying. And you're sticking with it. Nobody does that. It's extremely difficult. Whenever I get to preach weddings, People sometimes get to ask me to preach weddings.

And I enjoy preaching weddings. It's stressful. Because people remember the stuff you say in weddings. Not the people getting married. They don't usually remember. Because they're just freaking out.

But other people listen. They kind of remember. So I always, you know, I just get up here with some notes and talk. You know. Not at weddings. I stand with a little book.

I stand still. I read my words. Even then, sometimes I accidentally say weird things. But if I get to preach your wedding, I'm going to tell everyone you're a sinner. It's one of the things I do at weddings. I say, in this corner, we have a sinner.

And in this corner, we have a sinner. These people are terrible. I don't go that hard after it too much. I did at my brother's wedding. I was like, I can vouch. This guy's the worst.

And then I'll say, but that's okay. Sin is what destroys relationships. You won't have a destroyed relationship. You won't have a breakdown of relationship without sin. Now, you may have people move or something and they're just not close to each other. But sin is what destroys relationships.

Lack of forgiveness, pride, fear, anger, bitterness. Okay. Jesus died for sin. He reconciled us to God. Your marriage can make it. Because the one thing that can destroy your marriage has been covered by Christ.

Now, sin still gets in and causes problems, but we do have hope because Jesus paid for sin. And so Jesus invites the church into that same situation. And we can actually have long-term real relationships where we forgive, where we repent, where we confess, where we work things out, where we try to fix. We get frustrated. We hurt each other's feelings. So then we're going to have a conversation about it to straighten it out.

And we make it five times worse. And guess what? You get to have another conversation. Sometimes you have to bring a third person there to help mediate the conversation because of how difficult it is for you two to talk to each other. And somebody else there. But we get to keep doing this because we know that sin has been forgiven.

And so we can have what Jesus invited us into. And when we do, we get to abide in his love as we live in love with one another. That we're designed, the church is supposed to love one another more than we love others. You know that? We're supposed to love those in the church above the rest of the world. We're meant to put on display the love of Christ as we love one another.

My wife and I, I was an intern at a Southern Baptist church in Lawrence County, South Carolina. It was kind of a rural church. And the pastor wasn't going to be there. And he'd ask somebody else to come preach. And so I was supposed to be like that guy's handler, you know, show up, make sure he knew where to go, get him his microphone, get him his water, whatever he needed. And so my wife and I were sitting on the front row.

And my wife, when she takes sermon notes, she always takes sermon notes. And if sermon's going well, she, you know, she stays focused. Otherwise, she'll start flipping around and like planning her week and stuff. So every once in a while, I look at her and I think, I'm like, you better turn back over and start paying attention again. She looks like she's real diligent. She's not in here.

I can talk. I can say whatever I want to about her right now. But she looks like she's really diligently taking notes. When she takes sermon notes, what she always does, she'll set them up and she'll write just kind of a heading over the thing. Well, this guy was real country. He was talking about Jesus and he kept saying Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

And he was going back and forth like this. And he finally said, and on the night when Jesus died, he told us who we supposed to love everybody. But he told us who we supposed to love special. And so my wife next to me wrote out who we supposed to love special in quotations as the title of the sermon. So I looked up and I saw it and I saw who we supposed to love special on the top.

And y'all, if I can just laugh at something and get it out of the way, it's fine. But if I can't laugh at it and I'm supposed to keep it together, it is terrible. And so I'm sitting on the front row like sweating and trying to like, because I just thought it was moderately funny. But you can't, there was no time, he wasn't laughing in the sermon. So I had to try to keep it together.

But that's the reality. The church are who we supposed to love special. Who we're supposed to be intentional about having real, deep, good relationships with. That we are designed to fellowship, meaning to be around in life together. To care about one another. To know one another.

And that's why Jesus says, abide in my love. And if you obey my commandments, you will abide in my love. And this is my commandment. Don't love one another. That we're supposed to. This is why.

One of the primary reasons why. We fight so extremely hard for community groups. Because we do not have to be around each other. You don't have to. You can go to work. You can go home.

Some of you work from home. You don't even have to go to a work. You just walk over to your desk. You just pick up the phone. You can order food to your house. We say this all the time.

That you can watch friends instead of having them. Like, you don't have to be around people. Culturally, it doesn't have to happen. Used to be in agrarian societies. You had to walk places. You had to work together with the rest of the community.

Or you would starve. But you don't have to do that now. The only working together with the rest of the community is you got to pay McDonald's after you drive through the thing. Like, there's no... And so, if we aren't intentional about being around each other, it won't happen. And if we don't intentionally say, yes, after they have hurt your feelings.

Yes, after they have sinned against you. Keep at it. Keep forgiving. This won't happen. But if we are intentional about it, we get to love one another.

And in loving one another, we get to abide in the love of Jesus. We get to rest in his love. We get to know his love. Some of you know this so extremely beautifully firsthand. Because you sinned grievously against your group. You fell headlong into sin.

And then you had your group chase you down and bring you back and love you in the midst of it. And it gave you such a clear picture of what it was like to be loved by Jesus. Some of you were in pain and in need. And your group rallied around you. Some of you were the person who was chasing after someone. And you were pleading with the Lord on their behalf.

And it dawned on you that this is how he loves you. This is why we tell people who don't know Jesus to join a group. Some of you, many of you, that's your story. You joined a group before becoming a Christian. And you saw what it looked like for people to actually love each other. You joined a group and you were like, this is the weirdest group of people I've ever met.

These are the most awkward conversations. These people have nothing in common. And then there was just something about it that kept bringing you back in. And you kept seeing it. And finally it dawned on you that these people loved you. And then it made sense that Jesus could love you.

Because in the atmosphere of the church loving one another, we put on display that we belong to Jesus. And we help each other know the love of God. And we get to participate in and enjoy the love of God. This happens through big things. Matt Freeman, their community group, the Kitty Wake group. There's a lady who lives across the street from them, from Matt and Katie, where their group meets.

And her house had just gotten kind of overrun. Her yard had gotten overrun. Her husband had passed recently and had just gotten out of hand. And so their group just went across the street and had a work day and cleaned her house. The outside of it pulled down leaves, cleaned out the backyard. Before and after pictures were amazing.

Let me tell you something that happened. That lady felt loved. That group felt love for each other. That group felt the love of Jesus for someone else. And they all grew in taking one step more in walking in the love of Jesus. Jordan Surratt tried to ride a motorcycle and messed his leg up.

I mean he rode it for a little while and then it removed him. And when he was hurt, there was another couple in our church family who just said, Hey, come live with us. You can't walk? Come be at our house. I wasn't involved in that at all. All I have really ever done with that situation is make some jokes at Jordan's expense.

And seeing how the church loved one another, I was encouraged. To see that our people care about each other and love one another and welcome each other in. There have been times where groups have paid for people's bills and done all these different things when there are situations. And there are small things, phone calls and text messages and late night. We're meant to exist in relationships. One of the ways we show we love one another is we just eat meals together.

We just get around each other in all the normal, mundane, boring parts of life. We watch friends together. We watch friends together. My wife and I are not the type of people who feel, like, experience the need for other people. We don't feel it. I've met some people who, like, they have to be around other people or they, like, hurt inside.

That is not characteristic of my wife and I. We're fine, you guys. We don't, we're good. We can hang out at the house by ourselves with each other and we're fine. We can hang out at the house not with each other and we're fine. We'll be okay.

We have a low quota for it. We need a little bit of relationship stuff. We need a little bit of it and then we're, like, I'm good. Like, I was, like, I hung out with a person, like, a month ago. I'm fine. I'll do it again.

I'll do it again around Christmas or whatever and it'll be good. That's kind of how we are. Like, I've only ever really been friends with the people who had to be around me. So if I was in class with you or we played on a team, if you lived near me. One of my best friends in college was my best friend in my freshman year of college because he lived next door to me. The next year he moved to another dorm on the campus and it was not a large campus and we stopped being friends.

Because I would have been his friend but he was just so far away. That's just kind of how we are. My wife is worse than I am. And that's saying something. But she is.

She just doesn't feel this need for community. And I remember when we first started feeling like we were going to plant church and I was watching these guys who were preaching. There were these guys that I was looking up to that taught the Bible well. And I remember multiple of these pastors saying, now, they all had community groups in their church. But they would say, now, I can't be a part of a community group.

I can't be a part of one. And they had really weird, unbiblical reasons. Because there aren't good biblical reasons. They were bad reasons. But I liked the idea.

Like, I was like, wait a second. Could I just show up on Sunday and, like, yell at people and go home? If that's what a pastor does, that sounded delightful. And then I kept reading my Bible and we got really convinced that we actually are supposed to be in life with one another. Convinced. And I have been so blessed and my wife has been so blessed by the fact that we have to be in a community group and can't not be in a community group.

And that because we've led a community group for five years, we don't even get to decide when our group's about to meet whether or not we want to go. I'm glad we don't even have to have that discussion. I don't get to ask, am I feeling it tonight? Because I know the answer to that question on some nights. I just got to, like, especially when it was meeting at our house. That was the best.

It was just like, and you go and lock the door. And then it was good. And we've grown and genuinely love other people and they love us and they know us and we've confessed in and we've walked in life and we have, we are better for it. We would not have chosen this on our own. And the reason I'm confessing this, and hopefully I'm not offending everybody in my group. We realize we're wrong.

But the reason I'm confessing this is that it might be temptation for you to say yes for those people who feel that, but I'm fine without it. And no, you're not because it's a commandment. Let's obey it. We're commanded, love one another. And that takes time and that takes knowing someone and that takes service and that takes sacrifice. And if we do that, we get to abide in the love of Jesus and we get to know more fully and more tangibly and more really what the love of Jesus is.

So I want to briefly talk through three enemies of fellowship, three enemies of loving one another. They're culturally just handed to us. You just received because you live here. First one. The elevation of self. How often have we heard things like find yourself, express yourself, get in touch with yourself.

Man, I really just need a vacation because I just got to get back to. It's been a long time since I've just spent some time with me. This idea of like I have an inner child. It was the first time I'd heard my inner child speak in such a long time. It's, you know, like you had this good, beautiful little self and the world ruined it. I got, I appreciate what they're going for.

Whenever you see those things that say nobody was born a racist, they just act like you were taught how to be racist. But that's not really true. Your sin nature teaches you that kind of mess. It does. They've done studies with toddlers where they just separate themselves out from each other based off of the way they look. This, but we have this idea that if you can just find yourself, if you just know yourself, you'd just be set free from self.

I mean, from, from the rest of the world. The problem with the elevation of self is that it kills fellowship. If I walk into my community group and I am the most important person in the community group, I am going to hate my community group. Because it's filled with needy, sinner people who did not realize I was the most important person in the room. That when we elevate self, when we walk around only focused on how we're doing and how we're feeling, we, we will kill fellowship. It is an enemy of it.

The second one is the elevation of freedom. Freedom. And some of you Americans just reach for your gun. But we've elevated this idea of personal freedom. That the true good life is me with no restraints. That's why all that people talk about adulting is hard.

The idea of having, everything was better and then I had children. And they needed stuff from me. And someone else would go, yeah, they're the worst. But this idea that obligation. Anything that infringes upon my freedom is the enemy. Anything that's difficult.

Anything that's harmful to my ability to just express myself and to be free and to do whatever I want. And that you, if you really love me, will just co-sign my freedom. I watched the most recent Wreck-It Ralph movie. That was the point. I can do any weird destructive thing I want to. And if you don't just co-sign that, you're the bad guy.

You'll turn into a giant monster. So I watched little movies with my son and then I have to go, that was garbage. Wreck-It Ralph was right. He should have kept her stuck in that video game and not let her go live on the internet. Sorry, I got way too into that movie. I was mad at it.

But that's the idea. That's what we're taught. Anything that infringes upon my freedom, I should just get to do whatever I want. And let me tell you something. If that is true, you cannot have relationships. Not any good ones.

Not any ones where you aren't just some sort of a parasite. That if you're going to have actual love relationships with people, they are going to infringe on your freedom. They're going to be obligations to you. And guess what? That's really good for you. You were meant to have obligations.

I was not meant to have all the freedom in the world. I was meant to be obligated to others. That's why Paul says, owe no one anything. Freedom. Except that you love one another. Bondage.

This idea that you are to owe love to those around you. To those in your group. That's why when you choose to just not come hang out with your group because you just need some me time. When you choose when everybody's doing stuff and you don't. At times what you're actually doing is you're elevating your personal freedom over the fact that you ought to show up in love and care and sacrifice for those around you. So if you are sold out on the idea of the best, most true, real version of you is the completely free version of you.

You will not have what Jesus has invited us into here. Also, for the record, the best, true, most real version of you is a complete sinner who makes foolish decisions. So I wouldn't just trust what you found on the inside when you find it. I got in touch with myself and now I'm going to listen to my inner child. Your inner child is going to tell you some weird stuff. That is going to lead you to hell.

So you might want to repent and listen to Jesus who knows better for you. Sorry, that's why children have parents. Just throwing that out there. Your inner child needs an adult. His name is Jesus and he is great. Elevation of the pursuit of pleasure.

So along with this, the elevation itself, these are all connected. The personal freedom, the pursuit of pleasure. The idea that anything that is difficult or hard or that I don't like is the enemy. Because the goal is the pursuit of pleasure. There's a book called The Hacking of the American Mind. It was written by a doctor.

He's not a Christian as far as I know. He wrote it from the standpoint of a doctor. He was doing research on sugar and then he decided to write this book. And what he said was, there are two primary chemicals in your brain, serotonin and dopamine. Serotonin is a contentment chemical. It tells you, I'm at peace.

I've had enough. Dopamine is a reward chemical meant to overpower serotonin. And it tells you, let me have some more of that. That was amazing. That's how he studied this when he found out about, like when he was studying sugar. So here, let me give you an example.

Water. It's like serotonin. You drink it. It quenches your thirst. And you think, I have had enough of that. At some point, you're just like, I'm fine.

I don't need more water. Mountain Dew. Every time I drink Mountain Dew, I think, I would like some more Mountain Dew, please. This is why. This isn't why, but this is why. A water cup is this big and your Mountain Dew cup is this big.

You drink this much water and you're like, I'm good. You drink this much Mountain Dew and you're like, free refills are only 79 cents or whatever. But here's what happened. And this is the point he was making was that our culture, our American society is designed to run off of consumerism, meaning serotonin is bad for the economy, you guys. If you're content, we're not doing so good. GDP isn't looking so hot.

We need you running off of dopamine. We need to convince you that true happiness is dopamine happiness, meaning next thing. Fill my cup back up. Give me another one of those. Let me have the next trip. Let me have the next experience.

Let me enjoy the next thing. I got to have, I got to enjoy. This is where the addiction centers is. If they can weaponize the addiction center of your brain through pornography and the internet and advertisement and sugar or high fructose corn syrup, which is delicious, by the way. They can keep us running on this hamster wheel of pursuit of pleasure. And we have bought into the idea that that is the goal of life.

Now, he says happiness is serotonin. Pleasure is over here. We would, as Christians, we've talked through this a good bit. Sometimes what we talk about is temporary happiness and joy. A contented enjoyment of Jesus. Now, we're meant to have both.

He got, Jesus invented both serotonin and dopamine. And when he says there's pleasures at his right hand every more, forevermore, that includes things like cake. But we're not meant to just operate here where everything that is personal pleasure is the goal of life. But some of us have bought into that. And let me explain something to you. Your group, over time, becomes serotonin.

It's not dopamine. Your group helps with the normal function, the rhythm of life, that you might walk in healthiness. But it is not something that you show up and go, community group meeting time! Unless you're one of these people that really loves people, and then maybe you get some dopamine stuff out of, like, having all these conversations and stuff. But it's not.

It's one of those things that we walk in as a practice for loving one another, and it grows us. And we abide in love with one another, and love for Jesus, and we feel Jesus' love. And it is not always in this pleasure realm. If your goal is this, you will not be in a community group for very long. You will not be able to have fellowship with the body of believers as you were meant to if we bought into this. Because those are enemies of fellowship.

Because here's how fellowship works. He says, this I've commanded you. This is my commandment, verse 12. That you love one another as I have loved you. That's the key. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

There's a danger in talking about this type of love that we would immediately start saying, well, my group doesn't love me like that. I got hurt. Nobody said, come live at my house. I did this. I was sad. Nobody called me.

I said, huh, huh. And we don't realize that we flipped it around and took the command to love one another and turned it into be loved by others. We're called to love one another the way Jesus loved us. See, sometimes we walk in and we go, well, I'll love them if they love me the way they're supposed to. And we've automatically destroyed what Jesus just called us to. Because Jesus did not love you because you loved him first.

Jesus did not go to the cross to rescue all of those who were acting well. He died that he might save his enemies. And he says, love one another as I have loved you. And here's the beautiful part of this. You can't do that unless Jesus is at work in you through his spirit. That's why the church has a corner on the market of genuine fellowship.

Because you have to have Jesus at work in you for this to work. That's why the culture loves it and can't replicate it. That it always falls apart. Because sin eventually will destroy it. But it will not destroy this.

The church will exist as an eternal family forever. Because it is a group of people that have been purchased by the blood of Jesus. And made into an eternal family where love is the house they live in. Forever. And that we were meant to. When you love this way, Jesus empowers this type of love.

A sacrificial love. A self-sacrificing friendship. A self-sacrificing love is an invitation to abide in the love of Jesus. Because that is the type of love we receive from Jesus. There is no entry exam. There is no bar that we have to jump to meet Jesus.

All we have to do is come to him and admit that we can't jump any bar. That if there was any hurdle in our way, we would fall flat on our face. That we need the unearned grace from Christ. And if that's the type of love we receive from Jesus, it's the type of love we get to give to your group. So here's the question.

Are you giving them unearned grace love? Because that's what we're called into. And that's how we get to walk in the love of Christ. If you were the only person, if you were sitting here right now and pharisaically telling yourself, yeah, I'm the only person in my group who does that. Good. You're the one who's getting to walk first.

And what it looks like to abide in the love of Jesus. And you get to help others who need it, need his love dreadfully. You get to invite him into it as well. And I would argue that if you're bitterly saying that to yourself, you might be incorrect. That you may not be the person in your group who's doing that super well. But that we're invited to love one another with a self-sacrificing love.

And in so doing, the love of Jesus is alive and well in our hearts. And that there's joy that way. We know this in small ways. This idea that self-sacrificing love is genuine love and that it works on us. The best example, I think, is children. My brother and his wife go on vacation a lot.

And this past week, we watched their daughter for four days. His daughter, my niece, Oakley. And I love her more now than I did prior to this. And that is not because she was delightful. She honestly brought very little to the table. She just caused problems for four days at my house.

She made everything more difficult. Remember the story I told you earlier about how I had my son with me here last week? That was because my niece was at my house and we only have a certain number of car seats. And we had to rearrange her entire schedule. But I love her more now.

And here's why. All I did for four days was serve her. She's one, by the way. She showed up at the house. She doesn't talk. She does cry.

She doubled the amount of diapers and all that good stuff at the house. And I love her more. Because all I did was sacrifice. That's why you love your children so much. That's why in my relationship with my wife, there are times where I'm very frustrated with her. And that's because she has forgotten that I'm the most important person in the house.

And you guys, when I explain it to her, she doesn't even listen. But when I'm serving her and when I'm sacrificing for her and when I remember that true love is a self-sacrificial love and Jesus goes to work in my heart so that I can actually do that because I have to actively repent consistently the whole time. I do that because as soon as you do one self-sacrificing thing, you go, look at how amazing I am. Jesus, aren't you proud of me? And then you bring it up to your wife. Did you see how much I sacrificed for you?

Then suddenly becomes some sort of thing to get something back and it's just this weird stuff. But we, when I'm actually doing that, when I'm actually walking in that for the short period of time that we can keep it together, love grows in our home. That's the way it works. So do that. Walk in the self-sacrificial love of Christ. I want to close with this quote from Jeremiah 6.

Thus says the Lord, stand by the roads and look. Ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it and find rest for your souls. Jesus says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. He invites us to abide and we have talked through ways to do this. To read, to pray, to feast, to fast, to be in life together. Doing those things together.

To confess and sing together. And the very last line in that verse is kind of funny to me and it's super sad. But they said, we will not walk in it. There is a way for us to walk in enjoying Jesus that has been practiced by the church for thousands of years. That we might enjoy God, that we might know God, that we might love one another, that we might foster what it looks like to belong to each other and belong to Jesus. And there is a temptation for us to just go, no, I'm not going to do that.

To keep saying, I'm just too busy to read. I really just don't have time to pray. I would love to be a part of a community group, but it just doesn't work with my schedule right now. Okay, okay, you convinced me. I'll give feasting a try. But the other stuff doesn't really work.

Don't do that. Let's be a people who delight in the Lord because he is good. And let's do that together. Let's commit to one another, to love one another, and to walk it out together, what it means to enjoy Jesus. Because he is good. Matt's going to come back up.

We're going to sing as we close our time together today. And we're going to take communion, which is where we celebrate that Jesus Christ died for you. He gave, he laid down his life for you. That you might receive grace, that you might receive love, that you might be welcomed, that you might be adopted, that you might be brought in. And there is nothing that stands in the way between you and Jesus, except for your own pride. That you get to run to him, and be forgiven, and be welcomed, and be made new, and get to belong to a group of people who are actively trying to walk that out together.

So as we take communion, that is for the church, those who have repented of their sin and placed their faith in Jesus. So as we take communion in a moment, we're going to remember that we all have access to the Father through the broken body and the shed blood of Christ. In a moment, as we line up, one of the reasons we put communion in the front is so that as we're together, we would remember that we belong to each other. We want the church, your church family, to get in your way as you are trying to sing and as you are trying to finish out the rest. We want you to see them. We want you to know that we belong to each other because Jesus died, because his body was broken, because his blood was shed, because we placed faith in him.

We belong to one another. We get each other, not just him, but we get each other and that we get to walk this out together in life. So I would encourage you to, if there's something that is keeping you, maybe it's one of those three things, maybe it's some bitterness you have against somebody, maybe it's some frustrating you have that you would take a moment to repent, that you might grab someone you need to talk with and say, I'm sorry. You can go over to someone and say, I'm sorry, I'm genuinely frustrated with you and we can't work that out right now, but I just want you to know I don't want to keep being frustrated with you.

I want us to work it out. We're going to have to really talk about it. We're not going to fix it this moment, but I'm going to tell you, I'm committed to us fixing it. You can have that conversation. Someone comes and grabs you and says, I'm frustrated with you. Don't be surprised you're a sinner.

Just listen. Also, don't be surprised if the thing they're frustrated about is super weird and you didn't even realize it happened. They're a sinner too, but y'all can work it out and it can be good. So in a moment, before you take communion, if you've got some issue with somebody, if you've got some frustration with somebody, go grab them, pray together, say, Lord, we need your help so that we might love one another self-sacrificially. If some of you realize that you have just been kind of treating your group as if it existed for you and you are therefore very frustrated with your group, repent.

And then come take communion as someone whose sins have been forgiven and who gets to walk in a redeemed life. And may we walk this ancient way that we might find rest for our souls. If you are not a Christian, please do not take communion. We want you to have Jesus. We want you to know him. Repent of your sin prior to doing this.

This is for the church. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your grace. And Lord, we need it. Thank you for your love that you sacrificed yourself for us. That you lay down your life that we might belong to you.

We pray, Lord, that you would empower us as we seek to lay down our life. Not elevate our life, but lay down our life for those in our group and those in our city that we might love your church the way you love your church. That we might love one another the way you love us. We ask for your grace to do that well. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Confession

Confession

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We are continuing our Abide series. We've got two weeks left. And then we start the Gospel of Matthew.

Get excited. So we're going to be in there for a while. So we are continuing our series in Abiding where we are seeking to grow in abiding in Jesus. That we would use the ancient practices and disciplines that He's given us. We walk through abiding through His Word, through prayer, through feasting, through fasting. Today we're going to be abiding through confession.

So my wife and I, Anna, we were very different students growing up. She made lots of A's and some B's. And I made grades. They got degrees. So we learn differently.

We have different learning styles. My wife, one time, I remember in college, she called me super upset. She was upset. She was crying. She said, I'm going to fail this test. And it's going to be awful.

And, you know, I was like, well, you came the right person. If anyone knows how to fail tests and get through it, it's this guy. But I was like, it's probably fine. You know, you probably made an A or a B. And, of course, she made like a low A. And some of you were like that in school growing up.

There's a term for that. It's called annoying. But she just, she, most of our marriage is the two of us staring at something. She learns very quickly. She picks it up like that. And then I kind of sit in silence.

And then finally like, hmm. And then I figured out like, oh, I've got it. That's just, I'm a little bit slower. It takes me time. I'm in school. I had to study a whole lot.

Whether it was high school or college or seminary. I had to spend a lot of time rehearsing, reciting the same things over and over again. I just, that's how I learn. I'm a little bit slower learner. But I realized the thing a few years back.

My wife and I, we were talking. I was taking some counseling classes in seminary. And I referenced some psychology. My wife was a psych major. So I referenced some basics of psychology, some Freudian psychology, some Skinner.

And she's like, yeah, sure. I'm like, what do you mean, sure? She's like, I just don't, I don't really remember all of that. I was like, you don't remember? You were a psych major. Like, that's what you devoted your time in college to.

And I learned a thing. That she studied to pass the test. That she learns quickly. She aced the test. And that's just, and I, it took a lot longer to learn things. And I do pick up things slower in life.

But y'all, you know, as opposed to learning something quickly and having Freudian psychology is buried deep in your brain. I think I got the upper hand in life. The point is, we all learn differently. That's just a fact. We just, we learn differently. But there is some, there is some wisdom in slowly learning things and spaced repetition.

That's one of the things they've realized in neuroscience. That our brains were hardwired to, if you want to keep things in your memory, to learn it through spaced repetition. That you might be exposed to something over and over again. That it might sink deeply into our memories. And that is by God's design. That we were made to hear truth repeated over and over again.

That it might sink deep into our mind and to our soul. That we were made to slowly chisel truth. Slowly chisel the Bible that it might sink and steep deeply into our souls. That is by God's design. And Christians have understood this over the last 2,000 years. And one of the ways that they have practiced this, that we have practiced this over the last 2,000 years is through confession and creed.

Not that creed. Not the band. That we all, listen, we all love to bang on creed because it's easy. But you know all of us have that Human Clay album. Let's just be honest.

We all listen to some creed. Not that creed. This is confessions and creeds. Which are statements that are formed from the Bible. That help us stand firmly in truth. It's wisdom.

It's the gospel. It's biblical truth. It's formed that we might have a statement. Have a confession. Have a creed that guides us through faithful belief. And that's the goal.

It's the gospel summarized. We verbalize it. We rehearse it. We recite it. And it sinks deeply into our souls. So that is what we're going to take a look at today.

At this idea of confession. Repeated truths that help shape us in our walk with Jesus. And we're going to see three things as we walk through this. We're going to see why we need confessions. Why we need these. Why these are good.

Then we're going to see what confessions are. And what specifically good confessions are. And then lastly we're going to see how we practice confession. And we'll get practical. So let me pray.

And then we will jump in. God thank you so much for your word. That we get to rehearse it. We get to recite it. That we get to use it to confess the gospel. That it would radically change our hearts.

God I pray that you would help us listen today. To what you have to say. In Jesus name. Amen. Alright. So.

We've all got some background in this. Whether you have a lack of background. Or you were like me. Maybe you grew up in high church backgrounds. Where you had liturgy. And confessions.

And creeds. And some of you are like. I didn't even know that kind of church was legal in South Carolina. We just have different backgrounds. Some of you are exposed to it. Some of you enjoyed it.

It's nostalgic to even think that you would read liturgy. That you read confessional statements. Others of you regurgitated it. And you really don't like it. Some of you don't have a background at all. We all bring a little bit of bias to this subject.

So I want as best we can to remove that this morning. And see what confessions are. So. Why we need confessions. 1 John 4.15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God. God abides in him.

And he in God. John is highlighting the power of confession. That as we confess. Which is linked to belief. As we confess what we believe. That there is further abiding in Jesus.

That God abides in us. We abide in him. That they are linked. That confession. That belief. Help shape your identity.

And we need to understand that. We need to believe that. Because the reality is. Is that all of us have confessions. All of us have these internal confessional statements. That are within us.

That we've picked up. That have become our own. Sometimes those come from culture. Culture is consistently drilling things into us. And we pick up confessional statements. Culture will say things like.

You need to be your true self. You need to be how you feel that you are. You hear that over and over and over again. Until it becomes your own. You'll hear things like live your truth. Which is ridiculous.

There's no such thing as your truth. There is objective truth. But you'll hear that. Over and over again. Until you start to think the truth is more subjective. You'll hear the American dream.

That comes at us over and over and over again. That you need money. You need material things to be happy. And it slowly starts to become your own internal confession. Maybe it wasn't culture. Maybe it was mothers or fathers or friends who said things to you growing up.

Maybe you heard some form of you're not smart enough. You're dumb. And that has just been a confession in your head that you've heard over and over again. And that's what you think about yourself. Maybe you heard some form of you're not pretty enough. You're not handsome enough.

You're not tough enough. Maybe some version of you're not trying. You're not working hard enough. And that is what you hear over and over again in your head. Sometimes it comes from punk middle school students that said things to you growing up. I asked my wife permission to share this.

Sometimes I don't do this. And I regret it. But I asked specifically on this one. My wife in middle school was chubbier. And she had a middle school boy that came up to her and called her fat. And it took a sweet middle school girl and completely wrecked her.

To the point where she had to go to the doctor for weigh-ins. And would hide coins in her pockets to pass weight. Now, she's gotten past it. But there's this internal confession that is still there. That shows up every now and then. I want to find this punk middle school kid.

I think he still lives in the area. And harm him. Or forgive him. One of the two. But we have these.

We have these internal statements that come. Maybe they're from your fears. Maybe they're from your flesh. Maybe they're from the devil. Maybe you're hearing stuff like, I'm a bad mom. And you hear that over and over again.

That is how you filter your reality when it comes to raising kids. Maybe it's you'll be just like your father. You are just like your father. Maybe it's you'll always be alone. Maybe it's nobody cares about you. But we hear these.

Y'all feeling this? We hear these statements. Different versions of this. Over and over and over again. Until it becomes our own. We rehearse these confessions over and over again in our head.

Until it really becomes our own language. You don't even know where the source is. Years ago when we started. When I started. Decided that we were going to be one church together. And Chet and I started to build a friendship we did not have in college.

Because we've talked about this. We were not friends in college. We didn't like each other. But one of the things that helped bond us. Was a love for really 2000s comedies. Whether it was movies or TV or YouTube or whatever.

We started realizing that we would quote things. And the other one would pick up exactly what we were saying. And that's just something we love doing. But one of the things I've realized is. Because Chet has a much better memory than me. Is I will say things sometimes.

And he'll say oh yeah that's from that movie. Oh yeah that's from that video. And I'll go really? I completely forgot about that. Because that became so much a part of my language. Throughout that decade.

That it's. I don't even know where the source is. It becomes. It became my own language. And that happens. That we rehearse things over and over again.

Until it becomes our own language. And it sinks deep within us. Because. A few weeks ago Chet said that. The things you do. Do things to you.

And that is true. I would qualify that statement. That the things that you say. Say things back to you. And when you say it over. And over.

And over again. It starts to shape who you are. It starts to shape your belief. The Greeks had a term for this. Your ethos. It was your.

Who you are. It's what you believe. It's what drives you. That it shapes you. And let me show you how this works. We have.

Bad. Confessional. Cycles. We have these bad. Confessional cycles. Where the confession is linked to our belief.

It's what we believe. And. Our beliefs affect our actions. We operate out. Out of our beliefs. And those actions have results.

And what happens is. Is those results. Will further inform our beliefs. Into a cycle of crazy. Let me show you. I'm going to be transparent for a moment.

I want to show you one of. Two of my deep idols. And how this plays out in my own life. Two of my deep idols are. Approval. And control.

Those are two. The more I. I wade into this. And I discover more of my sin. The more I see it's linked to these two. Deep idols.

Let me show you how this cycle of crazy. Happens in my life. I have a. Pretty much a confession. That's similar to this. My values come from.

Approval of others. And I need to be in control. That's it. Like if I. At my worst. I'm looking for approval in others.

And I. I like to be in control. And this is how it fleshes. Its way out. I have. This.

This. This striving to be the best. That I want to be the best. Not. For the reason. That I.

I want to. Gain approval from others. That I want. To be in control. That I work hard. That's something that I've inherited from my dad.

My dad. He is a hard worker. He's 76. And he still will work 12 hour days. He works hard. And I've picked that up from him.

But my. Reasons for doing it. Is to gain approval. It's to. It's to. Control.

What I've got right in front of me. That what I. One of the things I'll do. Is I'll control perception. And I'll try to leave the best. Impression.

Impression in people. And it's crazy. Because what. What will happen is. Is I'll have a conversation with somebody. And I'll.

I'll say something. That was off. Or I'll say something. That. I think they took the wrong way. And here's what happens.

Is that I will. Think about it. I'll be like. Man. I should have said that differently. And then I'll invent.

This entire narrative. Over what they thought about it. What they now think of me. Where that leads to. And now how their. Whole opinion has changed of me.

It's crazy. But this is the cycle. The bad confessional cycle. Of crazy. That happens. We have these actions.

There's results from these actions. The reality is. Is that no one can ever be the best. For very long. That I. Will fail at being the best.

That my work. Is never enough. That I will strive. That I will work. That I will go for it. And it's never enough.

I always think about. Did I say the wrong thing. Am I getting the respect. And approval. That I crave. And if I don't stop right there.

If I don't stop right there. And intervene with the gospel. And say no. I have a better confession. That says. That I don't have to.

Work for other people's approval. That I'm approved in Jesus. That I don't stop with the gospel. And say no. God is sovereign. I cannot be in control.

I wasn't made to be in control. Then it will continue. And if I didn't work hard enough. I'll try harder. I'll correct my mistakes. My mistakes.

I'll look at the tape. And I'll fix it. And I'll be better. So that I can be one approved. So that I can control things.

Y'all see this. This is what we do. We have these bad. Confessional statements. That shape us. That shape us in profound ways.

That we never thought possible. If we don't intervene. With a better confession. With the gospel. The reality is. Is that we all have these internal.

Confessional statements. That we rehearse these beliefs. Over and over. And over again. And if you let. Bad views of self.

Bad views of Jesus. And bad theology. Shape you. It will take you to places. That you never thought. That you would go.

We have bad. Confessional statements. We need better ones. So. I want to look at some. Good confessions.

Confessions. And kind of where these. Source from. Where this idea really. Source is from. And the earliest confessions.

We have. The earliest. The earliest. Repeated statements. That we have. In the church.

Show up in the New Testament. I want to show you a few of them. The first one. Is from 1st Corinthians. We read it earlier. 1st Corinthians 15.

The setup is. Paul's writing to the church at Corinth. He says. Now I would remind you. Brothers of the gospel. I preach to you.

Which you received. And which you stand. And by which. You are being saved. If you hold fast to the word. I preach to you.

Unless you believe it in vain. And here it comes. For I delivered you. As of first importance. What I also received. That Christ died for our sins.

In accordance with the scriptures. That he was buried. That he was raised in the third day. In accordance with. The scriptures. That he appeared to Cephas.

Which is Peter. And the twelve. That he appeared to more than 500 brothers. At one time. Most of whom are still alive. Though some have fallen asleep.

Then he appeared to James. Then the apostles. Last of all. As the one untimely born. He appeared to me. Now.

We can look at this. And look at church history. And it. It seems like the early church. Used that statement. Over and over again.

To solidify. The truth of the gospel. To solidify the record. Of what happened. This is the truth. That is in verse one and two.

Says. They stood in. That they received. And believed. And they now stand in. And they needed them.

Because early on. In the church. There were already heresies. False teachings. That were arising. One of them.

Was Gnosticism. Gnosticism. Just generally. Is the idea. That the material world. Is in and of itself.

Bad. Therefore. The way that gets fleshed out. Is that Jesus actually. Wasn't a real person. He was just.

Spirit. And that gets. You play that logic out. And you lose the gospel. And they had statements like this. That said.

No. Jesus died. He was buried. He did reigns. He was a real. Person.

They had other statements. I'll give you one more. From 2nd Timothy. Chapter 2. Verse 11 through 13. Says this.

The saying is trustworthy. For. If we have died with him. We will also live with him. If we endure. We will also reign with him.

If we deny him. He will also deny us. If we are faithless. He remains faithful. It's almost a little bit of call and response there. That they would rehearse.

There are statements like this. Where he says. The saying is trustworthy. That we see in the New Testament. These are statements. That they would have rehearsed.

Over. And over again. They were popular sayings. That the church used. To guide them in faith. And the tradition.

Of creeds. And confessional statements. Was birthed out of the church. One of the most popular. Confessional statements. In the history of the church.

Is the apostles creed. Or the. Niocene creed. It was a creed. That was formed. In the face of one of the most destructive heresies.

In the third and fourth century. Called Arianism. Arianism was the idea. That Jesus was created. And that he was not God. So.

I know. You are like. Man. There is a lot of church history here. This is. This is a little bit nerdy.

It is. But y'all. This almost ripped the church apart. They almost stopped believing. In the trinity. That God is father.

God is son. God is holy spirit. That three in one. They almost stopped believing this. And the church came together and said. No.

We have to have a creed. That we stand in. That we have received. That will guide us. So. I want to read.

From the apostles creed. The song that we sang earlier. This I believe. Is directly based on this. So. So.

The creed says. I believe. In God the father. Maker of heaven and earth. That's. Father.

And in Jesus Christ. His only son. Our Lord. Who is conceived by the Holy Spirit. Born. Born.

Of the Virgin Mary. Suffered. Under Pontius Pilate. Was crucified. Dead. And buried.

Now. I'm ahead. I have to readjust. Because. The. The tradition I grew up in.

Added an extra statement. That wasn't. Very helpful. Y'all remember. The. The ten of you.

That have high church background. Y'all remember. Going to another church. And hearing a different. Confessional statement. A different Lord's Prayer.

And you just sat in judgment. Like. Oh. They do it wrong. Y'all know. Was crucified.

Dead. Then buried. The third day. He rose again from the dead. He descended into heaven. And he sitteth at the right hand of God.

The Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge. The quick. And the dead. Quick being living. I believe in the Holy Spirit.

The holy Catholic Church. That's little c. Catholic. Which means universal. The communion of saints. The forgiveness of sins.

The resurrection of the body. And the life everlasting. Amen. Amen. Guys. That statement.

Guided the church. For the next 1700 years. It's settled. This is who we believe in. And it has guided us. In the midst of all.

There have been other. Neo-Aryan type religions. Like Mormonism. And Jehovah's Witness. That have popped up. That deny the deity of Jesus.

And we stand at this. No. Jesus is God. We worship a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So this was important.

This helped guide the church. I'll give you one more confessional statement. This showed up. In the Protestant Reformation. In the 1500s and 1600s. It is called.

The Westminster Confession of Faith. Or it's also. A shorter version. The Westminster Shorter Catechism. Some of you are like. Catechism.

What? Is that what they bury dead people? No. That's catechomes. This is a catechism. If you're not familiar with them.

They're like. Time tables. For Christians. You know. You learn. Question.

Answer. Question. Answer. My daughter gets a little bit older. We're going to start doing some of these. To help her understand this.

But. The Westminster Confession of Faith. And Shorter Catechism. Helps shape. Not only the church. The Protestant church.

But y'all. It also shapes some of American culture. The first. Question and answer. From the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Is what is the chief end of man?

Is to glorify God. And enjoy him forever. That the glory of God. So fused. Into the Protestant church. And also fused into American culture.

So much so. That you can. I remember back in the day. I watch award shows. And you have. Like a hip hop artist.

Who came up. And the song. That he got the award for. Was absolutely horrible. But he'd say.

To God be the glory. You hear professional athletes. Whose life. Models nothing about Jesus. And they'll say. To God be the glory.

It's so infused into our culture. And this goes back. All the way. The Westminster Confession. That helped guide. The Protestant church.

Some of what we teach. In our own church. We teach about submitting. To the authority. Of scripture. That shows up.

In our membership covenant. That goes back. To the Westminster Confession. Where we get our. Our love for God's grace. Is highlighted.

In the Westminster Confession. Where we get the language. Of Jesus. As prophet. Priest. And king.

Which we've used. In our church. Goes back. To the Westminster Confession. There are confessions. Like this.

Statements. Like this. That the church rehearsed. Over and over again. Over the last 2,000 years. And I know.

I know that five of you. Got really geeked out. About this. And the rest of you. Are like. I don't know if I'm going to go home.

And google confessions. This sounds really cool. What's the point? The point is. The principle. The principle is.

Is that these confessions. Us. Rehearsing truth. Over and over again. That it might sink deep. Within our soul.

That is what guides us. That's what helps guide us. In faith. So we need to grow. In rehearsing. In reciting truth.

That it might sink. Deep within our soul. And one of the ways. We can actually do this. Is through song. Is through music.

That music. Is a type of. Confession. You see. For. Millennium.

Cultures have understood. The power of music. The Greeks. Understood the power of music. How it could influence. Culture.

They had this Greek. Mythological figure. Called Orpheus. Orpheus. Orpheus. Orpheus.

Was like a super musician. So think. As far as super musicians go. Think like. The voice of Freddie Mercury. The guitar ability of Prince.

The stage presence of Springsteen. Which I don't even like. Bruce Springsteen. But. When he plays. Born to run.

Live. It lures you in. This is. Orpheus. And in that story. He would go around.

And he'd play. Before the gods. And before. People. And. They would all be.

Emotionally influenced. He would reel them in. And that shaped. Greek. Western understanding. That music.

Has power. To influence. Now. They tapped into something. That is actually understood. They just didn't get the.

That is understood universally. They didn't understand. The back story. That God. Has given us music. He's given us.

Song. That it might. Take. Truth. And sink it. Deeply.

Into our souls. We see this in the Psalms. That God gave us the Psalms. To sing. That it might sink. The truth of.

God. And his sovereignty. And all the things. That we learn from the Psalms. Deeply. Into our soul.

Into our souls. We see it. In Colossians 3. 16. In the New Testament. It says.

Let the word of Christ. Dwell in you richly. Teaching. And admonishing one another. In all wisdom. Singing Psalms.

And hymns. And spiritual songs. That we see this ancient truth. That music. Helps us. Remember.

The gospel. It helps us. Remember truth. That from King David. All the way to. The Gettys.

And John Martin Millen. And other songwriters. That we have now. We have a long tradition. Of taking the Bible. And using songs.

To help sink. Help chisel truth. Into our souls. So. This is huge. It's huge for us to understand.

So let me address. Kind of the elephant in the room. When it comes to this. How about secular music. There is music. That was written.

Explicitly. To glorify God. God. Some people call that Christian music. And there is other music. That wasn't.

It was written for various reasons. And people will call that secular music. And people will ask. Well if music is so influential. Can you actually listen to music. That was not written.

To glorify God. Let me say. Absolutely. Yes. Secular music. Is not.

In and of itself. Evil. I love some of the music. That comes out. Of people that don't believe in Jesus. Bon Iver.

And Jason Isbell. And Chris Stapleton. Those are my people. I have some. Some. Some.

Their artistry. Is. Is. The way they understand the world. The way they even understand sin. Sometimes it's very helpful.

But we cannot be so foolish to think. That we are just a hundred percent objective. That all. We can listen to anything. And just filter it out. No.

That's not how that works. Some of you have to do the work of. Is there a thing. Are there things that I listen to. That actually don't inspire goodness. That don't inspire.

Anything that resembles good. As the Bible outlines it. There's stuff that when I became a Christian. I finally had to give up. Because it didn't inspire. Anything that was good.

It didn't inspire me to. Have a better understanding of the world. Or of God. It was just. Pagan. It was outside of.

Christianity. All together. There's other stuff that I've listened to. That's good in some seasons. And it's just. It's not in others.

That doesn't inspire goodness in certain seasons. So. We have to do the work of that. And deciding what we can and cannot listen to. This is something that made. Becoming a Christian.

In the 2000s. So. Painful. Because in the 2000s. When I became a Christian. I was like.

I guess I have to listen to Christian music now. So I went on the internet. And found the top 10. Christian songs on Christian radio. And I burned it. Right off LimeWire.

Because I wasn't yet convinced. That LimeWire was stealing music. But I listened to it. And I was like. Man. This is something.

It is cheesy. And painful. And y'all. Some of it is not family friendly. I don't care what Caleb says. Some of it is bad theology.

I would not let my kids listen to it. I do not want them to have that understanding of God. Some of it is deeply painful. So it. It took over the last decade plus. Of understanding a few things.

The first thing I understood. And when it comes to Christian music. Is that hymns. Are a gift. To the church. They are a gift.

I mean. If you just. Take some of the music aside. Just read hymns. Read it as well with our soul. Read some of these hymns.

And just look at the truth. That comes out of them. There is so much depth. And beauty. Such a profound understanding. Of the gospel.

That we see in these songs. And when they are done. For our purposes. And they are arranged. Helpfully. And beautifully.

And are true to the original version. Which. I won't get on that tangent. There are some hymns. That have been poorly redone. But the ones that we have redone.

The ones that we sing so often. In our church. I started to understand. Man. These are good. These help guide me.

In understanding. In this. Understanding of confession. Rehearsing these truths. Over and over again. So hymns.

Are a gift. That we have been given. The second thing happened. Really over the last. 10-15 years. Christian songwriters.

Have gotten better. Man. There are some really good songs. That have come out. The last 10-15 years. If you are a recent Christian.

You are blessed. Man. Songs like Death in His Grave. Songs like Made Alive. Death Was Arrested. Wonders Cross.

Like these songs. Are powerful. They are profound. They teach deep truths. And they are done. Well.

So right now. This moment. In the Western American church. We are blessed. Because we have the hymns. That some of us have rediscovered.

And modern songs. That help. Sink these truths. Deeper into our soul. That we would chisel these truths. Through music.

Through actually. Singing. So there is a different. A few different styles of confession. Saying it. Singing it.

So how do we. Make the shift. Practically as a church. How do we practice. Confession. We practice it.

Through a few different ways. The first category is personal. Confession. Personal confession. We need to go to work. On the.

First. First part. Internal. Personal confessions. That we have. Because we need better.

Internal. Confessions. We say. Often times. Confess your sin. And confess your.

Savior. Part of that. For us. Is. Understanding. That we have.

Bad. Confessional. Statements. They are not. Of the gospel. They are not.

Of Jesus. They are sinful. And we have given them. Power. So I want to walk through.

Some of this. Some of the bad confessions. That we have been carrying. How many of you. Have. Really some negative.

Image statements. That you rehearse. Over and over again. To yourself. How many of you say. I am.

I am a failure. All I do. Is. Fail. Or. Alongside that.

I am. I am a. I am a loser. How many of you. Are rehearsing. Some form of.

I am ugly. I am not beautiful. How many of you. Are rehearsing. Some form of. I am unloved.

That nobody really. Loves me. Or some version of. I am gross. Who could ever possibly. Want me.

We rehearse these. Over and over again. And we have to stop. They are not. Rooted in truth. They are not.

Rooted in the gospel. The gospel. Gives us a different. Confession. You are not a failure. In Christ.

You stand. Victoriously. You are not. Ugly. Because. Beauty is not.

Bound up. In the material. It is bound up. In the perfection. Of beauty. And God.

That we get to. Bear his fruit. That is where true. Beauty is found. That you are not. Unloved.

The God of the universe. Loved you so much. That he sent his son. To be. Slain for you. That's how much.

He loves you. That you are not. Gross. You do not bear. Shame. That shame.

Was put on. Jesus at the cross. We have to. Replace. These negative. Confession.

Statements. With a better one. We have to replace it. With the gospel. How many of you. Are believing lies.

Lies. That you hear. Over and over again. In your head. Lies. That we.

As we talk about. Deep idols. Lies. Like I need to be in control. Like I need to be. The person.

In power. The man. Or the woman. In power. That I need to be approved. By others.

To be okay. That the good life. Is found to being. Comfortable. In the comforts. Of this world.

How many of us. Are believing lies. They have to be. Replaced. With. Truth.

Y'all. And we got to rehearse this. That Jesus. Is the sovereign king. He's the one in control. He's the one in power.

That God has approval. In us. Because of what Jesus. Has done. That the comfort. That we should find.

Is not in this world. But in. Jesus. How many of us. Are believing lies. How many of us.

Are. Hearing these prophecies. Of failure. That circulate. In our head. Over and over again.

It's just projecting. Failure. You'll never get over. Your porn addiction. Now. No matter how hard.

You try. You're never going to get past it. You're always going to be. An anxious. Person. Always.

That you can't control. Your anger. You're always going to be. Angry. You're always going to push. People away.

How many of us. Are hearing these. Prophecies. Of failure. We have to step. In with.

The gospel. And preach. A better. Message. To ourselves. That we have.

Victory. Over. Sin. Because of Jesus. That we have. The hope.

Of. The gospel. That gives us. Freedom. That we're not. Slaves.

Y'all. This is what. When I counsel people. This is a lot of. What I'm trying to get at. I'm trying to get at.

These internal. Confessional statements. So much so. That I want people. To say them out loud. And oftentimes.

What I will hear is. I know this is going to sound stupid. This is going to sound silly. This is going to sound. Crazy. And I'm like.

Yes. It is. Bring it out. It is crazy. It is silly. Because it is not true.

And I know that we've. Rehearsed it so often. In our head. That we think. It is true. Because it sounds like us.

It is not of us. We've got to get it out. In the open. That we might be able to. Expose. Light to it.

And live. In a better confession. That's what we're actually going to do. In groups this week. Is we're going to get some of these. Bad confessions out.

And we're going to replace them. With the gospel. We've got to go to work. On our personal. Internal confessions. And replace them with better ones.

We also need a better. Personal. External. Confession. That we are literally. Out loud.

Rehearsing things. Over and over again. We talked about this. In the. Abiding in the bible. That we need to be growing.

In memorizing scripture. And we should do this. Out loud. That transition slide. That shows up before and after. Is still going to be there.

We're going to grow in this. As a church. That we will. Rehearse the gospel. Rehearse scripture. Out loud.

We. Need this. We need to. Grow in this. We also need to grow. In confessing Jesus.

Through evangelism. There's a lot of. Good that happens. In evangelism. In reaching the lost. But one thing that happens.

Is. Is the more that you actually. Share. Jesus. He goes to work. On your own soul.

And the gospel. Becomes more true. And it sinks. Deeper. Within you. Need a better.

Personal. Internal confession. A better. Better. Personal. External.

Confession. We also need. To grow. In corporate. Confession. For centuries.

The church. Has read. Scripture. Has read. Credal statements. Have done this.

Together. And if you grew up. Like me. In churches. That did this. Sometimes.

It was really boring. Going through. Confirmation class. With an awkward priest. Or a. Reverend.

Man. And learn. It. It was hard. So. It took years.

Down the road. Of following Jesus. To finally be a part of a church. That actually. Practice. Liturgy.

That practice. Corporate confession. That practice this. Beautifully. That did it. Worshipfully.

So that. As we try this. In our own church. As we are. Doing this. That when you see it.

On the screen. Scripture. That is meant to be read together. That we wouldn't just. Kind of. Go through the motions.

We see this. As a means. To helping us. Cement. This. Into our heart.

That we do this. Worshipfully. Proclaiming truth. Together. That we need to grow in this. In corporate confession.

And we also need to grow in this. Through song. That the people of God. Have sung songs. For. Thousands.

Of years. To help. Sink. And chisel truth. Deeply. Into us.

We need this. We need this. There is this. Theologian. From the 20th century. One of the biggest theologians.

From the 20th century. He. Was once doing. A question and answer session. And someone asked him. They said.

What was the most profound. What's the most profound. Doctrine or theology. That you've ever. Understood. And he paused for a minute.

And he said. Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible. Tells me so. And it's just like.

Man that. You learned that. We sing that. With our own kids. So that you.

If you. Had a Christian home. That you got to. Sing that as a kid. And it. Sinks.

Deep. Within us. We need this. We need to sing truth. Deeply. Into our souls.

That it might guide us. In faith. There's a song. That. Shane and Shane. They did.

An adaption of Psalm 34. And in this adaption. They. They took Psalm 34. And some of it's verbatim. Taken from.

Psalm 34. Some of it is. Is summarized. But there are moments. Where I can't. And in.

Seasons of difficulty. I can't really. Picture. The scripture that I need to hear. That I can't. Dwell on the truth.

But there's. Moments. When I can hear it sung. And when I. A few years back. Heard.

This version of Psalm 34. There are moments. When I can't think of Psalm 34. I can't quote it. But I can.

Hear it. Taste. And see. That the Lord. Is good. Oh blessed.

Is he. That hides. In him. Oh fear the Lord. Oh you saints. He'll give you everything.

He'll give you everything. That I can. Hear that. And it is a comfort. And that is because. We sing truth.

Deep into our soul. So we need to actually sing. That men. We need to actually. Sing on. Sunday.

And I know some of you are like. But I don't sing well. Listen. Take it from me. From somebody. Who does not sing well.

At all. The people who sit in front of me. Usually can attest to that. That's okay. We all. We have people that show up here.

Early on Sunday morning. And they do sound. And they do music. And what they do. Is they make sure that the music. Is loud enough.

To where your individual voice. Can't be heard. But quiet enough. To where the collective voice. Can be heard together. Y'all we need to sing.

Sing boldly. Sing joyously. That the truth of the gospel. Would. Grow deeper in us. That we would abide further in Jesus.

Through this. We need to grow in confession. And we need to replace the bad ones. Whether it's through saying it. To ourselves. Whether it's saying it out loud.

Whether it's singing it. Or saying it corporately. We've got to grow. In having a better confession. Because we have. A better savior.

And we remember that.

Good Works and Good Rest

Good Works and Good Rest

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We are continuing our series on Abide with the hope that we would grow in a church as abiding in Jesus through these ancient practices that we've walked through. We started out talking about the Bible and how the Bible is a means for us to further abide in Jesus. We talked about prayer, that prayer is a discipline that God has given us, that we might further abide in Him.

And then last week, we got to talk about fasting and feasting, that we might abstain from food to further abide in Jesus through fasting, that also we might celebrate with food, that it would help us abide in Jesus. And when we preach sermons, Chet and I, we typically have, you know, one of us is preaching, the other one's in the room. The other one kind of gives feedback. That's how we work as a team. And Chet wasn't here last week, so I asked Raz to fill in. I said, give some feedback.

And he said, well, he's like, those are two pretty opposite subjects. He's like, we talked about fasting, then we jumped into feasting. He said, it kind of felt like a rude transition. I said, first off, Raz, I was like, you should have been here for the intro. Because I felt like that might have eased the transition a little bit. But you are correct.

That's a hard switch. Let's talk about fasting and that side of it, and then also move to feasting. So I thought that we'd double down this week and we'd do it again with good works and good rest. That is how we're going to further learn how to abide in Jesus, is through walking through how God has called us to good works. And specifically by good works, I mean good works in Christ. This is not your 9 to 5.

This is not your career. We did a sermon series called The Hammer in the Hammock last year. We covered that, how you can use your career, your time in the workplace to glorify God, to grow closer to Him. This is eternally good works in Christ. This is evangelism. This is serving.

That God has called us to good works, but He's also called us to good rest. That we would rest in Sabbath, rest in Him. And that, talking about those two things and moving between the two, can feel a little bit like whiplash. As we work hard for the Lord, laboring, and also as we grow in resting. But we need both, because the reality is, is that God has prepared for us good works that we should walk in.

As we're going to see in a moment. And there is eternal weight, there's eternal significance in obeying that, and actually doing that as Christians. I was reminded of that this week. This is a week we had multiple people in our church family who lost family members, had family members who were dying. We had, even in our own group, there was someone that used to, that in the past has come and visited, is connected to one of the families in our group. And she passed away unexpectedly in her 40s.

It shocked all of us, and it reminded me of how brief this life is. Of how temporary this moment is in time. And the significance of us being as Christians, being obedient to the good works that Jesus has called us to. That we should walk in them. That we as Christians should, we should own the responsibility of burning the midnight oil on good works. Until we grow weary.

And at the same time, upholding rest. That we might rest in Jesus. Because at the end of the day, we are finite by design. And we are called to rest in the infinite. Resting in God. So we're going to walk through those two today.

We're going to try to tackle both. We will spend most of our time in good works. Because we did spend a whole sermon last year in the Hammer and Hammock series on rest. So most of our time is going to be spent in good works, which I think is a little bit like creation order. Six days of working, one day of rest. The majority of our time will be in work.

And we'll hit rest at the end. So let me pray, and then we will jump in. Father, thank you so much that you have given us good work. And you've given us good rest. And you've called us to both. God, I pray that you would help us listen this morning.

That we'd be able to be present. That you would speak to us. And that we'd leave here today and we would respond. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so.

Starting out, Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. For it is by grace that you've been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is a gift of God. Not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

If you've been around our church family long enough, this is going to sound a little bit familiar. We love grace. In our church, we talk about grace a lot. I feel like sometimes our church feels a little bit like the Cowbell SNL skit. Y'all remember that? More Cowbell?

He's got Will Ferrell and he's grabbing the Cowbell. And he's owning the Cowbell. He's owning his part in the song. And then Christopher Walken comes in. What does he say? You've got to give me more Cowbell.

And I feel like that's how we respond sometimes. Is that we'll do stuff, we'll preach sermons, and then people come up and say, Man, that was really good. Could I use a little more grace? Could I use a little more gospel? And I love it, because we've trained ourselves so well to want more grace, to want more of that aspect of the gospel. We should, because we live in a culture, a southern culture, that largely, church and understanding God, in this culture is doing a bunch of good works, that you might please God.

And we stop and we say, No, that's not the gospel. That's not the gospel of grace that we see in the Bible. Because you'll hear things like, I just need to get back in church. I need to get my life back together. And we hear that. We say, No, no, no, that's not how it works.

You don't, people will say, I just, I need to be a better person. And we say, That's not the gospel. Or my personal favorite. And by my personal favorite, I mean, I hate it. It's people will say, I got to get my church on. And I'm like, There's so many problems with that.

Outside of the fact, church is not an accessory. Outside of the fact, the church is the people of God. It's not a building. The backdrop of that statement, is that I would get my church on, in this culture, where I just got to get right with God. And we stand and we say, No, that is not the gospel. So let me be very clear.

So I don't get any Christopher Walken feedback, at the end of this. Let me be very clear. Verse 8 and 9. For by grace, you have been saved through faith. It is not your own doing. It's a gift of God.

Not a result of works. So that no one can boast. You will never earn God's favor. There is not enough good in this world, that you could do to get right with God. If you had a scale, a cosmic scale, that had on one side, all of your rebellion and sin, on the other side, all of your good works, it never is going to balance out. There is not enough good you could do, to ever get right with God.

That is the point of the gospel, that Jesus steps into our timeline, performs the perfect record for us, so that we might actually trust in Him, and not ourselves. That's the hope of the gospel. And until you understand that, you will never understand this next verse. So we lean into the truth of the gospel. We understand what it means, so we don't earn God's favor through our good works. Once we understand that, you can understand the weight of verse 10.

Verse 10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. So once you've understood how we were purchased, what it cost, once you've understood the gospel, you read this next part, we were purchased so that we would walk in good works. He says we are His workmanship. The Greek word for workmanship there is poema. That's where we get the English word for poem. And our word poem pulls from the force of that.

Poetry is the highest writing art form. It's one of the highest arts of creativity. It has a ton of force in literature. Now, that word means workmanship. It doesn't mean poem. But we can see the connections there.

What we pull from. That that word is packed with meaning. That you are His workmanship. You are a work of art. That God is crafting and molding you so that you would be a force. So that you would do the good works that He has called us to.

And He takes workmanship and then He qualifies it. Workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus for good works. That we have good works for us. And then He says, Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Which means that God in eternity pass.

And His plan of redemption also has a plan for us. That He has given us good works that we might actually walk in them. I love this passage. Ephesians 2, 1-10 is one of the best passages in the Bible. He says, You were dead in sin. He says that you were following the prince of the power of the hell.

You were following Satan. That you were enslaved to the flesh. He says, But God in His mercy and His kindness saved you because of His grace. Now comes the worship. And part of our worship is that we are His workmanship. And we've got to feel the weight of that.

Which means as Christians, those of us that have understood the gospel, we have work to do. So if you are called in Christ, you are called to good works which He has prepared for us. So, there are two basic places that we see in the New Testament. Two basic understandings of where our good works are meant for. The first sphere of kind of where our good works are meant for is the church. That God has called us.

He has good works prepared for us in the church. Meaning in the body of Christ. The second place is in the world. The lost. Those are where our good works are meant for. And we should be laser focused on these two areas.

Y'all know why Chick-fil-A is the... Every year they rank the top restaurants. They poll people. And they rank them. And Chick-fil-A is always at the top. You know why Chick-fil-A is always at the top?

Because they are laser focused on two things. Making good fried chicken. And I said fried chicken. Because that grilled chicken... Y'all seen those grilled nuggets? Y'all try those?

They are hot garbage. They were like Steve Rogers before he came to Captain America. I mean they are just... No, fried chicken. They are focused on making good fried chicken. And they are focused on good customer service.

They are going to put a 16 year old out on the hot pavement. In 100 degree heat. With an iPad. Taking your orders with a smile. That's their lanes. They are laser focused on those two things.

And we are called as the church to be laser focused in these two areas. Our good works are for the church. Our good works are for the lost. So, let's tackle that first part. That our good works are for the building up of the body of Christ. Go to 1 Corinthians 12.

Verses 4 through 7. Now there are varieties of gifts. But the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service. But the same Lord.

And there are varieties of activities. But it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. That part of being God's work. His workmanship. Is that He has left His signature and His style on you.

And that is the Holy Spirit. That all of us as Christians have the Holy Spirit. Who empowers us for a variety of gifts. For a variety of services. For a variety of activities. For the common good.

And the context of that word common good. Is specifically referring to the church. Specifically referring to Christians. In fact, most of the lists of the gifts of the Spirit. Which we will get to a little bit in a moment. Most of those are not actually meant for those outside the church.

They are meant for the building up of the body. So let me put this in perspective for us. That God in eternity past. Had a plan to rescue you. If you have trusted in Christ. He had a plan to rescue you.

The Father sent the Son. To come and die the death on the cross that we deserve. To conquer death at the resurrection. And then when Jesus ascends into heaven. He sends the Holy Spirit. To dwell in His church.

So that partly we would use the gifts that He has given us. For the common good. And for us in this context. For us here. That means this church. That God had this grand eternal plan.

That you might use your giftings. That you might leverage your time and your energy. For this church specifically. That means the people in this room. That means the people upstairs. And the kids upstairs.

That even means the people that slept in the day. That are not here. All of us. Right now. This is where. If you are a part of this church.

God has done all this. Has given you the Spirit. For the common good of this church. And we should feel the weight of that. That one of the most important aspects of your life right now. Is leveraging your gifts.

Your time. Your energy. For the benefit of the common good of this church. For one another. Now. I want to start with some basics.

Specific to our church. That if we. Do the basics. The Mill City basics. Of following Jesus for the common good in this church. You do this.

You can level up. You'll start to realize that there are. Specific giftings. That God has gifted you in. Where you can serve for the common good of this church. But I just want to highlight some.

Basics for us. And our church. And what we call. All of us as members to do. First. Be present.

Be present. In a me culture. That is bent on living your best life. On your terms. With your schedule. We actively oppose that.

And say no. It is not about you. It is not about me individually. It is about the common good. So be present.

Which means showing up. It means being here. The two most common expressions. The two ways that we do this as a church family. Is we have gatherings for worship. And we have community groups.

That we should prioritize. Being there. That we should be present. We will prioritize. We will make so many different things sacred on our schedule. We will do sporting events.

We will do hobbies. We will do TV shows. And somehow we fail to do this. To prioritize actually being present. In one another's lives. We will never grow into the church.

That we are called to be. If we don't prioritize being present. Second. Serve one another. It is a big part of our identity. In this church.

That we might serve one another. That means formally. And informally. That we have formal needs in our church. That is why this summer. We have been talking a lot about Kid City.

There is a huge need there. We need people. We need volunteers. To help run that thing. We just do. I mean it is how we have chosen.

To partner with families. To help disciple kids. Also. It makes this 80-90 minutes. Depending on who is preaching. It makes this time actually helpful.

Do you all remember when we announced. A few weeks back. That we were talking to Casey First Baptist. We had all the kids in the room. It was cute for like two minutes. And I was like.

Oh man. This is why we have Kid City. Because we have preschoolers and toddlers. That would make this really difficult. We have formal needs. And we lay them out sometimes.

We say we need help here. We also have informal needs. And y'all. This is where I love to see our church family. At work. That informally man.

People just. We serve one another. People that need cars. We are loaning out cars. People that. I mean.

They need cars. They are giving cars away to one another. That we have situations where. I don't know if you know this. We have lots of kids. And lots of families.

And I see all the time. People just serving. I watch your kids go. Go out. Go out for the night. You guys have a good night.

I mean. Just serving one another. I see it in. People throwing parties for one another. I see all kinds of informal levels of service. That happen.

That we do as a church family. I love it. It's a big part of who we are as a church. Serving one another. Third. Another basic.

Is loving one another. And this shows up in a lot of different forms. It shows up in the stories I hear. Where. Confession and repentance have happened in group. And people who have been carrying weight for years.

Are able to. Finally confess it. Fear that there might be shame. And all they get is love. They get the response of the gospel. It's in the stories I hear of people.

Gospeling another. Gospeling one another. Inside and outside. Of group. It's in the really tough conversations that we have sometimes. One of the things we talk about.

Is we don't believe in relational weirdness. If you have an issue with somebody. You go and you talk to them about it. That's the most loving thing you can do. Even though it is difficult. It shows up in a variety of ways.

That we love one another. That is one of the chief markers of the spirit. That's one of his signatures. And we believe in this church. That we would love one another. The last one.

I give you more basic. To give generously. That means for members of our church. We want you to be regularly giving to the church. Because the reality is. This is basic.

No money. No ministry. That's it. I mean we. We ain't gonna be able to do a whole lot. I mean if we.

If it took a dip. There's only two of us that are on staff. Chet's full time. I'm part time. We can make it work. Chet could open up a few firework stands.

And a Pelican stand. I could sell some more houses. And you might think. Man that's really cool. Chet owning a Pelican stand. It'd be cool for like two minutes.

Because here's the deal. Y'all think our communication is bad now. Just imagine. These are some basics. I pulled these. These are from our membership commitment.

We have members with. That commits membership. This is what we. Some of the stuff that we outline. These are the basics. And we just.

Need to respond. With good works. For the common good. With the basics. And when you do this. When you do the basics.

Of loving one another. Of serving one another. For the common good of this church. You will start to realize. That God. Has individually gifted you.

With spiritual gifts. Like we'll give you something to do. Maybe it's graphics. Maybe it's spreadsheets. I don't know. And you start to do it.

Then you realize. I think I have a gifting and administration. Which is a spiritual gift. That we see in the New Testament. And we need that. Especially Chetanah.

We need. The gift of administration. In this church. So that. We can serve. Y'all well.

For the common good. That you might. You might be serving in an area. And then. I see this. We have certain people in our church.

That serve. And serve. And give. And give. And we're sometimes. We get a little concerned.

Sometimes. Because we don't want to burn out. But some people have such a high capacity. And they enjoy doing it. That's part of these giftings. You have high capacity.

You're good at it. And you enjoy doing it. It meets in the middle. Maybe you have the gift of serving. That we see. In the New Testament.

Maybe it's leading. Where you start to lead in some areas. We give you some weight. You start to lead some more. Maybe that results in you. Leading in a community group.

There's leading. There's giving. Maybe you're very gifted. At making money. And you also have a heart. That easily gives it away.

That is another spiritual gift. In the New Testament. Maybe it's mercy. We've been trying this out recently. We've been doing some different things. Some different projects.

Where we've been partnering. Just with people in the community. Where we've been. Coming and fixing houses. That's actually going to happen again today. Maybe you pitch in.

And some of this stuff. And you realize. I actually really enjoy doing this. I am good at it. And you might have the gift. Of mercy.

Maybe it's exhortation. Which is just. That means competitive encouragement. Like you'll see people here on a Sunday. And you'll go. And you'll shake hands.

And you'll hug. And then all of a sudden. You're texting the Bible verses. And then all of a sudden. You're writing letters. To encourage.

There's a whole list of these. We see it in 1 Corinthians 12. We see it in Romans 12. And a few other places. That when you start to do. The basics.

You start to see. That the Holy Spirit. Has given you specific giftings. That you can use. For the benefit of. The common good.

And this church family. And we desperately need that. As a church. That you would leverage. Your energy. Your time.

And your giftings. For the common good. And bless us immensely. So that is the one big sphere. Of where our common. Where our good works are needed.

Is for the common good of this church. The second. Is for the world. It is for the lost. Eternity. Is on the line.

Every time that you walk out the door. And go to work. It is present. That reality. Is present. Every time.

That you have small talk. With your neighbors. It shows up. Every time. That you go to your bowling league. Or whatever it is.

That you do. For fun. Eternity. Is on the line. We were created. As Christians.

To be salt. In light. In a world. That desperately needs it. We were called. To bear.

The good news. Of the gospel. And the Holy Spirit. To people. That desperately need it. Luther.

Martin Luther. The father of the reformation. Once said that. God doesn't need your good works. But your neighbor does.

And that's true. None of these good works. Aren't for God. We made that point clear. Paul makes that point clear. In 8 and 9.

Our neighbors. Need our good works. Your neighbors. Your co-workers. Your friends. Need your good works.

And it frustrates me. That it takes weeks like this. For me personally. Where I'm reminded. That life is so short. When I'm reminded.

That eternity. Is on the line. In the everyday moments of life. To where I gotta wake up and say. I know I got bills to pay. And I know I got house projects.

And I know I got all kinds to do. The logistics of life. But every day matters. Every moment that we have with one another. It matters. Every moment we have with the loss in our community.

It matters. Because he has called us to the ministry of reconciliation. That we once walked as enemies of the cross of Christ. But because of Jesus. He calls us into fellowship with him. So that we would participate.

In taking the gospel. To those who need it. How many times. Are we going to. Go to lunch with co-workers. And never actually share the hope that we have.

How many times are we going to be at cookouts. With neighbors. Where all we do is talk about sports. But we never actually get to the gospel. I really hate that phrase. That is attributed to Francis of Assisi.

That says share the gospel. If necessary use words. Firstly I can't stand it. Because it's a fake quote. Francis of Assisi never said it. Secondly for our culture.

It's a cop out. You should love people. You should serve people. You should leverage your time. Energy. Good works for people.

But at some point. The gospel is a message. And they need to hear it. Because if they don't hear it. They won't believe it. That's Romans 10.

God has called us into this ministry of reconciliation. That we might take the message of those. Who need it. And there are people in our lives that need it. Now. I know when I say that.

I know we got moms in the room. I know what y'all are thinking. I'm assuming what you were thinking. Because I ain't going to say I know definitively. The assumption is. I've got two little minions.

That are attached to my legs. I don't have people like. I'd love to go to lunch. But I don't have that. Firstly. Impress you just a little bit.

I've seen the mom community in Columbia. It's active. And lively. With lots of opinions online. But I've seen.

There's a whole lot of moms that connect. I know there are unbelieving moms that we can connect with. But let me make the more important point. I saw. A picture. It's a little gruesome.

I'm not going to lie. But I love this picture. I love what it illustrates. That you have a mom. That has her son. And she has the Bible out.

And she is teaching him the Bible. Proverbs 22. 22. That he would never depart from his word. That he would love Jesus. That he would have one of the most boring testimonies.

Six years old. I became a Christian. I've been following Jesus ever since. My mom shared the gospel with me. I placed my faith in him. She has given him the gospel.

And she's got the shield. And the symbolism of this is. It's the shield of faith that we see in Romans 6. Shielding him from darts of the evil one. Taking some hits herself. Shielding him with faith.

That is the eternal spiritual nature. The spiritual warfare that is involved. When you raise kids. And it matters. Those children. Those children up there.

Need the gospel. And you have an essential role. To take the gospel to them. That they might actually believe. They might never depart. From faith in Jesus.

That's your mission field. Go find some moms and mom groups. All over Columbia. But right there. That's it. That's what we're aiming for.

All of us have people. All of us have people. That need the gospel. In our lives. You can be a mom. You can be a dad.

You can be single. You can be married. We have people in our spheres. That need this hope. God has called us to good works. For the benefit of one another.

And for those outside the church. That need to hear the gospel. And when you walk in these good works. That God has prepared for us. Let me tell you the beauty of what happens. That when you serve.

That when you love one another in the church. When you find your spiritual gifting. That as you are sharing the gospel. You will further abide in Jesus. Jesus. You know that feeling.

That spiritual high sometimes. That you get when you are doing the work of God. We came back from Egypt. And we were feeling it. We were also physically sick. We were feeling that.

But spiritually. This is a third world country. It got to us. But spiritually. We were riding a high. Because we were doing the good works.

That God prepared for us beforehand. You know that feeling. When you leave a group meeting night. Where everyone is sharing the gospel with one another. People are unloading years of hurt. Years of pain.

Years of sin. There is tears. There is hugging. If you are new. That is not every community group. Don't be scared.

We have a lot of fun. We mix it up. We do some good stuff. But there are some nights. Where the Holy Spirit is actively at work. You know the feeling.

When you stand in the baptism waters. And someone who six months ago said. I don't know Jesus. I don't want him. But now they are saying.

In the middle of the waters. That Jesus is Lord. You know that feeling. That is nearness to Christ. That is nearness to him. And that is the result.

Of abiding in him. When we are obedient to the good works. That he has set up for us. So I know it is hard. I know we got crazy schedules. I know it is hard.

At the end of a long work day. To get in your car. To pick something up. And to go to a group. And to hang out with people. You are tired.

I get it. I know it is hard. To get here on a Sunday morning. And serve. I understand. That we have busy lives.

But the reality is. Is God has called us. To these good works. And there are eternal things. On the line. So we should labor.

With everything that we can. As if eternity is on the line. We should go hard after that. And then at the end of the week. We should shut it down. And we should rest.

That God has called us to good works. And he has called us to good rest. That once a week. That we would pause. And we would cease. And we would stop.

And that is a shift for us sometimes. That feels like whiplash. Work. Work. Work. Good works in Christ.

Good works in Christ. Now. Rest. Last year. As we went through that. We did.

We taught on the Sabbath. And the hammer and the hammock series. I said that. That. Sabbath rest. Argued for one.

Sabbath is one day a week. Where we cease from our work. And we confess with our rest. That we are not God. And that is still true. Sometimes after a year.

We look at our sermons. And I go. Maybe I should have adjusted that. I'm standing firm on that. That is one day a week. Where you should cease from all work.

And you should rest in God. That six days. You should go for it. But there is one day. That you should actually rest in God. So if you want more.

If you want more. Behind the argument. For why we believe in a one day Sabbath. For all of that. Go back and listen to that. I want to get real practical.

With the time that we have left. I want to give you three. Three practical principles. Of rest. Matthew 11 28. Says this.

Come to me. All who labor. And are heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Jesus says to us. Come.

Come. Come to me. All you who labor. All you are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Jesus calls us in.

Into resting with him. So how do we actually go about doing that? How do you actually come to Jesus. That you might rest in him. Part of your Sabbath rest. Should go back to the first couple weeks.

Of this abide series. You need. To incorporate. The rhythms. Of word and prayer. In your Sabbath.

That when you rest. You should have the Bible. And you should also have prayer. As the first practical. Your Sabbath day. Which you should intentionally choose.

And own. You can flex it. If it's different days. If you have a crazy schedule. Like mine. But you should choose a day.

It should be the one day. Where you reserve extra time. To be in God's word. And to pray. Because the hope is. Is that after a week.

Of going forward. That you would lift up your head. And you would gaze. And look at God. And that he would fill you up. That we wouldn't escape to other things.

But we would fill ourselves. With God. And his word. It is the time for us. To recharge. And to refocus.

And we need to do it. We need to actually make that a rhythm. That we do. So go on a bike ride. Go on a bike ride. If that's something that is restful for you.

But put the Bible. On. Put your headphones on. And listen to the Bible. If you like running. Which is not restful for me.

That is the worst. I would never run for rest. But if you do. And if you enjoy running. Make it a time where you can actually pray. When you are jogging.

Say when I get to this point. I am going to be praying. Praising God for who he is. When I get to this part of the jog. I am going to pray and confess him. When I get to this next part.

I am going to pray in thanksgiving. For what he has done for me. And when I make the final turn. I got stuff I got to pray for. I got people I got to pray for. I got things that I want to see God accomplish.

Your Sabbath should be filled with word and prayer. Go to the river. Grab a Bible. Grab a journal. Make space. So that you can look up at God.

And be filled up by him. We need this. Single. Married. It doesn't matter what your life circumstance is. You need this.

I want to make one more appeal. To moms. Because you are the hardest workers we've got. Moms. You. Need.

This. Let me throw that picture back up there. It's a little over the top. You think she's got a few more arrows to take? Let me tell you something. You keep taking shots like that.

You will die. You will. You won't make it. You will spiritually collapse. Anxiety. Depression.

All of it. You. Need. Rest. Which means. Do it.

Husbands. Do it. Like get them out. Say no. I'm. You.

I got the kids. Get out. Go rest. Go grab a Bible. Go spend some time with Jesus. Get out of here.

You won't make it. You need. Rest. All of us need time with Jesus. That we would look up at him. So that we can have a sharpened axe to go to work.

And do the good works that God has called us to do. We need rest. Get it on your schedule. Figure out a time to do it. And commit to it. Actually commit to resting.

All of us should do it. I would argue even our kids need this. That our kids need to learn this. Do we actually teach? Are we actually teaching our kids the importance of resting. And specifically resting with word and prayer.

Because y'all we will stack their schedules to the ceiling. Activities. School. Sports. Music. The works.

All good things. But do we actually ever teach them to stop. And to rest. And to be before your Lord. And to grab a Bible. And to pray.

Do we actually do that? Because here's the deal. A whole generation of kids. They know how to escape. Because they'll work. They'll do.

They'll do. They'll do. There's a reason why Fortnite and Instagram and all of that consumes them. It is a place for them to escape. And it is because we have a whole generation of people. That never actually learned how to rest.

Our kids need it. This whole. Everyone in our church. All of us Christians. We need to take time for word and prayer. In our Sabbath.

The second practical. Is that place matters. Where you rest. Matters. I want to look at Mark 6. Verses 30 through 32.

It says this. The apostles returned to Jesus. And told him all that they had done and taught. So they've been out there. Doing the work that Jesus sent them out to do. And he said to them.

Come away by yourselves to a desolate place. And rest a while. He sees the work. I mean he says. For many of them were coming and going. They had no leisure even to eat.

I mean that's how hard that they were working. They were skipping meals. And Jesus says stop. Come to a desolate place. Verse 32. It says.

And they went away in the boat. To a desolate place by themselves. Get in the boat. We're going. There's probably. There's crowds following them.

Get in the boat. We got to go. We got to go to a desolate place. Because place. Matters. Where you rest matters.

Jesus models this. You see throughout his ministry. Over and over again. That he breaks away from the disciples. He breaks away from the crowds. And he finds a desolate place.

And he rests. Before God. He has fellowship with the Father. There's a reason why I look at moms. And I say get out. Because you can't rest at home.

As soon as the kids see you. They're going to come after you. Just like. They get you. Sink their claws into you. So you got to get out.

That's why I say. Go to a coffee shop. Find a desolate place. For you. And rest. That for all of us.

That's different. Maybe you can rest at home. Maybe you can carve out a place. Maybe you need to go to the river. Maybe you need to go to. Wherever it is.

That's where we need to study. And figure out ourselves. Is there a desolate place for you. That you could regularly. Break away from. That you could actually.

Look at Jesus. And his word and prayer. Without distraction. Which means. When you get there. Put away your phone.

Our phones distract us. From the vertical gaze. That we should have in God. Find a desolate place. Third. Incorporate some restful activities.

Into your Sabbath. We talked about this. Last year. That if you. If you work with your hands. Maybe you're a blue collar worker.

If you work with your hands. Rest with your mind. So if you are. If you work with your hands. Maybe you need to. Read some books.

Some Christian books. Maybe. You need to read some fiction. But you need to rest with your mind. Incorporate some activities. If you work with your mind.

If you do analytics. If you work on a computer. If you work with your mind. Maybe you need to build a thing. Maybe you need to do some pottery. Maybe you need to actually engage.

In some activities. That help you. Rest. But you got to. You got to study yourself. You got to figure out.

And incorporate some restful activities. And one of the activities. That we absolutely should do. All of us. Is that we should. At some level.

Just stop. We should cease. When is the last time. That you took 30 minutes. That just. Nothing.

Like you sat in a chair. You didn't even have a. You didn't have a phone. You didn't even have a Bible. You just sat. And you listened.

To what God had to say. When is the last time. You took 15 minutes. To just sit. And be. All of us.

Should at some level. In different parts of our Sabbath. Should cease. And just be. And give some space. For the Holy Spirit.

To speak. That we might listen. And some of you. Are like. Man. I sit and do nothing.

All the time. It's like. Cool. Go grab a kayak. Like you. You might need to do some things.

I don't know. You need to figure that out. For yourself. But we need to be people. That use our Sabbath. To gaze at God.

Through word and prayer. We need to find. Desolate places. In our lives. And we need to incorporate. Some restful activities.

Because here's the reality. I want you to hear this. We are a busy people. That is drunk. Off of our own busyness. It's like a martyr mentality.

It's like. Who can be. I'm busy. I'm doing this. I'm doing that. It's like how we show.

It's like a red badge of courage. We are drunk. Off of our own busyness. And God is saying. Stop. Look.

Look. Stop. Be. Rest. I get it. This balance is difficult.

I understand. That being someone. Who labors. And labors. For the kingdom. Labors.

And labors. For people in the church. Labors. And labors. For those lost. And then stops.

And just bees. Just bees. Just be. There we go. And ceases. And looks at God.

I understand. That both of those. That's a difficult balance. I get it. But God calls us.

To consistently uphold. Both. We need. Both. And if you start to grow in this. It's going to feel like whiplash.

I'm doing. I'm doing. I'm doing. Oh no. I need to rest. It'll take some time.

I mean. The ideal. I'll think of this from my own life. There's an ideal balance. That. And I just.

I look at older. Wiser believers. That have done this. That for six days. They got a hand on the plow. And they are laboring.

And they are laboring. And they're working. And they're laboring. And they drop the plow. And they stop. And they cease.

And they rest. And I see that. I'm like. I want that. I want my life. To be that.

That is. That is the perfect ideal. But I also know the reality. That is the perfect ideal. I'm never actually going to achieve that. I'm never actually going to model that perfectly.

And that brings us back. To what all this is built on. It's the whole point of the gospel. The reality is. Is that we will never do this. You will never be a perfect workmanship.

You will never. Never model. Perfect works. You are never going to model. Perfect rest. The good news of the gospel.

Is that somebody came. And he did it. That he modeled perfect work. That he modeled perfect rest. So that we wouldn't have to earn God's favor.

So that we could trust in the work that he did for us. Trust in the rest that he did for us. So that we could trust. We could trust in the hope of Christ. And rest in his grace. And out of that.

Look at the model that we have. And say. No. I want to continue to grow in this. I want to continue to strive. To be a man.

To be a woman. That seeks to be a workmanship. That is a force in our church. That is a force in this world. And to be someone who rests. That is a balance worth striving for.

Let us strive to have a life. Where we are a workmanship. That glorifies God with our good works. Let us strive to be Christians. That strive to enter good rest. Let's do this.

Let's model this. Let's walk this out for the rest of our lives. Knowing that one day. A time is going to come. Where because of our faith in Jesus. He will call us into eternal rest.

And in that eternal rest. There will be no striving. There will be no more work. We will simply just dwell. And enjoy him. Matt is going to come up.

He is going to lead us in a song.

Fasting & Feasting

Fasting & Feasting

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We're going to be bouncing around a little bit today. We typically have A-text that we're kind of walking through. That's different.

We're going to be walking through what it looks like to continue to abide in Jesus. And two of those ways is fasting and feasting. So open up a Bible or follow along on the screen. We're bouncing around. So one of my favorite genres of TV shows or movies are shows or movies that highlight the president.

I think politics in general is fascinating to me, but also the life of the president. It's very entertaining. I enjoy watching it. Shows like West Wing, which is one of, I would argue, one of the better shows out there. Shows like Designated Survivor that we just went through, which was really good for two seasons, and then Netflix got and ruined it. But it fascinates me specifically to follow the schedule of the president.

He is a busy man. And all these are kind of based loosely on reality, on the schedule of the president. And in these shows, the president can wake up to like an international crisis, and they immediately have to enter the situation room, and they have to make life and death decisions that are super serious, that are going to affect all kinds of things across the world. And they make that decision, and then they go to like a celebration of like pardoning the turkey, or some type of ceremony like that, signing of something that's kind of lighthearted. And they leave that meeting, they go to another meeting where they're debating fiercely over different policies, trying to get the government to be run, and it's just, that gets really intense.

And then they have all these meetings. At the end of the day, they'll have this big dinner party where they have politicians and people from all over the world that come, and it's this festive, joyous occasion with food and drink, and that's a day. And then they do it all again. And it fascinates me how, it's remarkable how you can move between both seriousness and joy like that. The president has serious things he needs to address, and also joyous things that are worth celebrating. That's what it means to run a country.

You have serious things to deal with, but there's also things worth celebrating. And you kind of look at his life, you kind of look at how the day-to-day goes. It's like, how does he do this every day? And the reason is, is because he's the president. He serves a higher calling. He serves a higher office.

He serves our country. How much more, as we as Christians, that live with an eternal hope and an eternal kingdom, how much more should we be able to move between the extremes of both seriousness and joy? That's what we're going to take a look at today. We're going to take a look at this, how we can move between mourning and celebrating, laughing and crying, as the book of Ecclesiastes says. There's a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. How we move between seriousness and joy.

And we really are modeling our Savior, that our Savior, I mean, think of Jesus. He fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. For 40 days, and also, he knew how to feast. That he knew how to celebrate. That his first miracle was keeping the party going at the wedding of Cana, turning water to wine. He knew how to fast, and he also knew how to feast.

And that is what we're going to walk through today. That if we can grow in these two gifts that God has given us, that if we can grow in these, we can further abide in Jesus. All right, so let me pray, and then we will jump into this. Father, thank you that you have given us an example in Christ. That you have given us an example in your word that calls us to seriousness, that calls us to joy, that calls us from fasting into feasting. God, I pray that you would speak to us this morning, that you would teach us, and that we would respond.

In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so we're going to cover fasting first. There is a time for fasting. Fasting is kind of a simple subject, and it's also very complicated. I mean, the general idea is agreed upon, it's abstaining from food, but it's also complicated. I think it's further complicated with pop culture, because I feel like the last decade, fasting has become some type of fad.

Like, you can do a juice fast, which is drinking sugar, and it's supposed to be healthy for you, and that's all you would drink. They have the Daniel fast, which has been a pretty popular one nowadays. It's loosely based on the book of Daniel. Chris Pratt did it. And Matt Freeman looks like Chris Pratt, so it might have some merit. I don't know.

I've never done the Daniel fast. But there are all kinds of fasts out there that pop culture is putting out there, and it can be a little bit confusing. So I want to take a step away from kind of pop culture fasting and ask, what is a biblical fast? What is the goal? Where is it in the Bible? Why should we practice it?

I want to walk through that and give you an overview of fasting. So traditionally, fasting is abstaining from food that you might draw near to God for a few different reasons. We see a lot of those outlined in the Old Testament. The Old Testament gives us a picture of a lot of different reasons that you would fast. There were private fasts that you would do by yourself, and there are corporate fasts that the people of God would do together. And there's some overlap in the reasons why you would do one or the other.

Let's take a look at the private fast first. The first thing we see in private fasting in the Old Testament is you would do it for reasons of repentance. That you had real sin that you needed to address, and that you would fast as a means for helping you repent of sin. We see this in the book of Judges, chapter 20. We see it in 1 Kings 21. We see it in Psalm 69.

We see this over and over again. The people of God individually would fast in order that they might repent of sin. We see another reason for private fasting is mourning. That if you experienced loss, whether it was death or loss of something, we see that individually you would use fasting as a means to help you mourn. That fasting was connected with grieving. Those two are connected in the Bible.

We see that clearly in Nehemiah 1. Another reason that you would individually fast is you would seek God's counsel. That you would come to God looking for wisdom, seeking counsel. We see this in Psalm 35. We also see it in Daniel 9. That there are individual reasons why you would fast that you might draw close to God.

We also see reasons for public fasting. So the nation of God would come together to fast. One of the reasons they would do this is for protection. There were outside enemies looking to destroy Israel. And they would come together and they would fast. We see this in Judges 20, 1 Samuel 14, Joel 1, Esther 4, Ezra 8.

They did this a lot in the Old Testament. They'd come together and they would fast. We did something similar to this about a month and a half ago. About a month and a half ago we realized that our church was getting punched in the face. Over and over again we saw all these situations come up and we said we need to pause. And we chose a day where those who could join us fasted collectively, came together at the end and prayed together.

That's based off of what they would do in the Old Testament, praying for protection. We also see corporate repentance with the people of God in the Old Testament. In 1 Samuel 7 and in Jonah 3, they would come together realizing that they had sinned and they would repent together. And they would use fasting as a means to help them repent. We also see evidence for collective mourning, that the nation of God would collectively together mourn. And they would use fasting to do this.

We see this in 1 Samuel 31 and in 2 Samuel 1. Now, what is the common thread that runs through each of those? Repentance, mourning, seeking God's wisdom and counsel. What is a common thread we see that runs through them? It's neediness. That each of these come from a position of need.

It's God's people saying we are in need and we're going to fast in order to lean in to God. Now, that's the Old Testament. You flip to the New Testament and it gets a little bit complicated. Because most of the references in the New Testament of fasting are in kind of a negative context. It's a lot of Jesus addressing really the heart behind fasting that was used at the time that was done very poorly. You see, fasting for people in the time of Jesus was used for really self-righteous, outwardly pious, look-at-me reasons.

We see the most clear teaching of that in Matthew 6. I'll read this from verse 16. It says, So it was common at the time that some of the religious leaders, that then they would fast. They would take ash and kind of a makeup and they would paint their face up a little bit. That's what he says by disfigure their faces. And they go out and they demonstrate in the streets, look at me.

I'm fasting. How holy, how pious are we? And Jesus cuts through and says, That is not the goal of fasting, that you would outwardly show everyone else that you are holy. And Jesus absolutely cut through that. The other negative kind of context we see it in is that the Pharisees come to Jesus and they say, Why don't you fast like John's disciples? John's disciples are fasting and you guys are feasting.

What's going on here? And Jesus has to address it and he makes the point that there will be a time for fasting. But the bridegroom is with the bride. And he has to cut through that. Here's another time where a guy comes up to demonstrate. And he's coming up to ask, How do you get into the kingdom of God?

And he says, I follow the commandments. I fast twice a week. Which in Second Temple Judaism, the time of Jesus, is something that was common, that you would fast twice a week. And Jesus cuts through that to the heart as well. But over and over again, he's addressing the heart behind fasting.

He's not looking to give us a how-to manual for how to do it, which is so badly what I want. No, he wants to make sure we have the right heart. All right, so what is the point of fasting if it's still a thing? Which, spoiler alert, it is. That's why we're talking about it today. If we still are called to fast, what's the point?

So let me give an even more clear definition for what, for we as Christians, what fasting is. It is the foregoing of something like food that it might intensify our neediness, our dependence on God. The foregoing of something like food that it would intensify our need and our dependence on God. I left that open a little bit because there, people have the question, can't you fast for other things? Can't you fast for technology? I'll get to that.

But primarily, it is food. That is what fasting is getting at, that you would forego food, it would intensify your dependence on God. So I want to go back to Matthew 6 because Jesus, he's attacking the heart behind fasting. But then we catch something. He says, And when you fast, and when you fast, Jesus is teaching the disciples, he's teaching the followers. This is a teaching for the church.

And the expectation is not if you will fast, it is when you fast. So Jesus expects his followers, he expects Christians to fast. So if that is the expectation, I want to walk through some reasons why. Why it is actually good for us to fast. Because I think we need a little bit of convincing as American Christians. The first reason you should fast is because we are needy people.

We are needy. And if you just thought quietly, I'm not needy. I'm self-sufficient. Especially you. You just don't see your pride in it. We are needy people.

We have different needs. And what happens is, when the stresses of life come at us, as we talked about a little bit in the Idol series, we are going to fill those needs. We are going to look to something. And I would argue that oftentimes, food is something that we will look to. I mean, think about it just practically. Right?

What happens when someone dies in the South? You get a stocked fridge. You get all kinds of food. When someone dies down here, there are all kinds of dishes that are going to end up, now we are sophisticated, we have a meal train that you set up online, you are going to be fed. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. It is really nice for someone to think, hey, you are going to be kind of mourning and grieving over the next few weeks.

Let's not worry about food. We are going to make some food for you. That is not necessarily a bad response. But what are the dishes that typically show up at a funeral, that show up after someone dies? They are comfort dishes. They are literally, it is literally called comfort food.

It is meant to comfort you. That is our go-to. You might be comforted by food. And like I said, I do not think it is wrong in and of itself to actually have food that you would eat. I just think that we need to expand our categories of grieving and mourning. That maybe, just maybe, the pattern that is established in the Bible sees some merit in the fact that we might actually abstain from food for a given time, that we might lean into God and depend on Him.

This shows up in different sin patterns for different people, that we run to things in the midst of sin, that we run to things. It could be a lot of things, but I would argue oftentimes in the midst of stress, in the midst of anxiety, in the midst of different trials, a go-to for a lot of people is to eat, to go out of the freezer, to get the ice cream tub and a spoon because you don't need a bowl, and to go for it. It is what we do. And especially as Americans, we are so obsessed with food. This is our go-to. But our neediness needs to be driven towards Jesus.

It brings me to my second point of why fasting is a good thing. It helps us see that Jesus is better than food. Jesus is called the bread of life. He actually is better than food, and we need to understand that as an American-obsessed culture with food. I don't Instagram. It's just, it's not my thing.

But I get the general gist. It's a lot of food photos. And it's reflective of our culture, that we love food so much. There are food blogs. There's literally a food channel. And I think there's a lot of good that comes out of some of it.

But also I think it highlights we are obsessed with food, and fasting helps us see, no, no, no, no, no, Jesus actually is better. That he is better than food. And we need that as people that really are obsessed with it. I remember my, I remember the first time I ever fasted. I had, I became a Christian when I was 17. When I, going my senior year, I heard a teaching on fasting.

And I was like, man, that's awesome. I'm going to do it. So I went for it. And I went for the full 24 hours. I went from lunchtime to lunchtime, which I'll get to in a minute, why you practically shouldn't start there. But I went for it.

I went for the full day fast. And it was miserable. It was awful. All I could think about was food. What I was not having, when the hunger pains hit, I just, all I could think about is, man, how awful is this? I just want to eat.

And it's because we've been so trained in our minds that food is something, it's a literal need that we need, but it's also something culturally that we obsess over. And we need fasting as a means to step in and say, no, no, no, no. Jesus actually is better than food. I mean, the third reason, I think this is the most important reason why fasting is a good thing for us. It strengthens prayer. It strengthens prayer.

That is the, that's why Jesus, when he's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, there's a reason why, in the middle part of Matthew 6, he starts teaching on prayer, which we walked through last week. And then right after that is fasting. They're linked. Prayer and fasting are linked together. Fasting is a means that strengthens our prayers that we might depend on Jesus. It makes us, fasting literally makes you vulnerable.

It weakens you. That you might depend on something, and we would say, no, no, depend on Jesus and your fasting that really practically, when the hunger pains hit your stomach and you feel that twinge, the goal is, is that we shift our minds to Jesus. That as we seek to be a people who walk in continual prayer as Christians, that's the ideal for all of us, that we would be in a continual posture and position of prayer, that fasting would help strengthen that as a really strong reminder from the gut that says, no, no, no, no. My dependence is on Jesus. It's a tool. Fasting is a tool that might strengthen our prayers.

Now let me clearly say this, because I know this has been, I've heard this has been taught incorrectly in other places. It is not a tool to get what you want. You know, sometimes the understanding is, if you fast, if I do this, if I'm willing to give up food, and I'm willing to be devoting to you, Lord, and fasting, would you give me this job? Would you give me this thing? Then, which asking for things from God, that's encouraged in the Bible, that we would bring our prayers to God, asking things of Him, but it's not a tool to get what you want. My daughter will do this.

She'll come to me sometimes, and she'll say, Daddy, I love you. I'll go, Baby, God, that's so sweet. And then she'll say, can I have a popsicle? Can I watch a show? And it's like, oh, that wasn't sweet, that was manipulative. Like that?

Some people think, if you just fast, just butter God up a little bit, He's going to give you what you want. That's not the goal. The goal is ultimately, we walked through last week, in Matthew 6, in prayer, the aligning of our will and God's will. Your kingdom come, your will be done. The hope is, is that in our fasting, we would say, God, here are the things, here are my burdens, here's what I'm asking for, may your will be done. That's the hope, as we depend on Jesus in prayer.

One of the ways this is beautifully displayed, in the New Testament, is in the book of Acts, in chapter 13. The church at Antioch, is coming together, in verse 2 and 3, and it says this, while they were worshipping the Lord, and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas, and Saul, for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting, and praying, they laid their hands on them, and sent them off. This is a profound moment, in the history of the church. The church of Antioch, wanted to seek God, they wanted to seek His wisdom, they prayed, they fasted, the Holy Spirit speaks, and says, Paul, Barnabas, set them aside, we're going to send them off, and the world was never the same.

It started the global missions movement, it's the reason why everybody is in this room today, because they responded, by praying, and fasted, and God sent them out. It's one of the coolest things, we see in the New Testament, as it's related to fasting, that we might depend on God, and we might hear Him, speak, and respond. So Jesus expects His people to fast, we glean from the reasons of the Old Testament, that we see outlined, we want to make sure that our heart, is in the right place, and once we're bought in, how do we actually practically do it? Let me give you, six kind of practicals, if you've never done fasting, if you're not familiar with fasting, six practicals, that will help us understand, how to actually do this.

My first practical, is to start small. Start small. Maybe just start by skipping lunch. If you've never done this, skip lunch. Fast through lunch. And then later, you can graduate on to bigger fast.

Like the most regular kind of fast, in the time of Jesus, was from evening to evening. That was how Jewish days worked, that they would fast from one evening, to the next. So you can start small, and then graduate to bigger fast, and if you want to go more, there's more stuff out there, that will help you understand, even bigger fast. But start small. And it's okay. For the majority of fast, it was okay to drink water.

So drink water. If you want to drink Gatorade, that's fine. I would even say, a little bit of coffee, is fine. Take your medicine, because here's the deal. The goal is not deprivation. The goal is dependence.

That's the hope. That we would depend on Jesus, by depriving ourselves from food, that we might lean into Him. So start small. Second, be wise. If you are hypoglycemic, or as I said earlier this week, when I was walking through the chat, I said hypoallergenic, and he just smiled, and I was like, why are you laughing? I don't.

Hypoglycemic. If you have some type of dietary restriction like that, be wise. You might need to start small, and you might need to stay small. I don't know. Maybe you do this, and God kind of expands your physical ability to be able to do this. I don't know.

But be wise as you approach this. Third, fast to focus. The goal is that you would focus on Jesus, not other things. And specifically, I want to highlight, not your phone. Our go-to when we're in need, in crisis, our go-to when we're hungry, our go-to in a lot of things is to pick up our phone and to go through it. I want to show you this picture.

It's from the Boston Globe. It's kind of become a, really an indictment on our culture. You've probably seen this. It's circulated a lot on the internet. You've got a bunch of people that aren't in the moment. They just got phones out.

They're just trying to absorb what's right in front of them through their screens. I also love this because people say millennials, we're the worst generation. And we might be. There's a lot of evidence. But how many Gen Xers do you see up there?

We're all bringing society down. But look closely at Grandma. She, y'all, she's just enjoying the moment. She's just leaning in. She's enjoying what's right in front of her. And I used to think, man, what a profound photo.

I wonder what she's actually enjoying. And I finally found out it was Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp's walking by. Everyone's got their phones up. Grandma's just like, Johnny Depp. I'm going to lean in.

I'm going to focus and enjoy you. And it's like, oh, that kind of takes away from it a little bit. But you get the point. The goal is that we focus on, we so delight in Jesus, we just lean in and we focus on Him. That's the goal in fasting. The dependence, that focus, and be driven towards Jesus.

We fast to focus. Fourth, be consistent. Be consistent. This is where I often fail. When I read about fasting, when it shows up in the Bible that I'm reading, I'm like, cool, I should do that. And I'll do it.

But it's not a consistent part of my walk. It's not something that I actually plan to do. It's not something that I make a fixture in my schedule. And that's a value statement. Because I'll make time for the Word. I'll make time for prayer.

Those disciplines that help me abide, I'll do those. But I'm not actually going to make sure that on a regular basis, I'm coming before the Lord in fasting. And my guess is is that many of you probably fall into the same boat. That it's like a special circumstances type of thing that you, like if we're in life crisis mode, which is fine, I think the Bible upholds a different principle that we might actually be consistent in this. So if you're like me and it hasn't been a consistent part of your walk with Jesus, repent.

Change. Join me. I'm looking at this as I'm preparing. I'm like, man, I need to change. I need to grow and be more consistent in my fasting. Fifth, check your heart, but don't be weird.

All right, so do what Jesus says and check your heart. Don't be like, I'm going to fast all day on the day of group. And you show up to group and they're like, oh, did you bring your sign? No, because I'm fasting. And it's like, okay, we're down a sign. And we're doing accountability night.

This is going to come up. Like, don't, so check your heart. Obey what Jesus teaches. Don't be outward about it. But don't be weird.

Y'all, if you're going to fast, tell your spouse, like, don't show up to dinner and she's like, he or she's like, it's time to eat. I say, no, I'm good. What do you mean you're good? I just spent an hour with two kids hanging on my legs making a meal. What do you mean you're good? I say, no, I'm just, I can't eat tonight.

And it just gets weird where it's just like, people, she's trying to find out. Like, what, what's going on? It's like, well, I'm, just say, I'm fasting. Just communicate, obey the principle, but don't be weird about it. If you have friends that say, hey, let's go out to lunch, just say, no, I'm good. I'm good.

And if they like interrogate you, finally just say, dude, chill, I'm fasting. Obey the principle, just don't be weird about it. Six, the last thing. what about other forms of fasting? Can you fast from Facebook? Can you fast from phones? Can you fast from TV?

Sure. I think there's some, I think that's actually a very good thing. I think it would be good for you to actually take a step away from technology that so absorbs our attention and our affection to say, no, I want to focus on Jesus. I'd say absolutely go for it. I would not say supplement that for actual food fasting. I'd say do both because both have a need and there's something really good about this biblical principle of fasting from food on a daily, on a daily level when you're doing it that helps you depend on Jesus.

So don't give up the OG food fast. Stick with it. All right. The Bible upholds fasting as a good. It is a good thing for us to do and we should do it. And I get it.

It is going to be difficult. We're so trained as Americans to avoid suffering of any form. It's just like we want to take the path of least resistance. We don't want to suffer. We don't want to give up anything that remotely would seem like we're giving up food. We're just so trained in that.

It seems counterintuitive that we would suffer in order that we might draw near to Jesus, but we live under the eternal wisdom of a king who says, no, no, no, no. This is good. Do this when you fast. So let's do this. Let's be obedient.

Let's not just say, oh, that was a good thing I learned today. Let's actually incorporate it into our walks with Jesus because the reality is is we got real things we need to fast for. That we are wrestling with real sin. And yes, we do all the things of confession, repentance, of walking the light that we should do, but maybe, just maybe, every once in a while we need to pause and say, no, I won't do fast. That God might help free me from this sin that so wants to enslave me. That in the midst of mourning, in the midst of loss, that we might, yes, eat the food that people have brought us.

But we might also just pause and say, maybe, just maybe, the Old Testament has something to say about mourning and fasting. The two are linked and that I want to do this and that I might need to bring other people from my group into this that we might mourn together. We got things to fast for when it comes to guidance. Right now, we have some big decisions ahead of us as a church trying to figure out that this Casey First Baptist thing is a thing that we need to pursue. This is the time for fasting. Some of y'all have got decisions you've got to make coming up.

It is a time for fasting. Let's actually see this as the good that it is even when it doesn't feel right. Lean into it and make it a practice that we do. It will help you abide in Jesus. We are called to fast. But the flip side of that coin is we are also called to feast.

There is a time for feasting. In the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in the C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia series, there is a picture in it that shows that feasting is an act of war against the enemy. It is an act of war against Satan. When the children arrive into Narnia, it signals the return of Aslan who is the lion. He is a Jesus type figure in this allegorical story.

And they come into the land and good things joy starts to come back in. There is a witch, the White Witch, who rules over Narnia with her long winter and her evil reign. She is a Satan type figure. And when the kids come in, it is the signal that Aslan is coming back, that joy is coming back. And one of the parts of the story that really helpfully shows this is the White Witch stumbles upon this Christmas feast because part of the joys of returning is that Father Christmas, who is a Santa type figure, that Father Christmas is coming back and that it is a joyous thing to celebrate. So she stumbles upon the White Witch, she stumbles upon this feast these creatures in Narnia are having, this Christmas feast and she is enraged.

She looks at him and she says, Speak, vermin. What is the meaning of all this gluttony, this waste, this self-indulgence? Sounds so much like the Pharisees. They confess and they say, Father Christmas has come back. This is a Christmas feast. And she turns them to stone.

And it is such a picture of how feasting is actually an act of war because we as Christians have things to celebrate. We have an eternal joy that is worth celebrating and when the enemy sees this, he sees our joy, he hates it. He hates the things that he'll never experience, that he'll never know, that he'll never enjoy, that when we feast, we declare we have things worth feasting for, that we can look back to the cross and the resurrection and we can point back to past things that we feast for that are worth celebrating, that we can look at this moment right now and the good gifts that God has given us and we can feast, that we also know that our feasting points forward to something later. I want to walk through these three principles of feasting, feasting in the past, feasting in the present, feasting in the future.

The first is we feast to celebrate the past. This is what the whole Old Testament calendar was about, that they would feast and they would look back. There were all kinds of Old Testament feasts in Judaism. There was the Passover feast, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles. Their whole calendar was lined up with feasts. And the reason why is because these feasts were established by God to help them remember what He did for them, that He rescued them from Egypt, that He established them as a people in this new land that He's given them.

It was to help them remember. It was so important that they would feast that in their tithing system was basically a clause that helped them pay for it all. Go to Deuteronomy 14. It says, this in verse 23 and 26. It says, And before the Lord your God and the place that He will choose to make His name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. It says, that you may learn this, that you may remember what I have done for you.

This is to help you worship. You go to verse 26, and He says, And spend your money for whatever you desire, oxen or sheep, wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. They literally had a part of the tithing system to set aside for these feasts that they might celebrate. I don't know if you saw it, it may have made you uncomfortable to celebrate big. You just spend your money on whatever you desire, wine, strong drink, sheep, oxen, whatever your appetite craves. Now we take that into the context of the Bible, right?

The Bible says, don't get drunk on wine, the drunkenness is sin, don't be gluttonous. We take that into context, but we also take the force that comes with it to actually celebrate. Well, let me give you two kind of polar extremes of celebrating that we as Christians try to stay in the middle. You should celebrate in a way that makes the very hyper-religious people uncomfortable. It should be mildly offensive to the self-righteous. It just should.

I mean, and if you do this, you're in good company, so is Jesus. He was called a gluttony drunkard. So you should celebrate in a way that actually offends the self-righteous, but it should look different than the world. That our feasting is feasting not for the substances, but feasting for the substance who is Christ. That we might actually in our feasting declare we have joyous thing, we have a joyous God to celebrate, and yes, we're going to celebrate well, but it's not going to look like a frat party. That people should look at Christians and say, man, they are joyous.

It is different. And I would like to know more about why they celebrate the way that they do. That's just some practical wisdom on how to feast and to feast well, but we should feast as Christians to remember, to look at the past.

Prayer

Prayer

Chet Phillips

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Transcript

Good morning, my name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab your Bible and head to Matthew chapter 6. We are in the third week of our Abide series. And what we are talking through is that if you are a Christian, if you've placed your faith in Jesus, if the Holy Spirit has regenerated you, you are in Christ, that you abide in Him. And then Jesus in John chapter 15 gives it as a command.

He says, Abide in Me. I'm the vine, you are the branches. And unless you abide in Me, you cannot bear fruit. You can do nothing without Me. And so what we are walking through in this series is as we abide in Christ, as we stay connected to Him, we're focusing on the part that connects to the vine, and He pours life into us, and He works through us, and then we bear fruit, and then we have joy, and then it shows up in life, but we stay connected to Him. And so the title of this series is Abide, Ancient Practices for Enjoying God.

So that we are going to learn certain practices that Christians have done forever to help us appreciate and enjoy what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross, what He has already purchased for us, this good and real relationship with God the Father. My wife and I periodically go on dates with one another. My four-year-old son asked his mama, he said, Why do sometimes other people come to the house and watch us, and y'all leave? And my wife got real close to his face and said, It's because we're sick of you. She didn't. It would be awesome if she did.

She said, Because your dad and I like each other, and we want to go just be with one another. We want to go hang out with one another. Now we go on dates, not so that we can get married, not so that I don't go on a date with my wife so that she'll fall in love with me. We go on dates because she's already madly head over heels in love with me. But we go on dates to enjoy what we already have.

And so what we're talking about in this series is that we get to do that with God. Christ has already done all the work. He's already purchased us. He's already placed us here. And we get to enjoy this real relationship with the Father. And these are practices that help that, that aid that.

And so one of the things we're talking about today is that we're going to be talking about prayer. And as we get started, I want to discuss this concept with you. I heard this recently and I thought it was helpful. It's the idea that the things you do, do things to you. So the things you do, do things to you.

That you are constantly, by your actions, training yourself. You're constantly, by your actions, equipping yourself for something. So let's talk about Kung Fu for a second. Boneweed's part of our church family. And he practices Kung Fu. And one of the things they do, is they take a bag, like a canvas bag, and they put mung beans in it.

So if you've got some mung beans laying around the house, and you were wondering what to do with them, put them in a canvas bag. And then you punch them, for about 15 minutes a day. You punch a canvas bag with mung beans. The first day you do this, the first time you hit it, you'll think this isn't that hard. It's kind of soft. This is kind of nice.

I hated these mung beans anyway. And you'll, you'll go to punch. And after about 15 minutes, your hands will be swollen. You'll wake up the next day, and you'll look like some sort of terrible thing has happened to you. And it takes a while to train your hands. But eventually, you can get to where you punch mung beans, until you just kind of turn them to powder.

And then when you're able to do that, after 15 minutes a day, for a considerable amount of time, you change to gravel. And you put gravel in the bag, and you punch that. And once you can turn gravel into, into dirt, or tiny rocks, smaller gravels, you go to lead shot. So, lead balls. And you're not able to do anything with those. They stay the same.

But you are able to punch things. I don't know if you've ever punched someone in the face. Your face is relatively soft. It doesn't feel terrible to punch somebody in the face. But if you're used to punching still shot, it's probably like your hands getting to take a nap on a pillow.

It's like delightful. And so, they would practice this to make their hands, they would practice this to change themselves. And in reality, we understand this. That if you play guitar for a long period of time, you get calluses all over your fingers, so that you can play. The first time I tried to play a guitar, I was like, this hurts. And so I quit.

I was bad at it anyway. But, you train yourself. And so, thinking through this, that if I wanted to make my hands really tough, I wouldn't say, well, I guess I should just punch this for eight hours today. It's, no, you have to do it slowly over time. You have to work your way towards it. It doesn't just happen overnight.

And in reality, when we're talking about reading our Bibles, when we're talking about prayer, we're talking about the same thing. That it is better for us to learn how to habit this, to have a practice of this, to make this a normal part of our lives, because the things we do, do things to us. They change us. So as I was thinking through this, if you practiced playing the piano an hour a day, if you practiced Kung Fu or Karate an hour a day, or two hours a day, and you did this for years, you would be pouring yourself, you'd be changing yourself. And so what I realized was, I am soon going to be a Kung Fu master of my cell phone and my television.

I've been diligently training for years. In reality, if you watch two hours of television a day, if you watch an hour of television a day, you are sitting, turning your brain off, accomplishing nothing, and you're training yourself. You're pouring into yourself. I've realized I used to spend some time on Twitter. I stopped because it was bad for me. For a couple of reasons.

One, Twitter is kind of aggressive. And so the more I looked at Twitter, the more sarcastic I got, and the more aggressive I got. And that's not a good turn for me, you guys. I didn't need to add to that. I need to come the other direction. And so that wasn't helpful.

Also, you're just kind of flipping through. They're real short. And I realized by the end of me, if I was looking at Twitter for 15 minutes, by the end of it, I wasn't even reading whole tweets. I just, I got to think about the other day, I was sitting in a doctor's office in the waiting room. And I got a magazine out, because I had my little boy with me, and we were, I was just showing him the pictures. But I got to thinking, if someone sat down in a waiting room, and flipped through a magazine, the way we flipped through Facebook or Twitter, they would look like a crazy person.

Like, you just, you wouldn't spend any time on it, you would look insane. But what happens is, we're flipping through our phones, and we're making ourselves more frantic. We're making ourselves, we're increasing our ADHD. We're lowering our attention span. We're pouring into ourselves. We're training ourselves.

We're equipping ourselves for no good purpose. And so what we're talking about is, that we might learn, how to daily practice, things that slowly over time change us, and make us into something else, that build into us. So we're going to talk about prayer today. And the point of this is not, that you would be able to do the most amazing prayer today, but that we might learn how to pray, so that you might practice this for the next 30 years. You might practice this for the next 20 years, 40 years, so that it builds into you, and changes you. So let's pray, because that seems like a good way, to start a sermon on prayer.

And then let's see what Jesus has to say about this. God, we thank you, that we get to speak to you as our Father, that you love us, and you know us. And we pray, that you would empower us to pray. That you would teach us to pray. That we might practice, and slowly walk with you for years. That you might change us, and grow us.

In Jesus' name, Amen. So we're going to talk about how. We're just going to try to look at some real practical, how do we pray? Because the point is, we need to learn how to make this a practice for ourselves. How to install this into our lives, and this becomes a normal thing that we do. So we're looking at Matthew chapter 6.

We're going to pick up in verse 5. This is Jesus teaching about prayer. And so we're just going to walk through this text, and we're going to exegete it. We're just going to pull out of it, what's in it, and talk through it. And then we're going to, at the end of this, kind of talk through this joyful experience, that we get to have in prayer, and how the Holy Spirit empowers it. So let's walk through and see what it says.

It says, And when you pray, you must not pray 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. That's what makes them hypocrites. They're not actually wanting to pray. They don't actually want to delight in the Lord. They don't actually want to enjoy Him, know Him, speak to Him. They just want other people to see them praying.

So he says, Don't do that. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. So if the point of their praying, was just to have people look at them, and people look at them, you did it. You get your reward. That was it. 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. Okay, so this is the context for prayer. First of all, he's saying that you get to speak to your Father who sees in secret, and He rewards prayer. That there's a reward for us that we would spend time praying, that it works into us, that the things we do, do things to us, that God sees us, rewards us. I think that's practical here and now. It's also reward in eternity.

But he says, Go into your room and close the door. If we would learn to do that, we'll actually start praying. If we would learn to have time where we got away from everything, and where we closed the door, when we got away from everything, and found time to be alone, and set it aside, that's the first thing that has to happen if we're going to make it a practice of praying, is that you have to find time for it. You have to make time for it. You have to have a consistent ability, and you have to get away. The other way that the Gospels will say that Jesus would always go off to desolate places to pray.

So he would go, here he says, Be alone, close the door. And he says he would go to desolate places. One of the things I realized with me praying is that it is not a desolate place if my phone is with me. I'm imminently reachable. I'm also very easily distracted. So if I'm trying to pray, and I quit praying, and just start thinking about things, in about two seconds, my phone will magically appear in my hand, and I will be doing something else.

Maybe I'm the only person who has that problem. I am not. So one of the things I've had to learn is that if I'm going to read and pray, and I need my phone with me for some reason, have to be reachable for some reason, which we just feel like we do, we don't, but if I need it, I will actually just take my phone as far as I can reach, and toss it away from myself. That way, when I suddenly, aimlessly, without thinking, try to grab it, my arm can't get to it. And then I go, oh yeah, I'm supposed to be praying. The other thing I'll do is I'll just leave it inside, and I'll just sit on my back porch, but what we have to do is find some way, so for you, that may be, you've got to find time with your spouse where they're going to watch kids for just a little while, so you can have 10, 15 minutes to go pray, and actually pray.

Don't be like, honey, I need to pray, and then go take a nap. No, pray. But find some time, if it's really early, if it's really late, whatever you've got to do, find some time to get away and pray. And if we'll make a habit of that, just getting away, just closing the door, it'll already begin to build into us this habit, so that we can begin to become people who pray, and this can begin to work in us. Verse 7, And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases, as the Gentiles do. Okay, so Gentiles are non-Jewish people, and so they were aware of their prayer practices, these pagan practices, where they would chant, where they would repeat the same things over and over again, where they would have these big ceremonies, where they would extend everything out, and he says, don't do that.

Don't 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. And then He's going to say, pray them like this. Let's talk about that for just a second. I think sometimes we think, if we're going to pray, it's got to be long, it's got to have good, flowery, empty phrases, that sound nice. You hear somebody else pray sometime, and you'll be like, that was an express lane prayer.

That was fast pass, like that got to walk past the line, that was so good. And it's like, that's not how it works. He just says, pray. Talk like you're talking to your Father. We're not praying, having to use big, empty phrases. There's a story in 1 Kings, chapter 18, about Elijah, for real this time.

I got that wrong, two weeks ago, I said it was Elisha. Kind of wants me to give credit to Elisha, for this story, just to make up for it to him. But this is Elijah, and there are 450 prophets of Baal, and there is Elijah. And so they get on this mountain, they're going to have a God showdown, so they're going to have the 450 prophets. They said, we've got to choose. He says, don't quit going back and forth.

We're going to pick a God. We're either going to follow Baal, or we're going to follow the Lord God. And he says, so get your prophets together. I'm the only one on our team, but that's cool. And y'all set up a sacrifice, and I'll set up a sacrifice, and we'll pray, and whichever God answers from heaven with fire is God. Y'all can go first.

So 450 prophets of Baal set up their sacrifice, and then they start praying. And it says that for hours, they prayed and did their lame dance. I don't know what their dance was like, but it was lame. So it wasn't as cool as dabbing. It was way lamer than that, you guys. They're hopping around.

They're praying. They're chanting. They're saying stuff over and over. They go for so long that Elijah begins to make fun of them. He walks over to them while they're chanting and praying and repeating the same things and begging and asking. And he says, um, you think maybe he's just like deep in thought?

Is it? Think he went to the bathroom? He for real says that. He said, oh, maybe he left. Maybe he's on a journey. Does he have like an answering service?

He'll probably, he'll probably get back, you know, in a little while. He said, oh, maybe he's asleep. And he lets him go for a long time. And then they're still going on. They're cutting themselves. They're doing all this stuff and trying to make their prayer be powerful enough to make it up.

And he goes, okay, everybody over here. He pours water all over his sacrifice. He prays once. Fire comes down from heaven. He's like, grab him up. We're killing him.

It's a dramatic end to the story. God answers very quickly when Elijah prays because he does hear. And Elijah does not have to do all these things to make his prayer good enough. And that's what Jesus says. He says, that's something people who don't understand God do. That's not something you have to do.

You get to talk to God like he's your father. And then he says, your father knows what you need before you ask him. Now, do not apply that in a way that makes it, makes it where you don't have to pray. He's telling us to pray. He's saying when you pray, but when you pray, understand that he loves you. He knows you.

He knows what you need. And you can just go talk to him. You don't have to make it amazing. You don't have to say it over and over again. And so reality, what, what the Bible tells us is this. In your individual prayer, your prayer today does not have to be, you don't have to say the same thing over and over again.

You don't have to make it amazing. You just get to talk to the Lord like he knows you. But, you can say the exact same thing tomorrow. And you can say the exact same thing the next day. He actually tells a story to his disciples about a widow who had been deprived of justice. And he said she went to the judge every day and said the same thing.

And he says he took the stories told so that they might always pray and never lose heart. And that's what we're supposed to do. It's supposed to be a continual daily practice. Not, I'm going to go pray for three hours and it's going to be the most amazing praying I've ever done. And that'll be it. That'll cover me for a month.

It's not that. It's learning how to make this a practice where we do this over and over again. And did y'all hear he says he's our father who loves us and knows what we need before we ask. I have an 18 month old. His communication skills are very poor. He says this, mostly in regard to food.

If he's saying this, it's because he thinks he can eat whatever he's pointing at. He says, meh, which is some mixture of more and mine. Also only says it around food. And he says, bye, which means I'm ready to leave this place and go to sleep. If I pick him up, he'll go, bye. And we're like, you're not leaving, buddy.

And he's about to be real sad because he's ready to go to sleep. But here's what I don't do. I don't look at him when he wants to eat something and go, until you learn English, you will never eat in this household. That's not how it works. I try to figure out what on earth he's talking about. I'll hold things up.

This, this, this. It's like, well, buddy, you got to learn more words, but okay, what? This? And it took me a while to realize when you held up what he wanted, he would take off running. He was going to the place to stand next to where he wanted you to pour his food out. So I would be like, I guess he changed his mind.

I'd put it up. He'd come back mad at me. Like what? We just worked out a deal. We found it. I'm over here.

He'll run and smack an Ottoman and he just wants you to pour food on top of it. When he runs out, he'll say, ma, ma. You got to go get more. We learned what he was saying so that we could serve him. And here's what happens. We just went on vacation and we preemptively thought through.

He's going to need to sleep. He's going to need to eat. He's going to, and we planned ahead. We were ready prior to him asking for things to give it to him because we love him. And that's what he's saying that when you go to pray, God knows you, loves you. Sometimes I think my prayers are equivalent to me going, ma, dis.

And God's going, I love you. And yes, slowly, over time, he's going to teach me some words because he loves me. But he's not making it to where you have to say the perfect thing. So everybody, take a deep breath. You can pray. You can pray consistently.

You can pray well because you have a good father who wants to hear you and wants to equip you. And so, now he says, pray like this. And this prayer, you guys, is simple. This prayer will not have anybody going, oh my goodness, you just prayed, son. It won't. Somebody called on you to pray and you prayed this prayer, they'd be like, good, that's fine.

It's not the most eloquent, it's straightforward because he's saying you're talking to your father who knows you and loves you. So y'all ready? First thing, we're going to kind of break this up into chunks. I'm going to try to explain that these, I think, are sections of things that you can pray about. But he says, pray then like this.

I'll read the whole thing. 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. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.

That's his prayer. So when they asked Jesus, how should we pray? It's in Luke. They come to him. They say, how should we pray? Jesus says like this and he actually gives a shorter version of this because he's saying you get to talk to your father.

It gets to be clear. It gets to be straightforward. These are the types of things to pray about and it doesn't have to be amazing. It's better for you to learn how to pray five minutes a day, ten minutes a day for the next 40 years than to try to work really hard to be able to pray some big amazing prayers and not have it be a habit and a normal thing for you to do. So he says, pray then like this, our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Hallowed means honored. May you be honored and worshiped above everything else. May you be more important and more glorious than everything else. I use this prayer as my model prayer. When I'm praying through things, I try to follow these sections. I was praying the other night with my four-year-old and I said, Lord, may you be, and I lost the word for a second and my four-year-old son went, honored.

And I was like, yeah, I apparently say the same thing all the time when we're praying, but he was ready. He knew that's how we're going to start. May you be honored above everything else. What that means is, may we love you. We just talk about idolatry for a couple of weeks and what we said was that our problem in idolatry is that we place things above Jesus. That we love something more than we love him and so we start our prayers off by saying, may you be above everything else.

May you be honored. May you be cherished. We worship. So this is kind of at the beginning of your prayers, spend some time worshiping. It doesn't have to be long. It's one sentence here, but you can spend as much time as you want saying, God, you are good and you are big and you are holy and you are righteous.

Worship. That'll help the rest of your prayer because you'll remember who you're talking to. But he says, our father, that's also, that you're remembering that he loves you like a father, like a good father. Some of us have very bad examples of what a father is. He is a good father who loves you, who knows you and you get to go to him and he wants to hear you and he knows your needs. Our father.

Also, it's communal, so it's not my father. So he's saying, when you pray, acknowledge that we all belong to him, that this is a communal thing. It's not just you alone. Then it says, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So he begins by being worshipful.

He begins by setting kind of the tone for how he's going to pray and it says, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so I would say another section or the next kind of thing to think through is kingdom prayers. So the kingdom, a kingdom, is the extent of the reign of the king. And so we're praying that God's kingdom, that Jesus' kingdom would advance. And so that's, we're praying, this is where you would pray that the people around you would meet Jesus. This is where you would pray for your neighbors.

This is where you would pray for the place that you work, that God's kingdom would break in there, that people would be welcomed in, that people would repent, that people would love him. You'd pray for his kingdom. This is where he says, your will be done. This is also that we would surrender, acknowledging that God's will is above our will and so that we would pray that his kingdom would come but that ultimately his will would be done in whatever situation we have going on. So when the kingdom advances, that's people meeting Jesus, it's also kingdom life.

So it's people who come to know Christ but it's also, Jesus walks around healing people. It's because he's practicing what he's going to do in the cross which is reverse the effects of sin. And so this is where we'd also pray for healing. This is also where we'd pray for restoration in relationships. This is also where we'd pray for all the good things that Jesus can do, reconciliation and hope and joy. This is where we'd pray for somebody who we know that's walking with depression.

This is where we would pray for God's kingdom to work in their heart and their soul. They might know him, love him, feel loved by him. Spencer, when he was first coming down here was working closely with a lady who was helping him work on some church plant stuff and she's actually helped a lot of church plants do some paperwork and get some things started and he recently saw this past week that her son who's 17 years old had been in an accident and the doctors came to him and said, he's brain dead, he's going to be brain dead and y'all just need to go ahead and start being prepared for him to pass. And so they just started praying and they put out as much as they could to other people to be praying.

The internet's very helpful in that way. They put up a GoFundMe that basically just said we're asking for healing and we're asking for in this situation that we're going to either need to fund a lengthy recovery or we're going to have to pay for a funeral. We don't know which but we're raising support. Spencer told me about that earlier this week. He was praying about it. He came back in and said he's moving his fingers.

He can mouth I love you. They told him to blink once and he did. They told him to blink twice and he did. Now that's a long way away from healthy but it's also a long way away from brain dead. He's now starting to say some words. He's recognizing faces.

There are times where we're praying and we're saying Lord let your kingdom advance here and your will be done. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are about to be stuck in a fiery furnace because they will not worship another God other than the true one the real one. They look at the king who is about to burn them and they say our God can save us our God will save us but if he doesn't we're not worshiping that. And that's one of the ways that we get to pray. Our God can save our God will save but even if he doesn't Lord your will be done. Even if you choose not to in this situation we trust you we won't worship or love anything else.

And so we pray that he can that he will and so we get to pray these types of prayers. St. Augustine who ended up being a great leader in the church said he used to walk by and see his mama holding on to his shoes and praying that the Lord would save him. And he thought that was nice. He knew she cared about him but then he ran off and did whatever he wanted. and then Jesus saved him. And I wonder if he ever looked at his shoes and was like oh my goodness.

But we pray for the kingdom to advance. We pray for people to be saved for the Lord to work. verse 11 give us this day our daily bread. We pray for physical needs. This is also where we see very clearly this is a daily prayer. So this is pray this is how you pray on a regular basis give us this day our daily bread.

So for some of you who are in sales you ought to pray every day. Lord help me sell things today. For some of you who work in different places you pray for what you've got going on that day. Will you provide for me today? Will you care for us today? Will you provide the needs we have today?

And it says our daily bread so this is where you pray for other people's physical needs. Lord help me pay bills. Help me have enough food. Help me provide for my children. Help me to care. Help me to and you pray daily that he would be at work in our needs.

And he loves you. He hears you and he gives good gifts to his children so you can pray. Specifically I heard a pastor one time who's in China he said he needed a bike to do some ministry and so he said he started praying for a bicycle and he said when he prayed for his bicycle he prayed for what size? He prayed for what type? He gave a specific color. And you think hold on a second when I first read that I thought you just take the bike the Lord gives you son.

That's what I thought. And his point was he said now let's think about this if I have a good father who is wealthy and I believe that he might actually give me a bike if I was telling my dad this wouldn't I tell him what type? Wouldn't I talk to him like I believed he could do it? Wouldn't I lay it out for him? So I think there's some freedom for us to just know we're talking to a good father and just talk to him about what he can say no.

We're going to get to that in a minute. You can ask for something dumb and he can say no. My son my 18 month old is allergic to eggs milk wheat oats peanuts there's five of them and I may have missed one. When I'm eating cake he stands underneath me going ma nobody this this is poison to you. It's delightful to me but it is poison to you and I'll try to find him something else and there are times where we ask the Lord for stuff but you get to talk to him about your physical needs your actual needs and you get to be specific and you get to trust that he's good. Verse 12 forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

Forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors and lead us not to temptation but deliver us from evil.

Abide in the Word

Abide in the Word

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. Just a quick note, a follow-up from last week. If you were here last week, it was Elisha. And if you were not here, glad you're here this morning.

We're going to be in Psalm 119, which is on page 294 in your Blue Bibles. Go ahead and flip there. We're going to be continuing to walk through this series, Abide. Today we're going to talk about abiding in the Bibles. So this morning I would encourage you, please open your Bible, grab a Bible.

The blue ones are near you in the rows. You can also pull it up on your phone. But we're going to be walking through, jumping around Psalm 119, so please go ahead and flip there. This is my first time back up here since Egypt. Since we got to go to Egypt, that was an amazing trip we've gotten to talk about. It was a blessing to be able to go and for three days teach and equip leaders who are leveraging their lives to see the gospel advance in a culture that is hostile to it.

As we were preparing to teach, each of us, we were giving our sermon material to Ben and Patricia. Ben, who's the president of 1040 Hope, a member of our church who is going with us. We gave it to them to kind of look at, to kind of help us think through, because we never taught in the Middle East. We never had really our work translated before. So I was reaching out to them and I was like, what do you think of this?

How do you think this is going to go? And Ben was like, man, this is going to be the best teaching that they have ever heard. And I was like, man, Ben, I love you. You are awesome. But Ben is a really, really encouraging person.

He's just, it exudes from him. And I needed a dose of realism. And that is his wife, Patricia. So I went to her and I said, Patricia, what do you think about this? And she said, honestly, a lot of the teaching, a lot of the teams that come in, it's really bad. Really bad teaching.

So yeah, by default, yours will probably be some of the best teaching they've ever heard. I was like, awesome. Got the full picture. But it was exciting to be able to go and be able to teach. And when I heard that, that this church and these ministries really don't have access to really quality, sound teaching, I had an assumption that because of that, they probably didn't know their Bibles. And man, was I wrong.

Because we were teaching, we had our translator. She would translate and we would read a Bible verse. And as she's reading the Bible verse, in the crowd, they are completing it. They knew their Bibles. And it makes sense. If you believe in Jesus so much that you would leverage your life and safety to see Jesus advance in a country that is hostile to it, you absolutely would believe Jesus at His Word when He says the Bible is important to abide in the Word.

And in our country, where we have an abundance of really sound teaching and a mix of some really bad stuff as well, it becomes apparent that we actually don't know our Bibles all that well. Because when you can hear a snippet of something on K-Love, which I know is family friendly, but at times it's really off base. When you can hear something online, on Facebook, when you can listen to a podcast, and it teaches something that is incorrect, it doesn't line up with the Bible, that gives a faulty view of Jesus, how often are American Christians so quick to accept it and believe it? It's because we lack the discernment because we don't know our Bibles.

Today we're going to be looking at the need to abide in Jesus as we abide in His Word. And we're going to be in Psalm 119 to see how this is fleshed out. Psalm 119 is a celebration of the Word of God. It's the longest chapter in the Bible. It's 176 verses. It's a Hebrew acrostic that goes to the Hebrew alphabet and celebrates how good the Bible is.

So as we jump around in Psalm 119, we're going to see four different things. We're going to see the revealing of Jesus and His Word. Second, we're going to see what happens when we meet Jesus and His Word. Third, we're going to see how we practically meet Him and His Word. And lastly, we're going to see the result, which is delighting in Jesus and His Word. So let me pray, and then we'll jump in.

Father, I'm so thankful that You have given us this amazing gift that we get to open up every Sunday. God, I pray that You would open our hearts to the reality that this is a beautiful, profoundly amazing gift that You've given us in the Bible. And that we would abide in You as we abide in Him. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so real quick, I want to flesh out the revealing of Jesus and His Word.

Last week, Chet introduced this series, the series on abiding, and he walked us through John 15, that we might grow in these ancient practices that we've been given. And in John 15, we got to see the picture of how we abide in Jesus. And last week, he held up that branch that was broken off that was dead. And said, this is the picture of what it looks like to be outside of the abiding in Jesus. And I want to make something very clear. That if you believe in Jesus, if you've placed your faith in Him, you abide in Him.

You are already abiding in Him. In this series, we want to press deeper into a deeper abiding, that we might grow, that we might flourish, that we might bear the fruit that Jesus calls us to, that we might look very different in the picture of a broken off branch. So as we learn to abide in His Word, I want to go back to John 15, when He says, If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. That Jesus calls us, He calls us to abide in Him, and He qualifies us. He says, And your words abide in you. That Jesus and His words, they get equated.

That we get to see Jesus revealed in His Word. This goes all the way back to the Old Testament. If you look at 1 Samuel 3.21, it says, And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the Word of the Lord. That He reveals Himself personally by His Word to the prophet Samuel. That means that God reveals Himself in His Word. His character, His goodness, His justice, His love.

We get to see the face of God displayed in His Word. Therefore, we should lean into that. We should get to know Him personally in His Word. We should be transformed and shaped by Him as we celebrate and walk through this gift of the Bible. So Jesus is revealed through His Word.

Now I want to look at what happens when we meet Jesus in His Word. There's a lot of things that happen when we get to know Jesus and we meet Him in His Word. I want to walk through four specific things that we see from Psalm 119. The first one is that we are blessed. When we meet Jesus in His Word, we are blessed. Verse 1 and 2 says, Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart. So He starts out by saying, If you walk in the Word, which means if you live your life by this, if you keep His Word, which means you follow His commandments, if you seek Him with your whole heart, which primarily comes through abiding in His Word, you are blessed. And I don't want to skip over that, because blessing here is deep. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, blessing is much bigger than how we use it in our own context. That blessing means profound, deep, abiding happiness. It means joyful happiness and flourishing as humans made in the image of God.

That we might be so joy-filled, that we might be so happy, that we might be so flourishing. That is the picture of those who abide in His Word. That we are blessed. Which is very different than how we use it. Because when we use it, you know, you have someone who's in their 50s, who has kids that are successful, that has a great business, has a great life, and they would say, I am blessed. And that's true.

They are blessed, but on such a temporary scale. On such a here and now. In the grand scheme of eternity, it's temporary blessings. And God is trying to lift up our head and say, no, no, no, no. Think bigger. Dream bigger.

This is eternal blessing. If you abide in My Word, there's a much bigger blessing that awaits you. So we are blessed when we meet Jesus and His Word. Second, we are enlightened. And flip over to verse 105. He says, Your Word is a lamp to My feet and a light to My path.

The psalmist says the Bible is like a lamp that lights up the darkness. It enlightens us. And those of us who, before meeting Jesus, the picture of us in the Bible is that we are in darkness. Another picture is that we are groping and feeling our way that we might find Him. Then Jesus, the light of the world, steps in and reveals Himself.

And then we get the gift that He's given us as a lamp. We get the Bible. But the picture when we're not using the Bible is that we're like a fool stumbling around in the darkness. This is a vivid picture for me because often when I wake up in the morning, you know how like a ninja is stealthy and inconspicuous? I'm conspicuous. In the morning, I just, I fumble around in the darkness because I wake up before my wife and she really hates it because I wake her up very often because I wake up groggy.

We have blackout curtains and it's dark and I'm crashing into things. I'm loud. She's like, why are you so loud? It's like, I just, I don't have it in me. I'm heavy-footed. I'm going to run into things and it's dark often when I wake up like a fool stumbling around in the darkness.

That is a picture of us. When we don't use the word as a lamp to our feet, that is what we look like. We need the Bible to be a lamp that guides us, that shows us, that's almost a corrective kind of light, that shows us the iniquity, the sin, the darkness that is within us and also the darkness that surrounds us and needs to correct what is in us. This past week, Anna, my wife and I, we had some stuff to talk about. We had a series of conversations that needed to have big conversations, some future stuff, thinking through things and we knew that when we were going to have this that it was not going to be fun.

So my theory was, it's like, listen, these three or four things we need to talk about, let's ruin one night. We'll ruin one night, we'll pick this night, we'll discuss it on this night and then we'll get it over with and then we'll be good after that and that was more of a field strategy. If your husband leads your home in the way that you think you should be led, there is some merit in getting it all done at once but after you've had the third or fourth different item that you've talked about and everyone's upset, I don't know how much you accomplished but we did it, we went for it and we talked about all of it and the next morning, it became clear as I was thinking about how I talked about things that I was actually not gentle and that I was harsh with her and passages like Colossians 3.19 lit up my way, it says, husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. It corrected me.

I reached out to her and said, I'm sorry, I was not gentle, I was not loving, I was harsh, do you forgive me? We need this, we need the Bible to step in and to correct us, to show us what is within us that we might repent of sin and turn to Jesus. It lights up the darkness within us, it also lights up the darkness that is around us. I want you to hear this, the more that you read the Bible, the more it changes your views of the world. Especially, hear this, when culture and the world is actively attempting to shape your view of Jesus, your view of the Bible, your view of the world. Let me do something that hits both sides of the aisle.

Our culture actively is trying to shape our ethics on sexuality. I mean, it is, and it's consistently shifting at seemingly light speed pace. Culture is consistently trying to shape this and saying, no, your views are archaic, no, you are backwards, and it is tempting to listen to it. That we might be shaped by it and the Bible comes as a lamp and says, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, the Bible says this, that this is good for you, that you might not be shaped by culture. On the other side of it, over the past few years, I've seen and heard some very dehumanizing and hateful language thrown towards the foreigner.

Hearing it over and over and over again. And if you are not careful, culture is going to shape your view of the foreigner. when the Bible specifically teaches that every single person is made in the image of God. They have dignity and value and worth. That you can't read the Old Testament law without seeing that we care for the foreigner. That you can't look at the prophets and see how they correct us. That we should have a loving and generous view towards the sojourner or towards the foreigner.

Both sides of culture are trying to shape us and the Bible says, no, no, no, no. It is a lamp to our feet. It is a corrective light that lights up what is within us that needs to be lit up and also what is around us that we might walk and follow Jesus faithfully. The Bible enlightens us. It also calms our soul. That's the third thing that happens when we meet Jesus and His Word.

We are at peace. Flip over to 165. Verse 165. He says, Great peace have those who love your law. Nothing can make them stumble. What a picture of peace that we have for those who love His Word.

You see law and precepts and testimonies and His Word all interchanged to share the Bible. What a picture that no matter what the situation is in life, no matter what you are facing, that if you love God's Word, you can stand firm that you will not stumble and fall. And you might stagger a little bit. You might get wobbly. But the picture and the ideal that is being held up here is that we would love God's Word so much that when chaos comes we would stand firm, that we would not stumble, that we would not fall.

I feel like this so much is a picture of my life as of late. I kind of feel like that lately, like one of those UFC fighters that's been pinned on the mat and it's just getting punched in the face over and over and over again. Those last few months that's kind of how it's felt. And some of y'all you'll get that. Like there are seasons where it's just one thing after the other, one thing after the other. And in those seasons where it is chaotic, in those seasons where there is darkness hovering over you, you'll have a question.

Is the Bible the most important lifeline for you in those seasons? How many of us have a love for God's Word that is so deep that when chaos comes, that when trials come, we come to His Word? That's the hope. Is that we would have peace from His Word. That we would exist so much. Like when you are deeply anxious and that darkness is hovering over you, you could exist in a Philippians 4 mindset that says, do not be anxious in anything but through prayer and supplication.

Make your requests known to the Lord. That would be so vivid in your brain that you might stagger a little bit but your hope would be so firmly in Jesus because you are abiding in His Word that you would be at peace. That when suffering and trials come, you would exist in a Romans 8 reality that says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the surpassing glory that is to be revealed. That's the goal. That's the hope. That we'd be so in love and abiding in God's Word that we would stand firm and our souls would be at peace.

When we meet Jesus in His Word that we would be at peace. the fourth thing that I'll say here is that when we meet Jesus in His Word we are counsel. That the Word of God counsels us. Flip over to verse 24. He says, Your testimonies are my delight. They are my counselors. The Bible gives us counsel for all of life's situations.

No matter what you are facing, the Bible has a word for you. That is why we talk about so much in our church, good news before good advice. Because you'll hear some good advice from friends, from family. And it's good, but oftentimes it is temporary and the Bible is trying to uphold. No, no, no. There is eternal wisdom here.

Give the good news. Give the wisdom that we need from His Word because this is where Jesus, our Chief Shepherd, gets to counsel you. He has revealed in His Word that our Chief Shepherd might counsel us with wisdom, counsel us with His testimonies, that He might give us a word that would encourage us, that would guide us, that would give us counsel. So often as I've walked with people that have been going through different difficult circumstances or just have big life choices, like choosing a job, choosing a career, moving forward, big life decisions, family, all the big stuff. As I've walked with people over the past few years who have had to make these kind of decisions, there's something that I've seen over and over and over again is that as they're making these decisions, as they're trying to figure out where they should go, what they should do, it is clear they haven't even thought to open up the Bible to see what our Chief Shepherd has to say.

How He might counsel us. That we're so quick to seek wisdom from family and friends that we will do pro and con lists, that we will chart it out, that we'll tally it up before we even think, what does my Shepherd have to say? How would He counsel me through this? What does His Word have to say to me? Trying to navigate through all of life's difficulties without the Bible is like navigating in the dark. It's like driving on a winding mountain road where you've got a cliff on one side and you've just decided, no, I don't think I need the headlines.

I think I'm just going to trust my gut. You might make it around one curve, but if you continue to do this, you will fall off the cliff and it will not be pretty. We need the Bible to counsel us. We need His testimonies, His wisdom to guide us through the curves of life. And we also need it for others. With wisdom, that we would help others be counseled by the Word.

That when someone is walking through something, it's not trite or cliche to give them a Bible verse. I know that's assumed sometimes, that if someone just gives you a Bible verse, that that's not helpful. How could that not be helpful? How could pointing you to our chief shepherd counseling you? How could that not be good for our souls? Yes, it can be done unwisely.

Some people come in like a home run hitter with a bat swinging on you. Just be more like a surgeon with a scalpel. That's the picture we should give. But we should grow in wanting to counsel one another from His Word. So those are four pictures that we get from Psalm 119 of what happens when we meet Jesus and His Word.

There are so many other ones that I don't have time to get into. That it's sweeter than honey. That it's richer than gold. There are pictures throughout the Bible of what the Word of God is. It's a sword that pierces in Hebrews 4. It's a mirror that reflects in James 1.

It's a seed that grows in the book of Matthew. It's milk that nourishes. It's a fire that consumes. It's a hammer that shatters. And on and on and on we see pictures of what the Bible is for us and what happens when we meet Jesus and His Word. Now, I know what you may be thinking.

That's great. Good. I wish I had the time for it. I wish I had the time to spend in His Word. I know you do because you preach because this is what you do but I am busy and it is hard. Now, I know that we are busy.

I know that none of us has had time to watch the new season of Stranger Things and to get to that final eighth episode in the mall which is so good. I know that we're not going to have time to watch football in the fall all weekend long. I know that we don't have time for the hobbies that we make time for all the time. Here's the deal. It's not that we don't make time for the Bible. It's that we won't make time for the Bible.

We don't make space for it because what you value you will absolutely make time for. I know this is true because if we got done with this sermon I said we have a challenge for our church family. We want to read the Bible over the next 365 days. All of the Bible and if you complete this challenge we will wire $100,000 into your checking account. If you weren't immediately confused and disturbed as to how we had this money who was bankrolling this what's the wisdom of this we would have a 100% success rate. All of us would be reading the Bible if it meant early payment we'd do it in 90 days because you make time for what you value.

That's just the reality. So the goal is that we would make time that we'd see the value of this and as we see the value in this that we would not be distracted. We wouldn't have our gaze be captured by other things. Verse 37 in Psalm 119 says Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in your ways. Turn my eyes from worthless things. Over the coming weeks we're going to take shots of the things that are capturing our gaze that keep us from abiding in Christ the things that are worthless in the grand scheme of eternity and one of those things that I'm seeing really in my own life but I would assume isn't on in many of your lives is that our phones regularly capture our gaze.

I'm reading this book it's called 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You it's by Tony Reiki one of the ways that he lists that we are being changed by our phones is that we have become addicted to distraction that our phones have literally trained us to be distracted and that's true think about your day you wake up in the morning what is the thing that wakes you up? Most of us have alarm clocks on our phone and then how quickly do we pick it up do we scroll through some things? He polled some Christians for this book and he said how many of you spend time on your phone before you spend time in the Bible?

The Invitation to Abide

The Invitation to Abide

Chet Phillips

Download

Transcript

My dad likes to fish and hunt, and he went, on a regular basis, would go fishing with my uncle. It was his brother-in-law, my Uncle John, and they would go fishing. And they went fishing one time, and they were out, and it was cold, and it was raining, but they were catching fish. And so they had spent the time to get out there, and they were fishing, and it was getting colder and colder. And my dad eventually looked at my Uncle John and said, aren't you cold? Can we just, can we call it, can we go in?

Because, I mean, I don't know if you've ever spent much time out in the rain. It doesn't have to be raining very hard for you to eventually get completely and utterly soaked. And he was completely and utterly soaked, and it was cold. And fishing can only be so fun if you are cold and wet. And so my dad looked at my uncle and said, can we call it? And my uncle was like, no, we're going to catch a fish.

And, like, I'm fine, so you should be fine. And so my dad was like, all right. Because I don't know if you've been here and heard some stories about my dad. He's not tender or delicate. He does happen to be here this morning, if you would like to confirm some of the stories I've told and see if they are true. The quickest way to do that would be to try to slap him on his way out and see what happens.

I'm just kidding. Don't do that. But I did. This past Christmas, he asked to help him get set up so that he could listen to the podcast or the sermons. And I helped him set that up for Christmas. But I said, I just want you to know I've talked about you with complete immunity for, like, four years now.

And it is mostly true what I've said about you. But so he just, you know, he's like, all right, I'm going to buck up. I can handle it. I can handle it. You know, so they just keep fishing. And my dad's sitting there, you know, he's shaking at some point.

He looks at him and says, I think probably about time to go now. My uncle's like, no, no. I'm like, you know, and he's giving a hard time. He's like, come on, kid. You can't handle it? You know, so my dad's like, all right.

So eventually they just keep going. But finally it just soaks, I mean, to the bone. My dad looks at him and says, you know, I don't care. Like, I just, I've been as much of a man as I'm going to be today. Like, let's go. Like, I don't hear it.

Let's pack it up. Let's go. So they went back to where they were staying. They get in. My dad's shaking. He's taking his clothes off.

My uncle unfazed the whole time. Just, just take, you know, unbutton his clothes. And I say, my dad's peeling off wet layer after wet layer. And my uncle takes off his first jacket and has on a raincoat underneath it. Undoes his raincoat and was perfectly warm and dry the entire time. My dad's peeling wet t-shirts off.

And he's like, you, you, you gotta be kidding me. My uncle's like, how was I to know you didn't have a raincoat? We knew the forecast. Like how? I just assumed everyone dressed the way I dress. And in reality, what we want in life, what everybody in here wants in life is to be able to walk through life like my uncle was able to be out in the rain where it doesn't matter what's going on around us.

We're still warm and okay. That it doesn't matter what's happening around us. It doesn't matter what life is throwing at us. It doesn't matter the circumstances. It doesn't matter our finances. It doesn't matter our relationships that we're okay.

But in reality, many of us feel like my dad did on that day. Like what is going on around me has soaked to the bone. And I don't know if I can keep going. I don't know if I can move forward. I don't know if I can keep walking in this. It has gotten to me and I don't know how to move.

We just spent three weeks talking through idolatry where we said that we were designed to love something, to cherish something, to have affection for something and to have it set for us life, our meaning and our purpose and our hope and our satisfaction. We took the time to say that we consistently, that was meant to be God, but we consistently move him from that position and put something else there and it cannot handle the weight of our worship. And every time we spend time talking about idolatry, I'm convinced. I'm reconvinced that I am an idolater and that I need to love and worship Jesus above everything else.

But maybe that's where you are, but maybe you're like one of the guys in our, in my community group this past week who said, yes, yes, I love this thing more than Jesus. And yes, I'm supposed to love Jesus more. And I know I'm going to, but how, how, how do, how do I force myself there? How do I get my heart there? And so that is our hope in this series that we would be able to learn how to abide in Christ so that we were consistently filled up, made fresh, kept warm, even in the middle of everything else that's going on, that we would be pumped full of life. And that's what we're going to read in John chapter 15.

So let's pray together and then let's begin studying this together. God, we thank you for the invitation that you make to your disciples today. We thank you for the command that you give your disciples today. And we pray that we would learn how to rest and abide in you. We ask for your help in Jesus name. Amen.

John chapter 15. This is Jesus with his disciples. The, the night he is betrayed, the night before he will go on trial and then be crucified the next day. And he knows what is coming and he is in some ways finally finalizing all the information he's given him. He's praying with them. He's coaching them up and he's doing this all in the context of the crucifixion, the gospel that he's about to die, be buried and rise again.

And so he's talking to his disciples and I just want to make this clear as we read this, he is talking to the, to the men that were around him and he had been training and equipping. And as he prays for them later, he prays not, he says, Lord, this isn't just for them. It's for all those who will believe through them. So this is for us as well. So what he's saying to them is for them, but then for the church, for all those who would choose to follow Jesus.

He says, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. So the idea here is like a grapevine. And he's saying that he's the vine, he's, he's the, the health, the life, the vitality. He's the one that has roots that, that reaches up and that the father is the vine dresser who comes along and prunes.

And he says, you are the branches. Already you are clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Abide in me. And I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I'm the vine.

You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and burn. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit. And so prove to be my disciples.

We're going to keep going in just a minute, all the way down to verse 11 in this section. He says, abide 11 times, abide, abide, abide, abide, abide. Now this is not a word that we use very often. But it means to live in, to dwell. This is where the, an abode is where you live. I remember my young brother, my younger brother came up to visit us after Anna and I had gotten married and he walked in and he said, thank you so much for welcoming me into your humble abode.

And I was like, dude, if I call it a humble abode, it's humility. If you call it a humble abode, it's rude. So I wouldn't just rock up to people's houses and say that like, I don't mind. But like in a minute, she's going to fix this food. Don't sit down and thank her for the meager sustenance. Okay.

Like, but an abode is where you abide. And what he's saying is live, dwell with, wait here, stay here. Terry, live in me. Abide in me. Make your home here. Now that is a beautiful invitation made more beautiful to you if you're an introvert.

Extroverts maybe don't really understand how beautiful that invitation is, but introverts are like, oh yes, a home. Yes. You close the door. People don't bother you. It's wonderful. That's what my wife every once in a while I'll be like, hey, look, I'll watch the boys.

You can go somewhere. And she's like, oh, and I'm like, all right, I will take the boys somewhere and you can lock the door and pretend no one exists and just be in your house. Because that means so much more. And that's what Jesus is saying is he's saying, dwell here, live here, have life here in me. Abide in me. I am the vine.

You are the branches. And without me, you can do nothing. You will wither and die. Some of you have heard the phrase about having a friend who is ride or die. Well, with Jesus, it's abide or die. You have to dwell in, live in him, be filled up by him, or you will die.

I brought something with me this morning I want to show y'all. So this is a branch that used to abide in my backyard. It lived on a tree. The tree is still there. This branch is not. This branch got to come here.

These used to be green. Oh, that was embarrassing, buddy. There used to be more of them. The other branches are looking a little better than this one. This is Jesus' point. That as soon as this was removed from the tree, this branch has no more hope.

It will wither and die. It took a little while to get this way. But it has been doing what he said. It's been sitting in my backyard waiting to be burned. So I just went and grabbed it out of a pile this morning so that he could come on a trip and y'all could get to meet it.

So here's the thing. When you go to abide in Jesus, he says, I am the true vine. Not, I'm a good vine. I'm the true vine. I'm the only one that can actually pour life into you. I'm the only one that can give you vitality.

And what he's saying is that you need something outside of yourself to give you life. That seems pretty straightforward, but in American culture, we don't believe that. We are told constantly, you, look inside of you. Find what's inside of you. Learn how to express it. Learn how to bring it out.

If you can find the real you and the inner you, then you'll have peace and you'll have life and you'll be full and you'll be free. This branch is free. It got to come on a trip and see the inside of Glen Forest. Live its dreams. And many of us feel like this. We've been told you're all you need.

Fill yourself up with you. Find you. Whatever. And the truth is we're not fruitful and lush. We're dry and brittle and exhausted because we were meant to abide in Jesus. But if you're going to abide in Jesus, if we're going to stick with Jesus, the truth is he says the result will be fruitfulness.

And in reality, what we so often want is the fruitfulness. We want this to be green. We want it to have fruit. We want it to have life on it. But if you're going to have fruit in life here, you've got to pay attention to this end of the branch.

Not this end. This end. Where it attaches to what pours life into it. So many of us are exhausted because we're over here trying to accomplish everything over here. We're trying to make it look fruitful, trying to be fruitful. And we don't know how to attach rest in Christ.

We don't know how to abide in him. You see, when he says that we will bear fruit, what he means is that there will be, as we abide in him, as we're connected to him, that life will be poured into us. And it will be both internal and external fruit. He says that you would bear much fruit and by this way prove that you are my disciples. That he desires that. But that's the end result.

And it's internal and external fruit. I might pick this up again later, but I've got to put it down now. It's internal and external fruit. Internal being character. So the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control.

Wouldn't it be nice if that actually described us? If we were so connected to Jesus that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control were the markers of our life? Don't you actually want to, in a deep way, love people? And don't you find that extremely difficult? Don't we want to be patient and kind and at peace? But see, as we connect to Jesus and stick to Jesus, he pours that in us.

And it's not just internal fruit, but it's external fruit, that we would see people come to know Jesus. The point of fruit is not for the vine, it's for others. So that as we bear fruit, it's that it would be a blessing. We'd be a blessing to those around us, that people would come to know Christ, that people would be served. Martin Luther, I believe, is the one who said that God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does. And that's the reality, that Jesus has accomplished everything on our behalf, but he pours in us and we bear fruit.

This is actually what happens with Jesus when he's hanging out with Martha and Mary. He's hanging out with two sisters. Mary comes and sits at his feet while he's teaching, and Martha runs around working. She's preparing everything, she's fixing everything, she's getting a meal together for him. And she comes over to Jesus and she says, Hey, Jesus, will you tell Mary to come help me? Because, what the heck?

Like, I'm busting my tail here, and Mary's just hanging out in front of you. And Jesus looks at Martha, and I'm going to be honest with you. I'm like, thank you, Martha. Tell Mary to get up, what is she doing? Like, look at you, busting your tail, and your lazy sister, just plopped on the ground. You have guests.

Like, there's part of me that's like, yes, thank you. And then Jesus is like, no, no, no. Martha, Martha, you're busy and worried with many things, but Mary's chosen what's better and it won't be taken away from her. You see, Jesus, Martha was preparing a meal. Jesus can make bread out of anything. He can prepare a meal, he can do whatever.

And he just says, she's chosen something better. We'll be okay if we eat later or if we eat something different. She's chosen what's better. She's actually learning how to sit and rest and not have all this activity. And so there are people in this room who we're saying, I'm working so hard, I'm trying so hard, I've got so much ministry going on, I've got so much going on in life, I'm so busy, I don't have time. I don't have time for this, learning how to sit with Jesus stuff.

And the reality is you don't have time not to. Because you are going to dry up and die. And your ministry, if that's what you're shooting for, will not be fruitful. And if it's just life stuff, just raising children, just having a job, if it's just that and we don't learn how to daily stay connected to Jesus, we will not make it. So we have to, have to learn that it really matters.

My son and I have started watching this Bear Grylls show on Netflix where you can like choose what he does, which is great because he's always like, all right, I can either eat some tree bark or some fish eggs. My son's like, fish eggs? We have made him throw up so often and like we lose our adventure because he's later like throwing up and he's like, you ate the wrong thing. And it's like, well, we're going to go back and make you do it again. But one of the things he does on a consistent basis is he repels down from like a cliff down a thing.

So he takes his rope, watched him do this multiple times and he gives you this option, he can repel down something and you pick for him to repel down. And one of the things I've noticed is he's got a rope. He actually, he hooks it up here and then he walks over here and he just kind of looks and he'll just throw his rope and then he turns and he repels down. He spends way more time on the side of the rope that's going to hold his weight than he does on where he's trying to go. I've never once seen him walk over with his rope and toss it here and then turn and just toss it back this way and then try to repel.

Well, it would not go well for him. Jesus says, this is the side that keeps you alive. Not all your activity, not everything we're running out and doing, not all of our ministry, not all of our fruitfulness. That's a result. This is the side that keeps us alive. Do we know how to abide in, live in Christ?

When he says, live in me, was anybody like, oh, I know exactly how to do that. That it matters immensely that we learn how to stay stuck to, tethered to Christ. That's the whole point of this series is that we might learn ancient practices, things they've done forever that help us stay tethered to, stuck in Christ and abiding in him. In verse 9, he says, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. There might be a temptation for us, specifically for those of us who are busy and active and trying to work hard, to go, okay, I'm going to do it.

I'm going to suddenly put in all this effort. Jesus said to do it. I'm supposed to do it. Let's figure this out. And it's not a, he's not chiding us. It is a command.

He's telling them to abide in him, but he's not, it's not aggressive. He says, abide in my love. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Do y'all have any idea how much God the Father loves God the Son? No, you do not. The best picture we can come up with, it does not reach the depths of the love that the Father has for the Son.

The amount that he prefers him, desires him, chooses him, cares for him, knows him. And Jesus looks at his disciples and has the audacity to say, the way the Father loves me is the way I love you. And that's true. And he goes to the cross to prove it. He tells them, nobody has a greater love than this, that someone would give up his life for his friends. He's about to prove this, put this on display.

And that's the reality for us, that if you were in Christ, he loves you with an unending, unyielding love that is beyond compare. That he is not frustrated with you or upset with you or sick of you. That he prefers you and desires you and wants you to abide in his love. He wants you to rest in, stay connected to him because he cares about you so much so that he would die for our sins to redeem us out of our brokenness. That he did this for us, not while we were clean and perfect, but while we were sinners. He's saying this to the people who are betraying him and about to deny him.

Who are about to fail him and run away. He's inviting them to abide in him and to rest in his love. And that's the invitation for us. Verse 10, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. If you keep my commandments, verse 10, I'm reading again, you will abide in my love just as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. Now this is written in context.

So I want to show you two things he says in John 14 because at first it sounds like he is saying the opposite of what I just said, which is just, hey, work real hard, earn it, and then I'll love you. Verse, John 14, 15, it's on the screen, says this, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. So he just flipped it in 15. He says, keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love. And then he says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. And in 14, 21, he says, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.

You see, the reality is that obedience to Christ goes hand in hand with a love for Christ and brings us into, helps us rest in, the love of Christ. This is what we've been talking about in our idol series is that we love something else more than Jesus, so we serve it, we obey it. And what he's saying is, if you love me above everything else, then you will serve and obey me and you will rest in my love. And if you love me, you'll keep my commandments and if you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love. That our hearts will be oriented to him so much so that he is chief above everything else and so that we will be able to rest in him.

You see, many of us are anxious. we live in a country that is extremely wealthy, that gives us access to health care, entertainment. Our needs are met so much so that we come up with new needs. We need four pairs of shoes. We need, we need, like we have, but we're anxious. We're not, we're not at peace. We're stressed out.

Not only that, we're busy, overly busy. Do you realize that because of our cell phones, we live very distinctly different than people did 20, 30 years ago? You remember, you remember, if you ever had, you haven't had to like wait at a, at like a doctor's office or like wait in line at a thing or sit in a chair? You know, you used to, your brain would just like do stuff on its own. You would think, like thoughts. But now we have a phone in our face?

That if you look at the little report, it says you stare at it three hours a day? Some of you don't. That's what you use Netflix for or whatever. You stare at that. We just, we've learned how to push all the margin out of our lives so that we don't have the ability to just rest and to just sit and that is distinct to us because this is, this is a new way of living in the past 20 to 30 years. We're anxious and we're busy.

We don't know how to sit and be quiet. We don't know how to rest. Not only that, we're bored. It's weird to say that we're busy and we're bored but those are symptoms of the same problem. This is why a lot of men will spend a lot of time and money on adventure hobbies. This is why we, yeah, men will get caught up in video games and we're not in the past.

We're not cheering for a sports team vigorously because it's, it's something in us that wants to be a part of something bigger that matters, wants to accomplish something, wants to achieve something and in reality when we've bought the lie that we're supposed to go out on our own and be free, we have so much freedom but now we have to define our own value, we have to get our own purpose, we have to make our own meaning and it is too much. It's too much. My wife and I had the opportunity to take our four-year-old, he was three at that point, we got to go to Disney World for two days, saved up, we went. One of the things we did was we walked around with him, we let him make a lot of choices, we asked him what he wanted, we asked him if he was having fun, a lot.

Did you like that? Did you like that? Did you like that? About two hours into that, he had almost lost his mind. It was the first time in life we had ever just walked around with him going, are you happy? Are you happy?

Are you complete? Do you want this? What do you like? And I looked at my wife and I said, he doesn't get to choose anything else. We're done asking him if he's happy? I don't care.

The reality is he wasn't designed to be able to handle that. He's four, he's not supposed to make all of his decisions. If right now, he got to choose when he went to bed and what he ate and what the purpose of life was, he would mess himself up. We understand that because he's four, but the reality is we're creatures designed by a creator. we were not meant to define our own value, give ourselves meaning and purpose and know exactly what the role of the world is. We were meant to find that in God and only when we are tethered to him are we actually free. You need less freedom so that you might actually have love and meaning.

And not just that. See, he says that if you follow my commandments, if you obey, you'll dwell in my love and if you love me, you'll obey. And then he says this, verse 11, these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. Full. When was the last time you said, you know, if I had more joy, I think it would kill me. Full.

Filled up to the brim. So, I just, joyous. I need to buy, like, bigger clothes to handle all the joy I got. That we're to have full joy in Christ as we learn how to rest in his love and as we learn to be tethered to him. This is the freedom that you are offered. And you're not able to do it.

The limbs, the branches that stayed in my backyard are not free to roam around. But they're doing better than this guy. There's actually more joy in being stuck to Jesus, tethered to him so that there are certain decisions in your life you don't get to make, you don't get to decide your value. Christ says that you are absolutely valuable, that he loves and cherishes you above all else. You don't get to decide your worth. You don't get to decide your purpose and your meaning that God gives us this and then we get to rest and have joy and life as the vine pours life into us.

But we have to learn how to sit with him. We have to learn how to rest with him. We have to learn how to daily stay connected to him. It's not like rechargeable batteries where we get to go spend away time with him and then you get to go back out into the world. Some of you have children. You get like 12 minutes a day by yourself and during that time their hands are under the bathroom door.

We have to learn how to stay connected to Jesus in the mundane and the normal so that life might be poured into us at all times. There is a pastor named Alistair Begg who I really appreciate the way he thinks about things and I listen to him on a regular basis. He said that he found that young pastors overestimate what they can accomplish in a short time. So if you talk to a young pastor in six months we are going to be doing this in a year we are going to be doing this and then I don't know well just like ascend into glory. And he says they underestimate what they are able to do over the course of a long time.

So they overestimate what they can do in a year but underestimate what can happen what the Lord can do in 20 years in 25 years. And I don't think that is true just for pastors I think that is true for us. That we so undervalue what happens if we will learn how to stay tethered to Christ for the next 25, 35, 45 years the amount of people that will be blessed the amount of fruit that will be born. That's even the thing is that a healthy tree bears fruit in season. There are times where the limbs on that tree look just like this. Guess what?

They are coming back next year. This one is not. The rest of them will. But there are times where we do not look fruitful but if we are stuck to Christ we will be eventually because this end of it is the result of the vine working not the branch working. The branch's Job stay stuck to the vine. The vine's Job do all the other stuff.

That we actually get to stay connected to Jesus and Jesus works through us and in us for his glory. It's by the fact that we bear much fruit that the Father is glorified and this is for our joy and our freedom. There's a story in the Old Testament of a Syrian general. He's powerful. He's rich. He's feared.

But he has leprosy. So his body is rotting away. He's in a position that we would most look at and say he would be to be envied in the amount of power he has and the amount of wealth he has and the amount of stature he has. His name's Naaman. He actually they capture an Israelite have her as their servant and she tells him there's a prophet in Israel who can take away leprosy. The Lord works through him.

You can be healed. So they load up the head to the castle to where the king is. They say where's the prophet? The prophet says oh the king's not in charge of the prophet. He does his own thing. He's not here.

Because the only thing he'd think was like where can I go get more power? Where can I you know where would be the strongest person? Let's go to the castle. They send him over to the prophet. God tells Elijah that Naaman's coming. Elijah tells his servant go outside and talk to Naaman.

So he goes out you know it's possible the servant talks to him first and goes in and talks to Elijah. Y'all can read it later. I'm getting a few of these details messed up. I'm going to get most of it right. I also periodically get Elijah and Elisha confused. And so I just this is going to be real close.

And I'm now realizing I should have read this whole thing before I got up here. Tried to paraphrase it. Alright. So the servant goes out to Naaman. Naaman tells him why he's there. He's brought all this gold.

He's brought all these changes of clothes. He brought all this stuff and he says I'm here to get healed. And the servant says yes. Go to the Jordan River. Dunk yourself in it seven times. Your leprosy will be gone.

Naaman gets angry. The prophet won't even come talk to him. He just talks to his servant. The servant tells him to go to a small dirty river and wash himself. He just turns around and he says we're leaving. They start riding off.

Tells him to go to a small dirty river and wash himself. He just turns around and he says we're leaving. They start riding off. He said the Tigris and Euphrates we have nicer rivers in Syria. I've got better stuff I can go wash in than y'all's dirty little podent garbage river. Again, let's paraphrase. One of his servants stops him and says Naaman if he had

Told you to do something great wouldn't you have done it? Like you're a military leader if he had said to you climb to the top of a mountain battle a wizard get the golden crystal bring it down like if he'd have told you like take the ring to Mordor whatever wouldn't you have done it? He picked it's like a super close river

It's not even deep like I don't even think you could drown in that if you wanted to like just head on over dunk yourself seven times it's simple see humble yourself so Naaman does he goes and he dips himself in the river seven times and he comes out and it says his skin was like a baby's skin which I'm sure was weird the next time he got in

You know was having to do general stuff and fight and stuff because of his tender little new skin that he had had to regain some calluses and what not perfectly clean his leprosy is gone there's part of us that wants fruitfulness to be based off of how good we are Jesus Jesus

Just says rest in me abide in me rest in my love stay connected to me it will take some effort some you will actually have to open your bible we will actually have to pray we will actually have to make it a practice of these disciplines that we're going to try to coach us through and practically how to do but it's the

Amount of effort it takes for a war hero to go dip himself in a river seven times you just gotta do it it's not that difficult it's like if someone prepares a meal for you and when you're done taking pictures of it with your phone they have the audacity to not walk over and cut it up for you

And stick it in your mouth you actually have to use your hands like did you have to work to eat the meal yeah you had to chew it your body had to digest it you had to use your hands but what did you prepare the meal that's what Jesus is saying he's the life he's the one we get to rest

And he's the one we get to connect to it's going to take some effort we are going to have to be disciplined we are going to have to put our phones away we are going to have to set aside some time we are going to have to wake up a little earlier go to bed a little later we are going

To have to do some of those things but all of those things are so that we can get connected to Jesus and he can do everything else Jesus in Matthew chapter 11 it will be on the screen he makes this invitation

He's in a big crowd he says come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you a yoke's what ox wear to pull a load take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am

Gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls a lot of us vacation but we don't know how to find a rest for our souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light

You see the reason this is true is that we do not have to earn our own salvation you do not have to gain your own value you don't have to find your own purpose and meaning that you get to

Trust in Jesus and his finished work on the cross and you get to have him pour life into you if we will only stay connected to him then we'll bear fruit in season when we're

Meant to we'll have life and vitality pouring into us at all times the band's going to come back up Eugene Peterson is a pastor who on a consistent basis would translate the Greek

To English for his congregation in just real simple terms and so he eventually just compiled all that and made the message version of the Bible and I think it's helpful the way he phrases this and again he's just

Trying to hit the gist of it in very common wording he says this are you tired worn out burned out on religion so this is him taking what Jesus just said we read in Matthew 11 he says

Come to me get away with me and you'll recover your life and I'll show you how to take a real rest walk with me and work with me watch how I do it learn the unforced rhythms of grace

We are meant to submit to Jesus we are meant to follow his commands we are meant to stay connected to him so that he is the guiding ruler of our lives and we are told we are

Withering and dying by a burden that is too heavy for us we cannot save ourselves we are withering and dying and Jesus says come to me learn the unrushed rhythms of grace learn how

To dwell with me learn how to make me your home learn how to sit and get what is better our hope our goal is that we would walk with Jesus for a lifetime bearing fruit in season not look great for a short time and flame

Out dry up die be gathered and burned but that we might learn how to rest in Jesus and have a sustainable pace of life where there is joy to the full and if you are like me saying I don't know if my

Joy is full I don't know if I feel like the Lord is pouring life into me every day then let's commit to walk down to the Jordan and dip ourselves seven times and trust Christ and his grace

And do a little bit of work that gets us close to him that moves us under the waterfall of his grace where we might have life poured into us where we might be made full come accept the invitation to come and rest accept the

Invitation to abide and let's learn how to practice some ancient practices so that we might dwell in Christ who offers us hope and life and joy through his resurrection and the life that he brings to all those who would trust in him

Let's pray God we thank you for your grace thank you for the hope that we have in you and you alone and I pray that we would that you would train us through your Holy Spirit that we might abide that we

Might learn how to rest in you that for all of us who are right now trying to earn our way trying to prove ourselves that we would lay down those burdens that we would come to you who picked up our burden at

The cross and might we have joy and might we focus on the right end of the branch and let you do the rest for your glory and your name and your praise amen

Transcript

My dad likes to fish and hunt, and he went, on a regular basis, would go fishing with my uncle. It was his brother-in-law, my Uncle John, and they would go fishing. And they went fishing one time, and they were out, and it was cold, and it was raining, but they were catching fish. And so they had spent the time to get out there, and they were fishing, and it was getting colder and colder. And my dad eventually looked at my Uncle John and said, aren't you cold? Can we just, can we call it, can we go in?

Because, I mean, I don't know if you've ever spent much time out in the rain. It doesn't have to be raining very hard for you to eventually get completely and utterly soaked. And he was completely and utterly soaked, and it was cold. And fishing can only be so fun if you are cold and wet. And so my dad looked at my uncle and said, can we call it? And my uncle was like, no, we're going to catch a fish.

And, like, I'm fine, so you should be fine. And so my dad was like, all right. Because I don't know if you've been here and heard some stories about my dad. He's not tender or delicate. He does happen to be here this morning, if you would like to confirm some of the stories I've told and see if they are true. The quickest way to do that would be to try to slap him on his way out and see what happens.

I'm just kidding. Don't do that. But I did. This past Christmas, he asked to help him get set up so that he could listen to the podcast or the sermons. And I helped him set that up for Christmas. But I said, I just want you to know I've talked about you with complete immunity for, like, four years now.

And it is mostly true what I've said about you. But so he just, you know, he's like, all right, I'm going to buck up. I can handle it. I can handle it. You know, so they just keep fishing. And my dad's sitting there, you know, he's shaking at some point.

He looks at him and says, I think probably about time to go now. My uncle's like, no, no. I'm like, you know, and he's giving a hard time. He's like, come on, kid. You can't handle it? You know, so my dad's like, all right.

So eventually they just keep going. But finally it just soaks, I mean, to the bone. My dad looks at him and says, you know, I don't care. Like, I just, I've been as much of a man as I'm going to be today. Like, let's go. Like, I don't hear it.

Let's pack it up. Let's go. So they went back to where they were staying. They get in. My dad's shaking. He's taking his clothes off.

My uncle unfazed the whole time. Just, just take, you know, unbutton his clothes. And I say, my dad's peeling off wet layer after wet layer. And my uncle takes off his first jacket and has on a raincoat underneath it. Undoes his raincoat and was perfectly warm and dry the entire time. My dad's peeling wet t-shirts off.

And he's like, you, you, you gotta be kidding me. My uncle's like, how was I to know you didn't have a raincoat? We knew the forecast. Like how? I just assumed everyone dressed the way I dress. And in reality, what we want in life, what everybody in here wants in life is to be able to walk through life like my uncle was able to be out in the rain where it doesn't matter what's going on around us.

We're still warm and okay. That it doesn't matter what's happening around us. It doesn't matter what life is throwing at us. It doesn't matter the circumstances. It doesn't matter our finances. It doesn't matter our relationships that we're okay.

But in reality, many of us feel like my dad did on that day. Like what is going on around me has soaked to the bone. And I don't know if I can keep going. I don't know if I can move forward. I don't know if I can keep walking in this. It has gotten to me and I don't know how to move.

We just spent three weeks talking through idolatry where we said that we were designed to love something, to cherish something, to have affection for something and to have it set for us life, our meaning and our purpose and our hope and our satisfaction. We took the time to say that we consistently, that was meant to be God, but we consistently move him from that position and put something else there and it cannot handle the weight of our worship. And every time we spend time talking about idolatry, I'm convinced. I'm reconvinced that I am an idolater and that I need to love and worship Jesus above everything else.

But maybe that's where you are, but maybe you're like one of the guys in our, in my community group this past week who said, yes, yes, I love this thing more than Jesus. And yes, I'm supposed to love Jesus more. And I know I'm going to, but how, how, how do, how do I force myself there? How do I get my heart there? And so that is our hope in this series that we would be able to learn how to abide in Christ so that we were consistently filled up, made fresh, kept warm, even in the middle of everything else that's going on, that we would be pumped full of life. And that's what we're going to read in John chapter 15.

So let's pray together and then let's begin studying this together. God, we thank you for the invitation that you make to your disciples today. We thank you for the command that you give your disciples today. And we pray that we would learn how to rest and abide in you. We ask for your help in Jesus name. Amen.

John chapter 15. This is Jesus with his disciples. The, the night he is betrayed, the night before he will go on trial and then be crucified the next day. And he knows what is coming and he is in some ways finally finalizing all the information he's given him. He's praying with them. He's coaching them up and he's doing this all in the context of the crucifixion, the gospel that he's about to die, be buried and rise again.

And so he's talking to his disciples and I just want to make this clear as we read this, he is talking to the, to the men that were around him and he had been training and equipping. And as he prays for them later, he prays not, he says, Lord, this isn't just for them. It's for all those who will believe through them. So this is for us as well. So what he's saying to them is for them, but then for the church, for all those who would choose to follow Jesus.

He says, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. So the idea here is like a grapevine. And he's saying that he's the vine, he's, he's the, the health, the life, the vitality. He's the one that has roots that, that reaches up and that the father is the vine dresser who comes along and prunes.

And he says, you are the branches. Already you are clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Abide in me. And I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I'm the vine.

You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and burn. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit. And so prove to be my disciples.

We're going to keep going in just a minute, all the way down to verse 11 in this section. He says, abide 11 times, abide, abide, abide, abide, abide. Now this is not a word that we use very often. But it means to live in, to dwell. This is where the, an abode is where you live. I remember my young brother, my younger brother came up to visit us after Anna and I had gotten married and he walked in and he said, thank you so much for welcoming me into your humble abode.

And I was like, dude, if I call it a humble abode, it's humility. If you call it a humble abode, it's rude. So I wouldn't just rock up to people's houses and say that like, I don't mind. But like in a minute, she's going to fix this food. Don't sit down and thank her for the meager sustenance. Okay.

Like, but an abode is where you abide. And what he's saying is live, dwell with, wait here, stay here. Terry, live in me. Abide in me. Make your home here. Now that is a beautiful invitation made more beautiful to you if you're an introvert.

Extroverts maybe don't really understand how beautiful that invitation is, but introverts are like, oh yes, a home. Yes. You close the door. People don't bother you. It's wonderful. That's what my wife every once in a while I'll be like, hey, look, I'll watch the boys.

You can go somewhere. And she's like, oh, and I'm like, all right, I will take the boys somewhere and you can lock the door and pretend no one exists and just be in your house. Because that means so much more. And that's what Jesus is saying is he's saying, dwell here, live here, have life here in me. Abide in me. I am the vine.

You are the branches. And without me, you can do nothing. You will wither and die. Some of you have heard the phrase about having a friend who is ride or die. Well, with Jesus, it's abide or die. You have to dwell in, live in him, be filled up by him, or you will die.

I brought something with me this morning I want to show y'all. So this is a branch that used to abide in my backyard. It lived on a tree. The tree is still there. This branch is not. This branch got to come here.

These used to be green. Oh, that was embarrassing, buddy. There used to be more of them. The other branches are looking a little better than this one. This is Jesus' point. That as soon as this was removed from the tree, this branch has no more hope.

It will wither and die. It took a little while to get this way. But it has been doing what he said. It's been sitting in my backyard waiting to be burned. So I just went and grabbed it out of a pile this morning so that he could come on a trip and y'all could get to meet it.

So here's the thing. When you go to abide in Jesus, he says, I am the true vine. Not, I'm a good vine. I'm the true vine. I'm the only one that can actually pour life into you. I'm the only one that can give you vitality.

And what he's saying is that you need something outside of yourself to give you life. That seems pretty straightforward, but in American culture, we don't believe that. We are told constantly, you, look inside of you. Find what's inside of you. Learn how to express it. Learn how to bring it out.

If you can find the real you and the inner you, then you'll have peace and you'll have life and you'll be full and you'll be free. This branch is free. It got to come on a trip and see the inside of Glen Forest. Live its dreams. And many of us feel like this. We've been told you're all you need.

Fill yourself up with you. Find you. Whatever. And the truth is we're not fruitful and lush. We're dry and brittle and exhausted because we were meant to abide in Jesus. But if you're going to abide in Jesus, if we're going to stick with Jesus, the truth is he says the result will be fruitfulness.

And in reality, what we so often want is the fruitfulness. We want this to be green. We want it to have fruit. We want it to have life on it. But if you're going to have fruit in life here, you've got to pay attention to this end of the branch.

Not this end. This end. Where it attaches to what pours life into it. So many of us are exhausted because we're over here trying to accomplish everything over here. We're trying to make it look fruitful, trying to be fruitful. And we don't know how to attach rest in Christ.

We don't know how to abide in him. You see, when he says that we will bear fruit, what he means is that there will be, as we abide in him, as we're connected to him, that life will be poured into us. And it will be both internal and external fruit. He says that you would bear much fruit and by this way prove that you are my disciples. That he desires that. But that's the end result.

And it's internal and external fruit. I might pick this up again later, but I've got to put it down now. It's internal and external fruit. Internal being character. So the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control.

Wouldn't it be nice if that actually described us? If we were so connected to Jesus that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control were the markers of our life? Don't you actually want to, in a deep way, love people? And don't you find that extremely difficult? Don't we want to be patient and kind and at peace? But see, as we connect to Jesus and stick to Jesus, he pours that in us.

And it's not just internal fruit, but it's external fruit, that we would see people come to know Jesus. The point of fruit is not for the vine, it's for others. So that as we bear fruit, it's that it would be a blessing. We'd be a blessing to those around us, that people would come to know Christ, that people would be served. Martin Luther, I believe, is the one who said that God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does. And that's the reality, that Jesus has accomplished everything on our behalf, but he pours in us and we bear fruit.

This is actually what happens with Jesus when he's hanging out with Martha and Mary. He's hanging out with two sisters. Mary comes and sits at his feet while he's teaching, and Martha runs around working. She's preparing everything, she's fixing everything, she's getting a meal together for him. And she comes over to Jesus and she says, Hey, Jesus, will you tell Mary to come help me? Because, what the heck?

Like, I'm busting my tail here, and Mary's just hanging out in front of you. And Jesus looks at Martha, and I'm going to be honest with you. I'm like, thank you, Martha. Tell Mary to get up, what is she doing? Like, look at you, busting your tail, and your lazy sister, just plopped on the ground. You have guests.

Like, there's part of me that's like, yes, thank you. And then Jesus is like, no, no, no. Martha, Martha, you're busy and worried with many things, but Mary's chosen what's better and it won't be taken away from her. You see, Jesus, Martha was preparing a meal. Jesus can make bread out of anything. He can prepare a meal, he can do whatever.

And he just says, she's chosen something better. We'll be okay if we eat later or if we eat something different. She's chosen what's better. She's actually learning how to sit and rest and not have all this activity. And so there are people in this room who we're saying, I'm working so hard, I'm trying so hard, I've got so much ministry going on, I've got so much going on in life, I'm so busy, I don't have time. I don't have time for this, learning how to sit with Jesus stuff.

And the reality is you don't have time not to. Because you are going to dry up and die. And your ministry, if that's what you're shooting for, will not be fruitful. And if it's just life stuff, just raising children, just having a job, if it's just that and we don't learn how to daily stay connected to Jesus, we will not make it. So we have to, have to learn that it really matters.

My son and I have started watching this Bear Grylls show on Netflix where you can like choose what he does, which is great because he's always like, all right, I can either eat some tree bark or some fish eggs. My son's like, fish eggs? We have made him throw up so often and like we lose our adventure because he's later like throwing up and he's like, you ate the wrong thing. And it's like, well, we're going to go back and make you do it again. But one of the things he does on a consistent basis is he repels down from like a cliff down a thing.

So he takes his rope, watched him do this multiple times and he gives you this option, he can repel down something and you pick for him to repel down. And one of the things I've noticed is he's got a rope. He actually, he hooks it up here and then he walks over here and he just kind of looks and he'll just throw his rope and then he turns and he repels down. He spends way more time on the side of the rope that's going to hold his weight than he does on where he's trying to go. I've never once seen him walk over with his rope and toss it here and then turn and just toss it back this way and then try to repel.

Well, it would not go well for him. Jesus says, this is the side that keeps you alive. Not all your activity, not everything we're running out and doing, not all of our ministry, not all of our fruitfulness. That's a result. This is the side that keeps us alive. Do we know how to abide in, live in Christ?

When he says, live in me, was anybody like, oh, I know exactly how to do that. That it matters immensely that we learn how to stay stuck to, tethered to Christ. That's the whole point of this series is that we might learn ancient practices, things they've done forever that help us stay tethered to, stuck in Christ and abiding in him. In verse 9, he says, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. There might be a temptation for us, specifically for those of us who are busy and active and trying to work hard, to go, okay, I'm going to do it.

I'm going to suddenly put in all this effort. Jesus said to do it. I'm supposed to do it. Let's figure this out. And it's not a, he's not chiding us. It is a command.

He's telling them to abide in him, but he's not, it's not aggressive. He says, abide in my love. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Do y'all have any idea how much God the Father loves God the Son? No, you do not. The best picture we can come up with, it does not reach the depths of the love that the Father has for the Son.

The amount that he prefers him, desires him, chooses him, cares for him, knows him. And Jesus looks at his disciples and has the audacity to say, the way the Father loves me is the way I love you. And that's true. And he goes to the cross to prove it. He tells them, nobody has a greater love than this, that someone would give up his life for his friends. He's about to prove this, put this on display.

And that's the reality for us, that if you were in Christ, he loves you with an unending, unyielding love that is beyond compare. That he is not frustrated with you or upset with you or sick of you. That he prefers you and desires you and wants you to abide in his love. He wants you to rest in, stay connected to him because he cares about you so much so that he would die for our sins to redeem us out of our brokenness. That he did this for us, not while we were clean and perfect, but while we were sinners. He's saying this to the people who are betraying him and about to deny him.

Who are about to fail him and run away. He's inviting them to abide in him and to rest in his love. And that's the invitation for us. Verse 10, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. If you keep my commandments, verse 10, I'm reading again, you will abide in my love just as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. Now this is written in context.

So I want to show you two things he says in John 14 because at first it sounds like he is saying the opposite of what I just said, which is just, hey, work real hard, earn it, and then I'll love you. Verse, John 14, 15, it's on the screen, says this, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. So he just flipped it in 15. He says, keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love. And then he says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. And in 14, 21, he says, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.

You see, the reality is that obedience to Christ goes hand in hand with a love for Christ and brings us into, helps us rest in, the love of Christ. This is what we've been talking about in our idol series is that we love something else more than Jesus, so we serve it, we obey it. And what he's saying is, if you love me above everything else, then you will serve and obey me and you will rest in my love. And if you love me, you'll keep my commandments and if you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love. That our hearts will be oriented to him so much so that he is chief above everything else and so that we will be able to rest in him.

You see, many of us are anxious. we live in a country that is extremely wealthy, that gives us access to health care, entertainment. Our needs are met so much so that we come up with new needs. We need four pairs of shoes. We need, we need, like we have, but we're anxious. We're not, we're not at peace. We're stressed out.

Not only that, we're busy, overly busy. Do you realize that because of our cell phones, we live very distinctly different than people did 20, 30 years ago? You remember, you remember, if you ever had, you haven't had to like wait at a, at like a doctor's office or like wait in line at a thing or sit in a chair? You know, you used to, your brain would just like do stuff on its own. You would think, like thoughts. But now we have a phone in our face?

That if you look at the little report, it says you stare at it three hours a day? Some of you don't. That's what you use Netflix for or whatever. You stare at that. We just, we've learned how to push all the margin out of our lives so that we don't have the ability to just rest and to just sit and that is distinct to us because this is, this is a new way of living in the past 20 to 30 years. We're anxious and we're busy.

We don't know how to sit and be quiet. We don't know how to rest. Not only that, we're bored. It's weird to say that we're busy and we're bored but those are symptoms of the same problem. This is why a lot of men will spend a lot of time and money on adventure hobbies. This is why we, yeah, men will get caught up in video games and we're not in the past.

We're not cheering for a sports team vigorously because it's, it's something in us that wants to be a part of something bigger that matters, wants to accomplish something, wants to achieve something and in reality when we've bought the lie that we're supposed to go out on our own and be free, we have so much freedom but now we have to define our own value, we have to get our own purpose, we have to make our own meaning and it is too much. It's too much. My wife and I had the opportunity to take our four-year-old, he was three at that point, we got to go to Disney World for two days, saved up, we went. One of the things we did was we walked around with him, we let him make a lot of choices, we asked him what he wanted, we asked him if he was having fun, a lot.

Did you like that? Did you like that? Did you like that? About two hours into that, he had almost lost his mind. It was the first time in life we had ever just walked around with him going, are you happy? Are you happy?

Are you complete? Do you want this? What do you like? And I looked at my wife and I said, he doesn't get to choose anything else. We're done asking him if he's happy? I don't care.

The reality is he wasn't designed to be able to handle that. He's four, he's not supposed to make all of his decisions. If right now, he got to choose when he went to bed and what he ate and what the purpose of life was, he would mess himself up. We understand that because he's four, but the reality is we're creatures designed by a creator. we were not meant to define our own value, give ourselves meaning and purpose and know exactly what the role of the world is. We were meant to find that in God and only when we are tethered to him are we actually free. You need less freedom so that you might actually have love and meaning.

And not just that. See, he says that if you follow my commandments, if you obey, you'll dwell in my love and if you love me, you'll obey. And then he says this, verse 11, these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. Full. When was the last time you said, you know, if I had more joy, I think it would kill me. Full.

Filled up to the brim. So, I just, joyous. I need to buy, like, bigger clothes to handle all the joy I got. That we're to have full joy in Christ as we learn how to rest in his love and as we learn to be tethered to him. This is the freedom that you are offered. And you're not able to do it.

The limbs, the branches that stayed in my backyard are not free to roam around. But they're doing better than this guy. There's actually more joy in being stuck to Jesus, tethered to him so that there are certain decisions in your life you don't get to make, you don't get to decide your value. Christ says that you are absolutely valuable, that he loves and cherishes you above all else. You don't get to decide your worth. You don't get to decide your purpose and your meaning that God gives us this and then we get to rest and have joy and life as the vine pours life into us.

But we have to learn how to sit with him. We have to learn how to rest with him. We have to learn how to daily stay connected to him. It's not like rechargeable batteries where we get to go spend away time with him and then you get to go back out into the world. Some of you have children. You get like 12 minutes a day by yourself and during that time their hands are under the bathroom door.

We have to learn how to stay connected to Jesus in the mundane and the normal so that life might be poured into us at all times. There is a pastor named Alistair Begg who I really appreciate the way he thinks about things and I listen to him on a regular basis. He said that he found that young pastors overestimate what they can accomplish in a short time. So if you talk to a young pastor in six months we are going to be doing this in a year we are going to be doing this and then I don't know well just like ascend into glory. And he says they underestimate what they are able to do over the course of a long time.

So they overestimate what they can do in a year but underestimate what can happen what the Lord can do in 20 years in 25 years. And I don't think that is true just for pastors I think that is true for us. That we so undervalue what happens if we will learn how to stay tethered to Christ for the next 25, 35, 45 years the amount of people that will be blessed the amount of fruit that will be born. That's even the thing is that a healthy tree bears fruit in season. There are times where the limbs on that tree look just like this. Guess what?

They are coming back next year. This one is not. The rest of them will. But there are times where we do not look fruitful but if we are stuck to Christ we will be eventually because this end of it is the result of the vine working not the branch working. The branch's Job stay stuck to the vine. The vine's Job do all the other stuff.

That we actually get to stay connected to Jesus and Jesus works through us and in us for his glory. It's by the fact that we bear much fruit that the Father is glorified and this is for our joy and our freedom. There's a story in the Old Testament of a Syrian general. He's powerful. He's rich. He's feared.

But he has leprosy. So his body is rotting away. He's in a position that we would most look at and say he would be to be envied in the amount of power he has and the amount of wealth he has and the amount of stature he has. His name's Naaman. He actually they capture an Israelite have her as their servant and she tells him there's a prophet in Israel who can take away leprosy. The Lord works through him.

You can be healed. So they load up the head to the castle to where the king is. They say where's the prophet? The prophet says oh the king's not in charge of the prophet. He does his own thing. He's not here.

Because the only thing he'd think was like where can I go get more power? Where can I you know where would be the strongest person? Let's go to the castle. They send him over to the prophet. God tells Elijah that Naaman's coming. Elijah tells his servant go outside and talk to Naaman.

So he goes out you know it's possible the servant talks to him first and goes in and talks to Elijah. Y'all can read it later. I'm getting a few of these details messed up. I'm going to get most of it right. I also periodically get Elijah and Elisha confused. And so I just this is going to be real close.

And I'm now realizing I should have read this whole thing before I got up here. Tried to paraphrase it. Alright. So the servant goes out to Naaman. Naaman tells him why he's there. He's brought all this gold.

He's brought all these changes of clothes. He brought all this stuff and he says I'm here to get healed. And the servant says yes. Go to the Jordan River. Dunk yourself in it seven times. Your leprosy will be gone.

Naaman gets angry. The prophet won't even come talk to him. He just talks to his servant. The servant tells him to go to a small dirty river and wash himself. He just turns around and he says we're leaving. They start riding off.

Tells him to go to a small dirty river and wash himself. He just turns around and he says we're leaving. They start riding off. He said the Tigris and Euphrates we have nicer rivers in Syria. I've got better stuff I can go wash in than y'all's dirty little podent garbage river. Again, let's paraphrase. One of his servants stops him and says Naaman if he had

Told you to do something great wouldn't you have done it? Like you're a military leader if he had said to you climb to the top of a mountain battle a wizard get the golden crystal bring it down like if he'd have told you like take the ring to Mordor whatever wouldn't you have done it? He picked it's like a super close river

It's not even deep like I don't even think you could drown in that if you wanted to like just head on over dunk yourself seven times it's simple see humble yourself so Naaman does he goes and he dips himself in the river seven times and he comes out and it says his skin was like a baby's skin which I'm sure was weird the next time he got in

You know was having to do general stuff and fight and stuff because of his tender little new skin that he had had to regain some calluses and what not perfectly clean his leprosy is gone there's part of us that wants fruitfulness to be based off of how good we are Jesus Jesus

Just says rest in me abide in me rest in my love stay connected to me it will take some effort some you will actually have to open your bible we will actually have to pray we will actually have to make it a practice of these disciplines that we're going to try to coach us through and practically how to do but it's the

Amount of effort it takes for a war hero to go dip himself in a river seven times you just gotta do it it's not that difficult it's like if someone prepares a meal for you and when you're done taking pictures of it with your phone they have the audacity to not walk over and cut it up for you

And stick it in your mouth you actually have to use your hands like did you have to work to eat the meal yeah you had to chew it your body had to digest it you had to use your hands but what did you prepare the meal that's what Jesus is saying he's the life he's the one we get to rest

And he's the one we get to connect to it's going to take some effort we are going to have to be disciplined we are going to have to put our phones away we are going to have to set aside some time we are going to have to wake up a little earlier go to bed a little later we are going

To have to do some of those things but all of those things are so that we can get connected to Jesus and he can do everything else Jesus in Matthew chapter 11 it will be on the screen he makes this invitation

He's in a big crowd he says come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you a yoke's what ox wear to pull a load take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am

Gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls a lot of us vacation but we don't know how to find a rest for our souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light

You see the reason this is true is that we do not have to earn our own salvation you do not have to gain your own value you don't have to find your own purpose and meaning that you get to

Trust in Jesus and his finished work on the cross and you get to have him pour life into you if we will only stay connected to him then we'll bear fruit in season when we're

Meant to we'll have life and vitality pouring into us at all times the band's going to come back up Eugene Peterson is a pastor who on a consistent basis would translate the Greek

To English for his congregation in just real simple terms and so he eventually just compiled all that and made the message version of the Bible and I think it's helpful the way he phrases this and again he's just

Trying to hit the gist of it in very common wording he says this are you tired worn out burned out on religion so this is him taking what Jesus just said we read in Matthew 11 he says

Come to me get away with me and you'll recover your life and I'll show you how to take a real rest walk with me and work with me watch how I do it learn the unforced rhythms of grace

We are meant to submit to Jesus we are meant to follow his commands we are meant to stay connected to him so that he is the guiding ruler of our lives and we are told we are

Withering and dying by a burden that is too heavy for us we cannot save ourselves we are withering and dying and Jesus says come to me learn the unrushed rhythms of grace learn how

To dwell with me learn how to make me your home learn how to sit and get what is better our hope our goal is that we would walk with Jesus for a lifetime bearing fruit in season not look great for a short time and flame

Out dry up die be gathered and burned but that we might learn how to rest in Jesus and have a sustainable pace of life where there is joy to the full and if you are like me saying I don't know if my

Joy is full I don't know if I feel like the Lord is pouring life into me every day then let's commit to walk down to the Jordan and dip ourselves seven times and trust Christ and his grace

And do a little bit of work that gets us close to him that moves us under the waterfall of his grace where we might have life poured into us where we might be made full come accept the invitation to come and rest accept the

Invitation to abide and let's learn how to practice some ancient practices so that we might dwell in Christ who offers us hope and life and joy through his resurrection and the life that he brings to all those who would trust in him

Let's pray God we thank you for your grace thank you for the hope that we have in you and you alone and I pray that we would that you would train us through your Holy Spirit that we might abide that we

Might learn how to rest in you that for all of us who are right now trying to earn our way trying to prove ourselves that we would lay down those burdens that we would come to you who picked up our burden at

The cross and might we have joy and might we focus on the right end of the branch and let you do the rest for your glory and your name and your praise amen

Jesus is Better than Everything Else

Jesus is Better than Everything Else

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Well, good morning. My name's Chet. I am one of the pastors here. You are a sinner. But, it gets worse. The Bible tells us that sin, what we often think that sin is primarily us breaking rules or disobeying God, but the Bible tells us that sin is actually worse than that.

It's deeper than that. That it's actually that we love other things more than God. And then, because we love things more than God, because we value them over them, our affection over Him, our affection is set on them rather than Him, then we sin, then we disobey. This is actually what happened in the garden. Some people are like, I don't understand the Adam and Eve story, why that was such a big deal, why, you know, he says a tree don't eat the fruit or whatever, and they do, and then everything falls apart from there. That feels a little crazy.

But really, what happened was, prior to thinking the fruit was delicious, prior to thinking that it was more flavorful, they had to believe that it was more flavorful than God. That it had to have, their taste for God had to die first in order for them to have a taste for it. And that's actually the fundamental issue in the human heart, is that we were designed to love and to cherish God. He made us for Himself. And that's beautiful, that God, when He designed the world, He made us to enjoy Him, and Him to love us, to cherish us, for us to have Him as our highest affection, because He is the highest good in the universe.

And rather than do that, we trade Him out for smaller things, that ultimately cannot carry the weight of our worship, and carry the weight of our love, and that's called idolatry. Today's going to be a little bit different than normal. A lot of times we just go to one passage, we walk right through it. If you want to turn to Colossians, Colossians chapter 3, we will get there. But first, we're going to look at a few different places throughout the Old Testament that will be on the screen.

So we will all look together there, but we will get to Colossians 3. I have two sons. I have a four-year-old and a one-year-old. He's like one and a half. My one-year-old came out big, healthy, sleepy, loud, you know, baby stuff. And then about six months into being a human, he started getting really red.

Four to six months started getting red and itchy, and his skin was scaly, and he looked gross. And he would scratch himself so much that he would bleed. So we had to start like zipping him up in bags at night, which now he's hooked on, and we don't know at what age we're going to be like, bro, you don't have to sleep in this bag anymore. Maybe he's like seven. The first time he goes to do a sleepover, we'll be like, you've got to zip him up in this sack. But he scratches himself.

He would scratch himself until he bled, and we started figuring like there's something wrong here because most people don't look like this, so we've got to figure out what's going on. And at one point when he fully kind of transitioned to just being bottle-fed, he got way worse. And so we were trying to, you know, you start mixing in like oats and stuff in his bottles, and he actually started just throwing up every night. And we were like, well, this is a problem. Like he's got to be able to keep food down. So we took him to the doctor.

The doctor had been seeing him and kind of giving us some creams and stuff. We finally brought him. We're like, hey, this is worse. This isn't just like dry baby skin. Like we got problems here. And what you want when you go to a doctor is you want them to figure out what's causing the symptoms.

Like we can see the symptoms. You don't want the doctor to just be like, well, he looks red. Like, yep, it's true. It seems itchy. Yep. All right, cool.

We'll rub some like jelly on that and see if it gets better. It's like, no, like, you're just like, let's figure out why. Why though? Like he's throwing up. Like, let's figure out. I am no doctor, but I figured that out.

That's why I brought him here. What you want is them to find out the symptoms. It turns out he's allergic to eggs, wheat, milk, peanuts, and oats. So every night we were taking milk and putting oats in it. We were trying to kill him. And it turns out when you stop poisoning him, he is the pastiest white kid you've ever seen.

It's really hard. You take him out in the sun and you rub sunscreen on him and you can't tell where it is. Like, where you've covered and what you had and it's the same color. So, but we had to find out what was causing the symptoms. And that's actually what we're going to try to do today. We looked at idolatry.

We talked about in general what it was. Last week we said we actually can have idols. We can make idols of anything. That you can take any good thing and you can turn it into an idol. That you can love money too much. That you can love work too much.

That you can love your family too much. And I know in America that sounds crazy but we can. We can take something that is good that was meant to be a good thing. Romance, love, work, children. And then we can move God out of the way and we can elevate it to a place it was never meant to be. So that we begin to look at something that is a good thing.

Begin to treat it like a God thing. And we begin to say without you I can't have life. I can't be happy. I can't have joy without you. And so maybe as we've walked through this some of you have begun to see these things in your life. You've begun to go yeah I do care about work too much.

I do care about my children too much. I'm supposed to care about them but I've begun to place them too high in my life so that everything's built around them and I have to have them happy and I have to have them turn okay or I'm not going to be okay. Well here's the thing. When we begin to identify yeah work yeah romance yeah I have to have a girlfriend or I just don't feel alright. It's like okay well that's actually just a symptom. In reality there's something deeper than that.

In reality that's actually just a tool. It's just something you're using to get after what you really want and so that's our goal today is to look beneath if we've discovered surface level idols we're going to try to look beneath them to root level idols. It should be a lot of fun. Let's pray and then let's start looking at some scripture. God we ask for your help today that your Holy Spirit would not only help us see our surface level idols the things that we are using the things that we are pursuing the things that we love inordinately but that you would help us to see why. Why is it that that has been elevated to a position that it ought not to be in?

Why is it what is it that we believe it offers what is it that we believe it gives us that we might find our joy our life our fullness and satisfaction in you because it can only come from you. Let me ask this in Jesus name. Amen. So like I said we're going to get to Colossians but we're going to start in a few places in the Old Testament to get us started so the first one is going to be on screen it's Jeremiah 2 we started here three weeks ago and what we're trying to do today is see that the essential element of idolatry is looking to something other than God to get what only God can give us.

Of idolatry is looking to something other than God to get what only God can give us. Looking to something other than God to receive what only He can provide what only He is able capable of giving us and so Raz started this off here it's in Jeremiah 2 God at the beginning of this chapter has referred to Israel as His bride

He says I remember when you were my bride and you followed me around in the wilderness He's like I look him back and I remember how good it was and then He keeps going and He says that they've swapped Him out so He says be appalled oh heavens at this be shocked be utterly desolate declares the Lord the reason He says oh heavens is because the heavens all of creation

All of angelic world understands fully who He is so He says you want to hear something crazy you want to hear something that will make your jaw drop to the floor you want to hear something that will destroy you and make you desolate my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and they have hewed out cisterns

For themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water okay so Raz explained this a cistern is a man-made bowl that catches rainwater they can be nice none of them are as good as a fountain of flowing water when you live in an arid climate actually when you are a human but more so when you live in an arid climate water is life

You have to have water to live you have to have water to have crops this is we're in America where we take it for granted but if you quit having water come to your house if our reservoirs run out if that big old water tower doesn't have water anymore we got problems and you will move or you will die that's how it works so the people in this arid climate

Would go to places where there was running water you want to be near a river you want to be near a fountain that's where you would set up life because without water there is no life and if you were if there was no water if there was no running water you would dig a big cistern and it would catch rainwater but nobody who was near a

Fountain dug a cistern because you didn't need to there's a fountain there's flowing water here you don't I don't need that and so what he says is I'm a fountain forever pouring out life forever clean forever fresh forever new and they have swapped me out for a hole they dug if the city

Came to you and was like hey we're going to run water out here and you were like no I don't need that I got an above ground swimming pool we got all the water we need you'd be a moron that's what they did they swapped him out for flowing

Water they swapped that out for an above ground swimming pool but it had a hole in the liner it doesn't even hold the water it says it's broken it fails they're going to die that's what idolatry is this is actually Augustine who was an African church leader in the

Beginning of the church he actually says that sin is a disorder of love that we love something out of place so that God says that we've swapped him out for something that won't suffice but then he keeps going and in Jeremiah 3 it starts this way I want to teach y'all something real quick go to Jeremiah

3 Oh never mind I can't teach you yet I'll have to do it on the next slide you have played the whore with many lovers and would you return to me declares the Lord lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see where have you not been ravished

So this is how God sees idolatry he's talking to Israel he says you were my bride you swapped me out I'm a fountain of living water where all the good stuff comes you built yourself a cistern and you're a whore look look and see where have

You not been ravished that when we go to something other than God to receive what we are only meant to get from God he sees it as being a whore and an adulterer he keeps going verse 9 if you move down in Jeremiah 3 he says

Because she took her whoredom lightly she polluted the land committing adultery with stone and tree so we were meant to find our good things in God but that we go to some idol that's what they had stone idols and trees that they would bow down to

And worship and he says that you've run around on me that you were meant to receive joy and hope and satisfaction and fulfillment in me and you've run to something else pursuing what you were only meant to get from me in something

Else he sees it as adultery see at the bottom says Jeremiah 3 1b if you see that written what that means is it's just the back half of the first verse sometimes it'll say 1a that's actually about to come up that just

Means it's the front half so that's just coaching y'all up on what that means because otherwise you're all like what on earth I don't see a 1b it just means back half because the front half had more to it that we would have to explain so I decided rather than showing that I just

Explained this you're welcome go to the next one Jeremiah 37 for they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands with their idols they have committed adultery you see what happens when we run to something other than God we're actually seeking from it what we're meant to only

Have in him and so the question becomes not just that oh I figured it out I love money no no no why what is money telling you what God level promise is money making to you that you're believing oh no no I've elevated romance too high

You know I was sleepless in Seattle it tricked me and ever since I've been sleepless in Columbia it's like yeah okay but what did it promise you what did it promise you that you bought into why why is that

What you've based life off of what God level promise I will fulfill you I will make you whole I will bring you joy so that you're looking at something and saying if I don't have you I'm not okay I'm not okay you see when we lose a good

Thing we're sad when a good thing is attacked we're angry that's right that's how it's supposed to be but when we've placed something in the place of God we begin to not just feel sad or angry we're devastated we're resentful to the point of we can never forgive someone and it's because we've elevated and said I have to have that or I'm not okay you've stolen

Life from me so here's what we're about to do as we ask this question why I'm going to show a chart all right we're going to walk through this chart now we have found this to be helpful this chart is not found in scripture the things we're going to talk about the concept is found in scripture but the specific

Ones we're going to talk through aren't found in scripture so don't argue with it and get real upset and be like well it's like no this is just to be helpful it's a tool to help us see something what we're trying to see is that we can have a surface level idol but we're actually trying to pursue something underneath it so we're going to do four there could be more there could be fewer

It's just it's just chart to be helpful okay deep idol my life only has meaning if my worst nightmare is people around me feel my problem emotion is it's like a like a really sad game show all right first one power deep idol of power meaning that beneath your surface

Level and I'll explain how that works in a second we're going to walk through all four of these is power my life only has meaning if I have success influence or I win worst nightmare humiliation or failure people around you can feel used problem emotion anger next one approval

My life only has meaning if I have affirmation relationships or I feel loved my worst nightmare is rejection or loneliness people around you can feel smothered problem emotions cowardice can't hurt anybody's feelings can't correct anybody because you need freedom next one comfort

Life only has meaning if I have freedom privacy no stress worst thing ever stress demands people around you can feel neglected because you're supposed to care for them but you just don't problem emotions apathy I would help but so far

Away control life only has meaning if I have self-discipline certainty and standards worst nightmare is uncertainty people around me can feel unloved problem emotion worry or anxiety again this is to be helpful we're gonna leave this up for a

Second I'm gonna walk through and show you some things this is to be helpful to help you see there can be something underneath that your idol is actually working to serve so let's talk about money for a second

Because money is very helpful for us to see this it makes this really clear nobody likes money just because they like money I mean you might would have a few like you might have some money that's like hey look this money's from Mexico isn't that

Neat but you haven't worked really hard to have tons of that it's not super helpful here nobody hoards monopoly money you only care about that for the seven and a half hours you play that game someone was like

Hey things seem to be fun can we try to work to destroy these relationships that we've built over time let's play monopoly yeah I didn't want to like my grandmother after today see we only like money because

It's a tool it accomplishes things for us so you and your spouse might both have a money idol but you argue about money all the time because you actually have

Something underneath that's at work so let's walk through them real quick if you have maybe the deep idol of power and you love money so maybe last week you were like oh I

Just care about money too much I'm working too much I'm just all I care about is money it's like okay but why so if it's power maybe

You realize that one of the best ways to have power in life is to have money you can exert influence you're in control

Of what's going on around you you can have people want to talk to you and want to know you you can affect if

You have enough money you can have people that will come ask your advice on things one of my favorite movies ever is Fiddler

On the roof he sings that song if I were a rich man one of the lines in it is the most important men

In town would come to call on me they'd ask me to advise them like Solomon the wise and then he says and it

Doesn't matter if I answered right or wrong because when you're rich they think you really know and maybe you realize if I have

Money then I have influence I have power the more money I have the more points I have scored in life the more it's

Obvious that I'm winning maybe it's not that at all maybe it's approval so you realize one of the best ways to get people

To like you is to buy them things if you want people to smile at you pay for the pizza boom instant approval be

The person who gets the cheese dip for the table I think I just found my best friend like you just maybe find this

It's one of the best ways to get people to appreciate you maybe it's not that kind of approval maybe you just realize if

You have nice clothes and a nice car and you have the newest stuff people just want to be around you maybe growing up

You were the kid who had the Atari or the N64 or the Playstation 4 just depending on what age you grew up in

The basketball goal whatever you just found hey this is a great way to get people to want to be around I'm annoying but

If I have an N64 people will be my friend maybe it's comfort so you need money you work hard but the goal is

To then use your money to defend you from discomfort biggest couch biggest television door dash uber eats used to be you could just order

Pizza around here now you can have someone deliver mcdonald's to your house why would you do that you have money and you love

Comfort you can have how amazing is that I'll sit on my couch I'll watch stranger things someone will knock on my door and

Hand me food I don't need to be in a community group I'm good I got friends I got food I got a couch

Leave me alone maybe it's control you don't have to worry about the future because you have money you can pay for something for

Your children but then you use it to dig your hooks in I'll pay for the wedding no no not that color no no

Not that music no no I'm sorry I wrote a check I am in charge now maybe it's not that malicious it's just so

Nice to have some money in the bank because the future isn't as scary transmission goes out I got this I know nothing about

Cars we're okay it's just a good way to be in control now that's just four you can put success up there you can

Say that's the primary one you can put something else up there this is just to help you see that if you've identified a

Surface level idol in reality it is just think back to the ancient Greeks and they had the Parthenon where they had all these

Different idols that they worshipped and they had Artemis and they had Ares and they had all these different ones that they would worship

They were just a means to an end Ares helped you win your war Artemis kept you influential and made you successful Aphrodite brought

About beauty and love and the reality this so I'll serve this I want comfort I want control I want power I want influence

I want love I want approval I want romance so I'll serve this alright now it gets really scary let's take approval let's follow the life of a young

Lady she just wants approval she just needs people to look at her and smile and clap you guys from zero to fifth grade

She is a little princess perfectly well behaved made good grades she memorized things she did all the stuff in front of people and

It was celebrated it was beautiful it was good to see and not a bad thing to be doing but in reality she just

Has this hole in her heart she needs approval that's what she was running off of then middle school things got weird it's like

What happened to our perfect little angel but the reality was nothing happened to her she just found a better idol surface idol to

Serve her approval God she got to middle school and it turns out it was other middle school girls that's that's that's where she felt the most

Approval and when she didn't have that approval it's where it hurt the most wasn't coming from mom and dad anymore it's coming from

13 Year olds so she completely changed her heart level idol didn't but her surface level did that was middle school she has high

School turns out it's boys best way to get approval so most of her life back in the day maybe that meant she was

At parties she was always decked out hanging at the mall maybe it meant she was in the backseat of cars now maybe it

Means she's on Instagram all the time sending out pictures and doing things that she ought not be doing with a cell phone the

Goal is just to get some likes just to get some approval just have somebody smile and clap she gets around some Christians all her friend group

Changes and now the best way to be approved of by Christians is behave say the right stuff so she's not in love with Jesus she's

In love with approval but she found that being around Christians is a good way to get encouragement they're super encouraging people you guys she

Starts behaving well they start clapping for so here's what happens she looks like she loves Jesus she falls into sin can't confess it

Can't let anybody know she pretends she hides she doesn't actually love Jesus she doesn't actually understand that he's a savior she doesn't actually

Understand she can confess everything she just needs approval and so what looked like great behavior and looked like a love for Jesus was

Actually just a love for approval and as soon as it came time to repent it came time to confess and it came time

To own some sin and to get rid of some evil in her heart she can't do it because she'll lose approval from her peers

And you could watch her life and it would seem like she'd gone through different phases but she hadn't she served one God the

Whole time you can do that with power you can do it with comfort you can do it with control you can see that

Something changes over time but in reality the deep heart level God that is being served maybe hadn't shifted at all just the thing

That seemed like it would best accomplish the Job at the time you see our idols are so often just a means to an

End because our idols have come along and they've promised us they've made God level promises I know when people meet me one of

The first thoughts they have is I bet he was really cool in middle school you'd be surprised to find out that is not true

I was not really cool in middle school I know be shocked be utterly desolate but in middle school at one point I thought it

Would be cool and it would make me from this color to like a bleached white blonde and then as I got closer to

It I was like not my whole head just the top just this part you'll be even more surprised to find out that that

Did not make me cool it did not look cool I didn't really know it right when I first did it I thought it

Was awesome and then the more grew out and often the people around us can see how stupid we look but we can't see

It it's one of the things we talk about in our community groups one of the ways you serve each other best is to help point out

To someone hey I think this is actually an idol for you come in tread lightly as you enter don't move don't back up

When they say no because of course they'll say no hey I actually think you value your children a little more you probably ought to

Just keep pushing there keep talking about it be calm but don't back up if they just say no I actually think relationships boyfriends

Mean a little bit too much to you because it's easier for us to see other people's idols than it is for us to see

Our all we need the church family we see our own idols because in reality so often they're good things and we love them

So it's hard to move off of them they're promising us something that they can't provide but we don't know that yet and often

When we are most frustrated with God it's actually him doing what he's done since the beginning he's grabbing our idol and he's punching

It in the face it's actually what he does in Egypt when he does the ten plagues he goes through and picks their gods

And just makes a mockery of them oh y'all have like a frog God watch I'm in charge of frogs because I always wondered

I read those and these plagues are so weird God was like I'm going to flex frogs that's a weird flex but okay it's

Like no he's actually picking a God they have and he's he's just putting their gods in a headlock you have an eye of

God turn it to blood how's that taste like he oh you have a God in charge of the sun sun doesn't work anymore

And he does that to us because he loves us he graciously at times will come in and just destroy one of our gods

It'll fall apart in front of us because he wants something better for us that can actually withstand the weight of worship that can

Actually fulfill the promises that it's making I remember being in middle school my older brother and my dad were arguing which was not

Uncommon I remember my dad looking at my older brother and double pointing because that's how he pointed I think he got used to

It from when he was smoking all the time and he would pop it out there I mean it was serious big forearms big

Hand he double pointed at him I've been practicing it now I got boys look here boy I've learned I'm a pastor my dad

Was not I've learned that my dad say phrases I have to work on because some of them I writing some checks that you

Can't cash you making some promises but if I have to take that to the bank it's going to bounce because there's no money

In that account you cannot provide for me what you have told me you can provide you have lied and therefore have no place

Here anymore you see what happens is our idols are telling us that they can give us life that they are chapter three I

Said we'd get there isn't it nice to know you had your bible hold open to some good news the whole time Jesus is

Just hanging out about to show us what he does starts off if then you have been raised with Christ so this is for

Christians if you are not a Christian this is offered to you but is not true for you this is offered to you but

It is not true for you but if you are in here and you are in Christ this is true for you provided through

Christ if then you have been raised with Christ meaning that when we do baptism this is one of the pictures we have in

Baptism is that you're buried with Christ that you're dead to your sin and that you are raised with Christ that you rise to

New life in Christ so it's saying if you've placed your faith in Christ that you've died to your sin that he died for

It that he nailed it to the cross that when he rose your life is in him now that's what it's saying if you've

Been raised with Christ seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God you see so much of

Our idolatry is us seeking things us chasing after something saying if I could just have this then I'll be okay and what he's

Saying is if you're with Christ if you're raised with Christ set your mind on the things above seek the things that are above

Set your minds on things that are above set yourself set your mind put this more set your mind on the things that are

Above not on the things that are on earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God and when

Christ who is your life appears then you also will appear with him in glory you see our idols have told us your life

Is hidden in me if you can have me you have life you have the good life that's however you would define it you

Have comfort you have control you have security you have joy if you can have me the reality is only Christ can fulfill those

Promises and it's only in him that our life is hidden I had a friend and a co-worker who would do online dating he

Had been married when he was fairly young he had gotten divorced and he was older at this point and really wanted to get married

And he would do online dating and you guys when he would start a conversation and I don't remember what app he was using

And they would send winks or you know touches or jolts or whatever hearts whenever that happened he was through the roof she might

Be the one like he would just be giddy a bit much for me he would just be around me like okay you know he

Would be sending our messages or whatever and he would start sending too many messages and he would do you know he just it

Was too much and then whenever these conversations would die off or they would go on a date but he just would crash I remember

Looking at one point going bro you met her a week ago you should not be this sad and for all we know she is the

Terrible person maybe not the best advice I was just trying to think through here you don't know anything but the reality was he

Thought he believed that life was hidden in one of these females it was hidden his life his joy his hope his future was

Hidden and he just had to find it and so anytime it came around and anytime there was an opportunity for it he was

Through the roof because here comes life here comes joy here comes the fix to all my sadness here comes the thing I can't

Live without and when it would die off when it would stop he would just fall apart and in reality we're all doing that

Maybe yours is a little further down the road if I could just have this type of land if I could have this type of

Job if I could just have this if my kids just grow up and they're well behaved and people look at me and think

My life is hidden in them so that I'm something because my life is bound up in them and if they don't turn out

Okay I don't have life and I don't have joy and I don't have satisfaction so you've elevated your children so you've elevated your

Spouse so you've elevated your Job to a position that it cannot hold and you are asking of it something that it cannot provide and

Therefore you are dying and my wife likes me most days the day she needs me to perfectly fulfill her perfectly fill her up

Provide for her what only God can provide she will be very sad and I will be crushed I will not be able to

Sin I will not be able to confess I will not be able to fail she will need something from me that I cannot

Provide and if I do that with her the same do that with your Job you can do that with your friends you can

Do that with your children if you begin to believe that your life is hidden in them it will fall apart but if you

Are in Christ your life is hidden in him what my friend needed to learn how to do what I need to learn how

To do is when this thing begins to whisper if you just have me is to be able to look at it and say no no no no my life is not hidden in you my hope is not found in you when you appear when I get the rays when I get the thing

When you appear I will not suddenly be swept up into glory and find my life it will not happen my life is hidden with Christ in God and when he appears then I'll have life then I'll have hope then I'll have joy then it'll fulfill me fully and completely and that is where my rest is and that is where my hope is and so just as we have inadvertently removed God from his throne and placed something else there we get to actively remove that it's writing checks it cannot cash and then look to Christ and say my life is hidden in you my hope is found in you my joy is found in you my satisfaction my security

My comfort you approve of me and that outweighs everyone else's approval so that when I sin I actually can confess and I can walk in the approval that is provided for me by Christ I can be open about my sin I can be open about my struggles because I get approval from you I get joy from you I get comfort from you I get hope from you I am not destroyed by the things going on here because my life is not in them therefore they cannot take it away there is freedom in having our life bound up in a resurrected and ruling Christ and we are not free until our life is there

As long as your life is found somewhere here you are not free you are a slave you are bound and it will destroy you but when our life is in Christ we have life Augustine I quoted them earlier he says this he says you have made us for yourself oh Lord and our hearts are restless until it rests in you and that is the truth we were designed for God and we will not find satisfaction and fulfillment in anything else Raz and Matt

Are going to come back up our hearts will be restless until we learn how to rest in him until we learn how to look at him and say you are the one who approves of my soul you are the one who has died for me who has risen for me who has saved me you are the living hope and my life is bound up in you I will not find it anywhere else see the reality is that only satisfaction satisfaction can only be found in Christ rest can only be found in Christ fulfillment can only be found in Christ and if we are looking for it somewhere else it is too small to handle the weight

Everything else is just a little picture of what he is like none of them can actually handle what he accomplishes for us and Jesus Christ is jealous for us and loves us so much that he comes he challenges our idols and he dies and dies for our sin rises again that we might place our faith in him and not in anything else we put our hope in him and not in anything else we put our trust in him and not in anything else therefore we will not be let down we will not be put to shame as the Bible says it so often that no one will be put to shame

That trusts in him see there are things that we trust in and we get put to shame I dyed my hair yellow publicly wore shame on the top of my head but in reality I am so tempted to do that with other things that will put me to shame far worse that will fail me far more extravagantly that will fall apart and I have built my whole life on them because I will believe that my life is in them and it is not and everyone who trusts in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will not be put to shame

He can handle the weight of our life it can be hidden in him and if you have not trusted in Christ I would encourage you to do that now and for those of us who are in Christ I would encourage you to take this time to ask the Holy Spirit to help you see your idols to help you see what it is why you have believed their lies and to look at them and actively through the power of the Holy Spirit say you are a liar my life is hidden in Christ you cannot provide what you have told me you can provide but Jesus Christ can so we are going to

In a moment as they play we are going to pray through that and then when you feel ready to walk up and take communion if you are a Christian that is for you if you are not a Christian please do not take communion we want you to have Christ before you remember what he has done for you but as Christians as we repent as we tell our idols that they are liars and we trust in Christ we are going to walk forward and we are going to partake in his broken body and his shed blood for us knowing that we have died to our sin

That our life is in him and when he returns we will be swept up with him in glory and we will find our life that none of our idols can handle that none of our idols can carry that let's pray Jesus our idols have lied to our hearts and we have believed them forgive us forgive us for committing adultery for running to created things and begging them to provide for us what only you can Lord help us

To love you more seeing that you died for us that you rose again and that we trust in you our life is in you and help us to never believe that something else smaller can handle it we ask that in this moment that you would work in our hearts that we might see our idolatry and that we might trust and love you more

We ask all this in Jesus name amen arevideo there may be well

Never Satisfied

Never Satisfied

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Well, good morning. Hopefully you saw something on that video that you love and care deeply about. Part of our goal in this sermon series is to pick a little bit of a fight. So I'm glad to see y'all this morning. We are in the second week of our Idol series. We're taking just a couple of weeks to talk about the fact that we as humans are idolaters, meaning that we put something else other than God in the place of God as our highest affection.

This is what Raz talked about last week, that the first and greatest commandment is that we would love the Lord our God with everything we have and that that orders everything else for us. That comes first, and as long as we have that in place, then the rest of life will flow, function, work, make sense, operate the way it ought to. And as soon as that's out of place, we are disoriented. Our lives are disoriented and everything begins to go poorly. That's primarily what we're talking about, and that is idolatry. Now, there's a temptation for us culturally to go, okay, okay, okay, hold on a second.

Like, other cultures have idols. We don't. That's why we started that video. It starts off with a totem pole. It's like, yes, that's an idol, but we don't really have that. Like, if you went to ancient Rome or Greece or whatever, yeah, they have a temple set up to Athena or Artemis, or they have a temple set up to Aphrodite, but we don't do that.

And I would just argue that I think they were just a little more straightforward with their idolatry, and we're just a little more subtle with it. Aphrodite, they would have a temple set up to her. She was the goddess of beauty and sexuality. Okay. You might not worship Aphrodite, but Americans worship beauty and sexuality. When you're in line at the grocery store, check out the magazines.

That's half of what they're talking about. You may not have a festival to Bacchus where you're going to drink and celebrate in his name, but we're going to have a festival to something where we're going to drink and celebrate and give too much credence to comfort and to celebration. You may not think that you worship Athena, but our culture worships wisdom. We worship education. We place too much value in these sort of things. We don't worship Aries, but we do have the greatest military on the planet.

And some of y'all, see your little heart just beat a little faster because of how special and magic that is in the 4th of July in America. And we blow things up to become a country, and we blow things up to celebrate. We are a country, and there's this tendency to worship some of the same things. That they would worship Baal by having a giant bull statue that they bowed down to, that they worshiped, that they celebrated, that they hoped brought plenty and value and economic growth. And we have a giant bull statue sitting out in front of the New York Stock Exchange that you can go rub for good luck if you'd like.

We're just a little more subtle, but we're worshiping the same things culturally. And I want to argue with you today that you are in your heart an idolater. That I am in my heart an idolater, meaning that I place other things in the spot of God, expect them to give me what only God can give me, to save me, to give me value, to give me worth, and that ultimately this destroys and falls apart and cannot stand, that what I am worshiping cannot stand under the weight of my worship. So here's our goal. We're going to talk a little bit about idolatry. We're going to get our minds wrapped around that, make sure we're all on the same page conceptually, and then we are going to try to diagnose our own hearts today.

So we're going to study a few passages of Scripture, and then we're going to ask a lot of questions, and I'm going to coach you up on how to do that. But grab your Bibles, go to Exodus chapter 20. We're going to pick up where God is giving the law. So this is the first, this is His Ten Commandments, after He's brought the Israelites out of Egypt. I don't know if y'all have ever read Genesis. If you get the chance, it's a wonderful book.

At the end of Genesis, the Israelites are in Egypt, and the book of Exodus picks up, and it's hundreds of years later, and it says a Pharaoh came along who did not know Joseph, and they just saw that all these Israelites were here. They thought they were a threat, so they enslaved them. They're enslaved for 400 years, and then God sends Moses down to Egypt with a hit song that He's going to sing to Pharaoh about letting His people go, and they're going to march them on out. That's not true, but the song helps you remember stuff. He brings them out of Egypt into the wilderness, and God begins to give them His law, and that's what we're going to pick up, but we're going to pray before we do that.

So let's pray. God, identifying our idols is difficult. It is a difficult task for us to do. So we ask for your help. We ask for your grace, and we pray that you, through your Holy Spirit, would minister to us so that we might love you above all else. In Jesus' name, amen.

All right, so Exodus chapter 20, and God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall not have no other gods before me. So he immediately goes into the Ten Commandments, but I want to point out something to us real quick. He starts off with, I am the God who brought you out of slavery. Now, here's how to obey. Here's how to follow.

That we sometimes want to get this backwards. We want to get to, God calls us to obedience. God calls us to morality. God calls us to good works. And then, He'll save us. Then He'll redeem us.

Then He'll work on our behalf. But that's not how it works in the Old Testament or the New Testament. You don't clean yourself up so that Jesus will love you. Jesus loves you. He cleans us up. Therefore, we obey.

In the Old Testament, God rescues them out of slavery and then says, here's how to follow. Here's how to obey. We always move in response to what God has already done. It's not the main point of the passage or the sermon, but I got to point that out because it's really, really good news. Verse 3. You shall have no other gods before me.

Meaning, first rule is that I'm primary. Nothing else gets to be in my spot. Nothing else gets to be in front of me. Nothing else. I'm number one. That's what God says.

I rescued you out of slavery. I'm number one. Now, I've heard people argue, I've heard my cousin argue, that that puts God in a very narcissistic position. If I elevate myself, if you elevate yourself and say, I'm number one, everybody needs to worship me and love me above everything else, that is a very narcissistic position because you can't handle it. You're not valuable enough to be worshipped like that. When God calls us to it, he's calling us to something that is for our own good because he is better than everything else.

He created everything else. All the little good things we have in life are just small pictures of what he's like that point us to his goodness. The one who created it, who thought it up, who exudes it. And so when he says, put me first, he is actually calling us to our own joy, not to begrudging submission. But he says, I'll be above everything else.

And the second commandment is, you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. God says, I am a jealous God. I told my son that and he was like, well, that's bad because there's this idea that jealousy is bad, that it's a negative trait.

Greed's bad. Covetousness is bad. Jealousy can make us do inappropriate or bad things, but jealousy is not bad because God is jealous and therefore there's an appropriate type of jealousy. Let's talk about jealousy for just a second. This is actually really good that God is a jealous God. I, a while back I saw Oprah and she was actually talking about one of the things that led her away from faith was that she was gathered with a church.

She said the pastor said that God is a jealous God and Oprah said she sat there and was like, wait, God's jealous of me? And she was like, I just couldn't, I couldn't wrap my mind around that. That God would be jealous of me. Um, no, Oprah. He's not jealous of you. God's not in heaven going, you know, being God's pretty nice, but if I could just be Oprah, that would be the deal.

He's not, he's not doing that. He's not jealous of, he's jealous for, he's jealous over. It's a healthy, righteous jealousy that he wants our affection. He wants our love. I am jealous for or over my wife. So if we went to a party, I don't know where you're from, a hootenanny, a shindig, whatever y'all like to call it.

If we went to one of those and I looked over and there was an attractive man talking to my wife and they were flirting, she's blushing and giggling and I felt jealousy rise up in me, I would not be jealous of her. I wouldn't be over there thinking, you know, I dressed up and came to the party. He doesn't flirt with me. I don't see any guys hitting on me. I would, that would not be the jealousy I had. I would be jealous over her.

I would be jealous. I would, I don't want her to want to flirt with someone else. I want her, I want him to try and then be humiliated. And she's just like, gives him cold dead eyes and is like, get stepping. That's what I want. Because I'm jealous for her.

I want her affection. And so when he says that God is a jealous God, he says, you will have no other gods. You will not make any graven image, anything in likeness of heaven above or earth below or in the waters. Nothing, because nothing is comparable to me and I want your love and affection. I'm a jealous God. And that is appropriate both for him and for us.

You want God to be jealous. We're going to talk more about that next week, but we are too easily distracted by much cheaper, smaller, shinier, little temporary things that lead us to destruction and we want God to love us enough, to love our heart enough, to desire our affection so that he chases us down. So he's a jealous God and we are to have nothing above him. But as this passage explains it, what is an idol or what gets to be an idol or what would fit into the category of an idol? Well, anything that you would bow down to and serve. Anything that would take the place of God.

Anything in heaven or on earth or in the ocean. Anything. Anything that we would bow down to and serve. Anything that would steal our affection. Anything that would presume to dethrone God and assume his place. Romans 1.

We're going to quickly look at it. It'll be on screen. I'm not going to have you turn there because we're going to go to one other passage in the Old Testament and we're going to just look at those two in our Bibles. But Romans 1 will be up here. It says this. This is Paul talking about this conceptually for humanity.

It 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. You see that this is a heart level problem that we would love and worship something else. It's a heart level problem. That's why God is jealous for us. He's jealous for our affection and our love. 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. It is foolish to replace God with something else smaller than God and God loves us enough to address this. If you have children and they grow to be middle schoolers and they decide in middle school, I am no longer going to listen to the wisdom of my parents who know me and love me. I am now going to base all of my decision off of the four sixth graders I hang out with. I'm replacing my parents' wisdom and guidance with the wisdom and guidance of 12-year-old boys and girls.

That would be foolish and they would do stupid things and when we say, I don't want God here, I want something else here, I want this to give me value, I want this to give me purpose, I want this to give me worth, it's foolish and we do stupid things. That's what it's saying. They became fools. Therefore, verse 24, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to dishonoring of their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. Alright, so it says worshipped and served.

In Exodus, he says bow down to or serve. We're actually going to use those, worship or bow down to and the idea of serve, we're going to use those to help diagnose our hearts in a minute but we're going to get one more that's going to help us. So we're going to go to Ezekiel chapter 14. Here's what you may be tempted to do and you would not be completely wrong. There's a temptation to go, okay, okay, hold on a second. I know you're making your little point about how we're idolatrous but the biggest problem in Exodus and in Romans is that these people actually worshipped another God.

So not the God of the Bible, not the God revealed to us in Christ, some other God. Actually, Aphrodite. Not just the concept of love but actually Artemis. Not just the concept of war and power but actually Ares. that was the biggest problem, that they had actual idols, that Baal was an actual other God that they went after and you're saying, okay, so, bro, I'm here. Maybe you don't say bro, maybe you say, sir, I'm here. I'm not doing that.

I'm worshipping this one. I don't have this problem. Maybe you're not making that argument at all but if you are, welcome to Ezekiel chapter 14. Oh, I said that. I hadn't turned yet. I've just been talking, y'all.

Ezekiel chapter 14, we're going to see some elders come to the prophet Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord. Meaning they care about the Lord, they follow the Lord, they want to hear from the Lord. Here's what it says. Ezekiel chapter 14. Then certain of the elders of Israel, elders being leaders of Israel, came to me, this is Ezekiel writing this, and sat before me and the word of the Lord came to me.

Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? So these elders would have said they're worshipping and serving God. They're actually so much so that they're going to the prophet to find out what they're supposed to do. They're going to go ask him what things ought to look like. They're going to go talk to...

They're here. And God says, no, no. They've set up idols in their hearts. They actually love and worship and serve other things, not me. Should I respond to them? It's a rhetorical question.

God's going to answer it. Therefore, speak to them and say to them, verse 4, thus says the Lord God, anyone of the house of Israel who takes his idol into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and yet comes to the prophet, I, the Lord, will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols. It got scarier a second ago when we found out we could put idols in our heart. You actually don't have to have something that's a statue that you worship or serve. You don't have to have, you know, a big stadium where you gather with other people and shout and cry and worship some, I don't know, orange, you know, dressed up, I don't know, 24 year olds or whatever.

You touch a rock and praise all that stuff. You don't have to do that. You can put it in your heart. Just say, oh no, Gamecocks aren't in danger of worshiping the Gamecocks. It's a bad God right now. You're not placing your faith in them for your value.

But you're wearing orange, you're on the line, y'all. You're in danger. Jump ship before it means too much. Here's what he says. Not only can we put them in our heart, but we can actually have a multitude. I had somebody say that the bumper video we had a second ago, they were like, if you look too long at it, you might have a seizure.

It's frantic. Yes. And so are our hearts. That we have things that we love and that we worship and that we change and that we can have a multitude of things that matter more to us and that we value over God. So it says, the multitude of his idols that I may lay hold.

He says, I will answer him to his face when he comes to the multitude of his idols that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from me through their idols. Meaning that our idols lead us away from God. They make us estranged to him. So, we now have the three things that we're going to do to try to investigate our hearts. We're going to stay in this passage. We're going to pick back up here as we end, but we're going to take just a minute to try to diagnose our own hearts.

Now, Law and Order is a very popular television show and here's what they do in Law and Order. If you've seen one episode, you've seen all the episodes from what I understand. That's pretty much how Law and Order works. The first half is law. The second half is order. I don't really know if that's how it works but basically the police go investigate a thing.

They catch a person and then the second half is you get to jump ahead to the trial. That's what we're going to do. We're going to all play a game called Law and Order today. We're going to investigate our hearts and we're going to put ourselves on trial. I want to show y'all something as we step into this. I want to help us understand why we're approaching it this way.

Jeremiah 17, 9. This will be on the screen. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick who can understand it. There's a distinct problem in what we're going to do today. You are going to ask your heart do you love something more than God? And your heart which is a liar is going to say no.

You're going to say wait, hold on a second are we talking about this? And the answer because we're going to ask questions that are real straightforward like what do you spend most of your money on? What do you spend most of your time? What do you daydream about? And you're going to think here's what I daydream about and then you're going to go that's not a bad thing to daydream about. That's a good thing to daydream about.

And because you're saying it to you and you're a liar and your heart is the one you're investigating you're going to go good point heart. And if you go heart have you been loving this too much your heart's going to go me? Moi? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We love that the exact appropriate amount and other people who don't love it the amount that we do they're messed up. We're right.

And you're going to go you make a good point there heart. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to answer all the questions as honestly as you can. There's in truth there's going to be some things I ask like what do you spend most of your money on? You can have quick answers too and we're just going to take that as evidence to try to figure out okay that's evidence. That's the cop part.

We're just getting evidence. We're just going to compile it so we can look at it so we can have enough evidence to go to trial. When we go to trial you know in the courtroom scenes where they're interrogating the person behind the little bench and then the lawyer the prosecutor goes over to the judge and says permission to treat the witness as hostile and the judge says permission granted that's what we're doing today. Permission to treat the witness as hostile. Your heart wants to deceive you and lead you down a path that will destroy you far away from God and we're going to treat our hearts as hostile today.

We're going to compile as much evidence as we can and then we're just going to go and say alright evidence isn't looking good heart and our heart's going to go shh shh shh shh and we're going to go permission to treat the witness as hostile and then we're going to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. Y'all ready? Dun dun. Alright. That's what we're going to do. These are their stories.

Here's what we're doing. Here's what we're doing. Here's what we're doing. We've got three questions we're asking using what we saw earlier that we would worship that we would bow down to something that we would serve something and then we're going to talk about that we would have something that we have set up as a stumbling block of iniquity and that's the one I'm really looking forward to just because doesn't that sound like an awesome thing to investigate stumbling blocks of iniquity? So we're going to get there.

First one. What do you what do I worship or bow down to? So he says that we would set up anything that we would worship and bow down to. So worship and bow down means that we revere. The idea of worship is that we have something that we love and fear. That we love and fear.

A good example a good earthly example is if you had a good father. You should have loved and feared your father. Now there are messed up examples but we all maybe can picture in our mind a good example of a father that you would love and fear that you would know they loved you that you would want to please them you would want them to smile on you you would want their approval and also you would not want their disapproval. You would not want the quote unquote wrath of your father. That's my goal with my children. I have two boys that one day I'm going to try to fully help them understand what God is like and my goal is to be a small stand in of what that would look like that they might love me they might know I love them and that they might appropriately fear me.

That one day I'm going to try to fully help them understand what God is like and my goal is to be a small stand in of what that would look like that they might love me they might know I love them and that they might appropriately fear me. They're not going to check under their bed for me at night but I want my sons before they go to do something they know they shouldn't do to stop and think wait a second hmm that won't go well if I do it and I love my dad

And I know he loves me and I want to please him but that's what worship is that we would love and fear something and so what happens is God is supposed to be in that spot he's supposed to be at the head of the table that we're to bow down to him meaning that he has the most weight the most glory in our lives that he's at the head of the table and that everything else follows so that we're supposed to you're supposed to in life it's normal to have a hierarchy

If you go to make a decision you're supposed to have things that you consider when you make a decision if you are married you should consider your spouse when you make a decision if you don't they will remind you that you should have done that if you have children you should consider your children before you make a decision if you own four cats you have to consider your four cats before you make a decision it's just how life works this is why people in our church family are always asking

Somebody to watch their dogs when they go on a trip because they can't just leave their house and leave their dogs there that would be a problem when they returned that's how it works you have to consider but if you consider your dog in front of your children you're out of order in how you're making decisions you ever look on Craigslist and someone says hey took a new job moved to a new place couldn't take my dog trying to sell it for 50 bucks seen those

You're like yeah I've seen that I know what you're talking about okay ever seen one that was like hey moving to a new place we're downsizing a little bit and we had to get rid of one of our children it's fair we drew straws or we just picked the youngest one because they've been here the least we don't know them as well as we know the other ones but it does that because there's a hierarchy on how we make decisions we're following okay

God's supposed to sit at the top and therefore everything is what does God want from us what does he want from me then as I go to make decisions he's worshipped he's honored he's bowed down to then I look and think okay how does this affect family how does this affect finances how does this affect the problem is we move God from the head of the table and we put something else there as our guiding

Decision making thing that we love and fear some of us so love and fear what people think about us that all of our decision making all of our life is run through that something happens first thought is what will people think first thing we try to do is image manage first thing that we run to is to try to fix the story that's going to come out because one of the primary things for us that's taken this spot of not what does God want

What's honoring to him what is image management or maybe we put money there so your primary rubric for decision making the thing that you bend to that you bow to is how will this affect my finances and you can actually trace your life on more money more money more money would help money would help money would help money and here's the thing it's in our hearts so we make all these decisions in really small ways all the time without thinking about it you don't actually

Pull out your hierarchy chart and go which do I care more about money or children let me check the chart money but you might every day make little decisions that put money above your children that put money above the Lord does that make sense are we understanding that there's a there's that these things can get out of place and that we would begin to so here a few questions

Oh let me show you something else that happens with these before we ask the questions since I looked at them on it often the thing that we truly love the thing that we truly fear the thing that we truly worship if you're in this room it's very likely that you have recruited Jesus to help you get the thing you really want you've just enlisted him

You think that he's a really good way to get the thing you really want I'm gonna give a couple of examples I had a buddy of mine I met in seminary he said his church that he grew up in his mom went to at the end of their services they would stand up and they would say money come to me money come to me that they actually believed

In their their theology that one of the things they were supposed to do one of the things that God owed them was health and wealth and finances and so they actually when they gathered in public worship they I guess commanded money to come to them okay seems a little out of order this is actually one of the things

That's told people and is that if you trust Jesus he'll give you everything you ever wanted and that works fine it's actually not a bad theology until you read the Bible and you see the people who worship Jesus get a whole lot of things they

Didn't want and not get a whole lot of the things I'm sure they would have liked it would have been nice to have I was coming through I didn't go to a church like that but when I was growing up I was in a youth group we did true love

Waits for those of you unfamiliar with true love waits this is a kind of a program that youth students would do where you were told that you are not supposed to have sex before you get married for the record I know a church family that is correct

You should not and that you were told one of the things that went along with this was if you don't then you'll the Lord has someone for you you're waiting for your true love and so if you do not have sex before you are married God will bring you

Your perfect special someone now I'm sure this was taught in an effective healthy way that not that second part and I'm also sure that that second part was was broadcast as like a real true thing the Bible says and so what happened was you

Were not obeying God because he is glorious and he is good and he has redeemed us from sin and sin is why he went to the cross we're not obeying him because we love him and cherish him above everything else we're obeying him because that's the system you get in so that God will owe you when you get to the end of the line so then you have people who who I'm 35 and I have had sex with exactly zero people and where's my perfect special snowflake

Someone rainbow unicorn person that God owes me it's like well that was a cute story but it's not here the reason for sexual abstinence the reason to be chased is actually because God is more valuable and more beautiful and more worthy than sex not because down the line who give you this promised land person this happens all the time the thing we really want Jesus is just a good way to get us there this is what people say I I had to walk away I had to walk away from the faith because I brought

My children up in church and they all rebelled and they all ran off and it was just a big old train wreck and God let me down okay well he owed you something that's not like yes I would argue bringing children up in churches good for their souls because they're sinners who need Christ but not because it's a guaranteed fix people will say I trusted God and he let me down what it means is that I had a thing that he had to give me in order to be God and when he did not do that thing when he did not give me that thing he

Failed me because that thing is actually above him not that he's trustworthy but that he's only good in as far as he'll give me the thing I really want that's idolatry it's bad for our souls so here are a few questions as we gather evidence and we will do more of this in our groups this week what are you afraid of I'm gonna ask a bunch you may just want to jot down answers as you can think about them what is your biggest nightmare what's the thing that if it goes wrong everything's falling apart what do you daydream about what do you long for what are you frustrated

With God over because he owes you he should have given you or shouldn't have taken away what steals your affection what do you most look forward to when you're having a hard day what gets you through what thoughts do you comfort yourself with in decision decision making what do you consider most there's some people that I have heard say well God won't tell you to do that God won't tell you to go to another country because you have children God won't tell you to move to that neighborhood because you have children it's your first Job to your children to do this sort of thing I think considering

Your children and considering a neighborhood and considering what country you live in is a very wise thing to do and I think thinking that God can't tell you to do something else is a very unwise thing to do so is something taking precedence over him so that it's impossible for him to lead you because that thing is actually in charge what do you defend we only defend the things that we love some of you I could tell you you are a terrible cook and you would laugh and say yes and then if I said and you are unathletic you'd be like pause time out I need to show you some trophies I need you to see how many push-ups I can do I've had people in our church family tell me

I don't like you even like on their way out they were just a part of people in my group I don't like you my response to that okay seems fair like I if that same person had said because you were stupid I would have gone wait wait hold on a second like actually stupid or like relationally stupid like test score stupid or like I said a thing you didn't like because I don't care if you like me but there's something inside of me that wants you to not think I'm stupid you can hate me all you want I just need you to think I'm great that's what I want to defend does that make sense so there's something what is it that you run to what is it you try to steer conversations to what is it that you need people to know about you what is it that you use to elevate yourself or to lower other

People a way to find that the opposite direction is what do you most look down on others for is it because they're terrible moms means you probably place a lot of weight in being a good mom you need people to be bad mom so that you can be a good mom and so that you know that you're rising up in the hierarchy and that you have value and purpose and worth is it that people are lazy you look down on them you have no time for those kind of people then you probably place a lot of value in being a hard worker and you actually need people to be lazy so that you can be elevated so that you can have your purpose and your value and your worth found in that is it that other people are inconsiderate that's because you place a lot of value in being very considerate and that actually makes you a good person makes them the bad people there's there's a way that we

Do this in a way that finds our value our purpose and our worth in something other than God and therefore it helps us make decisions and move through life that was number one what do we worship what do we bow to second what do you serve what do you serve what do you put your time and effort and money in for I've said this before believe it to be true there are certain things in your life and in my life where when the opportunity comes your wallet just appears in your hand you didn't even think about it just was there that seemed like a reasonable price that seemed like a good thing to spend money on if you look mine what my wife's budget that is eating out we don't eat out fancy we just like having somebody else fix our food it's just nice you guys and then we have a kid with allergies it's made it really hard on how to do that because we gotta

Figure out how we gotta cook for him no matter what some of you that sounds crazy to you you would never eat out that's because your wallet magically appears in your hand for something else that's where your money goes because that's what you value that's where your time goes because that's what you value some of you labor over how you look over how your body looks and our hearts immediately want to say yeah but that's good being healthy is good it is and maybe that maybe you're it's in an appropriate place or maybe your heart's a liar some of you have the greatest television and sound system and couch that the world has ever known and whenever it comes to a new gadget or a new thing your wallet just shoots out of your hand your credit card number just spews out of your mouth gleefully and you get all tingly because this is what you really love or

If somebody needs this kind of thing you would serve for you would work for you would labor for it and then somebody else asked for some service or some time and you have no time for it there's so people who who can have have everything that has ever happened in the marvel cinematic universe perfectly aligned and in their brain they know when things happen and which soul stone was which and all of this sort of thing and they read all the articles and then you say have you read your Bible and they say man I really don't have time somebody's been at the gym every day this week and then you say hey we're hanging out with our group tonight I gotta get to school I gotta do my class work that we have time for some things that we actually value and we don't have time for the things that we don't and there's something that's gotten out of place in our hearts what do you serve where do you put in time when you

Picture your future what's changed what have you earned what have you achieved what have you become what are you laboring for right now that you're saying if I can just have this then I'll be okay then I'll be happy all right number three what is your stumbling block of iniquity this is the phrase that came from Ezekiel he says they put idols in their heart they've set their stumbling block of iniquity in front of their faces what we're asking is what makes you fall into sin this is what Raz was talking about last week that if something we love something more than God it takes precedence over him and here's the thing we don't break any of the other commandments unless we've broken the first one that something else is in God's place if you love God with all your heart with all your soul with all of your strength with all of your mind with all of your mind with everything that

You have and you get the opportunity to sin you say no because he has stolen our affection but when we sin what we're saying is I would actually rather have this thing than God I'd actually rather have his his love her love I'd actually rather have money than than what God has for me it's what makes us fall into sin so the questions are what are you willing to sin to get and what are you willing to sin to keep for example some of you are perfectly have perfect integrity when it comes to money you wouldn't take a dime off the street but everybody around you believes that you can bench press 50 pounds more than you actually can't you would not lie about another person you would not lie to anyone about anything unless they called you on a Saturday and asked you to help them move and then you know I really wish I could but one of my kids is sick and like you just

What are we willing to lie to protect what are we willing to lie to to earn to save what are we willing to sin to get some of you follow Jesus love Jesus he's he is everything to you you come in here and you hold your hands up you sing and you cry we don't hold your hands up because it's in here but you hold your hands up at your house maybe maybe when you're riding in your car you help the other people in your group see their sin you help lead them to the Lord and help them understand him and then you get a boyfriend you get a girlfriend and it matters so much to have that relationship to have their love to have all of a sudden some of your standards some of the things that you would have held out are no longer true suddenly you're willing to put sex on the table because it's a good way to keep a boyfriend it's a good way to make somebody happy and yes you understand that's sin but is it really that bad of a sin and is it that big of a deal and aren't we haven't we culturally kind of moved on from that and it really just means this is a thing that I love more than the Lord that I want more than him that I think will bring me more joy more fulfillment some of you are willing to serve with your time but your wallet will not you will not give money to another soul some of you are willing to give your money away all day long but you will not get out of your house to go do a thing in service for another person because it would rob of your time and the reason you work so hard and make so much money is so that you can have all your comfort time all your leisure time to yourself that we have these things that we defend that we work for because they ultimately that we love them more and cherish them more than the Lord and we lie to ourselves and try to cover up as much as we possibly can this is why culturally the United States the Christian church in the US is confused about romance and we have done whatever we can to undercut what the Bible says about marriage

Divorce sexuality sex before marriage homosexuality that we act like the American church at large just kind of walks into that realm and goes well does it really say that does it really mean that and then there's some Greek words there that we can kind of play with you know really this is why I love when the Methodists were going to vote on this and all the African Methodists came over and were like what are y'all talking about and they were like well you know it's like no well you know what y'all are crazy one of my favorite things were the African Methodists were telling the other Methodists like this doesn't make any sense we just haven't bought into y'all's idols so we're not on board with the things y'all are doing to the scriptures we do this with sexuality and we do it with money we have a lot of little cute justifications for finances we have a lot of cute justifications for romance

But that's because culturally we love those so much more than we love the Lord what leads you to fall into sin most of these things are good things that we've put in the wrong place usually it's something that God gave us as a gift like finances like health like beauty like our spouse we've just put them in the wrong place I know this happens every time when I sin against my wife and I'm willing to confess it to the Lord and I'm willing to confess it to the guys in my group and I am not willing to confess it to my wife it is because she is bigger and scarier than God to me we've taken something and put it in the wrong place and when that happens we actually are asking it to accomplish something it cannot accomplish and it will either crush us or we will crush it because it cannot stand under the weight of being God if you place your children in the place of God and they have to turn out perfect for you to be okay and they have to be the best little children for you to know that you're saved and you're okay if you do this with your spouse if you do this with your girlfriend

If you do this with your finances it will fail you or you will destroy it and God in his grace and in his jealousy let's beg him to make it fail quicker so that we might have him to help us to see the weakness in it quicker to help us to see into our own hearts so that we might know this is actually what it says in Ezekiel if you look back at 4 it says therefore speak to them and say to them thus says the Lord God anyone of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and yet comes to the prophet I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols that's our hope is that the Lord will answer us in our idolatry to help us to see it he says

That I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from me through their idols that God wants our hearts therefore say to the house of Israel thus says the Lord God repent and turn away from your idols turn away your faces from all your abominations for anyone of the house of Israel or the strangers who sojourn in Israel who separates himself from me taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and yet comes to the prophet to consult me through him I the Lord will answer him myself our hope is that the Lord would show us our idolatry so that he might have our hearts above all else Matt and Bianca are going to come back up because of Christ

We have hope that Jesus died to save his enemies that he died to save idolaters that when we go astray and our hearts are too easily swayed by something if we have placed our faith in Jesus he will bring us back he will redeem us he will rescue us he loves idolaters he died to save idolaters that when you see idolatry in your heart it is not that you have lost your salvation and run from God it is that you have been estranged your heart has fallen in love with something that is less beautiful and we get to trust him to redeem us and to save us and to forgive us if you are not a Christian it is because you believe something is better than Jesus

And when we walk off into sin it is because we believe something is better than Jesus and we get to repent we get to turn back and say Jesus you are more glorious you are more beautiful you died to redeem those who hate you and when we see him doing that he steals our hearts when we truly see what Christ has done when we really believe the things we sing on Sunday when we really believe the things we study he steals our hearts because your money will not die for you it will demand that you serve it but it will not serve you your idols will not be able to stand under the weight of your worship they will not rescue you but Jesus Christ will your work your desire to be in a position of prominence will not forgive you if you fail it

But Jesus will and our hope is in Christ who redeems us out of our idolatry who changes our hearts who steals our hearts through his love and invites us into a more beautiful love story than we could ever imagine as he rescues and redeems the people for himself in a moment they're going to sing a song and we're going to sit and reflect and we're going to ask the Lord to help us see our idols that we might repent and when the song is finished we will then be able to take communion where we will remind ourselves that we need Jesus Christ to die for us that we might have hope that our hope is not in our hearts ability to love perfectly our hope is in Christ who loved us perfectly

And who died for our sin so we're going to ask the Lord to help us reveal our idols while they sing we're not going to stand and sing we're going to listen we're going to reflect we're going to meditate we're going to prosecute we're going to repent and then we're going to take communion we're going to celebrate that Jesus Christ loves sinners died to redeem them and that he loves you more than you love him and that he's jealous for you let's pray God we ask for your help right now we ask for your grace that you would let our lies to ourselves be obvious and evident that you would answer us yourself

In the multitude of our idols that we might see Christ fully and completely that we would know that he is enough that our hope is in him that we might repent and be forgiven and changed and loved and welcomed we ask this in Jesus name Amen