2020 Vision: Mission Part 1

Mission Part 1

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. And just a quick announcement before we jump in. So, one of the things that we've been doing the last few months is joining our Kid City program and memorizing scripture. As a whole church family, we thought this would be a good idea to join together with them.

So, we have, over the next three years, 36 verses. One verse a month that we are, if you want to participate in, that we will recite together. It'll be on the announcements that scroll on the screen before and after gathering. It's also the top of group content. We want to grow in knowing the Word of God, have it hidden deep in our hearts. So, if you want to participate in that, just look for that every month as we look to growing that as a church.

Alright. So, we are in the last week of our 2020 Vision Series. The goal of this series was to show who we are as a church. That we are a gospel-centered community on mission. So, the first week, Chet walked us through what it means to be gospel-centered. That Jesus is central to everything that we do.

The gospel, that it's life, death, and resurrection. What that means for us is the center of everything we do. And then last week, Dr. Ken walked us through what it means to be a community. What it means to be a church family together. Which is a beautiful, man, last week was a beautiful celebration.

As two churches together as one. Learning about what it means to be church family together. And this week, we get a look at what it means to be on mission. That God has called His church, but He's also sent His church to go and make disciples. So, in doing that, we're actually going to jump back into Matthew. Alright, we're going to be in chapter 9, verses 35-38.

So, you can go ahead and flip there. But we're going to be walking through that. Which means, also, as we close out our 2020 Vision Series, we're jumping back into the Gospel of Matthew. So, we were in Matthew in the fall. And we're going to be in it for the next little bit. So, we're actually jumping back into Matthew as well.

And we'll continue that next week. As we close out chapter 9 and go into chapter 10. Okay. So, a couple of weeks ago, I read this article. It was on DesiringGod.org, which is just a website that has a ton of resources. Good teaching.

They have good writers. If you're looking forward to growing and knowing more of Jesus, we recommend DesiringGod. That's a good source. And I read this article from one of the younger staff writers. And he was critiquing masculinity in America. But honestly, as I read it, you could broaden that out as a critique for American culture and the church.

So, here's how he opened up his article. He said, So, that's a lot of big words and poetic phrases. But here's what he said. He said, When we spend so much of our time and our focus and our energy on things that will not last. On frivolous, empty pursuits. When that becomes all that we look upon, we become a shadow of the men, and I would say women of great density, that God has called us to be.

Something light. As opposed to something solid and weighty. He goes on, he says, Our society often promotes a silly, light, and airy moron of a man and its sitcoms and movies. He stands for nothing. Weeps for nothing. Lives for nothing but the next punchline or comedic blunder.

It's insulting on screen, but tragic in real life when we meet similar men who lack any gravity because they put off thoughts of eternity. Now, the rest of the article kind of flows out of that tone. And part of me when I first read it was like, Okay, you seem fun at parties. That was really heavy handed. But when you wrestle with what he is saying, he's not off.

That's exactly what our culture does. We spend so much of our time, our energy on things that will not matter in days, weeks, months, or years. They lack any really internal significance. We'll binge watch a show in a few days. We'll watch sports for hours on end. We'll put so much focus and energy on those things that do not last.

And listen, I love those things. I do. If you know me, like I love sports. I love watching my teams disappoint me regularly every season. I love culture, media, music, film. We could talk about it on and off.

Those are good gifts that God has given us. But the problem is, is that we elevate those to the status of worship, affection, time, energy. We get consumed by it and we become a shadow of what we're supposed to be. Men and women of great density that dwell on the eternal things and understand the eternal significance of this life. So, that is what the Bible is going to confront us on this morning. That's what the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 9 is going to confront us on as we look at the mission that God has called His church into.

So, as we walk through this, we're going to see three very simple, clear things that we need to see, we need to pray, and we need to go. So let me read it and then we'll pray and jump in. Verse 35, And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the labors are few.

Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of harvest to send out labors into His harvest. Let me pray and then we'll jump in. Father, I thank You. I thank You for everything You're doing in the life of our two churches that have become one in this season. Amen. I'm so thankful for where we get to go, but God, I pray that You would confront us this morning, and that You would teach us and mold us and shape us into the church that You want us to be.

We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so, in order for us to understand the mission that God has called us to, we need to see. We need to have the vision, the eyes of Christ, and see the world the way that He sees it. So, verse 35, And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in the synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and every disease, and healing every disease and every affliction. So, this is where we left Matthew in the fall.

Jesus traveling around the region of Galilee, healing the sick, performing miracles, casting out demons, flexing His divinity, showing this is someone different, a great prophet even more so. Someone has risen amongst us. He, this is the Lord. So, this is who He reveals Himself to be, and how He heals, and how He does these miracles. But then we get a glimpse of how He actually sees the world.

In verse 36, He says, When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed, and helpless sheep, like sheep without a shepherd. That's the first thing we need to see, and how we are looking to see the way Jesus sees the world. He sees harassed and helpless sheep. Now, sheep are cute. They're lovable. But they're not very bright.

They're not. It's kind of universally understood. They're like the Joey Tribbiani of the animal world. Or Patsy from Happy Days. Whatever is your flavor, right? They're cute.

They're lovable. But they're not very bright. I mean, they'll wander into terrain where it is dangerous. They'll get picked off by wolves and coyotes. They'll eat whatever's in front of them. So they'll starve if they're not led by a good shepherd.

That's sheep. And what Jesus just did was He compared the crowds, and by extension, humanity, to sheep. All of humans. I mean, we have value and worth. We're made in the image of God. We're cute.

We're lovable. Because of sin, and because of the fall, we have been marred in such a way that we are not very spiritually bright. We are easily picked off by the enemy. Led in temptation by the evil one. That we wander into dangerous spiritual terrain. We will eat whatever's in front of us spiritually when it is bad for us, when it starves us.

We are all like sheep. And this is why this is incredibly important for us to understand. In order for us to see the lost and see the way that Jesus needs us to see it, we have to clearly understand this. Everyone is at one point lost, harassed, and helpless. And if you don't understand that, what will end up happening is that you will see the lost as an opponent or as an enemy. And this happens in, goodness, in politics.

This is a political year, which means it's going to be so much fun. But what happens is you'll see lost, the lost in a different political party, and what you'll do is instead of seeing them the way that Jesus does, you'll see them as an opponent, as a threat, as someone that needs to be taken down. You've got to own the lives. That's what they say online. Right? Like it's, you'll see them as an opponent.

This happened with morality in the last 50 years in our culture. Back in the 60s and the 70s and the 80s as a kind of a moral shift happened. Sex, drugs, rock and roll. What happened with the church is they saw it as a threat. As a threat. And they saw the lost and helpless sheep amongst the people that were pushing that.

They saw them as a threat, as an opponent, and not actually who they are. This happens culturally today. And the cultural shifts that have happened on sexuality, on gender identity, and everything down the line, they are seen as opponents and not lost, harassed. Helpless. In need of a good shepherd. They're not seeing the way that Jesus sees them.

And this is why this is so incredibly important. Because all of us were once lost and harassed and helpless. All of us. Which means that none of us has a moral high ground to stand on. We were all once enemies of God. We were all once harassed and helpless.

Colossians 1 says, we were alienated and hostile in mind. Easily picked off by the enemy. Wandering in dangerous terrain. Not knowing the good spiritual food that a good shepherd brings. That was all of us. There's a song that we sing called In Tenderness.

It's by a band called Citizens. It is based off the hymn, In Tenderness, He Sought Me, by W. Spencer Walton. Which, with a name like that, you know it's good. But I love this song that we sing for three different reasons.

I love it because it's probably one of the loudest songs we sing as a church. And every time we sing it, the whole church collectively amps up a little bit. I love it also because we usually have a cajon with it. And Isaac usually plays it. And Isaac, if you've ever seen, he leads our Kid City stuff. If you've ever seen his hands, they're abnormally large and strong.

And he, like, abuses the cajon in such a poetic, beautiful way. But the real, honestly, the real deep down reason I love this song is because of the message that it brings. And it applies so much to what we're talking about this morning. It says, this is how the song goes, In tenderness, He sought me, weary and sick with sin. And on His shoulders, brought me back to His fold again. That's us.

We were all once harassed and helpless sheep. We were sick and weary with sin. But Jesus in His love, the Good Shepherd, comes from heaven and He seeks us. He finds us in our lostness. He picks us up as a lost and wavered sheep. He puts us on His shoulder and He brings us back into the fold of God through faith in Him.

It goes on, While angels in His presence sang, Until the courts of heaven rang, Oh, the love that sought me. Oh, the blood that bought me. Oh, the grace that brought me to the fold of God. Grace that brought me to the fold of God. That's the gospel. That His love, out of His deep love, because He loved us, He seeks us, because of His blood, He brings us into the family of God.

And by His grace, nothing good in us of ourselves, but because of His grace, He brings us into the family of God. And we get to dwell with a good shepherd for eternity. Which means, there was nothing good in us that He came for us. He came for us because He is a God of infinite love and compassion and mercy. That is why He saves us. And He brings us into the family of God.

Which means, we don't have a moral leg to stand on. You cannot look at the lost and think anything other than the way that Jesus calls us to. That they are harassed. That they are helpless. That should lead us to an intense urgency and compassion that we would go and take the gospel that they might come into the fold of God. You know who gets this?

New conference. People who just recently placed their faith in Jesus. I've seen this over the years. Someone places their faith in Jesus and they start following God and here's what happens. They're the closest to this vivid reality of what they were just redeemed out of. And they see the lost.

They see friends and family members who were lost. And they remember how bad that was. How hopeless that was. They're like, no, no, no. You have to understand. He's a good shepherd.

He is better than everything else. They're the ones that get it the most because they were so... It wasn't just that long ago that that's exactly where they were. May we as a church never lose sight of the vivid reality of what we were redeemed out of. That we were lost, that we were helpless and we were harassed. That God in His great mercy, this good shepherd, He came for us.

That is the first thing we need to clearly see. Here's the next thing. Verse 37. Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. So He shifts metaphors on us.

He moves from sheep herding to farming. The harvest is plentiful. So if in South Carolina we have a harvest of peaches and there's a lot of peaches on the trees and we don't have enough workers to harvest them, that's a problem. That's what He's trying to help them picture. The harvest is plentiful. I mean, He's picking our eyes up.

Look, do you see the crowds? Do you see how harassed and helpless they are? Do you see how plentiful they are? This shows us that our God is generous to redeem. Our God is generous to save. There's a harvest waiting for us.

And He wants to see that. And I thought this morning I would pause and I would try to help us see the harvest that is right before us. specifically, I want to start here with Casey. There's a group called Insight. They're a ministry that does demographic studies, extensive surveying all across the country. They want churches to help see the mission field that is right before them. So, I spent some time studying a bunch of reports this week.

I got really excited and I brought all my information to our teaching team which Chet and Dr. Kent sit on and I spewed it all and their eyes glazed over and they died inside. So, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to give you the highlights for the five of you that would have gotten really excited about that. Come to my office this week. We'll geek out about missiology.

It's great. Alright, so here's Casey. The population in Casey is a little over 14,000 people. Alright, it's about 68% white, 25% African American, 4% Hispanic. The highest age status demographic for this area is young and single. So, young professionals and that's a growing demographic for this area and this part of the city.

The next couple are young families and aging community. We have a lot of young professionals that have moved in this area. Alright, so they do some demo studies like that but then they also do a ton of surveying. A couple years ago they asked, they sent a ton of surveys out, they asked questions about people's beliefs, their practices, their opinions on the church, their opinions on religion, a whole wide spectrum of responses and I read through all the data and as to summarize it for us, here's what I found. About half of Casey does not believe in Jesus by their own responses in these surveys.

Either they're atheist, they're agnostic, they don't care, or they're just non-religious, that's the biggest growing denomination in America, it's just non-religious, no affiliation, or they have a different belief system altogether that doesn't line up with the gospel at all. About half of the people that responded, that's 7,000 people in the immediate area. 7,000 right around our church. Now, if you dig a little deeper, you look at some more statistics, here's what you will find. In Lexington County, about 44% of people either have membership somewhere or say they're actively involved in a gospel-centered church.

About 44%. Now, I think that is an incredibly optimistic number because there are plenty of people that have church membership somewhere but do not know who Jesus is and are actively involved in any gospel-centered church. And just because you say something like, yeah, I'm evangelical, I go to a church regularly, doesn't actually mean you understand the gospel and you have an active relationship with Jesus and you're actively involved in a gospel-centered church. So, in order to just be a little bit optimistic, let's just say that 40% of Casey is actively involved in a gospel-centered church and believes the gospel.

That means there are about 8,000 to 9,000 people right around here that are harassed and helpless and do not know the Good Shepherd. We have to see this. I want to actually visualize this. I have some people, you'll bring these tables up. I want to help us see and understand how many 8,000 to 9,000 people are in this area. I chose Skittles because they're like the best candy and our group leader is going to take these home because we're going to, as we walk through mission over the next few weeks, I want these Skittles to be out as a snack but also a visual reminder of what we face.

Now, each one of these represents someone down the street, someone in our neighborhoods right around here that currently does not know Jesus, doesn't even have Him Him on their radar. That is the people that live on the avenues, that is in the surrounding neighborhoods right around our church, that is all the people that live near the river walk, that is single moms that do not have the hope of Christ, that is people that are struggling with addiction, that is University of South Carolina students, we have student housing right down the street that currently are enjoying the world but actually don't know who Jesus is. That is people battling depression, that is people battling mental illness, that is people that we see if you're out here during the week at places like Peace Wise Coffee, there's a street, there's a restaurant down the street I love, Reggae Grill, that is people all over the city of Casey that do not believe in Jesus, that do not have the hope of Christ, that are currently walking into an eternity of destruction apart from God, from our Good Shepherd. That's the harvest in Casey and here's the deal.

If you looked at all the places that our church touches, downtown, West Columbia, Irmo, Red Bank, Lexington, Gilbert, there are at least 28 more of these that need to come up here. at least. That's the optimistic view. That is the harvest. That is the people that Jesus looks on our area with a broken heart because they currently don't know Him. That is the harvest that we need to clearly see. The incredible amount of harassed and helpless sheep that do not know this Good Shepherd, that have not tasted and seen how good He is.

We have to see the harvest. and we've got to see it clearly. And once we've seen that, we need to see the next part. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. The laborers are few. This is why we exist as a church, as a gospel-centered community on mission. Not to be just Christians, but to be laborers.

I did a Greek word study so I could further understand what the Greek means for that word. And here's what I found this week. It means laborer. It means worker. Shocking. Our English translations are great.

It means someone who labors, who actively works, not just someone who believes, but that belief takes the form of action and goes and labors to see the lost come and taste and see that He is good. That is what we're called to be. We're called to labor for the harassed and helpless sheep. I've got a buddy of mine. He's a buddy. He's also a mentor.

His name is Matt Friend. And I texted him the morning that we all got to worship together a couple weeks ago. We all got to... If you're new here, two churches came to emerge as one and two weeks ago was our first time worshiping together. And I got here early as I do every morning ready to set stuff up and there wasn't a whole lot to do. We've been set up and tearing down for years.

I mean, as a church and even before I was a part of Mill City since 2011 as a part of another church back when I was in seminary that was also a meeting in a school that also had to set up and tear down. So for the last eight, nine years this is what I've done. Got here early. Set up. And I texted my buddy Matt because he was a part of the church in Louisville as well. And I said, man, I'm here early at seven o'clock and I ain't got nothing to do. man, this is great.

And he texted back and he said, that's awesome, man. I'm so happy for you guys. He said, but don't get fat. And I knew exactly what he was getting at. I knew exactly what he was getting at because he left the church that I was a part of and he went to be the pastor of a pretty sizable church in West Virginia with a big old building. and he said, don't get fat because the reality is is that we can have kind of a field of dreams kind of mindset. If we build it, they will come.

And that is not the case. We cannot lose our hustle. I get it. It's exciting. We should absolutely be excited about what happened. For those of us who have been set up and tearing down every week in, week out to have a permanent place where we can mobilize mission from, that's incredible.

We should be happy. And I know that some of you that have been worshiping in this building for years are so happy to see it filled up again. We should be ever joyed. But we ain't getting fat. We got work to do. We got stuff that we need to do.

We got to gain our hustle. We have to go out and make disciples. We are called to be laborers. Now, this insight group did a specific survey and I'll share with you. They surveyed and asked, what are the three top things, just asking the area of cases, what are the three top things that you're looking for in a church? If you're going to visit, what are you actually looking for?

You need the three top responses. The first was warm and friendly encounters. That was the top thing. They're looking to be welcomed, to be a part of something, to be warm and inviting. That is why so often we have talked about as a church to get here on time, to get here early and to welcome people. That's why our host team is so important.

Do you know how much nerve you got to build up to actually visit a church if you haven't been a part of a church in years? Do you know how much nerve you got to build up if you've never been to a church before? It's scary. I remember when I was in high school when I wasn't a Christian, my life really was going downhill and I knew that something had to change and I felt like maybe I needed to check out a church, maybe I needed to check out a specific youth group. It took me like three or four or five months to actually gain up the nerve to go and that was kind of because somebody forced me to. It takes a lot of nerve to get here on a Sunday morning for someone to show up and no one to talk to them, no one to welcome them, no one to experience the familiness and the love that we get to experience week in, week out, in groups and on Sundays.

That's a huge miss, guys. I know we got friends and church family here that we love dearly, but you can see them other times in the first ten minutes. Welcome somebody. Get to know them. Invite them. Show them the love that we have so much in our church family.

That is hugely important. Second thing they're looking for is quality sermons. Check. Like half the time, which in baseball that's a 500 batting average. All right.

Third, adult social activities. Translation, community groups. Y'all, do you see what just happened there? We are primed and set up to reach the people of this area, to be warm and inviting, to preach quality sermons, to have community groups planted all over Casey in the city of Columbia. That's it. We are primed and ready.

And the reality is is that we have about a hundred ish members. Committed members of our church. But do we have a hundred plus committed laborers? That's the reality. The reality is the laborers are few. And we need to respond.

We need to grow in what it means to be a laborer. Which means doing the things that we've consistently talked about for years and actually laboring. It means being an everyday missionary. We talk about that in our church. Being an everyday missionary means being a missionary where you live, where you work, where you enjoy and live life. It means being an everyday missionary in your neighborhood, being a good neighbor, getting to know your neighbors, having parties, inviting people over, being a good neighbor and inviting them in to experience who Jesus is.

It means being a good co-worker, a good employee, a good employer, to spend time getting to know your co-workers, to take them out to lunch, to intentionally get to know them, to listen to them when they vomit all of their life problems instead of getting annoyed. To love your co-workers and to get to know them and share the gospel with them and invite them in to know who Jesus is in community groups and here on Sunday. It means being an everyday missionary in the parts of life that we enjoy. Maybe you've got kids that play sports or do dance competitions or whatever. It's a mission field. All their parents, that's a mission field.

A lot of them don't know Jesus. Maybe some of the ones that scream at umps. I'm just kidding. Christians are pretty bad at that too. If you don't have kids, whatever you do, bowling leagues, I haven't had a social life for years, so whatever the things extensively that you would fill in the blank that you do, wherever you live and enjoy life, you're called to be an everyday missionary right there. To invite them into knowing who Jesus is.

We need to labor as groups on mission. That's one of the things we talk about. That our community groups are not just for family and loving one another. They are and caring for one another. But they are groups on mission.

We are sent out as groups in the city every single week. And here's the reality. I think we've only had one group multiply in the last three years. And I'm so thankful for what Jesus is doing in our church. I'm so thankful for all the ways that He's working. But the reality is is that our groups are meant to multiply because more groups means more opportunities across the city for people to taste and see that our Good Shepherd is actually good.

So we've got to regain our hustle here and we've got to multiply some groups so that we can be groups on mission in this city. And it means laboring here on Sundays. It means coming here with a missional mindset that there are people that are going to come through this door that do not know Him. It means serving in different areas like host team where we need top-notch hospitality as we welcome people in. It means serving and volunteering in Kid City. Y'all, there's a harvest down there in the basement right now.

And they need the gospel. We need volunteers because they are thin and they are killing it with smaller Numbers. But how beautiful would it be if you committed yourself to volunteer once a month to be in Kid City and for the next three months, the next six months, the next two years to walk our kids through the gospel. I love seeing stories in our church when the baptism waters are filled with a child, their parent, and somebody else who's serving Kid City. Man, the harvest is plentiful even downstairs. It means doing the things that we need to do to be a gospel-centered community on mission on Sundays to see the loss be found.

So let's not get fat. Let's work. Let's labor. Let's be the laborers that God has called us to be. We need to see the loss is harassed and helpless. We need to see the harvest is plentiful.

We need to see that we are called to be laborers and then we need to respond and pray. That is the next thing that Jesus teaches. We are called to pray. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly, earnestly, vigorously, consistently, unendingly. Pray earnestly to the Lord of harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

The reason we pray is because God is the one who ultimately goes and works in our lives and the lives of unbelievers. God is the one who ultimately brings people to faith. We need to pray. We need to be a church that prays earnestly for the lost. There was a French Quaker pastor in the 19th century named Stephen Grellett. He was considering some of the things that we are talking about this morning and he was praying.

He was like, Lord, who do you want me to reach? And a French Quaker, God put on his heart American woodcutters. Now, woodcutters is a 19th century term for lumberjacks. And basically, back then, they were like people who worked on oil rigs. I mean, it's blue-collar workers isolated from the rest of the world. Pretty rowdy crew.

So God put American woodcutters on his heart. So he prayed and he planned and then he got on a ship and he crossed the Atlantic and he showed up in America. And he's a French Quaker, so there's one site where these American woodcutters are known to be found. So he travels his way through the wilderness and he shows up and there's been months of anticipation and buildup and he shows up at this site where they were known to be and it's empty. It was just recently deserted. And again, he's a French Quaker.

He's not a tracker. It's not Bear Grylls. He's not about to go find where these guys are. So he's there and it's empty. Imagine the amount of disappointment after all this time that God prays, he responds, he goes and there's no one there and he prays. He said, God, what do you want?

He says, it's my message. You came here. I want you to preach it. So he finds this shanty. It's a temporary housing setup. He goes inside.

He opens his Bible and he preaches the gospel. He just obeys Jesus. He preaches the gospel. He preaches the message that our Lord came from heaven and he sought us. He preaches of his blood and how we need covering for sin and forgiveness for sins. He preaches of the hope of new life in him, of the resurrection.

He preaches the gospel and then he shuts his Bible and he packs up his stuff and he goes home. And I can imagine that that trip home was a very frustrating one, was a very disappointing one. What was the point? God, why did you bring me all this way to preach to the empty, open air? I know I'm being obedient, but what was the point of what actually happened? Fast forward a few years.

A few years later, he runs into an American. The American sees him, hears him and recognizes him and he says, you don't know me, but I was an American woodcutter and years ago, we left our site, but I left some tools behind and when I came back to the site, I heard someone preaching from a shanty and I caught a glimpse of you preaching a message that absolutely confronted me in my sin. And it cut him to his core and he placed his faith in Jesus and he gathered his tools and he went on to the new campsite of where they were at and he said, I led a few more to Christ with that message who led a few more and by the time it was all said and done, over a thousand people tasted and saw that God was good. Now, I love that story for a few different reasons.

I love what it illustrates. I love that it illustrates that God is sovereign in salvation. He's the one who saves. He just was being obedient, but God had it all set up. God is the one that goes to work and brings people in to faith. I love it because of what it illustrates, the danger and the power of prayer.

That when you pray and you pray for the harvest and you pray for laborers to go out, what will often happen is God will raise you up and send you out. That might be across the Atlantic, that might be across the street. Both can be unnerving for different reasons. But when you pray, God goes to work and I love that it illustrates what it means to be a laborer. I think we should dream big. I think we should absolutely see the loss.

I think we should think about mission in such a big picture that is so big and so bold that Jesus calls us to. But oftentimes, it's the very simple making of disciples. Jesus called a few, 12, to impact the world. And he went across the Atlantic to impact one and through one, a thousand plus and a legacy of faith came out of it. We are called to labor. Once we see the need, the harassed and helpless sheep, once we see the harvest is plentiful, once we see the need for laboring, once we pray, ultimately, we need to go.

Verse 38 says, Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. To send, which means we need to go. We need to get on our knees. We need to pray. But man, we need to absolutely own this and go.

We will focus so much of our time and so much of our energy and so much wasted time and affection on frivolous pursuits that do not matter in a million years. This is the grand scheme of eternity. It does not matter. And if we do that, we will be a shadow of the men and women of great density that God has called us to be. We need to go. What would 2021 look like in the life of our church if we actually said, no, this year, I'm going to go.

I'm actually going to labor for the lost. What would it look like if we committed in 2020 to actually do this? What would the city of Casey look like in just a few years? If we said, no, we're going to intentionally reach this part of the city. We're going to plant community groups all across Casey so that people can experience who God is. What would our city look like?

What would downtown in Oralwood? What would, in West Columbia where our Riverbanks group meets, what would Irmo in Lexington in Gilbert, what would all of Columbia look like if we owned this mission and we actually went? we need to go. We got work to do. We got people to reach. We need to go. And for some of you, that may mean across the street.

That may mean across the cubicle. But for others, cubicle, but for others, that means across the world. We want to be a church that has everyday missionaries here that intentionally reaches this area. But we want to be a church that sends laborers across the world into the harvest. Into places like Egypt that we have been partnering in. In places like Columbia, South America that we have been partnering in.

And reaching unreached people groups all across the world. Some of you need to finally respond to that calling and you need to go. Here's what I love as we are going to walk through Matthew in the next few weeks. And really the rest of our time in this wonderful gospel. Next week, He is going to raise up the disciples, Peter, James, John, Bartholomew, Thaddeus, Lot. He is going to send them out to get a taste of what mission looks like, what He is calling to.

But ultimately, as the gospel of Matthew closes out, He says, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. The way it ends is, Behold, I will be with you always to the end of the age. Which means, as we go out into Casey, as we go out into Columbia, as we go out into the world, we are not alone. The God of the universe is in His church working inside of us. And we get the thrill of laboring with God to see a harvest happen in this city. But we got to go.

We got to go across the cubicle. We got to go into our neighborhoods. We got to go into Kid City. We got to go and have tough conversations with our skeptic friends. And here is the picture of what it could be. If you committed to this, if we committed to this, how beautiful it would be if later this year, someone who doesn't have Jesus even on their radar steps in the baptism waters because you declared the goodness of our God.

And they say that Jesus is Lord. That's the picture. But we got to go out and get Him. Lindsay's going to come up and she's going to play. And in lieu of taking the Lord's Supper, instead of taking the Lord's Supper, I want us to pray. If you're new here, we're so glad you're here this morning.

This may feel a little bit different. We've got a few moments where we can silently pray together for the things that God is calling us into. If you do not believe in Jesus, if you've not experienced how good this gospel is, our hope this morning is that you would, that you would actually place your faith in Him. He's worth your life. He's such a good shepherd. You're harassed and you're helpless.

But He will bring you into the family of God. He's worth it. Would you believe? So right now, our hope is that you would pray, that you would ask Jesus to be the Lord of your life. But for everyone else, I want to take a few moments and pray for three things.

I want to pray for Casey, all the parts of this city that need the gospel. Pray for Casey, that we're going to pray for Columbia and the greater Columbia area. I want you to think of people that you know, that need Jesus. I want you to think of people in your work, in your neighborhood. And then lastly, we're going to pray for the ends of the earth. So let's pray.

First for Casey. Jos hablar. Pai. vec giga close chasekel si escuch si se pedals si se, Lord, may you go to work in this city. May our church be a beacon of light and salt all across Casey. That they would experience how good you are. Amen.

I want to pray for Columbia. Lord, may you send our church out all across this city. May you send us back into our neighborhoods, into our places of work. May we labor for the lost all over Columbia, all over Lexington, all over Red Bank, all over West Columbia, all over Irma. May we go. Amen.

Lastly, let's pray for the ends of the earth. Pray for unreached people groups. Pray for places that you would love to see the Lord's sin labors into that harvest. Lord, would you raise up men and women in our church that would fearlessly go to the ends of the earth, that would make disciples in the darkest corners of the globe. May you reap a harvest amongst unreached people groups, amongst nations that desperately need the gospel. May we sin and may we go.

In Jesus' name, amen. May we as laborers go into the harvest. Amen.

2020 Vision: Community

2020 Vision: Community

Ken Harmon

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Transcript

Good to see each of you here today. It's so wonderful to look out and see this congregation, so many people here. I was talking to one of the ladies from Casey First before this started. Fall a year ago, fall of 18, our church spent 100 days in prayer and we had different prayer groups. She was telling me that her prayer group came over here and prayer walked this building and came in the sanctuary and prayed that God would fill it. And she came in this morning and looked around and said, my prayer's been answered.

Isn't that fantastic? Fantastic. Thank you. Greenville, when I was only about the eighth grade, felt like that God was calling me to be a pastor. And I worked toward that, went to North Greenville, to Furman and the Southern Seminary. And I got married.

My wife's Joy, see here at the front. We've been married for 49 years. We have two grown children. We have a son and a daughter. Our daughter has three sons. I mean, our son has three sons and our daughter has two girls.

And so we've got five grandchildren. And I had my first church. I started my first church when I was in seminary, and that was in 1971. So I've been a pastor for a little while. And keep learning. And it's just been exciting to serve God all these years.

Of course, there's been ups and downs and lean times and blessed times. Let me share with you how I ended up here at Casey First. After I retired full-time, I'd been at First Baptist Church at Newberry for 30 years. I retired full-time from there and wasn't ready to quit completely preaching. So I'd taken transitional pastor training.

And I'd done a couple of transitional pastor churches. One of them was Holland Avenue over here. And then after two, I was out for several months, and I began to like being out. You know, not having to get up and work and do all the things you've got to do. And we were attending church one Sunday morning. It was in August of 2018.

And the preacher that morning preached on what do you need to sacrifice to God? What do you just need to turn over to him and let him be in control of it? And you surrender that to him. And I thought to myself, or really the Spirit said to me, You're a retirement. You let God decide about that. And I said, Okay, Lord, I'll turn that over to you.

And committed to that in prayer during that service. The next morning, I got a call from Johnny Rumbaugh, our director of missions here in this association. He said that Dr. Pete Cassidy, who had been at this church for six years, had died suddenly. And would I come and fill in for him? And so I came the next Sunday, and the Sunday after that, and the Sunday after that, and after three or four Sundays, they called me to be their interim pastor.

And so I was here, you know, during that time, or since that time. And we began working on, Okay, what does God want us to do now? Considering what our resources are, and we've got tons of building resources. Considering our people resources, and we didn't have many, we began praying, Lord, what do you want us to do? And then we began looking at the options. And to make a long story short, in the process, we got connected with Mill City Church.

And Mill City Church had been praying, Lord, show us where you want us to, you know, buy land, pay for a building, whatever. Guess what? God has answered both of our prayers. He brought you to us, and we opened our arms to you. And one of the most exciting things in my ministry since 1971 has been the opportunity to see two churches come together and begin to get to know one another and work together and plan together and serve God together in this building and in this community. And I've just seen in so many ways something amazing happen.

This doesn't happen often for two churches to come together like this. And it's just so evident to me that God is in the midst of this. And I am just real excited to get to work with your pastors and with you and with our people who have been here at what we call Casey First. And it's just been a really exciting thing for me. And I'm glad that God gave me the chance to be a part of this. It's been a real blessing for me personally.

We are seeking to work together now. And Chet preached last Sunday on the gospel. And what that means is we begin to work together here in this community. Next week, Spencer will come and tell us some of the hows that we can work to carry out the mission he's given us. This morning, I want to speak about how we can better come together as one church family. And the purpose of all of these sermons is to give us some idea.

OK, what does it mean for us to be a gospel centered community on mission? And that's what we're all working toward. So we're going to think about that a little bit this morning. Now, have you ever noticed how humanity easily divides itself into different groups? We do that with nations. We do that with races.

We do that along economic lines. We do that with religions. We can even do that with trying to worship God. When I was in Newberry, Lewis Rich, the big turkey processing plant there, began hiring a lot of Hispanic people. And so the population grew very much in Newberry. And we thought they need a gospel witness.

And so our church started a Hispanic church. And they began to grow. And they started meeting in our church. And then just completely by the grace of God, they were given a church building. The congregation had completely died out. And they were just given this nice church building.

And they continued to grow. They had their own pastor. It was going really well. And then they split. They split over the different worship styles between the Mexican Christians and the Guatemalan Christians that were in that church. It's easy for us to divide ourselves into different groups.

That was true in New Testament times. In New Testament times, the Jewish people knew that they were the chosen people of God, that God had a special mission for them. They just kind of didn't grasp all of the ramifications of that. And so they looked at themselves as God's special people, the Jews. And everybody else, everybody else in the whole world was a Gentile. And they thought that they were pretty special.

And the Gentiles looked at the Jews and thought, these people are a bunch of prideful nobodies. And so there was a lot of contention between the two. Let me give you an illustration of that contention. The temple that was there in Jerusalem. By this time, it had been built into an elaborate structure. And there was the place, the building proper, where only the priests could go in.

Outside of that was the court of the Jewish men. And outside of that was the court of the Jewish women. And outside of that was the court for the Gentiles. They could come and worship God, just not real close. They had to keep their distance. Now, there were walls dividing these open areas.

And on the walls between the court of the Gentiles and the court of the women, there were signs on the gates in those walls. And they're mainly more like fences. And the sign said, if you're a Gentile and come any further, you'll be responsible for your own death, which will result. In other words, they couldn't come close to God. They had to keep their distance. Now, think about that and that scripture that we read a little earlier from Ephesians 2.

And you might want to look in your Bibles. Some of you can look at Ephesians 2 and find that all right. In the Pew Bibles, that's page 568. And this passage begins to tell some of the things that how the Gentiles were in reality before they became Christians. And the reason this is being addressed is because as the gospel began to spread after Jesus' death and resurrection, then the gospel went to the Jews and then it spread beyond the Jews and Gentiles began to be Christians. And so you had a whole lot of Gentiles coming into the church.

And Jews were in the church. And, oh, how were they going to get together? There had been such a divide there. So this letter of Ephesians was written primarily to Gentile Christians to help them understand, you know, what could be done to help them accept the Jews and as a corollary of what Jews could do to accept the Gentiles. So we're going to look at some of these verses that were read a little bit earlier first before we get down to the actual verses that I'm going to read a little bit later.

But if you would look at verse 12 of Ephesians chapter 2, it says this, Remember, and he's primarily addressing Gentiles here, Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Now, look at this, separated from Christ. It's hard to be separated from Christ. If you don't have Jesus, you don't have a Savior. If you don't have Jesus, you don't have a Lord who can rule your life and give you the assurance that he's the one that's going to be in charge for all of eternity.

And if you belong to him, then you're going to be taken care of. If you don't have Jesus, you don't have the one that called himself the good shepherd who watches over his people and keeps them in his care and laid down his life for them. And no one can snatch them out of his hand. They were without Christ. And then it says they were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. In other words, Israel was the people of God.

And they weren't part of the people of God. They were alienated from them. When this was written, if you could have Roman citizenship, then it meant something. Some people were born into Roman citizenship. Some people bought it. But if you had it for whatever reason, and most people didn't, you had certain privileges and response.

You had certain privileges and things that came to you that the normal person didn't have. And when we're a part of God's people, there are certain things that are a blessing to us. And we have those things, but the Gentiles didn't have those things. They were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. And then strangers from the covenants of promise. God gave his people in the Old Testament several different covenants.

One of the ones was with Moses. Remember when Moses led the children of Israel out of slavery in the land of Egypt? And on the way to the promised land, they went to Sinai. And God gave them the Ten Commandments and his laws. And he said, you let me be your God and follow my laws. And I will be your God and let you be my people.

That was the covenant that he made with them. There was the covenant with David. God went to David and said, I am going to make of your offspring one who will have an eternal kingdom. And of course, that was fulfilled in Jesus. Remember when the angel went to Mary and was announcing that she was going to bear the Messiah? And the angel said to her, of his kingdom there will be no end.

That's God's promise. God's covenant. In the book of Hebrews, the writer picks up on something that Jeremiah said from the Old Testament. And listen to this. Man, that's a neat sounding covenant, isn't it? Our sins to be remembered by God himself no more.

So many blessings for being part of the people of God. And yet the Gentiles were away from that. But it goes on. And it says, having no hope. No hope. They probably hoped in some things.

A lot of people hope in things today. A lot of our hope is, in essence, just wishful thinking. We hope something will come true. But we have no guarantee that that will happen. But biblical hope is different.

It's based on the promises of God. And we know they're going to happen. When he made those promises, they happened. When he makes the promise that he'll forgive us our sin. When he'll give us eternal life. When he'll take us to heaven when we die.

We know. Because it's based on the promise of our faithful God. But the Gentiles didn't have that kind of hope. Their hope was just wishful thinking. And then, without God in the world. Man, that's hard.

Now, they didn't design the existence of God. In fact, the Gentiles worshipped a whole lot of different gods. If you ever read Greek or Roman mythology. You read about all of those gods that they worshipped. Nothing like the true and living God. The eternal God.

The creator God. If you're without that God. Then you are without hope. They had no knowledge of the one true God. They had religion. But they didn't have a relationship with the living God.

Isn't this one of the saddest verses in the Bible? You were at that time. Separated from Christ. Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. Strangers to the covenants of promise. Having no hope.

And without God in the world. Guess what? That wasn't just the Gentiles then. That's us today. Before we had Jesus. That's the way we were.

So. Praise the Lord. In that kind of state. God came to us. He said Jesus. And we're going to see what Jesus did.

He did some amazing things for us. Look at verse 13. It says, but now. I like it when the Bible says, but now. It usually means that, you know. There's something in bed.

But God's doing something. This is going to be better. So he says, but now in Christ Jesus. You who were once far off. Have been brought near by the blood of Christ. We were far off from God.

We were separated from God because of our sins. And we have been brought near. Because Jesus died on the cross. Because he was willing to hang there. And shed his blood. So that our sins might be forgiven.

So that we might be given eternal life. Jesus did that. He opened the way for us to have forgiveness. He brought us near. You know, Jesus was always bringing people near. When you think about Jesus' ministry.

You realize that he was always bringing people near. You think in John chapter 4. About the woman at the well. She was a pretty immoral woman. She was a woman who was confused about religion. She was a woman who was evidently shunned.

By most of the people in her little town. And yet Jesus came to her. Talked to her. Told her the truth. He changed the whole trajectory of her life. He brought her near to God.

And she was living for a new purpose from then on. Jesus is bringing people near. Jesus brought Zacchaeus near. Zacchaeus in Luke chapter 19. Zacchaeus was a short man. And he was a tax collector.

Don't you hate April the 15th coming? Oh no. Oh goodness. We still don't much like tax collectors. Did you hear about the man that walked into a restaurant. With an alligator on a leash.

And he went over and sat out at a table. And the waitress came. And he said. Will you serve tax collectors here? And she said. Oh yes sir.

We'll do that. He said. Good. I'll have a steak. And bring my gator a tax collector. Well.

Back in New Testament times. Where Zacchaeus lived. In Palestine. They hated tax collectors more than we did. Because see. That tax collector.

Was. Collecting taxes. For the Roman government. Not the Jewish people. They were paying taxes. To a foreign nation.

And for him. As a Jewish man. To collect taxes. For the invaders. He was considered to be a traitor. And the way that system was set up.

It was easy to be a tax collector. Who cheated people. And got rich yourself. And so. Zacchaeus. Was away from his people.

And probably because of that. He was away from God too. And when he heard that Jesus. Was coming to town. Because he was such a short guy. And couldn't see what was going on.

Because of the press. He climbed up in a tree. So we could see Jesus. And Jesus saw him up in the tree. Told him to come down. And somewhere.

Beside the time. That he was up in those branches. By the time he hit the ground. Jesus had changed him. And he said. Lord.

That's a pretty good title. To call it for Jesus. If I have cheated anybody. I will pay it back. And Jesus said. This one too.

Has become a son of Abraham. A son of the people of God. He was one. That Jesus brought near. The man who read this scripture. We were reading this morning.

Was the. Apostle Paul. And Paul. Was once. A very religious man. A Jewish man.

Who kept the law. And was zealous for God. To the point of persecuting Christians. Because he thought they were completely wrong. And yet Jesus appeared to him. On the road to Damascus.

When he was going to have Christians. Arrested and persecuted. And changed him. And brought him near. Jesus is in the business. Of bringing people near.

We were separated. But Jesus. Brings us. Near. We've been brought near. By his.

Cross. By his shedding. His blood. Blood. Jesus. Also.

Is the one. Who brings us peace. Jesus comes. And preaches. Peace. I believe it's here.

In. Verse 17. It says. And he came. And preached. Peace.

To you who are far off. And peace. To those who were near. Jesus brings peace. Scripture says. That we who have been justified.

That we who have been justified. By faith. Have peace with God. Through the Lord Jesus Christ. Before we accept Jesus. It's like we're at war with God.

You know. We don't want to submit to him. We don't want to. Don't want to. Obey his commands. We want.

We don't want to. Accept the fact. That we are sinners. And don't deserve. Really anything good. And yet.

When we accept Jesus. Then Jesus. Makes us at peace. With God. And. We don't look at God.

As an enemy anymore. As a tyrant. As somebody. Who's out to get us. We see God. As a heavenly father.

As one who loves us. Who cares for us. Who's going to help us. Who's going to guide us. In the right way. And this is not something.

We earn by ourselves. Or. Or make up by ourselves. Or search for peace. Or finding it another way. It comes through Jesus.

If you. Look at the. Part in verse 14. He says. For he himself. Is our peace.

And. In the. Last part of verse 15. He said. That he might create it himself. One new man.

In place of the two. So making peace. In other words. He gives us peace with God. And he gives us peace. With all.

Other believers. If you've accepted Jesus. And accepted the peace. That he's given. Then. Not only do you have peace.

With God. But you're going to do your best. To stay at peace. With other believers. He brings us together. That way.

Reconciling us. To those. And then. He does one other thing. He gives us. Access.

To God. In verse. 18. He says. For through him. We both have access.

In one spirit. To the father. In. Verse 12. Of chapter 3. He says.

In whom. We have boldness. And access. With confidence. Through our faith. In him.

Because Jesus. Has become our high priest. Then. We are able. To go into the presence of God. That's what Chet preached on.

Last Sunday. That. That we have access. To God. Because. Of Jesus.

And we can go to God. In prayer. We can go to God. For help. We can go to God. For direction.

We can go for God. For power. To live the Christian life. We have access. To him. And he blesses us.

In these ways. Makes tremendous difference. In our lives. One of the churches. Where my wife and I. Were attending.

When I was. In between. Some of these transitional. Churches. There was a young woman there. Who was a vibrant Christian.

Outgoing. Fully accepted. By the congregation. Just. Just a. A.

B. A. A. A. A. A.

A. A. A. herself and then was in a bad car wreck. And she was in the hospital for several days. And while she was in the hospital, her house was burglarized. And it was just like her whole world was falling apart.

And she remembered a little bit of what she'd learned when she was a little girl about Jesus. And she called out to him and invited him into her life. And she became that Christian who was, I described her as so vibrant and excited about the faith and was fully accepted by that church. You know, she had been brought near, given peace and had access to God and other believers as well. Jesus does these things for us. He brings us near.

He gives us peace. He gives us access to God. Now, on the basis of that, what are we supposed to be as his people? What are we supposed to be as a church? Let's look and see what the scripture says that we are so that we can begin to leave it out.

Ephesians chapter two, beginning with verse 19. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by his spirit. So what are we now? First part of verse 19, no longer strangers, but you are fellow citizens with the saints. Saints means Christians.

You're a fellow citizen. You have citizenship in the kingdom of God. And remember, that's an everlasting kingdom. Now, I imagine that most of you are probably citizens of the United States. And because you're a citizen of the United States, then you have certain privileges. You have freedom of speech.

You have freedom of religion. You have freedom of assembly and a whole bunch of other freedoms as well. You also have some responsibilities. You have the responsibility to pay those taxes we were talking about earlier. You have the responsibility to obey the law. You should vote and be involved in the political process.

Those should be, you know, responsibilities we gladly accept because we are so blessed to be citizens of our country. Kingdom of God works the same way because we who are believers are part of the kingdom of God. Then we have certain privileges. We have the privilege to go to God. We have the privilege to have our sins forgiven. We have the privilege of God's direction.

We have the privilege in the church of having people, people who care for us and who work with us and help us in ways when we need help. And we have responsibilities. You know, we care for one another. We were concerned for one another. We help one another. We, we build each other up.

We keep each other going in the right direction in the faith. We, we bring the encouragement that people need. Amen. Now, let me speak to those of you who were members of Casey first before. Yeah. We have got a lot of young people in here.

They are so enthusiastic. They do so much work around this place. Isn't it amazing how it's been transformed in such a short time? Just the building itself. It just, I can't get over it. It's just fantastic.

But let me tell you something, just because they're here doing this kind of work doesn't mean you can kick your feet up and do nothing from now on. Okay. You still need to give your encouragement. You've got wisdom. You've got skill. You've got experience.

That's going to be a blessing for them. You can still volunteer to do things. You, you can volunteer to help. You could, you could volunteer to help maybe with childcare sometime, give some parents. I guess I got a lot amens on that, huh? We're glad to do that.

But remember, most of us are old. Not too many at once, please. But you get the idea, you know, we're together. Yeah, we, we, we could share one another with these responsibilities because you see verse 19, he says, you're members of the household of God. In other words, we are part of the same family. We all belong to the same God.

We all have the same Jesus as our savior. God is our father. If you're a Christian, God is your father. You know, he said that in verse 18, he said, for we have our access in one spirit to the father. When Jesus gave us the model prayer, he taught us to pray our father. So if we've got one father, what are we?

We're brothers and sisters of the Lord. God's our father. We're related to one another. We're brothers and sisters of the Lord in a good family, in a good family, there's acceptance. There's affirmation. There's the, the imparting of values.

There's correction. There's encouragement and guidance and all of those things. And you know, we value one another. We support one another. We encourage one another. That's part of being a family.

And as the church, we're a family and we ought to be doing those things for each other. Give me a personal illustration of how valuable a family can, a church family can be. 1997, my wife had breast cancer, did the surgery, found out that it had spread. It was in the lymph nodes. She was going to need regular treatment. She was also going to need a stem cell transplant.

They were doing those over at Richland at the time. So through the summer, she had the regular treatments, you know, that knocks your immune system down. So she was in the hospital a couple of times from that. Then she went in from the stem cell transplant. Basically what they do is they harvest your stem cells out of your blood, put them aside, and then zap you with so much chemotherapy, you know, kills all the cancer supposedly, but you know, it wipes out your whole immune system. So you have no resistance to anything.

So she was in the hospital in isolation for five and a half weeks. So, you know, then they, you know, they re-infuse your stem cells and you get your immune system back, but it takes a while. So even after she got home, she couldn't be around people and she certainly couldn't get out and go to church. And so on Sunday morning when I would go to preach, she would sit down in front of the TV, get on her hymnal, turn on First Baptist Church of Columbia and worship with them. And when they would sing, she would sing the hymns with them with tears, gorsing down her cheeks. Because she missed her church family and couldn't worship with them.

You get that close in a family. And then she had to have 30 radiation treatments. And the church had let me be out while she was in the hospital. And so I needed to be at work every day. Somebody from the church would come by, pick her up, bring her to Columbia for a radiation treatment. You can get them Newberry now, but you couldn't then.

And so every day there was somebody helping, supporting. And in the meantime, so many people praying. And such a blessing our church family was to us that it's hard to put it into words. That's our dream. That's our dream. That's our dream that all of us together, all ages, all backgrounds, all of us together will become that kind of family.

And as we become that kind of family, what are we? That's what Jesus is seeking to do. Let's look at verse 20. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together as a dwelling place, Christ Jesus, the spirit. We're the temple of God.

And Jesus is the cornerstone. Now today, when we have a cornerstone, you know, in a building, it's kind of a decorative stone. It may have a cavity in it and you place, you know, mementos in it or something historical in it or something like that. New Testament times, that wasn't the cornerstone. Cornerstone was the main foundational stone is the building. It carried a lot of its weight, supported the way the building was going to be built and grow and shaped.

You know, the cornerstone was the very foundation. Jesus is the very foundation of our lives together as a congregation. He's the cornerstone. We are being built on him. And we become God's temple. You know, you ask the average person today and you say to them, what's the meaning of the word church?

And most people are going to say to you a building. That's not the way it is. You who were members of the former Mill City were a church before you had a building. When I was a boy, he used to have this little thing that get us to do as children. You know, they'd say, here is the church and here is the steeple. Open the door and there's all the people.

Well, guess what? That's not right. This is not the church. This is the church. The people are the church. You are the church.

And God is building us into a holy temple. He puts us together. Each one of us of stone. And God's purpose is not to have a lot of individual stones laying around on the ground, not associating with one another. He builds us together in the church to make a building for his purposes, a building for his glory. It's God's work.

I guess most of you probably, you know, it's all about Notre Dame burning this past summer, that great cathedral in Paris, you know, hundreds of years old, took decades and decades to build, you know, and then saw a report the other day that there's probably only a 50-50 chance that thing can be restored. Well, it's kind of sad to lose a building with that historical importance and to lose a cathedral in that sense. But, you know, the greatest cathedral doesn't compare with a group of people who have turned from their sins, accepted Jesus as their Savior, have come together in faith and worship and serve Him together. That's the church.

That's what makes a difference. Man can build pyramids. Man can build the Parthenon. Man can build skyscrapers. But God builds the church and He builds it out of people just like you and I.

He's the one that builds the church. He makes a difference. And, you know, we are being built together to a dwelling place for God by His Spirit. We're being joined together in a holy temple. Now, one of the reasons that they made those old cathedrals so great, and one of the reasons people for hundreds of years have built church buildings with steeples and things all the time, was to give God glory so that people would recognize there is a God and glorify Him. Well, guess what?

That thought was right. But the idea, biblically, is that we, the people who make up the church, have a purpose, and our purpose is to glorify God. We glorify Him through working with one another, through accepting one another, through serving together, through ministering together, through impacting our community together, through loving one another. That's what we're supposed to be about. That's what we're supposed to be doing. When we do that, we will set an example for this community so that people will look and say, hey, what's going on over there?

Maybe we need to check that out. And they'll have the opportunity to come to find out about Jesus. You know, something else. If we make this work, and I think God's already shown us that this is going to work, this bringing of ourselves together, that provides an example for a lot of other churches in our state who are dying, or a lot of other new starts who need some method to move forward. Now, I'm not saying that's what every one of those needs. Everybody doesn't need to do the same thing.

But there's some that can look at what's been done here and think, hey, it's possible. God did it there. Maybe He can do it with us. We have a chance to bring glory to God as we come together. Let God bring us near. Give us His peace.

Give us access to God and we use it. And then turn us into a family, a temple of people who bring glory and honor to God. Isn't it great to be part of a church family? Our dream this coming year for 2020 is that all of us together will use this opportunity to become one family who glorifies the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

Amen.

2020 Vision: Gospel

Gospel

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We have both our church been studying the Gospel of Matthew. We'll pick that up in a few weeks, but we're going to start this year doing a series we've called 2020 Vision. And when it's the year 2020, you have to.

You have to call it 2020 Vision. We don't make the rules. We're just following up. But we're going to spend a few weeks talking through prayers and some hopes for our church family as we join together this year. Try to be gospel-centered, community on mission in Casey. Learning to love one another, learning to love this area of the city, learning to grow together in our love for Jesus.

We just want to take a few weeks to say, hey, let's look at some things that we're praying God will be at work in for us as we try to follow Him together. This is an exciting morning. It's exciting that we get to come together. There were a lot of reasons to say no to doing this. The biggest one being, I don't like change. I mean, you could sum up most of the reasons under that heading.

Change is annoying. No, thank you. But we prayed about it. Our congregations kept seeking the Lord on it, and we kept coming back until we felt like this is something the Lord would want us to do, that He would work in this. And even in the midst of things that will be difficult, isn't it good to be a part of something that God's doing? Isn't it good to be involved in something that He's leading in?

And doesn't He usually lead us in things that cause us to see our own sin, to see our need for repentance, that cause us to see our need for Him? And won't it be a joy and a blessing as we get to walk together in this? So I'm excited. I'm going to pray. We'll pray together, and then we'll go to the text we're going to be in this morning. God, we thank you for the grace that brought every one of us here, and we ask for grace to carry us forward.

And we pray that your name will be praised, and that we would enjoy the glory of the name of Jesus, that you would empower us through your Spirit to love and follow you. In Jesus' name, amen. Grab your Bibles, go to Hebrews chapter 10. Can you turn me down a little bit? Because I'm afraid to get excited at this point. Grab your Bibles, go to Hebrews chapter 10, verse 11.

If you have a blue Bible, you're on page 584. If you have one of the black Bibles, you'll be able to read the words, but we're not going to tell you what page it's on. We are going to start in verse 11. And what the author of Hebrews is doing is been walking through and explaining to a largely Jewish audience how Jesus is the fulfillment of much of what happened in the Old Testament. Much of what God had set and established in the Old Testament. And that he's not just the fulfillment, that he's better.

That he's better than the angels. He's higher than the angels. He's a better priest. He's a better sacrifice. That he is to be exalted above everything. And so we're picking up in Hebrews 10 where we're looking at that kind of a pattern where he's been lifting Jesus up.

And then he's been saying, OK, because of that, here's how we respond. And because of that, here's what we look like. And so as we kind of culturally. Am I cutting in and out? OK. Hello.

OK, I will do my best with a handheld mic. Sometimes I do. And then it comes back. And that's all you needed to know to follow Jesus and be happy. So I will try.

I'll try to keep my arm here. I've worked on it because my wife mocked me incessantly. She's like, you know which end picks up sound, right? You know how microphones work. All right.

This time of year. We're trained to start setting up some goals. Most of us kind of look into the beginning of the year. We're coming out of the Christmas season where I don't know if you're like me. You were like, you know what? It's cold.

I'm going to eat 5,000 calories a day and just sit in my house. And then you hit January and you're like, you know what? Why don't we arbitrarily decide it's January and let's get our act together again. And so some of us, that's kind of what you do. But there's this pursuit of I want to get better.

I want to work towards something. I want to achieve something. And so we as a church are just saying, hey, let's look at what the Bible says. Let's set some hopes and dreams and prayers for our church family. And let's set them in a way that mirrors what is good in the gospel. Hebrews 11 and every Hebrews 10 verse 11.

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. So they had high priests. They had this priestly service and they had the high priest and they had other priests that would offer sacrifices for your sins. So you would sin and then you would need to go get atoned for by the blood of a sacrificial animal, your sin. And they did this daily, which was good because we sin daily. I don't know about y'all.

I'm not just like nights and weekends. Like I need, you know, need atonement all the time. And so people would constantly have to come and have sacrifices for their sins. So they, but it says it never actually took it away. It would atone for it, but it was all short term. It never took it away.

And then it says this, but when Christ had offered for all time, a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. So he said a priest stands daily, but Christ offered one sacrifice. And then he went and sat down that he died on the cross to atone for sin, a full sacrifice that would, that would work for all time. And he's a, the high priest who did not come back the next day to stand up at his service again, but he went and sat down because it has been covered forever. It says he sat down at the right hand of God. Verse 13, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

Could you imagine that? Going to meeting someone in power and they kick back in a really big chair and they put their feet on top of someone. And maybe you work up the courage to say, what is that? And they go, someone who opposed me. I would become real agreeable. I would just be like, whatever you say, but that's what Jesus is going to do.

He's going to crush his enemies so that they are his footstool. Verse 14, for by a single offering, he has perfected for all time. Those who are being sanctified. Now you may be the type of person who really has some good goals for this year. And there are some good goals to set. And maybe you're actively working to try to grow and be better.

There's some habits and some sin that you're trying to kill and grow into. And that's beautiful and good. And the Bible is for growth and it's for diligence. But let me explain something to you. If you are trying to atone for your sin, you will do that daily. You will fail constantly and you will not be made perfect.

If your goal with this year is I'm going to fix myself, I'll finally feel okay. I won't have shame and guilt anymore. I'm going to make sure that I'm all right. If you're working from this place of I've got to accomplish this, you will fail. But if you belong to Jesus, you get to start this year perfected for all time.

Sure. Set some goals. It's fine to exercise. You can quit smoking or cut down from two packs to one or whatever. Go back from vaping to smoking. Whatever.

You can set your goal. That's fine. But know that in Christ you have been perfected for all time. And that is what is at work in your soul and where it matters you are perfect. And that is our starting place in Christ. That if you belong to him, that is what he has done.

That's what it says. That by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. That means those who are being set apart to belong to Jesus. Those who have placed faith in him and those who he has at work in to change. He keeps going. Verse 15.

Do you know how good that is? You see he wrote them on stone and he proclaimed them. And they were supposed to put them on their hand and their forehead in little boxes that they would remember the law so that they might behave. But it was all outside in. So that's the way most of us approach life.

And that's the way many of us approach Jesus. Let me learn your rules and then I'll start to behave. Just tell me what I'm supposed to do. What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to not to do? Is there a certain way I'm supposed to dress?

Is there a certain way I'm supposed to talk? Let me learn the rules. And we go to war on ourselves to make ourselves better. And it is exhausting for anyone who's ever tried. But he says that's not how it works.

That he's going to redeem those. He's going to forgive. He's going to make perfect all those that would come to him. And then he's going to work from your mind and your heart. He's going to work inside out. And for those of you who have met Jesus.

Some of you maybe it's the last year. Maybe it's the last six months. Maybe it's 10, 15, 20 years ago. Isn't that how that worked? You placed your faith in Jesus. And then suddenly you started changing.

And it wasn't this insane amount of effort. It was just coming out of you. And yes, it hurt. And yes, there were times where you were having to struggle to grow. But in so many ways it was at work.

Almost like a force that was coming inside out. That was not something you were going to be able to control one way or the other. And that's good news. And this is where we begin. As we start this year. And as we start together as a church.

And then he says this. Which blessed my soul this week as I was thinking about it. Verse 17. Then he adds. I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. The reason that blessed my soul was that I fail to remember things constantly.

The more you're around me and the closer you are to me, the more frustrating this is. So my wife's at the front of the line and then everybody else can follow in behind her. She could have me wrap my own Christmas gifts. I'd still be surprised on Christmas. Like. I just.

If I don't work real hard to put it in my brain, it's not going to stay there. I could never be a waiter. Like it just wouldn't work. I would. There's no way to do it. And it's not that when you remind me, I'm like, oh yeah, I remember.

It's people will talk to me about things and I'm like, nope. I got nothing. Matt Freeman figured this out. We worked together. As we started this church a couple years ago. The Mill City Church.

And we. Working together. He started realizing that I didn't remember stuff. Which I think he's taking advantage of. Because sometimes I'm pretty sure he's just made up that he told me something. But that's fine.

I forgive him. But there are times where he would mess with me. Like I would say, hey, where are you? And he'd be like, I'm Elizabeth Siddiquet meeting this person. And I'd be like, oh, okay. And then he'd text.

Are you not coming? Sheer panic. What am I supposed to be? And he's like, I'm just messing with you. And I was like, why would you do that? But like, I mean, I've shown up to high school before about to walk into class.

And everybody's carrying a giant poster board. And I'm like, what are those? They're like, our project that's due. And I'm like, okay. I'm going to go see the school nurse. Suddenly got real sick.

He remembers them no more. It's not that when he looks at you in Christ, he looks past your sin. It's not that when he looks at you in Christ, he sees your sin, but he's willing to let it go. It's not that he remembers it no more. That you have been perfected for all time in Christ. And he does not remember your sin and your lawless deeds.

Now, I don't know about you, but that makes me want to take a praise lap because I got some sin and some lawless deeds. And I'm glad that when he looks at me, he sees Christ and nothing else. I'm glad that he sees the blood of Jesus who sacrificed himself once and then went and sat down. The reason Jesus is sitting is because there's no more work to be done. That if you were in Christ, you have been made perfect. He sees your sin no more.

Verse 18. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. So we've been forgiven. There was an offering through Christ once for all. And those of us who are in Christ, this is our reality. And what's beautiful is that if you're in Christ, you're going to sin tomorrow.

And you're going to sin again later this month. And you're going to fail and you're going to fall. And at no point did you take it back from him. You've been made perfect for all time. And he has set you aside. That's what sanctified means.

He set you aside. If you place faith in Jesus, he set you aside. His law is in your mind. It's in your heart. He will remember your sins no more. Verse 19 starts with therefore.

And then over the next few verses, it's going to say since, since. What he's saying is because of this reality, because the gospel is true and it is good, let's work from there. Let's have that be our foundation. Let that be the starting blocks for us. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh. All right.

When he says holy places and he says curtain, he's referring to something he's been talking about. And he's referring to something that the Jewish people would have understood very well. See, they had the tabernacle and then they had the temple. And the way it worked was there was a holy place where only priests could go. And then there was a big curtain that separated the holy place from the holy of holies. Separated the holy place from the most holy place.

And the most holy place, only one person could enter and only one time a year. The high priest could enter the holy of holies once. There was separation. That was where the presence of God was. That was where his footstool was. That's where the Ark of the Covenant was.

When you entered in there, you were entering the very presence of God. And so one person could do it once a year. And only if they had had a certain number of sacrifices on their behalf and only if they had done everything correct, could they go in there. Jewish history is sitting in the Bible, but Jewish history tells us they started tying a rope to the high priest. Because if he went into the presence of God and God killed him, will we draw on straws to see who goes and gets him out? So they came up with the idea, we'll just tie a rope to you.

You don't come out after a while, we'll just pull you out. That was their plan. A little grotesque, maybe functional though. But we're separate from God. He's holy. We sang that a minute ago.

Holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy. Which means you're set apart. You're glorious. You're big. You're beyond us.

But then it says that curtain was torn. See, when Jesus died on the cross, that veil was torn from top to bottom. And the holy of holies is now open. That the presence of God is now open. That those who place faith in Jesus get to enter into. That's what he says.

Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. By the new and living way that has been opened to us through the curtain. That is, through his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God. Okay. So if you are making some, if we're making some New Year's resolutions.

Some prayers. Some hopes for our church family. That's what we're writing at the top. Since we have confidence to draw near to God by the blood of Jesus. And since we have a great high priest. Now.

Let's make some plans. Because that's who we are in Christ. Boldness, confidence, forgiveness. Let's make some plans to follow Jesus. First one. We're going to do three.

He gives us three. He says, let us, let us, let us. And then let us not. Let us draw near with a true heart. Full of assurance of faith. With our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.

And our bodies washed with pure water. Let us draw near to God. That's the first one. That's our prayer. That we would draw near to God. That through our hope in him.

That through our hope in him. Because we have access. Because we have confidence to walk in. Being made perfect by Jesus. Let us take advantage of that. And enjoy the glorious and good presence of God.

Do you know how wonderful he is? How beautiful and terrifying and glorious. And we have access to him. We think about silly things. Like wouldn't it be nice to have access to the mayor? Wouldn't it be nice to have access to the person who owned Best Buy?

And then maybe they could just give us some stuff. Like if I was friends with Jeff Bezos. Maybe he would make it where I didn't have to pay my Amazon yearly fee or whatever. Like we think about silly things. We have access to the glorious God of the universe. Through the blood of Jesus.

For this year. As we grow together. Let's grow in our love for Jesus. Let's enjoy him together. If we don't do anything else this year as a church family. Let's draw near to God.

Let that be what happens when we gather here. Let that be what happens anywhere on this facility. Let that be what happens when we are in our community groups. Let it be that we draw near to God. Because he has opened a way for us to do that. Let's be people of prayer.

This is why we talk about being gospel centered community on mission. There's a reason why gospel centered comes first. Because if we don't. If we're not centered around the gospel. If we're not enjoying Jesus. If we're not engulfed and enraptured by the glory of God.

I don't really want to be a part of your community. And I think your mission is stupid. So we want to be people who draw near. Who enjoy and are overwhelmed by the glory of God. And we get to because Jesus has paid the way for us to walk in. So sometime this year.

You're going to fail. Sometime this year you're going to fall short. And the natural sinful inclination of our heart. Is to run. But we've been washed.

We've been perfected. Let's draw near. There are times where my son. Has done something he ought not to do. And you can see it on him. His face looks different.

He looks. And he just. There are times where I'll pick him up. Hug him. He gets disciplined. Because I care about him.

But I'll pick him up. And I'll hug him. And I'll hold him. I'll tell him I love him. And you can feel after a while. He just relaxes.

What if this year when you failed. And fell short. And you felt shame and guilt creeping up your neck. And you felt overwhelmed by it. You ran to God. And let him wrap you up in the perfection of Christ.

You just got to rest. In the fact that. You are not in charge. Of receiving and earning glory on your own. You are not in charge of saving yourself. You are not in charge of earning this.

You cannot. And if you try. You will fail. And my prayer is you'll fail quickly. And run to Jesus. Because the gospel is good news.

So let us be people who draw near to God. The next one. Let us. Verse 23. Hold fast the confession of our hope. Without wavering.

For he who promised is faithful. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope. Without wavering. So what's the confession of our hope? Well our hope. Is Jesus.

And his work on our behalf. The confession of our hope. Is us saying out loud. Jesus and his work on our behalf. Like I've trusted in Jesus. The confession.

I'm making the confession. That Jesus Christ paid for my sin. That I am not good. That he is. That I am not holy. That he is.

That I didn't save myself. That he did. That's our confession. That we believe in our heart. And we confess with our mouth. So he says hold fast to that.

Let that be something that you do not let go of. Your belief and trust and hope in the gospel. When I grew up in church. I would have people say sometimes. That you couldn't do certain behaviors. Because you would ruin your witness.

Can't act like that. Can't talk like that. Can't do that. You will ruin your witness. Meaning that you won't be able to then tell people about Jesus. Because you will be acting just like the world.

Now. They were right. In a lot of the behaviors they said we shouldn't do. But the reason we shouldn't do them is obedience. And joy. But I want to step in here and fix something.

My witness is not that I am well behaved. My witness is not. Hey look at Chet. He is great. That's terrible. My witness is Jesus saves sinners.

So when I mess up I get to repent. I get to say hey guys. I shouldn't have acted like that. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. And then I get to say I trust Jesus who forgives sinners.

My hope. My confession is him. Then it says let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful. He pushes it again to Jesus. Because he's the one who promised.

He's the one who said this is going to work. He's the one who's faithful. Our hope is in him. I grew up playing sports. I remember I was playing little league baseball. And I had a coach that yelled at me a lot.

And I was afraid of him. Because he was an adult. And I figured if it came down to it he could take me. So I told my dad. He keeps yelling at me. I'm scared.

I don't like this. So my dad sat me down. He said okay. I said I'll tell you what. He said he's just fussing. And some coaches are like that.

They're a little more stern. They're going to be loud. They're going to play sports. This is going to happen. They're going to yell at you. Some of them are trying to motivate you.

He can yell at you. And we're okay. And you're okay. But I'll make a deal with you. If he touches you trying to harm you. I'll break every bone in his body.

And I said yes sir. Fair deal. And I went to practice. No longer afraid. Because he who promised was faithful. He meant it.

And how much more beautiful. Are the promises of God. And how much more faithful is he. To be our defender. And to be our hope. So that when we fall into sin.

And we fall into guilt. And we fall into shame. And we fail. And we set our mind to do something good. And we fall short of it. That we can run to him.

And we can hold fast. To the confession of our hope. Which was not. That we would be able to do this well. And if you became a Christian. In the hope.

That you would be able to do this well. And if you became a Christian. Because you are going to be moral. And behave. You are not a Christian. But I have really good news for you.

That was never going to work. But Jesus Christ. Saves. All who hope in him. And none who hope in his name. Will be put to shame.

And I have to say that to myself sometimes. When I feel very down. And like I haven't done what I'm supposed to do. And I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do. And the outlook doesn't look bright. It doesn't look like I'm about to turn it around tomorrow.

I will remind myself. None who hope in Jesus will be put to shame. We have been made perfect for all time. So hold on to that. As we go through this year. Let us end the year.

Being people who drew near to God. And held firmly to the gospel. 2020 will be a good year if we do that. If you're holding firmly and unwaveringly to the gospel. At the end of this year. And we drew near to God.

Because the way has been opened to us through Christ. This is a good year. And God has blessed this church. Here's the third one. Let us consider. How to stir up one another.

To love. And good works. I love that. So he starts with the gospel. He says. This is what's real.

And since that's real. And since Jesus has saved us. Let us draw near to God. Let us hold firmly to the gospel. Let's hold firmly to our confession of our hope.

And. Let us consider how to stir up one another. Towards love. And good works. I like the phrase stir up. Because you usually think about stirring up trouble.

Some of you. Became very adept at this. Probably around middle school. You started your mouth early enough in the day. You could have two people broken up. Or two people fighting behind the gym by the end of the day.

Some of you had friends like this. You know what I'm talking about. You could stir something up. You could just whisper something over here. You could whisper something over there. You learned how to phrase it.

You learned how to walk over and say. You know. I don't think you look funny. I don't know why they said that. See that sounded kind of nice. It was sneaky.

Like. We know how to stir trouble up. We've seen it happen. But he says. Let us consider. Meaning plot on.

How we might stir up one another to love. And good works. The reality is. Many of us will stir people up. Towards negative things. Without having to consider.

Isn't it easier to talk about stuff you don't like. Than stuff you do like. Isn't it easier to tear something down. Than it is to build something up. Isn't it easier to say something cutting to someone. Than to compliment someone.

Some of us don't have to consider how to do that. And let me tell you something. Church family. If you want to find something to be upset about. If you want to find something to be frustrated about. This is a wonderful church to be a part of right now.

We could all leave here today. With things that we want to talk about. And chew on. You could leave here today. Saying. Why was the volume turned all the way up.

You could leave here today. Saying. Why were all the lights on. Some of you could leave here. And say. I didn't know that song.

And other of you could leave. After singing. Holy. Holy. Holy. And say.

What does thou wert and art mean. Art. I know. Like I took that in school. But what is wert.

There is going to be plenty of things for you to be frustrated about. For you to have questions about. Plenty of things that are changing around you. The hope being at the end of the year. We are holding on to the gospel. And some other things we are going to have to have let go of.

But let us consider. How to stir one another up. Towards love. Plot on it. What if you started showing up here next week. And you were like.

I am about to stir up some love. What if when you got to know something good about somebody. Or got to know somebody. You helped them introduce them to somebody else. You started whispering good things about people. Do you know who has been serving here like crazy.

What if you went over and said kind things. Not flattery. Real things. Real encouragement. What if when you were going to hang out with your community group. Or when you were showing up to Sunday school.

You were thinking. How can I stir up love. How can I stir up good works. How blessed would we be. And at the end of this year. What if you spent all the time.

That might would have normally been spent. Stirring up something that was negative. Pointing out something negative. And actually considered. How to stir people up towards love. And good works.

How much more blessed is our church. How much more joy is there. Oh let us do that. Let us consider how. Let's plot on each other.

If you know somebody. Ask them to go get lunch. And then invite someone else to show up. It's a secret friendship date. And then help them get to know each other. That's one of the most beautiful things.

That happens in churches. Is you invite one of your friends to come hang out. And they become better friends with somebody else. Isn't that good? That's a real thing. You're like.

Bye. See you in heaven. Bye. Let us consider how to do this. Let us fight for this.

Now he's going to say not. So he says let us, let us, let us, and then he's going to say not. He's giving a caveat to this last one that I think is very helpful. Let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some. Now, he's saying that some people in the early church, when the church was getting together, just wouldn't come. Cephas would be like, hey, we're having a board game night.

Somebody would be like, hey, we're going to do a meal at my house. And Tychicus would just be like, not coming. We were going to make a list and read out the people in our church family who do this, but they're not here, so it wouldn't help. Y'all can tell them when you see them. Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. Here's the thing.

We're meant to stir one another up, and you have been gifted by the Holy Spirit for the edification of the church. If you're not around the church, you can't do that. And if you're not around the church, you can't stir up and you can't be stirred up. Not to love and good works. Not to something that's helpful. Not to something that's long-lasting.

Not to something that's eternal. How often do non-believers stir you up? Church, fear? Criticalness? Depression? And how often do we need to gather and make it a point to gather together and not neglect gathering together that we might be stirred up towards things that matter and towards things that are good and towards things that are valuable?

I didn't tell them I was going to do this, but I'm going to talk a little bit about the people in my group. I mentioned earlier that I forget things. So if I don't mention you, it's just because my brain doesn't work. But I was thinking about my group and how they stir me up towards love and good works. How I love other people more because of my community group. I was thinking about Dawn and how she encourages me to obey and to follow Jesus even when I don't understand why or why I'm frustrated.

I get around her for a little while. We talk about Jesus for a little while and I just want to follow Jesus more. Emily Teagle makes me want to be considerate. She remembers everybody, cares about everybody, is so thoughtful. And it's like, man, I want to do that. Around John and Faye and this desire to obey Jesus and to just do what he says because that's what he said to do.

And the simpleness to it and this helpfulness to it. It's like, it's right, do it. It's like, that's true. I wanted to argue it out, but you're right. I probably should just follow. Brad and Jackie who helped me believe and trust in grace.

There's so many times our group's talking about stuff and they're just like, hey guys, calm down. We're okay. Jesus loves us. And it's like, that's a good point. Mary Beth makes me want to follow Jesus in real life and get to know real people, be a genuine Christian. The Toast, Chris Rocky, make me want to serve people.

Danielle Rocky makes us hang out together. And that's good. Russ makes me want to genuinely be family. And every time we get together, this is what happens. Scott Montgomery makes me want to be diligent, follow Jesus. Like every time.

Sean Carey makes me want to continue to hope in Jesus. To look forward to my happiness. They stir me up. And there's joy and there's hope in it. And we have to be together to do it. There's so many times.

I got a four-year-old and a two-year-old. The two-year-old usually goes to bed around seven, which has been wonderful. When the time changed, it was amazing at my house. It was like, it's dark, bedtime. Jesus put the sun down, you better go to sleep. Our community group meets at seven.

So there are times where my little one is grabbing his blanket and telling people goodnight. And we're like, no, Bo, put your shoes on. We've got to get in the truck. Like, we're about to go hang out with people. You're not going to sleep yet. There are times when we're all riding over there and everybody in the car is crying.

And frustrated. We're going to go hang out with our group. And we show up. And then we're stirred up for love and good works. In simple ways. It's good.

Same thing with Sundays. One of the biggest blessings of my life was God calling me to be a pastor so that I don't have to wake up on Sundays and decide whether or not I want to be here. It's been so good for me. Because this is so good. So don't neglect it.

Don't miss out. There are times where you're going to be around somebody and they're going to be hurting and they're going to be in need. And the Holy Spirit is going to work through you to bless them. And it's going to bless you in the process. Where he's going to call out of you something you didn't know was there. There are going to be some time that you're going to be around church family and suddenly you're going to be sending money every month to somebody to help them out with something.

And you haven't planned on that, but you're doing it because it's helpful. There are going to be times where you suddenly help somebody who's depressed or something. You're going over there and spending time with them and you're sharing some of your happiness with them. And you're buoying them. And it's draining you, but you're believing and trusting in the gospel and Jesus is at work. And there are going to be times where you need to be stirred up, where you need to be reminded and someone else is going to do it.

And God blesses us when we gather together. Don't neglect that. This year. Let's bring glory to God. Let's draw near to him for he is good and glorious and beautiful and beyond compare.

Let's hold fast to the gospel. And let's not neglect to gather to do that so that we might stir one another up towards things that matter. He says this. But encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. One year closer. A decade closer.

To the day. When Jesus Christ. Makes his enemy his footstool. And calls his church home. When the God of creation. Settles accounts.

Ushers in his kingdom. Where there is joy and delight beyond compare. And fear and misery. That's incomprehensible. We're one year closer. We're one year closer to the day.

And all of us have a day when we'll meet Jesus. Some of you are a year closer. From the time you met Jesus you're a year closer. Some of you are five years. Some of you are 20. Some of you are 30.

Some of you are 50, 60 years closer to the day. All the more. Let's encourage one another. All the more let's run the race that he's putting forth in front of us. All the more let us encourage one another to be about and to care about and to fight for things that ultimately eternally matter. May Jesus bless his church and may he bless this church.

Let's pray. God we ask that you would receive glory. That we would be people who draw near to you this year. That we would hold fast to the gospel. And every time we have the opportunity to stir up something. Let it be love and good works.

May you bless this church for the glory of your name. And the delight of your people. In Jesus name. Amen.

Genealogy of Jesus: From Fall to Redemption

Genealogy of Jesus: From Fall to Redemption

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good evening. Man, what a way to close out the evening. What a way to close out our time here at Glen Forest. I'm so thankful for our worship team and how they lead us. We're going to be celebrating Christmas tonight by looking at Matthew 1, the genealogy of Jesus. And here's why.

Jesus was born into a family. He was born into a family history, a family tree. And that matters. So we're going to take a look at that. A few years ago, I got interested in our family tree. And I learned something.

We moved, my family moved from Germany in the 1600s to Pillion. And for the last 400 years, we've kind of stayed in the same spot. Pillion, Lexington, West Columbia for like 300 plus years. This is where we've been. And I've looked at our family history because it's pretty extensive. And there are some people in it that are admirable.

Like I look at my grandfather who was a titan of a man. He's such a bright spot in our family's history. And there's some other people that do some kind of crazy things. It's a mixed bag because when you're born into a family history, there's good, there's bad, there's moments of brokenness, there's moments of hope. But that's family histories.

And Jesus was no different. He was born into a family. And what we're going to see as we walk through his genealogy, we're going to see as we walk through his background, we're going to see hope and how it meets brokenness. And that really is the story of Christmas. Christmas is a season where we celebrate that hope entered into a broken world. So we're going to be in Matthew 1.

You don't have to follow along because we don't have Bibles out at night, but we'll have it on the screen. So you can follow along there. Verse 1, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Okay, that is a heading. This is not Ancestry.com. He's not about to go this person and this person and this person.

Matthew is retelling the genealogy of Jesus differently. He's telling it thematically. He's sending a bunch of 14 groups of names and he's skipping generations because he's trying to tell a story. By telling Jesus his history. And he starts off by saying, son of David. And that's significant.

David was the king in Jewish history. Everyone looks back to the time of David. That was the glory days. He was the savior type king who brought the nation together and established them as a people. This is the king that slaughtered Goliath as a boy. That helped defeat the surrounding enemies.

That made Israel a light to the surrounding nations. Everyone looks back to David. So when you say son of David, that says something. In the same way that if I said I was the son of George Washington, which I'm not. We're in pillion, y'all. If I said I was the son of George Washington, that would say something.

That would speak volumes about my history. So it says son of David. But what we're about to see is he doesn't just highlight the good moments, the moments of hope, the moments of the bright spots. Matthew's going to go out of his way to highlight the brokenness in the line of Jesus. So he starts off with son of David.

Verse 2. Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac, the father of Jacob. These are the patriarchs. These are where the people of God come from. The Israelites look back to father Abraham.

They look at their three patriarchs with joy looking at their history. This is the formation of their people. They look back at this with so much hope. And then it fades into brokenness fairly quickly. It says Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers. Now, we walked through Genesis in the past year plus.

It was a long time in Genesis, y'all, but it was good. When we got to Judah, I just kind of said, y'all, God could have chosen any of the twelve brothers to bring about the Savior of the world. But he chooses Judah. Who I'd argue is the worst. His stories are not great. Judah sold his brother into slavery.

Pretty much all the highlights we get of him aren't great. And Matthew doesn't skip over this. He says, Judah, the father of Perez and Zerah. And he could have just kept going. But he says, Ba-Tamar, which highlights the brokenness of his past.

That's the worst moments of Judah when his daughter-in-law, Tamar, her husband dies. And he doesn't make sure that she's taken care of. So she, when he is drunk, they sleep together. It's incestuous. It gets weird. And he wants to have her burnt alive.

It's a messed up story. It's a broken story. And Matthew doesn't skip over it. No, he leans into it and says, no, Ba-Tamar. Keeps going. And Perez, the father of Hezron.

Hezron, the father of Ram. Ram, the father of Aminadab. Aminadab, the father of Nahshon. Nahshon, the father of Salmon. Salmon, the father of Boaz by Rahab. And again, he could have just mentioned Boaz, but he mentions Rahab.

Rahab is a bright spot in one respect. She was of the people of Jericho and helped the people of God enter the Promised Land. She was a hero in that regard, but also she was a prostitute. And he doesn't skip over that. No, he mentions the brokenness and the hope that is in this line. He keeps going.

And Boaz, the father of Obed. Obed by Ruth, which is a beautiful story in the Old Testament. If you have not read it, go to the book of Ruth. And Obed, the father of Jesse. And Jesse, the father of David, the king. Now, that's the first set.

The first set of names. Leading up to David. And then we get to David. The bright spot. The king that everyone looks back to with joy. And he gets to David and he says, And David was the father of Solomon.

And he could have stopped there, but he doesn't. And he says, of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. And what he just did, was he referenced the worst part of David's history. The moment that he looked at Bathsheba, Uriah's wife. And he took her. And he slept with her.

And they conceived. And to cover it up, he had Uriah sent to the front lines and killed. He highlights David, not just as king, but also as adulterer and a murderer. Keeps going. And Solomon, Solomon, the father of Rehoboam, which could not be two different types of kings. Solomon, the philosopher king.

The wise one. Wrote the book of Proverbs. Ecclesiastes. Everyone looks back to his wisdom. And then you get to his son, Rehoboam, who was a fool. Who, when setting up the kingdom at a very touchy time, listens to his young friends for counsel.

Rejects the counsel of older, wiser men. And the kingdom breaks into two. And it is never the same. Then we get a mixed bag of kings of people, good and bad. Rehoboam, the father of Abijah. Abijah, the father of Asaph.

Asaph, the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat, the father of Joram. Joram, the father of Uzziah. Uzziah, the father of Jotham. Jotham, the father of Ahaz. Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah.

By the time you get to Hezekiah, this is a good example of a king in their history. A good example in the line. Took down Adosh. All kinds of things. But his son could not be any different.

Hezekiah, the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the most insidious and evil king in the history of the people of God. He sacrificed his own son, burnt him on an altar to a foreign God. This is who the Savior of the world comes through. Manasseh. Manasseh, the father of Amos.

Amos, the father of Josiah. Josiah, the father of Jehoshaphat and his brothers at the time of the deportation of Babylon. Now, I'm not going to read the last ones. I'm just going to give you the highlights of what happened. They spread across the Babylonian empire because of their sin, because of the rebellion. Eventually get back.

They establish themselves again in the land. And there's a 400 plus year period of waiting. A 400 plus year period of darkness. Waiting for someone to come. Waiting for a Savior to bring them out of their situation. As one nation at the other rules over them.

Just as the people of God waited 400 plus years in darkness in Egypt. Waiting for a Savior to come and rescue them. They are waiting. And then finally, finally, on a night in a small town in Bethlehem. Skip down to verse 16. And Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

Finally, on a dark night, hope enters the broken world. What I love about the genealogy of Jesus is that He comes from a broken line of messed up people. Because He comes for a broken, messed up people. This world is broken and marred by sin. But the God of the universe doesn't look at the world and say, I'm going to destroy you.

He doesn't look at the world and say, I don't care about it. He comes and He rescues us. He loves us so much that He comes in the form of a babe on a night in Bethlehem. The God of the universe humbles Himself of becoming a baby. And He grows up. And He obeys the Father perfectly.

And He takes that perfect record with Him to the cross. Where our brokenness and our rebellion and our sin is paid for on the cross. And when He steps out of the tomb on Resurrection Sunday, hope, eternal, beautiful, unending, unfading hope is born and is offered to anyone who would believe. That is why I love the story of Jesus. He comes from a broken people for broken sinners like you and me. And that is the hope of Christmas.

That is what we celebrate every single year. We pause and remember that God loved us so much that He came from heaven and He sought us. That's the good news of the Gospel. And as we go through the next few days of celebrating, whatever traditions you do as you exchange gifts, as you listen to your uncle talk about politics ad nauseum, whatever it is that happens in your family, may we not forget this. May we not forget while we sing these songs, while we gather here. Because there's a loving God who came for us.

May we remember that He comes for the broken. I know that some of you, that this is a difficult season. Some of you have been wrestling with some serious suffering. Maybe some serious sin. Maybe this year brings up all kinds of painful memories. I want to say very clearly to you that this season is because God loves you.

He loves you so much that He sent His Son to die for you. So that you would believe in Him. And for eternity experience this hope. For eternity you would taste and see and Savior this King.

The Three Wise Men

The Three Wise Men

Ben Johnson

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Ben Johnson, and I'm a member here and a leader in training here at Mill City. And I'm so thankful for this opportunity to speak to you today. And we're so excited about the new year, the beginning of the year. I'll be co-leading our community group with Patrick Harding. And we are so thankful for that opportunity and looking forward to that.

And for those of you who don't know me, I would just like to talk a little bit about who I am. I'm originally from Augusta, Georgia, born and raised. And I am a Georgia fan, unfortunately. We can't clinch any championships, but we're still pretty good. And we're going to get to go to a bowl game. But when you think about it, the one game we lost this past regular season was to the Gamecocks.

I mean, how does that happen? I was in Lebanon when Spencer told me. And I was like, is the world turned upside down? What is going on? But unfortunately, it did happen.

But I know y'all were happy about that. When I was 23, God called me to move to the Middle East. But before I made that move, I would take several short-term trips, a few to South America, a couple to Africa. And when I got back from Brazil in 2008, my grandmother called my mom and asked, well, where's Ben planning to go on his next missions trip? And my mom goes, well, he's thinking about moving to the Middle East. And my grandma goes, well, where's that at?

And my mom goes, you know, where all the crazy people are, shooting everybody. And my grandma goes, well, why does he want to go there? Tell him to come to my house and I'll shoot him if that's what he wants. My grandma really did say that. She was a blessed person. I loved her so much.

But before I moved to Beirut, and I have a picture of where Lebanon is. Beirut's the capital of Lebanon, north of Israel, surrounded by Syria. I started 1040 Hope Missions with the vision and purpose to reach the 6,000 unreached people groups in the 1040 window. The 1040 window is a part of the world where the least amount of missionaries, the least amount of churches, the least amount of resources are sent. And I went with the mission to do something, to help resource churches, to train leaders, send new leaders, send out new laborers. Because we have to do something, because that's 3.5 million people who would die and spend an eternity without Christ.

So I was there for 10 years and doing this mission, doing that work. And during that time, I met my beautiful wife, Patricia, where most of my friends, when they saw her, said, Ben got an upgrade. And I did. And God gave us beautiful children. But towards our 10th year, we started to realize we made all these connections, all these networks, got all these leaders trained and ready to go.

But we have no resources to help them. So that's when the Lord put on our heart last year to make a move back to the States to begin working towards this. To getting more people on board, getting more churches as partners, doing what we can do to make the awareness of the needs of the 1040 window known. And getting more resources so we can send more laborers into the harvest to reach the unreached. And that's what we are all about. And I'm so thankful for this church.

You are our home church. And you guys have met such a need in our lives. But I'm so thankful that we're partnering together on one of these projects in 1040 Hope to reach the unreached, the unlovable, the outcast in Egypt. And I'm so thankful that we're doing this together. And when I think about how God brought us together, it just it blows my mind because God loves to use small events or strange events or insignificant moments in our lives to bring about his sovereign and holy will. And that's what we're going to be talking about today in Matthew chapter 2.

God is going to use an event, a star, appearing of a star to bring foreigners from the east, unexpected people to come and be the first ones to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's an uninteresting story. We're going to talk more about that. But it makes me think about how even he connected us because I was working on my computer one day and it crashed. And if you know anything about me, I hate buying a new computer. I don't know why.

It's just it's something in me. I don't want to pay the money to buy a new computer. So I do what I do best. I take my wife's computer and start using it for work. And she loves when I use her stuff for work. But guys, I kid you not.

Two days later, it crashed. I'm like, what is going on? Do I need to rebuke some kind of computer demon? What's going on? So then what do we do?

We go to Best Buy and we're at Best Buy on Sunset Boulevard and we're taught we meet Josh and Josh starts showing his computers. And he talks about how this computer was used by his wife at their church. They go, oh, you go to church. So he told us about Josh Church. And then we start talking about how we're missionaries. We started talking and then Josh starts giving his testimony.

And then Josh starts giving some real deep details of his testimony. And we're like, bro, it's OK. You don't have to share all this stuff right now. We just met. But you know what?

We really weren't weirded out. We actually just he left a good impression on us. And even though he did not make any commission off me because I still walked out of there without buying a computer. Because he talked me into doing their total tech program and fixing my old one, which actually it did last till just this past week. It crashed this past week and I took my wife's computer again. So though he didn't make any commission, he has a spiritual ward because we came to the church and here we are.

And you guys have been our home church and we are so thankful. And y'all have been such a blessing to our lives. But this is what God does. He takes small, insignificant events, things that seem strange and bring about his will and his purpose. And this is what he does with the wise men. He brings foreigners, outcasters, outsiders to the covenant to be the first ones to come and worship the Lord Jesus Christ.

And give him the worship that he is due. And this story is so important because here at the beginning, Matthew is revealing the heart of God for all nations. Not just his people, but for all nations. And the mission of God. That this message of good news would go out to every corner of the earth. So that's what we're going to talk about now.

So let's go to Matthew chapter 2 in your blue Bibles. Verse 1, Matthew chapter 2. And I'm going to pray before we start. Father, I just thank you so much for this opportunity to be here with my church. And I thank you that we're partnered together. Because we're able to accomplish things that we couldn't on our own.

But together we're able to do so much more. And fulfilling your mission. Fulfilling your purposes. And bringing that those who are outside of the covenant. Those who have no hope of salvation. Into the fold.

Into your fold. And into your covenant, Lord. So I thank you together. We're partnered in this mission. Help us now, Lord. See this from this text.

Your heart for everyone. In Jesus' mighty name I pray. Amen. Verse 1. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem and Judea.

In the days of Herod the king. Behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. Saying, where is he who is born? King of the Jews. Matthew is purposely using this phrase. Wise men from the east.

And we as readers have to stop and ask. Who were these wise men? Why does Matthew make known of them? Well, we know that they were spiritual advisors. To the kingdoms and palaces they came from. Most likely from Syria, Iraq, or Iran.

Somewhere from that region. We have an old song about singing the three kings of Orientar. They were not kings. They were religious leaders from their courts. So they were very prestigious men.

We know that they were astrologers. So as religious leaders, they studied the stars and studied the heavens, studied the signs. They were Gentiles. Meaning they were outsiders to the covenant people of God. They were not part of the covenant. But yet, they did have some knowledge of a Jewish Messiah.

Western tradition tells us there were three. Three wise men brought three gifts. Eastern tradition tells us there could have been up to twelve. Regardless, we just know it's a large caravan, a large party, coming from the east to pay respect to this new born king. King of the Jews, Matthew says. And he's being so strategic in this phrase.

Because just as Chet and Spencer have been walking us through this book this past couple of months. And showing us that the whole purpose of Matthew writing his book is to show who the king of the Jews is. What this kingdom is going to be like. And how different it is from what they expected. And the current king is ruling. And this is what Matthew is telling us.

So let's keep reading in verse two. So the wise men said, For we saw his star when it rose. And we have come to worship him. Now the church for the last two thousand years has not come to an agreement exactly on what this star was. Some say that it was a star, just as the text says. And that God being God can do whatever he wants.

Uses this star in a miraculous way to lead the wise men from the east directly to the place where Jesus is. Others say, because the Bible has been known to call angels stars. That this star is actually an angel who has appeared to the wise men. Just like in the occasions with Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds. Regardless of how it really is. God is miraculously using this event to bring unexpected outsiders to the place where Jesus is.

So that they can worship him. And the phrase worship him is so important here. Because these wise men are doing something that's common in their day. Coming to pay respect to a king that has been born. And we know because of the Old Testament. And because the Jews have been scattered all over the ancient world.

That there formed a rumor that was circulating during that time. That a great king would rise from the Jews and rule and establish an empire. So we know that this was circulating. And the wise men have heard of this rumor. And they believe with the showing of this star that this king has been born. So they leave everything.

They pack up. And they come to pay him respect and worship. Even if they fully don't understand who he is. They are coming to pay worship to this new born king of the Jews. I'm sorry. Oh.

I thought, where did it go? I'm missing a page. Did not see it. Thank you guys. Y'all are helpful. So Matthew is clearly making the point here by this phrase worship.

Is that Jesus, who is God incarnate. Who is Emmanuel, God with us. Is the one who can rightfully receive worship. For he is worthy. And in reading in verse 3. When King Herod heard this, he was troubled.

As all Jerusalem with him. Because they thought they might die too. Because he never knew what Herod was going to do. And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people. He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. And they told him.

In Bethlehem of Judea. For so it is written by the prophet. You, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah. Are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Matthew is quoting the scribes telling Herod from the prophecy of Micah chapter 2.

They are using the Greek translation of the Old Testament. So if you were to go to Micah chapter 2. It is not a word for word translation. But the point of the prophecy is made clear in this translation here given in Matthew. That the promised king of the Jews would come from Bethlehem. Though a small city it is not least.

And he would be the shepherd king of Israel. And Matthew is clearly pointing a contrast here. Because Herod. As Chet told us. Caesar said it is better to be his pig than his son. Would kill his own sons.

To cling to his power. Matthew is making sure we know that Jesus will be the shepherd king. That was promised from the Old Testament. Who will lay his life down for his subjects. As a shepherd would lay his life down for his sheep. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly.

And learned from them what time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem saying. Go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him. Bring me word. That I may come and worship him too.

Now Herod clearly has crafty and evil intentions here. But I laugh when I read this. Because it is such a Middle Eastern thing to do. Say one thing but mean another. Chet told you the story when I went into a restaurant one time. And I order my sandwich.

And I eat the sandwich. And I walk out. And I did not pay. And I am halfway down the street. Like oh my goodness. I did not pay.

So I run back. And I talk to the man. I am so sorry. He is like Habibi. Which is my friend. What is ten dollars between you and me and friends?

What is ten dollars? He did not mean it. As soon as I took out my money. He took my money. And there were many times like that. Where somebody would tell me something like that.

And I have to look at my wife. Do they mean that? She is like nope. I was like okay. I remember one time one of my good friends told me. He said I learned with Ben Johnson.

Not to ask him anything. Unless I really want to give it. Because he will take it right away. I did not know. Nobody told me you are supposed to ask three times. Say no.

Ask three times. I did not learn that until about a year after. I offended a lot of people. But they forgave me. Verse 9. After listening to the king.

They went on their way. And behold. The star that they had seen when it rose. Went before them. Until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star.

They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house. They saw the child with Mary his mother. And they fell down. And worshipped him. Now put yourself in their shoes for a minute.

You're. Imagine yourself in that time. You're of an average family. Average income. Average house. Nothing spectacular.

And all of a sudden. A large motorcade shows up. And president advisors get out. And come into your house. You'd be shocked. Right?

Yeah. This is what's happening here. I imagine they are very surprised. Now their culture is already very hospitable. And they. They will give you anything.

If you are a guest. And I remember this would happen to me. When I would go into the. The Syrian refugee camps. When the war just broke out. And we knew ISIS was there.

And we had to be careful. We worked with our leaders. And when our leaders would say. That guy's ISIS. We'd go the other way. But the army.

Lebanese army protected us. But when we'd go into these camps. And we'd sit on their floor. And they were very very poor. But what they had.

They gave to us. One. Because it's just in their culture. To be hospitable. But two.

I'm an American. That has come into their tent. And has taken the time. To sit with them. So they gave up what they had.

So I imagine Mary and Joseph. Are probably trying to do the same. Like what do we give these. Prestigious men. But they did not come to be honored.

They did not come to be served. But to serve. And to honor. The king of the Jews. That has been born. So I imagine.

They are very taken back. By this event. And then it says in verse 11. Then opening. I'm sorry. Then I was talking about.

When they saw the child. They fell down. And worshipped him. And we know. That later on. By the story.

That Herod. Learned from their time. Of when he told them. The star appeared. That the baby. Was either one or two.

Years old. So the wise men. When they come. And worship baby Jesus. He's not a baby. He hasn't just been born.

At the stable. But he's either one or two. Somewhere. Somewhere around there. So. But unless you're like.

My family. We still worship. With a nice. Nativity. Nativity scenes. You know.

We put it up. In front of the Christmas tree. And we have the wise men. Present with the sheep. And the shepherds. And Mary and Joseph.

But then maybe you're like. Patrick Hardy. Who he decides to come. To my house. A couple weeks ago. He sees a nice little.

Wooden nativity scene. Nativity scene. That we have. That my children. Love to play with. And he starts taking out.

The wise men. From my nativity scene. Because he says. They were not historically there. And I'm like. Really?

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe you're like Patrick. And the suggestion. I have for you. Is take your wise men.

From your nativity. Find the corner. Far. Western corner. Of your house. Eastern corner.

I'm sorry. Because Jesus is in the west. The wise men are in the east. So go to the far corner. Of your house. Place the wise men there.

Make sure they're facing west. Because that's where Jesus was. And you'll be like Patrick Harden. And be historically accurate. So yeah.

So he's around. Two years old. When they come. To worship him. And when they worship him. In verse 11.

They open treasures. They offer him gifts. Gold. And frankincense. And myrrh. And being warned in a dream.

Not to return to Herod. They departed to their own country. By another way. These gifts that they present in worship. Were gifts fit for a king. Gold was the currency of kings.

Frankincense was not used by normal everyday people. They were used in palaces. By expensive people who had a lot of money. They were very expensive. It was. Myrrh was also used to embalm those who had died.

It was not a regular thing that was used. Not very common. These foreigners. These outsiders to the covenant. To the covenant people of God. Bring gifts fit for a king.

Bow down. And worship baby Jesus. But then they are warned by a dream. Of Herod's evil intentions. And they choose to go by another way. Which I imagine would have been very difficult for them.

Because they are a large caravan. And we know Herod had roots all over his kingdom. And outposts. But it seems that they are obedient. To the heavenly dream they are given. And they escape.

And we know from the rest of the story. That Jesus will escape to Egypt. And here we are at the end of the story. And we as readers must pause and ask. Why? What is the purpose of the story?

Why has Matthew. Who is the only gospel writer. To give us this story. To give us this information. Why has he chosen this story? Because think about it for a moment.

John the apostle said. If all the things that Jesus did. Were written down in books. Not all the books of the world. Can contain them. Imagine that.

Wow. So Matthew. Is purposeful. In choosing this story. And we as readers. Have to ask.

Why? And the reason is. Here at the very beginning of his book. Matthew is revealing. The heart. And the mission.

Of God. Not only for his own people. The Jews. But for foreigners. Outsiders. Men from the east.

Who have no hope of salvation. No hope of being part of the covenant. But God draws them. With this miraculous sign. To the place where Jesus is. And even if they fully don't understand.

What they are doing. They give him worship. And express that through the gifts. That they bring. And this shows that God desires. All men.

To have relationship. And fellowship. With him. And Matthew. This is what his whole book is about. About the kingdom of God.

Jesus. God longs for all people. To be in part of his kingdom. And Matthew. All the way. Is going to be talking about this kingdom.

And what it looks like. Up to the very end of his book. Where he. This risen Lord. The Lord that. Died for our sins.

This God. Who became flesh. And died for our sins. And resurrected. So that me and you.

Could no longer. Be outsiders. Because unless you were born Jewish. We had no hope. Unless you had a Jewish ethnicity. Sorry.

We are outsiders. To the kingdom of God. But he came specifically. So that you. And I. Could be grafted in.

And become insiders. Of the covenant people of God. And that. Is good news. And so Matthew. At the end of the book.

Has this risen Lord. Telling us. Now go out into all the world. And take this good news. Take this message. To the ends of the earth.

Until I return. And that. Now we are co-laborers with God. Co-laborers with Christ. Co-laborers in this mission. Of spreading the good news.

And the gospel message. Of Jesus Christ. That those who are outsiders. Can now. Be insiders. No matter what your background.

No matter what you come from. No matter what's happened. You can now be an insider. If you. Answer. Answer.

The invitation. So how do we respond today? Let us respond. As the wise men did. That they may not fully understand. Even who Jesus was.

But they left everything. And they came to where he was. And they bow down. In reverence and respect. And give him expensive gifts. Today we know who he is.

He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. He is. Jesus is the word. Who became flesh. So let us leave all.

The distractions. And all the things of life. That grab our attention. And let us bring our lives. And lay them down. At his feet.

Because it is the least that he deserves. Because he gave up everything for us. For God so loved the world. He gave his son. I can't even imagine. Giving one of my children up.

For someone that I don't even know. But God did that. For me and you. So that we can no longer be outsiders. But insiders.

And part of his kingdom. So let's take that message. Whatever we do. Whatever we have to do. Let's get this message out.

And that's going to play out. In different ways. For different people. Because we all have different gifts. And talents. But we need to respond.

And I've got some examples. I think. And how we can respond. And maybe some of those. God's going to call you. To pray a little bit more.

Jesus said. Pray for the labors. To be sent to the harvest. For the harvest is huge. But the labors are so few.

I have seen this. We don't have all the labors we need. We need more labors. Pray for the labors. Pray for the labors. That we do have.

For their safety. They give up so much. For the gospel. We need to pray for our brothers and sisters. Around the world. The bible tells us.

That are being persecuted. Or that are sitting in prison today. Because they are believing in the hope. Of the good news. Some of you. May need to respond more.

Are called to respond more. By giving. Paul said. Those who have more. Should give more. To further the kingdom of the gospel.

Don't give to where you put yourself in a bind. But if you can give. There's no guilt or pressure here. Give. To further the gospel. Do exactly what you are doing.

As we are doing as a church. As participating in this gift project. Giving to Citizens Church in North Carolina. So that people here. In the United States of America. Can hear about the good news.

Because we still need more churches. In this country. Continue giving. To this gift project. As we're partnering with Pastor Georges. And his ministry.

This ministry. That is reaching out to the nine million people. In his country. That are disabled. Or handicapped. And seen as a curse by God.

Because of their handicap. But they're going to them. Saying no. You're not cursed. You're not an outcast. God did everything.

So you could be an insider. So that you can be loved. And you as a church. Are helping make that possible. Because supporting one of these events. These events.

Where they go out. And proclaim this message. To the multitudes. You are allowing for people to come. And know that they can. They are loved.

And that they are not cursed. Or outcast by God. And I'm actually going to show a video. Of one of the events. That you're going to be help sponsoring. And there's going to be some.

It's a three minute clip. And there's going to be some parts. Where he speaks in Arabic. And I'm just going to give a slight translation. During those points. But let's go ahead.

And watch that video now. And there's going to be some. With our hearts set on glorifying God. We can stand against oppression. And force failure to stand down. We can introduce and bring hope.

Back into our world. Jesus is going to give happiness. To everyone that is present here today. We thank you Lord. For being over this work. And completing it.

We thank you Lord. For always letting us feel your presence. In every second of every day. We thank you Lord. For touching everybody. That called on your name today.

By giving $4,500. You are helping. Make one of these events possible. And reaching people. That feel cursed. And outcast.

And unloved by God. Because we found people in Egypt. That were put in a room for 40 years. Because they were handicapped. And the family didn't want. Other people in the community.

To know. That they had a handicapped person. In their family. For fear. That they would not give their sons. Or daughters.

Into Mary. And into their family. Which is a big deal. In their culture. So people who have been in rooms.

For 40 years. Can you imagine. Thinking that they are unloved. Outcast. Outsider. Jesus died.

For those people. And you by giving. Are partnering with them. So when you get to heaven. People will come to you. And say thank you.

Because the sower and the giver. The reaper. Are one and the same. In Christ. We work. In Christ Jesus.

And all the glory goes to him. You are making this possible. Some of you. May be called to respond by going. First going. And being an everyday missionary.

In your community. Going to your work. To those in your family. To those in your neighborhood. To those all around us. And when possible.

Going. To those who are far. I remember when I was 20 years old. Sitting in my Bible ministry class. And the teacher started walking through the book of Genesis. And he got to the place of Ishmael.

And he stopped. And he looked up. And he said. Ishmael. Who has 300 million descendants. Who are deceived.

And dying. And going to hell. And no one is going to them. And that just pierced my heart. Because I came from Georgia. Like my grandma said.

Just come over here. I'll shoot you. If that's what you want. I heard from Georgia. Everybody say. Blow them all up.

Why do we need to send our troops over there? So I never even thought about going. Or even thought about saving the Arabs. Until this moment. That God pierced my heart so bad. That I could not stop weeping in that moment.

And I knew God had called me. That I had to do something. And he actually specifically called me. And told me to go. It took me three years to get on the field. And I lived there for ten years with them.

But I knew I had to do something. And that may. That's not going to happen with everybody. Practically that. That just can't happen. We can't all go.

We need people to pray. We need people to say and give. We need people who can go. But there might be some here today. Who the Lord might actually put on your heart. To pack it all up.

Like the wise men did. And go to another land. To worship him. In that way. Of going and taking the message. Of good news.

So it's going to look different for each of us. Some of us are going to pray more. Some of us need to give more. Some of us might need to go more. And as the band comes up. In this moment.

We're going to pray. And we're going to take communion. And I want the Lord. You want. I want you to ask the Lord. Lord what part can I play?

In helping bring outsiders. Like these wise men. Into your kingdom. With the message of good news. So that they become insiders.

Because you allowed me to become an insider. And now I'm a co-worker. And laborer with you. So ask the Lord. What specifically part. That you can play.

In fulfilling his great commission. So that all people can hear. The gospel of good news. And have a chance. Of salvation. And entering this kingdom.

That Matthew. Is talking about. Let us pray. Father I thank you for this church. I thank you for my family Lord. And I thank you that we're partnering together.

And bringing your gospel. And your message. To outsiders. People who seem. To be outcasts. And unlovable.

But Lord they're not. You gave up everything for them. So Lord pray. I just pray you speak to everyone's heart. Right now in this moment. Of Lord.

What part they can play. There's no guilt here. There's no pressure. Father we do it. Because we love you. We do it.

Because we were outsiders. And we had no hope of salvation. We had no hope of being a part of your kingdom. But you left up the glory. And the riches of heaven. For me.

For us. So that is our motivation God. We love you. With all our hearts. With all our mind. With all our soul.

We desire you. And to make you known. So reveal to each and every one of us Lord. What can we do? What part can we play? You know.

By ourselves. We can't do that much. But together. As one people. As one voice. We can accomplish a lot.

So I thank you Lord. Use us. Use this body here in Columbia. South Carolina Lord. To do your kingdom work. To spread your name.

And to go after those that are outsiders. And outcasts. And unlovable. And bring them in. And make them insiders in the kingdom of God. We give you all the praise.

And all the glory. In Jesus name. Amen.

Obedience Like Joseph

Obedience Like Joseph

Tim Olsen

Transcript

Well, good morning. How are we doing this morning? Yeah, it is good to be with you guys. I love that song. I got the privilege last week of getting to preach at our church that I'm at right now, Midtown, Downtown. And we played that right before I walked out.

And so to get to walk out and preach following that song again is just such good. Good for my heart. Hopefully good for your hearts. That beautiful mystery of the gospel, right? That Jesus, the Savior of the world, the Lord of all creation, would humble himself and come as a child. So we celebrate in this season.

Excited to be opening God's Word with you this morning. If you have a Bible, go ahead and get to Matthew 1. We're going to be in Matthew 1 and 2 a little bit today. Like Chet said at the very beginning, my name is Tim. I'm currently on staff over at a church downtown called Midtown Fellowship. And they are sending myself and my wife and a team of about 40 individuals out to the east side of Charlotte, North Carolina, to plant a church called Citizens Church next summer.

And so we're really excited, really grateful. Some of them are sitting front and center this morning. So I'm trusting they'll bring the amens for me. But really, really glad, really grateful for you guys for making us one of your Give projects, for caring about us, for wanting us to see us be launched out well as a brand new church. But more than anything, I'm excited to open up God's Word with you this morning.

Now we just prayed, but let me pray one more time for us before we dive in. Father God, thank you for your Word. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for Jesus as a baby in the manger, helpless, clinging to Mary and to Joseph. God, thank you for Jesus on the cross, who appears helpless, but in the same moment is claiming victory over Satan's sin and death. Thank you that we worship that King.

That we serve and give our lives away for that King who first gave his life away for us. Would you be with us this morning as we open your Word? Would you help us to see what it is that you have for us, to apply what it is we need to apply, to know what it is we need to know, to love what it is we need to love. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

So we're in the second Sunday of Advent, the middle of this Advent season. The season where we look back and we remember and celebrate Christ's first coming. And we look ahead. We look forward to and anticipate the second coming of Christ. This time not as a baby in a manger, but as a King. A risen and ruling and reigning King for all eternity.

And so to do that this year, you guys are looking at different themes from the Gospel of Matthew in the Christmas narrative. And so I have the privilege this morning of talking to you about Joseph. Not colorful coat Joseph, but standing next to Mary in all of your scenes of nativity, Joseph. That's who we're talking about this morning in Matthew chapter 1. So growing up, my family had a tradition where every other Friday night, we would sit down and watch movies together.

So we would order pizza and we would sit down, usually watch some kind of great American film or great American classic. On the other hand, my wife's family was not really big into movies. So they just didn't really watch TV a whole lot. That wasn't their thing growing up. Didn't watch a whole lot of movies. And so when we got married, I found out pretty early on that she had never seen some of the American classics.

I mean, just the films you need to watch if you are going to be a part of this culture and this society. Films like Star Wars. Films like Harry Potter. Lord of the Rings, which I'm told are also books, can neither confirm nor deny if they're books or not. But she'd never seen the movies and that's what I cared about.

And so being the spiritual leader of our family that I was, I decided this had to change, right? And so we sat down over the first year or so of our marriage and we watched through every single one of these movies. And what happens is when you watch through these movies back to back to back to back to back to back to back is that you notice two things. Number one, you notice that all of the plots are basically the same. Hot take. You can argue about it later.

All the stories are the same. They all tell the same story. Hero, villain, kill the villain, you win, right? That's how the story goes. But the second thing you notice in all of these movies is that there is always some secondary or third, some other character that seems like they're not really that important.

They're kind of in the background, kind of off. You're wondering what their deal is, but then you get to the end of the movie and you realize, hey, this person played a pivotal role in the story of the lead character. They're not the lead. They're not the main character. They're not the one that the story is about, but they do something, some sacrifice, some act that helps serve the purposes of the lead character. So in Harry Potter, you have Hagrid, right?

In Star Wars, you have Han Solo. In Lord of the Rings, you have Samwise Gamgee, right? In Chronicles of Narnia, you have Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. I mean, even Anna has her Olaf, right? There's this secondary character that is helping serve the purposes of the lead.

Well, this morning in Matthew 1 and 2, that's what we see with the person of Joseph. So we get when we get to Joseph. Joseph, this man who is not the lead character. The Christmas narrative is not about Joseph. We don't sing all these songs about the risen Joseph. He's not the one in the manger.

He is just a secondary character, but he plays a hugely vital role in the Christmas story. His Acts of sacrifice and obedience to God are huge. He is set to protect Jesus. Baby Jesus, helpless newborn Jesus. And so he has a vital, crucial, wildly important role to play, but he's not the lead character. And that's what we're going to see in the story of Joseph.

We're going to start in verse 18, Matthew chapter 1. And what I want to show us this morning is a pattern. So we're going to look at three different little stories from Matthew 1 and 2. And I want to show you a pattern from the life of Joseph. We're going to start in verse 18, Matthew chapter 1. Here we go.

Scripture reads, Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. So reading this story, there might be some confusion, right? Are they married? Are they engaged?

If they're just engaged, why does he have to divorce her? What is, what's going on? So in verse 18, it says that Joseph and Mary were betrothed. So betrothal in this time period is a part of the Jewish custom called kiddushin. And kiddushin means that what would happen is a man and a woman would get legally married. So they would be bound together.

And then they would enter a period, usually a year, of what was called betrothal, where they were set up to be married. By all legal circumstances, they were married, but they weren't married yet. So what would happen is a groom's family, in order to arrange a marriage, that's how it worked in that custom, they would pay a large amount of money to a bride's family for the right for their daughter to marry their son. And so they would pay this large amount of money. And so what they would do is they would enter a betrothal period, a year, a period of about a year, basically to wait and make sure that this woman, who they paid a lot of money for, was morally pure, that she wasn't pregnant, that she was fit to marry in their culture, fit to marry their son.

And so what would happen is they would be set up for this year period, where they were legally married, but they weren't allowed to live together, they weren't allowed to be alone together, and they weren't allowed to sleep together, which my opinion is no thank you to that tradition. Right? So they were married, though. And so in order to break it off, they had to be divorced. So what happens is during this betrothal year, Mary shows up pregnant.

Whereas the text says before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And I don't know how that conversation goes between Mary and Joseph. Right? Would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that one. Right? Mary, who in Luke 1, we know that she was told by an angel, you're going to conceive, and you're going to give birth to a son.

This is God's son. You're going to call him Jesus. So it's found that she is pregnant. She's pregnant by the Holy Spirit. And so she maybe rolls up to Joseph and is like, hey, Joseph, by the way, I'm pregnant. And Joseph's response is, what?

Say it again. And she says, don't worry. Don't freak out. Be calm. It's God's baby. Which if you're Joseph, you shouldn't believe her.

Right? So we think, oh, yeah, people in that custom, people in that culture, they're so superstitious. Of course, he believes her totally. He doesn't believe her. Right? He believes in the supernatural, but he doesn't believe in the superstitious.

He's not just some blind, oh, yeah, totally. God got you pregnant. Totally. Yes. He doesn't believe her. He's thinking clearly.

Verse 19. And her husband, Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. So here's what I want you to notice. Joseph is both just and gracious. Right? So he's just.

He can't just say, Mary, it's not a big deal. He can't just say, you know what? Let's slide it under the rug. No big deal. Let's move past it.

Let's move forward. He can't overlook Mary's sin. He's a just man, but he's also gracious. So he doesn't want to put her to public ridicule, to public shame. Legally, in that time, Joseph has the right to have Mary killed. If he really believed that she was guilty of idolatry, of having this sexual relationship, he could have her killed.

But he's gracious. So he wants to send her away quietly. He's just and gracious. We actually get a beautiful little picture into the character of God here through Joseph. Right? God is both just and gracious.

Right? He's just. He can't let sin go unpunished. He can't go. He can't let sin be swept under the rug or ignored or pushed aside. But he's also gracious.

He doesn't treat us as we deserve. He treats us as he treats Christ based on what Christ has done for us. So Joseph is a just man and a gracious man. And so he resolves to divorce Mary quietly. Verse 20. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

So I don't want us to move past this. Right? One of the dangers of preaching or hearing stories that we're so familiar with from Christmas is that we kind of put this Christmas filter on it. Right? We kind of know, okay, this is what happens. The angel shows up, tells Mary she's going to get pregnant, going to have a baby.

Of course, then the angel shows up to Joseph. He believes her. They go to Bethlehem happily ever after. Right? Let's sing some Christmas carols.

Let's light some candles and have some hot chocolate. Right? That's kind of what we do with Christmas stories. So I want to help you just for a second try to put yourself into the story. So imagine this is happening in 2019.

Right? Imagine this is happening today. Right? Here's this teenage couple from out in the woods, out in this backcountry town, out in the sticks, in the boonies. If I was preaching this at Midtown, I would say, imagine they're from West Columbia. It's a joke.

All right? It's a joke. It's a joke. Imagine they're from Shira, right? Or maybe Gaston or, I don't know, Edgefield. Right?

So imagine there's this teenage couple and they come up to be pregnant. Right? The woman is pregnant. And she has a dream. And she says, guys, don't worry. It's not Joseph's baby.

It's God's baby. And you're like, okay, that's kind of weird. And Joseph, her fiance, doesn't believe her. And so he's like, no, we're not getting married. No way. This is done.

But then he goes to sleep. And he has a dream. And an angel shows up and says, Joseph, you should marry this girl. You should marry her because this is my baby. This is from the Holy Spirit. And so he goes around town and he's like, we're having the wedding.

The wedding is on. This is God's baby. We're doing it. So imagine you're hanging out Friday morning at, I don't know, Hardee's. Right? Getting your bacon, egg, and cheese.

And you hear these people at a table next to you talking about this couple. Mary and Joseph. Joseph, right, these teenagers, right? She's pregnant. She says it's God's baby. What?

He believes her. He says he had a dream where an angel showed up. And what is going on here? Now, take a step further. Imagine you're Joseph. Think about it.

Take a second. Think about it. Imagine you're Joseph. Here's this woman who you're waiting a year of betrothal, of waiting time to enter into marriage together, and then she ends up being pregnant. What's going through your mind? What hopes and dreams of a life that you've built up for yourself with this woman alongside of you?

What pictures of that? What glimpses of that? What dreams of a future that you have for yourself are suddenly shattered in an instant? Every story you had written? Every scenario you had played out in your head? Here's this woman.

You're waiting. You're anticipating this season. And if any of you have been engaged before, you know that season of waiting towards marriage is agonizing in some senses. Right? You're waiting to be united together with this person. And here is Joseph.

And she winds up being pregnant? And she says it's God's child. And I don't believe her. But now I've had this dream. And this angel has showed up to me and said, No, this is from the Holy Spirit. What does he do?

What step does he take? What agony and turmoil is he going through? No wonder the angel shows up. And in verse 20, he says this, Joseph, son of David, do not fear. I love that. Do not fear to take Mary as your wife.

There's so much for Joseph to be afraid of here, right? There's so much at stake. His reputation is on the line, right? Even if he believes her, even if he believes the angel, who believes him? Who believes Joseph, right? Either he's a liar and he's making up this whole it's God's baby thing to get himself out of trouble, to get himself out of the circumstances he's caused, or he's a fool.

And everyone says, how could you marry this woman even after she betrayed you? Even after she was found to be pregnant? If he believes her, if he believes God, who believes him? His good standing in the community. Any good name that he has is on the line. His relationships are at stake.

Rejection from those in his family. Rejection from those in his hometown. His hopes and his dreams are at stake. This life that he has written for himself, whatever that looks like, is totally thrown out the window. He is signing up. If this is true, if this is real, he is signing up to be the stand-in father of God's baby.

His life is never going to look the same. He's giving up his hopes. He's giving up his dreams. He's giving up his reputation and his relationships. But the angel tells him, do not fear.

Do not fear. Have faith that what you're being invited into is from God. It's an invitation for him to step out in obedient faith. Keep reading verse 21. Angel continues. She will bear a son.

And you shall call his name Jesus. For he will save his people from their sins. This is important. I want to make sure you don't miss it. For Joseph, naming Jesus would give him legal rights to being Jesus' father. So that's how it worked in this culture.

The one who names the child is the one who claims legal rights, legal fatherhood, legal authority over this child. And so what the angel is saying is you are to name him. And in other words, for Joseph to name Jesus is for Joseph to claim Jesus. So what the angel is saying is you don't get partial obedience here. That's not an option for you in this scenario. You don't get to just kind of play fill-in.

You don't get to have one foot in to this whole fatherhood of Jesus thing and one foot out. You don't get to just be Mary's husband. You have to jump all in. Obedience requires you saying, no, I'm here. I'm in. You have to step in fully.

For him to name Jesus is for him to claim Jesus. He has to step into full obedience. Verse 22. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. So here's the pattern I want you to see. God shows up to Joseph. He calls him to do something costly and weighty and that might not make a whole lot of sense.

He invites him into obedience. Joseph obeys and a prophecy is fulfilled. Meaning the purposes and plans that God has move forward. Meaning what God has designed for the world to go, what he has orchestrated, what he has said should happen, does happen. God shows up, calls Joseph to obey. Joseph obeys and God's plan moves forward.

That's the pattern of Joseph's life. I want to show you two other areas, Matthew 2, two other ways we see this playing out. God calling Joseph, Joseph obeying, God's plan moving forward. So the first one is in Matthew 2, verse 13. So Chet talked about this last week.

Jesus is born in Bethlehem and King Herod, King of the Jews, hears there's this child who has been born who is supposed to be King of the Jews. And so obviously he wants to protect his kingdom. He wants to protect his throne. So he's going to have him killed. Wise men show up. We three kings bring the gifts, yada, yada, yada.

Keep going. Verse 13. That's where we pick it up here. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remain there until the death of Herod.

This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Out of Egypt I called my son. Same pattern. God shows up to Joseph, right? Calls him to do something costly and weighty. Tells him, Herod's trying to destroy this child.

He's trying to kill your child. So take Mary, take Jesus, flee to Egypt, which is about 90 miles or so away. So it would have been about a five to seven day journey by foot and by donkey. So let's stay on the Imagine You're Joseph train, right? Keep yourself in this moment, right? God shows up.

He tells you that this woman who you are about to marry is pregnant, but not to worry. It's his child. Do not fear. Take Mary as your wife. Raise Jesus. This is from God.

Right? So if you, imagine you say yes to this. You're like, all right, God, this is changing my whole life, but I'm going to be obedient to you. And so I'm going to step in and I'm going to go for it. If you're anything like me, you would imagine that your life is going to be good from here on out. Right?

After all, you signed up to be the stand-in father for Jesus. Right? You signed up to take this role, to obey God. You said yes to God's plan. He should work everything else out, right? Right?

If I'm going to be the adoptive father of Jesus, I need a couple mil in the bank. I need a big house. Right? I need the latest whatever. I need everything in my life to be good. Right?

I'm taking care of Jesus. We should be protected. We should have angels flying all around all the time. Like, we should be okay. And here you are now finding out, hey, I said yes to God. I said yes to being obedient to him.

And now somebody wants to kill him? Somebody wants to kill my son? Wait a minute. I said yes to God's plan. Why is my life not getting any better? You ever think that way?

You ever have those kind of thoughts? Wait. Wait. Hold on. Hold on a minute. I said yes to you, God.

Like, I obeyed you. Why are you not working things out how I want them to work out? Wait. God, I said yes to your mission. I stood out in faith. I took a chance because I felt like you were calling me to do it.

Why are my circumstances not getting better? In fact, why are they getting worse? We think back on those decisions. Why would I do it again? God, why would I obey you when last time I obeyed you, you didn't turn things out the way I wanted them to turn out. I said yes to you and you made this happen.

You let this happen. You let that person get sick. You let us lose how much money? We do this, right? We think, okay, yes, if I say yes to God, he should just work everything out for me. Joseph says yes to God and now they're on the run.

Right? Somebody's trying to take out Jesus. But Joseph obeys. God's plan moves forward. Let me give you one more. So if they flee to Egypt, Herod has every male child in Bethlehem and the surrounding region under the age of two killed.

Then we get to verse 19. Matthew 2, verse 19. But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel. For those who sought the child's life are dead. And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. When he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.

And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. Same pattern. Right? God shows up to Joseph, calls him to take Jesus and Mary to Israel. All right.

They get to go home. Right? Finally, maybe they get to settle in. They get to have a life. He obeys. They start heading that way.

God shows up again and says, nope, not Israel. You've got to go to Galilee. Really? Galilee? So they head to Galilee.

They end up in a city called Nazareth. We notice again God's plan moves forward so that his plan would move forward so that Jesus would be called a Nazarene. And this is really the last we see of Joseph in the story of Matthew. This is kind of it. We get a little glimpse of him in chapter 13 where it's kind of a little quick reference. But that's it.

This is Joseph. Right? This massively, wildly important character in the story of God who serves God, obeys God, sacrifices so much to protect the baby Jesus. Right? Wildly important. And yet he's there for two chapters.

That's it. He plays his role. He plays his part. And then he steps out of the way and Jesus gets put into the forefront. The actual lead. The actual one that we worship and serve and give our lives away for.

And so what I want to show us this morning with our last little bit of time, what I want to show us is that Joseph is not just a character with great historical influence. But he's not someone we just put in our nativity scenes. He's not someone we just mention in a few Christmas carols. He is actually a wildly important example for you and for I of what obedience to God looks like. He's a great example of what obedience to God looks like. And I want to show you three ways.

Three ways. His obedience is an example to us. Three ways. Joseph is an incredible example of faithful obedience to God. See what we can learn from this. Three ways.

Number one, obedience when it doesn't make sense. Obedience when it doesn't make sense. Mary's pregnant with God's baby. What? Flee to Egypt? To Galilee?

Where? What do you want from us? It doesn't make sense. An angel showing up, right? Telling Joseph this stuff doesn't make sense. Doesn't it feel that way sometimes when God calls us to obey him?

Like, hold up. Wait. God, I'm reading your word. And I'm praying. And you want me to do what? You want me to say yes to what?

You want me to say no to what? Now, chances are, right, none of us are going to go home tonight and go to bed. And none of us are going to have a dream where an angel shows up and says, Hey, the woman you're engaged to is pregnant with a baby from the Holy Spirit. Marry her. Call him Jesus. That's not going to happen.

Right? If it does, go back to sleep. You heard it wrong. All right? That's not going to happen. But there are going to be times in our lives where God calls us to step out in faith, to step out in obedience.

And it's not going to make sense. It's not going to make sense. So maybe for some of you, that looks like God calling you to give up that promotion. Or to say no to that raise so that you can actually stay in this city and build deep roots with your church family. For others of you, sacrifice that doesn't make sense looks like, hey, I'm really tired tonight and I would much rather watch Disney Plus or Netflix. But instead, I'm going to go and I'm going to invest in my community group.

I'm going to open up God's word with them. I'm going to love them. I'm going to serve them. For some of us, it looks like, all right, this doesn't make sense to give away money with zero financial return on my investment. But God's kingdom is bigger than me.

So I'm going to use what he has given me. For some of us, it looks like, wait, I'm supposed to parent my kid that way? I'm supposed to make that sacrifice for my family? I don't get it. I don't understand. And for some of us, obedience, when it doesn't make sense, looks like finally opening up and sharing that deep part of us that we would never tell anyone about ever.

Because we know God invites us into freedom. He invites us to be fully known and fully loved by him and by his people. Obedience doesn't always make sense. God calls us to do stuff that our rational minds would butt up so hardly against. Right? And say, why would I do that?

Why would I say yes to those things? Why would I say no to those things? God, why would you ask me to do that? Why would you ask me to step in in that way? Because this is how obedience so often works. I've been getting a firsthand glimpse of this with our Citizens Church core team.

This is not a story to set us up as the hero. I would rather talk about Jesus the whole time, but I feel the need to talk about it. So our team, our team with Citizens is a group of about 40 or so individuals. And they are the most normal folks. We are the most normal folks you've ever met in your entire life. You can meet them.

A lot of them are sitting on the second row. And you'll know, yeah, they're really normal. Like they're really average. We have baristas. We have some college students. We have some future pharmacists, some future nurses.

We have people that work in insurance. It doesn't get any more normal than working in insurance, right? It just doesn't. And there are people that believe that God has called them to something. That God has said, hey, would you step out in faith? And for most of them, 99% of them, it doesn't make sense.

Right? So in our culture, in our society, we move somewhere new for one of three reasons. We move for family. We move for a new job. Or we move for cheaper cost of living, right? That's generally the three reasons why we move.

A lot of the people on our team are actually moving away from family to go to Charlotte. They're giving up jobs that they like with no guarantee of a job. None of them have jobs right now. And for a lot of them, they're going to move into more expensive apartments and more expensive houses because Charlotte is way more expensive than Columbia. It doesn't make sense. It makes zero sense.

And yet they believe that God has called them to something. So they're trying to step out in faith. They're trying to be obedient to the mission of God. And what we see with Joseph is that faithful obedience to God doesn't always make sense. Secondly, obedience when it's costly. Obedience when it's costly.

Joseph ruins his reputation. Just ruins it. Totally derails any plans he probably had for his life. Any hopes and dreams he had. Just totally goes off the rail. Right?

He is signing up to be the stand-in father of God's son. Life is not going to look the same. And Joseph willingly steps into the sacrifice. His reputation, his relationships, his hopes and dreams. He steps out even when it's costly. Here's the reality.

And if you've been following Jesus for any amount of time, you probably feel this. Obedience to God is going to cost you. Just is. Right? Matthew 16. Jesus says, if you want to be my disciple, if you want to follow me, take up your cross and be willing to die.

That's what it means to be a Christian. It means to follow the way of our Savior, which the way of our Savior is one of continual sacrifice upon sacrifice upon sacrifice all the way to the cross. So to follow Jesus is to have sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice. The call of obedience from Christ is one that is going to cost you. It's going to hurt. It's not always going to feel pleasant.

And that rubs against us because we think, God, I'm following you and you control all things. Why isn't my life getting better? Why aren't things magically just working out for me now? Because the call to obedience is the call to come and die. To give up our lives. To give up what's easy and what's normal.

To sacrifice for the mission of God going forward. Gets us to number three. Number three. Obedience when you don't know the outcome. Obedience when you don't know the outcome. We know the whole story of this, right?

We know the whole Christmas narrative. We're on this side of the Bible. We know who Jesus is. We know the miracles that he does. We know that he goes to the cross. We know he dies but doesn't stay dead.

But he gets up out of the grave. We know all that. Joseph doesn't. When Joseph says yes to the angel in the dream. When Joseph says yes to marrying Mary. He doesn't know how it all works out.

He doesn't know the miracles that Jesus is going to perform. He doesn't know feeding the 5,000. He doesn't know the walking on water. He doesn't know the cross. He doesn't know the empty tomb. Joseph doesn't know any of that.

He is just a dad. Trying to be faithful to the call of God on his life. He's just trying to take one step at a time. Little step by little step by little step. He's just trying to be obedient. He doesn't know how it all works.

And if you're anything like me, that could be one of the most frustrating parts of obedience to God. Right? Because I'll be reading God's word or I'll be praying and I feel like God's called me to something and I want to know, all right, I'll totally say yes. God, I am in on the plan as long as you tell me what the next five steps are. Right? As long as you tell me where we're going when we get there.

Give me the ending. Tell me how this all works out and I'm totally in on your plan. Meanwhile, in the back of my mind, I'm going, all right, let me make sure I like it first. Let me make sure if I say yes here that it's going to work out how I want it to work out. Let me make sure that everything's going to be okay. God, show me the whole plan.

And I'm about as type A as type A comes. So God, I need 50 step by step. Do this, do this, do this. And an invitation for me and my Christian growth is, no, Tim, little step. Little step. Take a little step.

Take a little step. I tell our core team all the time that we don't know if this is going to work. I tell them all the time, like we're going to Charlotte. We're trying to plant this church. We think God's called us to do it. I don't know if we're going to fail or not.

We have a process that we take our people through before they join our core team, our first group of members. And I tell every single one of them, I'm not a salesman, I'm a pastor. So I tell every single one, I don't know. We could have a thousand people and plant 50 churches or we could have 10 people and not be able to pay our bills and close our doors within a year. I don't know. And for a lot of these conversations, I actually go back to a conversation I had with Chet, one of your pastors back, I think 2012, 2013, something like that.

We were hanging out at Cafe Strudel. And I remember that because he taught me about all you can drink coffee, which is wonderful. Glad for that. And so we're sitting down at Cafe Strudel and Mill City's just kind of really starting to get rolling at that point. I think we were kind of talking church planting. He knew that's what I wanted to do eventually.

And so I remember him asking me this question and it still stuck with me today and I still share it with our core team all the time. But he asked me, he said, Tim, how do we know if Mill City is a failure? Like, how do we know if we failed? Then he asked me some, I think, rhetorical questions, but I might have answered them. He said, Tim, if 10 years from now, if we're huge, if we've blown up, but we've never planted another church, we've never reproduced ourselves as a church, have we failed? I'm like, all right, I don't think so.

It doesn't feel like failure. He said, all right, let me give you another one. If three years from now, we've reached 500 people and we're huge and we've blown up, but we haven't baptized a single person or a single person hasn't come to faith. Not a single person's met Jesus. Are we a failure? Maybe, I don't know.

These are tricky questions, Chad, I don't know. All right, let me ask you one more. If in a year from now, we have zero money in the bank, nobody comes. We close our doors and come crawling back to Midtown. It's what seems like failure. Are we a failure?

All right, this one I know. Yes, yes, you're a failure. Got it. I know this answer. And he looked at me and I still remember this to this day. He looked me in the face and he said, Tim, we are stepping out in faith to what we feel like God has called us to do.

So it actually doesn't matter. We're already successful. It doesn't matter. 100 people come to know Jesus. Nobody comes to know Jesus. We have stepped out in faith and what matters in the kingdom of God is faithful obedience.

So I tell my team all the time, I don't know. I don't know. This could be the worst thing we've ever done. This could be a terrible decision, but we feel like God has called us to do it. And so we're just going to be faithful. We're going to work really hard.

We're going to evangelize like crazy. We're going to serve the poor. We're going to love our neighbors. We're going to do semi-decent gatherings and sing and preach God's word. And we're going to talk about Jesus and we're going to invite people to respond. But God does all of it.

And we just try to be faithful. So the invitation for all of us this morning, Mill City Church, all of us this morning is God is inviting you into faithful obedience. And I don't know if for you, it's one specific thing. Maybe that one thing in all of your prayer time, you just keep wrestling with God about that. He just keeps saying, do this, do this, do this. And you keep, I don't want to.

That feels scary. That feels weightier. Maybe it's that one thing he keeps calling you to give up, to say no to, to push away. Maybe for you, it's just a general call towards maturity, a general call towards, you know that when you read scripture and you look at your life, they don't match up and you don't care. So maybe for you, the invitation to obedience is to love God's word and to ask the Holy Spirit to bring conviction over your life, to step in, to speak.

So I don't know, I don't know if it's a specific thing, I don't know if it's a general thing, but here's the good news for us this morning and here's where I want to, I want to land us. Here's the good news for all of us. What God invites us into, Christ has already done. What God invites us into, Christ has already done. That's the story of Christmas. Right?

God himself stepping out into humanity. Right? Taking on flesh, becoming a child, born of a woman, born in a manger, willingly stepping and lowering himself all the way to go lower, even still to the cross. And that doesn't make sense. Right? That doesn't make sense.

On a surface level, that does not make sense. No other worldview or world religion has God stepping down to man. Every single other one has man trying to get themselves to God. But here's God, God himself, creator and controller and ruler of the universe, taking on flesh and lowering himself to become a man. It doesn't make sense. It's costly.

Right? It's costly. Jesus gives up his life, faces an agonizing, brutal, torturous death, physically, emotionally, spiritually, being forsaken by the Father. He experiences such a cost. Grace is free, salvation is free, but it was costly. It cost Jesus his life.

But here's the difference between him and us. Jesus knew the outcome. Right? Jesus knew the outcome. Jesus knew that the cross was not the end of his story. Jesus knew the cross was not the end for him.

He knew three days later he was going to get up out of the grave and be risen and ruling and reigning forever. So what that means for us, church, what that means for us is that every act of faithful obedience, every step of faith, every act of sacrifice actually makes perfect sense in the kingdom of God. Right? Because as we think about, as we learn to fall in love with, as we are changed by the power of the Holy Spirit in light of the person and work of Jesus, it actually makes every sacrifice in light of his ultimate sacrifice make perfect sense. So why wouldn't we give our lives away?

Why wouldn't we step out in faith? Why wouldn't we obey? It actually makes it all not that costly. It hurts. It's weighty in the moment, but we know we anticipate and we expect an eternal reward. Right?

That one day Christ is going to return and he's going to make all things new. That is a guarantee. And we know that. We know the outcome. We might not know it here. We might not know how this specific scenario or this specific circumstance turns out, but we know that one day Christ is going to return and make all things new.

And we get to worship him and celebrate him forever. Here's where I want to end us. None of us are the heroes of the story. So that's the beginning. Mill City, you're not the heroes. Citizens Church Corps team, not the heroes.

I'm not the hero. None of us are the hero. Joseph's not the hero. Jesus is the hero of the story. He's the one we sing about. He's the one we worship.

He's the one we proclaim. He's the one who gave it all away. And so in response, we give it all away in return. He is the one who is worth it. All we're called to do is to step in and play our role of faithful obedience, however small it might be in the kingdom of God. We're called to step out in faith because he's worth it.

He's worth it. He makes it all worth it. Let me pray for us. God, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for the manger, for him lowering himself, taking on flesh, becoming a human. Thank you that, and in one sense, it doesn't make sense at all.

Why would you lower yourself? Why would you take on flesh? Why would you go to the cross, the cross that we deserved? And on the other hand, we see the bigger picture, that you are accomplishing our salvation. that through the sacrifice of Christ, through his life, death, and resurrection, we have been given a way to know you and to love you and to walk with you, to celebrate you forever. God, so would you help us every step of obedience you're calling us into, every act of faith you're calling us into, big or small, in every way that it feels uncertain, in every way that it doesn't make sense, in every way that it feels costly, and that it hurts and that it's burdensome.

God, would you help us? Would you help us remember, and not only remember cognitively in our minds, not only remember as a fact, but remember deep inside of our souls that love of Christ that took him to the cross, that makes every sacrifice, makes every act of faith, makes every act of obedience totally worth it, and make total sense. God, we only love because you loved us first. We only follow you because you sent Jesus first. God, it's all you. We're just responding.

I was to remember this Christmas, this season of Advent, how beautiful and wonderful and crazy it was that Jesus came. that never ceased to be good news for us today, in this season, and every day. We love you. Praise things in Jesus' name. Amen. As the band's coming back up, we're going to move into a time of communion. This is a time of response where we actually get to celebrate each and every Sunday what Christ has done for us, to remember his ultimate sacrifice on the cross, on our behalf.

And so, take a piece of bread, which represents his body, we dip it in juice, which represents his blood, remembering and celebrating that if you are in Christ, if you are a believer, if you trust him, that this is for you, that he has died to make a way for you to be ransomed to himself. If you're not a believer, instead of taking communion, we invite you to take Christ, to believe and trust in his sacrifice for your forgiveness of sins that you can live forever with him. So let's take a second and we're going to pray and then we're going to respond through singing and communion. Matthew Chouclette Buckingham

Two Kingdoms

Two Kingdoms

Chet Phillips

Transcript

It's good to see y'all this morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. This is the first week of our Give Series. And so every time around this time of year, as soon as Thanksgiving's over, we have a Give Series where we intentionally give money away. So Merry Christmas.

This is a wonderful time of year. Here we are meant to celebrate well. We're supposed to. One of the things in the Old Testament that I was thinking about a good bit from Thanksgiving and into this time of year, one of the things about the Old Testament that God commanded His people to do was to save money so that they could help the poor, so that they could take care of the priests and the temple who did not have an inheritance among them, but they were supposed to take care of the Acts of worship and what they were supposed to do as a nation, and they were supposed to save money so that they could celebrate.

There were times where they were supposed to spend money to feast, to enjoy the good things that God had given them, to celebrate how He had blessed and provided. And as we go into Christmas, this is one of those times where we get to do that. And Christians ought to celebrate, well, we should have some of the best food and some of the best parties. You should gain some weight. You'll lose it in January. I believe in you.

Look, I'm a Carolina fan. Good things always happen in the future. We'll get it together. It'll be nice. January us is going to crush this. Right now, let's eat some food and celebrate.

We're meant to do that, but the danger for us is that we would get so caught up in that, so caught up in the things that are right in front of us, what is tangible, what we can see, that we would lose the thread. We would lose that our celebration is meant to help us look upward. It's meant to roll up in praise. It's meant to help us see beyond the horizon. It's meant to celebrate something of great significance that has an eternal aspect to it. And if we lose that, then our celebration becomes very dull.

It's very earth-centered. It's just here and now, and we miss the point. And so in that tension, we always as a church have had a gift series where we intentionally try to celebrate well while reminding us and remembering together that we are eternal people with an eternal purpose and we want to give some money away. Rather than just having it all terminate here, we want to send some on ahead. We want to live as eternal people. And so we ought to celebrate well and we ought to be generous and give and remember the eternality of this season.

And so that's our hope as we do this, that we would help walk that tension well and that we would celebrate well and walk generously, live generously. And I didn't mean to just give all those t-shirts a shout out, but we would live as generous people as we move forward together. So I'm going to pray and then we're going to talk about this section of text we're getting to look at today. Lord, we pray that you would bless us as your people, that we would take this time to celebrate well. This would be a season of joy, of welcoming one another, of hospitality, of enjoying the good food, the good time that we get to have.

And we pray, Lord, that it would be a season of generosity, that we would not get so focused on what is right in front of us that we would miss the point. And so may we celebrate well and may we live well in generosity with an eternal hope in mind. We pray that as we study this scripture today, that you would help us grow in that and that you would bless this gift project that we're going to get to focus on this year. In Jesus' name, amen. Turn to Matthew chapter 2. So what we did, we're working through the book of Matthew.

We just skipped Matthew 1 and 2. When we started, we started in Matthew chapter 3 and we're going to look at Matthew 1 and 2 for the next four weeks as we celebrate Christmas because these are more Christmassy type passages. They deal with the birth of Jesus. And so rather than doing them first and then hitting Christmas again, we just said, we'll save that. We'll start. We'll do it out of order.

Some people probably appreciated that and some of you are probably frustrated by it. But now, Matthew 1 and 2 for the next four weeks. Today we're going to look at King Herod. Then we'll look at Joseph. Then we'll look at the wise men.

And so we'll read through some of the same passages together, repeatedly focusing on different areas. And hopefully it'll help us celebrate well and push us towards generosity. In C.S. Lewis' book, The Silver Chair, there's a prince named Prince Rillion. And he is captured by a witch who can also turn into a snake or a snake who also turns into like a beautiful enchantress witch lady. He's captured and she takes him underground.

So he was supposed to be the prince. He was eventually going to be the king over this wonderful kingdom that is joyous and welcoming and at peace that has good relationships between all the people. He was going to be the king over this kingdom. But he's captured and she enchants him so that he no longer knows who he is and he begins to serve her and she takes him underground and they begin to build an underground army. And the plan is with the underground army, dig a big tunnel, pop up in the middle of the kingdom that he would have been king over and overtake it. So he's actually working to try to conquer a kingdom that would have been freely given to him because he's lost who he is.

And there's this tension between this kingdom of darkness, this underground kingdom that's trying to conquer this kingdom of light, this kingdom that lives out in the sun and this story unfolds. They have to send some people to go try to find him and get him back. And as I read this, I realize that this has a lot of similarities to the actual world that we live in and what we meet in the scriptures as the Lord tells us what this was supposed to look like, that we were meant to be sons and daughters of the king, that we were meant to live at peace with one another, that he was going to freely give us all good things to enjoy and that we've been tricked. That the enemy of God, Satan, has blinded our eyes so that we only focus on what we can see and we actually fight, claw for what God would freely give us.

And we try to, as best we can, defend our own little territory and claim our own little kingdom. We're blind, we're living in a kingdom of darkness, and we're fighting for what God has openly, freely invited us into. And there's these two kingdoms that are at war. There's this kingdom that can only see what's right in front of it, and there's this kingdom that's meant to be more. And we're actually getting to look at some of that play out today as we look at two kings and how they interact with one another. So, Matthew chapter 2.

We're going to look at these two kingdoms and these two kings. And hopefully, as we look at this together, we will see that we get to make a choice, that we get to choose which kingdom we're going to live in and which king we're going to follow. Verse 1. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men came from the east, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. All right, so they come to Jerusalem where the king is.

Jesus is born in Judea in the area that the king Herod had jurisdiction. It's really interesting. He's born into the Roman Empire under the jurisdiction of the emperor and king Herod. Now, king Herod was ruthless and very politically savvy. He's one of the only people who in the Roman Empire gets to have the title of king. Most of them get titles like governor.

They get a title that clearly says they're underneath the emperor Caesar. And Herod gets the title king because he's politically savvy and he's ruthless. And the Jewish people were hard to manage and so the Romans were capitulating a little bit because they were having consistently difficult times with the Jewish people. And so, King Herod was an Edomite related to the Jewish people but not fully Jewish. So, when he wanted to make his run for king, he wanted to get this power from the Romans, he married a lady who was from the Maccabees. None of this is in the scripture.

I'm just giving you some background on here. When he did, when he married her, he got rid of his current wife and son. Just got rid of them so that he could move forward. after a time of being married with this lady, married to this lady, they had sons. She was well-liked, was growing in power. The sons were well-liked and were growing in power and so he eventually, over time, had her put to death and had his two sons put to death because he did not want to have anyone try to take away from him his position and he felt like his sons were a threat. Now, can you imagine that?

That he so could only see what was right in front of him that he had no desire for his sons to have a throne after him or for him to manage that well. He just saw everyone around him as a threat. He killed two of his sons. As he got older and sicker, seven days prior to his death, he had another one of his sons put to death. So he eventually killed three of his sons.

The emperor Augustus actually made a joke and it's funnier in Greek because it's a play on words. But I don't know Greek and most of you don't either. So I'm going to say it in English where it's not a play on words. But he says it would actually be better to be Herod's pig than his son. Because Herod's Jewish so they wouldn't have eaten a pig. But his sons were in danger.

So he said he'd rather be his pig than his son. Those words are similar in Greek. So he was ruthless. And so they come to him. And this is the king that Jesus is born under. They come to him.

The wise men come to him. They come to J. And it says, verse 2, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and we have come to worship him. Okay, so it says wise men from the east. These weren't just like smart people.

Wise men was kind of this class of people that would have been kind of around a throne usually that would have given a consult to a king. So they're probably wealthy. They bring very good gifts which indicates that. So they most likely rode up on horses or camels. They were an entourage. They show up.

They go to the palace and they say, Where is the king who has been born? And Herod's like, You're 50 years late. Here I am. It took you a long time to get here. I'm the king. Like, he's the only king he knows of.

And so he, it says that they come to him and they say, Where is the king who's been born? King of the Jews. We saw his star when it rose. Meaning they studied the sky and they're saying creation has actually put on display that this king has come. Now if you know anything about Herod, you can imagine how excited at this news he was.

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. I think had they had a better king, Jerusalem maybe wouldn't have been troubled. But when Herod's troubled, everybody's going to be troubled. But all of them are stirred up. What does this mean? Herod's troubled.

And it says this, And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So he calls the people who study the Old Testament and he says there are prophecies about this. They said they've seen his star. They've said the king of the Jews has been born. Where is he supposed to be born? His immediate assumption is this is the Christ, the Messiah, the promised one, the one who God's been saying over and over would come in the line of David who would set up a kingdom that will last forever.

This is the one who's coming. So he calls together his book reading, Bible studying friends says, tell me where he's supposed to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet, and you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared and he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go and search diligently for the child and when you have found him bring me word that I too may come and worship him.

That's surprising. That's an excellent response. So King Herod hears that the Messiah has been born and he gets together. The scribes, the people who have studied the Bible said, where is he to be born? He tells the wise men, go find him. When you find him, come let me know because I want to worship him too.

That's how a king ought to respond if you're the king of the Jews and the Messiah is born. You ought to understand who he is, understand who God is and say, my role now is to help facilitate this and make this go well. Seems very out of character for Herod but good for him. Verse 9, after listening to the king they went on their way and behold the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshipped him.

They saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshipped him. Then opening their treasures they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod they departed to their own country by another way. So God steps in and says don't go talk to Herod. Now when they

Had departed behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph that's Jesus' adoptive father we'll spend some time talking about him next week in a dream and said rise take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. I knew it!

When I went to college my younger brother got really into the TV show Mari and my parents had Teva and when I would come home he would have saved sections of his highlight reel of Mari shows and he would like have written down and he would have certain ones he wanted me to watch and so in college I got really into the TV show Mari I couldn't just say

That I had to blame it on my brother first but in Mari they do two things they do paternity tests which are always delightful to watch and they also do lie detector tests and so he'll read the results and so when Herod says this you can almost hear Mari saying the test confirmed that was a lie you had no intention of worshipping Jesus he just wanted to know where he was so that he could destroy him

Now follow the logic here let's think with Herod here for a second wise men come from another country and they tell you that the stars have moved and said king of the Jews has been born maybe you don't understand how they go about figuring that out I wouldn't but that's what they say we've come because we saw a star we're here to worship the king of the Jews

Now you don't know anything about this you don't know that there's been a king born you have no desire for this Herod's thinking okay I don't want another king I want to defend my kingdom I mean he wants to defend his kingdom so much so that he'll kill his own children like he then he thinks okay well if creation's involved probably

The promised Messiah from the Old Testament that God creator of the world has been telling us forever he was going to send so he calls together the scribes he says where is the Christ supposed to be born and his plan is kill the Messiah that's his plan it would make sense to me if he just thought this is nonsense like if it just said

He thought no don't know who that is like it would make sense to me if he just rejected it but he actually believes enough to say search the books tell me which city the Christ is supposed to be born in he understands enough to say this is actually the Christ this is actually the Messiah if the stars are involved it's him and then his plan is to defend his kingdom against creator of the world

Not a good plan that's his plan that's surprising to me but that's what he comes up with that's what he's going to do 14 and he rose that's Joseph and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod this was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt

I called my son just a quick tag we're going to spend more time on Joseph and the wise men in the coming weeks so I'm skipping a lot of things here because we're just focusing on Herod so if you're really interested in that come back we'll talk about it in the next couple weeks then Herod when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men became furious I mean it is in their name

They're wise so you should have seen it come and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and all that region who were two years old or under according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah a voice was heard in Ramah weeping in loud lamentation Rachel weeping for her children she refused to be comforted

Because they are no more so he sent to Bethlehem and the surrounding area and anyone any child that had not hit their third birthday any male child that had not hit their third birthday he had executed in our church family that would be eight children that area is not Bethlehem was not a big city it was not a huge area that it was covering but we're talking probably

In the 30 range and I can't even imagine someone coming to my home by presidential decree hand your son over I got a son who hadn't hit two yet he would be included in this he sent through an entire area and just slaughtered infants to protect his kingdom that's heinous it lines him up with Pharaoh who was doing this

To the Jewish people it's wicked but all he can see is the defense of what is right in front of him the enjoyment of what is right in front of him holding on to his power holding on to his position and having what he can see and touch and feel and he'll go to any length he can to keep it verse 19 and on says that when Herod died an angel came told Joseph they could go back

And they go back and there's two kings in this story and there's two kingdoms in this story and we've been reading ahead so we know what Jesus is going to be like and the type of kingdom he's going to have we've got King Herod and his earthly kingdom that he's doing anything he possibly can to defend and we've got Jesus who's a much better king with a much better kingdom Jesus comes and he starts to teach his disciples

About the kingdom of heaven and he talks about who's welcome who's brought in the weak the mourning those who are broken and hurting and far from God they're welcomed they're brought in we actually see as Jesus goes to the cross that he who was king who was ruling gave up his throne

So that we might have life and you have Herod who will take your life so that he might have his throne we have Jesus who will give up his position so that he can join us be crucified for us to welcome us in and Herod who will

Defend his position no matter what it costs you see Jesus consistently talks to his disciples and tells them to look beyond the horizon tells them to look to what they cannot see what is not right in front of them because

He is the king of heaven an eternal kingdom where there's joy where there's hope where there's life where there's fullness where there's all the good things we were meant to have and Herod's just fighting for what he can have right now and we get to

Choose because it's easy right now the kingdom of Herod and the posture of Herod see I read this and I think I'm not like Herod because that's the easiest thing to think I'm not like that I wouldn't do those things

But the reality is I'm closer and you're closer to being like Herod than we'd care to admit because it's very easy for us to be caught up in what affects me what do I enjoy what harms me what will mess with

My life and the good things that I have and let me defend it I think if you'd look back at some of my prayers and some of your prayers they're pleading with God to not mess with our territory to not

Take from us what we feel like he owes us to not encroach upon us that at some points we're actually talking to God and fighting against God in some ways the way that Herod was whoa whoa whoa whoa

Don't mess with that this is my zone that it's really easy for us to get caught up and worried about what we can grab and what we can have now and to miss what we're invited into to go back

To the story I told at the beginning we're we're the prince who can be tricked into fighting for what would be freely given to us who can be tricked into

Living a small underground life in the darkness with the hopes of tooth and nail clawing out what Jesus came to offer life joy hope position freedom fullness it's what Jesus talks

About one of the places Jesus talks about this a lot is money it's our gift series surprise do you know I was going to get the money do you see it coming Matthew Jesus talks about this in Matthew 6 he's talking about money he's talking

About possessions he's talking about how we treat what is in front of us how we treat our lives and he says this do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal alright how much

Are we told daily lay up for yourself treasures on earth how much are we told daily through advertisement through our own thoughts as we see other people enjoying things the goal of life the good life the hope of life the way to win at life

Is to lay up treasures on earth earth I know I sing that sweet tune to myself all the time look at somebody oh that'd be nice wouldn't it be good if one day one day I'm gonna have

One day we'll we'll get one day that's the hope treasures on earth I could just have this Jesus just flat out says don't do that moth and rust destroy herod was was the

King of this because he did not even want to leave a legacy or a lineage to his children we at least can see beyond our last

Breath most of the time most of the time people who are laying up treasures for themselves are like my kids can have it when

I'm gone here is like nope because I think they're going to try to enjoy it while I'm here I just want everything to be

Great until I'm gone I read this week studying up on Herod and one of the last decrees he gave was that his military

Would go through the area of his jurisdiction when he died on the day of his death would go through the area of his

Jurisdiction and kill every first born son because he thought it was likely people would be happy if he died and so he said

Go kill every first born son he died they did not do that because it was crazy but that was his plan but we

In the spirit of Herod can get caught up in what can I have now what can I enjoy now what makes life good

Now that's the point Jesus says don't do that isn't it refreshing how clear Jesus is on stuff were you thinking about doing that

Yeah don't do that all that stuff is going to fail you you ever get something new you ever have like a really old

Ratty couch and the only thing that bothered you about it was that it looked gross maybe like it was real gross and you were

A little embarrassed by it you ever get a new couch and now you're stressed out over defending your couch like it's like either way like I have a ratty

Couch I don't want my guest to sit on that now I have a new couch well you can sit on it but you

Better sit on it right and don't go plopping down on it and put that a new TV you also probably need to go ahead and

Get a fire stick or a Roku or whatever because it was fine to have the little antenna sticking up behind your old TV I bought

My wife some mums and after I bought her some mums mums are flowers people seem confused I bought her some mums and after I

Bought some mums she was like we need to get a stand book there's a book called if you give a mouse a cookie

And it's about how said I'm gonna write a book called if you buy your wife some mums because I bought some $10 mums

It cost us like $60 it was the craziest thing that's how it is those mums are dead in my backyard now it's okay to have

Some enjoyment of things I'm not saying that it's wrong but he's saying don't have your treasure here that's some king hered stuff but

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys where thieves do not break in and steal for where your

Treasure is there will your heart be also can I tell y'all a beautiful story a better story king hered finds out that the

Messiah is born and he says I'm king for such a time as this let's pave the way for the messiah let's do everything

We possibly can let's find him let's protect him let's get him ready if he's going to be the king of the Jews let's

Make a plan here and he moves out of the way and then one day when Herod dies he's welcomed into that messiah's kingdom

And he's offered freely everything he would have fought for that's a better story it's not the one we get but right now we're getting to

Decide where are we going to be which story are we going to be a part of are we going to lay up treasures here that are nice here they're nice

No doubt about it probably nicer in our day and age than any other time I read about King Solomon in the Old Testament it

Says that the Queen of Sheba came and visited him and it says there was no other time in Israel's history where there were

Spices in Jerusalem like when Solomon was there after Sheba came and I'm like I can get on every once in a while I

Sit at my house and I think Solomon would have loved to have these digs they're nice and we can enjoy them and they're

Meant to be enjoyed as we look at a good God who is above us at a horizon that is beyond the one we

Can see we're meant to see an eternity and put some hope in an eternity and be welcomed into the place where our heart

Has been all alone you're supposed to give your heart to Jesus give it to his kingdom and when you die meet Jesus and

Meet the king who owns your heart in the kingdom where your heart has been all alone that's what he says lay up for

Yourself treasures in heaven because where your treasure is there your heart will be that's true and we can send things ahead through sacrificing

Not in the way that we used to have to appease the way the sacrifices worked where you were appeasing to try to atone for your sin no but just giving

Some things up he talks in this section in Matthew 6 he talks about praying where nobody gets to see you he talks about

Giving where nobody knows about it he actually says it messes it up you're getting treasure on earth when you give and everybody knows

About it I'd love to see a hospital building that says hospital and you're entering in the east wing and not just the McDaniels

Owens wing because whoever does that whoever gets to give all the buildings that I went to school every building had somebody's name slapped

On it because that was the person who paid for it would be nice if it was girls dorm number two somebody was generous

Just for the sake of generosity but do you get to give without anybody knowing about it so that you're not elevated so you're

Not held up high you get to serve you get to pray you get to labor he says not even a cup of cold

Water that's given to somebody because if cold water counts kid city counts I mean that we get to serve so this time of

Year when money feels tight when there's a desire to use our finances to make everything around us good we say yeah do that

As you celebrate who Jesus is and we say don't forget we're citizens of a better kingdom and send some money on ahead move your

Treasure out from under the tree move your heart so when you meet Jesus that's where your heart will have been the whole time

We get to write a better story than King Herod wrote I get the honor of introducing our give series projects this year they're

A little bit different and we get to do something a little bit different this year than we've done in the past so I'm excited we've got a lot

Going on right now with us trying to move to Casey and so this is even more fun for us because there's a real

Part of me that was like we got a ton of things going on with Casey and a lot of things to pay for y'all been

In that building it is beautiful that we are getting to move to a facility where there's a roof and where there's space and

Where the Lord has just in some ways just promoted us elevated us because how long would it have taken us to actually pay

For a place even like that but you walk in there and you are like we got some work to do some cleaning some

Painting for those of y'all who miss the green carpet that used to be in here I have got good news for you that

Place is green green and for those of you who maybe are color blind it's brown it's nice brown but they've everything over there needs

Work part of me was like why don't we just put our efforts there and then it was like no why don't we do

What we're always supposed to do just give some stuff away just send something that doesn't have anything to do with us that we just

Get to bless and not really get to partake in we get two projects this year we don't usually do two we're doing two

And we're going to give some money a church one Sunday they are planting a church in Charlotte so we just went to them

They're part of the grassroots network we help train and send church planters they've been over at midtown getting trained up they're about to

Go out they're taking 37 people with them which sounds awesome that are going to move to Charlotte to help plant a church that's a

Way better way to plant a church than the way we did so I hardly encourage doing that method than the one we went

With worked out but it's not the best one 37 people already moving up there getting jobs trying to be missionaries in that area

And we just went and said hey how can we help you out and they said well we're going to move we're going to be groups

That's the grassroots network does that we send in leaders we send in groups people to just be missionaries in the area we're going

To do groups first and then at some point they're going to want to gather and we said okay can we help with the gathering

And they said yes so here's some gathering costs here's our plan for them like I said we got two this one's happening in

Charlotte the cool thing we're here's the plan if we can raise fifteen hundred dollars we will give them an iMac we'll give them

Fifteen hundred dollars they'll buy an iMac for their gathering so they'll be able to run some of the stuff they're going to do so

They're already being in groups on mission but when they gather together there's a few things they want to get and so if we get

Three thousand dollars we will get them an iMac and a sound board so that when they get started they already have that they'll

Be blessed with that from our church so that they can just get started and worry about spending their money in other places working

On some other things if we get five thousand dollars they will also get speakers so everything is included if you hit five thousand

It's iMac sound board and speakers because at three thousand dollars they got a sound board but nothing that sends out sound so at

Five thousand dollars that sound board does some stuff and if we're able to do seventy five hundred dollars they'll get all the music

Equipment they need we said what will it take for y'all to do a gathering and they said seventy five hundred dollars I love

That I love that they're way more worried about having groups be on mission having people be missionaries and they said when we get

Together we'll need some stuff but not a ton of stuff you'll notice they left off the lasers and the fog machine so it'll be

Good worship it won't be great but they'll have maybe they smuggled it in they just said all music equipment maybe it's in there

Maybe they got things that will shoot glitter I don't know so if we can do $7,500 you'll have the opportunity to give to

Give directly to this we can do $7,500 from our church family we will send them off with everything they need to as they

Get started and when it makes sense they'll have to find a location they'll have to pay some rent but they'll have the equipment

They need to gather together and make much of Jesus together in Charlotte and I think that's a really cool thing we get to

Do and we'll get to as we give money away give to the kingdom give to some speakers we'll never hear sound out of

Possibly that we'll never get to be a part of but we'll just get to know there's some people worshiping Jesus just like we'll

Get to worshiping all together later and we're going to help them do that that's the first one first ones in the U.S. it's

In Charlotte we're helping send out a church plant the second one is in Minya Egypt so we worked with 1040 Hope last year

To sponsor a church plant in Minya and we were actually able to raise their entire year budget plus buy tuk-tuk they came back

Later and said since we got all this covered can we get some money from our people and instead of doing a tuk-tuk can

We do a van or a bus and we said sure sounds great so they did that then we sent a team to Minya

A handful of our church family to help do a conference over there to help train and equip and encourage their the beloved of Jesus also if

You speak the language it's called habib yes nailed it it means the beloved of Jesus or those whom Jesus loves what he does

Is in Egypt it's very stigmatized frowned upon to have any kind of physical deformity anybody to be a paralytic or have any kind of

Physical deformity a lot of times Spencer was telling us this in a sermon recently that they're actually they just kind of keep them hidden family

Doesn't talk about them it's it's kind of a bad Mark on your family because people might assume that you have some kind of

Genealogy issue some kind of genetic issue and so that it's harder for you to marry off your children and it's very they're poorly cared

For and so what he does is he actively tries to find them share the gospel with their parents share the gospel with them help

Them see that they're loved by Jesus and get them to where they are cared for out in the open known about that's his

Ministry so if you show the next picture this is actually while our team was there they got to be a part of one

Of his small groups where he is they gather together they worship they share the gospel they enjoy being a part of life together

Cared for loved prayed for and the Lord is doing some really cool things there so here's what we're going to do they do

Quarterly gatherings four big events a year it is very hard for people in this situation to get around they often don't go out

They have a difficult time traveling so what they do is they do four a year where they have 3,000 to 5,000 people they

Feed them a meal they give clothes away they worship Jesus their hope is those who already know and love Jesus would have a

Place to get together and worship to get to praise out in the open together with a large group to make much of Jesus

Together their hope is they will help de-stigmatize having a disability so that more people will come out in the open and be welcomed

And get to share the gospel with them and their hope is that people who are not believers will come and they'll get to

Share the gospel with them and they're seeing some really great things 5,000 people their budget is $4,500 to get the space to have

Everything they need to have people come preach the gospel to have things to give away to welcome so we thought if we could

Pay for one of these so one time next year 3,000 to 5,000 people in Egypt would gather to praise Jesus and not have

To worry about the cost they would gather to worship Jesus they pay for two of them if we get $13,500 they'll pay for

Three of them if we get $18,000 they'll pay for four of them let's do $22,000 and tell them they gotta do an extra one

Our hope would be that we can give $4,500 to Pastor Jurgis so they can have one of these where they gather and our

Church family just got to tag in our hope would be that citizen church would gather go out send out as missionaries and when

It came time to gather they'd already have the money in the bank or they'd already have the equipment sitting somewhere they'd be ready

To roll they wouldn't have to worry about it that's our hope that's what we're praying for you're going to have the opportunity over

The next couple of weeks be here let's send our heart and our money on ahead let's pray God we thank you for your

Grace thank you for your love we pray that you'd help us to be generous as you have been generous to us that you

Gave up your life that we might have hope and forgiveness in the gospel and may all of us who are citizens of that

Kingdom live as if that were true

Union Sunday

Union

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. Today is an exciting day. We get to celebrate what Chet was talking about in our welcome announcements that we are getting ready to join with the saints at KC First. And today is a celebration of that as we are becoming one church.

Together as we're unifying. It's also an exciting day because of Baptism Sunday. We get to celebrate two young lives that have placed their faith in Jesus. They've said, I want Him. I don't want the world. I want to follow Him.

Today is an exciting day that we get to pause and celebrate what God has done. Which means we're going to take a break from Matthew. We're going to spend today talking about unity and the importance of it as we move forward with our two churches becoming one. So, we'll be in Philippians 1, which is on page 570, I think, in your blue Bibles. Go ahead and flip there and we'll get to it in a moment. During this time where we've been approaching becoming one church with KC First, we've used a lot of language, a lot of marriage language, to help explain what is happening.

Which is important for a lot of different reasons. When you get married, you bring different traditions, different values, different histories, different patterns of behavior to the table. It's the small stuff like, how do you do the toilet paper? Is it the front? Is it the back? It's never been a big deal to me.

I know it's been a big deal. A lot of people on Facebook have been very angry about it. But we bring different patterns. I got to hear about one this week. One of Phoebe Garcia's, she heads up our Connect team. One of her friends got married.

And she got married to her husband. And they moved in together. And they're organizing the house the way that they're getting it ready. And he said, I'm going to organize the kitchen, which probably was his first misstep. And he organizes the kitchen. And she's trying to find where the baking sheets are.

And he says, all right, where are the baking sheets? He's like, there's this cabinet right here. She says, well, why aren't they under the oven? A lot of people, like our family, we put our baking sheets under the oven, the warming drawer. He says, no, that's the potato drawer. You say, what?

And they open up the drawer. And it's lined with potatoes. Because he came from a family with a lot of siblings. And potato was the starch that they ate. So their mom packed the warming drawer full of potatoes.

And her family came from the family that thought, what kind of psychos eat this many potatoes? And why would you put them in the warming drawer? That happens. Like, when you get married, there are things you bring to the table. Different traditions, different patterns. And last week, Casey first.

Basically, the last few months have been kind of our proposal. This is who we are. You know, been dating a little bit. Do you want to get married? Do you want to become one church together? And last Sunday, they said, yes.

And we're very different. We have different traditions, different history, different things that we bring to the table. And there's going to be some fun, awkward moments. Like this week, we had a fellowship meal with them at Casey First. We had the new building. Everyone's getting ready to eat together.

And we're setting out drinks and food. And I realized very quickly that the way that we set out drinks and stuff, like family meetings, is a little bit different than the way that they did. And then some older ladies came back in the kitchen. We're like, hmm. And I was like, yeah, we're figuring it out. We're going to work through this together.

There's going to be fun kind of moments like that. And there's going to be more serious moments that come up. And what is going to be important throughout all of it is that we remember the bigger picture. The bigger picture of why we are doing this in the first place. So we're going to see that today in Philippians 1.

Let me pray and then we will jump in. God, I'm thankful that you have done so much in this season. I'm thankful for where we are going. God, I pray that you would give us ears to hear this morning as we seek your will and what happens next. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right. So in Philippians 1, this is a letter that Paul wrote to the church at Philippi. He has a pretty good relationship with this church. In the beginning of this, he's thanking Jesus for what's happening. Thanking God for the advancement of the gospel. He goes through his one section.

To live is Christ. To die is gain. Which is the denial of self and gaining Christ. And then he gets to this passage right here. Verse 27, he says, Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. That is the gospel.

That is the hope that we have as Christians. That Jesus came and sought rebellious sinners like us. That he lived the life we couldn't live. Died the death on the cross that we deserve to die. And he conquered death at the resurrection. So that we could have life with him for eternity.

He says, Live your life in a manner worthy of that. So that phrase, Let your manner of life be worthy, Really comes out of one word in the Greek. It's the Greek word polytouma. And it is the word citizen. But it's not in the noun form.

It's the verb form. It's a little bit like citizen-ing. He took citizen and he just verbalized it. Made it a word for the purposes of explaining this. Which we do in the English language. We do that with Google.

Google used to be a company. It used to be a website. And then you Google things. Centuries ago, They were catching fish. And like, What are we going to call this? And they just said, Fish.

Fishing. We do this. You could take Chet, for instance. Who was up here giving our announcements earlier. You make that a verb. You said you chatted it up.

You know exactly what I was talking about. I would take a simple concept That takes 30 seconds to explain. And two illustrations in, You'd be like, Man, that's really good. And then ten illustrations in, You're like, Man, I don't know what we're talking about anymore. We can do this. Language is flexible.

And that's what Paul's doing. He took citizen, And he verbalized it. This is what he's getting at. That your life would reflect the very essence, Of your citizenship. That we have gospel, Citizenship. For those who have trusted in Jesus, Our citizenship is with him.

So that, Our manner of life, And how we live, Should be reflective of that. That's what he's getting at. So, Let's look at the manner of life. Only let your manner of life, Be worthy of the gospel of Christ, So that, Whether I come and see you, Or am absent, I may hear of you, That you are standing firm in one spirit, With one mind, Striving side by side, For the faith of the gospel, And not frightened in anything, By your opponents. This is a clear sign to them, Of their destruction, But of your salvation, And that from God. For it has been granted to you, That for the sake of Christ, You should not only believe in him, But also suffer for his sake, Engage in the same conflict, That you saw I had, And now hear that I still have.

So he says, I want to hear reports, Of this type of gospel citizenship, And what does it look like? Unity. One mind, One spirit. What freedom is, To being an American citizen, Unity is, To being a citizen of, The gospel. He says, One mind, One spirit. So, The Holy Spirit in us, That binds us together, As Christians, And one collective, Mind.

I, I don't like Clemson, For a lot of reasons. It's fine, We don't have a lot to celebrate, Don't get too excited. Mostly bitterness right now, This Saturday is not going to be good. Anyways, There is something, That Dabo's done, That's really, Really good, And really, Good for their team. He gets them, All unified together, Around one, They have one mind, They have one message. He took the phrase, All in, Which I used to love.

It was a really good phrase. And then, Man, Now in South Carolina, It means a whole other thing. But the players, Buy into it every year, They bring their chips, They're all in, They're unified behind, Winning championships, While Gamecock fans, Were unified behind something, I don't know. But every year, He gets his team, Rallied around this message. And they're collectively, Together, Side by side, They're all in. It's unity, It's important sports.

Now in South Carolina, It means a whole other thing. But the players, Buy into it every year, They bring their chips, They're all in, They're unified behind, Winning championships, While Gamecock fans, Were unified behind something, I don't know. But every year, He gets his team, Rallied around this message. And they're collectively, Together, Side by side, They're all in. It's unity, It's important sports. It's way more important, For us as Christians. Because here's the deal, When you keep the thread,

Of what binds us together, We will never unravel. And that is what Paul, Is trying to teach this, Church in Philippi, That they are, Bound together, I love listening to, Chet's sermon a few weeks ago, He taught on, The calling of Matthew, And it's the, He was a tax collector, Which was the worst of sinners, In their culture, And towards the end of the sermon, I just kind of stood, In the back of the room, And I just watched us, Collectively listen, Because what he got to was, Is that we are all, Like the tax collector, That we're all,

Broken, Sinful, Foreign from God, But because of his grace, He brings us, Into faith with him, That's the gospel, And I watched our whole church, Collectively, Nod, A collective, Amen, Because we are all, Bought into that message, As a church, I love that, That is the message, That unifies us, When we stand, Firmly in that message, We stand side by side, And what that means is, Is what we see in this passage, That we are unstoppable,

With the Holy Spirit in us, Bound by that message, We are unstoppable, And things will not unravel, Hell will throw everything at us, That's what he's getting at, With this end of chapter one, That they're in the midst of suffering, In the midst of persecution, In the midst of facing, All kinds of threats, From the outside, But he's saying, No, no, no, If we have one mind, One spirit, Standing together, Side by side, There's no reason to fear, Hell can throw everything, He wants at us, But we will stand strong, I had a friend from high school, His name's Kyle,

Played baseball together, He's my throwing partner, My senior year, He is, He is a goofball, He was not a super serious guy, He just, It's fun to be around, I went off to college, He joined the Marine Corps, And, A few years in, To be in the Marine Corps, When I was in college, I remembered hearing this, I remember, Being in my friend's dorm, And getting the news, Kyle was on the rooftop, Of a house, In Afghanistan, He had a couple of soldiers up there, They were in a firefight, And they're on this rooftop,

And a Taliban soldier, Threw a grenade up on the rooftop, And in a split second, He jumped on the grenade, And most of the time, When that happens, You don't live, But he did, I remember hearing, That he was in Germany, Going through surgery, And another surgery, And another surgery, Blew off half of his face, Mangled his arm, And about 30 to 40 surgeries later, He is, He's doing great, He received the medal of honor, It's the highest honor, You can get in the military, And a lot of people asked him, Like what, What possesses you,

What possesses you to do that? And it's the same reason, When you ask anyone in the military, They are bound by a higher calling, It's not about you, It's not about the individual, And the military, It's about the collective whole, It's about defending your country, It's about standing side by side, With the brothers in arms, Who are right beside you, And how much more so, For us as Christians, That have an eternal calling, A much bigger calling in life, How much more should we stand, Side by side, Unified, In the gospel, That is what Paul is getting at here, In the face of anything, In the face of, Any suffering,

Any persecution, The way the church prevails, Is we stand together, So that's the end of chapter one, He hits this again, But from a different angle, In chapter two, Verse one, He says, So, If there is any encouragement, In Christ, Any comfort from love, Any participation, In the spirit, Any affection, And sympathy, Complete my joy, By being of the same mind, Having the same love, Being of full accord, And of one mind, So it's the same points again, He says,

Same mind, Same love, He hits it again, Full accord, One mind, He is hammering home this point, That we as a church, Need to be unified, One mindedness, But I had a caveat here, One mindedness, Does not mean, Uniformity, Called to be, Unified, We don't have to look the same, When I became a Christian, I know I've told this story before, But when I became a Christian, I thought I was 17, I thought that I had to listen to, Certain type of music, Look a certain way, So I downloaded,

And burned a CD, With all the latest, Christian music, Which was really good, Burning a CD, Like if, If it's like a Spotify playlist, But you put it on a CD, Which is a compact disc, Or it was like a tape, That you put in the boom box, And you hit record, When the radio comes through, Caught us all, I remember, I burned this CD, And listened to it, I was like, This is really, Really good, But then all of a sudden, I met some other Christians, That listen to different music, They listen to Christian Screamo,

This is back in the 2000's, And, And I was like, Man this is great, I don't have to listen to that stuff, I can listen to this, Which if you don't know, What Screamo is, It's like emo music, Which if you don't know, What that is, It's like emotional music, Where you work out your emotions, Angsty teenagers, These are a lot of bands, Back in the 2000's, It's working your emotions out, But you scream them, Which if you knew me when I was 18, Made a lot of sense, But I listened to this, And I was like, Man I love it, That I don't have to look a certain way,

I don't have to be a certain way, And then over the years of following Jesus, I got to see so many different expressions, Of following Jesus, I've gotten to see Christians in Egypt, Worshipping, In a completely different way, Completely different feel, And I've worshipped with hipsters, In an abandoned school in Louisville, Kentucky, Which, Is completely different, I've fellowshiped with, Presbyterians, Who I share a ton of theology, And love with, That believe spiritual gifts, The extent of spiritual gifts, In the New Testament, Is mostly teaching and preaching, Get a little bit nervous, About any other spiritual gifts, And I've fellowshiped with,

Charismatics, Who have private prayer languages, I've been led by bluegrass worship bands, And gospel hip-hop groups, And over, Just seeing these different aspects, Of the church, What I've learned, Is that unity of the mind, Does not negate diversity, Of the body, Because we don't, We're not unified, By a style of music, A brand of church, Or a collection of people groups, Our unity, Comes from one faith, One belief, In Jesus, That means, That everything else, Takes a back seat, The gospel becomes so central,

That everything else, Takes a back seat, It's second tier, It's third tier, It's down the line, Which means, We make the gospel, Primary, And that is important, Because of what Paul says, Next in verse 3, He says, Do nothing from selfish ambition, Or conceit, Selfish ambition, Is the motivation to elevate self, Conceit, Is thinking of yourself more highly, Than you should, Paul understands human nature, The effect of the early church, It affects us, That self-centeredness, Is at the core of humanity,

It's a problem for all of us, Which means, That we will either, Elevate Christ, And make much of him, Or we will elevate self, And that's what we do, In the American church, We've seen lots, Of this, Lots of divides, Lots of church divisions happen, Over making much of self, And self and preferences, I mean, Churches have divided, Over the style of music, Over versions of the Bible, Every now and then, I'll be driving down, A road, And I'll see a, A fundamentalist church, That has a sign up front,

That has the, The name of the church, But then it has like, 15 different theological positions, And some of them are really good, It's like, Yeah, We would believe that, Hold that, That's important, And some of them are like, How the world's going to end, End times theology, And what they're saying is, Is that this is who we are, And if you want to be in, This is it, And they've made much of, Some of the minor issues, That only happens, When you've made much of yourself, Of your preferences, And you've not made, The gospel central,

That's a more extreme example, But that happens to us, In everyday life, When we get pressed, We go through, Suffering, We go through trials, Whatever that is for you, Self-centeredness, Can rise to the surface, My wife has gotten to see, A lot of this recently with me, Currently we have, Three kids four and under, Four two and new, And, I think they have, A concerted effort, To destroy our sleep, They are sleep terrorists, Our newborns are newborn, And our newborns, Don't sleep well, She wakes up sometimes to eat,

Sometimes I think she wakes up, Just to let us know, We don't deserve sleep, Have a two year old, That has a new pattern, Where he likes to strip down, And take what's in his diaper, And smear all over the walls, That's fun to wake up to, Got a four year old, Who is going through, A sleep walking phase, And she will sleep walk, Into our room, Shouting, Which is yelling, Which is waking up the baby, Which is thirty more minutes, Of no sleep, And she's worried about spiders, And everything that might get her, Sometimes she just wants to use our bathroom, She has a perfectly good bathroom, At her end of the hall,

But she would just bust through our door, Wake up the baby, And use our bathroom, It's a coordinated effort, You guys, But the joke's on them, Because I'm a terrible father, When I'm tired, It, I just, I'm just being honest, I'm super self-centered, When I, At three a.m., I don't do well, Sometimes I wake up in the morning, And it goes, My wife, She goes, What happened last night, You look super angry, When you're changing diapers, And I'm like, I don't remember it,

It certainly seems in line, With my character at three a.m., I feel like I get a pass, If you don't remember these things, That's, That's my weak spot, That's my, When I get pressed, That's the friction for me, At three a.m., Self-centeredness, Rise to the surface, I know some of you may be judging me, And that's okay, You're in the same boat, Whatever that is for you, Maybe you get pressed at work, And work gets really difficult, And selfish ambition rises to the surface, Maybe it's in traffic, If you're on the death stretch of I-20, Or just in everyday traffic, Self-interest rises, Whatever that is for you,

When you get pressed, It's human nature, What comes out is self-interest, And here's why I say this, This is why it's important to know ourselves, That in this season, Y'all, This exciting season, Where we get to join, With some other Christians, Who have said, We want you, It is going to be very easy, When it gets real, For selfish ambition, And conceit, For self-interest to rise to the surface, It's going to be easy to get annoyed, At the sound of the music, If it's not loud enough, If the song selection isn't the way that we want it, If the lighting isn't the way that we want it, If I've got to walk a little farther, Because we're going to say,

Please don't park near the front entrance, Let's let that be for our older generation, It's going to happen, Y'all, A month in it won't, We're going to be super excited, Six months in, It's going to happen, We need to know ourselves, So, If gospel citizenship, Is unity, And selfish ambition, And conceit, And self-interest is the enemy of that, How do we combat that? I would say it is an issue of focus, A lot of times when you see sins like this in the New Testament, The gut response, Especially for me is, Kill it, Put it to death, Period and term, Mortification of the flesh,

Just get real excited about crucifying the flesh, Which is language we see in the New Testament, And I think that's helpful, But that's not always what Paul is getting at, It's a problem of focus, Let's keep reading, He says, Do nothing from selfish ambition, Or conceit, But in humility, Count others more significant, Than yourselves, Let each of you, Look not only to your own interest, But also the interest of others, Have this mind amongst yourselves, Which is yours in Christ Jesus, Who though he was in the form of God, Did not count equality with God, A thing to be grasped, But emptied himself, By taking the form of servant, Being born in the likeness of men, And being found in human form,

He humbled himself, By becoming obedient to the point of death, Even death on the cross, Paul shifts the focus, The Bible takes the focus, From ourselves, And says, No, no, no, no, Look up, Look at one another, Now I want you to look higher, Look at me, This is God, Taking your chin, Picking you up, And saying, No, no, no, no, Look higher, A few years ago, When the solar eclipse happened, They said, Don't look at the sun, Because the sun is very powerful, It will change your vision forever,

And we laughed, Because Donald Trump took off his glasses, And he looked at the sun, And it's because the sun, Will forever alter, The way you see things, And it's a little bit, Of what's happening here, God is picking our head up, He's saying, No, no, no, God is more powerful, He's more holy, He's the highest good, He's the highest form of love, He's the perfection of beauty, He says, No, no, Look at me, If you focus on me, It will change the way you see one another, The focus needs to be on Jesus, Who humbled himself, Stepped into our timeline,

Y'all, Jesus washed the feet of his enemies, He washed the feet of Judas, Right before he went and betrayed him, He healed the sick by the masses, He taught people who sought to kill him, He was the perfect embodiment of humility, And he took that with him to the cross, Where his blood was poured out for us, Where his body was broken, God is saying, Look at that, Look at me, Look at the gospel, And when you focus so much on the gospel, You will look at one another, And you'll say, My interest, Pale in comparison, To us being a unified body, Together, That's the hope of the gospel, That's what it means to have gospel citizenship, To be a unified church,

That focuses on him, So, Let's do that, Let's be that kind of church, Let's rock up in, To our new building in January, And let's do this, Let's be one church together, Y'all, I was talking to Dr. Ken, He said that after the vote, That after the vote, A few ladies came up, And they were in tears, And he realized that these tears were, Mixed emotion, That they, Were very excited, Because of what this meant, The reason they collectively, Voted with a resounding yes, Is because they want to see, This building, They want to see,

A younger church come in, And use, Those facilities, To reach the people, In that neighborhood, That desperately need the gospel, They get it, But there's also, A little bit of sadness, Because y'all, As a church of a hundred plus years, There are folks in that church, That have been there for ten, Twenty, Thirty, Forty, Fifty years of traditions, That are coming, To a close, And y'all, We've had traditions for like, Sometimes two, Three, Four years,

And we change a thing, We get annoyed, So why is that not happening, Why are we not doing it, This way, And we've been, Existing for like, A few years, They've been, Existing for decades, But they said no, This is worth it, To see Jesus change this city, We're willing to, Do this, To invite y'all in, To be one church, May we, Adopt, A hair of that humility, Excitedly, As we walk in, With them together, And here's why,

This is what I close with, Verse nine, Therefore God, Has highly exalted him, And bestowed on him, The name that is above every name, So that at the name of Jesus, Every knee should bow, In heaven, And on earth, And under the earth, And every tongue confess, That Jesus Christ is Lord, To the glory of God, The Father, What that verse says, Is that there, Are going to be people, When everything comes to an end, All of us, That will stand before Jesus, And we will, Bow the knee, And we will all confess,

That Jesus is Lord, But the reality is, Is some will do it, From a position, Of fear, Because judgment is coming, And those of us, That have placed our faith in Jesus, Will do it from a place, Of joy, And the reason, Why, We strive, For the unity, That was bought, With the blood of Christ, Is because there are people, In Casey, There are people, That are currently, Walking towards judgment, They don't have the hope of Christ, They don't know him, But the hope is,

Is that we're going to move in, It's going to create some buzz, We're going to do what we're going to do, We're going to reach neighbors, We're going to move all throughout Casey, And God willing, One Sunday, They're going to come and visit, And they're going to see, Five year olds, And 85 year olds, Joyfully worshiping together, Displaying the gospel, Displaying the citizenship, The hope that we have in, They're going to hear the gospel, And they're going to profess Jesus, And they're going to place their faith in him, And one day, They're going to bow the knee with us, Joyfully, Confessing that Jesus is Lord, That unity is worth fighting for,

I would say it is an issue of focus, A lot of times when you see sins like this in the New Testament, The gut response, Especially for me is, Kill it, Put it to death, Period and term, Mortification of the flesh, Just get real excited about crucifying the flesh, Which is language we see in the New Testament, And I think that's helpful, But that's not always what Paul is getting at, It's a problem of focus, Let's keep reading, He says, Do nothing from selfish ambition, Or conceit, But in humility, Count others more significant, Than yourselves, Let each of you, Look not only to your own interest, But also the interest of others, Have this mind amongst yourselves, Which is yours in Christ Jesus, Who though he was in the form of God, Did not count equality with God, A thing to be grasped, But emptied himself, By taking the form of servant, Being born in the likeness of men, And being found in human form, He humbled himself, By becoming obedient to the point of death, Even death on the cross, Paul shifts the focus, The Bible takes the focus, From ourselves, And says, No, no, no, no, Look up, Look at one another, Now I want you to look higher, Look at me, This is God, Taking your chin, Picking you up, And saying, No, no, no, no, Look higher, A few years ago, When the solar eclipse happened, They said, Don't look at the sun, Because the sun is very powerful, It will change your vision forever, And we laughed, Because Donald Trump took off his glasses, And he looked at the sun, And it's because the sun, Will forever alter, The way you see things, And it's a little bit, Of what's happening here, God is picking our head up, He's saying, No, no, no, God is more powerful, He's more holy, He's the highest good, He's the highest form of love, He's the perfection of beauty, He says, No, no, Look at me, If you focus on me, It will change the way you see one another, The focus needs to be on Jesus, Who humbled himself, Stepped into our timeline, Y'all, Jesus washed the feet of his enemies, He washed the feet of Judas, Right before he went and betrayed him, He healed the sick by the masses, He taught people who sought to kill him, He was the perfect embodiment of humility, And he took that with him to the cross, Where his blood was poured out for us, Where his body was broken, God is saying, Look at that, Look at me, Look at the gospel, And when you focus so much on the gospel, You will look at one another, And you'll say, My interest, Pale in comparison, To us being a unified body, Together, That's the hope of the gospel, That's what it means to have gospel citizenship, To be a unified church, That focuses on him, So, Let's do that, Let's be that kind of church, Let's rock up in, To our new building in January, And let's do this, Let's be one church together, Y'all, I was talking to Dr.

Healing and Raising

Healing and Raising

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab a Bible and head to Matthew chapter 9. We're working our way through the book of Matthew. If this is your first time hanging out with us, we're glad you're here.

If you do not own a Bible, you can take one of these blue ones home with you. That's our gift to you. We want you to own a Bible. We want you to read it often. Nicholas Cage, who many of you know is one of the most renowned and greatest actors of our time. He did a movie 15 years ago called National Treasure.

Yeah, and it's on Disney Plus if you have that, so you're welcome. You can go watch it. But in that movie, he plays Benjamin Franklin Gates, who is a historian, and who finds out that there is a secret treasure map hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence, which feels like a really bad place to hide a map if you intend to use it. I wonder if they had made the map first, and then they were like, we need some paper for the Declaration of Independence. And they were like, Benjamin Franklin's got that huge piece of paper he's always carrying around with him. Can we use that?

And he couldn't awkwardly talk his way out of not letting him use it, so they did. But anyway, he has to, they have to find this map on the back to find a national treasure. I don't want to give too much away. And at some point, they have to find some glasses that have these different lenses on them. So there's these glasses.

They have to look at the back of the map, and there are these red and blue lenses that they have to drop down. And this is made all the better by Nicolas Cage calling them spectacles the whole time. And if you've ever watched Nicolas Cage, you know, he either whispers or yells all of his lines. So at different times, he's like, hand me the spectacles. And he does this little thing, and he's looking at the stuff. And he has to use these in order to see what's going on there.

And so, what we're going to do as we read Matthew today, is we're going to read in chapter 9 a handful of miracle stories and interactions of people with Jesus that Matthew kind of just runs through fairly quickly. He just lays them out. This happened, then this happened, then this happened, then this happened. This is how much of chapter 8 and 9 have happened. It's almost like everything was back to back to back to back to back. Matthew's just laying this out for us.

And then we're going to take a few verses from Matthew chapter 9 to help us understand how we are to read this and what we're to understand from this. And those are going to be our spectacles. These two lenses that we're going to drop down, some verses, some quotes from Jesus that help us understand what he's doing. And we're going to just drop those down, and we're going to use those to look at this. So we're going to walk through the stories, then we're going to look at those two verses, and then we're going to walk back through trying to understand what Jesus is doing.

Because he's come, ultimately, to work his way to the cross. That did not catch him by surprise. Jesus came in order to die to redeem sinners. But he's spending a lot of time healing people and walking around and teaching, and he's working towards displaying something to us, and he's telling us as we go what he's doing. And so we're going to read through these interactions, but rather than just zooming in on them, we're going to kind of zoom out and look at them through a different lens and try to understand what he's doing. So we're going to pray, and we're going to do that.

God, we thank you for your word, and we pray that you would speak to us through it, that we might see Jesus more clearly. We love you, and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Matthew 9, verse 18. While he was saying these things, so he'd just been talking to John the Baptist's disciples. While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him.

We find out from one of the other Gospels he's a ruler of a synagogue, so he was well-respected. But he kneels before Jesus, saying, My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live. So this man comes to Jesus, and he says, My daughter just died. We find out in the other Gospels that she was 12, but he's got a young daughter. He comes, and he gets down in front of Jesus and says, She just died. And so he was mourning.

They were praying for her. I'm assuming he's a ruler of a synagogue. There's people around her hoping that she's going to get better, and she doesn't. Maybe they've been pleading with God, but he finds out that Jesus is near, and he just leaves. He leaves his daughter. He leaves whoever else was in his family there mourning, and he just heads out.

Maybe he told them what he was going to do. Maybe this is his last chance effort, but he's going to go try to find out what's going on. His daughter's sick. She's died. He goes to Jesus and kneels before him and says, She's died, but if you'll come, she can live. If you'll come, we have hope.

Jesus rose and followed him with his disciples. And you know this man's walking. He's got to have a mix of hope and fear and doubt. He comes to Jesus, and he says, If you'll come, she can live. And Jesus gets up and starts following him, and you know he's got to be going, Okay, good. That's as good as it could go so far, but there's got to be these moments of him trying to wrestle with himself and say, This can't happen.

This will be good. He will. And trying to convince himself, I would assume. But he does approach Jesus with a great amount of faith, saying, If you'll just come, she'll live. And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for 12 years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment. For she said to herself, If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.

And Jesus turned, and seeing her, he said, Take heart, daughter. Your faith has made you well. And instantly, the woman was made well. So Jesus is walking with this man to where his daughter is located. She's just passed. And he's walking along, and there's a lady who's had a discharge of blood for 12 years.

This would have made her ritualistically unclean. Luke tells us that she had suffered greatly at the hands of physicians for 12 years. So she had been trying to get this fixed. But every time she went, and every time she got it worked on, it seemed like it just got worse. It was a more painful solution. It didn't work.

And if she's ritualistically unclean, this means a couple of things for her. If she was following faithfully after the Lord and practicing Judaism, it would mean that she would, everything she touched would become unclean. So she'd have to do a lot to try to keep things washed and cleaned around her. She should not have touched Jesus because she's unclean. And she would have not been able to gather for feasts. And festivals and go into the temple.

This would have excluded her because of the Mosaic law from a lot of what she would have been able to walk in. But she also has suffered. She's in pain. She's tried to get this fixed, and it's not being fixed. She's got some kind of an issue that doesn't go away. And she says, if I can just touch Jesus, I'll be healed.

She just comes up with this on her own. She just makes up her own system. She just, and if you'll notice, this is what happens a lot. People approach Jesus, and they just approach him, and they're like, if you do this, it'll work. And Jesus is like, you're right. He talks to a centurion.

The centurion says, my servant's home, and he's paralyzed. And Jesus says, I'll go with you. And the centurion says, you don't have to go, just heal him. And Jesus is like, good point. One of the best points made, actually. This guy comes to Jesus and says, if you just touch my daughter, you can bring her back to life.

This lady's just in her head. She didn't even talk to Jesus about it. She just is like, if I can just touch him. So she's walking, there's a crowd. She just is like, grabs the fringe of his garment. I don't know how long it was.

I don't know how long she's, if she got on the ground, if she could. And that was it. She just is, she's going to sneak away. She did it. She touched the line. She's gone.

Jesus stops, turns around, sees her. He says, take heart, daughter. Your faith has made you well. And instantly, the woman was made well. Instantly. No long process.

No test. No practices. Nothing she had to walk through. She said, if I just touch him, I'll be made well. She touches him, she's made well. Because she believed that's what would happen.

She trusted Jesus. Can you imagine, how life changed for her, from that point on? If she had been, unclean, and actually practicing, what it meant to be unclean, now she's not. She gets to, gather for worship. She gets to, live normally, in relationships. This would have been, a beautiful thing.

She no longer has to suffer, consistently, constantly, painfully, for 12 years, she had been in physical pain. She's healed. And when Jesus came, this is verse 23, when Jesus came to the ruler's house, and saw the flute players, and the crowd, making a commotion. So there's people out, already mourning. There's a crowd, out around the house. People are, are mourning.

They're weeping. There are people playing the flute. They're playing, mournful songs. He said, go away, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed at him. Now this is an interesting, interesting interaction.

Jesus walks up to a house, they know that this girl is dead. It would seem as if, not everybody understood, what the dad had gone to do. Because if everybody had understood, they, I would have think, they would stop, they would pause, they would be like, Jesus is coming, let's see what happens. Jesus walks up, they keep doing what they're doing, and he says, hey, disperse. No funeral today. She's just asleep.

And this is such a crazy thing, that they laugh. It wasn't, and they awkward silenced him. They murmured around him. They laugh. I would assume it's derisive. Bitter laugh.

Not like, good one, we really needed that. No, like a, like a, like a, a bitter, angry, like, what are you talking about, kind of laugh. He just says, go away, no funeral. She's asleep. And they laugh at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he just says, get everybody out.

Get everybody out. He went in, took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went throughout all that district. Some of us have had the unfortunate experience of seeing the life drain out of somebody. seeing someone who was alive moments ago pass. This family got to see the life come back into somebody. She was laying cold and dead.

Looked like her, but not quite her. there's something very, very important missing. Jesus grabs her hand. Her face fills back up. His blood begins to pump in her body again. She sits up alive. Now, I don't, the story doesn't tell us this, and I don't think it happened, but I do think it would be fun if Jesus had walked out holding her hand and said, she's asleep.

I told you. Is it funny now? He didn't do that. It doesn't say that he did that. I doubt he did that. He actually, but it says that the report of this went throughout all that district.

That they tell everybody that Jesus rose, raised this girl from the dead, that he, that he brought her back to life. And Jesus passed on from there. So you see, he just, he's, Matthew's giving us these just back to back. He moves right on. Jesus passed on from there. Two blind men followed him, crying aloud, have mercy on us, son of David.

That phrase, son of David, is that they're saying that he comes in the line of David, that he is the prophesied king that is to come. That's what they're, they're giving him this, you're the Messiah, son of David. Now, Jesus actually is the Messiah. He is in the line of David. It doesn't seem like they would have known his actual genealogy, but they are saying, son of David, they're saying, you're the one, you're the Messiah, you're the one, have mercy on us. So these blind men are following him, crying this out aloud.

When he entered the house, the blind men came to him. So Jesus doesn't stop. He doesn't talk to him. He just goes into the house and they keep following him. They come into the house. Jesus said to them, do you believe that I'm able to do this?

They said to him, yes, Lord. Then he touched their eyes saying, according to your faith, be it done to you. And their eyes were opened and Jesus sternly warned them, see that no one knows about it. But they went away and spread his fame through all that district. So with every single one of these, Jesus's fame is spreading.

His name is growing. People are knowing more about him as he's raising this girl from the dead as they go and proclaim his fame as well. So they were blind and Jesus touches their face. He says, do you believe I can do this for you? And I think it probably startled them a little bit to suddenly have someone touch their face. Wouldn't have seen it coming.

He touches their face. That was not meant to be a joke, you guys. It was just a thing. Sometimes I make bad jokes. That one's on y'all. That one's on.

He touches their face and they receive their sight and they can see Jesus. And they can see. And then he says, he sternly warned them, see that no one knows about it. That feels hard to pull off. I kind of feel for these guys. It says that they immediately failed miserably at that.

See that no one knows about this. And they were like, hmm. And then it says, they went and spread his fame everywhere. But it would be hard. I just, just let's give them the benefit of the doubt here a little bit. It would be difficult to walk in blind, walk out not blind, and not let people know that had happened.

It feels like you would have a hard time. Like people would be like, there's something different about you. And you'd be like, no, it's the same. I'm fine. But can you imagine?

We have stories now because we've advanced science, technology, medicine of people who have had massive hearing loss or have been deaf and were able to, they're able to get hearing. And you can get online. You can read stories. You can watch videos of people who were deaf who can now hear. And it's interesting to read the things that they were surprised by that made sounds, the things that they thought would make sounds. I saw a list of things the other day.

Someone who had been deaf and had got his hearing, thought the sun would make a noise, was surprised that it didn't, thought it would like hum or something. There's other stories of people who went and used the bathroom and the toilet scared the mess out of them because they flushed it and it was way louder than they thought that would be. People hearing birds, people being surprised at how different the voice between adults and children is. We don't have stories of people who have never seen being able to see. The closest thing I think we come to it is people who have colorblind and they've made those new glasses that you can put on and it fixes that and you can see in color.

And if you ever watch those videos, they show this beautiful picture and they'll show you in the video like this is what it looks like to them. Then they'll put the glasses on and you see these people who are colorblind putting these glasses on and being like, oh, y'all been able to see like this forever? This is what color looks like? This is crazy. And these men were blind and now they see. And they went and told everybody and how could you not?

He might argue obedience and that's a good argument but he says, don't tell everybody and they go spread his fame. I was blind and now I see. As they were going away, verse 32, behold, a demon oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke and the crowds marveled saying never was anything like this seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said he casts out demons by the prince of demons.

So Jesus moves on. A mute man's brought to him who's mute because he's demon oppressed. Jesus casts out the demon and the man begins to speak. Everybody's excited except the Pharisees. So his fame's been growing.

This one ends. The Pharisees are fighting against his fame in the end of this story. Jesus is becoming more prominent and the Pharisees are saying, no, no, no, no. It's because he's actually evil. That's how he's able to do that. That's the argument they make.

I want to point something out. Spencer, we spent a couple of weeks ago, we spent some time talking about demons and some of how they work and how they operate. We do believe that they are real. We do believe that Jesus is in charge of them, that he is over them, that they bend to his will. I just want to point out here because I think it's a helpful thing to note. There are times where Jesus heals physical ailments and he just heals the physical ailment.

He heals a paralytic. He heals someone who has epilepsy. He heals someone who's blind. There are other times where he heals a physical ailment that is specifically told to be attached to something demonic. One of the arguments people make is they'll say, well, that's just how they understood it. They understood that when you had some kind of sickness, it was demonic, so they just put in here that he healed somebody who's cast out a demon.

But that's not how it works. They don't always say he cast out the demon of being paralyzed or he casts out the demon of epilepsy. It at times says that they're connected and times that they're not. This is why our basic argument for how do we approach this as a church, I always just call, I say fire all your guns. You're a whole person. So are you exhausted?

Are you in pain? Do you have weird emotional things? Okay. Yeah. You're a whole person. So let's talk about your sleep.

Let's talk about when you're eating. Let's talk about other things going on in your life. Let's talk about your emotional state. Yeah, maybe you should see a therapist. Maybe you should talk this out with somebody. But we're also going to pray that if it's demonic, Jesus would work deliverance.

We're not going to just focus on these and not fire this gun. We're going to also say, Lord, if this is demonic, bring some freedom, bring some healing. We're also not just going to focus on this one. We were walking through this with a girl one time and she, lady in our church, and she was talking about different things and we were praying with her about some stuff that seemed like spiritual attack and at one point we asked, what's it like when you try to read the Bible? She said, every time I read the Bible I get really, really sleepy and I have a hard time reading the Bible. She said, do you think that's demonic?

I said, well, when do you read the Bible? At night? Where do you read the Bible? In my bed. Okay. Let's try reading the Bible in the middle of the day at a kitchen table and see if you get sleepy then and that'll help us figure that out because you're a whole person.

There are certain things that do affect us. There are times where it's just physical. There are times where the enemy is at work and we want to address all of them and so I just wanted to point that out. That's not a main point in this but I just want us to see that as we walk through but Jesus shows his dominance over the enemy. Verse 35, And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. Alright, so as Jesus travels the primary thing that he does the thing that's listed first every time it gives us one of these summary statements is that he teaches in their synagogues and he proclaims the gospel of the kingdom and then it'll say he heals he works miracles but the thing that he's traveling around doing is teaching and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing and working miracles.

So the question is as he's traveling around doing this what is his end goal? What's he trying to accomplish as he's traveling? He's come here to go to the cross to die for our sins but what's he's accomplishing now in his ministry? What's he doing? Is it just to heal? Is it just to provide some sort of physical fix for people?

Alright. Our two lenses we're going to drop down. Our two national treasure spectacles. Y'all ready? Matthew 9 they're both from Matthew 9 they're both quotes from Jesus that I think help clarify what Jesus is doing and I think was designed as Matthew laid this out to help make this clear to us. Matthew 9 look at verse 5 this is in the story where Jesus is going to heal a paralytic the first thing he says is son your sins are forgiven and the scribes have a problem with that.

So Jesus reading their thoughts begins to talk to them and he says for which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say rise and walk but that you may know that 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. I think this is one of the things that's very helpful for us as we look at these stories about Jesus not to get too focused in on just the action and just the interaction and just the miracle of your forms because he says right here that you may know that the son of man has the authority to forgive sins. One of the things he's telling the scribes is I'm doing some of this to show to you who I am and what I've come to accomplish. This is that you may know this is why in the gospel of John John refers to all of these as signs that he's putting on display he's not just here to heal he's putting on display who he is and what he's come to do.

This is a picture of Jesus what he has come to accomplish and who he is that you may know that ultimately this spiritual reality is going to be fixed I'm going to show it in a physical way that you may know I can forgive sins I'm going to intentionally go out of my way to say your sins are forgiven we're going to have this interaction and then I'm going to show you that I can actually do what I'm saying. Part of what Jesus is doing in all these miracles is he's giving himself credibility he's putting on display for us that when he says I've forgiven your sins when he says my death is in your place when he says that you're going to proclaim forgiveness in my name to his disciples that we may know that he can that we may know that he walks with God that God and he's not lying he's not tricking us he's got this on display. That's the first one. Second one he says just a few verses later is when he's talking to the disciples of John we're going to look at verse 15.

So the disciples of John come to him and they say why do we fast? And the Pharisees fast but y'all don't fast. We talked about this Jesus is celebrating with his disciples he's having a feast when most everybody else will be fasting and so they say what's going on? 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. This is interesting.

He says I'm the bridegroom and I'm here. But then he says there's going to come a day when I'm not here. Then they'll mourn then they'll fast. I'm here now we're celebrating. I'm giving you a picture of the kingdom I'm putting on display a foretaste of what this is going to be like but at some point I'm going to be taken away and at that point they will mourn they will fast. Jesus does not say to them I have come fasting is over.

Ultimate game changer we're done. No he says right now while I'm here with them and then he says there's going to come a day when I'm taken away then they will because what Jesus is giving us is a foretaste of the kingdom. Wherever he goes he's bringing the kingdom with him. He's going to die to accomplish for us everything that is needed for salvation but he has not fully consummated he has not fully conquered he has not fully claimed and put everything under his feet his enemies are not his footstool yet so there's we're in this middle zone where we've had a foretaste of the kingdom where he's brought it in where he's inaugurated it where it's already but not yet. he's already accomplished what needs to be accomplished for salvation for life and hope but it's not yet fully realized so now there's some struggle now there's some mourning now there's some fasting because we've had a foretaste of the kingdom and we long for it to be fully brought to bear.

So what Jesus is doing he's putting on display who he is and what he's come to do he's doing this so that we may know but he's also showing us that this is not typical for how everything will work from now on. This is not exactly how this is going to play out. There's going to come a day when we're not sitting around the table feasting where Jesus isn't walking around fixing everything because we're going to be in a zone where there is some mourning where there is some pain where there is some lingering doubt and frustration as we long for something better. But right now he's inaugurated he's brought it he's displaying it then there's going to be a time where we're in the middle.

Doubt and frustration as we long for something better. But right now he's inaugurated he's brought it he's displaying it then there's going to be a time where we're in the middle. So he's displaying it he's showing it because I think sometimes we look at this and go why don't he just keep doing this why ain't everybody just fixed all the time. And it's like because he was doing one specific thing as he was here to display and give credibility to his name

To manifest his glory to show us that we might place faith in him we might trust in him when he rose from the grave and he's bringing about the kingdom showing us what it looks like but eventually we're going to get there but we're not going to be there just yet. In the movie Frozen there's two sisters one's name's Elsa pretty early on in the movie Elsa goes crazy she freaks out starts freezing everything she takes off running across this fjord it's water she's trying to get away

From everybody it's a fjord escape and she takes off running and she runs up onto this mountain and she sings this song as she completely loses her mind she builds a spiky ice castle on a spiky ice monster and she's well on her way to becoming a crazy ice queen witch person that like from Narnia but her sister comes and talks her out of it and it ends up being okay. But when she's running across the water everywhere she steps freezes every place her foot falls

Freezes and she has solid ground and she works her way across and in some ways that's what Jesus was doing and displaying as he walked on earth that everywhere he stepped the kingdom advanced that everywhere he went it was displayed what the kingdom would be like when the king was fully present and fully reigning that's why he he displays this and he shows us what the kingdom will be

And then he says there's going to come a season where it's not fully realized and we're going to long for it and there are going to be moments where it works that way and there are going to be moments where it seems so marred and broken by sin we're going to mourn then we're going to know who he is we're going to long for it we're going to fast we're going to

Mourn so walking back through these stories as a display of what the kingdom is like for the people who are in between to help us understand the spiritual reality that Jesus came to accomplish so that we may know what he does and what his kingdom is like let's look at these he heals a lady who's had a physical ailment for 12 years he can do that now

He can heal us physically now but he may not you see the promise of the kingdom is not that everything will work out fully here Jesus was putting on display what the kingdom would be like but he says there's going to come a day where we're going to mourn where we're going to fast we're going to long for it to be like

That it also so often these physical ailments are attached to sin and there are some of us who our sin has been much like this ladies it's been a secret that has plagued us and we have fought with it and we have not won it's been something that we've labored

For we've begged to get taken away we've worked on we've fought against and it seems like all we've done is suffer and it's continued and whether this is a long term physical ailment for you or a long term battle with sin the promise

Of the kingdom is that one day we'll be in the presence of Jesus and we'll be immediately healed this physical pain this unending season of depression that for those of our brothers and sisters who I get to talk with periodically who struggle with same gender attraction who just want it

To go away want it to be cured for those people who have a physical pain that seems like it will not ever stop and every time they go see a doctor it doesn't go away it seems like it gets worse yes the already part of the

Kingdom means that you have been justified in Christ that you have been made new that you are righteous and the not yet part means that it may not go away just yet but the promise of the presence of Jesus is that it will not remain that it will not make it Matt who is up here

One of our pastors he works for the South Carolina Baptist Convention he was leading a worship conference this past week and the people who were leading worship last minute said hey we think it would be good if we read the

Apostles creed and so they went and quickly typed it up and so after a song we started reading the apostles creed together and it's just it's a creed that some apostles wrote it's really

Good it has doctrinal statements that help clarify things for the church and it's been around for a very long time and it's just helpful and so we were reading it and there's a section that says we believe

In the communion of the saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen and it's I mean that's the part where you really you know bringing it home

The guy who typed it up was in a hurry so he typed up we believe in the communion of the saints the resurrection of sins the resurrection of the body and life everlasting so we go to reading and the

Guy's playing melodically on the piano we're reading and we all hit the resurrection of sins these are baptists so they're not super familiar with the apostles creed some of them are and you could just hear the

Whole room was like and the guy just stopped and goes no we don't believe in the resurrection of sins that's a typo and very very wrong and it was actually more worshipful for me than if we had just read it seamlessly because I got to come

Face to face with the idea of the resurrection of sins and then I got to celebrate the fact that no we don't believe in that that's not going to happen you see there is someone in eternity there is someone in the kingdom who will be marred by

Sin and that's the lamb who was slain and then everybody else healed pure free there's a resurrection of the body but there is no resurrection of sins and see Jesus then raises this girl to life you see ultimately we're going to be plagued by stuff and then we are going to die unless the Lord

Returns we're going to take our last breath but we are going to enter into eternity that Jesus will stand over us and say nope not dead no that's momentary there's an eternal life that is to come through what Jesus has accomplished see Jesus has died for our sins and those who have placed faith in him

Will not be claimed by their sin will not be marred by their sin will not be marked by their sin and will not be owned by death Jesus is a ruler over death that when death claims someone we have

So many stories about death showing up got a hood has a sickle claim someone and it's over and we got all these stories and movies and books about trying to cheat death guess what Jesus does not cheat death he owns death and when he grabs

Someone and says no and eventually he conquers death on the cross and eventually he throws death into the lake of fire death does not claim those in the kingdom death does not claim those in the kingdom we without

Jesus are blind and when Jesus touches us and claims us our eyes are open we see him face to face there will be a time in the kingdom when we will behold Jesus clearly face to face

We will no longer be in darkness we will no longer be fumbling around lost we will have sight and when you place faith in Jesus that's what Jesus says happens that those who understand that they're blind and own the fact

That they're blind without Jesus then you see and those who would claim that they have sight don't here's one of the most infuriating things that happens that I see in the church and I was reading this passage it started to make

A little more sense to me but there are times when you see somebody who has this pride about being a believer or there are times that the church is accused of acting like we have a corner we've cornered the market

Of truth we're the only ones who know what's right everybody else is wrong do you want to know something that's true there's no pride there do you know who I believe were probably some of the most gracious people to the blind

People in their community these two guys who used to be blind I think they understood it whenever anybody seems very prideful about no longer being blind it's a good chance they're blind and they're pretending there's a good

Chance Jesus hadn't touched them they hadn't truly seen their depravity and they hadn't truly seen their weakness you see who they went and proclaimed as glorious when they left here

Jesus how could they not and if Jesus has brought us to where we see him and has redeemed us how could we not proclaim Jesus not ourselves not our own power not our own glory

Not our own morality we have nothing to claim in ourselves other than we went to Jesus and said we were blind and we need your help and that he gave us sight and then we

Point to Jesus and make much of his name every once in a while in the American church there are people who go man I can't believe somebody would go and spend their

Whole life in a foreign country they would go and be somewhere where it's dangerous I just have such a hard time with that the reality

Is held up to the cross that makes way more sense than spending your time running around on the American dream that one makes

Sense someone who would be bent on making sure everybody knows the one who can redeem and the one who can save than people

Who are running around focusing on something else how could they not proclaim him and how can we not and the last one Satan

Will not reign in the demons was over top of the demons and so the demons would have to obey the prince of demons

That's what they say he's doing this by the prince of demons but what they fail to reckon on is that the king of

Kings is over the prince of demons yes right Jesus has more authority good point but he goes way higher than the prince of

Demons some of us struggle with fear I feel like the enemy is attacking us I feel like we're laboring and we just can't

Win well guess what Jesus wins he conquers the enemy and there is a kingdom where your sins aren't there where there's life everlasting

Where we see Jesus face to face and where the enemy has been cast into an eternal punishment and we're free and Jesus has

Done this so that we may know so how how do we access this how do we get to this what do we do

What is our response faith Jesus says to the blind men do you believe I can do this yes Lord Jesus looks at the lady who grabbed

The hem of his garment and says your faith has made you well he says that over and over again what is faith faith

Is trusting Jesus not ourselves faith is us putting our hope in him cashing all of our chips in on him saying that you

Are the only one who can do this without you we have nothing faith is going to Jesus and saying I'm not strong enough

I'm and when we have faith we get the kingdom because we get the king our sins are taken away our shame is gone

What has marked us and broken us and kept us down is conquered we're raised to life we were dead in our sin but

When we place faith in Jesus we're brought to new life in him we see and the enemy is conquered and has no claim

Over us faith is not something that you muster up in your own strength faith is you rejecting your own strength and running to

Jesus and saying I believe son of David have mercy on me I believe you can do this God have mercy on me I

Believe you can do this Jesus have mercy on me I trust you and some of us right now are in that stage where

We're mourning we know these promises of the kingdom but we're not in the already we're in the not yet and so we have

Physical pain we have fear and doubt we have things that have fallen apart around us and we are hurting we will labor we

Will fight sin we will beg and plead for hope and help but someday the king is going to return he's going to claim

His bride he's going to consummate the kingdom he's going to claim the throne he's going to put his enemies as his footstool and

We will eternally behold him face to face free from sin victorious over the enemy raised to life forever if you have not placed

Your faith in Jesus some of y'all have been hanging out for a while you've been hanging out with groups you've been here on Sundays

We want you to trust Jesus we do not want you to become a good person we are not here to mend your behavior

We are not here to help you work out this one issue you have and send you merrily on your way we want you

To run to Jesus claiming that you're blind and beg that he might give you sight some of you need to place your faith

In Jesus today you need to be ushered into the kingdom you need to be brought into what Jesus has accomplished through the cross

And his death on your behalf when he rose again and conquered everything for you some of you everybody in your group thinks you're

A Christian and you need to tell them this week I wasn't but I am now I was just blind pretending I could see

In a moment we're going to take communion and we're going to celebrate that Jesus body was broken for us that his blood was shed for

Us communion is for Christians who look forward to his coming so I don't know where you are today I don't know what kind

Of pain you have what kind of fear you have what kind of doubt you have I want you to take it to the Lord

Say have mercy and I trust you and if you've never placed your faith in Jesus do and have him save you let's pray God we thank you for your grace your redemption

And your love may we have faith God we thank you that you conquer and that you came so that we might know and Lord as we long for your kingdom give us endurance help us to hope and to

Cling to you in Jesus name amen

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.