Church Discipline - The Purpose (Matthew 18:7-14)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Church Discipline - Part 1

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Well good morning uh my name is chet i'm one of the pastors here if you will grab a Bible and go to Matthew chapter 18. we used to have bibles in the rose if you don't have a Bible we will have the the words on the screen but if you have a Bible go to Matthew chapter 18 we're going to spend the next three weeks walking through Matthew 18 and we're going to be talking about Church discipline if you were to study Church discipline there are places in the Bible that reference it there are places in the Bible that give you examples of it.

But to kind of look at the process by which the Church addresses sin Jesus lays that out in Matthew 18 and this is kind of the go-to passage for walking through how ought we to address sin in the Church body and so we're going to spend three weeks looking at that i want to tell you that first will be Matthew 18 verses 5 through verses 5 through 18 and then we will be looking at Church discipline in the next three weeks we're going to talk through the i'm about to get real baptist on you the purpose of Church discipline that's what we're going to.

Look at today then the process of Church discipline and then the posture of Church discipline so the purpose is why why do we practice this what's the point what's at stake next week we'll look at the process which is where a lot of people usually start which is just how do we do this and then we'll look as we in Matthew 18 at the posture kind of what's our heart as we walk this out and so that's what we'll be doing.

For the next three weeks but i want to read a quick definition of Church discipline it's the practice through which the Church pursues holiness and joy by addressing sin and waywardness so it's the practice through which the Church pursues holiness and joy by addressing sin and waywardness that discipline is uh it comes it brings with it some difficulty it brings with it some intensity it brings with it some correction but it does it for a good purpose so i want to give some examples of where discipline i've seen it in my life and two things that are very important football and chicken.

But disciplined football teams win you don't have a really good winning program not with any level of consistency that is not also disciplined and i've been on football teams that were disciplined and that meant that practice was more difficult but playing for that team was better and i've been on teams that weren't disciplined and practice wasn't that bad but the games were terrible because we lost and it's not fun and the point of being on a team so when you're on a disciplined team.

And when you see a disciplined team you know that there's a lot that goes into that there's a lot that was corrected there was a lot that was changed and there's some people who aren't on the team anymore because they were pursuing discipline but they were pursuing something better and beyond that we see this not just in football but also in important things like chicken there is one fast food restaurant that if they have a line of cars wrapped around the building i will still pull into the parking lot and that is chick-fil-a.

Because those people know what they're doing they are disciplined when popeyes came out with that chicken sandwich which is delicious by the way that popeye's chicken sandwich is amazing but popeyes was not ready for their sandwich to taste that good they just weren't if you see a lion wrapping around the hardee's you know something has gone wrong i'm not getting in that line i'll be there forever but you can get in a line that wraps twice around a chick-fil-a and they'll still get you your food it's crazy.

But they're disciplined that means there's some people who are on the team and some people aren't there's some people that they had to correct there were some things they had to change but it was for a good purpose chicken and the Church practices discipline which is a form of correction but it's for a good purpose ultimately joy ultimately salvation you see that's what we're looking at today is why would we care about this as we talk about the process next week and Church discipline gets a bad rap in the u.s especially where it's this why would we judge people why would we correct people can't everybody just follow their own path and you can follow.

Your own path if you aim to get nowhere in particular but we aim to get somewhere very particular and therefore the Church disciplines for holiness and for for joy and if we don't understand why we don't understand what we're looking at today the next week may seem cold it may seem mean some of the process as we walk through it but if we understand why we actually see that it's beautiful and loving so what's at stake it's a matter of life and death it's a matter of heaven and hell.

Jesus does not mince words as he walks through this passage so let's pray for our hearts that we would take sin as seriously as he does so that we might pursue joy like he wants us to God we ask for your help don't take sin as seriously as we ought we make little of it and therefore we make little of you we take it lightly and therefore we take you lightly and i pray that as we read the words of Jesus this morning that you would strike us with the weightiness and the reality of sin.

So that we might change and be brought into your joy in Jesus name amen chapter 18 verse 5 whoever receives one such child in my name receives me but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea so this is Jesus speaking when he says one such little one he's referring to the verse before it we don't have it on the screen.

But i'm going to read it to you so just listen he says he's talking and spencer looked at this two weeks ago but he's talking to his disciples he brings a child among them and he says whoever humbles himself like this child is greatest in the kingdom of the heaven so he brings a child in and he says this is how you get into the kingdom of heaven he just gave these two examples that you believe and that you humble yourself.

And then when he says one such child he's moving from a physical little child to speaking about those who believe those who have humbled themselves and joined the kingdom so he's not talking about little kids anymore he's talking about believers which makes a difference as we walk out this passage so now when he talks about one such child he's talking about those who have believed and when he talks about little ones he's talking about believers he's talking about Christians so this is addressing sin in the Church he says whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea that is an aggressive statement that should cause us to pull up he doesn't just say it'd be better for you to be dead it'd be better if you had never been born he actually goes into kind of morbid gruesome detail on some sort of like mafia style hit that you would have a millstone tied around your neck and you'd be thrown into the ocean he wants to force us to picture this.

Because he wants to force us to pause and realize the weightiness of tempting someone towards sin now he does not mean this literally in that we ought to say you know what you've been a temptation get in the boat we're going out on lake murray that's not what he's getting at but he does mean this factually in that sin is this serious that we ought to take sin seriously Jesus means this when he says it that we ought to see and to know the weightiness of tempting someone he keeps going.

Verse 7 woe to the world for temptations to sin for it is necessary that temptations come but woe to the one by whom temptation comes we don't pronounce woes very often prophets do but we don't this isn't a phrase we usually use and what he means is sorrow pain destruction is a pun the one who does this that's what woe to the world sorrow pain and destruction is upon the world because of temptations to sin then he says it must come that's part of a fallen world.

But he says woe to the one by whom they come a few examples of this is when mr t says i pity the fool i pity the fool who would do this what he's saying is if that happens pain is coming if you cross this line pain is coming if we were standing outside of a fence and on the other side was a attack of of barking dogs and we said woe to the one who jumps that fence we would all understand in that moment what that meant.

When you cross that line there's pain and destruction it does not go well for you and so he's saying woe to the one by whom temptations come and immediately we should understand that we do not take temptation as sin as seriously as Jesus does some of us need to reconsider how we interact with our friends some of us older brothers and sisters need to reconsider how we deal with our younger brothers and sisters and what we lead them into some of us need to begin to consider how we speak to those in our community groups.

Because some of us flippantly give out counsel when we are not considering the weight of leading someone towards holiness i remember in high school i was often running late for class and i would be moving very very quickly to try to get to class until i saw someone else who was running late for class that was in my same class and then we would both slow down and walk together because as long as you had someone who was in it with you it wasn't going to be as bad he didn't want to be the only person showing up late.

But for mostly might as well add two more minutes to this and some of us are actively tempting others to sin because we want them to co-sign what we're doing and if it's okay for them to do it then it's okay for us to do it and we can feel okay if we'll both participate in this together some of you need to be greatly considering how you interact with your boyfriend or your girlfriend because woe to the one by who temptation comes.

Jesus is not kidding when he says it is deathly serious he takes it with blood earnest dead earnest seriousness and we don't much of our tv shows much of the plot are taking sinful things and making them funny making them light much of the stories we read and things we celebrate are just taking sin and making us become very accustomed to it and think it's normal and nice and fine woe to the world for temptations to sin verse eight he keeps going.

So he's turned from you being a tempter to now talking about you uh as you are receiving temptation verse 8 if your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire and if your eye causes you to sin tear it out and throw it away it is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

Now again he does not mean this literally but he does mean this it's he's using hyperbole he's giving us a very big aggressive word picture so that we would understand the weightiness of the situation but your hand is not actually what causes you to sin your hand participates in your sin but we have temptations outside of us and we have our desires inside of us that lead us towards sin but the reason why he says this is so that we would understand that there are certain things that we ought to be willing to face hurt.

For we all be willing to take some pain for so that we might not be harmed you all understand the difference between hurt and harm when you go to the dentist he hurts you for your good when you eat candy it deliciously harms you does this make sense when you go to the doctor there are times where they hurt you because there's something inside of you that's harming you and they're going to cut it out eventually the harm catches up with us eventually the harm does begin to hurt.

But often the harm doesn't hurt at first and often the help hurts so that we don't meet the harm so what he's saying is we ought to be willing to take on some pain some discomfort we ought to be willing to cut some things and some people off so that we might enter life he takes this deathly serious there's the gravity to the situation james 1 14 says this so it's not that our feet lead us into sin it's not that our hands lead us into sin.

If that were the case just so you all know if you really meant literally this there had been some maimed disciples proclaiming the Gospel the 12 wouldn't have made it out you guys Peter when he cut that guy's ear off in the garden Jesus was a put the ear back on give me your hand Peter your hand made you sin it's not it's not what he means but he means for us to aggressively take it this seriously james 1 14 and 15 says.

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire so there's something outside of us that our desire responds to there's some kind of temptation outside of us that we co-sign in our hearts then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death keep that up for just a second there's some things that we're told about sin in Scripture that those who sin are a slave to sin that sin has mastery over us there's this picture that that james gives us that sin starts off small it's conceived.

And then it's born and then we feed it and then it grows and then it brings about death there are some of you in here today who have a pet sin that you are slowly feeding and you are convincing yourself that it is manageable but as long as it stays here as long as i just keep it this it's not as bad as that it's really not that often it doesn't happen that much it's better than it used to be i i quit doing this i don't do that what that guy does and that's awful we have some sort of pet sin and we're confused about what happens sin enslaves us and leads us to.

Death some of you have some baby sins that you need to kick you need to punt your baby sin before it gets too big you need to now you need to take it aggressively seriously i have a two-year-old son yesterday i spent a good bit of my day wrestling with him as i spend most of my time at the house fighting with my children for fun sometimes not for fun but one of the things i really want y'all to know is that.

When i'm fighting with my son and it looks like he's winning i'm pretending i could take him if i wanted to some of you right now have something that honestly you could get rid of but you're letting it grow and some of you right now are telling yourself i could get rid of this so i'll wait a little longer and that's already part of the problem it may be bigger than you think and when it is full grown it will enslave you and it will kill you and you can't you do not have time this is every time we hear that someone had a pet tiger which we're cool with in america america you have.

A pet tiger you have a pet line and then we find out that the tiger bit somebody's arm off or that you know siegfried got attacked or whatever were we shocked every time i hear he's like oh siegfried got attacked by a lion i wasn't like oh what it's like yeah it was a lion man that's what they do and some of you have a sin that is a pet lion that is growing that wants to devour and destroy you and you keep telling yourself that it's cute or that it's.

Okay and it is not and it brings about death so what is at stake here well he says it in verse 8 and 9 if your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away it is better for you to enter life crimpled or lame then so we have life on one side then with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire those are our options held out before us is life i love that description.

Because it's full enough for us to understand what he means life fullness joy delight vibrancy you ever say ah this is the life or man i wish i could just get to this a lot of us are looking forward and saying if i could just get to that if i could just have this then i'd have life i'd finally find it i'd be full i'd be complete and what he says is no that's in the lord and it's held out for you that you might have life.

But the other side is eternal fire which i think we don't talk about often enough i don't know if we fully wrap our minds around that i don't know if we fully believe that he says it's better for this life to be a little more difficult for you to be a little lame for you to limp your way into real life than for you to strut into hell eternal fire that it lasts forever and it is excruciating the terms that the Bible uses.

For hell that there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth that there is it's outer darkness that there is a fire that is not quenched and worms do not die meaning there's internal and external torment forever that the seriousness of sin is displayed in the end result of it and the reality is is that sin is not serious because hell is bad hell is bad because sin is that serious you see we look at this and we say who is God to judge and who is he to try to tell me this and shouldn't he just love us and shouldn't he just forgive us sin isn't that big of a deal and really what we.

Mean when we say sin isn't that big of a deal is that God isn't that big of a deal he's not that holy he's not that glorious he's not that worthy of worship he's not that worthy of devotion he's big enough to help me but not big enough to need me to devote everything to him one of the beautiful things about the old testament law is that the punish the punishment fit the crime there were other laws in other places where the punishment seemed way out of proportion with the crime still something to get your hand cut off those sort of things.

But one of the things that was revolutionary about the Bible when it says an eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth what it meant was the punishment needs to fit the crime and this God who sets up an equitable system for punishment says that the reality of rebellion against him is eternal hell and it fits the crime hell was made for Satan to be punished in i don't know what cartoons have told you he does not rule there he is destroyed there.

But it says it's prepared for Satan and his angels and that we who join him go with him that is terrible and destructive and we need to understand the weight of unrepented sin because it leads to death and death in eternal hell some of us have not wrapped our minds around that in the way we approach sin some of us have not wrapped our minds around that in the way we approach telling other people about the hope in Christ verse 10.

We're going to pause on verse 10 for a second because what he says here is a little confusing he says the see that you do not despise one of these little ones again talking about believers for i tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my father who is in heaven i'm going to read that again see that you do not despise one of these little ones for i tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my.

Father who is in heaven all right so this picture here is that angels actually stand at the very face of God they stand in front of him this is one of the things that gabriel says when he comes and tells john the baptist is daddy which i can't remember is zechariah or zechariah so we'll call him john the baptist's daddy he tells him you're going to have a son and when he says how do i know gabriel says i stand in front of.

God seriously and then he says you don't get to talk anymore until he's born there you go you now have a sign that i stand in front of God and have authority so he's talking about this picture of an angel standing before God these angel these spiritual beings i want to read a few verses to help you understand what angels do it says the angel of the lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them so these angels are sent to protect this is old testament.

But they're sent to protect those who believe psalm 91 11 he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways hebrews 1 13 and 14. this is talking about the excellency of Jesus how he's greater than the angels it says to which of the angels has he ever said sit at my right hand until i make your enemies a footstool for your feet are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.

Look at that again are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation Jesus says do not look down on these little ones do not look down on these believers do not look down on these that you would earlier talked about don't tempt them don't lead them into sin he says don't look down on them and he says do you not know that God uses powerful spiritual beings to minister and to care.

For them and they stand before God these powerful spiritual beings who serve these believers actually stand in front of the face of God and so what he's saying is do you not see how elevated and glorious angels are they they had that mark in their mind and so he says do you not realize that they serve those who belong to the lord those who are little ones those who are children of God do you not understand that when you deal with a believer you're dealing with a son or a daughter of the king these angels get to stand in front of the very face of.

God and they are sent to serve sons and daughters of the king do not look down on them and here's what this means if you see a prince and they have a royal guard around them they are not a prince because they have a royal guard they have a royal guard because they're a prince so having angels care for us does not exalt us we are exalted and therefore angels care for us but we are exalted because we have our father be the king of heaven through the work of Christ this is immensely encouraging that.

God protects those who belong to him that all of us who are tempted and tried and wayward and who actively desire sin that God has angels around us guarding and protecting us and he doesn't take it lightly because we belong to him if you've placed your faith in Christ so he says don't look down on a believer you fail to understand the position they have in Christ this is not to exalt angels this is not to make us pray to angels it's to make us understand the exalted position we have in Christ as we relate to the.

Father verse 12. what do you think if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray and if he finds it truly i say to you he rejoices over it more than the other more than over the 99 that never went astray so it is not the will of my father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish sin is a destructive leads towards death and eternal hell.

But it is not God's desire that any of these that belong to him should follow that path and he leaves the 99 to pursue the one that's missing now i don't i'm not super familiar with sheep i grew up in edgefield county i do know that when a cow gets out that's the one they go look for i know that when you call your hunting dogs back the one that doesn't show up is the one you go looking for and you do leave the other ones to go.

Look for it or you risk all of them and send them back out to run again hoping that that one will join it what he's saying is something that was obviously true to them if you have a hundred sheep and one's missing don't you leave the hundred and go look for it yes you don't go look at your account and go oh we only have 99. yes you go i'm missing one and you go look for it and when you find the one you celebrate that's this he says it's not the father's will that any of them should perish do you hear that do you hear his heart.

For you that he desires to redeem and to save i think we read this sometimes and we say well does Jesus really mean that does he take sin that seriously is it that deadly serious yes because he left heaven to come to earth to die on a cross for our place he takes sin deadly seriously he takes it with blood earnest seriousness so much so that he would shed his blood that he would lose his life so that we might be redeemed he's the one who comes searching.

For the one that is lost and some of us have been playing with sin and we need to understand the weight of that we need to understand that we ought to give some things up so that we might have life some of us need to cut off sin where it's growing that it's better if something's tempting you it's better for you to enter into life with no cell phone that gets the internet then to enter into hell some of you it's better to enter into life with no boyfriend no girlfriend than to hold hands as you walk towards destruction some of you it's better to enter into life without that promotion that meant that you.

Had to compromise your morals so that you could have it that you had to play ball some of you it's better to enter into life than to walk into hell wealthy some of you it's better to say no to any type of romantic relationship because your desires lead you astray and it's better to walk into life than to wander off into destruction and as we fail and as we sing Jesus has come to redeem he hasn't come to redeem those who have kept it together he hasn't come to redeem those who have behaved.

Well he wants us to understand the weightiness of sin but the response is to be found by the one seeking you because all we like sheep have gone astray we've all gone our own way and chaste after sin and we need the redemption that is in Christ that he would come searching for us that he would shed his blood that we might have forgiveness and that we might have life as we repent this isn't well-behaved people and bad people this is those who.

See their sin and repent and those who don't and that's why we practice Church discipline because we work towards repentance which leads us into joy he says that none would perish and that he would rejoice that's why because sin leads to destruction repentance leads to joy there's a song that i sing to my boys a good bit my dad used to sing it to me when i was growing up it's one of my favorite hymns it's softly and tenderly and it says that softly and tenderly Jesus's calling calling o sinner come home says why would you linger.

While Jesus is pleading pleading oh sinner come home and when you read this passage i can picture Jesus walking around looking for that lost sheep and he's just calling for it he's not angry he's not trying to scare the sheep he's trying to get the sheep back softly and tenderly he's calling and he's saying come home and some of us right now are holding on to our sin and staying away from Jesus and we are wrong and we are foolish and the end of that is destruction.

But if we repent and we run to him he rejoices he doesn't scold he wraps us up joyfully celebratorily grabs us some of you maybe need to make work more difficult and cancel your internet subscription some of you maybe need to be lonely for a month as you get rid of some friends be awkward for a month as you join a community group and get some new ones who are also sinners but hopefully or at least trying to point us in the right direction some of you need to lose a boyfriend or a girlfriend.

Today so that you might begin to walk towards life we ought to repent because the stakes are high some of us need to risk relationships with those we love as we correct sin in them because we love them enough and we believe the words of Jesus that there is life and there is rejoicing and there is eternal hope but there also is anguish and pain and destruction for all those who run head long away from the lord into their own glory standing fully under the weight of their own sin and rebellion in Christ we have hope that he died.

For sin that he died for sinners and that in him we might believe and some of you need to place your faith in him today you need to confess that you're a sinner and you need to tell him i need you to save me he does not put to shame any who would call on his name you're a lost sheep you're stuck begin to cry out he hears you he comes he's looking for you some of you need to repent right.

Now and place your faith in him and he does forgive and he rejoices and there is hope and there is life and some of you who are Christians need to understand the weight the hope that you have in him and that he desires none of us should perish and you need to repent of some sin that you've held on to it for a long time and you've told yourself it's okay it is not let's pray God we pray that none would perish.

But that everybody in this room would know the weightiness of sin would see the end result and lord we may limp we may hurt we may hobble but let us walk into life as we repent of sin as we change and as we're forgiven but we pray right now in this room those who are wrestling with their sin wrestling with themselves that they would see you clearly that they would hear your voice they would listen to your call and that they would come to you.

And if that's you don't hold back don't fight he's offering you life he's offering you salvation he's offering you hope there is doom and there is destruction on the other side take the sacrifice placed in Jesus's life for you lord we pray that by your Holy Spirit you would call they would answer they would enter life we pray lord that you would help us to repent of sin to confess sin to take it seriously as we take you seriously that you might have.

So much glory so much weightiness that we would see clearly how wicked and depraved we are and that we would see clearly how glorious is the hope in Christ for those who believe because it's about his righteousness and his behavior not ours in Jesus name amen.

Missions

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Missions

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors uh here this is a special day we're gonna take a break from Matthew uh because this is commissioning sunday like chet said earlier this is a joyous occasion it's also solemn uh and serious because we get to see a couple and a family that we love dearly leave us and go to make disciples in el progresso honduras so it feels a little bit like a wedding and we get to be the parents we have walked them down the aisle.

Today that we're going to watch them take their vows they're going to commit to doing mission work there and then they're going to depart from us so it's joyous and it's also it's also bittersweet because of how much we love the rockies so this morning we're going to sit in 1st thessalonians 2 and we're going to to glean from that a few years ago chris rocky showed up and he met with chet and he wanted to be a part of a Church that he wanted to either do Church planning or mission work he was discerning this and we said yes we love both of those we want to plant a Church we want to send.

Missionaries so he decided to join us and there were some bonuses that came with it first off there's an awesome family uh and then we found out that chris could play the drums and we never had a drummer and that was exciting and then also danielle could rock the bass and sing so it was awesome well yeah come on which by the way as we're praying this morning please pray for matt freeman because we're losing two key parts of our music team also.

If you want to serve our music team please talk to matt freeman because uh because we need some help all right so he joined us and then he started to to jump in and serve in a few different capacities he joined chet and anna phillips their community group and they were members and they became leaders in training with that process and then they became group leaders uh they've served in a lot of different things chris has gone through our pastor and training process and he's gotten to.

See the good parts of our leadership he's gotten to see the not so good parts of our leadership i've got to see him serve in other capacities he has been he led the charge on meeting felt needs in our in our community on our Church and also uh in in the greater community uh around our Church i've seen him serve in a lot of different ways he has he's gifted in in in counseling and i've seen him kind of operate in that mode he's served in a lot of different capacities.

But as they've been discerning this call they haven't they didn't have a where they just knew they wanted to to be uh missionaries and they wanted to go uh finally it was to latin america but they still were just faithful and as one missionary puts it he says serving God is not a matter of location but it's a matter of obedience and you guys were obedient as you discerned the call to where that was going to be then God finally put el progreso honduras on your hearts.

Now you get to go you get to fall in in the same vein as as william kerry as hudson taylor as jim and elizabeth elliott you guys get to go and leave the comforts of of your own culture and go and take the Gospel to a place that needs it so this sermon this morning is for you guys uh it's primarily for you guys uh it's meant to be an encouragement for y'all but as a Church family we get to listen with two sets of ears i love going to weddings especially.

When i like preaching weddings but i also like going to weddings and hearing uh this sermon because i get to have two sets of ears i get to listen because i know that the sermon is directed at the bride and the groom and it's teaching them all how the Gospel impacts marriage the covenant they're getting into all of that but every time i get to listen uh in those uh sermons i get to remember my vows i can remember what i'm called to as a husband and i get to re-up on my commitment in marriage and that's what we could do as a Church family this morning as we.

Listen you get to re-up on your commitment to be an everyday missionary here because the things i'm going to be encouraging them with are the things that we have to and need to apply here in order to be a Gospel center community on mission in casey and around this area so let's listen to that this morning we're going to be in first thessalonians 2 and as we walk through this there's going to be four encouragements that come out of this passage and and my hope is that they encourage you guys and us as.

Well so let me pray and then we'll jump into the passage father uh we thank you that you command us to go and make disciples and that we get to participate and that great commission that we get to go forth whether it's across the street or across the world God i pray this morning that you would make your mission so clear and so beautiful to us we ask this in Jesus name amen all right starting off in verse 1 4 you yourselves know brothers that our coming to you was not in vain.

But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at philippi as you know we had boldness in our God to declare to you the Gospel of God in the midst of much conflict all right so the first encouragement for you guys is to suffer for the Gospel suffer for the Gospel for two reasons firstly because the people of el progresso need the Gospel and the second reason we'll get into a moment it is ultimately for your comfort and joy so let's tackle that.

First part uh Paul and silas uh were missionaries they were planting churches all across uh europe they were in philippi and in philippi they were in imprisoned they suffered and they leave philippi and they uh show up to thessalonica this is in modern day greece they show up to this city and they also preach the Gospel and suffer there and then they get kicked out of this city for preaching the Gospel and then they go elsewhere and this is kind of what they what Paul does he preaches in one place he gets flawed he gets beaten preaches the next place he gets stoned he gets in prison he looks like a madman you often think.

Why does he keep doing this and there's one very clear reason why he keeps doing this because the people that do not know him that do not know Christ need the Gospel there are people dying and going to hell and they need to hear about Jesus and that's what motivates him as he goes from city to city in the midst of his suffering and in a broken world in a broken world that God is bringing about redemption he calls us as uh as his people to get our hands dirty to join him a level one missionary to somalia wrote his he's running on the pseudonym nick ripken.

Because he's protecting his identity but he writes in his book the insanity of God he says suffering is one of God's ordained means of growth for his growth of his Church he brought salvation to the world through Christ our suffering savior and he now spread salvation in the world through Christians as suffering saints that redemption ultimately comes through the cross it comes through Christ suffering on the cross and therefore he calls us to join in him in a world that is broken in a world that uh that rejects the Gospel in a world that is has Satan ruling and opposing the work of Christ he calls us to join as suffering saints and delivering the.

Gospel which has a cost martin luther puts it pretty bluntly he says a religion that gives nothing costs nothing and suffers nothing is worth nothing suffering is a part of the mission in order to gain ground in the eternity he calls us to suffer in the temporary and that's what you guys are being called into now that's eternal perspective and that may be hard to to to remember in the in the short term may be hard to to grasp hold of that to to the suffering that he calls us to.

Because the reality is is that he's going to call you uh to suffer in a lot of different ways firstly and this is mostly for chris maggie and parker you guys are going to have to to learn the language which takes time danielle you're gonna have to learn the nuances of honduran spanish it takes time and there's going to be some suffering along with that there's some reality that you're probably going to maybe get a little sick ben johnson who was a missionary in lebanon.

For 10 years and his uh first year of being there he wasn't used to the food and the water and he lost 15 pounds from being sick and if you know ben he doesn't have 15 pounds to lose and that's that's a reality that you'll suffer sickness you might suffer homesickness because you're going to lose the normality of living in this culture and there's culture shock involved with that that's a process that takes time you're going to suffer the effects of spiritual warfare no doubt.

Because you're coming uh into a place where the enemy does not want you to succeed there will be unanticipated sufferings that you guys face but here's the deal the sufferings that you guys face ultimately get to be converted into eternal salvation and joy and hope and satisfaction in Christ for those who don't currently know him for the people of el progresso that that have not tasted and seen the lord is good your suffering ultimately gets to be for their good so that's the.

First reason why he calls us into suffering the second is that ultimately we get to experience comfort and joy we get experience comfort and joy that comes through Christ i've been teaching my older children to ride to ride bikes and and they asked me as they say what if we fall is it going to hurt and i could tell them no it's not that bad but if you've ever ridden bikes and you've fallen it hurts it does not feel good but i said yeah i tell them i'm honest with them like it's gonna hurt.

But when you finally learn to ride there's there's so much joy on the other side of this there's so much more the joy of riding a bike as a kid it's worth it the pain is going to be worth and that's a little bit of what we're called into as as missionaries laboring alongside each other being sent by Christ that there is suffering involved but on the other side of that suffering ultimately is joy because here's the deal in your suffering you will be stripped of the comforts of this rule you'll be stripped of the of the idols that we run to you'll be stripped of all of that and you'll be forced to find.

Your contentment and joy in Christ i love what john piper says he says this is God's universal purpose of all Christian suffering more contentment in God and less satisfaction in the world i want you to hear that one more time this is God's universal purpose for all Christian suffering more contentment in God and less satisfaction in the world that as you suffer as as you have things stripped away from you comfort stripped away from you you get to be forced into uh leaning into Christ the Gospel gets become more real as you find comfort and satisfaction and joy in Christ there's a missionary in the 19th century his name is john gibson patton he's a.

Scottish presbyterian missionary to the modern day island vanuatu it's in the pacific ocean near papua new guinea and indonesia and he like many people of his time in the modern kind of the beginnings of the modern mission movement he left with his wife and he when they arrived on the island the the natives did not like them they were hostile to him his wife ended up having a child and then she was killed by the natives and then ultimately their baby died as.

Well because she was a newborn did not have a mother so he suffered immensely there there were times where we had to hide in a tree for safety and fear for his uh life but in those moments well firstly he delivered the Gospel of the people of vanuatu and ultimately the whole island came to know Christ in fact to this day it's 93 percent Christian because of his sufferings uh where it turned into eternal hope for an island that did not know him.

But in the midst of all of his sufferings in the midst of everything he faced he said this i had my nearest and most intimate glimpses of the presence of my lord in those dread moments when musket club or spear was being leveled at my life that in the toughest moments you get to have intimacy with God and it's an intimacy that that you really wouldn't get to experience here an intimacy that gets forced through the trials of being a missionary abroad you'll get to experience.

God in some profound and beautiful ways now i don't know everything you're going to face but i know the people of el progresso need the Gospel and you guys are going to go there may be suffering involved but ultimately is for their eternal hope and in the temporary you get to have etern you get to have comfort and joy in Christ that comes through the gift that is suffering and that applies for all of us as a Church family as well the reality is we get a little bit too comfortable here.

God calls us into suffering oftentimes that's the loss of reputation that may be looking like the kind of the weird Christian in the workplace or in school the reality is is that we're called to proclaim Christ no matter the cost because people desperately need the Gospel here but ultimately as we uh share the Gospel and our idols get exposed we don't run to those comforts we get to lean into the Gospel that is why is encouragement in missions so that's the.

First encouragement let's look at the second starting in verse three for our appeal does not spring from air or imperial or impurity or any attempt to deceive but just as we've been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel so we speak not to please ma'am but to please God who tests our hearts for we never came with words of flattery as you know nor with the pretext for greed God is witness nor do we seek glory from people whether from you or from others though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ the.

Second encouragement we get from this passage is to give the Gospel as obedience to God that sharing the Gospel and preaching Christ you can do it from bad motives that's what Paul's defending here he's saying i didn't come to you with bad motives i didn't come to you and preach Christ from impurity or for i'm an attempt to deceive he said i didn't do this to bring flatter to flatter you with words i didn't do this as a pretext for greed.

Because i wanted money from you i didn't do this for personal glory he lays out all these different reasons to help them see that he that he he came with different motives in mind because the reality is you can preach Christ from bad motives you can do it deceitfully that's what false teachers do now i don't think that's going to be a temptation for y'all we wouldn't be sending you out if we thought you are going to take a false Gospel to help progress him.

But the reality is that you've been there and you know that there's a false Gospel prevalent in that city the prosperity Gospel is all over that say the false Gospel that says that God is the mere giver of gifts in exchange for worship so you're gonna have to preach a Gospel that is different than that and guess what that's not gonna be flattering that's that's gonna that's gonna be jarring it's gonna be different than what many of them have heard and with that it's not gonna gain you personal glory you're going to face rejection you're going to be you might be you might be shunned.

For it you might be made to feel even more like an outsider because you are preaching a Gospel that some people do not want to hear and that is a real temptation is personal glory because it's not fun to not be light when you share that's not fun being rejected it's not fun now progressive it's certainly not fun here for any of us to be made to be looked at like you're weird so we don't do it for personal glory and Paul's thing i didn't do it.

For personal glory so what is the motivation he lays it out in verse four he says but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel so we speak not to please man but a please God who tests our hearts you are being sent as missionaries not to please ma'am but to please God your commission the great commission go therefore make disciples of all nations baptize them in the father and son teaching them deserve all they commanded it's from him it's not from man that commission comes from.

God and your ultimate motivation is obedience because that's what you're doing you are going and you're going to make disciples you're going to preach Christ that's the motivation is obeying God which means that evangelism is actually worship it's a response to what God has called you to as you are commanded to live out the Gospel and to share the Gospel with these people which means when you guys are rejected you don't have to feel the weight of that as Christ preaches the ultimate aim or the ultimate truth is that they're rejecting Christ they're not rejecting you you're just being obedient to what.

God has called you to as good soldiers that's what he said Paul says in 1st timothy or 2nd timothy 2 4 he says no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuit since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him your aim is to be obedient to please the God who enlisted you and if you sit in that in that truth you will have the power to stay you have the power to make it through all of the sufferings all of the rejection.

Because hear this ultimately ultimately success for you guys will not be uh measured in conversions without measured in the visible impact of what you do there your success will be measured in obedience and that is huge because listen we don't know what we don't know what is going to happen for you guys we don't you might not see a conversion for years the house churches that you want to raise up chris the leaders that you want to raise up we may not.

See that for quite some time you may be you may have times where you're putting together an email update where you have you're grasping at straws you've got nothing really to report but here's the deal you need to remember this in those moments success is not measured by what you report back to us what you report back to your supporters is it is measured by your obedience to declaring the Gospel you don't fail if you preach the Gospel no matter what happens down there be obedient stand in that truth don't let any other motives get in the way that's the.

Second encouragement for you guys and then we get the third here starting in verse seven but we were gentle among you like a nursing mother taking care of her own children so being affectionately desirous of you we're ready to share with you not only the Gospel of God but also our own selves because you had become very dear to us if you remember brothers our labor and toil we work night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you.

While we proclaim to you the Gospel of God my third encouragement to you guys is share more than the Gospel share more than the Gospel Paul realized that they needed more than truth they needed to feel the love of Christ he recognized this his metaphor is like a nursing mother to her children he understand they needed to be cared for they needed to be loved they needed to be reminded of how good the Gospel is by them sharing more than more than just the Gospel they shared their own selves they showed their they shared their lives with them.

Because they had become very dear to them because he cared deeply for them Paul and silas leveraged everything so that they might experience Christ and here's the deal chris danielle maggie parker you guys will get the opportunity to share your own lives and i know you all are going to do this because you've done this so well here everyone who's been around you have seen you do this over and over again you've walked with the people in our Church you've loved the people in our Church chris i've watched you walk alongside people who are suffering and just caring.

For them i've seen you respond to felt needs you get to do exactly what you've done here and you get to bring it to el progresso and i love that the life of life discipleship that you've lived out here you get to apply there and it's gonna it's gonna take some time to contextualize that right like you're gonna have to learn the language it matters for them to hear uh that their conversation their own native tongue that's gonna that's gonna mean the world and it's going to take time.

But once you once you get to do that you get to go and do what you've done here you get to go and share and eat meals with them you get to taste all the different ways that you can make rice and beans that you never thought was possible and then guess what you might even get to to bring your own rice and beans and it's probably going to be pretty bland because as i've been told uh by carlos who's a part of our churches on durham uh we we have pretty bland food sometimes.

So it might take a few attempts right but you might actually get good at it and then one day you might bring a dish they're like actually this is pretty good and it's going to mean a lot of them because you learn their culture you learn their food so you get to share meals with them and spend long evenings with them because their hospitality is is bigger than ours you're gonna be tired you get to share these long meals with them you gotta take things that you love here uh to them take pandemic the game not not coveted i know you'll love the game pandemic take pandemic take all the board games that you love.

And teach them board games and spend time playing those with them you get to learn soccer and enjoy uh soccer you you get to pull forth the second best player in the world ronaldo because they seem to really like him down there that was a shot at exactly two people in our Church and i'm completely okay with them you get to share life with them and you get to to live out the Gospel with them you get to love them i'm.

So excited y'all get to do this with them it's going to take time it's going to take investment but it's worth it because here's the deal the way you live out the Gospel and the way that you love them adds seasoning and flavor to the Gospel and makes it beautiful it makes it more palatable for them to hear and believe so take that with you as an encouragement and we have our final encouragement here starting in verse 10. you are witnesses.

God also how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers for you know how like a father with his children we exhorted each of you and encourage you and charge you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his glory into his kingdom his own kingdom and glory so the fourth encouragement i have for you is to make the Gospel look good make the Gospel look good in the military when you are commissioned in the military it is expected that he or she is commissioned it's expected to uphold a certain level of conduct that's expected as they're commissioned soldiers and as commissioned missionaries as as Christians we have.

A higher code of conduct that we're called to to walk in a way that's above reproach to walk in a way that is blameless he makes this clear to the Church that him and silas uh they lived in a way that was uh that was holy and righteous and blameless he says like a father he exhorted them to do the same to walk in a manner worthy of the one who calls you into the kingdom because here's the deal one of the easiest way to to discredit your message is discredit the messenger.

If you don't live above approach if you don't walk in a way that is blameless people will write you off and guess who knows that the enemy the devil knows this you are going down with a target on your back he wants to destroy the work that you guys are going to do because his aim is to roll over el progresso and take as many people to hell with them and your arrival is an affront to that it is in direct opposition to that.

So in war one of the easiest ways you can take down uh uh uh take someone down into battles you can take out the general take out the commanding officer it you can take out a private but that's not gonna cause more chaos so you have a target on your back and he's gonna want to come for you so how do you uh defend against this how do you protect yourselves and ultimately protect the message that you are leaving to go and preach you do it in the same ways that you've done it here.

For so many years as you follow Jesus in everyday life you come back to the basics of the Gospel you practice what we have taught Gospel fluency applied the Gospel and everyday life you walk in the light in accountability with your team with one another as a family you read and love the Bible regularly take time to to sit and read and enjoy God to pray to live out the disciplines that take care of your own soul so that you will stand firm against the evil one in all of his flaming darts as ephesians 6 says it is doing the basics that you've been doing here and applying them down there and that is why.

For each of these as we walk through them i see that you guys are have been doing these and you are going to continue to do all of these which means that you guys are ready to go you're ready to go and suffer for the sake of the Gospel you're ready to go and and and be obedient to God and proclaiming Christ you're you're ready to share more than the Gospel you're ready to share your own lives you're ready to walk in a way that is blameless in making the Gospel.

Look good you are ready to go and we are mostly ready to send you because this is a bittersweet moment for us your Church family is going to miss you and i just want you to know that we are with you and it is time for you guys to go so go and make an impact for the kingdom go with the knowledge that God is is with you and we are praying for you go knowing that the work that you do resounds into eternity there's a famous missionary ct stud he was a missionary he said only.

When life will soon be passed only what's done for Christ will last that's the hope guys that what you do down there would resound into eternity so go knowing that you get to make an impact we are with you we love you and we're going to pray for you this morning and we're going to send you out and may God bless you as you go and make disciples there let me pray God i'm so thankful for this family and what they have meant to our Church.

God i pray that you would send them we know that suffering is involved but we also know that you that we can pray for protection we pray that we pray for protection from the from the evil one we pray for protection from all of of of some of the things that may face them but ultimately God i pray they would persevere i pray that you would use them and some profound ways there God i pray that el progresso would never be the same.

Because they were obedient and they heard the call and they went God we love you we are thankful that we get to go and take the Gospel may you bless the obedience of this family in Jesus name amen.

Children, Children, What do you see? (Matthew 18:1-6; 19:13-15)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Children, Children, What Do You See?

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors here the thought of me preaching sent my daughter into a rage that's okay jokes don't hurt the sermon's about children um we're gonna be in Matthew 18 and 19 today so go ahead if you have a Bible you can uh go there we're going to be in both of those chapters you can follow along with us on the screen children i have little children i have a five-year-old a three-year-old and a one-year-old and one of the things that i've learned about them is that they're actually fairly humble uh i know that's going to change the older they get.

But for right now they display a lot of humility for instance my middle son my three-year-old uh he has no shame uh we'll uh we'll have people come over to our house and regularly he'll go to the bathroom and when he comes out he's just naked and i've told him i was like buddy you you can't come out of the bathroom naked and he'll go wow i'm like because you because you can't you have to wear clothes that's what we have guests over you can't and he just it doesn't register.

For him uh my oldest who's gotten better about this over time but there have been times where she just has no pride because she would have an absolute meltdown in public and would not care about what anyone else thought which if you know me is a struggle because i don't like to disturb the herd in public at all um it's it's a it's a lie but she doesn't care she's going to work through her emotions out in public uh children are needy they display a lot of humility and that they need and need a need our one-year-old obviously cannot uh exist without her parents taking care of her our our middle son one of his.

Favorite drink is milk and he will ask over and over and over again can i have some milk can i have some milk can i have some milk and i'll say but you can ask me a hundred times i told you you're gonna have milk later not right now and he'll jump into this uh this negotiation strategy will go can i just have just a tiny bit of milk just puts his fingers together just it's just a tiny bit of milk i don't care how cute you.

Look right now you're not you are not getting milk but i've reversed this on him um at bedtime we'll have a Bible story and then i individually put my two oldest um to bed and uh and i'll get on his level and his bed and i'll say buddy you think i love you just a tiny bit and he starts laughing he's he's like no i said no i love you more than you could ever possibly know or imagine then i'll go do you think.

Jesus loves you just a little tiny bit and he's kind of been a punk lately and he said yes i was like you tiny little heretic no no no Jesus loves you the more than you could ever possibly know or imagine and that is the story that we're walking through today Jesus is going to uphold children as an example of humility that is meant to be followed and then he's going to shift gears and show that he values children that the.

God of the universe loves children and then we're going to jump into chapter 19 and see what he just taught in 18 applying to his disciples that children are are worth uh they are valuable and loved and cherished by God and also they display humility in a way that should instruct us as disciples of Jesus so i'm going to pray and then we're going to jump into the story uh father i thank you that you continue to give us these uh incredible stories that display uh truths about the Gospel.

God i pray that you would help us uh be present you would help us receive this you would help us stay focused and and that you would speak to us this morning we asked us in Jesus name amen all right so verse 1 at that time the disciples came to Jesus saying who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven so that's a concern of the disciples we see this in multiple places that they are are concerned about being great in this kingdom that.

Jesus is establishing uh years ago i was a part of another Church while i was in seminary and some of the pastors told a story where one time after the worship service uh the this gentleman came down he's a few years older than them he just kind of said look i love what you guys are doing here and i would love to serve here and before they could launch into here's some different places you could serve he said all right so here's the deal i i have some leadership experience in the past.

So i want to preach here a couple times a month and then he just started listing out all the ways that he could help them and he they just said look man we it sounds like uh that you you're gifted in some leadership what we need right now more than anything is we need someone who can help lead our parking uh outside our parking is a mess and we just need some real leadership there and he just kind of was appalled and he walked away and he never came back and that and and really the response of the disciples here demonstrates the logic of man the greatness is upward status the greatness is is climbing.

The ladder and Jesus is about to take that understanding of greatness and completely turn it onset picks up in verse two he says in calling to him a child he put him in the midst of them and said truly i say to you unless you turn and become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven so he brings a child front and center here's your example unless you become like this child it's not that you won't have kingdom greatness you won't enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now the greek word for for child here is little children you could use a different word uh but he's talking about little children so think five-year-old unless you become like this five-year-old you will never inherit the kingdom of heaven which some of you might be like sweet you mean i can pitch a fit and be petty no he is not talking about maturity of a of a five-year-old he's talking about the humility of a five-year-old have the humility of a child.

So i want to take some time here and reflect on what is childlike humility what is that so there's a few different ways this plays out the first is status humility children don't care about status it's just not something they're concerned with and even more so in this culture this culture doesn't really elevate children as valuable at all it's one of the things that is unique about that culture and other cultures around the world that you don't actually level up and respect until you become an adult.

So in their mind it makes sense while the disciples are going to shoe the children away because they're not worthy of the respect of the presence of Jesus and he said no no you must become like this child which means lower your uh status and your head of what greatness is this is why in a couple chapters he's going to teach in Matthew 20 he's going to say but whoever would be great among you must be your servant he's helping them.

See that up is down the greatness in the kingdom is not what you think it is and your view of status so there's status humility there's faithful humility that children display children trust their parents they do i've been trying to walk through with my oldest uh different parts of who God is and over the last year we've been walking through uh the trinity which is a really easy concept to imagine as an adult much less a five-year-old but we've been walking through this and i'm like he is.

Father and he is he is uh Jesus is the son and he's the Holy Spirit he's three and he's one and he the wheels are turning and it just it's breaking her brain and a lot of times i'll talk about about Jesus and she'll just say no no you can call him God and i'm like yes we heart yes but he's also Jesus i know it's confusing he's three he's one but not in any of that is she distrusting of me she's trying to figure it out she's wrestling with these deeper questions with these deeper truths.

But she's not actually saying no i don't actually trust what he has to say no she's faithful and she trusts me and that's the kind of trust that Jesus invites us to not this arrogant posture that says God has to answer to me that when we delve into some of the greater mysteries and more difficult truths in our faith we do it from a posture of faith realizing there's mystery realizing this is hard to understand but doing it from a position of childlike faith and humility the.

Third picture this is dependent humility children are are needy creatures they are they're just dependent upon their parents when we run out of uh cinnamon toast crunch in our household as my daughter's favorite cereal uh not for a moment does she think you know what bridges come with me and she goes she's not going to go to our refrigerator and reach up maybe get a stool grab the keys and she's not going to convince him to get into the van and let him work the pedals and her work the steering wheel and go down the grocery store and pick up some cinnamon toast crunch and it's not at all in her brain at all no.

She knows that her parents will provide us she comes to us asking with no shame at all knowing that she's dependent upon us and that's what God invites us to with this type of humility that we know that we're not well we believe that we're not self-sufficient in and of ourselves that we would be completely dependent upon upon the lord and his provisions and the things that he does for us and the ways that he works in us there's this dependent humility give you one more picture of humility that children display it is persistent humility children are persistent i realize this pretty regularly.

When i walk home or when i walk home when i drive home this would be a long walk from here when i get home and and it's five o'clock and i i can pretty ge i can gauge the the temperature of the house uh and what's happened during the day pretty quickly sometimes i come in and and i hear mom mom mom and my wife just goes no i'm changing my name i am not mom that is your father you go to him and i realize that it's been a rough day and i'll just say babe no just just go to the bedroom go take a walk i'll handle it from here like i understand.

Because i'm around them a couple times a week for an extended period of time and they ask over and over again and they do more so even with her mom mom mom over and over and over and over again they're persistent there's no shame there they'll ask over and over again and that's what God calls us to in that type of humility that's why he taught in in the sermon on the mount to pray with this kind of we can come to the.

Father with our needs that's why in luke 18 he gives the parable of the persistent widow a widow who comes and asks and asks and asks and that's the picture of how we should be in our humility listen God is not annoyed by your request he is inexhaustible in fact he delights in his children coming over and over and over and over again because it displays the humility that is seen as great in the kingdom of God so different pictures of humility that children display and most of them are very difficult.

For us culturally to accept because culturally we don't value humility we don't i heard one pastor who actually really respect he gave a redefinition of humility that i think was i don't know was meant to be more palatable for our ears but he defined it as not humility is not thinking less of yourself it's thinking of yourself less and it's like man that is pithy and that crushes on some type of inspiration poster in somebody's office but that is not what the Bible teaches the Bible teaches no think less of yourself have a child-like status in your mind be needy persistent dependent which are all cultural values that we don't uphold not at all our.

Culture rejects that type of humility on multiple levels on one level it's kind of baked into the american dream that one of the chief ideals of our culture is achieving greatness through your own hard work through your own blood through your own sweat through your own tears we value those kinds of stories that that you can be self-sufficient make the american dream happen through years of hard work if you're older you've understood that for decades if you're younger you're stepping into the world you understand in our culture that is uh what is value dependency in our culture is weakness.

So on one level that's that's difficult for us to practice humility because our culture does not value it on top of it for a very specific uh generation of of people namely the one that that i am in we were raised as the self-esteem generation which i know for a lot of you baby boomers and upper gen xers you'll like to make fun of us for but i'd like to just go on the record and say you were the one that taught us this.

So you get to share the misery that is now because of that but for real we were we were raised on self-esteem like that you are great that greatness lies within you that you are special and amazing i remember in in middle school uh that we would go to these self-esteem assemblies and all the students were packing together in the gymnasium i remember one get one group in particular there's a bunch of guys and they came out with that message that you are great you can you can do anything you put your mind to.

And then they started like doing crazy stuff like tearing phone books in half which if you're younger they used to have phone books they were really thick with the internet didn't have numbers like you had to even tear these in half and they would break bricks and do all kinds of just crazy things and they say see you greatness lies but then you go out and achieve it and then 9 11 hit us in the face followed by the great recession.

Now the pandemic and how is that going i mean it's crushing to have that on top of this culture that rejects dependency on any level on multiple levels the odds are stacked to get against us and accepting this as a teaching so we need to break free from the culture here and become like children receive this teaching one of the reasons that i love the story of Exodus um there's there's there's a few there's lots of reasons why Exodus is an amazing story from the old testament one of the reasons that i really love it is is.

When they're in the wilderness God is trying to teach the Israelites that i am your God and you are my people and he's doing this one of the ways he does this is that they were slaves in egypt for hundreds of years in a system where they were slaves to a king to a set of pharaohs and when he brings them into the wilderness what does he do he provides manna he provides this daily bread that comes from heaven and what he's doing in the wilderness is teaching you he's teaching the uh the the Israelites that i am your.

God and you are my people i provide for you you are not going back to the system where you were slaves you are my people and i will provide for you and that is the type of Exodus that we need from this culture a culture that scoffs at humility that upholds the myth of the completely self-sufficient person we have got to break free from this and grow in a childlike dependence and humility on our God that is what Jesus is trying to teach his disciples that's what we need to receive as we read this.

And then he makes a shift he shifts from teaching this concept of humility towards what we're about to read next the value of children starting in verse five he says whoever receives one such child in my name receives me but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea so he shifts from humility of children upholding that to no no there's a correction that needs to happen here children are immensely valuable i mean he gives the encouragement that.

If you receive a child that you receive Christ and if you lead one of these little ones the stream it would be better for you to take a great millstone a great weight tied around your neck and to be drowned in the deepest oceans that is the wrath of God as a warning for those who would lead children astray and the reason why is because God loves children he cares for them they are tiny beautiful image bearers that he loves immensely.

Now on one level i think that's easy for us to get on board with culturally we we do a good job of physically caring for children we do probably a little bit too much because children end up becoming idols for us uh but we do a really good job i think of physically getting on board with caring for children uh culturally and it's historically this has not been the case and across the world there's still still cultures that don't actually value children like this i learned this one of the ways i learned this is.

When i was studying abroad i was in india and in india in some parts of the country that are poor you'll see lots of children like packs of children for lack of a better term and all these children are together for a reason because they've lost their parents and if you lose your parents in a culture like that you're on your own there's no one to to care for you and you make it on your own and and Christians have in a in a amazingly positive way impacted western culture we're the ones that started orphanages we're the ones that that emphasize caring.

For the fatherless and the motherless we we have a strong impact on western culture that is why we have social systems that are set up to care for children and that's why in other countries that don't have it we have missionaries to go and establish orphanages and care for children so i think in one sense we really grasp this that children are valuable however especially in western culture we care very little for the spiritual well-being of a child in fact a lot of ways that our our culture is.

For actually tearing down the spiritual will of being of a child and this shows up in a few different ways but one of the ways that shows up is that children and their purpose in society is to ultimately provide for that society that they are the future caretakers of the physical well-being of society so what happens is that we absorb that as the main focus that ultimately raising children in this culture is raising them to succeed materially and contribute to the material flourishing of society.

Let me say that again that raising children in this culture primarily is that children would succeed materially achieve the american dream and contribute to the material and physical well-being of society and there's a few ways that this shows up but one of the main ways it shows up is what is preached as the ultimate key in salvation for children and that is education that is the ultimate goal that education is the solution for children and what happens in our culture is that there's.

So much weight placed on education and not even education for education sense it's actually for building a resume for getting good grades so there's this huge push to make sure that kids make good grades and achieve and make straight days and build that college resume because you got to get scholarships and you got to get into a college you know what else you need you need activities and you need sports and you need clubs and we teach children to do and do and do and go and go and go.

Because what is the measured success of a child that one day that will secure a very good job and they will achieve happiness through the accumulation of material things what Jesus teaches is that those things one day will pass away through must through rust and moth destroying it all the good biblical illustrations that Jesus gives on material things passing away that's the aim of our culture now are education and and sports and activities bad no no there actually can be very good things.

But when that becomes the chief aim what you have done is you've raised a generation of children to find value in what they produce and find happiness and things they can accumulate and there's no eternal aim there and here's the deal it would be better for us to tie a millstone around our neck and be drowned in the deepest waters to let our children become slaves in that system there is repentance that has to happen on our part so let me suggest a different path let's make the primary aim of raising children in this culture to know and love.

God let that be the primary aim for us and our families to know and love God let's read the Bible regularly with our children i mean as the night closes or is the on the morning before school what other rhythm works for your family to open up God's word and say this is who God is this is who our savior is i had a professor in in seminary he he taught something called once a week Gospel talks or or another circle that's called family worship and once we could get together with his uh with his with his kids and he would read the Bible and he would teach and he would talk to them.

He'd ask them what are you facing what kind of problems are you wrestling with that he helped them apply the Gospel and their lives and that's one thing we're trying to work on in our family especially with our language my wife has been pushing me on this because my go-to when the kids make a mistake or mess up i'll just say what's the matter with you this is phrases i heard growing up what's the matter with you and she'll go that's not helpful i know.

When she's been pushing me on how about talking to them in a way that says this what does that reveal about your heart all right you why did you hit your brother why did you steal that toy from your sister what does that actually reveal about your heart and at first i was really resistant because i was like man that seems really over spiritual which i know is bad because i'm a pastor but i finally repented and i was like okay that that that does make a lot of sense.

So i've i've changed it i'm like what's the matter with you and then she gives me a look and i'm like because you know what's the matter with you you have a deceitful and wicked heart there no i'm i'm growing in this i'm being pushed in this the language in which we talk to our children matters and shaping them how they understand the Gospel and also one of the things i think that just gets completely lost in all of this is teaching our kids to be virtuous the virtues of Christ love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control your kid may not make straight a's they may not get into the best of colleges.

How much better they be if they're actually a loving peaceful patient kind and good person who follows Jesus if you teach them to know God to apply the Gospel and to be virtuous here's the deal if you aim eternally the rest will follow that's what the proverbs teaches the proverbs teach over and over again if you teach a child to know God to walk with God to have wisdom the material is going to follow they're going to be okay they're going to take care of themselves there's nothing wrong with not wanting your child to be 30 year old in your basement that's not that's a decent desire.

But if you aim for the eternal the material will follow it doesn't mean they're going to be rich and that's fine because the deceitfulness of riches has has led many to destruction but they will know how to take care of themselves but more importantly they will eternally know God and they will function as virtuous people that's a much better legacy we need to have and value children with an absolute eternal aim these are the two things that Jesus teaches children example of humility that we should embody also value them in a way that has eternity in mind skip 19.

We're going to chapter verses 13 through 15 and we're going to watch him apply this then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray the disciples rebuke the people but Jesus said let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven and he laid his hands on them and went away so Jesus gets an opportunity to correct his disciples in this moment again culturally children get away this is important.

Jesus and he says no no no no no let them come to me that's value that is applying what he just taught in 18 no i value children he's letting the children come to him this is the picture that we love of Jesus picking up children placing a blessing on them showing that he absolutely loves and values children that's what he's trying to help his disciples see they are valuable and my question for us as a Church is do we see the value of children that's the Church do we get this do we value children like.

Jesus does i get it there's a wide range of opinions about children in our Church i know this because i'm on facebook and there are lots of opinions about children on facebook there's a wide range i know some of you don't really like children like they they're strange and you're they're really hard to talk to sometimes being a group with them and you're like i i don't i don't even think i understand what you're saying okay bye like i understand it can be difficult they can be distractions they can distract and worship they can distract and group sometimes they smell maybe you resent the stage of childhood that you had to go through i don't.

Know what that is for you but you need to be pushed on here you need to be corrected here Jesus values children i don't see i'm not saying you have to be captain kid city but i am saying that you need to value children a way that mirrors what Jesus is teaching you some of you are great and you love kids and you're down in the basement right now and you can't even hear us but some of you love kids some of you love your own children.

But you actually really don't like anybody else's children and you also need to be corrected here because one of the chief aims for us as a Church is to mirror this and to help all children in our Church find their place with Christ so how does that show up how does that show up in community group is your community group a people is your meeting time a place where where you can where y'all receive children and do it well my community group has 16 kids.

Listen we multiplied in january it was 18. we split it down the middle sent patrick and the johnsons off with half of them and now we're back to 16 because people keep having children and things so we we have a lot of kids and and group meeting time is difficult um we'll we'll send them upstairs to have discussion and there are sometimes y'all that for 40 minutes were only interrupted with three major meltdowns and it's not quiet it sounds like like stampeding children upstairs screaming and yelling.

But but sometimes we just we need time for ourselves to be able to discuss the Bible to walk through what's going on life i think that's good but one of the ways i think we fall short and this is on me as a leader i don't think we do a good job of making room at the table for our kids that's hard the most of them are five and under and it's hard to but i want to get to a place where there's there is room in our group.

For actually children to experience Christ i just want to ask you do you see that do you see children as as a mission field in your group are they a hindrance to your group meeting time a hindrance to your group experience that's something i think we need to shift on here it is hard to be groups on mission right now because inviting people into groups during a pandemic it's not the easiest but the reality is that you have a bunch of children in your group that need the Gospel.

And if you saw them as a mission field that we only get them for about you know 18 years together and group if you saw that as a mission field as well and invested in the children in your group you would be embodying this teaching and you'd be making an impact in eternity we need to grow in this as groups when you grow individually and making investments into our children some of you need to serve in kid city you need to serve in kid city even during a pandemic you need to actually go down there and serve and love our children some of you that don't have kids you can you can help parents you.

Can join in helping them disciple their kids you can ask what can i do to help you and helping your kids know more of Jesus y'all you can you can babysit them to make sure parents can go on date nights and and and and work on their marriage so they can be good husbands and wives and good mothers and fathers there's lots of ways that we can partner together in investing in children another level of this is that we can receive children that aren't even part of this Church that you and your family can be a mission force in partnering here this and partnering with your children to be missionaries in their schools and their.

Neighborhoods my wife's family growing up they made sure that their house was the place that kids wanted to come to kids from the neighborhood their parents their other their friends from school they made sure that their uh their house was the spot now part of that was because my mother-in-law really wanted to make sure she could uh control the environment which is why my wife saw her first rated r movie when she was 17 she confessed it it's part of that.

But part of it was this is a home where children can come and experience the Gospel the reality is a lot of my uh my my wife and her siblings their friends weren't believers they weren't a part of churches their parents didn't didn't know and love Jesus and those kids got to come and experience a family that loved Christ they got to come and worship with them on sundays and i want that i want that for our family our kids are are are in school um and they're going to be in public schools there's going to be lots of opportunities.

For for them to to hang out with kids that don't know Jesus and i want to partner with them on mission i want to give them a Gospel missionary lens for their friends i want to invite them into our household i want that for our family that we can partner with our kids on mission so that we can embody this command and receive children like Christ calls us to i'll give you one last level in which we you can grow in this we can grow in a Church and we're trying to do this growing uh in being a Church that cares about orphan care we have multiple families in our Church that are either fostering.

In the foster system because they're kids in south carolina that need homes they need homes they can be loved even more than any homes they can experience Christ there's domestic adoption happening in our Church there's international adoption in our Church and here's the deal not everyone is called to orphan care but we're a Church that is trying to grow in this we all should care about those who are involved in orphan care so that means supporting them if that means getting behind them.

If that means being uh registered people they can they can watch kids that are that are in foster care whatever it is we need to grow in receiving children that desperately need someone who loves them and needs to know their savior there are lots of different ways that we can receive children and if we keep this as a focus in our Church if we strive towards this then one of the things that we will realize is that we will learn from them.

Because it's not only that we'll receive them and we'll see the value of them that also we will see the example of humility that is on display back in verse 14 he says but Jesus said let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of God it's back to what he just taught for such belongs the kingdom of God the kingdom of God belongs to the humble because our savior has open arms on the cross and he invites us in to fellowship with him we don't bring anything to the table even more.

So we bring our sin and our bags to the table but by his grace he opens his arms to receive us but that takes humility the acknowledgment of sin and and brokenness james 4 6 says but he gives more grace therefore it says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble here's the deal God gives abundant grace to those who know they needed if you know you're messed up if you know you've got your sin if you know you've got your baggage the beauty of the Gospel is is that our.

God knows that and he's ready to receive you humble yourself and come to him but here is the warning if you think you've got it all together if you think you're well put together if your life is it is in good order if you know i'm not perfect but but i'm fine you need to receive the warning here he opposes the proud he only gives grace to those who acknowledge their need of him and that is in repentance and as the recognition that the only hope we have is coming to him with our sin and our baggage and letting him take it on the cross may we grow in valuing children and from our value.

And spending time with them and loving them may we see a humility that is so needed of us so that we can experience God and enter the kingdom of heaven the ban is going to come up and i want us to take a few moments and reflect on this i want us to grow receiving children i don't know what that is for you i don't know what that is as a part of your group i don't know what that is in your life.

But but this is a command you guys this this is this is not just a suggestion God wants us to receive children there's a great blessing in it my hope is that we would look at this maybe some of you actually need to consider fostering and adopting maybe some of you need to create avenues for children to experience Jesus in your group i don't know what that is for you but my hope is you wouldn't hear this and go oh that's neat cool stuff and move on my hope is that you would hear this and think how can you actually implement uh this truth that children are valuable and worthy of our time and our.

Energy and our effort and our love my hope also is is that we would walk in uh humility maybe ask ourselves where you need to grow in humility do you see being needy and persistent as as a vice as something to be that it's a weakness or do you see it as an absolute posture of humility that God calls us to are you so concerned with status that you've missed the understanding when you become like a child like a servant i don't know what that is.

For you i don't know if it's hard for you to come to the lord and ask for things i don't know if it's if it's difficult for you to humble yourself before God and others i don't know what that is for you but the importance of an absolute child like humility is so necessary not only for us knowing Christ but knowing more of him the more that you grow in humility the more you get to experience our God and that is what he's inviting us into may we grow in this repent where needed and experience these truths in the way that.

God has taught us let me pray God i am thankful that you love children in a perfect way that we have no shot at doing i'm thankful that you humbled yourself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross i'm thankful for the truth of the Gospel that helps us repent of these ways that we failed and our pride and our lack of love for children God i pray that you would grow us and shape us and mold us in your image.

God i pray if there's anyone here who has not humbled himself before you i pray right now this morning that you would reveal yourself in a way that absolutely breaks down the walls of pride and their life and calls them into faith and you ask us in Jesus name amen you guys.

Death and Taxes (Matthew 17:14-27)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Death and Taxes

Chet Phillips

Transcript

You guys can be seated well good morning my name is chet i'm one of the pastors here we are walking through the Gospel of Matthew so if you'll grab your bibles and go to Matthew chapter 17 whenever we set out to walk through a book of the Bible especially one that's longer we kind of have to wrestle with how much time are we going to spend in that book how zoomed in are we going to be sometimes we go pretty quickly sometimes we go a little bit slower Matthew we've walked pretty slowly through it.

But there are times where in order for it to not be seven years of us walking through the Gospel of Matthew we put some things together today we are going to look at three separate stories and we're gonna try to pull out a big idea we're gonna look three separate um sections in the Gospel of Matthew and pull out one big idea and it's gonna take a little bit of work because they're going to be some things that we can't zoom in on we're going to have to mention and keep moving um and y'all know me i'm very organized and my sermons are always super coherent and to the point.

And so i know you know i preach and spencer preaches and when he walks up here and when i walk up here i know when i come up here you lower your expectations a little bit and what i'm saying today is no a little lower no but we're going to walk through these three sections and i think we're going to find them extremely helpful this morning as we do kind of zoom out and try to take one big idea out so let's pray.

And then we'll read starting in verse 14. God we thank you for your word and it's goodness to us it's helpfulness for us and we pray that as we come to it today that we wouldn't just see the stories we wouldn't just see the words but that we would see you that we would meet you in your word today and that you would be glorified and that we would leave this place feeling and knowing more of your love for us through your son in.

Jesus name we pray amen so we're in Matthew 17 verse 14. Jesus has just been on the mountain he has just been transfigured he has shone like the sun a bright cloud wrapped around him and the disciples who were with him fell on their faces and now they're descending back down into ministry into some normalcy for Jesus after this literal mountaintop experience when they came to the crowd a man came up to him that's Jesus and kneeling before him said lord have mercy on my son.

For he has seizures and he suffers terribly for often he falls into fire and often into the water and i brought him to your disciples and they could not heal him that's awful do you hear that this father pleading on behalf of his son and his son has seizures and not only does he have a physical ailment but he falls in water they live near water this is an area near a lake he falls in water there are times where his dad has had to try to keep him from drowning he falls in fire which was a normal part of life.

For them he has to keep him from being burned at this point this child probably does have burns on his body this is painful and there really is very little in life that shows us the brokenness of the world the way that a sick child does there's really very little in life that shows us how failing and fleeting life is like a sick child i've been reading a book by a clinical psychiatrist and he was talking through how people view the objects around them and he said we basically view them based off of their usefulness we don't think about how complex they are we don't think of how important they are and how much there.

Is to them we just think through their utility he said a car is a really good example of this you very rarely think of all the sum of parts of your car you rarely think of how complex it is it is the thing that gets you from here to there but he said as soon as you sit in it and try to crank it and it doesn't crank you suddenly realize this is really complex piece of machinery i'm sitting in it's no longer getting you from here to there and you realize how very little you know about cars you realize that this is a major problem.

For you and then he talks about how this increases our stress that as soon as we hit situations where they don't work the way they're supposed to we're entering into stress how's uh how's 2020 been for you we sat in the car in 2020 and it wouldn't turn over it's like we picked up the phone and called God and we're like hey i keep 2020 is going what does that mean it's not doing what it was supposed to we started this year off.

Because we had to we started this year off with a series sermon series called 2020 vision because if i had grown old and realized we passed the year 2020 and didn't use it in some sort of corny annoying way when we had the opportunity that was never going to come again it would have plagued me so we went with 20 20 vision and i joked to spencer that we're actually going to need to end the year in a series called hindsight's 20.

Because what we thought the year was going to look like not so much and if you'd have told me it was going to play out this way it would have been hard to imagine the same for all of us that it didn't work the way it was supposed to that we're all staring at physical sickness financial insecurity questions about justice and the future of the united states it's a political year we already knew some of it was going to be annoying.

And then it it becomes this and we're it's not doing what it was supposed to and it's been stressful and i think in these seasons and in sickness and in doubt and in frustration it's really easy for us to start asking the question is why does the world work like this why do these type of things happen why is normal so often very very painful and bad and i think nothing shows us that like a sick child but that's normal that there would be sick children.

But why why is that how this works why is the world so broken and i think we come to the lord with that question and so as we read these three sections today we're going to look at that question why is this normal why is this brokenness so much a part of life what is God's answer what does he want from us what is he going to do about it we're just going to walk through that question a bit as we walk through this section.

So he brings his son and has a terrible condition verse 15 lord have mercy on my son for he has seizures and he suffers terribly for often he falls into fire and often into the water and i brought him to your disciples and they could not heal him so Jesus comes down and he's met with this brokenness and the fact that his disciples couldn't do what they were supposed to and Jesus answered oh faithless and twisted generation how long am i to be with you how long am i to bear with you bring him here to me that's not an encouraging response this.

Father says can you help my son in Jesus responses oh faithless and twisted generation it would be hard for the father not to feel like some of that was aimed at him it would be hard for the disciples not to feel like some of that was aimed at them i i believe in general he's speaking to both and he's lamenting the the generation that he's in that there's faithless that there's brokenness that the people of Israel don't believe in him as they should they don't trust him that there's doubt that even his own disciples who were supposed to have it supposed to know supposed to be able to do these sort of things don't that.

Stings a little bit i feel that a little bit do you often feel like maybe that's the lord's response to you how long am i going to be with you how long am i going to put up with you how many times are we going to have this conversation how many times are we going to circle back to this my dad liked the movie butch cassidy and the sundance kid it's an old western it's good um at one point butch and sundance get hired to help guard a guy who's gonna go he picks up money in a little stagecoach.

And then he brings it back up and they're picked to they're hired to protect him as he picks up the money and so they're riding down the hill to go pick up the money and butch and sundance are on the front of the stagecoach and they're talking about okay people could be hiding over here oh they could set up a boat ambush over there and they're really into it they're sitting there with their guns and the guy driving the stagecoach says hey they turn around.

Look at him he goes ain't nobody going to rob us going down the mountain we ain't got no money going down the mountain and they're like oh and he leans back and goes morons i got morons on my team and i probably heard that 1500 times in my life be working with my dad doing something we'd be messing something up he'd kill but hey hey hey and he would explain why what we were talking about was dumb or why it wouldn't work.

And then he would go morons i got morons on my team i feel like that's sometimes Jesus's response to me is trying to be his disciple but not doing what i'm supposed to it's a little bit like how long are we going to do this how long am i going to put up you're on my team but what is going on here he's lamenting this but i looked this up i tried to see if there was anything that he was referencing.

Because Jesus often does because he's the word of God incarnate but he's also he pulls from the written word so often and the only place i could find this phrase this twisted generation is in deuteronomy chapter 32 it's in a song that Moses teaches the people of Israel that this phrase is found in deuteronomy chapter 32 and it's a song and i'm going to tell y'all the song's not super nice it's the last thing Moses teaches the people of Israel before they go he's given them the law he's led them all the way to the edge of the promised land and he says y'all need to learn a song.

God may have taught me a song to teach y'all and the song is about judgment the song is about how they're going to fail the song's about how great God is and how they're going to run from him i was reading through and it reminded me of the song that dwight schrute sings in the office that he said that that all the shrewd children were taught which is learn your rules you've got to learn your rules if you don't you'll be eaten in your sleep and that was the song that they taught all the children and that's what this feels like he says i'm going to teach you a song and the song is.

God is glorious God is good but we're wicked so i want to read some of this is verse 4 of deuteronomy 32 it says the rock his work is perfect all his ways are justice a God of faithfulness and without iniquity meaning he's no sin no fault nothing's wrong with him he's just and upright is he they have dealt corruptly with him they are no longer his children because they are blemished they are a crooked and twisted generation do you thus repay the.

Lord you foolish and senseless people is not he your father who created you who made you and established you verse 20 says and he said i will hide my face from them i will see what their end will be for they are a perverse generation children in whom is no faithfulness they have made me jealous with what is no God and they have provoked me to anger with their idols he teaches the people of Israel what it looks like to follow.

God and then he says learn this because this is what's ultimately going to happen that y'all were meant to be his children y'all were meant to live in relationship hit with him and he hasn't broken faith you have this is the first answer the Bible gives to us as to why is the world so messed up because we're in it and we're sinful we're twisted even our sense of justice is twisted what we believe is right and wrong is so often twisted that as we approach.

God and we plead for him with justice often we don't even know what to plead for because we're twisted we're sinful it's in us from adam it's handed down and even after God gave us the law we continue even though we know what is right and wrong that he's told us we continue to do what is evil and wrong that it's in us and we make it worse i told the sunday school class this story last week but i took my son to go to the doctor to get his blood drawn.

Because he has some food allergies and he's been getting kind of sick and we think maybe he's getting worse or we're feeding him something that he shouldn't have and so we're just getting his blood tested to see how he's doing and if he's progressing and what's going on while we're at the hospital he's sitting in a chair i'm sitting there trying to fill out some paperwork for him we're seeing what's going on with him he turns around in the chair he smiles beautifully at me.

And then licks the back of the chair now he's two but i looked at him he looks a lot like me i thought that's me i've got brokenness in me and i'm actively making it worse and i didn't tell his mama because there was no need for her to lay awake thinking about that i was going to bring it up offhandedly if he had gotten sick oh you know what now that i think about it he did lick a chair at the hospital.

But that's us that we're twisted we're corrupted we were meant to have a good relationship with God and we've rebelled we've run from him and that's the first answer as to why are things so broken that's why Jesus in this moment responds with you twisted corrupted generation y'all should be different but you're broken your hearts are off and it's interesting how twisted our generation is because this man in the midst of his brokenness brings his son to God and he asks.

For mercy he brings him to Jesus he sees Jesus as a representative God he calls him lord he sees him as above him and he asks for mercy meaning you're in a position of power i just need mercy but the reality is our twisted and broken generation doesn't bring sick children to God for mercy we bring them as exhibit a as to why he is unjust and unfair and does not deserve to be God we don't bring asking for mercy as.

If he's bigger than us if he's as if he's just and holy and right in all his ways and that we're wicked and we need mercy and grace from him we bring him and we put him in the uh testimony chair he's got to testify to us as we sit in the judgment seat and we say do you see this do you see this do you see this how dare you but this man comes and he asks for mercy and he receives it.

Jesus verse 18. it says and Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the boy was healed instantly and this is interesting because it does tie this spiritual aspect with physical aspect that it was demonic and there was physical healing that happened so Jesus rebukes it he's authority over all that is evil and all that is broken the boy was healed instantly it moves on from there but i i couldn't help but picturing this dad with his son after this moment on a boat catching some fish.

And then cooking him around the fire and the amount of joy in his heart thinking back to Christ and thinking about how good he is that his illness is gone and that he doesn't fall in water and fire anymore that they can have joy and delight around those things that God re-straightened out what was broken in his world verse 19 the disciples came to Jesus privately and said why could we not cast it out and he said to them because of your little faith.

For truly i say to you if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed you will say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you now mustard seed it's tiny i'm holding one in my hand right now i'm not but it doesn't matter you wouldn't be able to see it it's tiny and i think when he said you have little faith i don't think any of them thought yes i have the faith i would have thought yeah.

Okay small you know like a terrier like not huge but i got some faith but he says if you had it even the size of a mustard seed see the reality is it's not about the size of our faith it's not that we grow large in faith and we become powerful in faith in some sort of way that pumps us up it has to do with where the faith is planted it has to do with where the faith is located if they had just tiny bit of faith.

But it was put in the right spot not in themselves not in something else not in their ability to to do this well enough that they he but that's what he's frustrated about so he calls him twisted and faithless the two people that he's praised are non-jewish people that he's praised for their faith a centurion and a canaanite woman and he comes to his people and he says i don't get it you're broken you're twisted you're faithless and he looks at the disciples and said.

If you just had a little bit you could pick up a mountain and move it and i love how we approach this passage because we immediately want to go well not really you don't really mean move a mountain and sure okay it's probably no practical benefit in moving mountains and if someone was like i have enough faith watch me move a mountain just for show i doubt they actually have faith in God and would be approaching appropriately handling this but he does mean what he says nothing will be impossible.

If you come to the lord and genuine faith but that's because nothing's impossible for him and if you trust him genuinely and truly and fully he works but trusting him means that the mountain moving is up to him and whether or not he moves the mountain is up to him often we say well i trusted God and he failed me but if we actually trust him we trust him to do what's good on our behalf no matter what even if we.

See it as failure in the moment so we come to him with genuine faith and God works and moves and does and what he wants from us is genuine faith he calls them twisted and faithless and he tells them if he just had faith things would work God would work he would move if we stopped there we could move on and talk about how Jesus is good and ultimately how he moves us towards hope but if i was the disciples and we stopped there i think i'd be pretty discouraged i think i'd be pretty overwhelmed.

But the story gets better the story of Christ gets better his work gets better on our behalf so he says this verse 22 as they were gathering in galilee Jesus said to them the son of man and they know that he's been referring to himself is about to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him and he will be raised on the third day and they were greatly distressed she says the son of man will be delivered in the hands of men that's distressing on its own that he's going to die that he's going to be killed it's distressing that he.

Now uses the word deliverance this is delivered into their hands this first he's told them this twice now but he's going to be delivered maybe brings to mind that he might be betrayed that he might be handed over so this adds extra stress to the disciples but they're also just stressed out about this idea they think he's saying he's going to die now they don't fully understand what he means by he's going to die and he's going to be raised because they're surprised.

When he comes back from the dead let's cut him some slack that's pretty surprising they also at times would uh overthink the things he said so that we read a couple chapters ago where he says beware the leaven of the sadducees and the pharisees and they get in this argument about the fact that they don't have bread and he's like that's not what i meant so he tells them he's going to go to the cross he's going to die and he's going to be raised they don't fully understand it.

But they're distressed but for us that's beautiful news because we understand what he's doing it's beautiful news because at this moment of failure for the disciples he doesn't come to them and go guys you've got to get better or it's not going to work he comes to them and says trust and then he says i'm going to the cross that his plan for fixing why everything is so broken praise the lord isn't on us to unbreak it it's on us to trust him as he goes to work.

For us now the world is broken there's sin it runs rampant there's disease there's wickedness and evil and we come to this we say what's God going to do about it is he going to do anything about it and this is his answer that he's going to come and live and die that he who is the son of God they proclaimed him that then he went up God proclaimed him that from a cloud and then Jesus says i'm the son of man he is the son of.

God but he calls himself the son of man because he's taking our place and going to the cross for us so the world is broken through sin it's affecting everything Jesus has the ability ability to heal we just saw that with that boy but he can't just fix situations he's got to make it to the root of the problem so we have a few options big picture theologically how's he going to fix the world option one that people often put forward is why can't he just forgive everybody.

If we've sinned against him why can't he just forgive everybody and we just read it in deuteronomy because he's right and just and holy and a judge who just forgives everybody is the worst judge ever if you had someone harm you assault you hurt one of your family members they're caught you go to court the testimony is given it's displayed what they've done and the judge looks and says you know what i forgive you and slams the gavel down do you know how soul-crushing that is that's not justice that's wickedness that's evil and you'd be going easy.

For you to say easy for you to wipe this clean what about me i've lost i've been harmed and the reality is the earth cries out to God we have been harmed we have lost now we've been an active part of it but we have been hurt there is wickedness here and he can't just forgive like he somehow magics it away not and still be just now he could do it and be crooked but he can't just forgive all right so there's a legitimate.

Second option i don't know if you guys are going to like it he can kill all of us you want to think about that one we'll talk through the the pros and cons that he can he can be just and destroy all those who are treason us but the reality is his love it'd be hard for him to just destroy all of us and then still be loving his love holds him back and changes his course but he could justly destroy all of us who have wickedly rebelled.

So he does this he becomes a human he goes to the cross he dies he rises and asks us to have faith to trust him and in so doing he displays his love and his justice that he pays for sin that sin will be dealt with it will be paid out and that he offers us grace and redemption and forgiveness through his love so here's the thing it doesn't answer why is everything terrible it gives us the answer that part of the reason things are messed up and broken in the world is that the world is broken and messed up through sin that's part of the answer it's a very generic answer it doesn't give.

Us a specific answer as to why you have this ailment and this person doesn't why that person had nice parents and yours were the way they were why these children are fine and live and you've had three miscarriages it doesn't answer those questions and those are painful questions it doesn't answer the specificness of the brokenness but it tells us a few things that it's not the brokenness that we specifically face is not because God is unjust and the brokenness that we specifically face is not.

Because he doesn't love us Jesus came to die on a cross to display God's justice and his love and to offer us hope so the reason we face the things we face we don't get all the answers but he tells us it's not that he's unjust and it's not that he doesn't love us now this next story i think helps display this it's an interesting picture it's just a little story it's kind of an odd story i i have enjoyed studying it.

But i think it helps us see this picture of what Jesus has come to do on our behalf to to display his justice and to offer us his love and help fix what's broken in the world when they came to capernaum the collectors of the two drachma dracula attacks went up to Peter and said does your teacher not pay the tax so the two drachma tax these aren't roman tax collectors these aren't people who are traders of the state these are people who are taking up a tax that was issued in Exodus chapter 30 by Moses by.

God through Moses and it's four originally for the tabernacle and now for the temple that everybody who is 20 years old and upward would pay a half a shekel which is two drachma let's read that section from Exodus 30 verses 11 through 14 says the lord said to Moses when you take the census of the people of Israel then each shall give a ransom for his life to the lord a ransom is you paying yourself out of slavery out of bondage.

For his life to the lord when you number them that there be no plague among them when you number them each one who is numbered in the census shall give this half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary let's tell specifically what that is and it says half a shekel as an offering to the lord everyone who is numbered in the census from 20 years old and upward shall give the lord's offering i think one of the things we really need to take from this this was a half a shekel 1500 years later they're taking a two drachma drachma tax which is a half a shekel is that.

If we stick with the gold standard we can really help control inflation but there's other things too so they come to him and they they take this tax this is what it is they ask Peter does your teacher pay the tax Peter verse 25 says he said yes and when he came to the house Jesus spoke to him first saying we don't get to find out we don't know why Peter says yes Peter maybe knew that Jesus did this had seen him do it previously we don't know anything about that uh maybe Peter just in the moment said yes and figured he'd sort it out later we don't know.

Jesus talks to him first we don't know if Peter was going to immediately go talk about it we don't know if Peter had forgotten we don't know but Peter says yes they said does he pay the tax and he says yes and then when he went into the house Jesus spoke to him first saying what do you think simon and that's Jesus is kind of set up for i'm going to give you a little test i'm going to ask some questions i think Peter was like all right pop quiz time.

Let me get ready what do you think simon from whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax from their sons or from others and when he said from others Jesus said to him then the sons are free what's Jesus's point his point is Peter walks they ask him does Jesus pay the tax Peter says yes Peter walks in Jesus says hey Peter who do kings tax their sons or others Peter says others Jesus says okay so the sons are free what.

Jesus just said was Peter i'm the son of God i don't have to pay this tax they actually owe me the tax he could legitimately say run back outside tell them when they're done with their collection to bring it to me i'm a true and better temple we're going to tear it down we're going to we're going to build it back in three days and they're not going to worship on that mountain or this mountain they're going to worship in spirit and truth.

Because it's going to move from the temple to me Jesus is the one who who is owed this tax because he's the one who instituted it he is the son of God the king of ages they ask is your master going to pay the tax or not Peter and Jesus talking Jesus basically says so the sons are free i'm the son of God i don't have to pay this tax and he said however not to give offense to them which side note i think is very helpful.

Because he offends people all the time but here he says not to give offense meaning he doesn't offend people just for the heck of it he offends people where they deserve and need to be offended he's not just contrary for for fun i just think that's helpful but he says however not to give offense to them go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel take that and give it to them.

For me and for yourself it's probably one of the most fun little disciple missions that Peter ever got sent on go to the sea catch a fish open its mouth there's gonna be a shekel take that pay them with the fish mouth shekel that's a weird story i like the story i think it's a helpful picture for us Jesus displays his absolute sovereignty over the world did he make the fish eat the shekel did he just know about the fish is he is he just able to know the the stomach whereabouts of all animals like i don't know i don't know he's just displaying his mightiness he says Peter does the son of.

God have to pay a temple tax Peter says no he says okay now that we've established that we'll pay it because this isn't a fight i'm trying to pick go catch a fish pay for me and for you i love this story i think it's memorable i like that Peter had to dig a shekel out of a fish i think it's beautiful that Jesus pays sovereignly miraculously not only for himself but for Peter sovereignly miraculously he pays for Peter and in Exodus it says that this is a ransom.

But it doesn't just say that this this tax is not just a ransom not just buying yourself out of slavery it keeps going in verse 15 and 16 it says the rich shall not give more the poor shall not give less than the half shekel when you give the lord's offering to make atonement for your lives it says you making atonement for your lives atonement is paying back a debt you owe for your wrongness you shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it to the service of the tent of meeting that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the.

Lord so as to make atonement for their lives Jesus just miraculously sovereignly graciously paid a ransom for Peter made atonement for his life and brought him to remembrance before the lord and the thing that he told us before this was i'm going to go to a cross i'm going to die and i'm going to rise again and the reality is the rest of Scripture pulls out and says that when he did that for all those who have faith in him he pays a ransom he pulls you out of bondage and debt to sin he makes atonement meaning he pays back what you owed.

Because you have sinned and you have laid up a great cost and debt in your sin and he brings you to remembrance before the lord that he presents you before him holy and blameless and above reproach so Jesus clarifies i don't have to do this and then he does it not only for himself but for Peter that's what Philippians 2 says it says we're to have this mind among ourselves which is ours in Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of.

God did not account equality with God a thing to be grasped he's transcendent he glows like the sun but he chooses to join us in humanity he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men so the son of God takes on the name son of man for our goodness because he loves us because he's gracious he humbled himself going from being transfigured where he glows like the sun where he shines in glory to putting on a weak awkward dirty frail stinky human body do you know how much work we do to just not be disgusting around each other some of us more than others.

But he was humble just by putting on a human form and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death not only does he look like a human he takes on actual human form but he goes to death he dies on our behalf for us but not just death even death on a cross so Jesus the son of God who does not have to do this willingly graciously lovingly does this galatians 4 says this.

When the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son so the son of God born of woman so the son of man born under the law so he submits to the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons and because you are sons God has sent the spirit of his son into your hearts crying abba father so you are no longer a slave but a son and of a son than an heir through.

God we're not only ransomed out of slavery but we're made into sons so the son of God became a son of man so that men and women might become sons of God and he did it willingly and graciously because he loves us now the world's broken and it's broken through our sin and that's not a full answer as to why these particular things happen but what we know is that it's not that he's unjust and it's not that he doesn't love us and i love how.

When he goes to the cross he answers his question oh faithless and twisted generation how long am i to be with you how long am i to bear with you if your faith is in Christ the answer to that question is forever he will be with us forever and he will bear with us forever because he graciously lovingly willingly chose to humbly submitting himself to death on a cross so that we might have life in his name and all he asks from us is that we trust him fully forever trust him let's pray.

God we thank you for your grace we thank you that you sovereignly and miraculously ransomed us atoned for our sin and you bring us to remembrance before the lord not in our sin not as slaves but as sons and sons are free we thank you for that freedom that we have in Christ we thank you for the hope that we have in Christ and we pray that we would truly believe fully on you and your work on the cross on our behalf we love you we praise you in.

Jesus name amen the band's going to come back up and we're going to see.

Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

The Transfiguration

Spencer Cary

Transcript

So good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors here we're going to be in Matthew 17. so you can go ahead and flip there and follow follow along with us on the screen one of my favorite parts of stories of recounting stories in history is the art of illusion that is illusion with an a not an eye i've been told that i don't enunciate which is certainly an opinion to have but i want you to be confused like i'm gonna do a magic trick.

Now this is illusion with a alluding to something illusion is a phrase or an event that actually alludes to something without having to explicitly tell the whole story so illusion can come in different forms it can be in the form of foreshadowing so if you've ever watched frozen two and thought wow this plot is incredibly confusing it is but as my wife has told me if you just listen the first song maybe have the lyric sheet out in front of you it's the it's foreshadowing it's the key to understanding the rest of the story a lot of times you can have a illusion that goes backwards or even outside of the story itself and in.

Movies they call these easter eggs these are just things that are put there to draw your mind to something else toy story does this they have easter eggs that point to uh the movie the shining so stories can do this going backwards uh in real life these are called inside jokes right you can tell an inside joke you just have to give a phrase and all of a sudden your friend is taken back to a decade before when you're in college to one of those crazy stories they're illusions sometimes you have it in in stories where they go backwards and forward at the same time.

So hamilton does this the musical hamilton so the very last song of the first act is packed with a ton of illusions uh that basically in the last song all these melodies are sung by some of the main characters and it's telling you everything that's happened in the first act hamilton's rise is coming to america his relentless work ethic his uh his marriage and then it comes to this big crescendo finish that ends with the famous line from the musical i'm not throwing away my shot which in and of itself is a double illusion it's a double entendre it points backward to how he came to america also and he's not going to waste his.

Shot also pointing forward to when he's going to waste his he's not going to waste his shot or he's going to waste his shot i got the whole story right you guys um but yeah i get excited about illusions i know you guys seem really excited about illusions but if you do appreciate them and the art of illusion and storytelling our God is brilliant at it and how he wrote the Bible the Bible is packed with illusions to point backwards and forwards i mean you can read different parts of the Bible and it's not giving you explicit stories.

But it just gives you a picture of something that takes you back to something that happened in the old testament it gives you a picture of something that points forward to what is coming and this story in particular today in Matthew 17 is packed with illusions so we're gonna follow this this is uh famously known as the the transfiguration uh so this is what uh how it is famously referred to as we're gonna follow the disciples and Jesus up the mount.

For the transfiguration and we're gonna see the illusions that are packed into this story and my hope is simply this for today that we can appreciate what is happening in this story we can step back from it and be blown away by the glory of the lord that he is worthy of worship because of how glorious he is so let me pray and then we'll jump into the text father i thank you that you have given us these stories from the life of.

Jesus God i pray that you would speak to us this morning that you would help us be present that we would listen and that we would be blown away by your glory we ask this in Jesus name amen all right verse 1 and after six days Jesus took with him Peter and james and john his brother and led them up a high mountain by themselves all right so just some if you weren't here last week or you didn't listen last week this is uh transitioning off of last week's story where uh Peter has a pretty high moment uh he confesses that.

Jesus the messiah the first confession of that type so he's riding high and then shortly after that uh he tries to rebuke Jesus it does not go well Jesus calls him Satan uh and then uses his failure as a means to teach the disciples so Peter's coming off a really low moment and what i love just about this first verse is this is a picture of who our God is that he's gracious that even in Peter's failure he has plans for him that he signs him take him up.

For this this mountaintop experience i love how gracious our God is to those of us who fall on our faces and fail and then he takes Peter and james and john these are commonly referred to as the three Jesus pours into 12 disciples and then more specifically he pours into three there's going to be three major leaders in the new testament Church so he takes them up the mountain this is the story picks up in verse two and he was transfigured before them and his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.

Behold there appeared to them Moses and elijah talking with him and Peter said to Jesus lord it is good that we are here if you wish i will make three tents here one for you and one for Moses and one for elijah he was still speaking when behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said this is my beloved son with whom i'm well pleased listen to him when the disciples heard this they fell on their faces and were terrifying.

But Jesus came and touched them saying rise and have no fear and when they lifted up their eyes they saw no one but Jesus only all right so there's a lot packed into this event so before we jump into kind of the illusions that are happening in this story uh let's just describe what is what is happening so it says he goes on uh takes them up the mount and then he is transfigured that comes from the greek word metamorphoso which is exactly what it sounds like it's where we get our english word metamorphosis he transformed he metamorphosized he uh transfigured he transformed into something else and he uh the transformation is that he shines.

Bright like the sun like white light emanating from his face from his clothes now if you are familiar with uh other stories you might import and say oh that that's cool i know what this is like i've seen transformers i've seen the incredible hulk i've even seen gannon off the gray turning the ground off the white i get this and i just want to detach ourselves from things pictures we might have because this is real life and this situation is incredible they're standing next to.

Jesus and all of a sudden he transfigures and is emitting white bright light like the sun i don't know if you've looked at the sun you guys lately it's bright it will blind you this this light is emanating from him and then all of a sudden Moses and elijah show up you might be thinking oh cool that's neat too like i've seen star wars uh you know episode six where uh yoda and obi-wan show up as force ghosts at the end and reveal himself luke skywalker yay no this is not neat again this would have been equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying all at the same time.

Because Moses and elijah were pretty terrifying figures in their own right incredible men big figures in the old testament did incredible things and and had gravitas like this is a big deal shining bright light white light Moses and elijah appear then Peter suggests that they should mark this occasion with tents which may seem a little bit weird uh it isn't for uh jewish culture tense had some significance uh we we don't really know for i don't really know for sure exactly what this means there's a few different theories uh maybe he's trying to mark this occasion as a memorial which is something commonly they did in in jewish history uh maybe there's some some tie-ins.

The tabernacle and the tent possibly maybe there's some tie-ins to the feast of booths a celebration that the jewish people had and commemorating God's providing out of egypt uh into the promised land it's possible a few of these things but Peter wants to mark this occasion in the midst of trying to mark this occasion God the father speaks a cloud surrounds the mountain and God speaks anytime this happens in the Bible people fall in fear it's a picture of his holiness is.

So powerful that when he speaks to us as sinners people hit the floor and fear and he says this is my son with whom i am well pleased there's a lot happening in this one part of the story so why why does Jesus take him on the mountain why go to all this trouble for all these events what's the significance of what Jesus is trying to communicate in this situation a lot of the significance a lot of the illusions here deal with the two people that show up Moses and elijah they are significant.

For a reason and if you're familiar with the old testament some of the stories some of these pictures are going to start to come to mind so let's look at Moses first and figure out why he's here and what this is pointing to Moses comes out he takes the people of of God out of egypt brings them through the red sea they're wandering in the in the wilderness and then all of a sudden they show up to mount sinai and at mount sinai this is where Moses is going to go up on the mountain he's going to receive the 10 commandments on tablets he's going to receive the law to take down to the people.

And we'll pick it up in Exodus 24 15 and 16 which says then Moses went up on the mountain and the cloud covered the mountain the glory of the lord dwelt on mount sinai and the cloud covered it six days and on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud now that should sound familiar we put the stories side by side which i know may be difficult because we have small screens but if you can't.

See it just stay with me uh the settings are similar so setting matters in the Bible both of these on on a mountain that's meant to draw your mind to okay uh there's some some mountain similarities then you get to even the detail of six days so Jesus waits six days before he takes the disciples up to the mount of transfiguration that's not an accident because Moses had to wait six days before he received from before he met with the glory of the.

Lord it says the glory of the lord dwelt on mount sinai and a cloud covered it it's intentional a bright cloud shadows the disciples and covers them and the glory of the lord called out to Moses from the cloud and in our story today the voice of the lord comes through the cloud it's intentional for a reason he's drawing uh their mind to something else to the events of mount sinai when when Moses comes down the mountain in Exodus 34 it says.

When Moses came down from mount sinai with two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain Moses did not know that his skin the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God aaron all the people of Israel saw Moses behold the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to come near him again the similarities you put them up side by side his the skin of his face shone and his face shone like the sun what happens on sinai is that Moses encounters the glory of the.

Lord so much so so that he absorbs some of that glory when he comes down the mountain his face is radiating bright so much so that they are fearful of him someone said that when he wants to communicate with him in the future he's got to wear a shroud to cover the glory of the lord that was on his face in the same way Jesus face shines like the sun emanating uh the glory of God it's intentional it's an illusion it's meant to take you back to sinai and the question is why why are these events.

So similar what is God doing here and unfolding the story why the comparison to sinai because it is at mount sinai where Moses delivers the law and Moses being present at the transfiguration it is the picture that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law you gotta go back to Matthew 5 which was like a year ago for us when we were in Matthew 5 and it says that that Jesus came to fulfill the law he's the fulfillment of the law he's the fulfillment of Moses that's the picture that's being shown here he's the fulfillment of the old testament law and it's also going to show that he's the fulfillment of the prophets which is why.

Elijah shows up elijah is one of the biggest prophets of the old testament when they when they think of of great prophets he's he's at the top and there's this uh story from first kings uh where where elijah has a mountaintop showdown with the prophets of baal and God uh just absolutely shows up and shows out and elijah thinks that this is going to cause the nation of Israel to repent and they don't in fact jezebel the queen at the time tries to have him killed.

So he runs off he's dismayed and he shows up to mount horeb which is the same a different name for the same mountain of mount sinai and he shouldn't he climbs up mount horeb and on the mountain the glory of the lord comes surrounds the mountain in a storm surrounds the mountain and speaks to elijah and i love the encouragement that comes from that story because he's encouraging elijah a soldier who is who has fought some wars for the lord on the battlefield and being a prophet and elijah's discouraged and what he assures to elijah in that moment is that his work will continue that his work of correcting the people and also pointing to.

A messiah that is coming that is going to continue through elisha and through the rest of the prophets and all of the prophets are doing just that they're correcting the people they're also calling that one day a messiah is going to come and that messiah is right here Moses and elijah right there in front of him elijah represents that Jesus has come to fulfill all of the work of the prophets and when you combine those two pictures together what you have is that.

Jesus is the filament of not just the law but the prophets he's he's the fulfillment of the entire old testament now that's going to take some time to sink in on with the disciples but that's exactly what's happening here these allusions to Jesus fulfills the old testament in the midst of all of this is they're absorbing this God the father calls out and says this is my beloved son with whom i'm well pleased listen to him that's what he says to the disciples which is an illusion in and of itself.

Because that's what Moses says in deuteronomy 18 15 the lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you from your brothers it is him you shall listen the same thing that God tells the disciples listen to him Jesus is the fulfillment of the old testament the disciples encounter uh the glory of the lord and fear on their faces and the story continues in verse 9 it says and as they were coming down the mountain Jesus commanded them tell no one the vision until the son of man is raised from the dead again it's alluding to what is coming.

Verse 10. and the disciples asked him then why do the scribes say that first elijah must come he answered elijah does come and he will restore all things but i tell you that elijah had already has already come and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased so also the son of man will certainly suffer at their hands then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of john the baptist so there might have been a little bit of confusion here elijah shows up.

But he doesn't stay and they're wondering why isn't elijah supposed to come that's one of the prophecies from the old testament is saying that elijah must come first and Jesus makes it clear he did and elijah type figure came it was john the baptist now from this moment forward the entire narrative of Matthew is turning most of the entirety of Jesus ministry in Matthew has been in galilee that's the setting but from this moment forward everything is moving towards Jerusalem everything is moving towards the cross i mean the the significance of walking down the mountain and geographically you have galilee in the north and you have Jerusalem in the south they are literally.

For the rest of Matthew as we go this descending upon Jerusalem everything is heading towards the cross so the transfiguration is the big shift as they move towards the cross which makes the transfiguration not just an illusion that points back to the fulfillment of the entire old testament it's actually going to point forward to what is to come when the old testament finds its entire fulfillment at the cross and even the parallels between what happens on the mount of transfiguration and what happens on the hill of calvary even those parallels show this is going to the cross in Matthew 17.

Jesus ascends up the hill with his disciples they are going to the mount where he's going to display the glory of God but at the end of Matthew he's going to walk up the hill where the glory of the lord is going to be going to be displayed in suffering on the mount of transfiguration there are three of his closest disciples who get to see a glimpse of the glory of God but on the hill three of the closest women in his life are going to.

See him on the cross his suffering and the glory of that picture on the mount his garments glisten like white light but on the hill his garments will be torn and divided and taken as he's left naked humiliated on a cross on the mount there are two men two of the holiest men from the old testament but on the hill there are two thieves two rebels to his left and his right pointing to the very people that Jesus is going to redeem and on the mount.

God declares this is my son but on the hill a gentile centurion soldier a roman soldier says truly this was the son of God a foretaste of the very people that Jesus is going to redeem from the mountain this story is going to the cross where the entire old testament is going to find its fulfillment but you cannot begin to appreciate the magnitude of what happens on the cross unless you can understand the glory of God the glory of God that you get a glimpse of.

For a moment at the transfiguration one pastor puts it this way he says the work of God in the cross of Christ strikes us as all-inspiring only after we have first been awed by the glory of God that we need to be all by the glory of God so that we can appreciate what happens at the cross and that's difficult for us because we just don't have good concepts for for glory we see moments of glory where God reflects his glory in creation like moments that take our breath like we can we can imagine a sunrise or a sunset and all of that over the ocean like you could picture the rockies springing out of.

The great plains or you can look at the pictures of galaxies and quasars that we have from the hubble telescope and be just utterly blown away by the glory of God's creation you can find it in the smaller moments of life like holding your newborn baby for the first time or seeing two people covenant to life together on their wedding day before another there are moments that take our breath away that emanate that show the glory of God but it's just it's hard.

For us to conceptualize this it's it's like reflecting his glory is like looking through a mirror that is dim or trying to understand the power of the sun through frosted glass we just we don't get even close to a full picture of the glory of God on this earth one pastor he puts it this way he says what is the glory of God it is who God is it is the essence of his nature the weight of his importance the radiance of his splendor the demonstration of his power the atmosphere of his presence which which i love that those are big pictures of who.

God is but even words can't do justice to the God who's the author of love and and beauty and and perfection and light and all the attributes that we ascribe to him the God of grace and all the things that we love about who he is that reflect his glory all of that though shines brightest at the cross the momentary glory that we see at the transfiguration is most powerfully displayed at the cross the hill of calvary is a glimpse of the glory that we find in Christ.

But it's not just a glimpse of his glory it is the means by which he will bring us into his glory and that is where all this starts to tie together in the Gospel of Matthew is that ultimately he's going to bring us into this same glory if you go back a few chapters to Matthew 13. Jesus is giving us a foretaste of this Matthew 13 43 says then the righteous will shine like the sun and the kingdom of their father he who has ears let them hear that phrase shine like the sun it is the greek word lampa which is where we get our word lamp from shine lampo like the sun is the.

Same phrasing that Matthew's going to use a few chapters later to show that Jesus face shines like the sun same phrasing and what that shows is that the moment of glory hear this the moment of glory that they got to see at the transfiguration is a foretaste it's a foretaste of what awaits Christians it is what is to come one pastor he describes the transfiguration this way he says it was a foretaste of his glorious human body to come after the resurrection.

When he ascended into his father's right hand so it's a picture of his resurrected glorified body and the reason why this is so important for us as Christians is because in the new heavens and the new earth because for those of us who have believed in Jesus that is the future we get a newly resurrected body that will be like Christ we get to share in his glory now why is that so important for us right now what does that mean as we.

Look at the glory of God what does that mean for us right now as Christians this picture that we see in the transfiguration is a foretaste of the glory that awaits us that we will radiate like the lord in mysterious ways that we can't even possibly begin to understand but this powerful picture is significant because right now we feel the effects of sin there will be a day where we don't feel the effects of sin and our bodies and our souls we won't feel the effects of that in the resurrection.

When we have a glorious body like Christ but right now we do and we feel the physical effects of sin how many of us are are physically suffering maybe you're battling through sickness maybe you're battling through disease maybe you just feel your body physically breaking down maybe you're struggling with some type of chronic pain maybe you have a struggle with with your weight and all the emotional uh struggle that comes with that we feel it physically in this world we feel the physical effects of sin in this world.

Now and it's not just the physical effects how many of us feel the the brutal effect of sin on our souls how many people right now are struggling with depression with with deep sadness this this feeling of just absolute maybe distress in our souls maybe just deep anxiety it's just on our minds all the time how many of us are consistently feeling the burning effects of lust every day just feeling that war that has waged against us how many how many of us are tired of losing our temper on our spouses on our kids on our friends on our family just seeing sin corrupt marriage sin corrupt families sin corrupt friendships how many of us.

Are tired of of of our tongue and our words getting out of control how many are tired of consistently feeling the effects of sin that affects our relationship with God our relationship with others how many of us feel that add iran with the chaos of this year in 2020 and everything that it's come with with broken bodies broken souls and a broken world how many of us feel that i mean i feel that every day i wake up and i have physical pain i have back problems that i don't think will hardly completely ever go away i wrestle with the same sin and temptation every season it's just i i just you feel it you.

Feel the physical and spiritual effects of sin that weighs on us and if you're honest that's everyone in this room we all have our crap we all have our physical bodies that are breaking down until all of us die that is our reality now here is why this picture of the transfiguration is so incredibly important because what it is showing us is a picture of the final state that awaits us that in the midst of suffering we have a picture that we can lift our heads and actually.

See i love what romans 8 says it says 8 16-17 it says the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God if children then heirs heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order we might be glorified with him or as the niv says share in his glory for i consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us or as one theologian puts it we're not shadows of our former selves we are shadows of our future self and that is a promise.

So Christian i don't know what it is for you in this season i don't know what you're feeling the effects of sin but you get to lift up your head because this moment and all the suffering that we face right now it isn't the final picture we have a final glorified picture that awaits all of us so we can stand firm in that promise we can pick up our gaze and realize there's a glorified state where all the suffering in this present moment will be a distant memory and all the future glory that awaits us will be endless this moment is a drop in the bucket in comparison to the ocean of eternity.

So wherever you are right now in your journey remember that hope cling to that hope own that promise we are mere shadows of our future selves lindsay is going to come up and we are going to to close out and worship and i want us to reflect on this because i know this has been a hard year i know it's been a hard year for many of us i know some of you are battling cancer and some of you are battling sickness and some of you are battling sin i know some of you are absolutely having a tough go of it.

But if you are a Christian this is it that's the final picture the radiated Christ the momentary glimpse we get on the mount that's it for endless glory that awaits us that's our hope may we sit in that hope as we respond in worship this morning if you are not a Christian if you have not placed your full faith your full hope in Christ my plea for you this morning is to realize this momentary suffering pales in comparison to the glory that awaits that.

If you are a Christian if you place faith in him this is the closest thing to hell you're ever going to see the only thing that awaits us in Christ is glorious if you've not placed faith in Jesus my hope this morning is that you would that you would trust him that you would you would pray and receive him right now and that from eternity in eternity and beyond you will be with us in the presence of the radiating king let me pray.

God i pray that your glory would be so clear to us in ways that we we we cannot even begin to understand without you revealing yourself to us God i pray if there's anyone here that has not placed their faith in you that i pray that right now your glory would overwhelm them that as the disciples fell on their faces in fear they would fall on their faces in in fear knowing that sin is real but also in humility that turns to love and following you realizing that there is a glory that oasis that is.

So much better than this world gotta pray there's any Christians here right now Christians that are that are wrestling that are struggling God i pray right now as we respond and worship that you would make your glory so beautifully clear to them that they would have the strength to persevere in this marathon of life that is filled with suffering knowing that an eternal crown of glory awaits us only because of what you accomplished at the cross only because your blood was poured out.

For us they didn't deserve it only because you conquered death of the resurrection to make a way for us to get to you forever God i pray all of this in your name amen.

Confession and Cost (Matthew 16:13-28)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Confession and Cost

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning my name is Isaac i'm on staff here with Mill City Church of casey and it's so good to be with you guys this morning as we worship in person and if you're joining with us online we appreciate the fact that you've taken time out of your morning to come together and worship with us um we believe that Jesus is better than everything else in the middle of the chaos that the world is kind of going through right now through pandemics through injustice through political uh powers trying to work it out we believe that.

Jesus is better than all that in our life and the way that we practice that through our daily lives here at Mill City is we join community groups and that's where we live life with each other and if you look up on the screen you'll see a qr code if you're new with us this morning or you're joining online you'll notice that you can scan that qr code and that'll take you to our main website page you can fill out a form that will give us your contact information where you can learn more about us and we can give some information to you um that the the groups is really where we live out that.

Truth where we can be life on life with one another so that when we're going through those difficult things in life so that when the world gives us those difficult things like global pandemic like injustices in the world we get to walk that truth out that Jesus is better than everything else whether or not you're new here or you've been here for a long time you'll notice that there's some construction going on that there are some walls taken out and there's a big open area and we're very excited about the way that.

God has provided for us to be able to update some of the facilities around here and what that does mean is that those main bathrooms down there are not usable and it'll probably be a couple months before they are and so in the meantime this building over here women if you go up the stairs to our offices and take a left there'll be a bathroom there that you can use and men if you go down the stairs and to our kid city area we are not offering kid city right.

Now and so it's safe for you to go down there and there is a restroom down there for you as well i'm going to pray and then we're going to read from psalm chapter 16. God we thank you for the opportunity to come together and worship this morning and we pray that you would prepare our hearts to be able to worship as one as your Church as your bride we pray that as uh spencer comes up and preaches later that you would use your word to impact our life that your spirit would take the truth that you've written and turn it into actions.

If you stand with me we're going to read from psalms chapter 16 preserve me o God for in you i take refuge i say to the lord you are my lord i have no good apart from you as for the saints in the land they are the excellent ones and who is all my delight the sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiply their drink offerings of blood i will not pour out or take their names on my lips the.

Lord is my chosen portion and my cup you hold my lot the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places indeed i have a beautiful inheritance i bless the lord who gives me counsel in the night also my heart instructs me i have set the lord always before me because he is at my right hand i shall not be shaken therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices my flesh also dwells secure for you will not abandon my soul to sheol or let your holy one.

See corruption you make known to me the path of life and your presence there is fullness of joy at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness i dare not trust the sweetest is is is i rest on his unchanging grace is is is kindness your your satisfaction if show me who i am is sing this truth with us never be the same myself my sin has been erased foreign amen this is a reading from isaiah 53.

I'm gonna read if you'll just listen with me who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the lord been revealed for he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of the dry ground he had no form or majesty that we should look at him and maybe that we should desire him he was despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hid their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we have seemed esteemed him stricken smitten by.

God and afflicted but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed let's continue to worship the sun of God in my place is hallelujah you know is can it be is hallelujah just our voices when he comes when he comes hallelujah God before your throne we proclaim hallelujah what a savior we have nothing else to proclaim hallelujah what a savior hallelujah what a savior.

Jesus we thank you that you came we thank you for your sacrifice on our behalf for the forgiveness of our sins and we thank you that in power you rose from the grave and we get to follow behind you in eternal life we are grateful for that this morning and as your Church here on this earth now we need you to speak to us and to lead us and we ask that you would do that now in the name of Jesus and by the power of the spirit in.

Jesus name amen you may be seated good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors here uh we're back in Matthew gonna be in chapter 16. if you want to turn there uh flip there we're gonna be walking through uh some passages there uh we have three weeks of messiah 2020 i know some of you wanted to go all the way up to election day uh but i know for some of you three weeks was good i was thankful we got to walk through that together as a Church.

But we're back in matthews and go ahead and flip there one of the things that i have appreciated about the merger of our two congregations is now uh we have a wide spectrum of marriages right so we had uh when we were just Mill City not middle school Church of casey we had marriages that were newlyweds five years 10 years up to 20 years now we have 30 40 50 all the way up to 60 years of marriages yeah celebrate that um and the encouraging part of that is we get a wide spectrum of love stories uh and a lot of wisdom that comes with that.

Because marriage is very difficult uh it is hard uh it's it's it's something that takes a lot of effort uh we try to prepare people for this when we do uh weddings here so we we do premarital counseling to get you ready for marriage because reality is is that many of us have a picture of what we think marriage is and what it's going to be and then you stand together at an altar or outside or wherever you get married and you and you confess before.

God and men this sacred confession that i'm covenanting to to have life together to love someone until death do his part and from that sacred confession all the way to the honeymoon somewhere in the first few years that picture of what you had that marriage was uh gonna be is brutally murdered that happens for some people to get back from the honeymoon and it's just i mean it's a drive-by shoot it's just it's it the first year is very difficult for others it takes a few years.

But you added a few crises and a few children and the and what you thought marriage was going to be is just crushed but here's the deal uh for those uh that persevere for those that work through the difficulties the the miscommunication the conflicts all the kind of pain and suffering that come with working through marriage what you discover as time goes on is that you found something so much more you found something better something deeper something more true something uh this this kind of love that as you grow and marriage is what i love be around people have been married.

For 40 50 60 years they are seeing that they've lived that they understand they found something so much deeper and better than what they initially confessed on the day that they got married and that's a little bit of what we get to see today as we follow Peter in this story in Matthew 16 that we're going to see him confess Jesus as the messiah and from this it's going to be a quick honeymoon because what he thought following Jesus was what he thought confession of the messiah and and being a follower of.

Jesus was quickly changes what he realizes is and what the disciples are you learn what we're going to learn today is that it actually requires your life it requires your life in exchange for an eternal life so we're going to walk through this we're going to follow up Peter along as he stumbles through this story but i want us to do this reflectively this morning looking at our own lives maybe you're uh new to following Jesus uh maybe you've been following him.

For a few years but we get to to walk alongside this and see that the call to following Jesus and the call to confess him as messiah is so much deeper and so much better as we'll see in a moment so let me pray and then we'll jump into the text father i thank you that you have given us these stories that instruct us that cut to the heart God i pray that you would help us be present this morning whether in this room or you're listening online i pray that you would speak to our hearts and what comes out of this is true confession true faith true repentance and the denial of self we.

Ask in Jesus name amen all right so we're in Matthew 16 where we left off before we did messiah 2020 uh was Jesus was performing miracles and teachings that he's done so regularly and the religious establishment the pharisees come and they want him to perform a sign show us that you're the messiah perform something for us Jesus and he's like no that's not how this is going to go so they leave here and then we pick up in verse 13. now.

When Jesus came into the district of caesarea philippi he asked his disciples why do people say or who do people say the son of man is so everyone has a take on Jesus the religious establishment does the crowds are trying to figure this out so he's asking who the people say that i am and in verse 14 it says and they said some say john the baptist which is something we know at least herod had feared herod had john the baptist put to death.

Jesus is performing miracles he's thinking maybe this is john the baptist resurrected reincarnated something like this some say john the baptist others say elijah because Jesus performed miracles that were just like the prophet elijah so others jeremiah jeremiah being a prophet from the old testament that spoke hard truths to ears that did not want to hear them just as Jesus is or one of the prophets verse 15 he said to them but who do you say that i am so not just disciples what are the people saying who do you say that i am and who is the.

First to speak up it's Peter nine times out of ten it is going to be Peter Peter is bold he is quick to speak he's quick to act as we saw about over about two months ago we walked through the story of Jesus walking on water it's a terrifying scene they're out in the storm he's walking on water and who's the first to say i want to be a part of this i want to join this miracle it's Peter it's who he is and he speaks up.

First in verse 16 and he says it says simon Peter replied you are the Christ the son of the living God he believes the hype this is whom the old testament the law of the prophets this is this is who it is this is who they have prophesied about you are the Christ you're the son of the living God verse 17 and Jesus answered him blessed are you simon barjona which means son of jonah in hebrew for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.

But my father who is in heaven which highlights a truth about the Gospel he didn't figure this out flesh and blood didn't reveal this to him just like anyone else who believes it is God the father revealing himself who goes to work in our hearts first and he chooses Peter he reveals this to him Peter confesses it and verse 18 we're going to see what comes with this confession and i tell you you are Peter and on this rock i will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it i will give you the keys of the kingdom and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven whatever you.

Loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ so this is a blessing and it's a prophecy because this is what Peter who Peter is going to be he gets a name change here his name was simon and Jesus says no your name is now Peter which means rock in greek so Peter gets to go around saying he's the rock which has a little bit of a different meaning.

For us but it's a it's a newfound meaning for him that he is the rock he's a pillar in which Jesus is going to build his Church which is a new word for the gospels they haven't heard this word yet that this movement that Jesus is going to build is his Church it's the assembly of God's people and then he gives another blessing that's for the Church the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church which if you step back out of this.

For us as an encouragement a lot of people get worried as american Christians so the culture is turning against the Church turning against christianity there's all these fears swelling about oh what's going to happen and i just want to very clearly point this out the gates of hell do not prevail against the Church as we win read the end of the story Revelation 20 21 the Church prevails because Christ is behind it so that's the blessing that he gives to Peter and it is a blessing.

But there's something for us as protestants that we make this we make this passage fairly weird and the reason why is because we have this uneasy feeling about it because catholics have used this uh this verse and this passage as the foundation for their understanding of one leader of the universal Church the pope and the papal secession the the see the the popes that come out of this Peter being the first pope getting the handlers of the keys of the kingdom as it says here and he's the sole authority and this gets passed down and we get weird about this or we make weird jokes about how he's at the pearly gates and you got.

To solve some riddle to get in because we don't have the the healthiest relationship and i don't think we should make this weird at all so let me for the sake of this if anyone has any catholic background or any confusion about this i want to dispel this that Peter this is not the proclamation that he is the first pope so and if you have more questions about this after afterwards we can stand six feet apart and we can discuss the merits of this part of catholic doctrine all right.

So the reason why is if you read this passage just without any without any Church tradition that comes from the catholic Church you would not come to the conclusion that what this is saying is that Peter is the first pope you would not come to that conclusion you know why because the rest of the Bible you would have to completely rip this out of its context in Matthew you have to rip out the context of the rest of the new testament.

Because the rest of the new testament that comes out of this i mean you're the book of acts the book of acts uh Peter is not the sole leader of the Church you can go to acts 15 when they're trying to solve this crisis of what do we do with these new gentile believers and it's not Peter that makes the call it's collection of people Peter speaks of that counsel Paul and barnabas speak at that council james actually ends up having the final say you don't.

See anywhere in the book of acts that that Peter is the sole leader of the Church you don't see it in galatians 2 when Paul corrects Peter and puts him in his place you don't see it in passages like ephesians 2 20 it says built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets is not built on the foundation of the of Peter it's built on uh Christ that is the cornerstone and leaders and his Church so we don't have to be weird about this as we walk through passages like this we can actually.

Look at this and see that Peter is blessed without incorporating a whole bunch of other stuff into it i mean i've heard some protestants that will look at this and say no no this means Peter his confession is blessed and therefore anyone who confesses like this receives this type of blessing and it's like that's not what the text says it says that Peter is blessed that he's going to be a pillar a rock and the Church just as james and john and Paul and other leaders are in the Church.

So he confesses this and with this blessing it says i will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven and what that is saying is he's looking at Peter and he's saying i'm giving you authority and what you do what you bind and loose here on earth has an eternal impact in heaven you've been blessed with this that what you're going to do is going to have an impact in eternity and all you got to do is flip two chapters which we'll get to in about a month.

When you get to Matthew 18 and guess what while Peter gets this first blessing the rest of the Church does as well in Matthew 18 he's setting up the Church Jesus is and he says truly i say to you whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven again i say to you if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask it will be done for them by my.

Father in heaven for where two or three are gathered in my name there i am among them the authority is going to reside in the Church and there's going to be a plurality multiple leaders in the Church Peter gets this first blessing he is going to be a rock a pillar in which Jesus builds this movement so Peter gets receives this blessing he's human so it's it's reasonable to think this might have gone to his head a little bit which might make sense of what happens next.

Verse 21 it says from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and the third day be raised all right so from this point forward this story along with what we're going to tackle next week in the transfiguration this is the shift in the Gospel of Matthew everything has been happening in galilee Jesus ministry has been in galilee and we're making the shift towards Jerusalem and every step forward is going to be towards the cross.

Jesus is preparing his disciples telling him this is what's going to happen i'm going to be turned over i'm going to die i'm going to be raised and Peter with his newfound authority decides to speak up again verse 22 and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him saying far be it from you lord this shall never happen to you but he Jesus turned and said to Peter get behind me Satan you are a hindrance to me for you are setting your mind on things of.

God but on things of man and man like a rock i mean he falls right back down to reality i mean he he absolutely Jesus rebukes him uh he he re he recognizes that Jesus is the messiah and it comes with this uh this rebuke because what Peter does he takes the lord of the universe aside and says lord far be it from you this is not going to happen so why is Peter doing this why is he taking Jesus aside and trying to correct him it could be.

For a couple of reasons one of the ones we see is in the gospels it's clear the disciples expected that this movement was going to be a political one that when Jesus comes to Jerusalem he is going to set up a an earthly reign in Jerusalem just as the messiahs had attempted to do before just as the great kings of old that he was going to take back the land from the romans and this is going to be a political earthly movement it also could be simply just.

Because Peter's saying i don't no one's going to harm you i'm going to protect you he's not going to do it very well he's going to make an attempt with a sword he doesn't know how to use it he's going to cut off somebody's ear but he's going to make an attempt at at saving Jesus and Jesus comes back with a harsh rebuke get behind me Satan you are a hindrance to me you are not setting your mind on things of.

God but on things of man he could have just said no Peter you're wrong no let me let me show you what no he says Satan calls him Satan you are uh the embodiment of evil uh the accuser the the adversary the one who's at war with the plans uh the good plan of God you are Satan now that's pretty sharp rebuke once you try that in your next argument try that with your spouse so you stop no stop it Satan i don't recommend that.

But if you do come and talk to me we do post-marital counseling as well he says get behind me Satan uh why such a sharp rebuke and the reason is is because if Jesus does not go to the cross if he does not have his blood shed for us if he doesn't take the full cup of God's wrath on him for sinners if he doesn't rise and conquer death and give us new life everyone is still dead in sin and everyone goes to hell and that is the very desire of Satan that everyone would go to hell Peter's got his mind on earthly things this political revolution that.

Jesus is going to come in and he says no no this is way bigger than that i'm here for an eternal kingdom not an earthly one which is what he was offered in Matthew 4 if you could think back months ago at the temptation of Christ what is the last temptation that Satan gives hear the kingdoms you can have it here on earth right now you don't have to keep going you can stop right now and Peter does the same thing and it's satanic it's it's of the devil.

So Peter after just getting called the rock after just getting this blessing he gets humbled and not only that in his humility Jesus is going to use his uh his stumble as an example to teach the disciples which is something only Jesus can do because if like if matt freeman made a mistake and then i just upheld look at this mistake now let me teach off this for it just wouldn't go well but Jesus pulls it off he upholds Peter's mistake here.

Verse 24 and he starts to teach from it he says then Jesus told his disciples if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul what shall a man give in return for his soul for the son of man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his.

Father and then he will repay each person according to what he has done truly i say to you there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom so i want us to look at the logic of what Jesus just taught because it is profound he says in verse 25 for whoever would save his life will lose it whoever loses his life for my sake will find it for what will it profit a man.

If he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul or what shall a man give in return for his soul Peter confesses that Jesus is the messiah but he doesn't understand the nature of what that means he doesn't understand the economy of Jesus kingdom if you try to cling to this world you will lose the next one if you try to gain this life you will forfeit your soul that faith in this kingdom is going to be the repeated denial of self and the taking up of your cross taking up suffering.

For the name of Christ and that should be an absolutely sobering reality for us as american Christians because in our culture there are so many things that vie for our worship for our attention for our attention for our affection for our desires i mean we're literally built on the american dream that so much of our energy and our effort in this life and this country is striving to have financial security striving to make your dreams here on earth good to make your best life here on earth striving.

For security and everything the american dream and everything that money can get you in having a secure life having the comforts of this world our entire economy is built on consumerism on having the next comfort and the next comfort you'll never level up and you'll never get that you you'll always want the next house the next big truck the next newest and nicest things is consistently vying for our attention it's calling us and so many people put so much of their worth.

So much of their life and that and what Jesus just said is if you are willing to do this you will forfeit the next life you do this american dream you can do this with just with sex in general that so much is of our culture is thrown at you as to is to explore it outside of marriage explore before marriage explore the wide spectrum of sexuality it's thrown at us over and over and over again and we as Christians say no what does the culture say oh you are backward you are bigoted you are old ancient puritans prudes.

And so much of what Jesus teaches throughout the rest of the Gospel so much the Bible is going to continue to say is that the denial of self in this area is for the sake of our souls you will go down a roll a road that you will not come back from denying this temporary pleasure and that is what it is is temporary it is temporary pleasure you are exchanging that at the loss of eternal pleasure in God you can do this with anything you do this with acceptance on our culture which has been a big thing as the culture starts to shift against uh the the ideas of the Bible.

So much of of the culture is is is shifting against us and there's this uh there's this desire in us to just want to be accepted to want to be liked to not be the weird one in the workplace not be the weird one uh in your school there's this this pressure that if i can if i will bend to the ideas of culture then i'll be accepted you see it all the time online someone who's been around the Church for years all of a sudden starts posting things that are against the Bible and they get claps people like it's.

So good to see that you've come to this understanding it's so good to see that you've moved away from this there's this thing in us that just wants to be accepted we will do this with any part of what the world offers us we will go after it again and again and again and we'll exchange it all at the loss of our souls many of us are familiar with the old folklore tale about someone making a deal with the devil it's very it's an old folklore tale that i mean ends up being shows up in songs and movies over and over against classics someone uh stumbles upon the devil makes a deal.

For fame for money and we look at those stories and we're like how foolish i would never do that but the reality is you come in this world absolutely doing that that is exactly what we do we will go after anything else we'll forfeit it all or to gain life in this moment right now and Jesus is trying to pick our heads up and see that's insane that is crazy that you would look at this life right now and put so much stock in our life is a moment it's a spec the Bible says it's it's like dew on the grass it's here.

For a moment and then it's gone it is a drop of water compared to the ocean of eternity that awaits us and so much of our desires and so much of our worship and so much of our pursuits is bound up in this moment we're looking at this trying to get as much as we can out of this life he's trying to help us see how insane that is that you would forfeit eternity for worthless pursuits and compared to who he is he's helping us.

See that denying ourselves in light of this eternal logic is the only thing that makes sense that we would deny our version of the good life in exchange for an abundant better life that never ends that we would deny ourselves that we would take on suffering that we would take on suffering in any form that it takes to follow Christ and ultimately it means that you will avoid judgment here's the final picture here of the kingdom being ushered in ultimately judgment is going to come.

But more than avoiding judgment when you deny yourself in this life deny your desires when you take up the cross what you get is God the logic he gives here is for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it he's helping us try to find him lose this life and when you lose this life you find Christ you find the ultimate author of goodness the perfection of beauty you get eternity with him which means what is this life really worth what are the things that we spend.

So much of our time and so much of our effort and so much of our money and so much of our desires on what is it possibly worth it pales in comparison to life with God you can gain him if you would just lose your life here he's been there he understands what attorney with God is it's the same thing for someone who's been married for 50 years and they understand that persevering through marriage and finding something so much better Jesus stands between eternity and in this moment right here and says i'm telling you it is better deny yourself in this life take up the cross.

And if you do this you will find something so much sweeter so much better and something that's actually eternally good lindsay's going to come up and we are uh i want us to just reflect in this moment and i want us to think through uh what it is that we need to give up what it is that we need to deny what form of cross form of suffering we need to take on the reality is is it could be daunting when you think about doing this denying yourself.

For the next 10 20 30 40 50 years of following Jesus and i know that it can get discouraging it's like how in the world i'm gonna make it to the end and i think a good encouragement from this story is to watch the rest of Peter's life play out because the reality is it's gonna get a whole lot worse for Peter before he gets better the other night that Jesus is betrayed he denies him three times denies him but after.

Jesus is raised Peter's brought back into fellowship with him and from this Peter becomes the pillar of the rock that he was prophesied to be that he preaches the first sermon at pentecost thousands come to know Christ and the rest of his life is the daily pursuit of knowing more of God denying himself and taking up the cross to follow him and for us taking up the cross is suffering but for i would want to bet for most of us for all of us it's not going to be the cross it's not going to be a literal cross where we'll be martyred.

But that's exactly what it is for Peter because Peter at the end of his life he goes into martyrdom he goes on a cross upside down and for the last to hear this for the last 2 000 years Peter has experienced nothing but endless joy the presence of God and from the moment he breathed his last breath he's not one step closer to the end of that reality and that is what you're being invited into some of you need to confess.

Jesus as lord for the first time you need to believe in him it's this life is not worth it it will fail you with a savior who will not fail you and my hope and my plea for you this morning is that you would believe in him that you would exchange your life for a more eternal one if you're a Christian and you are walking through sin if you're walking through struggles i don't know where this is for you right now my hope is this week in community groups that you would come ready and honest and open about the things that you pursue that you'd be willing to bring those out in the open.

That you would see those put to death that you would deny yourself for gaining more than him my hope is that someone you would pray some dangerous prayers we have the rockies in our Church who prayed some dangerous prayers and they're going to honduras and they're going to take this message of the Gospel elsewhere the hope is is that the rest of our Church would join in praying dangerously asking what's the cross you want us to bear what suffering do you want from us what do you want from me.

Lord and that may take you across the world it may take you across the street it may mean opening up your wall in some bigger ways it may be denying things i don't know what that is for you but i promise you if you will deny yourself you will gain something so much better and so much more sweet you'll gain God let me pray God i'm so thankful for this story i'm thankful for the example we have in Peter gotta pray there's anyone here who's not confessed to you as.

Lord that i pray this morning they would but right now you would make yourself so clear to them that you would go to work in their heart and for the first time they would confess that you are the messiah you are their only hope and they would believe God pray for us as Christians i pray that we take very seriously this message i pray that we would repent of the things that we have pursued at the cost of you so God help us in our repentance help us in our denial help us believe and gain more of you ask us in.

Jesus name amen together oh to see the oh sinful oh everyday is forgiveness is is we oh to see my name is so amen you may be seated thanks for being with us today if you were here in person or if you joined with us online we're glad that you joined with us for worship today again we as a Church want to live out our faith in community with other believers which is very different right now so some of our groups are meeting in person some of them are meeting in person.

And then setting up a computer where people can get online and join with them virtually but now is a great time to hop in you can go to our community groups page on the website or snap a picture of the qr code if you would like to connect with our groups again for our Church family you can give online or you can give up front here in these slots that are in our front walls you can give before you leave but again thanks.

For being here with us today let me send us out with a word this comes from ephesians 3 beginning in verse 17. may Christ dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God amen you guys have a great week.

A Better Foundation: Free To Serve

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

A Better Foundation: Free To Serve

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Uh which means uh the fact that we believe that Jesus is better the the message of the Gospel that he went to the cross and the empty tomb because of that we get to live in the reality of grace because of that truth we as Christians and as a Church fight to stay rooted and centered in that and one of the ways that practically shows up on a sunday morning is that we are our gatherings are centered in the word so you're going to hear the some Scripture read this morning our songs come from the word of.

God we're going to preach that comes out of the word the word is what keeps us centered in the Gospel our groups do this as well our groups are smaller groups of our Church family that live life together uh in everyday life and also meet uh during the week one of the things we do regularly in groups is we open up the word because God has spoken a lot of times we're trying to figure out and pray and figure out what.

God wants for us which is good but he also has spoken in his word and in our groups we get to be molded and shaped into the image of Christ by studying his word so that's an encouragement for us as a Church not just in groups not just on sunday but to be also be in his word on a regular basis as we seek to live out being a Gospel centered community on mission uh if you are new welcome if you're joining us online.

For the first time welcome we're glad that you are joining us one of the easiest ways to get plugged into our Church is to check out our community groups you can go to our uh our website meal citycasey.com you can look at our community groups page you can fill out a form there and we would love to uh to to reach out to you to tell you about our groups tell you where they meet uh but we're glad you're joining us this morning we hope this morning is a blessing to you.

If you are not new and you call this Church home we invite you to give and to continue to give generously you can give by giving in the gift slots you can also give online as well but we walk out the Gospel in generosity and that is also opening up our wallets all right so just a couple of quick housekeeping tips first all the lights are not on in here and that's for a reason we're trying to keep it cool uh as we are getting ready in the next few weeks to change out the hvac unit that powers this which is a part of our larger construction plans which.

If you walked in you saw it's starting to change but one of the first changes that you'll notice is that that part of the hallway and those bathrooms are off limits so we have a couple different bathroom options if you need to use the restroom in this building right next to us if you are a man you can go downstairs into our kid city space we're not having kid city so you can go down there and use the restroom there for our ladies in that building right there you can also go up into our office and around the corner and there's a bathroom there also.

If you don't want to climb steps our fellow our fellowship hall two buildings over is open uh and you can use the restrooms there there's a men and women's restroom there all right so let me pray for us the guy prepare our hearts for worship and then i'm going to open us from psalm father thank you so much that we get to come and sit under the authority of your word that we get to hear it we get to read it together we get to sing songs from it and you get to mold us in shape as the preaching of your word got to pray that you would meet us here this morning we ask.

This in Jesus name amen if you're able stand i'm gonna call us to worship from psalm oh sing to the lord a new song sing to the lord all the earth sing to the lord bless his name tell of his salvation from day to day declare his glory among the nations his marvelous works among all the peoples for great is the lord and greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all gods for all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols.

But the lord made the heavens splendor and majesty are before him strength and beauty are in a sanctuary would you see with us call for songs fix the and here i am is is one two three we have been justified we have been justified by faker Jesus Christ but solely by his grace we stand once found thy sin and shame now slain righteousness making Jesus is glory of God oh great joy to sing about the lord savior Jesus Christ Jesus oh a reading from ephesians chapter 2 verses 2 12 through 18.

If you would please read the underlying portion portions along with me remember that you were at that time separated from Christ alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two.

So a little bit last week we're going to take another step into that and really it's this if the if government is super supposed to promote what is good and hold at bay what is evil then you have to know what is good and what is evil you have to have an answer for that you have to know what is good and what is right and what is wrong and what is true and what is false we have to be able to answer those questions.

So that in order for us to agree on what government ought to do we have to have a fundamental answer to what is good and what is bad what is right and what is wrong and everybody's got to find that answer somewhere you need to be able to answer that question what is good how do you know or what is good why this is something i learned when i had a three-year-old who would ask why to everything you said and i realized i had a couple of options i could lose my mind seemed like it would be bad.

For the overall joy of our household and functioning i could just tell him to shut his mouth but i went with the third option which was try to make a game out of it and see how many of these questions i can answer and what i found was that if you hit me with a string of why questions long enough we will make it to God the father creator of the universe to the trinitarian God who has made all that we know.

So we stop in the truck and why'd we stop it's a red light why is there a red light and we would go and we would go from invention and creation to the dignity of human life because vehicles should just run into each other why we don't want people to die why don't we want people to die because God created man and woman in his own image he poured dignity and value in them why because he's good because he's trinitarian because he loves and he created humanity why that's it we made it to the end we're going to have to start a new line of questions.

But what i found was that my foundation if you ask why enough i made it back to God and the reality is we have to be able to answer questions that way why is this policy good why is this bad why is this wrong why why why eventually you'll make it back to your foundation you'll make it back to the root of your understanding of how things ought to function and so as Christians we have a different foundation which makes us into a different people.

So we participate differently i usually different three times we'll explain it better as we go but that's where we are we have a different foundation which makes us into a different people so we participate differently we don't look the same as the rest of our culture because we are believers so we just read in verse 13 but jump back up to chapter 2 verse 4. now this Paul is Peter is not directly addressing government and politics what he's talking about is much bigger.

But we're looking through the lens of how we ought to think about government and politics and i think this passage is helpful so first Peter chapter 2 verse 4. as you come to him that's Jesus a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ for it stands in Scripture.

Behold i am laying in zion a stone a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame that's Christ so the honors for you who believe but for those who do not believe the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone stumbling at a rock of a fence they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do as Paul's there for a second Christ is our cornerstone and we are being built up off of him.

Now a cornerstone was the chief stone they laid it first and it gave direction and alignment to the rest of the stones so we work our way back to Christ and he gives us direction and he keeps us in line but the rest of the world does not have Christ as their cornerstone does not work their way back to him as their foundation does not work their way back to him as their answer to why why why why why so we are fundamentally starting in a different place than the rest of the people around us even.

If they agree with us on certain things about unemployment benefits or the size of government or how voting ought to work we have a fundamentally different foundation from which we begin that he keeps us in line that he gives us direction and they stumble over they trip over this that they have not placed their hope in Christ they have not seen him as their foundation they're not built off of him those who do not believe in Jesus are starting from a different place and they do not obey and i love that i want to pause.

For just one second and point that out he's our cornerstone and they stumble over him because they disobey the opposite of that is what we do which would be obey yes it hurt to even think about it didn't it we obey i think that's really helpful because it doesn't say they stumble over him because they disagree and we agree they disobey and we obey the reason this is helpful is that as a Christian there is much in the Bible that you might begin in disagreement with that's to be expected you came to Christ.

Because you were a sinner because you realized that there was something wrong about you and the way you've treated people and the way you thought about the world and that you needed to be redeemed you needed to be fixed you needed hope you needed someone to die for you to make you write and then you read something in the Scriptures and you're like well i don't like that of course not you're messed up if you could have perfectly written this down you wouldn't have needed to.

Jesus to die for you there are things in here that we disagree with what do we do we obey that's extremely helpful specifically when it comes to us setting our alignment when it comes to what we ought to vote for and work for sometimes they're going to be things in here that we don't like that we actually like how our culture thinks about it ah i don't like that but i do like capitalism i don't like that but i do like what this professor has been teaching and the reality is they don't have the same foundation we have the same foundation and you have to stay in line with the cornerstone.

So we obey they disobey they stumble over it but here's the reality we use Christ to set for us our line to mark for us what is good what is right what is inbounds what is out of bounds that's what a cornerstone does now he does this in a spiritual way that he redeems us and makes us into a spiritual house but we're talking about our approach to politics our approach to government so this also applies and i think it's helpful.

For us but the reality is everybody is getting an answer to what is justice what's injustice what's equality what's inequality what's right what's wrong they all have to have an answer somewhere they have to have something that backs that up we have a foundation the rest of our world the rest of the us most of whom don't believe that there is a God don't have the same foundation i'd argue don't really have any foundation i want to read a bit from an article this was in the duke law journal it was written by arthur allen left he's a professor of yale law at yale law school and he's talking about law he's talking about where.

We get our laws and how we keep our laws and why do we hold to certain laws and not other laws that's what professor does so he's writing about this and his article is called unspeakable ethics unnatural law what he means about that ethics what's right and wrong law the system of government we have out of that what he means about that by being unspeakable and unnatural he's addressing the idea that there is objective moral law that is not made up by man.

But exists outside of humanity it's unnatural that's what he means by that and it's unspeakable meaning we didn't come up with it as Christians we believe this there's a God he speaks it down to us he gives Moses Moses doesn't go up on the mountain with the elders and they come up with their best idea of what the law should look like God hands him the law and says take it back down he argues that that doesn't exist that all law all ethics all morality all good bad and otherwise is made up by humanity that's the point of his article.

But at least he's honest about it he says this doesn't exist and then he says that's terrifying that life would be better if there was objective morality outside of us but it doesn't exist there is no God there is no objective morality all of it is us making it up that's what he talks about he says that we have to be able to answer what he calls the grand says who he says the ultimate bar room and school yard says who someone tells you you can't do that you can do this this is wrong it says who who puts you in charge who's to tell me what's right and wrong and he says the reality.

Is if we're the ones making it up we have no answer to says who other than says us says the majority says what i think is right we don't have anyone to appeal to there's no teacher in the classroom there's no one that speaks the law down to us does that make sense what he's talking about okay so this is how he ends his article all i can say is this it looks as if we are all we have given what we know about ourselves and each other this is an extraordinarily unappetizing prospect i i agree with him.

If we're all we have that is extraordinarily unappetizing that sounds awful looking around the world it appears that if all men are brothers the ruling model is cain and abel so he's honest he's intellectually honest he says there is no God and then he says step two uh-oh that sounds awful if we look around that's what we've got and it's gonna be bad he keeps going he says neither reason nor love nor even terror seems to have worked to make us good and worse than that there is no reason why anything should only.

If ethics were something unspeakable by us could law be unnatural and therefore unchallengeable so he's saying if it came down from God then it would be beyond us and we wouldn't be able to challenge it but since it doesn't and we've just made it up we're in trouble and this is what we said last week that this is where good government is a good gift to us breaks down that it can't make us good it can't fix us so he keeps going as things.

Now stand everything is up for grabs think about that we're actually watching that play out right now everything is up for grabs because everybody's coming in with a different foundation about what is right is it what the majority says that's why you see all these polls that just say this many americans now believe blank because the idea is that if the majority of us believe it then it's okay there's some people who are pushing for the biggest thing at the back of this is personal freedom or equal opportunity or equal outcome or private property or happiness everybody's got something at the back of of why does this matter says who and we're seeing this play.

Out right now where everything's up for grabs but then he says this nevertheless napalming babies is bad starving the poor is wicked buying and selling each other is depraved those who stood up to and died resisting hitler stalin amin and pol pot and general custer ii have earned salvation those who acquiesced deserve to be damned there is in the world such a thing as evil altogether now says who God help us he says there's no God therefore we're in trouble conclusion not base it's it's like point a point b point green it does not follow that name palming babies is bad it does not follow that standing up to evil is bad or that there.

Is even such a thing as evil it doesn't fit in his logic but he says we know this it doesn't fit that's his whole point says who God help us and he's argued the whole time there is no God i 100 agree with this person except for his foundation he stumbles over the cornerstone and then comes up with a very logical premise out of that and the reality is this last part where he ends and says napalming babies is bad the reason why we currently culturally believe that is that we're riding a 2 000 year wave of judaism and christianity we keep running this out we may not believe that anymore once we stop having.

Objective morality everything's up for grabs everybody's standing on the same footing and eventually it can fall down to who's the strongest who's got the majority who has the most power we're fundamentally coming at this differently than everyone else we believe there is a God there is an unspeakable ethic there is a natural law and it is unchallengeable i buy us and we obey it this is why you'll see that some people will say well we know this is wrong and they're appealing to something that actually doesn't fit in their logical framework.

Because how do they know if they're logical and they'll stick to it my cousin i had a conversation with him and he was saying that logic that the rules were based on who is mostly in charge what the majority believes my cousin the first generation nigerian-american i asked him do you think it was okay in germany because the nazi party was in charge that they eradicated jewish people and black people because they were in charge and he was willing to stick with his logic and he said i guess.

If they were the people in charge i'm not okay with that i don't think that's how this works i think that this guy's right that that is evil and they ought to be stood up against but that's where Christians come from we have a cornerstone that keeps us in line so we fundamentally are coming at this differently and we have direction in the Scriptures that tell us things about marriage about murder about the value of human life about what parents are.

For over and over again in the old testament we're told things in in the leviticus in Exodus leviticus deuteronomy they give personal moral law about lying and adultery but they also give rules about how we ought to interact with each other that the criminal justice system ought not to be bent towards the poor or the wealthy how people in the society are supposed to handle their money how wages are supposed to be handled how business practice sexual sin high interest loans how people treat foreigners how capital punishment works like there's all this stuff that has to do with.

Because God is setting for us what things ought to look like that we get to look to the Scriptures to set for us a guideline not a political platform of what our current people pundits are running and what they say they're going for but we get to look to the word to help keep us in line and it's going to say some things you disagree with it ought to i would argue that if you read if if in your Bible reading it perfectly agrees with you all the time you aren't reading your Bible very.

Well if this never corrects you you're not reading it correctly there's some places where it ought to push you but we're told about how to treat the poor that hard work is good adultery is bad drunkenness is bad gluttony is bad that's in proverbs but then the prophets come in and they say that God's going to judge people for bad business practices and the treatment of the poor or how they care about wealth more than the poor you see we have a lot in the Scriptures that helps give us what our foundation is meant to guide us in and we ought to be people of the book who obey the word and that's going to.

Make us look different from the rest of our culture and it's going to make us appeal to a grand says who that they don't agree with okay but we don't get to change what our cornerstone is so we're coming at this differently so we participate differently so we have a different foundation which makes us into a different people verse 9 keeps going so he says they stumble over this but you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people.

For his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light i think if we sat in that verse we might have a amount of political clarity that we lack you're a chosen race in Christ he redeems the race that you're given your current race that you were born into is not primary you're a royal priesthood that we're meant to represent man to God and God to man that's what a priesthood does we're a holy nation and and it doesn't after that chant usa usa or aussie aussie aussie your people.

For his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into a marvelous light that we've been made into a new people because we have a new foundation we've been redeemed and rescued by Christ once you were not a people but now you are God's people once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy don't you love that the primary identifier of us as a people is that we've received mercy isn't that beautiful that you're not going to get what you deserve you're going to get grace that you're loved and you're welcomed and that's foundational.

For us as we walk in Christ he says beloved i urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul keep your conduct among the gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation he calls the sojourners in exiles a sojourner is a traveler who does not live here and exile is someone who does live here.

But this isn't their home i'll be honest with you a lot of times when i listen to political candidates when i think about the future of the united states i feel very at home here and when i feel very at home here i feel very worried about things at times i have a lot of fear that rises up because i feel like i belong here i'm a citizen here my future is at stake and the reality is i'm a traveler and an exile this isn't my home i have a home i'm on my way to it i get to live in a certain way.

Now but i have a home and i'm going to be honest with y'all i love the united states the home i'm headed to is so much better it's glorious it's beautiful i'm redeemed and welcomed i receive mercy there i get to live here as an exile and a sojourner but my home that we're headed to is beyond compare and if we lived like that we're currently trying to help support uh the rockies as they move to honduras to be missionaries and the reality is they're going to show up and it's going to unlock some things in their brain.

Because they didn't weren't born there it's going to free them up in some ways to show up and go oh yeah the main point is to help people love Christ and to make this place better they're not going to show up and be like all right let's start promoting a candidate let's find out who's running for honduras house seat for our area i don't even know if they have a honduras house they may just be like let's pick a new i don't know what they got el presidente spanish i don't know.

But you know they're not going to they're exiles they're sojourners they're here to make this place better to love the people around them and the reality is some of us are far too at home here we fit better amongst our political party and we fit better amongst other americans who were born in a similar place to us who have similar skin tone who have a similar taste in food and music when we're meant to be sojourners and exiles working for good we've been made into a different people three we're back to.

Verse 13 now so we participate differently be subject for the lord's sake to every human institution whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good for this is the will of God that by doing good you should put the silence the ignorance of foolish people we're supposed to be doing good which means we're supposed to have a definition for what is good and it's supposed to be in line with the cornerstone in obedience to the word.

So we're supposed to know our bibles love our bibles love Jesus trust Jesus when we disagree with him and then be actively a part of doing that in the world government is meant to praise good we're meant to do it i think sometimes we think our role is to vote and then they better do it no we're meant to to do it we're meant to be the ones actively doing good and he says this for that's the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people live as people who are free not using your freedom as a cover-up.

For evil but living as servants of God live as people who are free remember who you are live like it i was growing up i loved the movie Peter pan and then the movie hook came out with robin williams and i loved that movie that movie is like a sequel to Peter pan and it's kind of terrifying because hook Peter pan like marries a lady moves the world forgets he was Peter pan he's just trying to live his life and move on.

But hook's in neverland growing more and more psychotic every day and he comes up with a plan to come to the real world and steal Peter pan's children he's going to abduct his children and this is a two-part plan and it's brilliant it's to get Peter pan to come back and fight him but if Peter pan won't come back he'll just raise Peter pan's children as his own back up revenge and when i watched that i was a little kid and the idea that captain hook could come bust in and steal me take me to neverland like the cartoon is like oh cool i get to go to neverland and hang out with Peter pan.

And then the sequel is like oh no captain hook might just take me to neverland and raise me as this child but the part of the movie that's playing out is that captain hook in neverland kind of makes you forget and captain hook's trying to make these children think they're his and they're these moments where they kind of forget who their father is and so they become really at home in neverland and then there are these moments where they shake out of it and they.

Remember wait wait no i know who my dad is and i actually don't belong here and sometimes i think we're we're having to play that out as we walk through life that there are times where we just feel really at home here and we kind of forget where our home is and who our father is who our allegiance allegiances to and then there are other times where we can kind of shake out of it and go oh no no no no this is actually isn't what is primary.

For me this is what matters the most to me and i'm supposed to be participating very very differently from the rest of the people i'm supposed to be getting my marching orders from here not cnn or fox news not msnbc or npr i can get some information from them they don't keep me in line this does they don't give me my foundation this to us i think sometimes we have to shake out of it but he says you're free so Church family.

For those of you who when you think about politics when you think about november your chest tightens up and fear wells up inside of you you are free your hope is secure your salvation is locked in Christ your future your home participate like someone who is free it doesn't have to work out the way you want it to it doesn't have to work out the way you think it ought to the reality is a lot of times God's good work on earth looks really really bad.

For the people of God God's good work on earth looks really bad for the people of God read this for a little while and remind yourself that he's good even though there are times where it doesn't work out well for the people who love him or know him where they aren't liked where they don't fit in hebrews 11 where they're sown into they have a better hope and a better country you're free and for those of us who because it's so corrupt or.

Because we're so jaded or because we're kind of lazy and just don't care that much we don't participate he says don't use your freedom as a cover for evil your servants of God so do good serve we're free to serve to serve him to fight for what is good to do good amongst the people we live near my parents host a family reunion they've started this couple years back and when we go to our family union we cook a pig we swim in a pond stuff you would assume my family does we all you know i don't know have a big splatoon.

For all the ladies to sit around chew tobacco whatever that part's not true but we do swim in a pond and we were swimming with my cousin and my brothers and i we go down and swim at my parents house some in their pond and so we had grabbed these little floats we knew what they were we were sitting in the water and we're either sitting on a float or you're just standing on one it's just a little like foam surfboard thing and my cousin's there swimming with us and we're all just sitting there floating around talking.

And then one of our little floats shot out from under our feet and we swam over and got it my cousin goes you all have floats we were like yeah and we've been hanging out for a while he'd been treading water for like 30 minutes he was exhausted he got afloat he was sitting there he was like oh he said i kept telling myself if they can do it i can do it if they can keep themselves up i'll keep myself up he said and i was really impressed.

Because everyone saw y'all be talking to both your hands would come out of the water and i thought goodness these guys know how to tread water the reality is as we participate in politics as believers we have something holding us up we have a hope we have a future if it gets rocky if it gets exhausting everybody else around us is going to be freaking out they're going to want us to freak out with them everyone else around us is going to be anxious and tired.

Because they don't have the hope we have and the reality is if all we do is join them we act as if we we deny the hope that we have when we ought to be pointing them to the hope that we have we ought to be proclaiming the excellencies of him who has called us out of darkness and into marvelous light the reality is as we get around people who want to talk to us about how if this doesn't work out everything's going to fall apart you get to say hey guess what i know a story and everything does fall apart and everything does work out and it really just depends on has Christ redeemed.

You or not we get to be the only people who keep our heads when everything else gets difficult we get the own the only people at ease and very complicated difficult painful situations and we ought to be you're free to do good because our hope is set in Christ our foundation is set in Christ and you ought to be able to take your political opinions and ask why why why why why and work yourself back to here and if all your political opinions work back to culture political candidate this seems right to me.

But we don't have it tied off here we have a problem so we ought to be people of the word with the hopes that secure in Jesus who are the only ones who are able to keep our heads because we have a foundation when nobody else does the band's going to come back up we're going to sing to Christ we're going to all be able to keep our heads in the middle of a political season when everybody else is losing theirs take a deep breath you're free and from that position of freedom let's do good let's know what good is and let's be actively a part of it in our culture that's our hope that.

We would grow in that as people redeemed by Christ let's pray God we thank you for your grace we thank you for the love that you have shown us and that you joined us that you might die to redeem us so that we might have a hope that is held secure as first Peter chapter one says because you walked out of the tomb we have a hope that is held secure by your power in the heavens waiting for us so may we be your servants here who are exiles sojourners that do good as people who are free as only we can.

Because this does not have to work out for us here because everything will work out for us in Christ by your spirit lead us to be servants to be free to have hope and to not be swayed by everything that's around us in Jesus name amen would you stand with us as we worship hi is to use oh is he was i stand shall we she oh is oh Jesus paid it he was you may be seated all right a couple announcements before we get out of here.

Today i want to apologize to our people online was not your fault the internet cut out but we're continuing to work on that make that better another announcement dr ken uh was our transitional pastor and was a part of our Church up until this past week so it is a bittersweet announcement he is not wasting his retirement uh he is using it for the glory of God and one of his uh his his his calling his primary calling in retirement is uh to help churches in this area and he accepted the interim position at saluda baptist Church around 378 which is bittersweet.

For us sweet because they are getting a pastor who we love dearly and we know he's going to do a great job bitter because we will not be seeing him as much anymore so we love him uh as pastors we love him this Church loves him we owe so much to him we thank Jesus for him so if you're friends with joy on facebook send a message over uh continue to reach out them how much we love them um but that is the update on that.

If you are not a part of a group we would love you to be a part of a group and chet is going to be down in the construction area to be able to answer any questions you might have and tell you about our groups if you have any questions about our Church he'll be down there uh to answer them uh if you are part of this Church we invite you to give we have the giving slots you can also give online i'm going to close this with a word from.

First thessalonians 5 verses 23 through 24 now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our lord Jesus Christ he who calls you is faithful he will surely do it amen you guys have a great day.

Good Government

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Good Government

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors of Mill City Church of casey so this is our second week in a row where because of some coveted exposure we're being cautious and we're live streaming so you're joining us online welcome uh glad you're joining us uh we as a Church believe that Jesus is better than everything else because this is true we get to be a Gospel-centered community on mission which is really important for us individually and as a Church right.

Now as culture is is raging as there's all types of of chaos whether it's coveted whether it's the economy or right now in a heightened political climate which is why we're walking through this series messiah 2020 that no matter what we are walking through we don't have to shift with the rest of culture we have a hope that is secure we are Gospel center that our hope is completely bound up in Christ crucified and raised from the grave that our hope is eternal and we live as eternal people in this world living out the Gospel together that's the hope that we that we celebrate on sundays as we sing songs and worship as we sit.

On the authority of God's word it's also the hope that we get to be grounded and centered in in community groups so one of the things we have in our Church is we have community groups which are smaller groups of our Church family that that live life together that that meet regularly that open up the Bible that eat meals together when it's not in a season where we have to not eat meals together uh but we do this to live out the Gospel together to celebrate who.

Jesus is to keep us centered in the Gospel as a Church family so if you're new welcome we'd love to invite you into that to connect you to some of our groups one of the easiest ways to do that is to go to our website millcitycasey.com and you can go to our community groups page you can fill out some information and we can connect with you and kind of tell you more about our groups which one might be good for you to check out.

If you are not new and you call this Church home we invite you to give we believe that our response to the Gospel is generosity and we open up our wallets in doing that so if you're part of our Church family you can give online you can also come by during the week and drop off checks at our office so i'm going to uh to pray for us that i'll prepare our hearts for worship and i'm going to call us to worship from psalm 95.

Father i thank you that we get to worship because of your great love because you came and you rescued us and you redeemed us that we get to uh sit in an eternal reality and out of that we get to praise we get to sing songs i pray you prepare hearts for worship prepare our hearts to to be to sit under your word we ask us in Jesus name amen i'm going to call us to worship from psalm 95 it says this oh come.

Let us sing to the lord let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation let us come into his presence with thanksgiving let us make a joyful noise with songs of praise for the lord is a great God and a great king above all gods in his hands are the depths of the earth the heights of the mountains are his also the sea is his and he made it and his hands form the dry land oh come let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the lord our maker for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand wherever you're joining with us today let's worship together praise the lord the almighty oh my adoration shelters us under have you not seen how our desires have been granted surely his goodness if this praise to the lord oh let all that is in me adore all that hath life and breath come now with praises before again me again.

Lord now my my life is our first treasure may i reach heavens still be my vision i once was lost in darkest nights first i would refuse to upon display your suffering is hallelujah all i have is Christ hallelujah is my life the truth in any way you choose is is Jesus God all we have to claim before you is Jesus and we're thankful this morning that as your Church we are thankful for the cross of Christ we're thankful that he rose from the grave.

Lord this morning as your Church we pray that you would speak to us that that would be the cry of our heart that all we have is Christ and so we pray that you would reveal yourself through your word that you would speak through chet as he comes to preach in Jesus name amen my fellow americans good morning my name is chet phillips i'm one of the pastors here we are in our second week of our messiah 2020 series we're only doing three weeks on this we're taking a brief pause from the Gospel of Matthew to try to get some sound footing to kind of catch our bearings in the middle of the american political.

Season which seems to be unending at this point but we are in an election year and we wanted to address and begin to ask the questions how as Christians ought we to approach politics how should we think about it what should we do what shouldn't we do and just try to catch our breath and get some firm footing so the primary goal of this series is to help us understand that Christians ought to approach politics distinctly from the rest of our neighbors that we ought to have a distinct approach and understanding to government and two politics.

Because we are first and foremost Christians before we are citizens of any earthly place we said last week that we think we ought to look more similar to believers around the globe than just those who happen to vote like us in our own nation and so that's our goal we've got three weeks to do it what we said last week was that we cannot approach politics in the same way as our cultural allies and those who are across the aisle from us we can't approach it the same way.

Because the way we're currently pushed to approach politics is to have a high amount of fear so that we'll give our sole allegiance to a political party or a political leader and then work with a bit of anger and animosity and venom to conquer our political enemies that ultimately our culture is telling us we need a messiah we need a savior we need someone to come in and fix all of our problems to give us a hope and a future and we already have a messiah we already have a savior we already have a hope and a future we are already citizens of an eternal kingdom.

Therefore our approach to politics has to be distinct and so we just tried to dismantle some things last week and this week we're beginning to build it back up a little bit so we're asking the question is okay if we shouldn't approach it as if we need a messiah and if we shouldn't approach it with this amount of fear and anxiety and anger how should we look at politics how should we approach this is government good should we have a government that's kind of where we're starting it's like what's a what's a baseline approach to an understanding of how the Bible treats government.

Because some of us in christianity and some of in our Church family would want to say well politics is just too corrupt our system is too broken Christians shouldn't participate at all others would say well Christian's primary role is the Gospel and the proclamation of the Gospel and that we're spiritual beings and that we ultimately need to see God work so we just need to preach the Gospel and let the world sort itself out but reality is we're called to love.

God and our neighbors and that does mean that we have to live in the place we are and interact in the place we are i have two sons i have a five-year-old and a two-year-old and the two-year-old is just beginning to speak uh he's just kind of putting some stuff together and there's times where they'll be off playing together and um you hear him laughing you'll hear him play and then all of a sudden there'll just be chaos screaming shouting arguing.

And then i'll hear the pitter patter of little feet down the hall my two-year-olds are running down the hall crying and he his brother's name's archer but he pronounces it shasha or arsha he hasn't gotten it yet but he'll come down the hall and he'll say and i know what he's saying he's looking at me and he's saying father i beseech you without your good governance it's anarchy it's become lord of the flies the strong rule over the week and you must come rule and give some boundaries.

So that we might have life and have it flourishing i look at him and say i understand son but really he's asking for good government and the reality is we all need good government and God designed government to be good for our sake in the garden prior to sin he tells adam and eve that they would rule and have dominion and that they would multiply and flourish but God meant for there to be some guiding principle some rules some leadership prior to sin and we don't outgrow government we aren't saved from government we're actually saved into a government that.

Jesus is a king and we're told in isaiah that his of his government and his peace there will be no end so we're not moving to heaven and entering into this free no government system we're moving in and having a king that God's design for government is good and that we're in the middle now where there is sin and it's meant to function in a certain way and so we need to understand how to approach it so what we're going to try to aim at.

Today is the understanding that government is good because it was instituted by God to limit evil and promote good for the good of those governed the government's good because it was instituted by God to limit evil and promote what is good for the sake for the good of those governed and that as Christians we ought to participate but we ought to participate as those who have an eternal perspective so let's pray and we'll jump in God we thank you for your grace we pray that as we seek to be good citizens of your kingdom who have been placed here that we would be good citizens of where we are with an eternal perspective working towards.

The good of our neighbors we thank you for government and its intended design for us and we pray that we would grow in our understanding and appreciation of it today in Jesus name amen go to romans chapter 13. we're going to be looking at romans chapter 13 verses 1 through 7. this is Paul writing to the roman Church and he's talking to them about how they ought to think about government he's done a lot about how they ought to interact with each other and how they ought to approach the.

Lord but he's talking now about how they ought to approach the being citizens in where they are so it says this romans 13 verse 1 let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God i'm going to read that again for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God therefore whoever resists the authorities resist what God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment.

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad would you have no fear of the one who is in authority then do what is good and you will receive his approval for he is God's servant for your good but if you do wrong be afraid for he does not bear the sword in vain for he is the servant of God an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer therefore one must be in subjection not only to avoid God's wrath.

But also for the sake of conscience for because of this you also pay taxes for the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing pay to all what is owed to them taxes to whom taxes are owed revenue to whom revenue is owed respect to whom respect is owed honor to whom honor is owed so Paul says that all institutions are instituted by God and that there are for our good for your good and i can feel it even as i'm reading that.

Because i can feel it in myself but i can feel it in us that we we just want to hold on i got a question like there's the the ultimate american question that just rises in us is what about bad governments what says don't don't resist them but but i have what about bad governments what about in algeria where they're shutting down churches what about in china when the government's overreaching when they're saying that you can't even be a Christian when they're rounding them up or arresting them or making them have only certain places and certain ways that they can meet what about.

When there's a king who puts taxes on your tea but won't let you have representatives in parliament what do we do when there's blatant governmental evil and overreach that's the question we want to ask immediately to push back on this because the idea that God is over all institutions that he's working through all of them for our good does not seem like that always plays out that way and there are times where it feels like the government is overstepping we currently in our culture right.

Now have people who are standing against government authority we have those who are marching who are standing in roads and blocking off bridges and protesting we have churches that are saying even though the local authorities have told them they can't meet they're going to anyway and it really depends on which side of the aisle you fall on as to which one you're saying yes and amen and oh how dare you but we currently have this question even playing out with us and it's what do we do.

And so i think we have to answer that quickly before we can get into God's good design one the good news for bad government is that all government is under the authority of God the good news for us in bad government is that all government is under the authority of God which means that it will be judged it will be held to his standards and judged according to his purposes and that even in the midst of bad government God can work good he does this throughout the old testament he raises up leaders he lowers leaders he raises up kings he lowers kings he raises up nations he lowers nations they work at his discretion he.

Can revoke them or install them as he wills and so that those that do evil at times are used for God's purposes even pagan kingdoms the babylonian kingdom was used for God's purposes for his people to to punish them to correct them as judgment on his people but then he sent the persians in to punish and correct the babylonians and to bless his people and God does this throughout history so even in the midst of a place where Christians are in a bad government they can hope and trust that.

God is good over it secondly the primary role for Christians is not to just transform our governmental systems or to seek power but to testify to an eternal truth to testify to an eternal kingdom that's our primary role that's what pastor wang yi who's a pastor in china who was arrested by the communist government he had pre-written this and told his Church to publish it if he had been arrested for more than 48 hours i want to read an excerpt from this he says as a pastor my disobedience is one part of the Gospel commission.

So he's disobeying the government by having house churches Christ's great commission requires of us great disobedience the goal of disobedience is not to change the world but to testify about another world he goes on from that to say that he doesn't believe that Christians ought to be changing the institutions but that they ought to be primarily focused on eternal things he says this 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.

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 so that the primary role of Christians is not just to transform government not to have all the policies that we wish we would have but to proclaim another kingdom and so when there is a bad government we still have a primary role to play in proclaiming another kingdom which does at times mean as weighing ye is walking out some form of disobedience.

For the greater purposes of God but not for the greater purposes of our political candidate party or system of choice if this is attention that you're trying to work out i would encourage you to read first Peter chapter two i would encourage you to read all of wang yi's letter it's called my letter of uh faithful disobedience i would encourage you to read dr martin luther king jr's letter from a birmingham jail as a kind of a starter on how to ought we to think about Christians interacting with governments.

When government's not operating properly but primarily today we're looking at God's good design so we're going to focus on that not when it goes wrong because it does go wrong in sin and we do have hope that God is an authority over it and we'll judge it but what's his good design for government you see government matters because people matter life matters joy matters there's the people around you matter and so God has designed it for us to have government the reality is without government there are those who would say wouldn't it be better.

If the government just wasn't involved wouldn't life be better if there just was no government the answer to that is no it wouldn't without government the strong make the rules the weak are pushed to the side sin reigns every time a even an evil government falls immediately it's not like oh good the government's gone now everybody can be nice to each other that's not what happens when a bad government falls there's sin women are raped children are abducted people are murdered.

God instituted government however flawed for good purposes so this is what he says that we ought to be subject to the governing authorities and even there as he walks this out Christians ought to begin looking different than those around us he says be subject to the governing authorities pay your taxes you ought to pay what is owed to those who tax you it says pay honor oh give honor to those whom it's owed so that Christians ought to be respectful you ought to be able to speak about whoever's in leadership over you in a gracious respectful way even as you disagree with them and that right.

Now just doing that will make Christians look distinct from those in their political party that if we can see the good in others and we can speak to the good and others if we can acknowledge where they're right acknowledge where we're wrong and speak in an honorable way of those that we vehemently disagree with will begin to look more the way he's designed for us to look but see the primary role of of good government is to discourage what is evil and to encourage what is good and he gives more attention on discouraging what is evil that's the basic approach the basic role of government it's that to be under God's authority discouraging evil carrying.

Out God's wrath on the wrongdoer and promoting what is good i mentioned my boys earlier but that's the system primary system of governance at my house i want my boys to grow up i want them to love Jesus but much of the work i'm doing with them is i'm just looking at discouraging what is bad and encouraging what is good and if you're a new parent start there is this behavior good will it help them live in our house does it make me like them is this the type of person i want to be around will this help them live in society encourage that is this behavior bad does this make me not want to.

Live with this person you see children have parents for a reason they're meant to have some governance they would not be better off without you they will make terrible decisions and you're supposed to help them grow into a person that can live in the world very simply at my house one of the rules is if you cry and throw a fit you don't get what you're crying and throwing a fit for it makes my decision easy you don't get to watch that you don't get to eat that you don't get to do the thing you wanted.

Because if i give it to them after they cry and throw a fit what i've taught my children is that in order to be happy they need to be miserable and that's not good for them and the reality is that small scale picture of parenting is ultimately what govern government is supposed to do for us as we are adults and still sinful that they're meant to hold evil at bay and encourage what is good he gives again more attention to discouraging evil.

But let's talk about the encouraging good for a second that they're there for our good this means that governments the Bible doesn't give us a system kings parliament a senate a house of representatives a president voting not voting it doesn't give us that it just says that government was designed these things are instituted for our goods so that there would be some system some oversight and someone who avenges what is wrong and promotes what is good so some of the ways that happens here you can we.

Then get into debates about how big should it be how little should it be how much should they promote how much should they discourage but the reality is under God's authority then there's just some how are they going to practically walk that out as long as they're in line with what God says is good and bad so some examples our government promotes generosity it promotes charitable work charitable organizations don't have to pay taxes our Church doesn't pay income tax we don't pay uh property tax we don't pay tax on the land that we live we people who give money to charitable organizations get tax benefits that's them encouraging things that they think are good our.

Government gives money towards education that's them encouraging things that they think are good that help for human flourishing and that's okay that's inside the bounds of the role of government they discourage evil and there are some places where they they maybe don't discourage it but they least shouldn't encourage it the reality is it's not a it's not against the law to lie if you want to tell people that your benchmax is higher than it really is if you want to tell people that the fish you caught was way bigger than it actually was.

If you want to tell people that you caught a lot of fish when you didn't that's all sin but there's no government control over that but then the government does step in when there are places where people are lying in business or they're lying about a business ben johnson was telling us in lebanon they the government recently took up 40 tons they confiscated 40 tons of expired chicken the chicken was dating back to 2016 that was being sold in markets there they came and confiscated it.

Because the government was like this is unhealthy this is unsafe and you're lying about it and the government's put some restrictions around that and they're discouraging something that's bad it's not good for their people to all be sick with eating bad chicken so they step in and those are some of the roles of government how much how far where those are the things we get to discuss but that's inside the realm of God's good design for government the Bible says that they carry the sword he is the servant of.

God an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrong doer that he does not carry the sword in vain this is one of the primary functions of the government to have a military to have police that's good they're servants of God for our good one of my favorite scenes at the end of the movie the guardians of the galaxy and if you haven't seen it it's like a heist movie but in space one of my favorite scenes is after these criminals who are the main people you're following they save this planet.

And so they tell them that their criminal records have been wiped clean because they saved the planet because they came together and did something good they wiped their criminal records clean and so they're talking to the police officer and one of them says okay well let me ask you a question now that my my slate's wiped clean what if i see someone who has something that i want more than they do and i just take it the police officer says yes that's theft that's that's against the law you will go to jail.

Because that make any sense i want it more than they do and they just kind of push him out of the way and then one of the bigger meaner guys on their team looks at him and goes okay well let me ask you something if someone does something that i find irksome so i remove his spine and the police officer looks at him and goes yeah that's that's murder that's like one of the worst things you can do you would also go to jail and as that's meant to be play out.

For humor but the reality is with no laws with no one enforcing what is good with no one avenging what is wrong the smartest the strongest the meanest often succeed people just do what's right in their own eyes they just take advantage of those who are weak those who are smaller that government is meant to be a good avenger on your behalf in romans chapter 12 the chapter before this Paul's talking to them and he tells them that God is the primary avenger don't be avenged.

When someone does you wrong but leave it to the wrath of God that God is the avenger of all wrongdoing but then in romans 13 he says secondarily God has given the sword to governments to avenge on his behalf for our good my brother is a police officer he's a sheriff's deputy and he is according to romans a servant of God for our good that when someone breaks into someone's home and takes what doesn't belong to them when someone harms someone.

When someone uh because they're bigger physically abuses someone that God has instituted for there to be those who are avengers for the good of those who live in this area that they might have someone to call they might have some resource to go to that God has designed this for our good they're those in law enforcement in our Church family those who've been in military and our Church family and that's a good thing to do they're servants of God for our good.

And so they ought to act as servants of God for our good the the part there that that adjusts how we approach politics and how our politicians act and how our military and police is that they serve God first and foremost and so they ought to act in line with him and therefore work from there so this plays out that that is one of the primary ways that we get to push our government towards what is good is by bringing them in line with the word of.

God and we're going to talk more about that next week and how we we actually get to play that out personally as we interact with our world and as we live out as people who live here but some examples of how this has worked in the past william wilberforce became a believer and he began to push the english government to get to abolish slavery he began to say that you're under God and slavery is wrong so you're out of bounds and what you're allowing and you need to abolish slavery he also pushed.

For uh good treatment of animals because of the same thing he was like no you ought not there ought to be some laws that prohibit this sort of behavior in the u.s one of our greatest thinkers and writers and speakers is frederick douglass who was a freed slave who had no political agency whatsoever could not vote had just earned his freedom had been property most of his life but he began to push he began to speak he began to proclaim he was a amy pastor at one point and he began to push those in leadership and said government ought to be in line with.

God and he pushed for the abolition of slavery he pushed for better rights for women because he said this is what God has designed for us and our government ought to be in line in promoting what is good and holding back what is evil and it worked him and others were able to push to get us to line up with more of God's will and God's good design for us and this is one of the ways that we get to participate as americans you get to vote you get to call your elected officials we live in a place where we have representation that we're supposed to have those who are in our leadership represent us.

Spencer was telling me this week that he had heard that they were getting rid of the adoption tax credit that some of the leaders in south carolina specifically those in the republican party were pushing for this because we live in a primarily republican state and most of our leaders are in the republican party they were pushing for getting rid of the adoption tax credit and so he said he called he called every leader in every in the districts he was in.

So his senators his congress people and he said if you're a republican and you're saying you're pro-life then you also need to be pro-adoption you need to help promote this that's what he called and told them and they ended up not passing it and so two of our pastors right now are in the process of adoption and they get to apply for this tax credit so spencer asked me to tell them on his behalf matt razzier welcome spencer fought for what was good.

So that we might promote what is good in our government and we get to do the same thing that God designed government to be a generic grace-filled good for the world that we're meant to have it and so we ought to be in subject in subjection to it paying taxes honoring those that are our leaders praying for them because God designed this to be good to help us but the reality is while government is good and is meant for our good it does have limitations.

So go back just a few pages to romans chapter 8. so in romans Paul has been walking through salvation he's been walking through our need for Christ by the time we've made it to romans 12 13 and forward he starts giving more practical advice but prior to this he's been giving a lot of theological understanding and so in romans 8 he's talking about the law of God to the law that God gave to Moses and the people of Israel so this is ceremonial law this is the law that of how of his moral law how they ought to relate to.

God this is uh state law how they ought to relate to one another this is the law that God handed to Moses so when it says law here in a second it doesn't just mean the laws we have on the books it actually means the law that God gave to Moses so here's what it says romans 8 verses 3 and 4. for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

For sin he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit so what Paul is getting at there is that the law that God gave to humanity could not ultimately fix human hearts it could not redeem them it could not change them it was a good law but it could not do he says God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do the reason i want us to.

See this is that if the law that God gave to Moses could not change human hearts i hate to break this to you but we will not pass a law in the united states that will be capable of doing it if the law given to the people of God after the Exodus could not ultimately fix them but was meant to show them their inadequacies and their need for Christ then any law we pass any good we promote any evil we prohibit will not ultimately be able to fix our hearts and this is important.

For us as Christians to understand government was given as a good for us but it cannot ultimately fix what is wrong with us it can hold evil at bay it can promote things that are good but Christ has done what the law cannot do he has come in the likeness of sinful flesh for sin to condemn sin in the flesh Jesus Christ came that he took on sin that he died for our sin so that as we place faith in him we might walk in the spirit not in the flesh that we might be changed internally that our hearts might be changed that we might be made new we touched on this idea last week.

When we read a quote from russell moore but what he was getting at was that we could actually get the the right president the best president the right congress the best congress the right policies the best policies but if we do all of that and get the wrong savior we have failed and so Christians are not looking for a savior we have one but we understand that government is good and therefore we ought to participate and promote it as those who understand it is good.

But it is not ultimate we cannot place all our hopes there we cannot place all our trust there we cannot believe that it will fix us that it will save us it will change everything for us that we know ultimately it's good but it's limited and therefore we participate in what is good but we trust that only Jesus will ultimately save us and change our hearts and so we work towards that end i love this quote from martin luther king jr getting at this idea he says it may be true that the law cannot make a man love me.

But it can keep him from lynching me and i think that's pretty important i love that quote and i think it gets at this idea that we believe that government is good that we ought to have it that it's good to have police it's good to have those promoting what is good and prohibiting what is evil and policing that and overseeing that and caring for that and working towards that that they're servants of God for our good so we appreciate our politicians we appreciate those who are in leadership we pray.

For them and we hope for good ones and we trust that God oversees all of that and that ultimately laws will not fix what is broken in us that we have hope for God to do that for our good through Christ so we participate but understanding the limitations we do not give our full hope and our full heart to it we trust that Jesus will ultimately change us and that we need him over and above the good government that God has given us.

So i want to push on those who are politically apathetic have no desire for it it's such a drain on you you think it's a waste of time i want you to see that God designed it for good and that we need good loss we need good oversight we need good to be promoted and evil to be prohibited and i want to encourage you to begin participating there are some people in our Church who should run for office we should have Christians that are holding public office and they should be Christians there's this idea that they should check their christianity at the door.

But nobody else has to do that the the secular humanist doesn't have to check that at the door in order to help make good laws and so we don't believe Christians should either we think you should go and be a Christian and you should help promote what is good and discourage what is evil and that you should use the Bible because ultimately all authority is derived from God you should use that as a good example of how you ought to do this.

So we think some should run for government run for office we think that those who would say but it's too corrupt and therefore you don't want to participate i would push back and say if it's too corrupt we ought to participate all the more we're given avenues for it as Christians in the united states there are some places where we wouldn't but we ought to push we are to participate we are to seek to have that changed so that this can be a good that.

God has given us you ought to vote and here's the thing about voting it's difficult when we only have two parties and you don't like either of the candidates the reality is if you as a Christian are not allowed to vote for anyone who has holds a policy that you disagree with or you as a Christian are not allowed to vote for anyone who holds a moral position a personal position moral action that you disagree with you will not vote so we need to be able to vote understanding that it is not a full endorsement of the character it's not a full endorsement of everything.

But that we've looked and said we think a good bit of this lines up with the heart of Jesus for the good of our nation and we're going to participate and where they're wrong and where they're off we're going to acknowledge it we're going to push for better we're going to practice different things in our personal life that help make up for the fact that i voted here but now i've got to make sure that i come up with some of the deficiencies here.

So you can vote it's not a full endorsement but then you ought to participate in a way that helps compensate start local if you're having a hard time getting motivated to be involved in politics start local this is something i need to grow in is paying attention to our local officials our local leaders caring about them knowing what they're for knowing what they affect but we ought to be involved in the local politics of our city not just our national politics pray that we're meant to pray.

For those who are in authority over us pray for their good not just pray that they would do what we want them to do but that the lord would use them that he'd give them wisdom that he would guide them that he would save them that we would pray for our leadership and lastly trust Jesus government is good and it's a blessing and we should be thankful for it we should be thankful for those who serve for our good they serve under.

God and his authority but we should ultimately trust him that even where things are bad and difficult and things where things are mishandled because we have sinners filling all the offices in our land we would trust that Jesus is working that he will judge what is evil and that all governments are ultimately instituted through him and therefore work at his will and when they get out of line he can remove them or he can bless them and he works through them.

For his good purposes even though we can't always see them so trust him to change hearts trust him to oversee the government we're in and participate in a healthy way understanding that it's good but it's not ultimate so for those of you who have placed too much hope in our political systems too much hope in a political party i would encourage you again this week to repent to begin to detox to begin to break that down so you might understand that it's good.

But ultimately we need God over top of it we need God down here with us changing our hearts and for those of you who've rejected all of this i'll push you to be involved to be engaged because it's a good gift from God that's meant for our good and for the good of our neighbors let's pray God we thank you for your grace your love towards us we pray that you would bless our nation that you would bless our leaders that you would change their hearts that you would give them wisdom and that they would be good servants of yours to discourage evil to promote good.

For the good of those who live in this land i pray that you would help us to not place too much hope in political parties or political systems but to trust you and we pray that you would help us not to be falsely wrongly apathetic towards something a gift that you have given us that we might be engaged for the benefit of our neighbors oh my God like you there is your grace your love exceeds the heaven's reach my my your faithfulness my my guilt and cross laid on your shoulders in my place you broke my bones glory to your.

Lord all right so uh just a couple announcements before we close out uh if you are are new we'd love to uh love for you to check out one of our groups one of the easiest ways you can do that is go to our website go to our community groups page and to fill out some information we'd love to be able to journey with us as we walk through this series as we uh walk through the Gospel together every week in groups come join us uh we'd love to get you connected there.

If you are a part of our Church just a reminder again you can give online uh by going to our website and you can also give by coming by the Church coming out of the building during the week and dropping off checks i want to close us with a word from hebrews 13. it says now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our lord Jesus the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good they may do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through.

Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen you guys have a great day.

American Idol

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

American Idol

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors here uh obviously we expected to be live in person this morning but because of some coveted exposure we want to be safe so we are live streaming online if you're joining us we're glad you're joining us here we as a Church we believe that Jesus is better than everything else and because of this we get to be a Gospel-centered community on missions so this morning that looks like worshiping from home that looks like singing songs listening to the word of.

God being preached and responding in faith and repentance but it also means that we get to be a collection of community groups that meet throughout the week it's one of the things we talk about that are our community groups our smaller groups of our Church family they're not events they're not something that you go to it's not it's not a function it's your people it's your people that you get to journey through life with that you get to go through good times and bad times with you get to come and bear burdens you get to come and celebrate what.

God is doing and and learning about the Gospel together so for some of you this week that's going to be through facetime or jitsy or zoom or or skype and our encouragement for you is to be present it's not an event uh it is better to be together but it's not an event that we just uh that we get to skip out on it's a people that you get to see face to face that's in person or through a screen there are people that you get to gather with uh and walk through the Gospel with and walk through this sermon series that we are walking through the next three weeks.

So that's a little bit about who we are as a Church and if you're new we want to invite you into that one of the ways you can find out about community groups in our Church is to go to our website millcitycasey.com you can go to our community groups tab uh and you can fill out a connect form when someone can follow up with you and tell you about our groups tell you uh what groups you can go and check out.

But we're uh glad you're here with us this morning tuning in online uh if you are part if you are a part of our Church family we invite you to give you can give online at our website we have a giving tab you can also drop off checks here at the office uh throughout the week so i want to pray that uh right now God prepare our hearts from worship wherever we're tuning in from and then i'm gonna read from psalm 100.

Father i thank you that we get to worship wherever that is we get to sing your praises we get to sit under your word you get to form us and shape us and mold us into your image God i pray that you help us be present that you help us focus that you help us join in worshiping you we ask this in Jesus name amen all right this is a reading from psalm 100 make a joyful noise to the lord all the earth serve the.

Lord with gladness come into his presence with singing know that the lord he is God it is he who made us and we are his we are his people and the sheep of his pasture enter his gates with thanksgiving enter in his courts with praise give thanks to him bless his name for the lord is good his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations let's sing together worthy of worship worthy of worship worthy of the grace souls we can.

See father creator you are worthy savior you are and wonderful worthy of worship and praise of reverence worthy of fear worthy of love and devotion worthy of all this and added to these father creator you are worthy save your sustainer you are almighty father master and lord king of all kings and redeemers savior and source of a life without in worthy and wonderful i got a firm foundation alright the only solid ground the nations rise and fall kingdom comes one strong.

Now shaken we trust forever in your name the name of Jesus we trust the name of Jesus you are the only king forever almighty God we lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious you are the only king forever almighty God will lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious knee will bow we bring our expectations our hope is anchored in your name the name of Jesus we trust the name of.

Jesus you are the only king forever almighty God we lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious you are the only king forever almighty God will lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious the name of Jesus from age 28. you are the only king forever almighty God will lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious you are the only king forever almighty God will let you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious a reading from.

First Peter 1 3-9 blessed be the God and father of our lord Jesus Christ according to his great mercy he has caused us to be born again to a living hope for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time in this you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials to the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in praise.

Glory and honor at the Revelation of Jesus Christ though you have not seen him you love him though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory obtaining the outcome of your faith salvation of your souls how great the castle then lay between us how high the mountain i could not in desperation i turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night then through the darkness your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul the work is finished the end is written.

Jesus Christ who could imagine so great a mercy what i could fathom such boundless grace the God of ages stepped down from glory to where my sin and bear my shame the cross has spoken i am forgiven the king of kings calls me beautiful savior i'm yours forever Jesus Christ hallelujah praise the lord who set me free hallelujah death has lost his script on me you have broken every chain there's salvation in your name Jesus Christ death has lost its grip on me you have broken every chain this salvation in your name.

Jesus the Christ that sealed the promise your very body began to breathe out of the silence the roaring lion declare the grave then came the morning that sealed the promise your very body began to breathe is set me free hallelujah death has lost its grip on me you have broken every chain this salvation in your name Jesus Christ oh God you are my living God we're thankful this morning that we get to claim Jesus as our living hope Jesus who came of his own will came of his own purpose to rescue us to redeem us we are grateful this morning who lived a perfect sinful life a sinless life he died on the cross.

For our sins and rose from the grave God that that's our hope this morning and i pray that we would put our hope in Jesus uh as we open up your word this morning we pray that you would speak to us you would help us learn help us grow we ask this in Jesus name amen well good morning i uh i really like that bumper i'm excited that we are getting to start a series together looking at politics but as we do that we we need to kind of set uh some ground rules and be able to come in this.

Well so we talk a lot about politics in the united states we talk about them almost unceasingly and we are in the middle of an election year and so you might already be overwhelmed by how much you're having to hear about political candidates and political parties and political hopes and dreams and political fears but we wanted to take some time as a Church family to discuss politics and our approach as Christians to politics so even as we begin that i know that.

For some of you that brings up a lot of fear or frustration or a desire that we as a Church would never discuss these things maybe you even believe that the Church should never discuss these things others of you may be very excited and want to talk about politics maybe you're like finally we should have already been talking about this and i'm willing to bet there's a big mixture of all of that across our Church family we want to be able to discuss this in a healthy biblical way just.

Because something is tense or difficult in our culture does not mean we have to shy away from it or we ought to shy away from it often it means we we ought to press in we as a Church ought to investigate and discuss and look at and so as we move into this series together i want to give a few things for us one is it's not going to be that long of a series we're only taking three weeks we're not going to get to say everything that ought to be said about it.

But we're also not going to spend a ton of time on it what we're trying to do is set a foundation for how we ought to approach politics and since we're in such a heated political climate we need to have some biblical wisdom as to how we ought to approach we understand that our Church family differs on policies and politics and we we we think that's beautiful and that ought to happen inside the Church but we want to have a baseline.

For how do we as Christians engage in the political processes around us without losing our mind or without losing our souls and so as we walk through this realize it's a three-week series not everything will be able to be said certainly not everything will be able to be said in each sermon if there is something that frustrates you makes you angry makes you aggravated don't value your politics above being Church family and let's press in and talk about these things come talk to me let's clarify what i said what i meant to say go talk to the people in your group as we walk through this.

But we're going to try to as best we can look like God look God like and graciously walk through this as Christians as we move forward so the point of this series is that we believe that Christians ought to look different from our culture when it comes to our political engagement that Christians ought to be distinct from those around them and how they think about and approach politics we believe that we believe that we ought to have a different viewpoint and a different starting point.

And so that you should look more like the Christians on the other side of the globe that when we boil down your life and your hopes and your aspirations and the way you walk through life that you should look more like a believer in china or india or russia than just someone who looks like you and votes like you in the united states that we ought to have a distinct way we approach politics as believers over and against those who we would technically be in the same political party as that's what we're trying to discuss.

Look at for the next three weeks specifically today we're going to look at the fact we're going to take kind of a zoom in on our current political climate and look at how our culture demands that we approach politics and ultimately what they're asking of us is to approach a political candidate or a political party as a hero and a savior to elevate one party one candidate as a messiah who will lead us into a bright future and to understand that the other candidate the other party is evil and destructive that they ought to be feared that's kind of the current political climate that we have.

So we're going to investigate that a little bit and try to see how we as Christians ought to approach this step away from that and have a different on-ramp to our approach to politics so let's pray and we'll begin to look at that this morning God we ask for your grace and your wisdom as we walk through this we know that just live streaming and then gathering in our groups is not our ideal not our desired way to approach this but we also know that through the power of your Holy Spirit and through the the way you work in your Church which is not a location or an event.

But a people that will be just fine as we study your word together and seek to be good missionaries in our city and so we pray that you would bless this as we study together and as we get to gather together in community groups that we would grow in our understanding of who you are and how we ought to approach government and the political process in the place that we live we ask for grace in Jesus name amen if you'll grab your bibles and go to Philippians chapter 3.

That's where we'll spend our time today it's going to take us a minute to get there but go ahead and flip there get to Philippians 3 we're going to be looking at verse 17 through and we're going to have to talk through a few things before we start in that passage so that we can kind of set the groundwork for what we're looking at but we will get there politics is neutral in general the idea of politics is just taken from the greek word polis which means city and it's how do we organize ourselves as a city how do we organize ourselves as a group of people what's inbounds what's out of bounds what works.

Towards human flourishing and what doesn't these are the questions that politics have to answer so in general politics is neutral now we use the word with a negative term because we've filled up politics with people and once we do that we get partisan politics and we get someone being political which just means they're maneuvering things so that they can get the most benefit without any skin in the game and so but when we're talking about this as we approach it it's the idea of government is good it's a common grace blessing from.

God it is something that we ought to participate in celebrate and enjoy that the idea that humans should collectively have ways that they govern themselves and that they keep society in order and work towards human flourishing is good and it's a gift from God and we will talk specifically next week and the week after about how we ought to engage and how we ought to press them but as we start today we want to just approach understanding how we get to where we've elevated political parties and political candidates to the position that they're in or we are really in some ways at our heart level looking.

For a savior looking for a messiah someone that we can hope in some party that we can trust in something that would put us at ease and at rest and deliver us to the promised land so as we were working on this i got with josh pabone and inspired by old political cartoons we drew up well josh drew up the government octopus and so here it is this is the the octopus of government now this is not meant to scare you.

If you're scared of octopus i'm sorry this is meant just to show you how the government can attach to and be involved in so many things that matter to us so if you look at his little headband that's the government if you see tucked up behind him he's got comfort and power because ultimately that's what happens if the government has some power and it offers us power if we're in line with it it offers us some comfort it kind of has these things that we care about and pursue and it touches all these things that really matter to us justice schools health money happiness we're going to do something that we haven't done before.

But we're going to try out as we're trying to learn how to do this well i'm going to stand to the side here and we're going to try to have this pulled up over here so that we can see it it may move around a little bit as we get it adjusted adjusted but this is the neutral not meant to scare you government octopus that touches all the things that matter and you can see how we begin to place a lot of hopes in who's in power.

Because the government affects justice what happens in our court system what do you go to jail for are there jails are there prisons who runs them how long do you have to stay there what are the conditions there how do you seek justice if you've been wronged who decides what is right and wrong you see every government whether it's big or little whether it's a a democracy or a dictatorship it's going to address some of these issues it's going to have answers to some of these problems.

If people are going to exist with one another so government attaches itself to justice and has to answer some questions for us and sometimes when it doesn't give an answer it's that's an answer it pushes it into the market it puts it into how people will handle it on their own schools so that this government octopus can address schools which is our children are they safe are there standards that all schools have to meet or is it just if you have enough money you can get a good education.

And if you don't you don't are there health standards are there safety standards who's teaching them what are they learning are they being indoctrinated in all the good things we want them indoctrinated in or they being indoctrinated in all the evil things that will lead them to stray see this matters this is why when we talk about government it matters to us our health is tied up in this what happens when you go to the hospital is it clean is it nice is that just based off of whether you have money or the area you live in has money are there standards that that medicines have to meet are there standards that doctors have to.

Meet who sets those standards who controls that how much does it cost who pays for it these are questions that government answers or chooses not to answer and just pushes out into the world but it matters it matters the type of care you get the type of care your family gets if you look at happiness we have that on there the way we've worded that in the u.s is this idea of a pursuit of happiness that the government is meant to help you not be infringed upon by them and not be infringed upon by the people around you that you can have some level of freedom this isn't the case everywhere.

But it is here and it does matter as we're trying to talk about our political landscape can you own property can you defend it or not can people take it from you is there some amount of upward mobility can you work certain jobs or not depending on who you are your skin color your race your family of origin whether or not you started off wealthy or poor like there's this level of what kind of boundaries do i have the government affects our money they set a currency is it a good currency is it a bad currency how much do you earn.

When you work does the government control that how many hours can your employer ask of you all these things government effects and so all these things matter to us and so you can begin to see how we would begin to elevate this and in reality in a culture where we step away from God where our culture drifts from understanding that God is sovereign that he rules over everything for us this matters more and more and more this idea of this government octopus matters more and more.

If we're to trust it over and against trusting God as he works it always has mattered but the more our culture shifts away from God the more we begin to look for this to deliver us the kingdom this to deliver us the promised land this to keep us safe this to give us a hope and a future and so this is where political parties begin to step in this is where political candidates begin to step in because all these things matter to us they're tied to our hearts.

And so it's easy for us as they're clumped together for us to look to political hopes as our true hope so if this is good if it's your political candidate of choice then everything is awesome everything works out beautifully it's like this governmental octopus is not just touching these things but it's hugging them it's protecting them it's keeping you safe if your candidate is in office or if your hopes and dreams are being fulfilled by those in congress maybe if you're in another part of the world and you have a benevolent dictator this is the way it works that this offers a lot of security a lot of safety it helps you.

When you walk through the world to know where your place is but if it's not your candidate of choice it's terrifying if it's not your party this this octopus is now snaking its way around it's sucking the life out of you it's it's here to harm you and destroy you this is easy for us to believe it's easy for us to feel this because the government has an effect on so many things for us it's easy for us to be able to.

See this and there's part of this that's absolutely true you start looking at it and go no the government does have a large role to play and what your day-to-day life looks like the government has a large role to play in and what your whole life looks like whether it's good or bad and so we begin to place a lot of hope a lot of intense passion around how is this going to play out but the reality is Christians cannot approach it the same way that our culture has begun to call us to here's what i mean the cultural push right.

Now is kind of a three-step process first they're going to convince us that the stakes are high and that's easy to do this idea that the stakes are high is easy to convince us that we ought to place a lot of hope in how this would work out because if it goes bad it goes really bad but if it goes good it can go really good and so this is why we've begun to give a lot of rhetoric and language towards how this plays out that we've got to give a lot of rhetoric and language tours who is to be trusted who is to be elevated you hear things like donald trump is an existential.

Threat to america he's an existential threat to democracy that our democracy the united states won't exist i saw somebody post recently on facebook or on twitter that this we were facing the fight of our lifetime and if donald trump was not elected it could mean the end of christianity we've begun to elevate this language and what happens on both sides is we start to pump up one leader or one party as the hero and we begin to pump up the other one as the villain and we're told by everybody.

When you turn on the radio when you turn on the news when you flip through your news feed on your phone nobody is coming to you and saying hey calm down it's going to be all right we're gonna we're gonna last beyond this we're gonna be okay everybody is working us into a frenzy to tell us how high the stakes are i've only seen a few elections but what i know about them is that the stakes were highest they'd ever been the.

First one i ever saw and then they were the highest they've ever been and they got higher and i'm going to go ahead and tell you that in 2024 when we're having another election i seriously doubt they're going to come on your news feed and say hey the stakes are a little bit lower than last time i feel like we're going to continue to barrel towards this cataclysmic future because the more we fear the more we approach politics with fear the more we.

See how this is snaking in and could either protect us and guard us or or snatch life away from us and so they build this up on one side you have a Christ and on the other side you have an antichrist and you may say that's that's a bit strong well the reality is i we lived through an election where the the candidate was called an antichrist i actually remember leading a Bible study in college and some of the guys on our football team came and asked me hey i've been hearing that obama is the antichrist do you think that's true i said no i don't i don't think that's true i think people politically.

Don't like him they disagree with his politics i don't think he's the antichrist but we've begun to elevate this so on this side you have a hero and on this side you have a villain this side we're going to exalt them we're going to exalt a party this side we're going to vilify it this side we have a Christ and an antichrist someone who will lead us to the promised land someone who will give us a hope and a future and someone over here.

If they're elected there will be blood in the streets you will be hunted everything you hold dear will be taken from you everything you've ever hoped in or trusted will be gone everything that you've ever built or loved the type of person you are will be snatched from you your children will be destroyed this is the type of language we see that over here we have a savior and over here we have the devil and over here we have a 75 year old white man and over here we have a 75 year old white man.

Well that one's the same but you can see how we build this up to a fever pitch and it doesn't matter the language is the same the rhetoric is the same and you can insert whichever party you want and sometimes it doesn't just get wrapped up around the candidate often it gets wrapped up around the policies or the party but they want us to believe that the stakes are higher than they've ever been and that you ought to be afraid secondly once we are rightfully fearful we're told to join a tribe you got to pick a team it's not just a team this is a tribe this is the people to whom you belong what.

They're demanding is not just pick some policies you like but they're saying no pick a party to which you give allegiance wholehearted devotion because when there's a tribe we cannot show weakness when there's a tribe we can't have internal fighting if we have weakness over here that's how the other team wins if we're fighting things out on our side if we don't have agreement on our side so everybody has to step in line you have to perfectly agree you have to defend your tribe over and against the other tribe i have two brothers my dad uh consistently told us that we were a team that it was us to me and my two brothers against.

The world even to the point at one time i told on my other brother and my dad called me a narc told me i was singing like a canary and he said it's not you and me against your brother it's you and your brother against me and i thought this is a weird family dynamic but okay but what he was trying to put in me was that my brothers would be my brothers forever and he would say these are your brothers you don't disagree with your friends over against your brother you don't you defend your brother he told us that.

If we were out somewhere and one of our brothers one of my brothers got himself into trouble by running his mouth or doing something wrong it was my job to help defend him and then when we got alone i could hit him upside his head for being a but i couldn't do it when we were out i had to defend him the reality is that's what we're told about our political tribe blood level allegiance you line up with us perfectly once we're fearful once we've picked a tribe the.

Third one's simple win destroy your enemies this is what's asked of us in our political landscape that you need to understand how much is at stake you need to be afraid you need to join our team and we must win at all costs this is the fight of our lives we must take them down you don't understand how they will rob you of everything you hold dear how they would snatch it from you everything will be destroyed we must win they want us to be outraged they want us to be angry they want us to hate the other side.

If we can see them as a big block of something dangerous rather than humans who were walking out life trying to figure things out then all the better the reality is as Christians there are things we ought to be outraged over there are things we ought to be angry about but not constant fear-driven anger over every little thing not anger that's only against one political party and not the other but anger for the things of God it's a slow anger that continually works towards things that matter justice mercy the value of life there are things that we ought to be outraged over.

But we don't just shout it out we work towards good ends but the reality is they want us to be fearful give our full allegiance and on the attack ultimately they want us to pick a and have a savior do you see how that's a problem for us do you see how Christians can't really join that let's go to Philippians 3. hopefully you're already there i said it take us a minute to get here but this passage is so helpful for us this is Paul writing to the Church in philippi he says brothers join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us who are.

Our leaders Christians who do we keep our eye on godly faithful men and women who follow Jesus for years who do we get our political marching orders from Scripture and those who love Christ not just the political candidates of choice so he says keep your eyes on them that's not exactly he's not talking about a political thing here but i just wanted us to see that that's we join in imitating those who've come up before us verse 18 it says for many of whom i have often told you.

Now tell you even with tears walk as enemies of the cross of Christ their end is destruction their God is their belly and they glory in their shame with mind set on earthly things says those who are opposed to Christ their God is their belly meaning their passions their desires their lusts their desires of the flesh that they glory in their shame meaning all the things that are terrible are the things that they uphold as wonderful they brag about their greed they brag about their promiscuity they brag about all the things that are sinful and broken they glory in them their minds are set on earthly things all they can.

See is here and now what most benefits me here and now so he says there's this whole group of people that are walking as enemies of Christ and their end is destruction we have a picture of this to try to help us see this when when our culture tells us the stakes are high and what they mean is the political future of america is in danger if you don't act your political hopes and dreams won't be lived out the reality is we're already in a situation where the stakes are high all of creation is groaning waiting.

For God's Revelation of himself groaning waiting for him to redeem the Church and the reality is all of creation is going to be either redeemed or judged every person we know is going to be redeemed by Christ they're going to have a Christ-filled eternal future or they're going to be condemned in their sin those are the stakes that's the situation we find ourselves in and so when Paul says this he says their end is destruction their God is their belly and they glory in their shame he doesn't say this smugly he doesn't say this pridefully he says i tell you this even with tears they walk as enemies of Christ the reality is uh the.

Enemies are not political enemies they're not enemies of this party or that party they're enemies of Christ and Paul says this with tears with the hope that there would be so few of them that most people would walk into the freedom that's offered through Jesus and salvation and have an eternity with him so when they tell us the stakes are high the reality is the stakes are far higher than they know and we don't have political hopes that will fix them we have an eternal game that we're playing we have an eternal hope that is set we have an eternal judgment that is he coming.

So Christians cannot participate in the fear they want us to have over our short run political future Christians cannot participate in the fear they want us to have over a short run political future because we come from a different place understanding who the true fear is that we ought to fear him who can do more than kill the body but can also destroy the soul that we ought to fear him who rules over the cosmos and rules over history and who raises and lowers nations and who redeems in Christ in Christ alone we cannot participate in the fear they want us to have over short-run political situations and scenarios.

When they tell us to join a tribe to give our allegiance they're saying pick who you think will save you listen to this policy listen to this listen to that weigh it out and then pick one and join and fight for that end there's a scene in monty python's quest for the holy grail it's a really dumb movie they're running around questing for the holy grail that's what they're gonna go find one they go to this castle they announce that they're on a quest to find the holy grail and the guy leans over the edge of the castle and says we've already got one.

And then he ducks down and says i've told him we've already got one he's just messing with him but he he says we've already got one we already have a holy grail we don't need to join your quest and that's how i feel that Christians ought to respond when they say pick a tribe we've already got one i already have a savior i already have a hope this is what he says in Philippians 20 3 chapter 3 verse 20. but our citizenship is in heaven you already have a tribe you already have a people and from it we await a savior the.

Lord Jesus Christ we already have a messiah we already have a hope and a future we already have a glorious promise of progress so when they tell you that you ought to be afraid and you ought to join a tribe you need someone to save you we already have someone to save you and i'm awaiting a savior i'm not awaiting a savior from the republican party we're not sitting and awaiting a savior from the democratic party we're not waiting for their policies to come in to redeem and rescue we already have a savior we already have a hope we already have a future i recently watched the play hamilton.

Because it's on disney plus spencer talked about that about a week ago i thoroughly enjoyed it i think it was well done i liked the artistic nature of it i enjoyed my wife and i more enjoyed getting to see the history of things we kept looking up stuff to see if it was true we looked up to see who hercules mulligan was which by the way i know that our Church family keeps having new babies hercules mulligan is a sweet name and has the benefit of being gender neutral boy or girl would work excellently that's less true.

But it's a really good name and so we're watching this and i i enjoyed i enjoyed watching and seeing the history and thinking through this and how the united states fought against the largest empire in the world at this time and and won their independence it's fun for me to celebrate that and see that i like that we got rid of a king and got a republican democracy a democratic republi republic that's the word i was looking for it's the same thing kind of.

But we got a democratic republic i love that the queen can't show up and get rid of all of our governmental officials like she can in i don't know other places around the world like australia i appreciate that we have this but the reality is i long for the day when the king rides in and overthrows this democracy i long for the day when i no longer get to vote because i'm a servant in the house of God and all the good things are taken care of.

Because i already have a savior and from heaven we await our hope we are citizens of heaven and we can participate in the good things that government has now but our hope does not reside here and our allegiance cannot be given here because it's been given to Christ we cannot participate at the same level that those who have no hope can we ought not to this is a quote from russell moore in his book onward he's the president of the southern baptist ethnic ethics and religious liberty council he says this it would be a tragedy to get the right president the right congress and the wrong Christ he goes on to say that.

If we accept anybody who says they'll be a they're a Christian as long as they have our political leaning and we elevate them even though they show no marks of being a Christian what we're actually demonstrating to the world is that we love politics over Christ we're actually demonstrating what our real hope is and who our real savior is and it's a problem we're told then to destroy our enemies the reality is the enemies are enemies of the cross of Christ and we do not approach them with hate.

But with tears we're told that we ought to fight against our enemies that we bought ought to be outraged that those who would destroy america but the reality is their end is destruction because they're destroying themselves because they walk as enemies of the cross of Christ and so we join with our God who died for his enemies who told us to love our neighbors and love our enemies we cannot participate in the anger and the outrage they want us to have against the political party.

Because we are not just playing out a political hope we can't participate in the fear we can't give our allegiance and we can't walk in the anger they want us to have because we understand how the world actually works Christians ought to have a distinct approach to politics and to government we're called to participate we're called to work actively in them we're going to talk more about that but first we've got to repent of where we've elevated a political party to a hope into a messiah that can give us the future we want and and denigrated the.

God who has already done that for us in Christ and from whom we await salvation we need to repent this is as he continues out in verse into verse 20 he says we await a savior the lord Jesus Christ and he says who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself i want to finish up by reading two quotes that i think are helpful for us and we'll spend some time this week in our community groups walking through uh some questions that help us begin to.

See and untangle where we might have begun to worship and elevate a political party over our savior brett mccracken wrote this for the Gospel coalition i think it's helpful he says here's the hard truth for believers wanting political influence in these times consistent faithfulness to Scripture will never square with total alignment with any political party a Gospel agenda is not set by partisan think tanks in washington dc it's set by Scripture a Gospel agenda may align with some aspects of one political party and some of another and should spur us to engage in those areas.

But it also decidedly rejects some aspects of both God's agenda is better bigger and more glorious than any one party nation culture or time the mission of Jesus will outlast every white house tenure it will outlast america itself for the Christian the right side of history is always the side that places faithfulness to the eternal God above loyalty to a temporal tribe if we have begun to elevate our political party and our hopes are set in them and you'd feel more comfortable knowing that your political candidate won and that you began 2021 with the right political candidate and you care more about that than who's on the throne in the eternal heavens ruling over history.

We have a problem if you're more willing to evangelize for your political party of choice but have no words for those who don't know Christ we have a problem but the reality is we await a savior who redeems and works and transforms and has everything in subjection to himself and we have hope so we come in from a different angle hebrews 12 28 says therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and let us offer to.

God acceptable worship with reverence and all some of us have begun to worship political parties we've begun to worship political candidates we've worshipped our way into this and we need to worship our way out for us to begin this as we approach following the lord well we need to begin setting our hearts and hopes on Christ and not political agendas we've been being stirred up in fear and tribalism and anger and we need a reset we need to spend time this week in our Scriptures before the face of.

God reminding ourselves of the eternality of the mission we've been sent on it's not a short run one the reality is there will be a king who rules forever and we have hope only as we have hope in him we'll finish with this leslie nubigen he's a missionary went to india went back to the uk and saw that there was that as he had gone to india to be a missionary when he finally came back he realized that the uk had drifted as.

Well and this is one point he talks about our hope not being governmental he says the point is that a transformed society is not our goal great as that is our goal is the holy city the new Jerusalem a perfect fellowship in which God reigns in every heart and his children rejoice together in his love and joy and though we know that we must grow old and die and that our labors even if they succeed for a time will end will in the end be buried in the dust of time and that along with the painfully won achievements of goodness there are mounting seemingly irresistible forces of evil yet we are not dismayed we know.

That these things must be but we know that as surely as Christ was raised from the dead so surely shall there be a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness and having this knowledge we ought as Christians to be the strength of every good movement of political and social effort because we have no need either of blind optimism despair we get to begin in a place of hope and certainty we get to approach the political landscape of our nation distinctly from our neighbors who don't know Christ we understand the reality of the eternal situation we're going to walk in.

And so we ought to worship we ought to celebrate that we have a kingdom that will outlast all kingdoms that we have a kingdom that cannot be taken shaken or destroyed and we have to begin there if our starting point is not that our savior is Christ and that we are brothers and sisters and citizens of heaven we won't be able to even begin understanding how we ought to approach something temporary and good like politics let's spend this week repenting let's spend this week confessing let's spend this week re-setting our hearts and hopes.

So that we might move forward participating fervently for the good that is in government but doing so without either despair or blind optimism understanding that we have a savior let's pray God we thank you for your grace we pray that we would be politically active but that we would be politically active as Christians who have a hope and a future who have a citizenship in heaven secured by Christ and Christ alone help us to repent this week as everything around us calls us to fear and allegiance and anger may we live as.

If we believe in Christ amen may your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven for yours is the kingdom the power and the glory forever you reign swelling lives we will be the Church to live our your heart oh God rise up in us we'll show the world how you love Jesus take our heart and make it yours salvation over us the fight was one on the cross to take may your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

For yours is the kingdom the power we will be the Church to live out your heart oh God rise up in us we'll Jesus take our heart and make it yours salvation voices make a joyful noise make a joyful noise and raise your voices make a joyful noise oh God rise up in us we'll show the world how you love Jesus take our heart and make it yours salvation over for you have overcome the world all right before we uh let's get out here.

Today before you guys tune out uh a couple announcements uh we encourage you if you're not a part of a group to jump in with a group you can go to our community groups page you can find out some more information there fill out a contact form and we can connect you uh to a group uh for our Church family that's in groups we invite you to to be present in group this week whether that's uh through uh facetime or jitsi or whatever or it's in person uh be present and uh and let's walk through this very difficult subject together let's watch this with a lot of grace and repentance also.

If you're part of our Church family we invite you to give you can give online on our website you can also drop off checks at the office during the week uh we hope to be back in this room uh this coming uh this next sunday uh but we're gonna have to wait and see so there'll be more information on that at the end of the week so let me pray that we respond well as we walk this out as a Church family.

Father i thank you that you give us your word and that it pierces our hearts it exposes the thoughts and intentions of our hearts so that we can walk and repentance so that we can see that you are our ultimate king and your kingdom is not of this world God i pray you give us grace for one another this week that we walk through this together that you would keep us safe we ask us all in Jesus name amen.

Teaching Matters (Matthew 16:1-12)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Teaching Matters

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Uh hello good morning my name is chet i'm one of the pastors here we're excited to get to see you this morning we are coming back to gathering and figuring out how to gather well as God's people in the midst of a pandemic some of what we have here is some chairs spread apart if you need to move a chair because you brought more people with you that's fine we do still have room in the balcony if you want to or need to spread out more as people come in we it's fluid.

So we're able to try to work around being able to gather well together while also social distancing as best as we can we gather as a Church on sundays we sing we praise the lord we study the Bible together we have a sunday school class that meets to study the Bible together we gather throughout the week in community groups and homes and we do all the things that we do because we believe that Jesus is better than everything else he's better than what our tvs are selling us he's better than what our politicians are telling us he's better than all the things that the world has to offer and in him the things the world.

Have to offer get redeemed become good become enjoyable as we enjoy them as people who worship and love the lord and so our hope as a Church is to be a Gospel-centered community on mission people who are in life with one another holding up as foundational for us that Jesus saved sinners is the primary hope that we have that that connects us better than any other connection we might have in the world and that we are sent as missionaries into our city into our jobs into our neighborhoods many of the great Christian leaders of this generation and of the next generation do not currently believe in.

Jesus many of the great pastors and Church planters many of the great uh people who are going to lead community groups who are going to be good missionaries sent overseas do not currently trust and follow and believe in Jesus but his by his spirit and by him empowering his Church they will come to hear the Gospel believe the Gospel and be sent out as good missionaries and we are participating in that as we follow him as missionaries so that more and more people might place their faith in him be changed and be sent out.

If you have not joined a community group we want you to we want you to be in life with people who are following Jesus we used to hand out little connect cards but from what we understand we might would be sharing more than just a connect card with you so we're not handing anybody anything at this point but you can use the qr code with your phone to be able to fill out the form online or afterwards you can swing by and talk with phoebe garcia who'll be right down the hall and would love to talk with you about how to serve how to get connected with a group how to join our Church family.

As we come together this morning i will pray and then we'll read psalm 150 as we start worship this morning father we thank you for your grace and your goodness towards us i pray that you would bless this morning that we might grow in our love for you and one another we pray this in Jesus name amen psalm 150 says praise the lord praise God in his sanctuary praise him in his mighty heavens praise him for his mighty deeds praise him according to his excellent greatness praise him with trumpet sound praise him with loot and harp praise him with tambourine and dance praise him with strings and pipe praise him with sounding symbols praise him.

With loud clashing symbols let everything that has breath praise the lord praise the lord you guys stand let's sing together this morning to God be the glory let's lift up our voices to God be the glory great things praise the lord praise the lord let the earth hear his voice praise the lord praise the lord let the people to the rejoice through Jesus oh perfect redemption the purchase of blood to every believer the who truly believes that moment from Jesus praise the.

Lord praise the lord let the earth hear his voice praise the lord praise the lord let the people through Jesus our rejoicing through when Jesus received praise the lord praise the lord let the earth hear his voice praise the lord praise the lord like the people rejoice through Jesus a reading from romans chapter 6 verses 1 through 6 please read the underlying portions with me what shall we say then are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means how can we who died to sin still live in it do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ.

Jesus were baptized into his death we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father we too might walk in newness of life for if we have been united with him in a death like his we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing.

So that we would no longer be enslaved to sin let's continue to worship God together this morning is wash you your name is the fear that helps us is your name your name is your name is victory is your name me the two where soldiers watched borrowed for three days is God we praise you that that is what is true for us that by your spirit we are made alive you are our resurrected king and because of the good news of the Gospel we follow after you into resurrection life that has begun.

Now and lord as your Church we want to hear from you this morning we want to follow in obedience so would you speak to us by that same spirit in Jesus name amen you guys can be seated so good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors here we're going to be in Matthew 15 and 16 today we got four stories that we're going to get through so we encourage you to open a Bible the uh text will also be on the screen you know what i'm going to miss this year i missed all this pandemic craziness football i just there's no guarantee we don't know exactly what's going to happen.

But i get the feeling that it's not going to go how we all want it to go for those of us that like football college football is in question nfl is going to be interesting uh football is my favorite sport i do my best not to have tons of football analogies because i realized that some people don't like football as much and that's okay every year about this time is exciting as football gears up i played football growing up and in august as it approached was a very exciting time.

Because football was coming back was also a very well preparing for that was a lot because august meant conditioning it meant lots of running it meant two days and three a days it meant doing drills over and over and over again we do the same drills we do form tackling drills which would teach you how the basics of tackling we would do pursuit drills which were pursuit angle drills on defense if you want to catch somebody running across the field you can't run at a straight line you have to run at an angle you need some geometry to cut them off and i played corner which meant those are 60 yard sprints all the way.

Across the field but you would do this over and over and over again because you would want to repeat these drills because what you uh in what you start repeating and doing you get better at that's how it works it's been really frustrating to watch the gamecocks the last decade because it's very apparent that they don't repeat the same drills because they don't know how to tackle and they don't know how to do pursuit angles they don't know how to do the basics which makes watching clemson play very frustrating.

Because they obviously know how to do the basics because they're very good at tackling and they're very good at doing the things that they practice all the time so if you practice these things you get better better at them it inevitably shows up on the field and that is true for pretty much any discipline uh take piano lindsay who plays piano for us as a doctor in piano and you can ask her there might be some talent involved but what makes you better at piano is you practice and you repeat and you practice and you do scales you do all the things it takes to get better at something right that's a common thing.

If you want to break a habit if you want to build a hab if you want to grow in something you continue to repeat it's almost as if that was built into humanity that God made this in a way that we would grow in something if we did the same thing over and over again if we were exposed the same thing over and over again and that becomes very true when you look at the life and ministry of Jesus because a lot of these stories are going to start to repeat themselves he's going to have some of the same teachings that show up over and over again he's going to perform some of the same.

Miracles that show up over and over again and we're going to walk through four stories they're going to feel very familiar they'll be miracles and teachings that he's already done and as we walk through these four stories we're going to see that the disciples are being exposed to this teaching being exposed to these miracles over and over again the first three stories are going to highlight three different truths that we see about God and the fourth story is a warning so we have three truths one warning as we walk through this.

Today and if we take a step back and look at this what we will see is that what you inevitably repeat you will become and the disciples needed to see Jesus truth and his ministry over and over and over again so that they could rehearse this truth and repeat this truth deep into their souls and i would argue it is the same for us that we are made to rehearse and repeat the truth of the Gospel deep into our soul so we're going to.

See it as we go out to these four stories let me pray and then we'll jump into the text father i thank you that you've given us these stories from the Gospel that they show us more of who you are got to pray that we would not simply gloss over these because they seem familiar but we would see the value and what it means to repeat and rehearse truth so i pray you would speak to us this morning in Jesus name amen all right.

So first story verse 29 chapter 15. here we go Jesus went on from there and walked beside the sea of galilee and he went up on the mountain and sat down there and great crowds came to him bringing with them the lame the blind the crippled the mute and many others and they put them at his feet and he healed them so that the crowd wondered when they saw the mute speaking the crippled healthy the lame walking in the blind seeing and they glorified the.

God of Israel the disciples have seen this play out over and over again and you can almost get used to it but the picture is miraculous there's a mute person who hasn't been able to speak possibly his entire life and he comes to Jesus and he can speak and there's a deaf person who's just been healed as well and he can hear and he can hear the mute person finally speaking these are miraculous events that are happening over and over and over again.

Let me just point out how this has happened and how much this has happened in Matthew you have Matthew chapter 4 verses 23-25 as a healing set of healing stories Matthew 8 1-17 Matthew 8 23-24 9 1 through 8 9 18-34 12 9 through 14 14 34-36 and these are just the stories that are recorded because there's many acts and many other teachings that we don't have they are seeing this happen over and over again that healing is a central part of his ministry that's the.

First truth that i want us to see today is that God heals God heals the disciples need to see this over and over and over again that God has a heart for the broken that he brings healing it is the reason uh that we have that a tradition has continued that flows into james 5 14 that is praying for physical healing james 5 14 says is anyone among you sick let them call for the elders of the Church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil and the name of the.

Lord and that's a tradition that we continue even today as pastors there's nothing magical about the oil it's olive oil or vegetable oil whatever oil you use there's nothing magical about the oil it is marking someone and saying that you are praying for them because we believe God can physically heal he works through the common grace of doctors but he also supernaturally heals a way that doctors cannot explain so he brings physical healing but also this points to a bigger spiritual reality that he also brings spiritual healing you.

See the physical healings the miracles that Jesus did were front and center in the life of Jesus but they were pointing forward to a couple of things to a eternal reality that spiritual healing is necessary to be a part of the kingdom of God and to the final new heavens and new earth where there will be no more pain no more sickness no more hurt and while it's front and center that the physical healings the miracles that Jesus did in the gospels the bulk of the rest of the new testament focuses on souls on spiritual healing on redemption on sanctification going to be more like Christ and that is why we in our Church care.

Deeply about people meeting Jesus and growing in him and finding spiritual healing in him one of the things that i oversee as a pastor is care and counseling we have three main avenues for for care and counseling the first avenue starts in groups that's why we say a lot pretty much every sunday we want you to be a part of a group it's not just a place where you can live out the gospels not just a place where you can eat a meal and and and talk about the sermon it's also a place that you can grow in being healed that you can grow and having people bear burdens with you that they can preach.

The Gospel to you that if you have brokenness if you have sin struggles if you have trauma if you have hurt groups are a safe place for you to come and work some of that out so we say get be walk in the light with your groups be open and honest and sometimes what you're walking through is a lot it actually needs some more conversation that needs to happen outside of group and we tell our group leaders that to recommend them talking to us.

Because the second layer of care that we have that brings spiritual healing is pastoral counseling so one of the things that we do and i don't ever see this so i have a few more counseling cases than some of our other pastors is i i typically say that soul work is slow work that healing takes time the reality is is that uh while we one of the things we focus on is is the heart the sin beneath the sin the struggle beneath the struggle the brokenness beneath the brokenness we try to get to the heart of the issue.

But the reality is is that it's it's complex because the heart has layers of stuff on top of it right you have your family upbringing which shapes a lot of people how you were raised things that happened you're a kid you have other experiences you have trauma on top of that that makes it hard to get to the heart there are physical realities at play right if you're an anxious person and you love coffee those don't mix they just don't it increases anxiety there's.

For people that struggle with depression not getting enough vitamin d there's some physical medical layers there's all type of layers on top of the heart that make it difficult to get to the heart and that is why it takes time and we as americans are in this culture this time we want everything to happen like this and soul work is slow work it takes time and what we also offer if someone needs some extra level of care we'll do uh we will refer out to licensed professional counselors.

So one of the things i've done the last year is i have met with and interviewed and vetted almost 10 different counselors across the city from different counseling centers because not every counselor is created equally there are some counselors in the city that you could go to uh that are not helpful they don't even have close to a biblical worldview they certainly also wouldn't give you good advice on how to live and shape your life so i've met with 10 different counselors i've interviewed them i've gotten to know their stories i got to know their beliefs about the Gospel i've got to know their philosophy of counseling and care that lines up more with how.

We view it as a Church and the thing we offer is if you want to meet with a counselor we have someone that can meet with you we can connect that if it comes to a place where you also need some some help paying for that we have that in our budget as a Church to pay for because we care about this we care that God brings healing and redemption that people can grow to be more like Christ but it takes work soul work is slow work and it takes repeatedly rehearsing the Gospel to ourselves repeatedly working through our brokenness and the hurt and the pain.

But the good news is our lord is a wonderful counselor he does bring healing we believe in this and it's an important truth that comes from the gospels that we see on the surface of this story right here so that's the first truth let's go to the second story verse 32. then Jesus called his disciples to him and said i have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat and i'm willing to send them away hungry lest they faint on the way and the disciples said to him where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed.

So great a crowd and Jesus said to them how many loaves do you have they said seven and a few small fish and directing the crown to sit down on the ground he took seven loaves and the fish and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds and they all ate and were satisfied and they took up the seven baskets full of broken pieces left over those who were those who ate were four thousand men plus women and children and after sending away the crowds he got into the boat and went to the region of magathon all right.

So this story should sound familiar right two chapters ago about a month ago chet walker's through this the feeding of the five thousand this is very similar story very similar layout and while there's uh deeper things that came out of the story that chet brought out there's some really cool parallels between this and the lord's supper there's one surface level truth that comes out of this that's very tangible and clear and that is that God provides that's the second truth that we.

See of this that God provides he provides tangible food for the people who are hungry and this is in line with his regular teaching on provisions he teaches them how to pray in the lord's prayer he says give us this day our daily bread he's teaching them that God provides for creation God provides for his people and that's easy for to forget it certainly seems so for the disciples because the disciples said they said where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed.

So great a crowd and it's like really i hope you're saying that sarcastically because two chapters ago he did just that but it reads fairly literally like they really were wondering what what are you going to do Jesus or how are we going to feed these people it's easy for to forget that God provides and that's something that we need to rehearse deep into our soul and never forget because the reality is is that we have a season upon us we are technically in an economic recession and there are fears of this firing possibly into a depression.

And when that happens i know that this is a the collective feeling is what are we going to do how are we going to pay our bills how are we going to pay our mortgage how are we going to provide food in the table how are you going to make it through this and it is easy in moments like that to forget that God provides i've seen that in my own life there were seasons where we didn't have a whole lot i.

Remember when we first got married i was paying my way through seminary and uh and we made a collective like thirty thousand dollars we were we were doing the best we could and then we'd have a medical bill that show up that's a thousand dollars not freak out and and how are we going to make it through this how are we going to get the other side of this how are we going to pay for this and time and time again.

God proves that he provides but if we go to the Scriptures it shows over and over again the focus shouldn't be on how are we going to get this how are we going to get that the focus should be on enjoying God and who he is primarily first that's what we see in the sermon on the mount he gives the illustration Jesus gives the illustration of of not worrying because he feeds the birds of the air the birds wake up every every day and they have food and the in the fields are clothed with lilies that the field have.

If the fields have clothes and the rest of creation like the birds are fed how much more do i care for you you who are made in the image of God that's why i say seek first the kingdom of God our focus should be there God will provide he provides daily bread you may not get all of the wants may not get the truck you won't you may not get some of the things that other people have he provides for our needs which is something to rehearse regularly.

For you one of the things i'm trying to do when saying a blessing before meals is not just make it like this ritual that you just do sometimes you just do it because you have to maybe you think your food is going to be poisoned if you don't but it's just it's a cultural thing a little bit that we we inherit it comes all the way back to where Jesus is giving thanks to the lord when he's breaking bread here and what i've tried to do in that moment is realize even in america we have an abundance of food we can you can eat a meal that's sourced from like seven different countries.

But it is a blessing that every meal that most people in america have access to food and every time i eat i'm trying to remember thank you God for food thank you God for duke's pad thai and the amazing red curry bowl that is the best dish here in colombia thank you lord for mcdonald's french fries which are good don't judge me all right there are to sit down and thank the lord for food another way you can practice this is maybe.

If you are the kind of person that gets anxious about bills when you go to the mailbox and you see the envelope and you're worried how much is this going to be so when you go to the mailbox and have a practice of when you get there remember got a sovereign he provides he is going to take care of us he will provide for my knees to rehearse that deep into your soul maybe every time you approach your budget before you start to crunch numbers and hustle and do all the things get out the the budget calculate whatever you do to pause.

Remember God provides he will take care of our needs i can trust in him i don't have to be anxious we need this truth repeated and rehearsed into our souls over and over again the disciples need to see over and over again that Jesus provides which brings us to our third truth in the third story starting off in verse 1 of chapter 16. and the pharisees and the sadducees came and to test them they asked him to show them a sign from heaven he answered them.

When it is evening you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red and in the morning it will be stormy today for the sky is red and threatening you know how to interpret the appearance of the sky but you cannot interpret the signs of the times an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign but no sign will be given to it except the sign of jonah so he left them and departed now if you've been walking with us through the Gospel of Matthew this story should also sound familiar this is not the.

First time the religious leadership has come to Jesus demanding a sign and when we walked through this a couple of months ago we went deeper into seeing what that was the arrogance and the posture of the pharisees and the sadducees we walked deeper into that but if you back out a little bit to see a surface level truth here he responds an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign but no sign will be given to it except the sign of jonah which is pretty much exactly what he said in chapter 12 that this truth has not changed you may can interpret the weather is what he says to the pharisees and sadducees which is.

Mildly impressive because people in colombia can't interpret the weather i mean that's they got something going for them you may interpret the weather but you can't see the signs that are happening right in front of you i'm only going to give you the sign of jonah and as we walk through chapter 12 in the story the sign of jonah is pointing forward to the cross and the resurrection this is jonah spent three days in the belly of a fish so also.

Jesus will spend three days in a tomb and will burst forth which highlights the third truth that we see here the heart of the Gospel remains the same the death and resurrection of Jesus is the heart of the Gospel it's the pinnacle of the Gospel story and it never changes it remains the same and it's the sign that we ultimately need and yet we can forget this we try to preach this we try to preach Gospel fluency to remember to apply his death and resurrection.

Remember the truth of the Gospel remember the implications of what we believe we try to rehearse this over and over again but the reality is is that sometimes when sin and suffering comes when loss comes when hurt comes when you get betrayed when you get whatever you face in those moments questions can rise up does God really love me does God really care about me does it really care about my situation we start to get challenged and when that happens we can run to other narratives right we can run to what i call shame uh what an author calls shame scripts or in a counseling book that you can have this shame script that you.

Run through over and over again instead of going back to the Gospel you can run to i'm messed up nobody loves me nobody cares about me i deserve this this can happen with self-condemnation you can forget the Gospel and start to condemn yourself over and over and over again this can happen when you start to believe lies about other Christians lies about yourself lies about who God is and we stop rehearsing the heart of the Gospel we stop remembering his death and resurrection and what it means hear this very clearly the evidence that.

God cares for you the evidence that God loves you ultimately the only sign that you need is the cross and resurrection it's the idea that the God of the universe created us and though we rebelled against him he says i want to redeem them so he steps into our timeline and goes all the way to the cross sin uh becoming sin on the cross for us so that we can have new life in Christ when he walks out of the tomb that is the only evidence that we need is his life poured out.

For us and that is why Jesus is pointing forward here he's pointing forward i mean he this is a story he's pointing forward to that a few more times he's going to pretty much explicitly say this is coming i'm going to be betrayed and handed off this is coming and this will be the centerpiece of our faith it'll be the anthem in which the Church hits over and over and over again it's the reason why when we're not a pandemic one of the things that we like to do every week or at least very regularly is to take part in the lord's supper it's it's a regular reminder that his body was broken.

For us that his blood was shed for us that the Gospel is the most in the heart of the Gospel is the message that guides us that shapes us that molds us into his image and we don't go past the Gospel you'll ever move past it we drive deeper into it so that we can grow into this so that when things come to make astray we are rooted in Christ which is where we're going to see this warning that comes next all right.

So three truths now we're in the warning verse five when the disciples reached the other side they have forgotten to bring any bread Jesus said to them watch and beware of the leaven of the pharisees in sadducees and they began discussing it amongst themselves saying we brought no bread which pause this story is a little bit humorous because he's trying to teach him something bigger and they're looking around like i don't know should we do am i bringing bread bartholomew did you bring bread no that's why no one's gonna.

Remember you like it's just he's like Jesus like no i'm not this is not about the bread there's a bigger point that's happening here verse 8 it says but Jesus aware of this said oh you have little faith why are you discussing amongst yourselves the fact that you have no bread do you not yet perceive do you not remember the five loves for the five thousand the baskets that you gathered or the seven loaves for the four thousand how many baskets were gathered how is it you fail to understand that i did not speak about the bread he's like y'all it's not about the bread the bread's a metaphor he says beware of the leaven.

Of the pharisees and sadducees oh light bulb then they understood that he did not tell him to be aware of the leaven of the bread but of the teaching of the pharisees and sadducees so it's a humorous exchange of the disciples being a little bit thick-headed not being able to follow but it's also very serious it brings up the warning that we need to see beware of false teachers that is a very important thing beware of false teachers in false teaching.

Jesus is pouring into them right he's teaching them all kinds of truths some of the stuff we talked about today God provides he heals he's helping them see the heart of the Gospel he is pouring into them so that they will be able to guide the Church and also defend the Church against false teaching because it is going to come false teaching is like he says it's like leaven meaning it starts small 11 is small you drop it in some flour and it starts to work its way through the flower and it transforms it into something that is completely different and that is what false teaching does it's like leaven it's ideas sometimes start very.

Small but then they get implanted into your soul and they start to change and they start to corrupt you the premise of inception the movie was that you can get into somebody's dreams and in their dream world you can start to incept and plant ideas in their head that would change them that's the whole premise of it that's exactly what false teaching does may seem innocent it may not seem like that big of a deal then you start to uh it starts to transform you start to follow it you start to follow to his logical end which is away from the.

Lord there's this story uh from in the 19th century from uh one of the his name is crawford toy he is he was one of the more popular professors at my alma mater at southern seminary and uh he was kind of a celebrity at that point he actually was engaged to lottie moon which if you know anything about southern baptist history is a big deal she's like a legend she's a missionary to china there's a whole offering that we do that is named after her he's engaged to her he's an up and coming teacher very bright.

And then he goes off to germany to study theology which germany in the 19th century was a very dangerous place to learn ideas it's where marxism came from the 19th centuries where the the beginnings of nazism came from the 19th century it's also where german higher criticism theology came from and it was a theology that actually destroyed the european Church which the reason is today and destroyed half the denominations that we have in our country today it was the understanding that the Bible is not truthful and he studied this and it started small and it came back to america.

And then it began to grow like leaven it began to completely take over until finally it was very clear he was not believing in the Gospel anymore and he was fired from southern seminary and there's this story one of his professors one of his mentors one of his friends took him to the train station and he put his hand his arm out and he said toy i would gladly cut off this arm if you just be where you were five years ago and stay there five years ago before the leaven was planted.

If you just get back to right there i've watched people over and over and over again people and i was in Bible studies with people that watched lead other people to Christ begin to delve into some of this false teaching they found a book they found a couple of authors they found a couple of preachers and they began to listen and then it slowly began to correct them there's something about humanity that we just can't focus on the Gospel that we get led astray by radical concepts and radical teachings.

Then we take the bait we swallow the hook and then we're completely changed the reality is you can go to any bookstore in the within the religion section and find tons of very horrible ideas you can go to Christian bookstores the ones that are actually still left and you can walk through it and some of the best selling authors some of the biggest most selling best-selling books are filled with false teachings that will absolutely lead you astray Jesus is pouring into them that they would stay rooted in the heart of the Gospel they stay rooted in the truth of the Gospel.

So we need to ask ourselves coming out of this and we need to examine ourselves and ask what are some of the false teachings that we're buying into one of the biggest ones in america is the prosperity Gospel the idea that God will give me money material things if i believe in him he's going to grow me my wealth and that mess is everywhere how much of that infuses the american dream has crept into our souls maybe it's the therapeutic false Gospel the idea that that.

God is for my happiness and how i define my happiness a lot of times you'll be working with somebody and you'll say that's what the Bible says and then they'll say no that that can't be that that won't make me happy it's like no no you're misunderstanding this it's a false Gospel it's the moralistic Gospel the idea that you can do enough good to earn God's favor there's all kinds of horrible bits of leaven that you can start to believe that are.

So deep in your soul and unless you address them unless you bring them into the light unless you see to seek to put them to death they will take over they will corrupt they will change you he gives us three truths and a warning because ultimately we need to be rooted in truth so that we would persevere so that we'd run the race victoriously to the finish and we would not fall away but that is going to take effort and work that's going to take knowing more of.

God that's going to take some focus so where is our focus malcolm gladwell has this whole 10 000 hours theory if you want to become an expert at something you have to have 10 000 hours built into it where are your 10 000 hours spent is it spent on politics it's election season and you can spend hours and hours and hours and hours consuming yourself with politics maybe you have a phd in self-condemnation that most of your thoughts consistently are condemning yourself over and over and over again maybe you've become an expert on how bad 2020 can get you've played out all the scenarios and your and anxiety builds and it builds and it builds.

And all you can think about is what possibly could go wrong the rest of this year where is our focus what are we rehearsing what are we repeating in our minds that is what we need to see as we close out today we need to understand that what you inevitably repeat you will become which is why we emphasize so much that reading the Bible is so good for your soul that's why we emphasize so much that we need to grow in prayer i also need to read the Bible collectively and not just individually i'm.

So absolutely a big proponent of quiet times and having time with the lord and journaling and all the all of it but it cannot just be i read the Bible in a bubble and i don't take the collective wisdom of other saints of other Christians and their wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit collectively there's a reason why jehovah's witness and mormonism other religions have started it's because someone got a hold of a Bible solo and ran with it when you read the Bible collectively together reciting truth deep into our soul speaking the Gospel to one another growing in this.

Because what we repeat will ultimately become man's going to come up and as they come up i just want to take a moment for us to reflect these surface level truths that are so clear and beautiful that come out of these stories do you believe that God can heal maybe you're in a place where uh there's there's buried brokenness so deep inside and you don't want to expose it you don't want to go there you've given up hope that can actually you can actually find healing there i'm here to very clearly tell you we have a wonderful counselor we have the Holy Spirit you absolutely can find healing my encouragement.

For you is this week is to take a step forward to bring it out in the group maybe to contact one of us as pastors God heals he provides i don't know what your situation is this year if you're in a place where you're like i don't know how i'm going to make it i want you to clearly hear this he will provide for your needs and ultimately may we remember that the heart of the Gospel never changes that we so desperately need to come back to his death in his resurrection and rehearse the Gospel over and over and over again.

So that we can become more like Christ so that we can stand in the face of any false teaching any form of suffering and any trials that come let me pray father i thank you for these stories it would be so easy to read and said we've already read this we've already studied this but to actually sit in them and see you working see you teaching see you growing us and i pray that you would help us believe these truths recite these truths and recite them not to one another as.

Well God i pray that you would help us stay rooted in you that you would defend us against the evil one and his lies against the evil one and false teachers that you help us stay rooted in Christ gotta pray there's anyone here that has not actually fully believed in you i pray that you would appeal to their hearts right now and they would yes in Jesus name amen believing that to be true let's stand and sing together in Christ alone in Christ alone my hope is through the fiercest.

When fears you guys storm is there is foreign is Jesus is amen you guys can be seated uh as you're having a seat we're gonna transition the stage just a little bit chet's going to come up and he's going to spend some time talking with chris and danielle rocky chris and daniel rocky have been members of our Church for about two years now and they've been leading a community group in the west columbia area and uh God has been stirring in them something new and something exciting.

And so we've mentioned this uh over the last couple of weeks but chris chris and danielle and their family are going to be moving to honduras and they're going to talk a little bit about their timeline in a second but they're the first couple that we're officially sending out from our Church as international missionaries and so yeah we're gonna let them talk real quick and loudly uh i have a few quick announcements that i will forget if we do anything else.

First so we just have them up here to smile and nod like these are really good announcements um oh giving i was supposed to say it earlier but we don't pass a plate anymore because of communicable diseases um but you can drop things into the two gift boxes on the sides here or you can give online i i've been very proud of our Church family we have done well consistently continuing giving paying our bills during this whole thing also with that.

If you are struggling personally and do need some financial assistance because some people have lost jobs or had been laid off and that sort of thing do come talk to us because we do have the ability as a Church family to continue to help support and pay bills but just want to make that reminder also we've done a pretty good job so far of construction not impeding how we meet and gather on sundays so i hope you've enjoyed that because that is going to end um this next week.

When we come on sunday you should begin to see some of the things that are changing in this building back over here kind of if you come in this way if you come in that way everything's done you're good but if you come in this way things are going to begin to change and then two weeks from now that whole area will be blocked off because we will be doing asbestos abatement and so it'll all be blocked off we'll have to come around through the alley coming this way.

And so just a few things we'll be changing but there's progress so we're excited about it so i want to give those quick announcements now it's chris and daniel rocky chris came to us a while back saying he felt called to Church planting or missionary work he wanted to come in and see if he could receive some training some equipping we said sure come on we have a pastor in training process that we just brought him in on to begin walking with him to do some equipping.

For being a pastor and they were continually praying through where they were supposed to go and what they were supposed to do and they landed on honduras so why honduras what led you out of them um so yeah like like chet said um chris had been praying for a couple years um knowing God was calling him to full-time ministry not sure what that looked like he's even been going to school online to get his degree in biblical teaching and theology.

So um i went to ecuador a couple years ago he and i went to colombia last summer none of that felt right um and so the admin at northside Christian academy where i was working had decided this past school year um they were going to be doing mission teams and going to allow the kids to go and so i'm trying to figure out where to go um my assistant head of schools her best friend had done numerous trips to honduras.

So she contacted her tell me about this trip she's like oh this seems really good for us got in contact with brad and christy the missionaries down there they're like yeah we'd love for you guys to bring a group of your kids that'd be great so that kind of started that ball rolling um still didn't see it coming that that's where God was calling us brad and christy came in november to meet us and to meet the kids and answer questions and afterwards we get to spend some one-on-one time and brad invited chris in february to go to a um to come with them on a construction team some people kind of thought brad.

Christy live in honduras run yes they are the missionaries that we are going to partner with um when we get down there so we aren't going to start things from scratch we are going to join a missionary um family that's already there missionary couple um and so um brad invited chris on this construction team and some people were like wait so chris is going in february and then you're going back again in march that's kind of weird um obviously God knew what was happening.

God knew we would never take that trip in march because of everything happening for kovid so God knew that that was the trip that chris needed to take but he went in february and when we picked him up at the airport he looked me right in the eye and said that's it yeah so just seeing everything in person i was able to serve in all of the different aspects the ministry uses to build relationships so just seeing the desperate need for hope down there um honduras is one of the one of the poorest sorry one of the poorest countries in central america.

So the average per capita income is about 5 000 per family um so just imagine having to support your your family on that that little amount of money um so just seeing how desperate the people are for for hope and knowing where where they can find it um it just is really really touching for me and it just it just wanted me to to partner with that full-time and be someone that can show them that hope okay so the led to go to honduras planning to go to honduras in the very near future august.

If coronavirus will let you yes yes what will you be doing when you get there we will have two main roles our first role will be really a family role um one of the things that this that brad and christie have been doing is they've been um hosting mission teams and so churches youth groups Christian schools whatever anybody who wants to come and spend six days um they're hosting them and so they come and we're going to be in charge of that that's what our family is going to take on we are going to begin to lead those teams.

So we'll if Mill City decides that they want to send a team to honduras um y'all we'll meet you guys at the airport and we will bring you you will come stay at the mission house with us we'll all be living the same house together eating our meals together um doing Bible studies together and we will walk you through them we will go around and we'll walk you through the different avenues of ministry that we do and show you what we're all about.

And then really pour into you just missions whether it's globally or just right in your neighborhood i'm really pressing forth that we are all missionaries we're all called um to to give something and so um that is what we are going to do as a family and then chris has a thing yeah so i'll also be working in the communities to start a pastoral training program so i will meet with men one-on-one just to kind of train them in how to lead a group how to lead a gathering.

So basically taking the the Mill City framework for community groups and sort of modifying that a little bit to where these gatherings can function basically as a Church within these communities because you're going to be in kind of a urban area but there's a lot of little we will yeah we'll be in the city of el progreso but there's a lot of rural very poor communities that we'll be working in so they don't really have access to to churches so they really need Gospel centered gatherings right where they are.

So either helping start new ones or encouraging ones that are there correct okay um so my next question is about how we as a Church family can help support y'all we've done one small thing already until y'all leave in august we're gonna have the sanctuary as hot as it is in honduras to try to help you all be mentally and emotionally prepared thank you um that's just a little thing uh but my question is how can we if we're sitting here right.

Now saying hey how do we support how do we join with you how does our Church family help send you uh what can we do um the first the first way you can help is really just through prayer we need a lot of of prayer support um i could take an hour and share with you all the different ways you can pray for us but i won't um i'll just give you the the two big ones right now um one would be prayering as we praying as we prepare um that everything gets sold that needs to be sold um that it sells like it's supposed to sell and that we're able to to do that.

Um and pray for the borders to open um this kovit has really thrown a wrench in our lives it's kind of hard as you sit here and everybody's like okay so when you're going i don't know i don't know oh so exciting when do you leave i don't know so it would be we've heard that the borders may open um by august 15th um so we are preparing to be ready to leave by then um if they are not open we are prepared.

For that as well and so we've made arrangements and we've got things to do so God knows when the borders need to be opened he will open them when he is ready and not a second before and we believe that so um we will go and but just prayers that that will happen God will give us patience that we will not try to make things work in our time um we have a facebook page um the rockies are moving to honduras i made chris changed the name it was just the rockets are going i'm like no we're not going we're moving like we're not coming back.

So but that's our facebook page so so a lot of you have already liked it i've seen you guys following um our journey so thank you so much for that but if you haven't jump on there like our facebook page we'll be continuing to list prayer requests and prayer needs that we have and so that's just a really great way to keep up with what we're doing um and i will let chris talk about other stuff yeah so we've we've got a really amazing opportunity set before us in joining this ministry they've got a strong foundation and um just the the ability that we'll have to.

If you'll pull out that picture brandon family is like this i mean seeing people come from darkness to light seeing people in a hopeless situation where this is this is where they live this is where they raise their kids we can we can bring them hope um but we can't do that without the body of Christ without people coming behind us willing to support the vision willing to support what we're doing so right now we're about 30 of uh what we need.

For for monthly support um so if you would uh we need people to to give to sacrifice um whatever you can to uh to make a big difference in in these people's lives and um we're also doing part of how you can do that is we're having a yard sale this this saturday um out here in the Church parking lot um so if you guys can come and tell your friends buy some stuff if you want to help just let us know share it on your facebook page yeah share it on your facebook page um yeah whatever whatever you guys can do everybody can do something we have faith that God's going to provide.

But he does that through his people he does it through people who are obedient who are willing to to sacrifice who are who are willing to um live as if this world is not our home so one of the things we've said consistently is that we're all sent to be to be missionaries where we are and that ultimately as community groups and as believers here we're supposed to be doing what they're doing we're just doing it here they're going to honduras they're selling their house they're taking their children with them they're picking up they're moving to honduras.

Because they feel like the lord has sent them there and the hope would be that we would take our faith and our mission with the same amount of dead earnest seriousness that they are and that we would participate actively as missionaries where we are sent and where we are placed and that we would help participate in what God is doing with the with the rockies as well through prayer and financial support most of the people in this room will spend almost all of the money they make some of us all of the money you make next year will be spent some of that will terminate next year you'll enjoy the things you had that'll be.

It it will not roll into eternity some of the money some of the time some of the things that we spend our money on and our energy into will roll into eternity and this is an opportunity for us to participate in something where we are helping send our money on ahead so you can handle your finances well by by helping support them financially monthly our Church is going to at 300 a month so we give as a Church and we help participate we're going to 300 a month help support.

But we would love for individuals to also help support and you're spending your money well once you do that now the beautiful thing about that is if the rockies spend the money you send them poorly it's not on you that's on them you'll be held accountable for your money they'll be held accountable for theirs we don't think they're going to we know that we're joining in and sending them off to do good things and we are excited to be able to participate with missionaries our hope is that at some point all of our Church family gets to come up participate in helping baptize somebody or being baptized that you might would come up and we'd.

Pray over you and send you out as a group leader that you might come up and we would pray over you and send you out and never see you again this side of eternity because you went and lived on the other side of the world that's our prayer is that many people in our Church family many of you are sitting right here that at some point will get to do the same thing with you we're not praying over them today because we're not sending them out.

Today that we're going to see them on saturday when we come by their stuff that they've got to get rid of because they can't take it all with them to honduras and so thank you all so much and we appreciate y'all we will be praying for you all we will have you all up and send y'all out before you actually do leave just depending on how coronavirus cooperates as to how long we'll have you but thank you we're excited for y'all and appreciate you.

Okay we are finishing up today by praying over a couple just not the rockies we are going to send out the amadeo so if you don't mind just standing right here i'm going to stand over top of you and talk about you this is john and jesley amadeo they joined our Church family not too too long ago they have been members here they became leaders in training here and they are leaving so if you hadn't gotten the chance to meet this delightful couple you have failed miserably.

Because they're gone they're going to be leaving today we are praying for and sending them out so john was here studying at uh doing research at the university of south carolina he did an excellent job researching things and now he gets to go do research at duke university he's doing biomedical research program that is a six year program and he intends to finish it in five years he's going to do more research per year than they expect him to do but he's going to be a six-year research program they have been blessed in this process to receive some funding through duke they do believe they're going to be able to buy a house they've asked.

Specifically that we pray that them owning a home goes well and they don't burn things down was one of the things he sent me in his text jessie will continue to get her bachelor's degree through liberty online and she will uh she's gotten her hair stylist license renewed in north carolina and will be doing hair stylist work there some of the biggest prayers are that they would find a good Church home and that they would be good missionaries in the two fields that they are in which need good missionaries there's not a lot of Christians doing biomedical research and we are excited that we know of one and we're hoping that he goes as a.

Good missionary there someone who loves Jesus and loves people and does good research on behalf of God and his good world working and we're also very thankful for his wife who is cutting hair because that's a good thing to do it's helpful it keeps the world rolling and there's a lot of people who need to know Jesus who both cut hair and get their hair cut so we're thankful to get to send out two other missionaries who are going to go to uh the research triangle of north carolina and we pray that they would be blessed in that.

If you know them and are already around them if they're okay with this can people come up and be close to you okay so he does biomedical research and he thinks it's fine so uh if you know them and are already around them you can come up here and lay hands on them if not just pray for them where you are we're praying that we would send them out well and that they would be blessed in their going just as they have blessed us in their joining with us and we're thankful.

For them we're gonna pray uh for a second i'll let everybody just kind of pray where you are and then i'll pray loudly and we'll be dismissed you God we thank you for john and jessica we pray that you would bless them pray that you would bless and strengthen their marriage we pray that you would help them to find a Church home to love and to serve and to practice and rehearse their faith with believers in north carolina we pray that you would help them to be active missionaries where you have sent them that they might grow in their love.

For you and for each other and for your Church and for the lost we thank you for this time that we've gotten to know them we pray that you would bless them as you send them out and we thank you that we have hope beyond this life that we'll get to spend an eternity with all those that you've brought into our lives and all those that you've sent out that love and follow you we thank you in Jesus name amen.

Faith of the Canaanite Woman (Matthew 15:21-31)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

The Canaanite Woman

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Well, good morning. My name is Chad. I'm one of the pastors here at Mil City Church of Casey and excited to see y'all this morning. We gather on Sundays because we believe that Jesus is better than everything else. We gather together to remember that to celebrate that, to remind one another of that, to to sing and to praise Jesus, to put him first at the first part of our week so that we might remember as we go throughout the rest of the week that he is primary and that he is good.

We also, as we seek to apply that reality that he is better than everything else, we want to be a Gospel- centered community on mission. The primary way that we carry that out is through our community groups where we would be people who are changed radically by the reality of the Gospel that Jesus Christ saves sinners and that we would apply that truth to all of life in our relationships with one another. that we would exist as people who have been made into a new eternal family and that we would try as best we can as broken sinners to practice that here to practice what it looks like for us to have uh reconciliation to God and to each other through the cross to have the ability to walk forward in life together here and that we would be good missionaries to our city because there are so many without hope without forgiveness. We live in a culture right now where forgiveness is uh not working its way throughout the world. It's not running rampant in the streets.

And so we operate as people who believe that we can be the worst of sinners and we can be redeemed by Christ and that there is hope in him and forgiveness in him and life in him. And so we're sent to be missionaries where we are. This morning in a few ways is a little different. and in all the ways that matter. Isn't that different at all?

Um, thanks. If you'll notice, we handed out sheets of paper with words on them. The the internet went out this morning and our computer went out this morning. One of the the uh things that's been levied at the the new way of operating as a Church is that you could get together and if you didn't have electricity, you wouldn't know how to operate. But if the Holy Spirit didn't show up, you wouldn't even notice.

and we don't want to operate that way. So, we don't have the internet this morning. We're not going to be able to live stream. I can fall off the stage right now. No one will ever get to see it or remember.

Uh, and we did uh something that we just came up with. No one's ever thought of this. We printed up the words and put them on a sheet of paper, put them in your chair with you. Uh, so that we can sing together, that we can celebrate Jesus together, that we can worship together. So, we won't have some of the things we usually have, but we'll have all the things we need.

Um, each other, the Holy Spirit at work amongst his people and hearts set free by the Gospel and changed by the work of Jesus that we might worship him in spirit and in truth. So, let's pray as we begin this morning together. God, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for the redemption that we have in Christ and Christ alone. And we pray that as we come together as your people set free from sin that we would even as we come together in the midst of difficulty, even as we groan together with our world longing for you to redeem and to reveal yourself fully.

We come together to worship and to magnify your name. And we pray that you would help us to see our sin and repent. That we might stand fully in the grace of Jesus. That we might trust that you care for us in the midst of our suffering. And that we are not outside of your hand.

That you watch over us and love us. And so we pray that we would no matter where we come in this morning in the midst of joy, in the midst of suffering, in the midst of difficulty, in the midst of doubt, that we would grow in faith and love for you and one another. in Jesus name. Amen. If you would just go ahead and grab your sheets and stand up with us.

We're going to sing together. There is a fountain. Let's sing together. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's face and sinners punched beneath that flood. Lose all their guilty stains.

Lose all their guilty stains. lose all their guilty states and sinners plunge beneath that flood. lose all their guilty state. The dying thief rejoice to see thin in his day. And there have I vowed that has he wash all my sins away.

Wash all my sins away. And there have I go vile as he wash all my sins away. Oh, thank you God. Sing together. Ever since by faith I saw the stream my flowing wound.

Redeeming love redeeing love has been my thing and shall be till I die. This shall be till I shall be till my redeeing love pass and shall be till I die. Bless you Lord. Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul, I worship his holy name. Sing like never before.

Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. The sun comes up. It's a new day. Don't me. It's time to sing your song again.

Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be seen in the evening. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. You sing like never before. Oh my soul, how much it is for me.

You're rich in love and you're slow to anger. Your name is great and your heart is kind for all your goodness I will keep on singing. 10,000 reasons for my heart to find. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord, oh my soul.

Oh my soul, I worship his holy name. Sing like never before. Oh my soul, I'll worship your holy name. And on that day when my strength is failing, the end draws near and my time has come. Still my soul will sing your praise unending.

10,000 years forever Lord. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Oh my soul, I worship his holy name. Sing like never before. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name.

I worship your holy name. Oh God, I worship your If you would have a seat for just a second. We're going to have a Scripture reading. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled his in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven. That's the reason that we get to celebrate this morning. So we have a good and holy and transcendent God who stepped down who came and lived a perfect life on our behalf. Died on the cross for our sin and rose from the grave so that we could have new life in him.

new eternal resurrection life that has started now and will continue into eternity. Let's stand and sing this song together. Alone in my sorrow and dead in my sin. Lost without hope, no place to begin. Your love made a way to let mercy come in.

When death was arrested, my life began. Ash was redeemed. Only beauty remains. My orphan heart was given. My mourning grew quiet.

My feet rose to dance. When death was arrested, my life be. Sing together. Oh, your grace so free, washes over me. You have made me new.

Now life begins with you. is your endless love pouring down on us. You have made us new. Now life begins with you. Release from my chains.

I'm a prisoner no more. My shame was a ransom. faithfully born. He cancelled my death and he called me his friend. When death was arrested, my life began.

Sing it out. Oh, your grace so free washes over me. You have made me new. Now life begins with you. Oh, it's your love.

It's your endless love pouring down on us. You have made us new. Now life begins with you. Oh, our savior displayed on a criminal's cross. Darkness rejoiced as though heaven had lost.

But then Jesus arose with our freedom in him. That's when death was arrested and my life began. That's when death was arrested and my life began. Oh, your grace. Oh, your grace so free washes over me.

You have made me new. Now life begins with you. It's your endless love pouring down on us. You have made us new. Life begins with you.

Sing we're free. Oh, we're free. Free forever. We're free. Come join the song of all the redeemed.

Yes, we're free. Free forever. Amen. When death was arrested, my life began. Oh, we're free.

Free forever. We're free. Come join the song of all the redeemed. Yes, we're free. Free forever.

When death was arrested in my life. That's when tether was arrested and my life began. God, what good news that is worth celebrating and lifting our voices and lifting all that we are to praise you, God, starting now and and and continuing for eternity in good times and in bad times when we're hurting and when we're doubting and when we're walking with you and in seasons of joy and celebration. This truth, this is the truth that we can hold on to. This is an everlasting hope that keeps us grounded and keeps our eyes up.

And we thank you for that, God. And we ask that you would pull our eyes to you as we open your word, God. That we would see your character. We would see who you are clearly. And that we might respond, that your spirit might lead us to respond in repentance where that's needed.

Your spirit might help us grow in faith. Your spirit might lead us into seasons of obedience. God, we praise you. We love you. It's in Jesus name we pray.

Amen. You guys can have a seat. Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here.

We're going to be in Matthew 15 verses 21- 28. So, uh, we will not have text on the screen. So, if you have a Bible, I'd encourage you to pull out and follow along with us. If you have been with us long enough, you know we have two main preaching pastors, right?

So, that Chad and I share about half and half the preaching load. And uh and we're different. We got different preaching styles. We got different backgrounds and upbringings, which regularly shows up in our sermons. We have different interests.

We have different personalities. We like different things. I'd argue though what makes us different makes us a good team. Uh there if you took vin diagrams of us there's a little bit of overlap. All right.

So we both love watching the gamecocks break our hearts. We both love uh standup comedy. Uh but there's a whole lot of just in those vin diagrams. It's very very different. It shows up a lot in our appreciation of the arts.

Uh so a few years ago I found out that that Chad likes musicals. And since I'm married to my wife who uh who loves musicals over the time of our marriage I've grown to really love and appreciate them. years back. I said, "Man, I want to show you a musical that's going to change your world." Uh, and I only had the audio version because it wasn't out on video yet, but I let him listen to Hamilton. And about a song and a half in, he was like, "Yeah, I don't is are they going to rap the whole time?" I was like, "Yeah, it's a hip-hop Broadway." He's like, "Oh, okay." Wasn't his cup of tea at the time.

And then he said, "Why don't you watch Fiddler on the Roof?" So, I watched Fiddler on the Roof and about 30 minutes in, it just didn't land. I was like, "Sorry, bro." I will say he finally because it's now on Disney Plus, he finally got to watch it and we won him over. He actually likes Hamilton. But there's a lot of differences in in movies that we like. I mean, it's it's every time I get excited about a movie, and he'll regularly make fun of this in his sermons.

I'll get excited about a movie and I'll say, "Man, I want you to watch this movie." He'll go, "Oh, is it sad? Is it uncomfortable? Is it one of your indie films? Does a does a child lose his parents and then ends up being a child soldier and then eventually he gets a ticket to America and then falls uh prey to the opioid crisis. Is that how your movie goes?

I'll say no. He never made it to America. It's just but it's like not everything can be oh look how Thor and Kylo Ren team up to to defeat Voldemort at Mordor. It's just like everything's not adventure land yet. I like adventure movies.

I like adventure tales but sometimes things are real. All right. Sometimes things are are uncomfortable. Sometimes I I love stories that explore reality and how it is messy and how it's uncomfortable. I appreciate uh stories that bring that out.

And this story from the life of Jesus today has all of that. That is why when we were charting out the Gospel of Matthew and and we were looking at who would preach what, I wrote my name beside this one. Um because this story is very uncomfortable. one of the most uncomfortable stories in the New Testament. Uh, and we're going to walk through this story today.

Uh, it has some subtle hints that that touch on different themes that run through the Bible in just eight verses. Uh, Matthew is going to take an uncomfortable story from the life of Jesus and the ministry of Jesus. And he's going to show us really a picture of the salvation plan of God. All right.

So, there's a lot going on here. So, we're going to have to dive a little bit deeper this morning. uh we're going to have to really zoom in on some spots. We're spend a lot of time in one verse and then see three different things from it and then move to the next verse. I mean it is you got to dive deep to understand this.

But when we do this, the deeper we get, we can pan out a little bit and see the bigger picture of what Jesus is doing in this story and why is is a really good story for us and seeing the plan of God play out. So let me pray and then we'll jump into this story. Father, we thank you that you've given us stories like this, that you in your plan set this up in a way that would help show what you were doing in a powerful way. God, I pray that you would help us receive this this morning. I pray that you would help us not uh get defensive, but would listen and let the text go to work on our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We pray this all in the name of Jesus. Amen. All right. So verse 21, chapter 15. And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Ty and Sadome.

All right. So here's the setting. Jesus withdraws. All right.

That's an intentional use of that word. He could have said he went. He could have said he he he was going to. No, he withdrew, which implies he is leaving Galilee for a reason. He might be escaping uh the work of ministry for a bit.

He might be uh just looking to rest for a change of scenery to maybe be a little bit more anonymous because he's a celebrity in Galilee which is a Jewish district. Tyron Sedon is a gentile district. So he's not going to be as big as well known. There's not going to be the same crowds there are in Galilee. So it's important to know the context here.

They are Jewish. They show up in Tyra and Sedon. are going to stand out because there are cultural tensions between Jews and Gentiles. Jews look down upon Gentiles. They thought they were unclean.

Gentiles knew this. There's a lot of separation. So when he enters uh into Ty and Sedon with his disciples, he's going to stand out. But still, even though he's not quite the celebrity that he is amongst Jews, he does not remain anonymous. Somebody recognizes him.

And that's where it picks up in verse 22. It says, "And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, have mercy on me, oh Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." So, this woman recognizes him. And it's important to to sit in this and picture the text. It doesn't say that she uh asked him, doesn't say that she even called out to him.

It says that she cried out to him. She cried out. This is shrieking. This is loud. This is uncomfortable.

I want you to imagine if you go to to a restaurant uh in downtown Columbia, you leave the restaurant, all of a sudden someone cries out and screams and gets in front of you. It's it's an uncomfortable scene. And she is crying out to Jesus and she says, "Lord," which doesn't always mean she believes he's Lord like we call him Lord. Sometimes that's just a term of respect. But then she adds on to that.

She says,"Lord, son of David. And especially coming from a from a gentile woman, that that says a lot because son of David is a is a messianic title. It's it's it's it's Messiah language. She says, "You're the son of David. You have power that this the the the hype that has extended beyond uh the the Jews into our land.

You are the son of David." She's trying to get him to pay attention. Lord, son of David. And then she says, "My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." So she wants, like many people have come to Jesus, to be healed, for her daughter to be healed. So how does Jesus respond?

Verse 23. But he did not answer her a word. Didn't answer her a word. Now that is where the story starts to get uncomfortable because I want you to picture this. She's crying out.

Desperation. Tears can be flowing from her face. Maybe it's snot is coming from her nose. She's crying out to Jesus and he keeps walking. He doesn't answer her a word.

He ignores her. Now, this this is a story that doesn't show up in my kids story book Jesus Bible. It's just not a very popular story. I had I wanted to show you. I was going to say that they're uh they don't make coloring sheets for stories like this.

And I was going to put one on the screen because I finally found one. And it's it's when you see the picture of just Jesus looking away and she's just holding on to him. It's it's like what is happening here? What is Jesus doing in this story?

This doesn't seem like the Jesus that we read about in other stories. So it continues and it says his disciples came and begged him saying send her away for she is crying out after us. So crying out after us. This implies this is continually happening. She's continuing to cry out over and over and over again.

And Jesus is ignoring her. And I want you to see something. The disciples didn't say, "Jesus, won't you heal her? Can we, she's crying out, can you go ahead and heal her?" No, they said, "Won't you send her away?" And that shows the understanding here that she is a gentile woman. She is not Jewish.

Don't you don't need to heal her. Just send her away. Why is this happening? Why is this unfolding like this?

Why is Jesus doing this? It continues verse 24. He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And now this starts to get even more uncomfortable because what he just acknowledged is to her, you are not Jewish. I was sent to the Jews. And that's uncomfortable.

But in this story, in this time, that is exactly true because at this point in the salvation plan of God, Jesus is ministering to the Jews. That's why he's mostly in Galilee and Jerusalem. He's ministering primarily to the Jews because in the order of salvation, it is to the Jews first, then the Gentiles. I mean, Paul makes that abundantly clear in Romans 1:16. He says, "For I'm not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also the Greek.

To the Jew first, then the Gentile." That is the order of salvation in the Scriptures. And that can rub people the wrong way. People look at something and say, "That is that really fair? Is it fair that God chooses one ethnic group first?" Some people will push this even further and say, "Oh, this is this is your God of the Bible being racist." Now, I would argue that's quite a lazy reading of the Bible, but we don't just dismiss arguments like this.

As Christians, we're called to be apologetic and defending uh why the Bible says what it says and how it says it. So, let let's sit in that. Why does God choose the Jews? First, we're going to sit in this and look at this in three different ways. Uh firstly, the simplest answer is that God can save in any way that he chooses to save because he's God.

He is the God of the universe and and we are a rebellious creation. The fact that he redeems anyone is an act of grace. God chooses to save in the way that he chooses because he is God is the argument Romans nine. We are pots. What have we to say to the potter?

But what if we say to God in telling and dictating how he should save? This is how God has chosen it and God is sovereign and we are not. That is the first thing to understand in this. The second, why does God choose the Jews first?

Through rejection comes global redemption. All right? Through the rejection, God is going to bring about global redemption. So let me walk us through this.

uh God chooses to bring redemption through people. All right? This is it's not just top down force. He is he is using people. He's using creation.

He's using humanity to bring about his redemption. So in order to do that to get creation involved, he has to choose to use somebody. And Abraham is the guy. He chooses Abraham. And Abraham has an ethnos.

develops the that ethnicity, the the Jews out of the out of Abraham. So he chooses a people to bring about redemption. And I'd argue there's nothing intrinsically more valuable, more awesome about Abraham. Abraham's value is that God chooses to use him. In the same way, there's nothing intrinsically invaluable about the Jewish people.

Their value comes from their covenant Lord. Their value comes from God who claimed them. So God chooses to use a people and then he gives them a place, the promised land in the Old Testament. And that land and those people, they are uh meant to reflect the glory of God to the surrounding nations. That is their calling.

And as we see in the Old Testament, they fail miserably. They fall and they worship other gods. And in spite of their failures, still God chooses to bring redemption through this people. He chooses to send Jesus through this line. And ultimately it is prophesied that he is going to send Jesus through this line through the Jewish people and ultimately they are going to reject him.

His own people will will reject their own God. This shows up all over the place in the Old Testament. shows up in Psalm 118:22 says the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Jesus is rejected and through his rejection he becomes the cornerstone for a faith much bigger than the Jewish people. It brings a global redemption plan into play.

That's the second reason why I would argue that God chooses the Jews first. Let me give you a third one. The third one is I would argue historically timely. Now, this is gonna it's a little more conjecture.

This is not chapter and verse. I can't just walk you through this while the Bible teaches this. I just want you to look at this historically. Take a step back and watch the plan play out. God chooses a people in the cradle of civilization.

All right? So, the Mesopotamia right there, Israel, it's in the cradle of civilization. He chooses a people and a place. All right?

The land of Israel is very strategic in that side of the world. It is a land bridge that connects three continents. All right? You have Africa that's connected to Asia and Europe through this land bridge. And people traveled all through this land over and over again.

That's the reason why so many nations fought over this piece of land. Now, fast forward, God chooses to send Jesus at the right time. It just so happens the right time is when the Roman Empire conquers most of that side of the world. And they uni they're unified by a common government. They're unified by a common language.

You see they took Greek as the language that everyone spoke. So everyone spoke a common language at this time for the first time in history. And then also there are trade routes that are developed. There are road systems the Roman road systems that are developed. At the right time, Jesus comes and the Gospel spreads in the midst of all of that through the rejection of the Jewish people in this place.

It spreads in a common language all across that side of the world. We see that very practically in the book of Acts when they stone Steven and the Church spreads from there. The Church spreads all the way across Europe and Asia. It is very historically timely that God chose this people for this moment at this time. So there's just some some apologetics for why God chooses the Jews first.

We need to understand that as we walk through the rest of this story because it's going to get a little more uncomfortable. Starting in verse 25 says, "But she came and knelt before him saying,"Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." And now this gets even more uncomfortable because picture it. She is kneeling before him, crying out to him that she she's before him in tears, saying, "Help me, Lord." And he says, "It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." And if you haven't read the story before, you might be thinking, "Is this really a story from the Gospels? Is this really a story of the Jesus that we just sang about?

This seems cold. What is happening? What is Jesus doing here?" Now, to understand this, you got to spend some more time and dive deeper here. The first thing you got to understand is history. Uh this woman is a cienician woman.

All right. We know this from the Gospel of Mark. Gospel of Mark has this story and he accurately calls her the term for the day. She is serenician. Siro meaning Syrian uh background.

Phoenician meaning Phoenician background that the Lebanese people look at as Phoenician. I have to say that very accurately because there's a woman in the back of the room that I've messed that up. She will come at me. Be very careful in how I said this. She is serro Phoenician.

But Matthew calls her a Canaanite woman. Why? Why does Matthew call her a Canaanite woman from the start? Canaanite is a term that hasn't been used in a thousand years. And yet he calls her a Canaanite woman.

Because what he is doing is he's bringing to mind the Jewish ear that hears this. As soon as he calls her a Canaanite woman, it's going to picture all of this. The Canaanite people from a thousand years ago were a brutal, ruthless people who waged war against the people of God. I mean, they were brutal. They did things like child sacrifice.

They uh sacrificed children to their false God, Mollik. They would literally take their children, put them on an altar, roll them down the altar, and burn them alive. They were a very pagan evil people and they waged war against the people of God for a long time. And the ones who did survive, the ones who did remain, their practices rubbed off on the people of God. So much so that one of the kings of Israel sacrifices his child.

So there's a lot of history built into calling her a Canaanite. It would be very similar to, though not one to one, it'd be similar to if I had a German exchange student over and I brought her here and I introduced her and say, "Here, here's my uh here's our Nazi exchange student that we have for the fall." It would cause everyone to take a step back and say, "Why are you bringing up the worst part of our history?" It'd be similar to you, but not one to one. If I had someone who was Mexican, I brought them aside and said, "This is my Aztec friend." You would be wondering, "Why are you bringing up that they have been called Aztecs for 500,000 years? What are you doing there?" That is exactly what Matthew is doing here in calling our Canaanite. He is bringing in thousand years of history and also some historical baggage to help explain this story and this context.

So you need to understand that out the gate. That's why he calls her a Canonite woman. The second thing you need to understand here is the term dog. Why does Jesus call her a dog?

So this term uh there's a few different Greek words for dog that he could have used. He uses one that means little dog. Now this is house dog. This would be a dog that would be around your house, around your kids, around your table. Now he could have used a different word, the Greek word for wild dog.

Now that is a term that Jews threw at Gentiles. It was an insult because the wild dogs were almost like coyotes. They were they were wild dogs. They traveled in packs. They they they were they were scavengers.

They were considered very unclean. And Jews would use that term to call Gentiles uh dogs because they could call them unclean. It was an insult. So Jesus doesn't use the term wild dog. And I've and I I've read some some theologians and some commentators who look at this with very good hearts who are much much wiser and smarter than me and they look and they say, "See that Jesus uses little dog.

This is a term of endearment." If he wanted to use an insult, he would have used wild dog. But because he uses the term for little dog, this is a term of endearment. And the more I've looked at this and I've read on this and I've studied this and listened to other arguments from the context, I don't think Jesus is being insulting because he doesn't use wild he does not use the term wild dog. But I do not think that he's using it as a term of endearment. Because when you look at her response in a moment, she didn't take it as a compliment.

So what is Jesus doing here? Is he hurling something that has has racial tension built into it? No. I would argue that Jesus is doing two things here. He is first showing salvation order and second he is testing her faith.

So let's tackle that first part. Salvation order. Here's the here's the picture. It's a little dog. This is a domestic dog.

This is a dog that you have in your house. Many of us have dogs. All right? And the order of who eats in the house is children first, then the dogs. That's the order.

All right. I know some of you are like, "No, my dog has a seat at the table. He or she here or she might." All right, but in most households, that's not the case. That's not the norm. That's not what's expected.

I don't make I don't see I don't come home and spend a hour making a meal and then I bring it to my kids with their excited faces and go. Dogs eat first, you get second. That's not That's not the picture here. The picture here is that children eat first, then the dogs. So that that's the picture as uncomfortable as it may feel with modern ears.

That is what's being explained here. There's nothing intrinsically more valuable about about the Jews as we've argued before. But the what you need to understand is is there is an order. The Jews have a seat at the table first then the Gentiles as we see the rest of this story play out because we know how it ends because most of us are not Jewish and we're in this room worshiping Jesus. So he's showing salvation order.

But the second thing he's doing here is he is testing her faith. You have to understand what is happening here. Jesus knows our hearts. He in the story in these stories we've walked through in the Gospel of Matthew so far, he knows hearts. He knows the heart of the Pharisees and their evil thoughts.

He knows the heart of his disciples and what they're thinking. He knows hearts. and he travels to this region and a woman comes up to him and says, "Lord, son of David." Now, a lot of people have come to Jesus saying things, wanting his power, Jesus has healed thousands of people at this point. But when he goes to the cross and when he rises, there aren't thousands of people that are there to follow him. There's a lot of people that come to Jesus that want his power, that want to experience his power, that want miracles, they want healings, but they don't actually end up following Jesus.

And Jesus knows this woman's heart. And she says, "Son of David," and I would argue he is bringing something out of her. He wants to hear something further. He is testing her. So, how does she respond in this testing?

Verse 27, it says, "She said, yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table." Then Jesus answered her, "Oh, woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly. Y'all, she could have responded in a lot of different ways. She could have just walked away in tears. She could have argued with them.

She could have responded a lot of ways. But look at how she responds. Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs from the master's tables. She believes the hype.

The hype that this is the Messiah, the son of David. She might not be a descendant of Abraham. She might not be a descendant of of of David. She may not be a part of the covenant people, but she knows who this is. And if she can just get a crumb, if she can just get a shred of his of his power, then her daughter will be healed.

She absolutely believes who Jesus is. And she will do whatever it takes to gain his attention, to gain his favor. Just a moment of his power. And as soon as this comes out on full display before his disciples, he says, "Oh woman," and don't hear that with modern ears. It's not an insult.

And their time, oh woman, is a term of endearment. Oh woman, great is your faith. Now, this is where it starts to come together. At this point in the Gospel of Matthew, only twice, only twice has Jesus pedestal the faith of someone who came to be healed. Only twice.

The first time was a gentile. The first time was a centurion, a centurion soldier who comes to Jesus and and he shows great humility. He says, "No, no, no. You don't need you don't need to come all this way. You don't need to come all this way.

Just just say the word and it'll be done." And he says, "I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel. I haven't seen faith like this." And then we get to the second story right here. And he says, "Great is your faith." You see, the story is starting to tip its hand. And Jesus is starting to show where this is going. And Matthew is helping us clue into this because this is a story within a story.

There was a there's a movie a few years back uh an might Shyamalan movie uh Split. And when you get to the end of the movie, there's just one scene at the end of the movie. And when you see it, if you've seen his other movies, you realize this is not just a standalone movie. This is a film within a film. It goes back to a film he made 15 years ago.

This is a story within the story that Matthew is trying to help us see. You have to remember where we were last week. Jesus is is uh with the Pharisees combating over clean and unclean laws. And in that story, as we saw last week, he's tipping his hand that the the the ceremonial cleans cleaning laws about what is clean and unclean food that is going out the door. That argument happens.

Jesus leaves there, goes to Tyra and Sedon, and then a woman who is considered to be an unclean outsider comes and her faith is pedestalled like this. Not a coincidence. No, God knows exactly what he was doing this. And Matthew goes out of his way to show her rebellious past. And then Jesus comes in and says, "Oh woman, great is your faith." Because Jesus has gone out of his way to show this is exactly who I am coming for right now is of the Jews.

But when this story ends, he is going to the cross where his blood is going to be spilled for all peoples. He's going to resurrect. And when he resurrects, he tells his disciples, "Go to a mount on Galilee." And when they go to that mount, as we're going to see at the end of Matthew, he says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, all ethnos, all people, including women just like this. God is coming for everybody. If you are an outsider, if you have a Canaanite past, an Ammonite past, an Ishelite past, any past outside of the Jewish people, you're welcome to the table." That is how this story ends.

Outsiders get a seat at the table. It is uncomfortable to walk through, but when you dive deeper and you look at it, you see the salvation plan of God and what he is doing. So, as we close out the story, I just want us to see three very clear things before we close out. First, God comes for outsiders. God is the God of outsiders.

He rescues and redeems those who are far off. It does not matter what your past is. Doesn't matter what your history is. Doesn't matter where you come from. Doesn't matter what you have done.

God comes for outsiders. He goes to the cross so that you can have a seat at the table. She wasn't just getting crumbs. She was getting us here at the table. And that offering is for everyone who feels like they're on the outside.

Maybe you've been on the outside of Church for years. Maybe you'd feel uncomfortable around Church people around all of this. I don't know your story, but if you feel like an outsider very clearly from this story, hear the call. You have a place at the table. And how do you get a place at the table?

Faith. That's the second thing we need to see from this. You need faith. And this woman's faith is remarkable. I mean, she believes the hype.

Her faith is persistent. And we say Jesus is better than everything else. We say that all the time. We believe that. That hype is real.

We experience who Christ is. He is so good, so glorious, so holy. He's worth your faith. He's worth your life. And she gets this.

Her faith is on full display. And for those of us who follow Jesus, note this. Her faith is persistent. She didn't stop. What if our prayers looked like her?

Please, persistent. Jesus, Lord, it be your will over I over and over again. Her faith is deep, persistent. May we mirror a faith like that. Lastly, we need humility.

We need a humility like this woman. Sometimes people approach Jesus in all the wrong ways. We we sometimes have a transactional understanding of of Jesus of God. God, if you'll do this, I I'll do this. God, will you please just do this?

It's it's like we're bartering as if we could do that as if we're on his level. As opposed to a on yourrface humility that says, "Lord, just give me a crumb. Just give me a shred of your power. That'll be enough." My fear is is that for most of our culture, because we are a very prideful culture, that if Jesus came and there was interactions like this, that most people in our culture would say, "How dare you, don't speak to me like this. You need to operate in this way.

You need to reveal yourself in this way." God should go about doing things in this manner instead of this deep on your face humility. I don't deserve it, but if you give me a crumb, that's enough. That's the humility that God calls of his people. That's why in James 4, it says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. And we have a brilliant, beautiful example of humility in this woman.

May we see that, emulate that, incorporate that into a rhythm of worship and our approach to the Lord. The band's going to come up. We're going to close out and I want us to just sit and reflect for a moment. This story is not just a story that points a thousand years backwards and a thousand plus forward. It is a humbling picture of faith that we should aspire to attain to.

It is a uh a a a example of a woman that we should strive to mirror in her humility. And it is a reminder that no matter how much of an outsider that you think you are, you have a seat at the table through faith in Christ. And man, I wish we could take the Lord's supper this morning. Man, I wish that we could, but we're what we're going to do right now is just sit for a moment. If you are not a Christian, if you've not ever followed Jesus, if you never had faith like this, hear the calling.

Outsiders get a seat at the table. Doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter where you've come from. It doesn't matter the things that you've done. You have a seat at the table.

This is the God who redeems outsiders. May we have faith to respond as Christians. May we have faith to repent where we've not believed. May we have faith to repent where we've displayed pride and not humility. Let's sit in this for a moment and then respond in worship.

Father, we thank you for a story like this that shows exactly who you come for. You came for us, the outsiders, and through your blood, through the cross, through the empty tomb, we get a seat at the table. God, I pray if there's anyone here that doesn't have that seat right now, they respond in faith and they believe. And those of us that struggle with doubt, for those of us that struggle with pride, may you break us of it. May you build in us faith and humility like this woman.

May we continue to believe. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Would you stand?

Let's sing and respond together. Are you hurting and broken within? Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin, Jesus is calling. Have you come to the end of yourself?

Do you thirst for a dream from the well? Jesus is calling. Oh, come to the altar. The Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Oh, leave behind your regrets and mistakes. Come today, there's no reason to waste. Jesus is calling. Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy. From the ashes a new life is born.

Jesus is calling. Oh come. Oh come to the altar. The father's arms are open wide. forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Oh, what a savior. Is it your sing hallelujah? Christ is ris. Oh, lift your voice. Bow down before him.

Lord of all, sing hallelujah. Christ is ris. Oh, what a savior. Is it wonderful?

Sing hallelujah. Christ is ris. Bow down before him for he is Lord of all. Sing hallelujah. Christ is ris.

Oh, come to the altar. The father's arms are open wide. forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Bear your cross as you wait for the crown. Tell the world of the treasure you found.

Oh, Jesus is calling. Amen. You may be seated. All right, I got a few quick announcements for us um as we close out today.

If you are a Christian, um but have not yet joined a community group, we have something we'd like for you to do. Join a community group. Uh usually we have a QR code here that you can scan with your phone because there's a pandemic and people also uh I know we're trying to get you to join a group so you can be around people, but also sometimes being around people stresses people out. So, we let you scan a thing, fill out something online, and then show up and be around people.

But today, we're going to need you to talk to a human. And so, I'll be right down the hall down here by our connect wall and would love to talk to you about community groups. Um, we are meant to exist as a body in relationship with one another. We're not meant to go do this alone as believers. We're not gifted to do this alone as believers, but we're meant to uh edify the body, walk with the body, grow with the body, and be in Church family.

As difficult and frustrating as that can be, uh that actually helps us grow because we get to forgive and we get to repent and we get to try to walk together through difficult and painful seasons. And so, we'd love for you to join a community group. If you are not a believer, not a Christian, you're just hanging out, you're trying to figure out this whole Jesus thing, maybe you're just trying to find some people uh to be around, we have a suggestion for you. It's a little bit different than what we ask of Christians. We'd like for you to join a community group.

Uh the reason being is we walk out our faith in normal life. And the best place to do that is in a community group for you to investigate what it looks like for people who love Jesus to try to follow him together. Uh and hopefully you will find a group of people who are uh just as messed up as you are, but redeemed by grace so that there's some freedom and some forgiveness and some joy that maybe you hadn't found yet. And so we'd love for you to walk in a community group to see what that looks like.

And the least you'll meet some people who are told they're supposed to be nice to you and eat some free meals as soon as we start that back up because of pandemic stuff. That's a little different right now. But hopefully at some point we'll get to where we're eating together again in our groups and walking through life together. Um I'm going to read from 1 Thessalonians 3:es uh 11 through13 and then we'll be dismissed. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you.

And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you. So that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. You have a good week.

Gospel-less Religion (Matthew 15:1-20)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Gospel-less Religion

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Well good morning it's good to see you guys this morning and for those of you who are joining with us online we're glad that you are with us as well my name is Matt Freeman I'm one of the pastor's here with Mill City Church of KC happy fourth of July weekend I hope you got to indulge and maybe some of your favorite fourth of July things maybe that's eating hotdogs and watching the Nathan's hot dog eating competition is anybody's favorite maybe it's blowing things up in the sky with some fireworks maybe it's just some socially distant activities with family and friends.

But I hope you have had a good fourth of July weekend and that this gets to be a part of that it's interesting because not for a long time have we lived in such an overly politicized environment where celebrating love of country or patriotism can can be a thing where people want to argue against or something like that but we as a Church we are thankful for our country we are thankful for the fact that we get to celebrate we are thankful.

For the freedoms that we have we have freedom of religion where we can practice our faith how God leads us to we have freedom of speech where we can stand and openly declare what we believe to be true and so we're grateful for our country and just like all things there are things that we want to work on and want to grow but we're thankful for our country we're also thankful for men and women who have given their lives to make that possible that those men and women.

For hundreds of years have knowingly or unknowingly followed in the example of Jesus of sacrifice of self for others and some of those men and women are even in this room can we just give them a hand for those that have served for our country and so we're grateful because that sacrifice is a picture of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us Jesus gave His life so that we could have freedom that we could be his and belong to him and that's the reason that we've gathered here this morning.

So we're grateful and thankful for our country but we actually get to come here together today and worship and focus on Jesus and so we're grateful that you are with us or have joined with us online just a couple of housekeeping things it's exciting to see some kids in the room with us today worshiping together as a family we did want you to know that our kid City classrooms are available they are outfitted with the livestream they've got chairs down there that are socially distance and a few toys they're just hard surface that can be wiped down.

So if at any point your kids get a little antsy or want to move around or want to do anything feel free to take them down there and watch the livestream that is available to you and then for our new mothers in the room if you haven't noticed up the small stairwell we have a new nursing room for mothers so that you can go at any point during our service and utilize that for our Church family we're not passing an offering plate or even putting our computer up right.

Now for giving but if you would like to give the way you can do that is if you see in the front to the front walls up here there's small rectangle wooden boxes where you can give cash or cheque and if you're wanting to give with a debit card or a credit card or do that online you'll have to do that from home and if you're watching from home you can just go to Mill City KC comm and click on the give icon and as a Church we want to walk out our faiths together.

So if you're new here just checking things out we we practice our faith together daily weekly in our community groups and we want you to be a part of those so we've got a QR code look how fancy that thing is you can just take out your phone and pull that up and it'll take you to our website where you can fill out just a little bit of information and find out more information about our community groups so again we're grateful that you're here with us this morning I've asked dr.

Ken to come and just lead us in a prayer of Thanksgiving think thankfulness for our country and for what we get to celebrate and then to focus our hearts on Jesus this morning so doctor can you come good morning it sure is good to be back here with you and worship this morning it's been seem like it's been a long time but it's a good it's great just to be here and to be a part of this and as we do that I would like to.

First of all lead us in a prayer so if you would bear with me please for prayer Heavenly Father we praise you for being the eternal God the creator of all the giver of life the author of Liberty father we thank you that through Jesus we can approach her throne of grace today one want to thank you for the ways in which you have blessed our nation we thank you that you let our founding fathers to establish our nation on Christian principles we thank you that you've preserved us from eternal external and internal threats you've given us great freedoms freedom of speech freedom of religion the right to peaceably assemble freedom of the press.

Many others you've graded us Abunda prosperity father we thank you today for those who have defended these freedoms down through the years we thank you for those who are continuing to do so today we thank you all so far there for those who have worked to expand our freedoms to all of our citizens and for those who are still doing so father we confess we're not worthy of all the ways you have blessed us as a nation we have turned from you in our pride we have become self-dependent we are selfless selfish we are self-centered we're greedy lustful committing minion justices we pray.

For your forgiveness and for your cleansing we pray that you would be merciful to us as a nation save us from violence injustice and disunity save us from ourselves helped us to accept each other as fellow Americans grant our leaders in every level of government your wisdom and your guidance and lead them to depend upon you give us a spirit of true community father we pray that you would help us as your people help us to be salt and light and our communities and we pray Heavenly.

Father that you would help us to humble ourselves to turn from our own sins and to pray earnestly for our nation that it might experience a turning back to you and we pray these things in Jesus name Amen I called worship this morning is from Hebrews chapter 4 verses 14 through 16 since then we have a great high priest who is pass through the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession where do we do not have a high priest 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 us in our time of need would you guys stand we're gonna see together before the throne of God above have a strong this man can see behold him there perfect spot is righteous live the rate of change the kid worried themself my soul is purchased by gizmo my life is here my sample shows - they're gone our reading this morning comes from Psalm 40 please read the underlined portions with me I waited patiently.

For the Lord he inclined to me and heard my cry he drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog and set my feet upon a rock making my steps secure he put a new song in my mouth a song of praise to our God many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust who does not turn to the proud to those who go astray after a lie you have multiplied.

Lord my God your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us none can compare with you I will proclaim and tell of them yet they are more than can be told in sacrifice and offering you have not delighted but you have given me an open ear burnt offering and sin offering you have not required I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation as.

For you O Lord you will not restrain your mercy for me your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me for evils have encompassed me beyond number my iniquities have overtaken me and I cannot see they are more than the hairs of my head my heart feels me but may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you may those who love your salvation say continually great is the Lord let's continue to praise God this morning together for God's holy war ciao three persons I.

See perfect all I work shall praise thy name for Oh No God we have nothing to claim before you accept the work of Jesus and said this morning we thank you for the cross we thank you for the empty tomb it's by those that we can come into your presence and live lives of worship before you ask people who have been made clean who have not earned anything but have been given grace so this morning God we pray that you would remind us of that good news that it would sink deeply into our hearts that we might walk in that grace in.

Jesus name Amen you guys can be seated for those of you that didn't hear anything online you could have fill in the rest it was great all right so got some internet memes I want to show you this is the first one so the whole gist of this is ours today years old when I realized that candy corn if you stack it up it looks like corn on the cob so I don't know if you knew that maybe you just learned a thing.

But if you put candy corn together it looks like Aang show another picture because this one's not blurry there you go so you learn to think it's not just the semi ok snack that you get Halloween it actually has a function of purpose let me show you another one this other one is I was today years old when I realized that the Amazon logo the check mark goes from A to Z and the point of that is is that they sell everything from A to Z or you know their company culture which is will shut down every small business from A to Z all right give it two more I was.

Today years old when I realized that there's an iPhone hack that if you put your finger on and you hold it on the spacebar that you can easily navigate and drag the cursor to fix text messages which is something that's very helpful via fat thumbs like me and a little screen it's very helpful and I know that some of your Android users you're like y'all we've had this for years awesome y'all win your phones are better what you want to do here also go back check this this week in teaching team he realized this and he started playing on his phone he was really excited about it or he was just simulating what happens.

When people watch this from home all right last one I was today years old when I realized that you can clean the glass in between the oven and the outside it used to be that my understanding was is that if grease kind of fell in there there was no way to actually fix it it just stayed there but at least on this oven are in theory some other ones you can take a brush and you can clean the inside of it.

So that's that's the gist of these things there are things that you are familiar with right yeah but you don't actually fully understand you don't other full-function and that's funny in trivial things but that also seems to be true in all of life that there are there are people that you can be around your entire life and never fully understand them or maybe you felt that way that there are people that you know people that are in your life that regularly.

See you that live life with you but don't fully understand you that you can sit under sermons and teaching for years and never fully understand them to no fault of the person who's preaching it just doesn't quite sink in and that's what we're going to see a little bit today the disciples have been around Jesus for seemingly at years at this point and it's ministry and there's still an aspect of the kingdom of heaven that isn't sinking in it hasn't penetrated their hearts.

So we're gonna walk through this today and as we walk through it I don't want us to there's there's a habit sometimes we read the Gospels to look at the disciples and be like man I can't believe you did this I can't believe you didn't understand this but what I want us to do is to have a little bit posture of humility and to look at this reflectively and maybe realize that there's aspects about the kingdom of heaven there's aspects about the Gospel that we don't quite understand and fully believe either.

So let me pray and they will walk through this together father thank you so much that you've given us your word and you've give us these stories and you've given us Christ who reveals our hearts got a pray today that you would help us understand your Gospel in a new way I pray that you would help us listen so Lord speak to us we ask this in Jesus name Amen all right so starting on verse 1 then the Pharisees and scribes came to.

Jesus from Jerusalem and said why do your disciples break the tradition of the but they do not wash their hands when they eat all right so I want to picture this for you the Pharisees were in Jerusalem and at some point they huddled up together you see they're trying to take Jesus down we've seen that so far in the Gospel of Matthew and they thought what is a way that we can take him down somebody pops up and says I think they don't wash their hands and someone said alright Zedekiah you nailed it pack your bags boys we're going to Galilee.

Now Galilee is a few days walk okay so they for hand-washing for something that they wanted to call Jesus out on they decide they're going to go on a few days walk journey to call him out this is similar to sometimes my my daughter my oldest she just turned five and she's amazing and one of the things that she does it's so helpful in her house as she helps take care of her younger siblings specifically our little one who I'm convinced that.

If I one of my greatest accomplishments in life will be keeping him alive until he's 18 and she helps with that she helps monitor him and sometimes she'll come running down the stairs yelling and it you have to take that seriously because there's no telling what he's done it could be very serious she comes down and she's all worked out and What's Wrong sweetheart and she goes well Bridgers he's not he's not he's not playing the game but I want him to play in the way that I want to play it I'm the mom he's supposed to be the dad and he's not playing and I'm like wait you came running and screaming all the.

Way downstairs to tell me that your brother is not playing the game the way that you want to play the game that's not how we respond here that's quite the overreaction that's a little what's happening here they heard about hand-washing and they said no we're going to go to Galilee we're going to confront Jesus on this for the sake of being fair is hand-washing the idea that you need to wash your hands and or not to make the food defiled and unclean that you're going to eat is that buried somewhere in the Old Testament law is it like five chapters deep in numbers and maybe they just missed it.

Because the Book of Numbers is difficult no it is nowhere in the Old Testament law you see this tradition comes from an O tradition of the law known as the Holika all right so the Pharisees and the religious leaders have a few different oral traditions few different basically running common series of the Old Testament and their traditions that they want to help explain the law but as we've seen early on in the Gospel of Matthew they completely misunderstand the heart of.

God and the purpose of the law they did this with the Sabbath they got all excited like Jesus and His disciples are breaking the Sabbath let's call him out and they thought you know what that didn't work let's try hand-washing and you could imagine how the rest of this story goes it doesn't go well for the Pharisees and the scribes so pick up in verse three says he answered them and why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition.

For God commanded or honor your father and your mother and over a vow father or mother must surely die but you say if anyone tells his father or his mother what would you have gained from me is given to God he need not honor his father so for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God you hypocrites now that seems like quite an interesting response to them accusing the disciples of not washing their hands it almost seems like a bit of a dodge right I say you're not washing your hands.

Jesus comes back says oh yeah well you're not honoring your momma's now what and it seems like it's a little bit of a way he decides that this that's not what happened all right he just did classic Jesus Jedi mind-trick he's going deeper into this and he's about to explain something and call out the Pharisees and the scribes all no 1 clip so what is he doing here he references one of the 10 commandments honor your mother and your father and he says you are breaking this.

Because of your tradition so what tradition are they using to break one of the Ten Commandments well it's you have to catch this it's it's subtle but in verse 5 he says what you would have gained from me is given to God now Mark's Gospel his version of this one word that helps us understand even clearer more clearly what he just said Mark's Gospel adds a word Corbin so if your name is Corbin you got a family room whose name is Corbin you're about to learn a thing Corbin and the Hebrew means devoted to.

God so what is happening here is he is talking about a Corbin offering this would be any extra offering that you could get to the temple any extra offering that you could give that's devoted to God so what was happening is that it was it's permissible the expectation is you're supposed to honor your mother and father there's a reason it's one the top 10 commandments it's very serious especially and their religion and in their culture but what you could do if you wanted to take part of your inheritance or part of your money as your parents are aging.

And if you didn't want to use all of that or a good bulk of that take care of your parents you need to be taken care of you could devote some of that to the temple you could bypass that it was a way of saying I'm extra holy I'm extra giving I'm gonna give what was supposed to be used to take care of my parents but I'm gonna give that to the temple now here's where this gets really messed up the Pharisees and the scribes and the religious leadership you can.

Look at at a Jewish writing at the time and tell this they had a tradition of taking the Corbin offering and using it to give the temple this is we need to understand who benefits the benefits from the offerings that are given to the temple the religious leadership so if you wanted nicer living quarters if you wanted nicer things you could in essence take what you should be used to take care of your parents your parents who brought you into this world your parents who raised you your parents you sent you off to Jewish seminary.

So that you can be in the priesthood instead of taking care of their parents they're saying oh look at this we're giving extra money extra inheritance here's our Corbin offering for everyone to see and they're benefitting themselves and their own comfort wicked that is evil even in our culture if if my parents needed taken care of when they got older and I said you know I I'm not gonna take care of my parents I'm going to give more to no City Church and behind-the-scene.

So I'm looking holy and giving more to the Church I'm actually restructuring the budget and getting nicer vehicles and nicer things we would say that's corrupt in our culture it's an extra level in theirs that you would honor you do a dishonor your parents like this is wicked there's a reason why in the Old Testament law that you could be put to death for dishonouring your parents you did not do this in this culture and Jesus exposes all of that right here in this moment right here in front of all the crowds to watch.

And then he keeps going he references Isaiah to make this point even more clear verse 8 well did Isaiah prophesied of you when he said this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me in vain do they worship Me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men he says Isaiah called it you'll honor God with your lips you you honor God with your teachings but here's the deal your heart is far from me in vain do you teach the law in vain do you teach the commandments you.

See your foundation is crumbling and all you're presenting is these holy actions that hide it about a month ago I was showing a house which if you don't know I'm a Bob occasional pastor I also do real estate you know showing a house and there's a lot of times that she'll show to a house and the pictures that you see online they're not reflective of the true house which is fine that's the point of being a real estate agent you want to get them in the house you take the best pictures you hire professional photographer you make sure it looks very good.

But every now and then every now and then the pictures really really really don't capture what's happening so we showed up this house they bought it for ninety they they were flipping it for 150 and I walked in and I was furious I was like this house is a disaster literally the only thing they have done is they have painted the walls you can look around and the rest of the house was completely falling apart it was completely fake and that's the Pharisees its outward actions showing how good we are.

But inside they are rotten to their core all of their teaching is hypocrisy and Jesus calls us out and I love it because he keeps going verse 10 and he called the people to him remember these are the Pharisees the religious leaders that everyone in the nation looked up to right and they're they're seeing all this happen and they said come in I'm gonna teach you a thing about what just happened he called the people to him and said to them hear and understand it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person.

But what comes out of the mouth this defiles a person so he's continued to teach off of this idea that you have to clean your hands in order to eat food that might not be clean or unclean so here's a few different layers of what he's doing here one of the things that he's doing here is he's tipping his hand what he is and March Gospel version of this makes this even more clear that what is coming is a day where the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament are no longer followed all right.

So that's good news for all of us this weekend that enjoyed ribs are some form of pork right we don't keep kosher anymore so this is tipping the hand a little bit that the ceremonial law is keeping kosher all of this is going to be is going to be fulfilled in Christ and the book of Acts is will become even more clear so it's pointing forward a little bit but also he is revealing a bit a major critique of the religion the Gospel is religion of the Pharisees and scribes it is about the heart and they missed this it's about the heart it's about what comes out of your heart it's not what you do.

And your actions outwardly it's about your heart and connected to those actions it's all about the heart they added commands and traditions and traditions on to the law to show outward holiness they're obsessed with it and they've missed it they've completely missed the point their hearts are unclean they are far from God their foundation is crumbling and they've missed it so Jesus continues or the passage continues in verse 12 since then the disciples came and said to him do you know that the Pharisees were offended.

When they heard this saying he answered them never plant that my Heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up let them alone that your blind guides and if the blind lead the blind both will fall into a pit but Peter said to him explain to us this parable explain this parable to us and he said are you still without understanding so they see all this happen they come to Jesus and they say Jesus did you have Pharisees were offended by what you said geez like word are you serious they were offended he's like no you you you're missing it he says.

If God didn't didn't plant them this is similar language to the parable of the weeds if God didn't plant them they're gonna be uprooted this is judgment language they are the blind leading the blind which if you know that English phrase comes from the Bible the blind leading the blind then and then Peter comes in says so Jesus can you explain that parable to us and Jesus responds here the Peter is so telling he says are you still without understanding you got to.

Remember the disciples have been with Jesus for seemingly years at this point they've heard all the teachings they've gotten to sit under his feet in private moments where Jesus is unpacking the kingdom of God they've gotten to hear the sermon amount and other big sermons where Jesus is preaching about the kingdom of heaven and it's not sinking in it's not penetrating their hearts to when they see what just happened the Pharisees and the scribes travel days to come call Jesus on washing hands their gut response is don't you know you offended them which this is conjecture.

Okay this is don't don't take as a solid interpretation but mine I have a suspicion that because the disciples expected that when Jesus came into Jerusalem he was going to establish a political revolution ever throw the Roman government there there was this expectation that the Messiah was going to come and restart everything politically I have this suspicion that maybe just maybe the disciples were a little bit concerned with your offending the people in power that we're gonna need but there is this concern initially that says you've offended them.

And then when they asked what they found will explain the parable and he says are you still without understanding but he's gracious and he continues and explains what he was coming from verse 17 so do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and has expelled but whatever comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles a person for out of the heart come evil thoughts murder adultery sexual immorality theft false witness slander these are what defile a person.

But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone so he makes a pretty explicit point it's not about what you put into your body don't you realize that will be expelled it's about what flows from your heart your heart is what matter out of your heart flows he says evil thoughts murder adultery sexual immorality theft false witness slander those are what will defile you so the Pharisees didn't get it's about the heart and what's unique about this list is you can almost apply all of these to the Pharisees that they are.

So concerned with outward holiness that they will travel days to call out Jesus when in reality the reason they're traveling is because their hearts are consumed with evil thoughts they are actively seeking to destroy the Lord this becomes abundantly clear at his trial where they seek to have him murdered where they lie and slander against him as they present him to Pontius Pilate it is clear from their actions that they would other steal inheritance that should be used to take care of their parents in order to build their own comfort what flows out of the heart matters it's all about the heart Jesus's message over and over again in the Kingdom of Heaven it's about.

The heart your heart reveals whether you believe this or not whether you understand the message of his kingdom or whether you don't that's how the story plays out and as we read this it's very easy to distance ourselves and say I can't believe the disciples haven't figured this out instead of actually doing this with a humble posture that says what about us should we examine our own hearts in light of this so I just have a few questions to have you tease this out a little bit are we more focused on the actions or the heart behind them I'm more focused on the actions that we do are the heart behind them we.

See how this plays out Bible reading prayer showing up to community group showing up or tuning in on Sunday mornings right these are these are good things but they can be used I mean they can be used as a justification look at all the things I'm doing Lord I'm reading my Bible I'm praying I show up every Sunday I show up the community group every week I'm involved I'm doing good things there can be this justification that if I check off the boxes.

If I do these things then I'll be right with God then I'll earn his favor that is the Gospel as' religion of the Pharisees that's legalism that's not the Gospel it's about the heart our heart should be I'm so thankful for my Savior I'm so in love with him I want to read the word I want to find intimacy in prayer I want to be around the Christians on Sunday in a community group to draw near to him those are two different hearts and you have to examine your own heart determine where you are on this and they ask you a.

Second question are we quicker to look at the faults of others than our own or we push that a different direction how do we look at the faults of others we try this plays out maybe there's someone your group and they come and they confess some sin for like the 10th time this year I just want to confess guys that I looked at pornography this week ladies I just want to confess I've just I've been so anxious about coronavirus been so anxious about my kids I've been.

So anxious about all these different things I'm just struggling with anxiety when you hear that in that moment when you receive that from one of your brothers and sisters who confess this what is your heart do you get frustrated impatient eyebrow are you serious again you fell to this again you're saying this in your own heart we have to talk about this again girl you come and you talk about this all the time are we serious there's this moralistic superiority that that creeps up in us this seems just like what the Pharisees and the scribes do the instead of a posture that.

Jesus teaches when you receive sin like that look at the plank that is in your eye examine your own heart then turn and look at your brother and sister who is struggling maybe in those moments when someone confesses sin that you're quick to jump in and correct here are the things you've got to do as opposed to looking at your own heart examining your own heart and then saying all right how can I present the Gospel to you good news before good advice is the language that we use in community groups this also can show up and maybe you're just silent which spoiler.

If someone bares their soul in a community group setting or just maybe over coffee and you're just silent it's not good it's just bare my soul and everyone looked at me like I was crazy I'm gonna do this again yes maybe you're solid maybe something cuz you don't know what to say maybe you're silent because you actually really are distracted and you don't care there's a difference between the Gospel is religion of the Pharisees that deals in a very twisted form of morality and the heart of the Gospel and they came in the feminine.

Let me give you one more question to help work this out when you see this checklist checklist of sins that Jesus just walked through he says verse 19 for out of the heart come evil thoughts murder adultery sexual immorality theft false witness slander when you hear that what do you feel you feel shame you feel defeated do you feel downcast or are you able to remember that in Christ the wool was sent as one and this victory is finished but you don't have to actually earn his favor by your perfect struggle with sin we read another list another list of sins that shows that this shows up in.

First Corinthians Paul is addressing the Church he says or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who practice homosexuality nor fees nor the greedy nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God and you hear that and maybe you immediately run to shame and you immediately run to I don't know how there's overwhelming sense of guilt and then he says and such were some of you.

But you were washed you were sanctified you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God and what he just stated was is an eternal reality that if you've placed your faith in Jesus if your hope is bound up in him there's this mysteriously eternal reality outside of time that there's this future justification where the perfect spotless righteous record of Christ stands for you and God doesn't look at you and see the worst of you.

See your sin he sees the perfection of Christ and running to shame and guilt as opposed to the hope of Christ those are two different realities one is the Gospel this religion of the Pharisees and scribes of one is the Gospel of Christ so we got some work to do in examining this because Jesus looks at Peter and he says are you still without understanding do you still not get it they've around them for years and you may have been around churches.

For years he's around our Church for years this may sound familiar but are you actually believing this are you applying the Gospel to your heart where are you failing to believe the Gospel has it fully sunk in to your heart or maybe your heart is showing that there's some hidden actions that are revealed behind all of this maybe we're not applying this at all or for some of you maybe you've ever never actually listened to this you've never actually understood this and you've never actually fully believed this.

Because there's a deal you can spend your entire life around this message you can spend your entire life around the Church and never actually believe this I was reading this book once and they referenced this story of a pastor who had was sitting in on a children's lesson someone was explaining the Gospel to children and his Church and in that moment something clicked he realized in that moment that this message that he had talked about for years had never actually penetrated his heart and in that moment in listening to this teacher teach kids about the Gospel called him to faith he placed his faith in.

Jesus and you might be thinking how is that possible how is it possible for someone to be around the Church's entire life how is it possible for him to go to seminary how is it possible for him to preach the Gospel weekend week out and that never actually sink in and penetrate his heart is because proximity that Jesus does not equal following Jesus I say that again proximity to Christ does not mean following Christ this pandemic has shook us at the regular rhythms of worship the regular rhythms of gather together in community groups and I want to ask what is this pandemic revealed about your heart what is this pandemic revealed about following.

Jesus is it checking boxes is it legalism is that this moralistic comparison to others is it this consistent pattern of being clothed and shame as opposed to being clothes and the righteousness of Christ has this pandemic for some of you giving you the cover that you need to walk in sin and not actually walk in the light with other brothers and sisters this pandemic is revealing what is in our hearts and I want to ask you a question I want you sit in this question.

For a few seconds of silence what has this pandemic what does this season revealed where is your heart I'm gonna ask the band to come up but I want you to sit in that question and I want you to ask the Lord where is my heart does it belong to you have I applied the Gospel is it taking root now once you hear some good news she just looks at Peter he says are you still without understanding and guess what he was he did not the reason I can say that it's.

Because you can fast forward to thee to the night where he has betrayed the night he's not trial in Jesus that nice Peter denied Jesus three times said oh I don't know him I don't know I didn't but here's the good news of the Gospel when Jesus goes to the cross and his blood is poured out for our sins and when he rises on the third day and he conquers the grip of death instead it is an abandoned Peter it doesn't say you missed it you're out.

Now he shows up he confronts all the disciples who abandoned all the disciples who denied him it catches their hearts for 40 days he sits with them and he teaches them the mysteries and the beauty of the Gospel and he claims that a heart and he seals them with the Holy Spirit and he sends them out and the world is never the same and that's the hope of the Gospel for us we need to have the courage to actually reflectively examine our own hearts and this and ask the tough questions do we believe in a Gospel is religion we believe in the Gospel that brings hope this saves centers that redeems us and makes us.

New maybe we sit in that question right now as we close out Mershon that we sit in that question and our groups this week and my hope is that we would respond in faith God I pray right now in a season where there's so much happening where there's so many things to concern is that right now we wouldn't forget the most important thing we can reflect on the most important message is the hope of the Gospel that is an eternal reality and eternal hope got to pray right.

Now for those of us that are struggling for those of us that are not believing the Gospel may you confront us in our hearts and we repent in ways we have not believed gotta pray there's anyone here and if they're honest to themselves they've never actually believed this message never actually plays faith in you right now you would confront them and you would win them over and you would claim them and they would have a new heart that only comes about your powers.

When you go to work on this method in Jesus name Amen would you all stand with us and sing the song of response I say Oh whoa No alright I'll walk up here and the mic works it's amazing y'all we do check these things before him alright so a couple announces before we get out of here today as we said before if if you want to give we have giving and the slots right here we also have giving online so you can you can give online Mill City kc.com also you can check out some more information about groups online.

So if you would like to know more about our community groups our community groups are smaller groups of our Church family that live life together that have conversations about the Gospel like we just talked about they're going to walk that together as a Church family have community groups that meet and different parts the city and different days of the week and if you're new here I would encourage you to check one out and you can go on our website you can scan that QR code.

If it works for your phone if not you go to our Mill City KC comm to our community herbs page you can fill out some info we can follow up with you but we'd love to connect to you with a group this is how we walk out the Gospel together as a Church family alright so I want to close with a benediction which is a word from second Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 16 through 17 now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself in.

God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and established them in every good work in word amen you guys have a great day.

Jesus Walks on Water (Matthew 14:22-36)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Jesus Walks on Water

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning my name is Spencer I'm one of the pastor's of Mill City Church of KC we as a Church believe that Jesus is better than everything else and because of this truth that we live by we get to be a Gospel centered community on mission and in this pass really all this year it has increasingly become difficult to be a Gospel centered community right like the there's lots of just culturally there's lots of disconnectedness it's it's growing all over the places we tried to social distance as we've got.

So many things on our plate fears of just kovat fears of the economy fears of social unrest there's so many things that fill our attention and so many things that we are concerned about and we're increasingly becoming disconnected and the Church is not a mean to that that as a Church we've increasingly become more disconnected right like it's it's been hard as we adjusted to going online and watching services online and focusing and being present there it's been hard we've taught a group leaders as groups are trying to continue to navigate this and be together that that attendance has been spotty at best in some in certain groups it's just been it's difficult there's this.

Disconnectedness that we are facing culturally but in the midst of all of that that's gonna continue as this year goes on in the midst of all of that I'm still hopeful and the reason that I'm hopeful is because the most important thing about us still is Christ the hope of Christ that's why we are a Gospel centered community so the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the spirit that has work in us so we can grow in this in the midst of all the adapting we need to do we can grow we can still grow in being present here on a Sunday morning.

So if you're here this morning seeing worship if you're at home right now watching take some time don't multitask don't listen to this in the background like be present see sit on the authority of God's Word let's grow and doing this together as we leave here we go into our community groups must be present well--that's meeting virtually or that's meeting outside whatever that looks like let's let's continue to grow and being a Gospel centered community on mission so if you're new here that's a little bit of who we are those that's what some of what we value as a Church and one of the easiest ways to experience this is to get into a group.

And you can do that by by going online there's there's a QR code that'll be on the screen that you can scan that'll take you to our website also you can go to Mill City KC com go to our groups and there's more information there you can fill out a request form and you can and someone will contact you and tell you more about our groups and where there might be a good place for you to jump in but we love.

For you to experience that and what we care about in groups if you are not new and you call this Church home we want you to continue to give we have giving slots that you can give at any point during the gathering today you can also give online so I want to pause and pray the God prepare our hearts for worship and then I want you to stand we read from Psalm 36 so let me pray I've got to thank you that you came.

For us to rescue us to claim a people that in the midst of whatever we are facing the midst of fears anxieties the midst of just the regular difficult rhythms of life that we can fix our eyes upon you that we can gaze upon you that we can worship you together as a Church wherever we are God I pray that you would help us prepare to worship and you would call us into worshipping you and that we would respond me s in.

Jesus name Amen you got stand when it calls into worship from psalm 66 shout for joy to God all the earth sing the glory of his name give to him glorious praise say to God how awesome are your deeds so great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you all the earth worships you and sings praises to you they sing praises to your name let's see we're gonna seam together how great thou are slipped our voices hold on my.

God when I in awesome wonder consider I see the song I by then sings my soul breakdown then sings my soul my Savior God ah shop my soul my Savior God - how a reading from Ephesians two and as we read this we remember our need to confess on our need for a savior and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the Prince of the power of the air the spirit that is.

Now at work and sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and we're by nature children of Wrath like the rest of mankind but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him in cedis seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ.

Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of works so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them let's continue worshiping there's nothing with nothing on Messer you know you want No No what a beautiful name it is nothing what a beautiful name death could not hold you.

God we've gathered in this place today only by the name of Jesus by the blood of Jesus about a sacrifice of Jesus can we come into this place and come into your presence freely as people who willingly confess our sin before you in our need for you God we thank you we thank you for the good news of the Gospel we thank you for Jesus and we thank you for the gift that worship is God but all of our lives our worship before you we live lives of worship before you.

And so we know we need you to teach us we need your spirit to fill us and to lead us that we might follow you in obedience then we might repent where we need to that our faith might grow where it needs to and God we're asking for that as well this morning God would you speak and change us in Jesus name Amen you guys gonna have a seat good morning my name is Chet I'm one of the pastor's here I'm glad to be with y'all this morning I have a few quick pieces of information that I want to share with you all that's not a description of the sermon it won't be quick.

It's got tons of stuff in it but before we get to the sermon a few quick pieces of information one of the things that people have said to us throughout the whole time you know we we plan to the Church we've merged together now with First Baptist Church of KC and throughout our whole history people have come up to us over and over again and said y'all communicate everything so clearly we've never been caught off guard we've never been surprised by anything we just always knew everything that was going on and in the spirit of that and actually the only thing that messed us up a little bit was this pandemic and there may be.

A few things you just need to be caught up on that we need to celebrate together and be excited about one is we launched a new community group this past week yeah so we've trained some leaders that's a big deal for us because we want to have group leaders that trained group leaders that send out group leaders and so we launched a new group you have 11 groups now and that's a big deal and so we're excited want to let y'all know that let's you be celebrating that we also are gearing up to helps into the Rockies to be missionaries the.

First foreign missionaries that we're sending out of our Church family and in the future we're gonna have them up here and help try to raise some support for them and Chris plays the drums and I even suggested that we would have him play the drums every week and put a hat here and as soon as we had raised enough money we'd send him out and you wouldn't have to hear the drums anymore if you didn't like them so it would be a way to help raise some support of course people like the jumps and they might be taking some of the money out.

So it might get might get convoluted but we're gearing up to send them excited about that we also are about to begin construction so we have planned to do some construction in this area to kind of make a welcome area over here so that it can be a little more open when you enter and to get ready for kids city because we had upwards of 40 children on Sundays and needed to make some more space for them we did just discover that in that section of the building there is some asbestos.

So it was built in the 70s and they put his bestest and everything because it was a miracle powder stuff and they just put it all over the place and it's in some of the joint compound and stuff so our construction just got a little more expensive and I know some of y'all consistently come over to me and say I have all this money laying around the house and I don't know what to do with it we would welcome you to help put it towards the construction we're about to be getting into.

But just want to let you know we are about to start some of that and it may change how we move around on Sundays but it is an exciting time for us now for those of you who keep up with how long I preach none of that counted we're starting now grab your Bibles got a Matthew chapter 14 we are walking through the Gospel of Matthew together and we just left off where Jesus it's the stories known as Jesus feeds 5,000 or the feeding of the 5,000.

But we learned last week there's 5,000 men was probably 15,000 people we're picking up right at the end of that Disney bought Marvel and then started making the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I have really appreciated the movies they put out and have two sons we watched them together and because of those I have been beaten senseless at my house because my children now have Thor hammers and shields that look like Captain America they sling at my head and that sort of thing.

But one of the original Thor movies I appreciate it because it reminds me of some of the Gospel story there's some as I watch movies a lot of times I see parallels to the Gospel and in sometimes I see contradiction so the Gospel and I think man Jesus is so much better than that sometimes I see things that remind me of the Gospel and so in the first Thor movie Thor who is a from the Norse he's a Norse God from Norse mythology.

But he got picked up by Marvel and just became a comic book hero in the movie he is sent to earth and he's actually banished for being a jerk so he sent to earth and then he has to regain his godness but there are some places throughout the story where he's interacting with people and he's telling them he's Thor and they can't decide whether or not he actually is he does some things that our hero s can he does some other things that are just nor guys stuff and it's an interesting movie.

But it reminds me of Jesus comes to earth he actually is God he wasn't banished he came with a good purpose to accomplish God's will but there are times where he does things that are godlike and there are other times where he does things that just seem like a normal person so we've been following this story with the disciples he just fed 5,000 men 15,000 people but it seemed like the disciples were surprised that happened it wasn't like this was how he always did things I think a lot of times they bought food ate what they had had to do with it.

So there are times where he seems like a normal teacher and there are other times where he seems like a prophet where he seems like there's more to it but in this story with Thor there comes this moment at the end of the movie he's been telling people he's Thor all of a sudden a flying hammer shoots into his hand he is struck by lightning and the Lightning dresses him like Thor it changes his clothes he comes out of the lightning would like braided hair and a cape and some chainmail which i think is one of the most underused powers of Thor.

Because that would be really nice you could sleep till almost the time you had to leave the house you just roll over pick up your hammer get struck by lightning be ready to go it'd be very very very convenient but in that moment when that happens it clicks for everybody around him he is who he said he was we're just gonna read this moment in the Gospel where there's a turning point here in Matthew where Jesus does a couple of things in a row and all of a sudden his disciples go oh not just a prophet not not just a teacher you are the son of.

God as we get to read that story today and it is a very interesting story as we see all the things that lead up to the disciples realizing who Jesus really is and so as we read that story we're gonna walk through it and then we're gonna just talk about as as we're disciples of Jesus what are for appropriate responses to the fact that Jesus is God that we see in this story so that's that's our goal today let's pray God we thank you.

For your word we thank you for how in your word your son is revealed to us his divinity is revealed to us and that in him we might have hope and life let me pray that we would grow in our faith today as we study this passage Jesus name Amen we're in Matthew chapter 14 we're gonna start in verse 22 immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd.

So he just fed this large crowd as soon as everybody's eating eating their fill it's been a wonderful time but it's in the evening it's already getting kind of late he tells the disciples get in the boat and go to the other side of the lake other side of the sea so this is Sea of Galilee it's about eight miles wide so he tells them y'all go to the other side which we don't know he kind of compels them to do this.

But he doesn't go with them so we know if they had questions they said like why are we leaving but you're not but he just says get in the boat go and then he goes and dismisses the crowds after he had dismissed the crowds he went up on the mountain by himself to pray this is actually what he had been trying to do when the crowd showed up and interrupted him last time so he had been trying to get away spend some time alone the crowds show up and interrupt him.

But he loves them has compassion on them heals their sick feeds them and then now he sends them away and he goes off by himself to pray and if Jesus the Son of God needs to get off by himself and pray we need to get off by ourselves and pray if you were questioning whether that was something you needed to do I'm glad you came here this morning the answer is yes and when I say by yourself I mean no other humans and no cell phone and I know some of you just walk no cell phone yes put it to him and go off by yourself and pray.

So Jesus does that when the evening came that means when it was late he was there alone but the boat by this time was a long way from the land beaten by the waves for the wind was against them and then it says in the fourth watch of the night the fourth watch of the night is 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. so somewhere between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. so these guys ate a full mil ate all the food they could possibly eat.

And then he told them get in the boat go to the other side and the wind was against them so they have rowed a boat for hours and I don't know if you've ever eaten a full meal where you were stuffed but you don't immediately think you know what would go really nice it's a manual labor I'd love to really row a boat now for hours but that's what they just did I don't think this has been the best night for them they got to eat a full meal that was nice and he says get in the boat we're going to the other side.

Okay but as soon as they start going to other side the wind is against them now we've recently had storms in Colombia I actually take my boys out sometimes right before a storm starts and I'll hold them outside and we just stand and look at it and watch the wind whip the trees around and really enjoy doing that but if you're on a lake there's nothing to stop the wind it just comes and so the wind is pushing against them and they're getting battered by waves.

If the wind was behind them they could travel across this lake probably in an hour hour and a half if there was no wind and they had to row it might take them about two two and a half hours but with the wind against them in obedience to Jesus they've been laboring and it's between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. some of them maybe have slept maybe they took turns maybe there's one guy who still is in a good mood at this time all of you ever hung out with a bunch of people too way late in the morning or had to work really long there's usually one that's still liked and that's the guy that most.

Of the other guys don't really like it's like you got to stop like can't you just be grumpy with the rest of us like please please quit but most of them probably not having the best night and says this when evening came he was there alone but the boat by this time was a long way away from the land beaten by the waves for the wind was against them and in the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea do not certify this in your head.

So that you act like that's normal and we're just fine with it Jesus just walked on the sea and not even like a calm nice sea a windy wavy terrible sea he just walks he absolutely displays his authority over creation it is absolute his kingship I worked swimming pools growing up and there were times when I have to go to somebody's house and I come to their backyard and I'd be at a fence and there'd be five or six dogs just acting crazy and I'm standing there thinking no no no I'm not going in this backyard like y'all spook and just stay the way it is you know.

But then there are times where all sudden the door opens the owner comes out and all these dogs pretend like to their owner that they're not vicious psychos they suddenly calm down there wagging their tail they run over to the owner and the moment that that happens you know your brain just registers this is the owner there is a chaotic sea Jesus walks down he gets to the edge of it and he just walks on to it and all of a sudden.

If we had been watching we would have had the same realization oh he's the owner the sea does what he wants he's absolutely in charge now I don't know how walking on water works I don't know if it's smoothed out for him I don't know if it was like some of the water was hitting his feet but then it was like there was something solid underneath it it certainly reads like it was very simple for him it's not like the waves were coming he was having to run up on my friend no I don't think that was happening I think he looked peaceful and in control I'll even think he had to do a whole.

Lot of like you know we watched movies and stuff and we get to see some of this stuff that you know people have now a CGI help us picture but they always make it seem like the person's really struggling I think Jesus just walking so he's walking on the sea absolutely in charge and it says but when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified and said it is a ghost and they cried out in fear yeah 3 to 6 a.m.

Stormy I doesn't seem like it's raining but it's windy they're out on a boat it's dark it seems like at this point by the time they saw him he was close he was there it was like you know they're rowing hey someone else is a ghost and it just says they yelled out my grandmother my grandmother whenever she would get intense situations like there was a time where my mom was driving and they were on ice and they slid my grandmother would start yelling and one of the things she would yell in any of these situations was we're coming home that was like her go-to thing to shout and I just I pictured just.

For my own sake that one of the disciples said the ghost is coming for us I'm assuming there were some Galilean ghost stories oh my goodness is one night Dimitri he come to get us they're terrified and they absolutely would be and here's the thing I don't think Jesus was bobbing up and down with the waves I think when they saw the figure of a person he's moving smoothly so they're rocking up and down in a boat and they see this figure moving in the waves and they just lose it and absolutely they would their adrenaline is pumping I mean that's it's go-time your brains trying to process what you're seeing that there's a mirror.

That hangs on the back of my closet door and bedroom and sometimes if my wife leaves that door open when I turn at night to go into my own bedroom I'm suddenly staring at some shadowy figure of a full-grown man and I'm like so it's just me okay don't have to fight anybody but I do that maybe once a month just terrify myself absolutely I mean adrenaline pumping heart racing and the brains trying to process you know when you see something scary your brain tries the process to tell you what it is and the brain keeps just going best thing I got is that maybe.

If you jump out of the boat he'll kill these other guys I don't know I don't know terrified they cry out and fear but immediately Jesus spoke to them saying take heart it is I do not be afraid now that's comforting and certainly it's less scary that it's not a ghost but this adds a whole new layer of things right Jesus just walked to them I don't think their heart rate slows down that much I think they're just going Oh what on earth is going on that he can just come over here walking on water eleven of them are just trying to process.

But I'd like to introduce Peter to y'all Peter answered him lord if it is you command me to come to you on the water everybody else is just like and Peter yells me to I used to think this was like Peter's test to see if it was really the Lord like this is the ultimate ghost test prove you're not a ghost say come here and if that's what it was I like to think John later was like house ghost could say come here that goes could have just drowned you like I don't think that proved anything.

But I actually think it reads more like it since it is you O Jesus since it's you walking on water let me walk on water - y'all have known people like this right they see something Oh meet - how'd you do that you learned how to do a back flip I don't know how to do a back flip show me how to do that let me try Peter's a me-too person I grew up being a Nam good person my older brother's a me-too person hey you want to shot a coffin.

For this tree - that tree no I'm good hey I found a hole you want to crawl down it and see what's in it no I'm good you can tell me what's in it when you come out if you come out I think I'd be still in the boat but Peter jumped up and said call me out let me come out on the water with you you know how you get to hear stories about people maybe you've had some stories passed down to you and you kind of feel like you know some of your relatives or some of your parents friends or your grandparents friends even though you never met them.

Because you get these a glimpse of them in a story I think this story does that for us for both Peter and for Jesus I think this shows us something about God that I find extremely interesting Peter says if it is you command me to coming to you on the water he said come why I always feel like what God wants from us is utility that he wants us to be productive but he has things he wants us to do that.

When he calls us into something it's it's for some bigger purpose some kind of thing that needs to accomplish but I don't understand what this accomplishes other than Peter displays faith and gets to go closer to Jesus and Jesus says come that he wouldn't let him if it wasn't a good request you know there was a time that James and John asked Jesus if they could send fire down from heaven to kill a town Jesus said no to that request like the town wouldn't let him in and James and John were like hey you know how you do like prophet stuff yeah you know Elijah burned up a whole town yeah I know that can.

We do that to that to actually Lodge didn't burn up a town he burned up an army but Jesus says no no we're not new Peter says can I walked on water and Jesus says come because Peter wants to participate in what his Jesus is doing and he won't he has faith in this moment to do it so Jesus says come so Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus to people in human history have walked on water one of them was.

God incarnate the other one was a guy who trusted Jesus to let him do it and aggressively asked can I sue Peter gets to walk on water he walks on water and he came to Jesus but when he saw the wind he was afraid and began to sink and cried out lord save me so Peter gets out of the boat boats bounce and winds blowing he steps out and his foot sticks and he's watching Jesus and he's walking to him I think he probably looked like he was having a harder time Peter.

Jesus standing there doing fine Peters like walking to him and then all of a sudden he starts noticing the wind he starts noticing the wave he starts being a little more realistic about the situation he's in he starts thinking thoughts like you know if I quit being able to walk on the water I'm gonna die I was in a boat and that situation was kind of bad this is awesome but could suddenly be terrible and he starts looking at the wind he starts up into the waves he starts getting scared and he begins to sink I find I find that interesting I like that phrase begins to sink like I said earlier I worked on.

Swimming pools for all growing up and my family owned the pool company and I was that's a nice house we had just put in an inground and it's real pretty was awkwardly shaped kind of little design I was vacuuming it for him staying on one little edge and I went to step this way I don't know if y'all remember I said it was awkwardly shaped there wasn't any concrete here and what happened next I would not describe to you as I began to sink I sank fully clothed every I mean boots and blue jeans.

Because that's how I dress in the summer and fell directly into the swimming pool came out had to go knock on the door and be like hey y'all ready for me to teach you how to work this thing and they're like why are you soaking wet and I was like why don't you mind your own Peter begins to sink so it's almost as his his faith begins to fall his fear begins to rise and in that moment he doesn't just disappear into the deep it starts to flood it starts to rise up around him it starts to overwhelm him and it and it's just a beautiful picture of what following.

Jesus is like don't you have times where you go from your highest high like everything's good well I'm really loving Jesus right now I want to follow him I want to obey and then all of a sudden it's like everything is terrible and all I can see is the wind and the waves and I'm about to drown and everything is about to overwhelming it just starts rising up around you some of some people this takes a week to shift some people it's a day some of you were just riding in your car one day and all of a sudden it just feels like I'm starting to sink he was afraid and beginning to sink he.

Cried out lord save me and Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him saying to him o you of little faith why did you doubt oh you have a little faith why did you doubt so he had faith he was walking on water he begins to lose his faith he begins to rise up in fear and he sinks and Jesus says oh you little faith why did you doubt and we don't know it's hard to all wait to read in tone.

But it feels like seems to me that the tone the way Jesus says this would be similar to the tone I would have if I was helping my son learn how to ride a bike and he's moving and he's going and all of a sudden he gets scared even though he had it he had it and then he convinced himself to be scared so he slows down and you know if you slow down on a bike it gets worse and all of a sudden he starts and I had to catch him and I said why why'd you stop you had it I think that's kind of the tone Oh little faith you had it you.

And I were about to walk on water together we were gonna leave them row and we were like I don't know what he's gonna do but it's like you you had it why did you down because as he was moving in faith he could do anything he was conquering as Jesus conquers he was rising above all the mess the way Jesus does as he trusted Jesus and then sphere creeps any false and when they got into the boat the wind ceased.

So he gets in the boat call and those in the boat worshiped him saying truly you are the son of God now there's a handful of things that happen in this passage that may have been lost on us they were not lost on Jesus as Jewish disciples so I want to point them out to you they shifted from you're a good teacher your Lord as in your over us but not Lord is in Adonai from Scripture but then they shifted you know you're the son of.

God and they worship Him and let me explain something to you Jewish men know you worship God and God alone and for them to fall down and say you were the son of God and worship him they said no this is this is God and God alone so a couple of things that happened here and like I said earlier it's like when in the end of that movie where all of a sudden the hammer shows up the lightning strikes you dressed like you're Thor it's like check check check I think you actually are Thor that's what they just did check check check oh my goodness this is.

God this is the son of God first of all one of the things that happens here that when we translated in the English it doesn't have the same punches in verse 27 when they cry out in fear it says immediately Jesus spoke to them saying take heart it is I do not be afraid but he actually says take heart and in the Greek he says ego eimi which means take heart I am do not be afraid and there are places in the Scriptures specifically in the Gospels where.

When Jesus says I am he is intentionally drawing everyone's attention back to God's Revelation of himself in the book of Exodus at the burning bush Moses says who shall I say sent me and the burning bush God speaking through the burning bush says say I am since you I am that I am this is the divine name for God that if you look in your Scriptures will see in the Old Testament capital L Ord that's our english translation of yahweh or jehovah which is i am.

And when Jesus says this he says it with some punch throughout his ministry he says it in the Gospel of John at one point and everybody recognizes what he's doing to the point that they pick up rocks to stone him because he just claimed to be God at the end of the Gospel of John he says it to a group of soldiers that came out to him and they fall down it's this proclamation of I am this claim to divinity so he says do not be afraid I am or take courage I am do not be afraid.

So he says that as he's walking on water now he's done miracles that point back to Moses he's done miracles that point back to Elijah or Elijah there's like oh he looks like a prophet oh he looks like a teacher like Moses walking on water makes them go oh he looks like God because the only person who walks on water he treads over water who rules over water in the Old Testament Scriptures he's God that's job nine eight who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea it's a rhetorical question the answer.

God Psalm 77 says the same thing that he treads over the water his footprints are unseen that he leads the people of Israel but not just that when he gets in the boat after walking on water the storm ceases and the only person in the Old Testament who can make a storm sees who can control the ocean is God that's psalm 107:20 9 he made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed Jobe 26/11 the pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke and by his power he stilled the sea fed 15,000 people walks on water stills the storm had the power to let Peter walk on water said.

I am check check check check this is God and they fall on their face and worship Him now there's four times in the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus is worshipped the Wiseman worshipped him when they come to him as a baby so he's coming as the coming king they worship Him this moment here where they see him as the Incarnate God God in human flesh and then twice in chapter 28 after he has risen from the grave and there's this moment right.

When he dies when they think wait a second is he not God and then he comes back to life and they go oh yeah okay it confirms everything for him so they worship Him here now let me explain something to you we have a huge problem if Jesus is not God we now have a big problem because he lets them worship Him which you are not allowed to do for the record you can accept praise people can say yeah you play the piano really.

Well whoo whoo good job learn how to use a hula hoop whatever I did diversify the skill level for y'all so that you could get clap for for something but you can't have people say oh you are God and worship you humans are not allowed to do that humans are only allowed to worship God that's bad if you worship something other than God but if you accept worship in place of God as if you are God that's extremely bad that's far worse.

So if Jesus is just a human if he's just a prophet he's supposed to say no no no no no no that's what happens in in Acts chapter 10 Peter sent to Cornelius Cornelius falls down to worship Him and Peter says no no no no no get up get up get up get up get up I'm just a man so some people will say well he's more than a man he's not just a man he's more than a man we have Jehovah's Witnesses would say something along those lines the the Mormons would say something along those lines and he's more than a man that he's a prophet that he's a step above it that he.

Somehow got a little bit of something he's not deities not God but even in the book of Revelation John falls down to worship an angel more than a man and the angel says no no no no get up get out get up get up I'm here I'm a messenger of Jesus let's worship God and God alone so Jesus accepts worship so if you want to put him in the category of a good man or a good teacher or a good prophet you have to stop you can reject him or you can worship Him you only have two options and the disciples say let's worship Him and they are correct.

Jesus is God who has come in the flesh to redeem his people I want to quickly show you for appropriate responses to Jesus from this passage the first one is obedience the disciples were told go to the other side of the lake and they had to row all night long and it's like a row and it's like mind it'd be easier if we just floated with the wind over to there yes it would certainly be easier it would also be disobedient.

So let's not do that and one of them was like but how is Jesus gonna catch us and then later when he saw him walking on the water he was like it's a good thing y'all talked me out of that because he totally could have caught us you guys I had it all that that's not true but anyway obey and some of you that's the zone you're in right now he sets you on a course and it's difficult and it's exhausting and maybe every day you feel like that's what you're doing I'm just I'm just battling it would be.

So much easier to just go that way ah be so much easier if I just went that way but if he's God keep at it keep at it he knows what he's doing he knows what he's talking about he is good he is divine and when he wants us calm the storm he can keep moving in obedience second appropriate response to Jesus is to see what he is doing and ask excitedly if you can be involved I think a lot of times we decide to do something and we asked.

Jesus to join us but we need to get better at seeing what Jesus is doing and asked me if we can be involved and some of us need to also start praying prayers about Jesus command me to do something terrifying eleven men stayed in the boat one of them got out and that's because he asked if he could and I think everybody here needs to put it on their prayer list to start asking Jesus can I be a part of something that you're doing that will absolutely terrify me I think we'd be a better Church.

If that began or what are you doing that would make me have to rely solely on you can I be a part of something that absolutely demands my time and my money and it's terrifying so that I can only look at you or I will fail we need to begin to pray prayers like that another appropriate response from this passage that we need to see is that we all ought to yell out lord save me Peter was sinking into the abyss he was going to be he was going to be swamped he was gonna be drowned it was gonna go over his head and the reality is Peter would have died were it not.

For Jesus and the reality for us is that is exactly the same position we are in you will die you will be crushed you will be drowned if it art is not for Christ if we don't yell out lord save me we will be overwhelmed and for some of you you will be overwhelmed by the weight of your sin and your shame and your guilt and we need exactly what Jesus came for which was to die so that we might have life he is.

God and he did die on a cross and he did rise again and the appropriate response to him is to cry out lord save me and he immediately does the Scriptures tells us that no one who calls on the name of the Lord will be put to shame that he will save all of those who cry out to him and that is an appropriate response to Jesus as king is to call out to him to save me and if for those of us who have been been walking in faith.

But are suddenly feeling like we were beginning to sink the response is not to white-knuckle it the response is to run to Jesus saying I need you to save me I need you to encourage me I need you to redeem me I need the Gospel in my life to apply to my heart in my soul I need you to call me back into it I need you to snatch me up and he does the fourth appropriate response to Jesus as God is to worship Him as.

God to worship him and him alone this is why we sing to Jesus this is why we praise Jesus this is why we pray to Jesus this is why we speak of Jesus and proclaim Jesus because we believe that he is God who came to redeem who does redeem and save and we trust Jesus this is why we're excited about the Peters in the world but we also expect them to sink all Christian heroes get wet you guys two guys walked on water one of them got in the boat bone-dry the other one got on the boat like oh and that's.

Okay we're gonna have people that we look up to that fall into sin we're gonna have people that that are quote-unquote heroes with ourselves we're gonna have moments that are high in moments that are low and all of us get to run to Jesus and ask to be redeemed and he does so we worship Jesus he is our hero and everybody else is a sinner who gets the worst of Jesus - Peter got to walk on water and all it did was highlight how good.

Jesus was it didn't highlight Peter when they got back in the boat they didn't go you are the son of God and I guess you're like his cousin they didn't do that he got back in the boat they said you are the son of God and Peter fell on his face too because he knew that the only way he was able to move that way the only way he was able to be a part of that was something that brought glory to.

Jesus and so in the midst of all this as we beg to get to be a part of things let's worship Jesus and Jesus alone and when the people next to us fall into sin let's grab them and say cry out to Jesus because he is our only hope don't sink and don't think you're the one who does this let's trust that Jesus redeems and Jesus saves and Jesus heals and Jesus works and let's worship and Jesus as the band's gonna come back up and we are going to worship.

Jesus and some of you need to ask Jesus to save you you're sinking and some of you need to pray right now Lord I've been staying in the boat I've been trying to keep myself safe command me to do something that makes me trust in you and some of you right now you just need to keep rowing you're exhausted just keep rowing just keep moving in the direction he sent you in just trusting let's pray now we thank you for your grace we thank you that you tread over the chaos and that in you we can be saved we can walk we can conquer you can still the storm or.

Jesus may you receive all of our praise in Jesus name Amen you guys Stanley sing together I can buy me two greatest friend like you yes No my Huygens Oh goodnight my soul to find the coldest Oh when tied you sound to your face my rock gracious Crossley on shore you suffer you know may Almighty returned my lord amen you may be seated all right so just a couple of things before we get out of here today the last two two and a half three months and some of that range we've been doing a lot of stuff to this building and by we I mean Isaac Hill who is in the back and the booth.

Of the Hat on when we decided to hire someone for part-time kids in part-time facilities in a full-time position right before kovat hit and kid City went into a new mode it was like oh okay that was a step of faith now what and and to see how much work he's done most of the work that's been done here he's either directly overseen or he's done and we're just thankful to have you Isaac and what you do here secondly if you are new here or.

If you've been coming for a little bit if you're listening online for the first time we want to connect you to a group so if you're here please stop by the connect tab on your way out Phoebe Garcia who is singing up here will be by there to answer the questions you have about groups to tell you which one might be good one to go check out we'd love for you to jump in if you're online you can scan the QR code that will be on the screen you can also go to our community groups tab at our website on a close to the word from Ephesians three verses 20 through 21.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen you guys have a great week.

Jesus Feeds Thousands (Matthew 14:13-21; 15:32-39)

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Jesus Feeds Thousands

Chet Phillips

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Good morning it's so good to see you guys this morning in this building it's been a while but we're excited and hopefully this time of worship will be blessing to us and so would you stand as we begin to sing there are tears Oh it's good to see you this morning my name is Chet I'm one of the pastor's here we are excited to be able to gather again as a Church family we know that some people aren't able to make it and don't feel comfortable yet and that is fun and we have the live stream set up.

But we are glad that we are able to gather even in the ability that we have right now having to be spread out some things have changed we're not passing a plate we're not having bulletins we won't be taking communion we're not having anything that people touch we're trying not to touch each other we did discuss it and we did say it was okay to have chairs in here but that's about it we're not gonna have anything else that we can touch and as we gather.

Today I want to remind us that we are people who believe that Jesus is better than everything else and if he's better in all the situation's of life that he is good that he works for our good even when things are difficult and every Sunday that we gather we both gather as a people who are celebrating and who are mourning our Church family is large enough that that we have people who come in and it's been a really good week and it's been a really blessed season and we have people who come in and it's been a really hard season and a really sad one and and that's more poignant this morning as we gather.

Again because we're celebrating that we can get back together that things are moving back towards normal there are some good things to be excited about and there are some real things to mourn right now this has been a difficult season for our nation there are a lot of people who have gotten sick there have been people who have died from this pandemic there's a lot of tumult and difficulty and so as we join together for the first time this morning we are going to do both we're going to mourn and we're going to celebrate.

And so as we start this morning I will pray and then we'll read a psalm of lament and sing a song that is more in that vein and then Isaac will eat read a song of celebration and will sing a song that's more in that vein said that we rejoice with those who rejoice and we mourn with those who mourn and we gather together in a way that understands the situation the unique time that we're in right now so let's pray.

And then we'll read together God we thank you for your grace we thank you that it is sufficient for our need that you have been at work in this situation we thank you for all the people who have been brought back together this morning we thank you for all the people who are able to join via technology that we would not have had even just a few years ago for us to be able to do what we're doing today so that we can gather as your people we pray that you would minister to us through your spirit and that those who mourn we would join them in the morning.

For all the things we have to rejoice in we would rejoice well this morning but that we would be genuine followers of you worshiping you in truth and in spirit in Jesus name Amen if you will stand with me I'm going to read from Psalm 80 and if you will read the underlined portion with me give ear o Shepherd of Israel you who lead Joseph like a flock you who are enthroned upon the cherubim shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up your might and come to save us restore us O.

God let your face shine that we may be saved Oh Lord God of hosts how long will you be angry with your people's prayers you have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure you make us an object of contention for our neighbors and our enemies laugh among themselves restore us O God of hosts let your face shine that we may be saved turn again Oh God of hosts turn I looked down from heaven.

See have regard for this vine the stock that your right hand planted and for the son whom you made strong for yourself they have burned it with fire they have cut it down may they perish at the rebuke of your face but let your hand to be on the man of your right hand the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself then we shall not turn back from you give us life and we will call upon your name restore us O.

Lord God of hosts let your face shine that we may be saved let's continue singing cry he was Christ we for my life he bled and died Christ alone me first just it won't be fast is a reading from Psalm 30 I will extol thee O Lord for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me O Lord my God I cried to you for help and you have healed me O Lord you have brought up my soul from.

See all you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit sing praises to the Lord o you his Saints and give thanks to his holy name for his anger is but for a moment and his failures for a lifetime weeping may tarry for the night but joy comes in the morning but seeing this song in celebration we rutila's Christ saw me by his green stand once found by finishing not slave the righteousness of who see a new face the key crazy.

While we will we keep dying making us reconcile to eternal day even in our painting flesh Oh open let's he's drowning baby Jesus Saves hotseat now it's all too easy the glorious founder the one who gives great joy Jesus Christ God we thank you for this moment that we get to come together and gather as your people to give you praise and to recognize that you are truly better than everything else in this world and we pray that as check comes up to preach that you give us ears to hear and hearts to.

Listen to what your word would say in Jesus name Amen you may be seated good morning y'all don't even know how excited I am to preach to real people I didn't know how much I needed to be able to see faces but when you're talking to a camera first of all a lot of times I'm up here and I can see on your faces y'all don't know what the heck I'm talking about and it helps I can then sometimes I can tell it's like I we got it we can move on.

When you're talking to a cameras like best of luck I don't know and I am excited I'm glad that we get to study the Scriptures together this morning I think I've done a decent job when talking to a camera of keeping it short but I'm excited so there's no telling grab your Bibles go to Matthew chapter 14 we are walking through the Gospel of Matthew and we're picking up today right where we left off last week John the Baptist had been arrested he had been proclaiming that King or.

Well he's not King Tetrarch Herod had been sinning he was arrested because of that and that the Tetrarch had him beheaded and this news was brought to Jesus by the disciples of John and that's where we're picking up and so we're gonna pray then we're gonna jump right into this text and see this story of a miracle that Jesus performs and we're gonna study it together and we're gonna see something that I think Matthew intentionally wants us to see and hopefully grow in our love.

For Jesus this morning as we do that let's pray God we thank you for your word we thank you that you recorded these moments for us that we might be built up by them we might be encouraged in them and we pray that our faith would grow this morning and that we would walk out of here with a greater love for Christ and the glory of the Gospel of salvation in Jesus name Amen so we're gonna pick up in verse 13 it says.

Now when Jesus heard this and that this is that John the Baptist had been beheaded in prison so he got this newse he had been in Nazareth if you'll remember he was in Nazareth and he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief so he had been ministering to his hometown and because he was from their hometown they didn't listen to him they were like boy I know your mama so I don't have to pay attention that's kind of what they did.

So they didn't have belief and so he's in Nazareth and it says when he heard this he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself so he's with his disciples we find out they they withdraw he hears sad news and he just tries to get away and that's his hope is to to retreat catch his breath this is a turning point in ministry for him because John the Baptist had gone before him to prepare away and John the Baptist goes before him in death.

Jesus knows the same thing is coming for him that that it's moving forward in the story of he's going to be progressing towards his execution and so he's sad hip this was a friend of his and a a relative of his and so he wants to retreat and so they do they get in a boat and they leave but still verse 13 when the crowds heard it they followed him on foot from the towns and when he went ashore he saw a great crowd.

So he's trying to get away from the crowds he's trying to retreat and so sia galilee is is not massive but it's pretty big and there are little towns dotted all around it and then there are areas where there's nobody and it's got rolling hills around it and so they pick a little spot he and the disciples are just gonna go get away from everyone there like it's gonna be a nice little mountain retreat and instead of it being a nice little mountain retreat it's Gatlinburg like they show up and there's a massive crowd there they didn't know what's coming these people sneak around.

And when they show up they there's a giant crowd and you could almost picture it's like they're landing the boat like ah relaxation it's like when you're a parent and you're like we finally get to go on vacation but you have to take your children with you it's like that ha oh no this is the same this is the exact same just in a different place where they're more bored for some reason that's it they show up and it's the same this whole crowd has shown up.

And so for the disciples I bet they were like hey let's spin this boat around but that's not how Jesus responds and so Jesus sees the crowd and it says he had compassion on them and healed their sick and in that beautiful when Jesus is the perfect embodiment of God the Father when he's the image of the invisible God he's trying to retreat he's trying to rest he's trying to mourn he's trying to pray and people interrupt that and his response is not frustration his response is not to be angry to reject that his response is compassion that he loves them we find out later in.

Verse 21 that there were it says that there were about five thousand men besides women and children so common way for them to count was to just count the men and then they said so there was five thousand men and not counting women and children I was common for them that's not common for us but if you want to mess with somebody try that next time someone asked you how many people were at a place how many people came to your party I heard it was a lot seven men not counting women and children won't go over super.

Well but it'll be fun for you alright but there's five thousand men which means there's about 15,000 or 20,000 people when you add in women and children so this is a picture of 15,000 people so it may have been a little less a little more but they're trying to retreat and they show up 15,000 people and Jesus's response is compassion it's love and says he healed their sick and that's why they ran to him he was a teacher but he was a healer they here he's coming and there's some people who this is their last shot there's somebody who went and said come on mama I know you don't feel good I know you've been.

Coughing I know you can't but we'll take our time but he's coming and we don't know where he's gonna land but we're gonna find him and we'll take a shot at this there's somebody who's carrying his little son who's fever has continued to rise and whose becoming more and more lethargic and not responding and he's just going as fast as he can so he can get to Jesus and Jesus sees him and he loves him and that's how he responds he heals the sick we don't know exactly what time they started.

But we're told in the next verse it says now when it was evening so from the time they arrived till it's getting dark it's most likely I would think it's most likely that they left in the morning because it was easy for them to get away and then people found out they had left so I would guess they left pretty early in the morning they'd show up over there they wouldn't had to go too far people have run around to them and they stay and do this till evening.

Now the people came to see Jesus Jesus teaches and heals and we don't know how much his disciples participated in the healing we don't know if they just did crowd control if they were just like all right everybody you line up he's gonna see everybody if they're like hey he's gonna work his way through no need to push he's gonna get to you we don't know if they actually walked through healing because they he had given them the authority to do this and send them out before.

So we don't know exactly but we know that all of them have been when they expected to get to rest not resting when they expected to get to retreat they expected to get to catch their breath the opposite happened I don't know about you that doesn't go well for me well if I know I'm about to go into something difficult and get my mind right but if I'm expecting to get to rest and and all of a sudden that's just taken away from me I have to get my mind right on the fly maybe you're excellent at that I'm not that good at it.

So there are times where I'm suddenly caught off guard but his disciples just roll with it Jesus who's perfect rolls with it perfectly I don't know how well his disciples handle it but it says this when it's getting late now was evening the disciples came to him and said this is a desolate place and the day is now over send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves that does not read harshly but it doesn't read really respectfully either a lot of times they call him.

Lord it sounds a little bit like it's the end of a long day they come to him and say hey days over we're in the middle of nowhere we need to send them away you need to send them on and otherwise they're not gonna get any food and I don't know where you're from but I know this moment and the day cuz I'm from Edgefield I know the moment in the day when you go well if you go and you better go on.

Because everything's gonna be closed that's what they're saying we're in the middle of nowhere so they better go if they're gonna go otherwise everybody's hungry tonight that's what they're saying to him and they say it in a little bit of a we're hungry too fashion that's how I read it you may read a little bit differently doesn't say but it just sounds a little bit like it's been a long day they need to go on if they're gonna eat they're gonna eat part of the reason I say that is this.

But Jesus said this is verse 16 they need not go away you give them something to eat you ever feel like Jesus tells you something that doesn't make a whole lot of sense that's the way the disciples felt often I think he would say something not joking dead serious that seemed very unrealistic that's what it says they said to him we have only five loaves here and two fish now this interaction they come to Jesus and they say you need to send them away.

So that we can have they need to go so then get somebody he says you feed them I think there's a moment where they go look at the crowd look back at each other and I think one of them pretty quickly answered we have five loaves and two fish not in a faith way here Jesus multiply this but in the way you and I would respond like if I said I was doing some work and my son Ellis was there so it was more difficult and you said why doesn't he help you I would say he's two years old that's my answer do you.

See how he made things more difficult he's - I just give you information that now helps you understand what you said doesn't make any sense I also think this came from one of the disciples who had already counted as the loaves and fish and was doing some quick math on how much that would split up between 13 people that's what it seems like y'all feed them we only have 5 loaves and 2 fish and if I'm doing this right I get 1/3 of a loaf depending on how hungry Philip is cuz sometimes it's not that hungry I've been trying to talk some of the disciples into fasting I think they need it like I think.

That's that was kind of the answer was we have 5 loaves to fish like your plan doesn't make any sense I don't mean to be rude Jesus your plan doesn't did no that's kind of the answer he gets that's kind of the answer we give Jesus often when he says something and were just like I know I did the math for you won't work so he says brings them here to me then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.

Now if you're the disciples again it doesn't say all this I'm just trying to think through this story I think some of the disciples got excited I think some of them thought oh he's about to do something some of the people who have faith you know like you've been around these people things are getting worse and worse and worse and you're with some people in the realistic people are like hey things have gotten worse and worse and worse and then there's a person in there with yous got the gift of faith and they're like.

Jesus is about to do something and the realistic persons like I hope so now would be a good time he hasn't seemed to be doing something yet but there are some people I think some of the disciples were like oh he's about to do something I think the disciple who'd already counted the stuff thought all right if we take 5 loaves and we give it to 15,000 people let's not count the women and children just feed them in like I think he was trying to figure out he's coming down this like I'm not gonna get to eat like I think that's probably just this doesn't seem like I don't know what's about to happen.

But so he says he orders them to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and two fish and this is normal travel food for them would have been some baked loaves he'd have gotten relatively recently the two fish would probably be salted or pickled travel food for us this is this is the type of food you take to a picnic kind of food staple two hotdogs per minute cheese sandwiches depending on your level of fancy and what you like or don't like.

But that's kind of what what they have he looked up to heaven and said a blessing then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds and they all ate and were satisfied and they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over and those who ate were about five thousand men besides women and children so he takes five loaves two fish he feeds fifteen thousand people now that's a lot of food.

If you have ever planned an event and tried to figure out how much food should be there that's a difficult part of the event planning this is the part of the event planning where my wife and I argue because my assumptions on how much people eat are based off of me and her assumptions on how much people eat are based off of her the last event we had she looked at me and said people will not be drinking continuously the whole time they're here everybody doesn't need six drinks and I was like.

If they want them they can have them and if they don't drink them I'll drink them later plus I want to drink the whole time I'm there sodas and stuff guys please posts they focused it was a birthday party for my child okay I'm not drinking the whole time I was there okay I just realized how it sound when I said it I want to drink the whole time felt like I needed to clarify that feeding 15,000 people even if their whole boat had been full of food I don't think it was enough food.

For everybody to eat and be satisfied and have 12,000 baskets look at twelve thousand twelve baskets left over I got excited and I think it was enough if they would had it that way but Jesus makes this happen and you know at some point the disciples were like okay and then pretty quickly they were like this is already more food than we had and I don't know how it happened the Bible doesn't tell us how it happened it tells us that it happened it doesn't tell us how it happened.

So I don't know if when Jesus broke it it immediately became to Morelos I don't know if when the disciples are breaking it it kept going or if they had to keep going back to Jesus we don't know we know that he miraculously fed 15,000 people and I love this miracle so encouraging for a couple of reasons one its glorious and transcendental I mean it is above and beyond he is displaying his holiness and his divinity because he's creating food this points back to Moses who gave the Israelites manna in the wilderness.

But he actually didn't give it to him God did he just kind of was the intermediary this points back to Elijah who feeds a hundred men with a couple of barley loaves but Jesus out does both of those he decides of his own volition to do this because He is God and he over produces for fifteen thousand people it's amazing you know at some point the disciples are kidding this is not going what on earth is happening and how long has he been able to do this.

Because feels like we should have done this before for us I wouldn't had to count the five loaves and two fish and do the math but Jesus decides in this moment that he's gonna take care of her badi a love how big this miracle is and how absolutely simple it is how small it is there were people there that day who probably gotten cured from blindness there were people there that day who maybe had neurological damage or had epilepsy or had some brain wave stuff that he fixed.

For them there were people there that day who had never walked and he straightened out their legs and gave them muscle and I mean went from having legs that have never been used to perfectly healthy God-given legs and then he feeds everybody a meal they're gonna eat it they're gonna burn up the calories I said it's so simple so daily it's so routine they would have most haven't been been fine if they hadn't eaten could have still made it home would have been a little hungry most of these people probably used to going to bed a little hungry.

But he feeds all of them and he satisfies all of them with food this is a beautiful picture of how God works for us how he blesses us how he provides for us that he does miraculous things and sometimes we're told that like are you in the worst spot ever you can run to him he can heal he can redeem he can fix what is terribly broken and guess what he can also provide for you in the mundane and the simple the daily this is actually a little picture of why Christians believe in tithing why we believe in giving financially to the.

Lord and his work and being generous to other people because he can make the math not work all thirteen disciples also got to eat their fill even though the math didn't make any sense and so there are times where we're coming it's like I'm doing the math on how my budgets gonna work but I'm gonna give to the Lord because I'm gonna trust him to be able to provide in ways that I can't see coming in a way that gives him glory that provides.

For us but you see Matthew is not just showing us that this simple kindness that Jesus does for all these people he wants us to see something else and before we move to that I wanna point something out so that I love about this story do you know how nice it is to have all the food you need the right amount of food to be able to eat as much as you want we're Americans we get to do that quite often you know.

When you're really hungry to have all the foods you want some of you your whole life you don't eat much every meal you sat down you had all the food you wanted some of you that's not the case you've had to do the quick math on probably shouldn't eat as much as I want I can swing by a place on the way home they have all the food they want for people who don't usually get all the food they want and they've all just been healed there's a family sitting down there getting the biggest meal they've gotten in a long time.

While their child has never walked his running laps around them there's somebody sitting there with their mama that they thought they were gonna have to say goodbye to a little too soon and she's challeng for the first time without having coughing fits without saying it hurts without them having to force her to eat she's just eaten there's somebody sitting there and when someone reached out to hand him a loaf saw the hand come for the first time ever was able to reach right up and get their own food not have somebody tap them not have them help them they've been given new eyes and they're sitting there just staring happily eating maybe not even paying.

That much attention to the food they're getting that they have this this is blessed this is the most beautiful picnic you've ever been to that Jesus has worked this miraculously and then he feeds all of them but Matthew wants us to see something a little bit beyond that you see the way Matthew writes this story and the way he writes the Last Supper he intentionally has them overlap he writes this story and then when he writes the story of the Last Supper in Matthew chapter 26 he has them overlap and he does that on purpose.

And so I just want to show you all that and for a little bit we're just gonna have some slides going so that you can see what I'm talking about but in the Greek he intentionally writes it out so that it's bleh that he retells this story so this is the top part is gonna be Matthew chapter 14 and the bottom part is going to be Matthew chapter 26 so now when it was evening the disciples came to him we're gonna jump to 19.

Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass when it was evening he reclined at the table though that phrasing is the same so when it was evening when it was evening and ordered them to sit down and he reclined it's translated a little bit differently in English but in the Greek same phrasing he changes the verb tense for it being a bunch of people and one person but it's the same thing keep going go to the next section.

So it says and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven said a blessing then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples so Jesus took bread and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples so taking and took loaves and bread same word he looked up to heaven he said a blessing same broke it's the same thing gave it to the disciples it's the same thing so he writes this out.

So that these these are overlapping he is connecting how this story plays out using the same and you can tell these stories differently but he's intentionally wording it this way on purpose he does it a few more times so if you go to the next one he says that gave it to the disciples again that's on the bottom of verse 26 says they all ate and we're satisfied take eat this is my body he took a cup when he had given thanks he gave it to them and saying drink all of you Matthew.

When he writes out and you can show one that shows both where he just plays it out in the same order in the same way because Matthew wants us to see that what Jesus did in the feeding of the 5,000 is a picture of what he ultimately came to do when he when he when we read in Matthew chapter 26 that he it was evening and he reclined and he took bread and he said a blessing and he broke it and he gave it to the disciples we're supposed to hear what he's already told us.

When he did this with the 5,000 that Jesus on a more personal level as telling this is what I came to do and in that moment he's saying this is my body broken for you this is my blood for the forgiveness of sins take it all of you and he's telling them this is what I'm going to accomplish and when Matthew ties these stories together we get to look back at the story where he feeds the 5,000 and we get to.

See the Gospel in it Jesus says take a seat and he provides that he is the one who accomplishes the disciples said it's time to put these people to work send them off tell them to go get what they need Jesus says no let him have a seat and Jesus provides for them all that they need that he satisfies you see one of the things that happens in this story is that it's not about how he did it but that he did it and that's one of the things we.

See in the Gospel as the New Testament writers are writing they tell a some of how it works but mostly they tell us that it works that his blood is sufficient for the forgiveness of sins that those who trust in him will be saved that it's not about all the intricacies of how it plays out although God did make it very intricate and the Bible does tell us about that but primarily what you are to know is that it works if you come to.

Jesus all who call on him will be saved none will be putting shame you trust in his name that he provides fully and he satisfies everyone I mentioned this earlier but my wife and I have different we like the same type of food I just need more of it and there are times where we're at a wedding or some kind of a party or something and and we get in line to get food I think my wife peeks to see what type of food it is I peek to.

See how much food is there I can usually eat whatever I just want a lot of it I'm working on that but that's how it works for me throughout life and there are times where I'll hit I'll tap her I don't hit her tapper and I say baby they don't have enough food and so I do something that I think is both gracious and selfish so it's a wash that's how that works I'll just say let's eat later I won't I want to be able to eat and the food.

So I'll just say well they don't have enough I don't need to go through that one and make myself either eat too much of their food or make myself sad by eating just a little bit of something that tastes good and so I'll just say let's stop and I know I know that if I was on the edge of this 15,000 person crowd I'd hit an answer were the closest to town first of all we'll get there and be first in line also nope they do not have enough food.

If they had enough food we have already seen it - they'd have been carrying out trunks of it when we watched them get off the boat I can see the boat that didn't load it down with food they're not feeding everybody they started handing out food everybody sit down started handing out food I've been like mm-hmm and there are some of us who are coming to God with that same general attitude it's not enough don't have enough to cover my amount of sin can't handle what I'm bringing to the table some people come with the exact opposite I'm too small this is too simple why would he care.

For me but he feeds them a simple need but he provides all that they need and he satisfies everyone there no matter the size of the appetite I got two boys one of them I can put a pig he has food allergies we just feed him beings that's pretty much all it is you can put beans in front of him and he will shovel them into his face the other day I said hot dogs down on the table they were still cooling off he climbed up the table went Moo and grabbed the hot dogs and poured them towards himself my older son he'll say things like didn't we eat yesterday dude you gotta eat it.

Multiple times today some of you feel like I don't have that much sin you need a Savior you need him to work for you regardless of what you're bringing to the table and some of you think there's no way he can handle what I'm bringing and he can there were 12 basket full left when they've gathered manna in the wilderness they had exactly what they needed every time when Jesus provided it was more than enough overcompensated over-covered His grace is lavished upon us that.

When you come to him and your brokenness and your need some of you say I already came to him I already believe and then I've run off into sin he has grace sufficient do you know how beautiful and glorious that is that he knows your every need he knows your every moment he knows the simple needs you have and the extravagant needs you have the little sins you commit consistently and the ones that you committed that brings shame to your soul every time you.

Remember them and he's covered it fully satisfied but he sat there with five fifteen thousand people and he took loaves and he said my body broken for you my body broken for you he tried to retreat to get away because you knew that his death was coming and then he sat and had a communion meal with fifteen thousand people to image what he where he was headed so that he might save and redeem a people and that we might be brought together to have a glorious meal with him where we're all healed and were all satisfied and he sits at the head of the table with the people that he's redeemed his grace is sufficient.

I don't know what you're going through right now I don't know the fears you have I don't know the simple needs but I know that His grace is sufficient that his provision is good enough and some of us ought to remember eyes this story so that we can remind ourselves with a really simple picture how he has compassion how he provides and how His grace is sufficient to satisfy the deepest longings of our soul and to satisfy the depths of the debt of sin that we have you need to memorize that you need to meditate on this you need to remind yourself that you need to tell yourself this story and say that.

If right now he saw me he would have compassion and he would break his body for me that I might be redeemed he would shed his blood that I might be welcome so that I might joyously sit and be healed and partake in the glorious salvation that he offers and if you have not yet come to Christ with your sin you need to he will not put to shame anyone who trusts in his name His grace is sufficient I grew up singing a song that would say there's room at the cross.

For you though millions have come there's still room for one yes there's room at the cross for you and that's a reality for you and all your sin and all your baggage is Grace satisfies and it is sufficient let's pray now we thank you that there's room that it wouldn't matter if there was 15,000 or 20,000 or 25,000 you would have made enough to cover them and that your blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins and it works that if we come to you and trust in you and partake in you you redeem you redeemed to the uttermost that you lavish grace on us we pray that we would celebrate that truth this morning.

And that some people in this room would believe it for the very first time in Jesus name Amen just easy my my soul me everything Jesus to God - no turning no turn No Oh No No No to follow Jesus no turning back to follow Jesus no turning back maybe see if this is your first Sunday here with us that was intermission this is our second sermon I'm just getting to have a few quick announcements before we get out of here.

Today during all this we had to go to virtual community groups community groups are our primary way that we walk through life being Church family that we get around one another in life to know one another walk with one another and to be good missionaries together in our city if you are just checking out what it means to be a follower of Jesus we would love for you to join a community group to get around other people who are following Jesus.

See what it looks like in normal life so usually we would hand out a card but we're afraid that we would give you something if we did that more than the card so if you grab your phone you can pull up the camera this QR code will take you right to where you need to go so that you can fill out information to join a group if you're online you can go to Mill City Casey comm and go to our group's page to help join a group.

And if you have no clue what that is and that startles you I'll be outside to talk with you about groups on your way out if you're interested in joining a group we do want to say happy Father's Day we are proud of the followers we have in our Church family fatherhood is extremely important and it is waning in the u.s. and so we appreciate encourage fatherhood masculinity and leading and raising children and so we are proud of you thankful for you we hate that we missed Mother's Day we were not able to gather.

Then but at least we get to celebrate the people who made Mother's Day possible fathers sorry I couldn't resist we're sorry we missed Mother's Day and we're glad that we get together this morning but we do want to say happy Father's Day we have a few things to celebrate before we pray and one item that we need to share that we need to mourn together so first during the time from when we met last till now our Church family has had three babies born in the middle of a pandemic three healthy babies.

And so we're yeah excited miss Wilma Howard's son Jaime Howard who is in a long-term care facility they said that he had gotten coronavirus they had to move him to a more intense care facility and he has gotten better and they have moved him back and so that is wonderful news and so we're excited about that and praising the Lord on that and this past week the husband one of our Church family members basil Mac mr. miss Ginny Mac's husband passed away during surgery and it was a surprise he was he was going in.

For a fairly routine operation and and did not make it out and so be praying for the Mac family they will have services this coming Tuesday and so if you are interested in being able to go by and visit either at the visitation or being at the funeral we have that information for you but if you're not able to do that or didn't really know them well enough be praying for the Mac family because this is this is a hard a hard hit.

And so with that we will close in prayer God we thank you that you are near to the brokenhearted and we thank you that as a Church we get to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice and we pray that we would do that well as your people who long for the day that you return and we celebrate with you the feasts in your kingdom of all those who have been healed and redeemed and until that day comes may we be faithful missionaries.

For your name Amen.

Of Prophets and Power (Matthew 14:1-21)

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Of Prophets and Power

Chet Phillips

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Good morning my name is Spencer I'm one of the pastor's of Mill City Church we were excited about the prospects of being in this room it's be able to worship together after months of being apart but as maybe you saw on Facebook or on email or through word of mouth because a few people that are important to pulling off Sunday mornings either tested positive or didn't I get there negative Cova test results back we decided to push it back and to continue to live stream which is a little bit disappointing.

But we're not crushed and the reason that we're not crushed is because our hope is not bound up in being in the same room on a Sunday morning our hope is bound up in Christ we believe as a Church that Jesus is better than everything else which means that our hope and our joy and our longing is bound up in him and because of that we get to be a Gospel centered community on mission which for this morning means in our homes that we get to either sing songs we get to have the Scripture read over us we get to sit under the authority of God's Word and as we leave.

Today we get to continue to be a Gospel centered community on mission and our community groups our community groups our smaller groups our smaller parts of our Church family meeting together and we are finally meeting together in different homes throughout the city and we're practicing as best we can social distancing and safe meeting efforts but if you want to know more about our groups and be able to join in with some of them we invite you to look on our web site and our community groups tab and you can get plugged into a group through that also.

If you are part of our Church family we invite you to continue to give with a giving tab on our website that's the easiest place to give also you can drop checks or money in this building throughout the week so I want to pause and pray for our Church family's been affected by this virus so I'm gonna pray that God will pair of hearts for worship and I'll read from Psalm 95 so let me pray father you are our our great physician got a pray that you would heal the people in our Church that have been affected by this virus I pray that you continue to protect our Church from this.

God I pray that as we are in our homes this morning as we are singing songs as we are sitting under your word that you would speak to us so God prepare our hearts for worship in Jesus name Amen our own Ernie from Psalm 95 verses 1 through 6 to call us into worship oh come let us sing to the Lord let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation let us come into his presence with Thanksgiving let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise the.

Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods in his hand are the depths of the earth and the heights the mountains are his also the sea is his for he made it and his hands formed dry land oh come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord wherever you are listing together this No my heart to say never ceasing call for songs of yes my save me Jesus Jamie nice when rather was in light of the world party Oh hasn't lost its hello Steven Kim me from his here gah we thank you.

For the ability to come into your presence this morning and to worship you we're thankful that even though we're meeting all across the city today we can still be in your presence Lord we ask that you would speak to us this morning as people who want to follow after you who want to chase after you faithfully to be obedient we pray that you would speak to us this morning that you would fill Chet with your spirit Lord that as we sit under the authority of your word you might change us we ask these things in.

Jesus name Amen well good morning my name is Chet Phillips I'm one of the pastors with Mill City Church of KC if you will grab your Bibles and go to Matthew chapter 14 we're making our way through the Gospel of Matthew and today the story we're going to look at is a little bit distinct in the Gospel of Matthew in that it doesn't zoom in on Christ we've been following Jesus what he teaches what he does and this story is gonna be primarily about John the Baptist.

But as we read through this story it functions as a case study in what Jesus has been teaching it functions as a case study in portraying the Kingdom of Heaven in that we see that Jesus has been teaching that blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake that blessed are those who mourn that the kingdom is like a treasure that was hidden in a field and when a man discovered it he went and enjoy sold all that he had that he might purchase that field this idea that the kingdom is valuable in that it's worth everything that you would give up.

For it and that those who know and love and follow the King in his kingdom will have difficulty and so as we read the story of John the Baptist I think we're gonna see those things put on display and my hope for us this morning is that we would gain both courage and correction from this story if you will join me in praying God we thank you for your word we thank you for faithful Saints who have gone before us we pray that we might live out our faith daily and that we might make it to the end of our days trusting you and pursuing your kingdom above all else we ask that you would.

Speak to us through your word this morning in Jesus name Amen chapter fourteen verse one says at that time Herod the Tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus now this is not is actually the third Herod we've run to run into in the Gospel of Matthew this is not here the great who was king when Jesus was born this is not his this the tetrarch's brother Herod Archelaus who was over half of the kingdom when Jesus returns and they moved to Galilee this is herod the tetrarch it's Herod Antipas you know he rules over a quarter of this area.

So there's two tetrarch's Herod Antipas and Herod Philip the second and then one brother has half of a kingdom so a little bit of favoritism there a little bit of power just play it out a little bit differently but we got one brother with half a kingdom two brothers with a quarter of a kingdom and that's the one we're messing with right now is Herod the Tetrarch it says when he heard about the fame of Jesus he said to his servants this is John the Baptist who has been raised from the dead that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.

Okay so this kind of just jumps us into the middle of Herod he just jumps in and what he says about Jesus so he hears about Jesus he hears that he's doing miraculous works and his assumption is oh this is John the Baptist raised from the dead now if you've been following along in Matthew that's a little surprising because we haven't been told that John the Baptist is dead yet that's actually the story we're about to read but Matthew tells us at the beginning he's dead.

And then tells us how that happens the last time we saw John the Baptist was in chapter 11 and he was in prison and if you'll remember that - that we read that John the Baptist was in prison and you didn't even question it we didn't tell us why he was in prison but I guess because he's a Baptist it just seemed plausible and we moved right along but that he's in prison we find out why in this story and we find out how he died.

And so before we get into that let's look at this Herod the Tetrarch oversaw the death of John the Baptist and when he hears about Jesus his assumption is one based in fear that oh no John the Baptist must have risen in power and he must have come back that I've made a mistake because we're gonna see later that he thinks he's a prophet he's gonna say oh no I've made a mistake he's come back and he's more powerful than he was earlier that's not true that's not who.

Jesus is but that is the way Herod responds in a bit of guilt and a bit of fear but let's keep going it says verse 3 for Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias his brother Philips wife and when you first read that you think but I guess that's nice he's doing something for his brother Philips wife maybe he's you know a big fan of his brother and then it keeps going it says.

Because John had been saying to him that's Herod it is not lawful for you to have her so now the story takes a twist into a darker area Herod has taken the wife from his brother Philip now this is Herod Philip one who is not a Tetrarch not haired Philip two who is a Tetrarch Herod Philip one was the person who was going to he was the oldest in the line but he just kind of backs out because Herod the Great had this this you know personality flaw where he kept killing all of his children that could potentially become king.

And when he made it down to Herod Philip won Herod Philip once said you know what I don't want to be king I don't want any power and he went and lived as a private citizen and he married his niece so Herodias is named after her grandfather who is Herod and she married her uncle Herod Philip won but then her other uncle Herod Antipas the Tetrarch takes her and there it's it's a little unclear as to whether or not this was just a power move or.

If they actually loved each other if they had met at some family functions you know as you do when you go to like a family reunion and you scope out who's Muriel here and you think well there's my niece / yeah there's my niece / sister-in-law maybe I'll start dating her and that's what happened and so he takes her and then John the Baptist comes and says you ought not to do this and I love what the Bible does here because this does this in a couple of different places the Bible does not refer to her as Herod the Tetrarch s-- wife although she was.

Because he had married her he refers to her as his brother Philips wife because the Bible doesn't care what kind of sinful mess you play out it's gonna stick to what's real and this should be still Herod Phillips Herod Philips wife and not his brother Herod the Tetrarch so John comes and says what you've done is unlawful and he comes to a man in power and speaks directly to him and says you ought not to have done this and he is assuming that there is a law that is greater and above Herod Antipas that he's speaking to a Tetrarch who is perfectly within his rights to arrest John eventually perfectly within his rights to have.

John executed but John says no there's a law that is above you and that regardless of what human institutions we have right now there's a law that you ought to adhere to you see the Scriptures are clear that God hates injustice and oppression and the wrong use of rule and power and that consistently throughout human history power has been used not to care and tend and provide for those underneath it but it has been used to be abused and to oppress.

Now that's clear but currently in the situation we're in culturally as soon as you say that which is clear and true there are a lot of other things that also need to be said which is the Bible is not anti Authority its anti unjust Authority oppressive Authority but there ought to be good authority and even as believers in the midst of unjust Authority we are meant to speak truth to it but to submit to it and it gives us a very complicated position that we have to walk out.

But it's a poor understanding of the Bible and a poor understanding of sinful human nature as taught by the Scriptures to say either all power is good and incorruptible or all power is bad and not to be rid of and we have to stand in the middle which makes our position more difficult to hold and we can potentially make everyone mad at us but that's fine as long as we're holding on to truth and that's the situation John Zym he is arrested thrown into jail.

Because he told Herod something that was true he called here to repentance and if you remember John he he had a message of repentance that we are sinners in need of repentance in need of grace and he speaks it to a king it was indiscriminate if you met John he didn't matter what what race you were what color you were how poor you were he was going to tell you you needed to repent he sounds like a nice guy and he's going to tell it to everybody even Kings.

So he's arrested first five and though he that's Herod wanted to put him that's John and though Herod wanted to put John to death he feared the people because they held him to be a prophet so Herod had hit Herodias as wishes his his niece sister-in-law wife arrests John and he wants to kill John because that would be easier but he's afraid that people would there be a bit of an uproar there'd be a bit of an uprising so he just doesn't and he just keeps him in jail.

Verse 6 but when Herod's birthday came the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask I was talking to an old Baptist pastor one time and I asked him why Baptists were so vehement used to be so vehement against dancing and his response was the last time someone danced in the Bible a Baptist lost his head I and I still don't know if he was joking or not.

But what happens here is that Herodias is daughter so this is Herod's niece grandniece and step-daughter she comes to his birthday party where if we're to assume and just kind of picture this we would you'd be in a pretty lavish Hall one of the most one of the nicest places in this area there'd be a fairly large gathering there would be a feast there would be drinking good food good drink celebration and it goes from just a good birthday party into debauchery and sin and it's fair to assume that at this point he is a bit intoxicated.

If not heavily intoxicated and his wife's his brother's wife if we're gonna stick with the way the Bible talks about it daughter comes in and dances for this group and it is most likely that this was a sensual dance she's brought in to entertain the men who are celebrating this birthday and Herod enjoys it so much is so pleased by this as he stares at someone drastically younger than him soaks it in lusts he's so pleased by this that it says he promised with an oath.

Verse 7 to give her whatever she might ask she dances he's in a very merry mood most likely intoxicated and he says whatever you want you can have it prompted by her mother she said give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter now we don't know what prompted by her mother means we don't know if she was given the chance to go think about it if she went to go talk to her mom and come back we don't know.

If her mom really quickly called her over we don't know if this was actually the intended effect that her mom had had her go dance for us she'd already told her go do this there's a really good chance he'll offer you something as soon as he does what we want is the head of John the Baptist on a platter not just we want John the Baptist killed we want to celebrate with his dismembered body this is wicked as he watches her dance and lust after her he chooses to offer her whatever she wants and what she wants.

Because her mother wants it is the head of John the Baptist and the King was sorry but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given so at his birthday party he calls for an execution says he was sorry but the best way we can read that in this text is the reason he was sorry was that he had hoped to not have to kill John the Baptist because he thinks that might affect his position of power that.

If enough people if there's enough of an uproar this will cause some turmoil and he didn't really want that he just wanted him to be in prison he wished he could kill him but he didn't think he could get away with it and now because of his guest because of his promise he has to and his birthday party turns into an execution he sent and had John beheaded in the prison and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl and she brought it to her mother.

So that the eyes that once saw the Spirit descend like a dove unto Christ the ears that once heard the voice of the father from heaven the tongue that once proclaimed repentance and hope and forgiveness are now put on display for the enjoyment of Herodias this is wicked that they would have had his head where they were so that they could drink and laugh and celebrate so that in this story verse 12 it says and his disciples came and took the body the headless body of John the Baptist and buried it and they went and told.

Jesus in this story if we're looking from an earthly perspective Herod gets to celebrate Herod gets to have fine food and drink and party and entertainment and John the Baptist spends his remaining days in a Cell and at some point heard the feet of people walking down to where he was kept in the prison heard the key turn in the lock some men walked into the room one with an unsheathed sword and as a party favor he lost his life in this story we have John the Baptist on the one hand and Herod on the other and they give us a beautiful picture case study of what.

Jesus is calling us to in his kingdom you see John the Baptist is faithful he makes his choices to be faithful he does what the Spirit has called him to that he's empowered by God to go and proclaim truth to whomever will listen that he calls everyone to repentance and not just generally but specifically and it works out very poorly for him that the end result of this is the loss of his freedom the loss of comfort and joy and pleasure and ultimately the loss of his life and Herod pursues whatever he desires and as best we can tell he gets it I think some people think was this really a sensual dance.

Well the reality is he's staring at what history tells us her name is Salome the daughter of Herodias she actually marries her uncle Herod Philip - and so she like her mother if she gives birth to any children would give birth to sons and daughters that are also her first cousin and we listened to that and I'm not going into all this family history stuff to make our Church members from Kentucky feel homesick we listened to that I'm trying to point this out.

So that we might see that the the way they ran their family and their life was so that's actually not all that uncommon that they would intermarry in royal families but the reason they did it was to not share power with any other bloodline it's not uncommon at all throughout history to intermarry between royal families they didn't usually do sisters mother to parent son daughter stuff but they did a lot of cousins nieces and nephews that kind of thing because they wanted to keep power in their family and not only is there power that is being kept.

But you can see that across the board even against their own brothers and sisters they're grabbing whatever they desire so that they might have it so this family and Herod are based off of the pursuit of their own passions the fulfillment of their desires that they would keep what power they have that they would maintain their position this is why they take spouses this is why the inter marry this is why they murder one another this family is wicked but the reality is they line up pretty.

Well with what culture currently tells us we ought to do that you are the sum of your desires that if you have a desire that it's meant to be fulfilled that if you have a desire if you have a passion that's who you really are no we draw the line our culture is not promoting incest their culture is not promoting murder and harming others but we're not far back because the reality is you're told well if that's what you want that's who you are.

Look inside and find your deepest desire and that's who you really are and and how dare anyone tell you you can't do what you want and if anybody tells you that they're the enemy I thoroughly enjoyed the movie wreck-it Ralph and then the second one came out and I watched it and that's the whole premise of the movie is that if someone pursues some desire of theirs and it's ultimately harmful and you try to stop them you're a monster that's the premise of the.

Second wreckit-ralph movie you become a monster and you destroy everything if you try to stop someone from pursuing what they want and that is the Gospel occurring according to our culture that you are designed to pursue your desires and if you fulfill them you are the sum of your fulfilled desires and you think oh my goodness that's out there in the culture but the reality is that's in the Church how many times have we heard how many times have we said why no just.

God wants me to be happy I just know that he wants me to be happy I know he wouldn't tell me not to do something that makes me happy John you fool don't you know don't you know you're supposed to be happy don't you know that as soon as you met some pushback don't you know that as soon as they imprisoned you you should change everything don't you know that Jesus never meant for you to have to subvert your desires to be faithful.

If the reality is that God just wants us happy here and the way that's defined is by what is comfortable and what is nice here John is a failure he didn't get it doesn't John know God wants him to to die of old age wealthy and comfortable then he know that's God's intended desire the reality is we would do well to go out as faithfully and as beautifully as John the Baptist does you see John the Baptist testifies that he believes that there is something better than what he can.

See and touch and he believes that there is a God who tells us to subvert our desires for a greater purpose there's a pastor his name's Wang Yi he was arrested in 2019 in China he was a pastor of underground churches in China home churches in China and he wrote a document and he gave it he to leaders in his Church and he said if I'm ever arrested and kept for more than 48 hours I want you to release this he and several others in his Church were arrested all of them have since been released except.

For pastor Wang Yi and he has been sentenced to nine years for some sort of a governmental subversion charge and it's possible we'll see him eight years from now and it is quite possible we won't see him this side of eternity but this is a quote from that letter that he wrote he says as a pastor my disobedience is one part of the Gospel Commission you see John the Baptist because he believed what he believed and because he was sent forward and faithfulness he's arrested and it's a bit of disobedience to man-made rules.

But obedience to God so pastor Wang Yi says as a pastor my disobedience is one part of the Gospel Commission Christ's Great Commission requires of us great disobedience the goal of disobedience is not to change the world but to testify about another world 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 in the Gospel to the Gospel into the human conscience we must obey.

God and not men and for this reason spiritual disobedience and the bodily suffering are both ways we testify to another eternal world and to another glorious king the reality is every choice we make we get the opportunity to look like John or to look like Herod you see Herod did whatever he possibly could to defend his position to silence the voice of God in his life and John walked forward in faith believing that there was something beyond here there was a resurrection there was a life beyond the one he had and Herod lives as.

If everything that he can see and everything that he can touch he better enjoy it now he better get what he can get now and every choice we make we get to choose along those same lines am I gonna be faithful at the expense of my comfort at the expense of nice things here I'm not gonna be faithful with my money I'm gonna be faithful with my time these are small decisions and big decisions am I gonna listen to the voice of.

God and walk forward and what he's calling me to even if people don't like it don't want to hear it even if that work it makes me seem weird or am I gonna do what hair does and try to defend my position against the call to repentance so that I might enjoy what is here so that I might be driven by my passions the end of the story is that the disciples of John go and tell Jesus that John has been beheaded.

Jesus just tries to go off by himself he can't at first and then eventually he gets to and he goes in prays and it seems at first that Jesus doesn't really do anything you feel a little bit like Lazarus the sisters in the Gospel of John who say to Jesus if you'd been here this wouldn't have happened he knew he was in prison but he doesn't really seem to do anything he knows he's in prison and later he finds out that he's dead all he does is go off by himself he seems sad about it.

But just like Jesus you could have done something and the way that Matthew has written this is to show us that Jesus didn't do nothing he ultimately did everything seemed Ashley writes this out in a way that he highlights how John the Baptist goes before Jesus and how Jesus joins John the Baptist in suffering see John the Baptist is handed over to a ruler so is Jesus Jesus was handed over to Pontius Pilate he actually does at some point go in front of Herod Antipas John the Baptist was seized and bound.

Jesus was seized and bound Matthew writes out using the exact same greek words they feared to kill John the Baptist because the crowd held him to be a prophet feared to kill Jesus because the crowd held him to be a prophet John uses the same phrasing they take John and ultimately when he is sentenced to death the one who does the sentence sentencing seems to regret it a little bit than the same with the Jesus and the way Matthew wrote this up he intentionally frames it.

So that you might see that John came before Jesus and ministry and he goes before Jesus and death and that Jesus joins John in death and when he does Herod's greatest fear about John comes true it comes true about John because it first becomes true about Jesus Jesus Christ is killed but he rises in power and because Jesus rises in power so does John the way this started we're here it said oh no John's risen from the dead John has risen from the dead.

Because Jesus rose John gets to rise that what was sown perishable is raised imperishable and then what is sown in dishonor is raised in glory and what is sown in weakness is raised in power that's the reality of this situation is that John looks like on earth he failed but in the kingdom of heaven he is ushered into glory eternally because he believes that Jesus is who he said he is Jesus is the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sins of the world and that.

Jesus Christ is king a glorious king of a more glorious Kingdom and so he lives in a way that testifies to it my question to us is do we look like John the way you speak the way you act the way you spend your money the way you spend your time do you testify to another world that is beyond this one or do we look like Herod and I will tell you as Americans even American Christians it's very easy to look like here it to make our decisions based off of what is enjoyable and what is.

Now and what do I desire and have others cosign it the greatest tragedy in this story is not that John the Baptist loses his head that is a victory and a triumph that will never be taken from him the greatest tragedy in this story is that Herod succeeds in silencing the voice of God Herod succeeds in resisting the call to repentance John offered him Grace and Herod rejects it and my hope for us my prayer for us is that we would live as.

If we believed there was a better Kingdom coming and that we would reject our passions and desires where they are out of line with God's kingdom so that we might have something better that we would gladly sell everything we have that we might buy the field that we might have the Kingdom that he's laid out for us let's pray God we thank you for your grace I thank you for your love that you would send Jesus to join us and suffering that we might join him in victory and we pray that you would help us to.

See our sin and to hear the voice of God in our lives that we would yield to the work of the Spirit that we might repent and that we might be faithful we pray that you would bless our Church with saints who live out their days as John did following your will regardless of the cost and ending faithful the Savior yes watching Jesus phenol thought you had better change the Jesus ha before the master Jesus paid it all all to him I owe 2,000 stayin here be lighter Oh.

Jesus paid it all to him all right so the only announcement that I have is that we are gonna continue to walk in wisdom and evaluate evaluate week by week whether we'll be in here together next week so just be looking out for updates to see if we'll be here next week and then we'll announce those and God willing we'll be here in the same room and be live streaming as always let me close this with a benediction from Romans 15.

Verse 13 may the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope amen you guys have a great day you.

The Kingdom and the Image of God (Matthew 13:53-58)

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Kingdom and the Image of God

Spencer Cary

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You we are taking our first steps towards re gathering as a Church family this week we are back in the building we are live next week we get to regather together as a Church family we'll be able to open the doors we'll have a place clean we've done some work to be able to spread out we understand that as we regather and kind of come back together after this pandemic that there are still those who feel uncomfortable still those who maybe have gotten sick and still those who are in a vulnerable demographic.

And so we understand that we won't all be able to gather but some of us will be able to gather in this room next week and we've gone ahead and done the work it takes so that we can livestream our gatherings for our Church family who cannot gather with us in the location can still join with us together at the same time as we study the Scriptures and worship the Lord together and so this week we are live next week we get together and be live and we're excited that things are moving back towards some sense of normal our Church family is two churches that came together at the beginning of this year and rolled.

Into 2020 very excited about what was going to happen and we're unable at all to guess what was actually going to happen and we've had an interesting year but God it is gracious and good to us and in the midst of a lot of changes we are learning how to love one another and grow together as people who believe that Jesus is better than everything else so we are a Gospel centered community on a mission we gather in community groups out the week to be those who point one another back to Christ love one another's family and are sent as missionaries to our city.

So it's been a weird season for us and we are re getting in the middle of a pandemic it's not as bad as it seemed like it could have been but people are still sick numbers are still growing and in the midst of all that we have a lot of civil unrest and so we gather today as the people of God to pray to worship our one true king and - as we study the Scriptures understand that the primary issue in the world is not the sin out there.

But the sin in here that it's not those people out there causing problems but that God has done work on our hearts so that we might see our sin that we might repent and that change and grace and love and unity might come from the Church and work its way into the world and that's our hope that we would be people who repent we would be people who were quick to listen and slow to speak and listen to the Word of.

God and submit to his leadership that we might be good missionaries and to put on display what the Gospel does among people so join me this morning and praying as we begin our gathering God we thank you that you are sovereign and in the midst of a season of so much uncertainty so much despair so much pain and fear and anguish and frustration and anger you are sovereign and you are good and so may we be a people of the cross who understand that in the midst of chaos you are working.

For our good to bring about joy and hope and freedom that in the midst of suffering you bring about good results and that you never lose control may we be a people of the cross who run to you to have our sins forgiven atoned for by the blood of Jesus and who walk in freedom and life and joy may we be a people of the cross who are not swayed by this political party or that political party or this news outlet or that news outlet.

But first and foremost listen to you and kneel to you to hear your word and your truth so that we might walk forward in grace and love and humility and empathy and action so Lord we gather this morning as a people of the cross in need of grace in need of healing in need of love in need of certainty and finding all of those in Jesus in Jesus name we pray Oh shelters Los Angeles merci Oh with praises before again Hey it's great great will rise to price our team do price argue yeah - tae-suhk your man to Christ the resurrected King is resurrecting me in your name I come to prepare your dress were.

Soldiers your name your name is hi - hi start your name to prize Jesus we praise you as our resurrected King Lord we praise you for the fact that you have resurrected those of us who are in Christ that you have paid the penalty for our sin and given us new life in you which gives us reason to celebrate Lord and as your people we need to follow we need to obey we need to repent an exhibit faith in our lives and we pray that as we sit under the authority of your word this morning you might transform us you might help us follow you better in.

Jesus name Amen good morning my name is Spencer I'm more the pastor's of Mill City Church of KC last weekend peaceful protests all across the country and our own city morphed into riots because of what happened in Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago now we are walking through the Gospel of Matthew in the final passage of Matthew 13 today while we would normally sit in the main part of that passage and preach the main part of the ply the main aspects of it.

Because of everything that is transpired over the last few weeks I don't think that would be appropriate what we're going to do this morning is we're going to pick up on a key theme that runs throughout the kingdom of heaven that the Gospel of Matthew has been talking about and it is a theme that is connected to this passage which is going to be difficult to do it's going to be difficult to do because of the history and the emotions that are packed into that are built into this discussion in our Church we have both police officers and minorities we have both conservative-leaning thinkers and liberal-leaning thought we have a wide variety of opinions in.

Our Church and I know this because I'm friends with most of you on Facebook and I can see this but the reality is is we don't avoid difficult conversations because they are loaded we don't avoid what is difficult if it is good and true and worth pursuing so today we're going to look at a situation where Jesus brought the message of the kingdom to his hometown and it was rejected for silly reasons and my hope this morning my prayer this morning is that we would.

Look at any central aspect of the kingdom of heaven and we would not do the same and I'm gonna be honest I'm mostly going to be addressing the majority of our congregation that is why so before we jump into this let me say some things that I want you to hear very clearly I love you I love our Church family this has been one of the more difficult sermons I've ever had so you prepare some of you are going to want to turn off your livestream please don't please stay with us and please continue this conversation past even.

Today some of you are going to want to conflate my words with some of the more unhelpful voices and our culture please don't some of you are going to want me to spend time talking about the the evils of rioting and violence and I've seen them I've seen that the coverage on a Facebook i've seen the memes like the meme of Jesus flipping over tables in the temple area and the justification for that is we can do violence that causes that hurts small businesses that actually caused the death of people i'm not gonna go there it is both as idiotic as it is unbiblical.

But that's not the point of today the goal of today is to look an essential aspect of the kingdom of God and that is the image of God so the Holy Spirit needs to go to work on our hearts because we cannot be okay with sin and our own hearts we cannot turn a blind eye to the marginalized we cannot just sit in the the presuppositions that the the thoughts that we bring to the table that may be shaped by political ideologies without actually having the Bible check it.

So my hope is is the love of Christ this morning would lead us to an empathy that helps us better understand our black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ so in order to do that we're going to need Lord to go to work so let me pray and then we'll jump in Father we pray right now that you would open up our hearts that we would listen that we would not be combative in our own hearts and God I pray you would bless this time and what comes out of it in.

Jesus name Amen all right so I'm going to start in Matthew 13 chapter 53 and then we're going to move from there starting in verse 53 and when Jesus had finished these parables he went from there and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue so that they were astonished and said where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works is this not the carpenter's son it's not his mother called Mary are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas are and are not all his sisters with us one of this.

When did this man get all these things and they took offense at him but you just said that him a prophet is not without honor except in his own town and his own household and he did not do mighty works there because of their unbelief so Jesus has been teaching kingdom parables he's been teaching all kinds of teachings and when you take a step back from the whole of his teaching ministry what he's doing is he's traveling from town to town from region to region teaching these same parables these same teachings and what's different about this situation is that he's come to his hometown the audience is different.

Now Matthew gives us the Cliff Notes version of what's happening here Luke gives us a more expanded version he gives us more details like when he was rejected here they didn't just reject this message they thought they sought to throw them off of a cliff and kill him say the the audience is different they watched him grow up which is why they respond like where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works is this not the carpenter's son is this not Joseph's boy you know that the one who had the carpenter business years ago yet that Joseph.

When they recognized that he's got mighty works they recognize that he's got wisdom but wait this is Mary's son so they reject his message because of that Jesus preaches with the same the same boldness with the same truthfulness as he does anywhere and his this message the text says is offensive they are offended which comes from the Greek word scandal ISA which is where we get the English word scandalous this message is offensive it is shocking and is scandalous and they sought to kill him.

For it so Jesus responds to this rejection says but Jesus said to them a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household and he did not do mighty works there because of their unbelief so that's the climactic finish to this story that they reject him like the prophets of old are ejected in their hometowns that he's not going to because of this perform these mighty works these miracles these healings that he's been doing anywhere and that's that the main part of this passage that's the main idea.

But I want to focus on on a different aspect that is connected to this that the idea of Jesus message of the kingdom that it is by nature offensive especially when it hits close to home the message of the kingdom the Gospel is by nature offensive it offends our presuppositions it offends our pre-loaded ideas our comfortable world views it is scandalous by Nature and here's the deal if we reject this message because it offends our understanding because it touches in places that we don't want to we are in danger Church family of missing out on the mighty works of.

Jesus and I don't want that Jesus is the perfect embodiment of the image of God and they rejected him and I want us to do that I want us to look at the image of God today and I want us to look at the image of God in three different ways I want to spend time looking at the image of God created I want to look at secondly the image of God fallen and thirdly I want to look at the image of.

God redeemed and my hope is is that as we walk through this love and empathy for black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ would win the day so we're gonna look at first his image created like many of you I watched the video of George Floyd I watched both clips I watched as they put as one officer put his knee on the back of George Floyd's neck as he begged him to stop for about nine minutes he slowly suffocated to death begging.

For relief and for two minutes and 43 seconds he was unconscious he was practically gone the excessive nature of this is indisputable police officers all across the country have looked at us and said that this is this is this is worthy of prosecution our own chief of sled here in Carolina said if you are if you think this is an acceptable means of restraining a suspect turn in your badge it is absolutely horrific i watch my kids play sometimes and they'll put pillows over each other's faces which happens in our household or not that happens in yours.

But they they play like this and then all of a sudden this panic sets in for me that says no no please stop please get off your brother and there were bystanders who were filming this they were saying please get off of him get off he is you can't breathe one a bystander was an off-duty firefighter she said you need to check his pulse it is horrific video and when you paired this next to the release of the video from the Ahmad Aubry killing from a few weeks ago and you compound this with a long history of oppression violence and justice you had a powder keg that explodes with black people all across the country.

Begging for their voices to be heard now I'm not naive I understand that when I start saying this that there's a pretty quick response because we've seen this debate play out at kitchen tables we've seen this debate play out on TV and in social media what usually follows this is what about burning down businesses what about burning down businesses owned by minorities what about the all the history of riots that have happened where were these parts of the city don't bounce back.

Because of violence or what about the majority of police officer have them have a very difficult job and they were disgusted by what they saw what about investing in better police training about about mental health for police officers or what about black-on-black client crime in Chicago that happens every weekend or what about the media's agenda in all of this what about the people who make a living off of this debate all of those are questions worth discussing but not as an ad hominem what about beside the point deflection which is what we do and what we do this you come home and and maybe your spouse comes home and they they'll say.

Well you didn't mow the grass you didn't take care of the lawn like I asked you to and we're very quick to say well glass a couple of days ago you didn't take care of the downstairs it was a mess we do this we deflect because we don't want to do is look at the fault within ourselves we will point out the fault in someone else will point out the fault and someone else's community but we won't look at what's going on with him.

So I'm not going to go there today I'm not going to discuss that I want to address the image of God as a relates to this subject matter because for black people this situation highlights a long history where the image of God has been diminished in them so let's look at where all of this began in the garden Genesis 1:26 says then God said let us make man in our own image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the heavens over the livestock and over all the earth and every every creeping thing that creeps on the earth this is.

When the image of God is created we walk through this and a series of Genesis a few years ago that there is so much packed into what that you are made in the image of God specifically for our purposes today it means that you are made in the image of God and therefore you have dignity and value and worth that it's a fight for the dignity of man and the Church has here this rightfully fought the evils of abortion on this area we have rightfully taken a stand against this.

But while we've been doing that we have black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ who said that's great but what about us - what about our dignity our value our worth as people made in the image of God so how do we lose this how did all of this go so wrong more specifically in our own country how did this a country founded by Protestants seeking religious freedom how did this become so central to our identity in the beginning how did systematic injustice against black people become our country's original sin it is.

Because very early on we lost the doctrine of the image of God you see early on as America this land was being settled in order to justify the evils of slavery we Christians began to make distinctions within the image of God there was something unique about whiteness that made us a more superior reflection of the image of God and the heathen as Africans who are being brought over there was something lesser about the image of God and then therefore there was these categories of distinctions between two sets of person hoods.

Now there's a spoken word artist named propaganda who captures this he is specifically talking about the Puritans the Puritans were English Protestants that have a rich history of theology theology that shapes much of what we preach today and the American Church but what happened is when they came to America around the around the time that slavery began in this country is that they checked their theology at the door when it came to this subject matter so I'm gonna look at me says in his song he says they looked at my onyx and bronze skin forefathers and their face their polytheistic.

God hating face their shackled diseased imprisoned face and taught a Gospel that said God had multiple images in mind when he created us in it therefore destined salvation contains a contentment and the stage for which they were given which is to be owned by your forefathers superior image bearing face says your precious Puritans that's a lot right there but what he just said was is that very early on there was a Christian understanding that there are distinctions between whiteness and blackness and the levels of reflecting the image of.

God and the justification for slavery came out of well that is their destined place of contentment they should be and this stage and be okay this came out of thought from heroes in theology like Jonathan Edwards that shapes so much of the theology that we have in America but the reality is is that Jonathan Edwards the reason he had so much time to write such beautiful sermons and beautiful books is but he wasn't working his own fields you see this is what he is getting at in this what started as an economic justification.

Because sugar tasted very good and British tea and who else was going to harvest the crops and the sugarcane and the Caribbean quickly leptin to a satanic justification and hijacking of the Bible and that has continued all the way to the formation of our country that black people didn't have full personhood and even continues into the formation of our own denomination that right down the road in Augusta and the mid 1800s the first Southern Baptists came together and they formed the Southern Baptist Convention.

Because they said they wanted unity in missions but what was really happening is the northern Baptist we're asking them to fight against the oppression of slavery and they said no we want unity so we'll start our own denomination and this continues this is why black people have been have been asking and saying and declaring I am a man they want the full recognition of their personhood and that doesn't disappear overnight they've been fighting for this for centuries now I know what some of you might be thinking why are we still talking about slavery that was a hundred and fifty years ago why are we still talking about this.

Well in the grand scheme of time that's not a lot of time you can look at the Old Testament things what happened hundreds of years before the people of God and and and they have this strong historical attachment would happen in the centuries previous mypos in perspective for us my great-great-grandfather fought for the Confederacy and surrendered under Robert Ely at Appomattox Courthouse they gave him for war reparations a donkey that he wrote all the way back to pillion my grandfather was a businessman in this part of town he was a respected businessman he's been gone.

For twenty years but but many people are but a few people in our Church remember him all right my grandfather's grandfather someone he had he had memory of my grandfather's grandfather fought for the Confederacy that is not a lot of time and the legacy of slavery bleeds into Jim Crow segregation and all the evils of that and then after the civil rights movement the practice of redlining continues into the late 70s formally informally continued a little bit longer than that redlining is is.

When real estate agents and lenders would look at black people and say we'll give you a loan we'll show you houses but it has to be in this part of the city which further separated and continued to separate black people and white people it's the reason why many of us grew up in predominantly white schools and predominantly white communities can you see the thread it flows all the way back to the theological justification that there is distinctiveness within the image of.

God and separateness because of that and all our black and brown brothers and sisters want is the same value dignity and worth it is their gift from their Creator it is an essential aspect of the kingdom of God because Jesus came to claim for himself every tribe every tongue every people group so how did this become so corrupted even before anyone settled this country from Europe it goes all the way back to the fall when his image fell back in the garden.

When Adam and Eve sinned against God it brings sin into this world and because of that hate spreads took one generation to see hate turn into murder and hate continue to spread in one of the ways that it continues to spread is through prejudice it spreads like a poison it's one of the early problems in the New Testament Church you see in multiple places in the New Testament the Bible is addressing in addressing the prejudice within the early Church because you had Jews and Gentiles that were brought together you had Africans and enrolments who were brought together you.

See the Church was an early cultural melting pot in history and because of that you've got multiple New Testament letters that address this we walk through this in the book of Ephesians a few years ago in the book of Ephesians Paul is addressing the divisions that have happened because of ethnic differences between Jews and Gentiles and in chapter 2 he says verse 14 for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility this dividing wall that's come.

So naturalist just as Paul says that we inherit the sins of our forefathers there's this there's a separation that we will just naturally do because the inherited prejudice that we get from our forefathers because of culture further and granion in us but the cross came to tear down the wall verse fifteen by abolishing the law of Commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create and himself one new man in place of the two so making peace and might reconcile us both to.

God in one body not to one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility Jesus addresses this as well he's asked let's at one point in his ministry he's asked well what does it mean to love your neighbor he tells the parable of the Good Samaritan and what often gets lost in the parable of the Good Samaritan is that Samaritans and Jews or different ethnic groups and they despise one another and he makes as he's telling this parable to Jews a Samaritan the hero of the story.

Because loving your neighbor means loving someone else in spite of cultural differences in spite of color differences it's a it's it's been something in the early - it was something in the early Church that needed to be addressed and it's something that still needs to be addressed today so I could cite statistics that show some of the injustice is for black and brown brothers and sisters in the American Church but the reality is is what I've seen is that you could pretty much find any statistic to justify your position I mean they're out there you'll find something that says no this is why is the way it is.

So instead of just jumping into that debate that has become so muddy what I wanted to do is I wanted you to hear from three different men of color and your Church I sat down this week I talked to three different members of three different members of our Church family and I got their perspectives on this and they gifted their perspectives their perspectives to us so I want you to listen to these stories from their from their history from their past and I want you to take a moment.

Listen and not become combative or not try to argue a fight with their experiences so at first I talked to Ricky Jackson Ricky Jackson is in my group he's African American at 15 years old he was four doors down from his house four doors down in the street and a police officer pulled up immediately seized him and then threw him on the hood of his car because he looked like a suspect who was currently at that moment robbing the concession stand and the ballfield across from his neighborhood.

Now I asked him after that I said how many times do you think you've been pulled over by police officers and he just laughed he said I thought you can I cannot count that been pulled over countless times and he said it's driving while being black and I know that might seem crazy to some but it's a reality and it flows out of this reality of it because of the separation there are two parts of town and if you are african-american and a predominantly white part of town there's been an understanding what are you doing in this part of town you must be up to no good that's something that Tim Scott are one of.

Our state senators who happens to be regardless of your politics one of the most respected politicians in Washington he stood on the Senate floor a few years ago and helped explain this that his entire life he has been pulled over even as a senator he gets pulled over consistently in DC it's a reality that black people have to face now outside of the realm is related to police I just asked him will he just hear some more of what it's like to be black in America he said some of the things that have been said to him before is you were very articulate.

For a black person or you don't sound black he got into the University of North Carolina or as he said Carolina which I corrected him on because South Carolina is also a school but he got into the University of North Carolina and his immediate thought was are the media thought of of the people who have found out that he was at that school was oh you must have gotten in for an athletic scholarship as if he couldn't have gotten in on an academic scholarship which he did he got in on a full-ride he's had to learn to overcompensate.

Because he seems threatening because of his the color of his skin he's had to learn to be super nice to be super friendly to put other people at ease he says consistently on the street as he walks by white women they clutch their purses in fear he said he had to learn to be as twice as good as everyone out so that his success would not be will not be lumped in with oh you just must have gotten here because you were black in a couple of weeks I'm gonna go camping.

For a vacation and he said you don't have to think about where you can't but the reality is for our family we do because there's some places we don't feel comfortable I talked to Craig Kerr he's also in our community group he's also African American he grew up in an all-black neighborhood and he moved to a white middle upper class suburb neighborhood and he consistently got pulled over by the police he said sometimes twice a week now one time he said that he was the passenger and the car where his buddy was driving who is white.

And when the police officer pulled him over the conversation was going very normal until he realized that Craig was in the passenger seat and as soon as he saw Craig he quickly put his hand on his gun now Craig was gracious he said listen they've got really difficult jobs I can't imagine some of the things they have to face so he said is what I've learned is that I need to remain calm de-escalate the situation whenever it arises he's made it his mission in all of life to not be combative to be the opposite of what other people believe he said his parents taught him at a young age to not be disrespectful which is.

Something that I'm going to teach my son I want my son to to be respectful but not for one moment not for a moment have I thought if he isn't disrespectful it may result in harassment or he might even be killed it has never crossed my mind and he said the last thing one of the things he said was he being in an interracial marriage Ricci also was in is in an interracial marriage he said being in this area they still get lots of looks.

Because he is black and his wife is white a third person I talked to is Carlos Rosales Carlos is from Honduras and asked him permission to share some the stories we've talked about in the past he is the only Hispanic worker on a crew for dot4 department transportation and because he's the only Hispanic on that crew he's had in the past both the white men and the black men look at him like when there's a job that has to be done that's hard you do it you're the one that's going to do the work.

Because he's Latino so he's the one that has to do the work and he worked as hard as he can and he is his reference in the past there have been moments he feels like he's been passed over even though he's the hardest worker on his crew he's been passed over for promotions because he is Latino these are just a few of the stories just a few of them and these are stories that are in line with so many stories that are black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ have been telling.

For years there are stories that have been fixtures in our country for hundreds of years now I would argue absolutely we have come a long way since 1619 we've come a long way in the last 400 years but we've got a long way to go I'd argue that while also prejudice is ingrained into our culture into our country all the reasons is the visable is because we are one of the largest cultural melting pots in the history of civilization so it's more visible.

But you can go in any part of the world and see this currently the Chinese have placed entire people groups like the Turks and internment camps or as they call them re-education camps Middle Eastern cities like Dubai were built off the backs of practically forced labor from migrant workers like Nepal they would come in promised good work and good money they could send back their families and immediately their passports were seized they were put into into living camps that were horrible they were paid much less and many died from heat exhaustion many died from suicide.

Because of the conditions in which they built that city the same thing is happening in Qatar right now cutters where the next World Cup is going to be and they've had loads of migrant workers that were brought over who have died from heat exhaustion died from terrible working conditions now also this happens in Europe and in America our academia likes to hold up Europe as the shining example because it is the most educated of all the continents but here's the deal the reality is is that in the last 20 years as Europe has seen an influx of immigrants from Syria from Africa the place that was once very monolithic and white has grown very weary.

Of having different people of color and there are far-right groups that have risen up all over Europe is the reason why African soccer players still get bananas thrown at them and soccer matches this happens all over the world yes systematic prejudice is complicated and it is loaded with historical and cultural baggage but here's the deal at its core it is not an education issue at its core it is a sin issue and because it is a sin issue we can deal with this as Christians and repentance which brings this the last part of this the.

Third aspect of the king of the image of God is his image redeemed see back in Ephesians 2 Paul highlights the problem the dividing wall of hostility but he also highlight it's the solution the solution is the cross the solution is that a savior looked at this world that was ripping itself apart in hate and he steps into our timeline and he lives out a perfect life one that does not touch prejudice and then he takes that work to the cross where his blood is poured out.

So that ultimately hatred in our hearts could be routed out he came as the solution to this problem now education might help you understand prejudice better it might help you understand systemic injustice better but here's the deal at its core all education is going to do is is give you more knowledge it's gonna make give you more knowledge of the situation but what you will do if you're just educated as you will bury it deep you will hide it you will realize that it's it's one of the worst things to be labeled as a racist and you'll just keep all those hidden inner thoughts to yourself it is the reason why black people have looked.

At white progressives for the last ten years with a lot of hesitancy and then every time they have an action that comes out that shows the prejudice within everyone's real shot it's because education doesn't fix this process for this problem only the cross and the blood of Christ that came to claim every single people group every tribe every tongue every color every nation that the final picture is is that in the New Jerusalem there will be all peoples celebrating together who our King is that's the final picture and the solution is the cross.

So how do we respond we respond in repentance one of the things that Ricky and Craig that we talked about is they said when you'd be able to talk about this around the table there are community groups need to be able to talk about this as if it's another sin worthy of repentance we need to be able to talk about it without the fear of judgment to have honest conversations so that healing can begin when I became a Christian when I was 17 before I became a Christian there was some explicit prejudice in my life.

And then I became a Christian I came very a repented hard on this and I came became very combative against racism and Prejudice with issues and then my freshman year of college one of my best friends his name's Chris Chris is black there was a conversation we were having and the assumption I made and what I said I don't remember the conversation was but the assumption that I made in the conversation is that he wasn't able to fall along with what I was talking about and he just called me out on in that moment he said oh you don't think I can understand this.

Because I'm black and I did what pretty much any white person does in that situation so no I'm not I'm not I'm not racist it's not at all no I missed it no I and then in the the weeks that followed I began to reflect on where that came from where that thought came from and I had to come back to him and confess later wait a second I actually do this thing this came from a prejudicial understanding that you were not able to understand this.

Because you were black and less educated here's what happened the next four years of college Chris and I began to walk through this together he gave me the space and the grace to be able to work out some of the things that were buried deep in my heart because the reality is is that no one's immune averse no one's immune to prejudice it is a it's a sin we inherit from our forefathers it's it's deepen in our sinful nature culture deepens it even further one of the things that Hollywood likes to think itself as the most enlightened as african-americans laugh that's why award shows are more painful every year.

For them there's these ideologies that have come out for decades that further enforce these these stereotypes that we have in our hearts and for four years I was able to walk with Chris and be able to to work out some of this and he was able to work out some of his stuff and and times now just I really am frustrated and I think I hate white people and I'm like I mean I know but we gotta work through this together we were called to to law that we worked through all of this.

Because he gave me the space and the grace to treat this like any others that is worthy of repentance and that is the same space we need as a Church we need to give each other the space to realize all of us are dealing with the issues of prejudice until we actually begin to work this out together to have the toughed honest conversations to stare at the parts of our sinful nature that we hide very deep and that our Dorn until we deal with this we'll never move.

For is the Church and I certainly don't think our country has a shot at moving forward until we deal with this so with me fully recognizing the irony as a white pastor trying to talk on this subject I want to close us with a quote from one of my favorite bands the Avett Brothers which if that joke was lost on you the Avett Brothers is a very white band but they wrote a song last year called we Americans I just want to close this with reading a couple lines from this song the song deals with the the reality that America is a beautiful American experiment also grappling with the scars of our painful past.

This is what they say and accountability is hard to impose on ghosts of ancestors haunting the halls of our conscience but the path of grace and good will is still here for those of us who may be considered among the living I am the son of God and man and I may never understand the good and evil but I dearly love this land because of this and in spite of We the People we are more than the sum of our parts all these broken bones and broken hearts.

God will you keep us wherever we go can you forgive us for where we've been I love this this picture of maybe we can deal with the ghosts of ancestors past haunting the halls of our conscience maybe we can't see the path of grace and good will is here maybe we can see that we're not the sum of all of our of our broken parts maybe God can't help us get through this the reality is is that for our country the last two weeks I'm just not sure.

If we're gonna get there I don't know but here's the deal the Church can the Church can Christians we can our Church we can deal with the ghosts of our pasts the painful parts of our sinful nature we can be the ones that go back to our community groups that have the difficult conversations about what's going on beneath the surface the Church can listen to our black and brown brothers and sisters and we can have empathy redemption is possible and it is beautiful it is the reason that a great-great grandson of a Confederate soldier who fought to keep Ricky and Craig's great-great-great grandparents in Chains can be in the same community group walking through the.

Gospel talking about these things showing grace and love and kindness and mercy so that may be as we work through this together as the Church we can be salt and light to a city that is hurting that's the hope and my hope is is in this Church we'd be different so this week put down your swords this week don't revert to talking points don't revert to arguments of the past this week let's strive to be empathetic and loving and listen so that maybe we can bear the Gospel in a way that looks beautiful in the midst of this present darkness.

Let me pray father I pray right now that you would go to work on our hearts the reality is is there so much brokenness in our country there's so much brokenness within ourselves but it is not beyond redemption the Gospel is beautiful and it is good and it breaks down dividing wall of hostility God I pray right now that you'd bring healing within us I pray that for anyone listening right now that you would go to work on their heart they would begin to deal with the parts of their sinful nature that are stained by prejudice including myself.

God I pray that you would bless the conversations of our community groups this week as we wrestle with a very difficult conversation that is heated in this country right now God I also pray if it be your will to begin to heal the wounds of our country to restore us and to help the Church lead the way in Jesus name Amen we are going to regather as a Church we've done some work in the building we've removed the pews we've spread out some chairs we are going to have as best we can a gathering.

While living out some social distancing there are gonna be some changes made we're gonna have a video that comes out this week that helps lay out some of those changes for how we're going to try to be able to gather but do it in a safe manner as safe as possible and so we are looking forward to that look forward to seeing you next Sunday we understand that some of you won't be able to join us in person would love for you to continue to join us do it via the livestream let's join together in praying right.

Now God we ask for your grace we ask for what we consistently need is your Holy Spirit to work in us that we might see our own sin that we might root it out know where it hides know where we lie to ourselves know where we walk in ways that are unhelpful and unproductive and counter to the Gospel help us to remember that that is who we are outside of the saving grace and the work of your spirit and may we be people who repent and walk in freedom and joy and life we pray.

For all those right now that are hurting and all those right now that are sick all those right now that are fearful that have had job situations messed up we'd pray that you would continue to heal and bless we pray that you would bring us together safely next week in Jesus name you.

Kingdom Parables (Matthew 13:31-21, 44-52)

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Kingdom Parables

Chet Phillips

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Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)

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The Parable of The Weeds

Spencer Cary

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Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23)

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The Parable of The Sower

Spencer Cary

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Community in Chaos

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Community in Chaos

Spencer Cary

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