From Plot to Passover (Matthew 26:1-25)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
To be continued... Good morning. I'm so thankful for those who volunteer and serve with our worship week in, week out. They are all volunteers, and I'm thankful for the work they put in in leading us every Sunday to respond to the goodness of the gospel in praise. So there's something I'm thankful for.
My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We're going to be in Matthew 26 this week, the first 25 verses, so you can go ahead and flip there. We do have physical Bibles, a sign of good things, as the pandemic is where it is. But we have Bibles now.
We have Connect cards. It's nice. If you want to grab a Bible, you can go ahead and turn to page 485. That's where it will be. The text will also be on the screen. I had a friend a few years back.
She was a vocal woman of faith. She led Bible studies. She was zealous. I mean zealous in the good way that zealous is used biblically. Zealous for what was good. We were a part of the same ministry.
I thought that she was going to be a leader in women's ministry in the church. I thought that she was going to be a missionary, lots of things. And then she started dating one of our other good friends, and they fell into some sin. They had a horrible breakup. And I don't say this to be funny at all. It was a little bit of a Britney Spears moment.
She cut her hair in pretty dramatic fashion. She lost an unhealthy amount of weight. And then she moved away. And over the next few years, I watched online as she became a subtle critic of the faith she once stood for, and then a very vocal, aggressive critic of the gospel she once proclaimed. And I won't pretend to know her heart, because I don't have to. And I won't pretend to autopsy her once vocal faith with any precision.
That's not my job. But something changed in her. I don't personally know what was happening in her heart, but there's a general pattern for how these things go. And what happens is that someone ultimately treasures something above Christ. And when something happens, when trials come, eventually what they're treasuring over Christ, what resembles faith, begins to crumble completely. And this story has played out in tragic fashion over and over and over again.
And today we're going to be in a series of a bunch of different stories. And in these stories today, we're going to see one of the most tragic stories of all time of someone who put their faith in something else and eventually turned their back on Jesus. So we're going to watch that play out. But alongside this really tragic story of someone turning their back and betraying Jesus, we get to see a second example of someone whose heart so loves Christ, it's two just different approaches, two different hearts, two different mindsets with Jesus. And we're going to see them kind of side by side today.
And I hope that as we walk through this, we'd be reflective of our own hearts. We'd be honest with ourselves that we wouldn't be prideful. We'd humble ourselves. We'd let the Spirit speak to us. And we'd respond. So let me pray.
And then we will jump into these stories. Father, you are good. What we said earlier, your steadfast love endures forever is so true. It endures in the fact that we get to open up your word and we get to hear you speak. God, I pray that you'd help us listen. And that we respond.
In Jesus' name, amen. Like I said, we're moving through a bunch of different stories. So it's going to be one scene, the next, the next, the next, starting off verse 1. When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, you know that after two days the Passover is coming and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. So all these sayings really captures what he just spent, what Chet just spent the last three weeks on.
All right, that was the final discourse, the final teaching of Jesus. There's no more teachings. We're shifting completely towards the cross. Every step right now is moving towards the cross. And he's been hinting at this, right? He's been saying that he's going to die.
He's been saying that he's going to be crucified. Now he's saying it's happening. It's happening in the next couple of days. When Passover is done, he will be delivered. He is being very explicit about what is about to happen. All right, it says that, shifts.
Different scene, verse 3. Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people. All right, so while this is going on, there's a group of religious leaders who are meeting in the shadows. And their leader is named Caiaphas. This is the first time we see him.
We're going to see him later on as well. He is the high priest. And the leader of what we're going to see throughout chapter 26 is called a council. But the literal Greek word for that is Sanhedrin. So we know what council this is.
It's the Sanhedrin council. The Sanhedrin council was a religious and also political group of religious leaders that came together for two purposes. They wanted to make sure that the people followed the law while also working with the Roman government to keep the people in check. And there are two main parties in the Sanhedrin, two political parties. You have the Pharisees, we've seen over and over again, and the Sadducees that we've seen a little bit of as well. They function a little bit like our U.S.
Congress. They have two different theologies, just like we have two different political philosophies, two different ways of governing, but they have to work together, and power shifts depending on who's in power. The Sadducees at the time of Jesus had the power in the Sanhedrin, and their leader, Caiaphas, believed to be a Sadducee, has them all together. We're going to see them working together throughout 26, plotting against Jesus together to kill him. So, this plot is happening. And then we shift again.
Like I said, a lot of quick stories. Verse 6. Now, when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper. All right, so Jesus now goes to Bethany. He goes to a specific house, the house of Simon the leper. Now, this is the only time that we see Simon.
He does not currently have leprosy. He couldn't host this gathering if he did, because if you have leprosy, you have to be completely apart from the people. So, we can read into the context here and make a pretty educated guess that Jesus actually healed him of leprosy. At one point, he had leprosy. Now, he is healed. And somehow, Simon the leper, the nickname has stuck, which is not the most endearing of nicknames.
I mean, we wouldn't call someone, I don't know, chafing Chet because of a problem they had in college. Like, that's, we're adults. We wouldn't do that. That nickname wouldn't stick, right? Like, Simon went and got healed of leprosy. That guy went to the doctor.
It's fine. We're adults. We move on. I don't know why Matthew decided, I want to keep this name. Maybe they were friends and he wanted to mess with him for the next 2,000 plus years of this gospel being read. Regardless, that's who he is.
Simon the leper. And they're at his house. All right, here's what happens at his house. Verse 7. A woman came up to him with an alabaster flask, a very expensive ointment. And she poured it out on his head as he reclined at the table.
All right, so, let me pause. There's a lot of debate about this. It's gone back and forth. Some version of this story shows up in all four gospels. After spending some time with it, Chet and I looking at it this week, looking at different commentators, it seems that this story shows up in three of them and then one of them is separate. So, Matthew, Mark, and John seem to be describing this story that happened in Bethany.
All right? This happens in the gospel sometimes. They take different, they focus on different details of stories. They're told a little bit differently because these stories are being told thematically. They focus on different things. Luke has a different story of a woman coming to anoint Jesus.
That one seems to be a completely different situation altogether, which happens. You have a feeding of the 4,000 and the 5,000. You have some overlap and differences and similarities between stories. But when you look at this and you piece together Matthew, Mark, and John's accounts, you get a more full picture of what's happening here. So, John's gospel tells us that this woman is one of the Marys. All right?
There's a bunch of different Marys in the New Testament. It's confusing to keep up with who's who. This is one of the Marys. And Mark and John's gospel tell us what type of ointment this is. It's nard oil. So, nard oil, if you know it today as spike nard.
It's a very precious oil imported from India. It's very expensive. The amount that she brings to him is worth about an annual, a year's salary. I mean, it's a very expensive oil that she brings to him. And Mark's gospel doesn't say, I mean, it gives us more of a picture that she didn't use a little bit. She broke the jar open and she anointed his entire, all over him.
Matthew focuses on the head because there's a little bit of Matthew, what he does with David, some comparisons to David and kingship, anointing of the head. There's some Old Testament pictures there. Mark just talks about he's being covered with this oil. John goes with a different picture, focuses on the fact that she took her hair and she was scrubbing his feet with this oil. This is a deeply humbling admiration for Jesus because she could have grabbed some cheaper oils. Right?
There are cheaper oils out there. She could have gone and gotten something different. But no, she goes and she grabs what's probably the most expensive, most valuable thing that she has. And she goes and she grabs it. She looks at it and says, I know who deserves this. I know who's worthy of this.
Probably would have just sat in her house like fine china that's never used just to look at. She's like, I know who's getting this. And she brings it to Jesus. Jesus taught in Matthew 6.21. He says, For where your treasure is, your heart will be also. And it is clear.
This woman treasures Christ. Which shows the first heart posture that I want us to see this morning. And that is this. If Jesus is your treasure, you'll trade everything for Him. If Jesus is your treasure, you'll trade everything for Him. She treasures Christ.
And out of the overflow of her affection, her admiration, her really worship of Jesus, she devotes the most valuable thing for Him. She goes and she gets it and devotes it to Him. If you treasure Christ, you'll trade everything for Him. And we see that clearly in her actions. It's almost childlike. You get your child something for Christmas or for a birthday.
And they run upstairs and they go and they find the most valuable toy they have and they get excited and they come down and they bring it. I got you this. I mean, she treasures Christ. Her heart belongs to Him. I want you to picture the room and just smell it as she breaks in and she breaks the alabaster, beautiful alabaster jar. She breaks it and starts to anoint Him.
Just think of the smell that would just overwhelm you. Have you ever been to somebody's house that's been diffusing oils? And you walk in and it just knocks you back? That was a few drops of oil they put into a diffuser. And I know that they're the most essential, most precious, most well-sourced, purest oils in the world. But listen, that's a few drops.
This is a pound of expensive, fragrant oil and she just, she completely just anoints Him. I mean, it's a powerful display. It would knock you back to see this. And the disciples see this and they respond. Verse 8, and when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.
So, the disciples are indignant. They're angry. They are not happy at this. They break up the moment with a, well, actually, Jesus. Which I've, I've learned through personal experience that, well, actually, moments aren't received well. They're not appreciated by others.
I get excited and I bring in a well, actually, fact. They're like, oh, I actually just died inside. So, that's what this is. Well, actually, Jesus, this is really expensive oil. We just did the math. That's a year's worth of salary you just taught on, right?
To help the least of these among us. That could have helped a lot of least of these. So, they do this. John's gospel tells us that Judas, who we're going to learn more about in a moment, was leading the charge. But it says, and when the disciples saw it, they were indignant.
This is a collective mindset that this woman has come and she's wasted a lot of precious oil that could have been sold and helped a lot of people. To their credit, minimal credit, it's a jarring moment. She walks in. I mean, it's a lot to handle at once. And that is a very expensive gift. Right now, the elders and our toast team, that's our treasury and oversight sustainability team, they're the ones that oversee our finances.
We work together to put a budget together and that's what we're doing right now. We're putting together a budget because our annual budget runs from second quarter to first quarter so it'll start in April. So we're going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth because we care about stewarding our gifts and offerings well. So we're getting at the end of setting this budget and if someone just piped up and said, you know what, I think we should get Matt Freeman a gift. Let's get him a $40,000 guitar.
We'd go, no, that's insane. That's over the top. But Matt isn't Jesus and Jesus has a completely different take on this. Verse 10. But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, why do you trouble the woman?
For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her. Jesus does not see it as a waste. He sees it as beautiful.
Y'all, He knows the value of the ointment. He knows how to math. You know how we know this? He created math. He knows how to add. He knows what's happening here.
He sees the value. And He sees that it's beautiful. Because this comes at a very specific moment. There's two reasons why this is a beautiful display of affection and worship of Jesus. The first is very clearly seen in the text. This comes at one of the most pivotal moments in all of history.
Jesus is getting ready to go to the cross where He's going to be crucified for the sins of humanity. And then He'll be buried. And when they buried people back then, they anointed their bodies with oil. Whether she knows it or not, it's foreshadowing. It's just pointing forward. He's about to die.
He's about to be buried. It's a beautiful display. And it's foreshadowing. I love just in the details of how God works all of this together. That someone in India sourced this oil. They put it in a beautiful alabaster jar.
It was shipped and it made its way all the way to Israel. It ended up in a marketplace where she or someone else bought this for her and she put it on display for years for everyone to see. And then one day she encountered Jesus and He absolutely changed her world. And then later on she said, you know what? That belongs to Him. I will anoint His body because in God's sovereign plan this was to anoint His body in preparation for what's about to happen in just a few days. that's what's clearly on display but also it shows her heart that if you treasure if Jesus is your treasure you'll trade everything for Him.
She sees Jesus is worthy of this and Jesus says that is wonderful. That is good. This act of devotion will be remembered. He says, write it down. This is going John says of all the stories that be told about Jesus would fill all the books he's saying which means they had to choose which stories they wanted to focus on he says this one gets in. She will be remembered for her act.
So, story shifts again. Verse 14 Then one of the twelve whose name was Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and said what will you give me if I deliver him over to you? And they paid him thirty pieces of silver and from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. Jesus had twelve disciples twelve men that he poured into for three years twelve men that were his friends they ate countless meals together they camped out together they got to do ministry with Jesus see him perform miracles they got to perform miracles they got to be on the inside track of some of the most profound teaching that's ever been taught or ever will be taught for three years the twelve got to spend time with Jesus and then one of them says he's worth thirty pieces of silver he's worth it trade him out take the silver and I'll run thirty pieces of silver is about four months of wages so it is a little bit it is quite a bit of money but Judas says that's worth it we don't know much about actually let me say this for for group leaders those who have led groups I want you to hear me so clearly I know there have been moments where you've watched people turn their back on you stab you in the back where you've watched people walk away from Jesus and you've questioned yourself over and over and over again and I just want to say very clearly to you to lead groups and have led groups Jesus spent three years with twelve and one of them abandoned him and stabbed him in the back and sold him out and you're not better than Jesus so just receive some grace we don't know much about Judas we know that he was one of the twelve we know that he had the same experiences that the other disciples did we know from John's gospel he was the one that led the charge on why is this woman wasting this oil because what was happening was he was the treasurer okay he kept the money bags he wasn't concerned about helping the poor because he was actually helping himself to the money that came from that was given to Jesus' ministry so we know that he's greedy we know he's a thief you know he's deceptive but what we know most about him is really this act of betrayal that I mean I mean Judas that's you call someone a Judas you know you can be a hard atheist you know exactly what that means you're a backstabber you're a traitor you're a betrayer so no one names their kid Judas y'all know anybody named Judas?
You can be a hard atheist you know exactly what that means you're a backstabber you're a traitor you're a betrayer so no one names their kid Judas y'all know anybody named Judas? I don't that's on the black list of names you'd never name your kid that because we know what that means he's a traitor we don't know why Judas did this alright I mean we see that he's greedy
Some have theorized that it's possible that the religious leadership is closing in turning against Jesus we know from the context of the gospels that they assumed some type of political movement was going to happen in Jesus and they were very surprised when it didn't so maybe he just thought I need to get out while I can and get some money we don't know it's possible
It's a decent theory we don't know but you can see very clearly that ultimately one of the reasons why he did this is because he cared about himself and that really presents the second approach to Jesus second heart towards him if something else is your treasure you'll trade Jesus for it if something else is your treasure you will absolutely trade Jesus for it whether it was money
Or power or whatever Judas said it's worth it I'll trade Jesus for that so he sells Jesus out story shifts again verse 17 now on the first day of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus saying where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover he said go into the city to a certain man
And say to him the teacher says my time is at hand I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples and the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover alright so can't spend a lot of time here today we will spend some time next week because in this meal at the very end of it Jesus is going to institute the Lord's Supper communion so we'll spend time on that next week
But you at least need to know what the Passover meal is generally the Passover meal was basically a meal of remembrance it was like celebrating Independence Day it was a joyous meal it remembered that God saved his people from the Egyptians it's a joyous celebration so like every Passover meal that all of them have been in before the expectation is this is a joyous occasion and it turns very quickly into something very serious verse 20 when it was evening he reclined at the table
He reclined at table with the twelve and as they were eating he said truly I say to you one of you will betray me and they were very sorrowful and began to say to him to one another is it I Lord it says they were very sorrowful now that word sorrowful doesn't quite capture the emotions that are involved in this is deep sorrow shock
Confusion they are utterly confused and shocked that anyone amongst them would betray Jesus that can't be is it I Lord is it I Lord one by one is it I Lord they want to know is it me verse 23 he answered he who has dipped his hand in the dish will with me will betray me
The son of man goes as it is written of him but woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed it would have been better for that man if he had not been born Judas who would betray him answered is it I Rabbi he said to him you have said so he says is it I Rabbi he doesn't say is it I Lord he didn't see
Jesus as Lord he sees him as Rabbi a great teacher but not God is it I Rabbi Jesus confirms it yes it is you and shock had to set in and it says that they were greatly they were sorrowed couldn't believe this shock sets in in that moment and ultimately Judas made a decision that he thought was best for him
And it says it had been better had he never been born which is where we get that phrasing from there are two central figures in this series of stories this series of stories there is the woman Mary and there is Judas and there is two different heart approaches to Jesus the first if Jesus is your treasure you'll trade everything for him
That was her heart the second if something else is your treasure you'll trade Jesus for it the problem is is that when we see those two approaches it's very easy for us to distance ourselves from Judas we don't want to be like him we don't want to think of ourselves as anything remotely close to him but the reality
Is is that Judas Judas didn't always look like this Judas spent three he was a disciple he was more of an insider than a woman he looked the part he performed miracles he did good works he helped the poor he taught he was sent out by Jesus as a missionary he looked
Every bit the part so much so that when the eleven found out that one of them was going to betray him they couldn't believe it it's not possible they were greatly sorrowed at this it's hard for it's hard for me to wrap my mind around anyone who can walk away from Jesus I've witnessed over the years and I know it's going to continue to happen people that look
So much like a follower of Jesus people that seem like they were so deeply in love with him and they walk away and then I look at my own heart and I look at my life and how much of my own life is wrapped up in my own self-interest in my own idolatry and I look at this story and I just tremble and I plead
For repentance there's a song by a band called King's Kaleidoscope it's called What Have We Done in that song they say Judas sold you for thirty I'd have done it for less and that may seem to some as melodramatic but I would invite you to check your own heart and examine your own
Heart and realize the things that you treasure over Christ name your price if there's something else that you treasure you ultimately will trade Jesus for it so what are you trading right now what are you trading valuing above
Jesus is it success that's a big one in our culture people will go after success with everything in them a lot of times when we sort this out we talk about deep idols we talk about how power power idolatry is underneath this that it's pushing someone to pursue success at all
Costs they'll steamroll anybody that gets in their way sacrifice their energy their time their effort their money their identity in order to get it because that's the thing they value over Christ at all costs we'll get it and then someone tries to point out hey man I haven't seen you at group a lot lately I haven't seen you on Sundays and it's like
No I'm busy I'm working I've got this I'm doing that and people try to point hey man I think you're valuing this too much you're like no you start boxing people out you've treasured something above Christ if something else is your treasure you will trade Jesus for for others that's sex maybe that's living with your boyfriend or your girlfriend or sleeping
Around and ultimately what comes out of that is this is what makes me happy this person makes me happy and a lot of times when we're working through deep idols like that there might be some approval idolatry that's happening there that you give yourself away to someone because that that means you feel loved like no Jesus is actually
Better don't do this this happens with sexuality someone will say well pedestal this and say no this is the most important thing I could possibly pursue and we're trying to say no this is what the Bible says and someone says I don't care what the Bible says if you treasure something else
Above him you will trade Jesus for it in the end we do this with comfort talk about that as an idol a deep idol beneath all the rest it's the reason why people pursue pleasure that if I can just get comfort in this world whether that's drunkenness whether that's drugs whether that's sensuality
Whether that's pornography if I can just fill up this void life is hard it's full of pain and misery if I can just cover up the pain with a little more pleasure I'll be okay and then someone comes in and says no that's not good that won't actually bring you hope you keep going back to it
It will not satisfy it never brings comfort maybe the kind of person that doesn't like to ever be disturbed doesn't like anyone point out anything in your life everyone bends their will towards you because they don't want to make you angry because your life is about comfort and at the end of the day
You just want to do you and nobody is going to tell you how to live your life if you treasure that above Christ you will trade him for it or maybe it's just you worship yourself it's very clear that's part of what Judas was doing he worshiped himself
Maybe you're so obsessed with your own image to others I feel this there's some control idolatry in this that you got to be all things to different people you got to make sure that you're putting on the best face you got to put on different
Masks you got to control your image you got to control all the things in front of you ultimately you're worshiping yourself this happens with self righteousness ultimately in self righteousness you do a bunch of good works I got to make sure I
Check every box I got to make sure I'm doing all the good things if I don't do all the good things everything's going to fall apart you're not worshiping Jesus you're worshiping yourself maybe the kind of person that values your
Time above others that if anyone infringes upon your time you're not happy maybe it's production I got to get stuff done and it doesn't matter who gets in the way as long as I get the tasks done I go on and on and on I just I want us
To be honest what are you clinging to right now I want you to think about it I want the spirit to go to work on your heart what are you treasuring what are you clinging to above Christ think of it I want you to heed the warning you are already on your way
To the council you are already on your way to collect the silver you are already on your way to trade out Jesus for it and it will destroy you listen Jesus is on a collision course with your idolatry he is on a collision course with my idolatry with my sin and my
Hope this morning is that we see this woman we see her heart and we say I want that I mean that's when I look at the story I want that heart I want to be so deeply in love with Jesus that no as he starts pointing out things
That I'm like that's fine it's yours point it out whatever I find most valuable whatever idolatry that I'm so clinging to I'll go and I'll get it and I will break it before your feet take it that I want the heart of this woman Jesus you want my time you want my money you want my
Future you want my identity point it out I will take it and I will bring it and I will break it before your feet you are worth it I want this heart and for our church I want us to have this heart that we would lay anything that we're clinging to above him anything that we're treasuring above him we lay it at his feet because he's better that's why we say it every week Jesus is better than everything else
Because if you don't believe that if we don't treasure Christ with everything in us you won't make it you will walk away and my hope is that we wouldn't be Judas but we'd be this woman and we come to Jesus in repentance and in worship Matt's going to come up and he is going to sing a song over us it's a song that you're not
Familiar with and I just I want you to just listen to the words and I want you to let the spirit go to work on your heart some of you have actually never treasured Christ you've never actually treasured him and I want this morning for you to finally see that he's better than whatever you're clinging to
I want you to believe I want you right now to come to him to lay your life down completely before him and I want you to respond and believe for the rest of us I want us to if you love if you follow Jesus I want you to to sit in this moment
And ask the Holy Spirit to go to work on your heart it's not if you cling to things you do it's not if you treasure other things you do and I want you to let him go to work on your heart
And I want you to bring it to him I want you to go to find the idols in your heart the things you're treasuring and worship above him and bring it to him it's a daily pursuit of Jesus where we do this y'all this sounds
Familiar for a reason because we have to keep dying to our own self and to our own sin and bringing our idols and bringing the things we treasure to him this week in groups I want you to go to your groups
And I want you to be vulnerable I want you to bring your sin and bring your idolatry I want you to let others call you out and I want us to respond in repentance I want us to have the heart of this woman I want us to come in our brokenness and our weakness because the
Spirit's power is made perfect in our weakness and we are a weak and needy people but we have a sufficient and glorious God who's worthy of our worship so in this moment may we be a people who see a need for Jesus and repent
And behold Jesus like this woman is
The Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
SYSTEMukan Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. I think one of the mistakes we often make in reading the Bible is that we read it as if it is about us. And so you'll see that people read the scriptures and they're just looking for where do I show up in here? How is this about me?
How ought I to respond that it's somehow just a book of morals? And the reality is that the Bible is primarily not about you, but it's about Christ. It's about what God has done in the world on your behalf. And that is extremely good news. That having been said, today we're going to read a Bible story that has you in it. That you're in here.
And what we're going to look at is Jesus prophesies in his last kind of major discourse in the Gospel of Matthew. As he's going to tell us about the end and we're there. And this prophecy will either be a joyous, glorious occasion for you or it will be terrible. And Jesus in his last major teaching in the Gospel of Matthew really goes hard after trying to declare to his disciples that you ought to be ready when he returns. And that you ought to live in such a way that you know that the end will come. That Christ will judge and inaugurate his reign and that we ought to be prepared for that day.
So let's pray together as we then turn to Matthew chapter 25 to study the word together. God, I pray that you would in this moment this morning that you would help us to see ourselves clearly. Lord, I pray that you would help us to see you even more clearly. That we might fix our eyes on you. That we might see what you have done and what you will do and that we might respond accordingly. So we ask for your grace.
We ask for the powerful work of your spirit. We pray that you'd bless this time we have together this morning. In Jesus' name. Amen. So we're in Matthew chapter 25.
Matthew has 28 chapters. So we're coming on the tail end of this. And it's taken us almost no time at all. We've breezed right through this. Matthew chapter 25. We're going to pick up in verse 31.
So in this section, Jesus is answering a question that his disciples had asked him. They said, he had prophesied the destruction of the temple. And they said, when will this be? When will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And so Jesus is answering that question.
And this is the last part of that answer. And he says, when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations. And he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Jesus refers to himself as the son of man. This whole time he's been referring to the coming of the son of man.
So they ask, when is your coming? And he refers to it as the coming of the son of man. And so he's clearly saying that when I return, when I, Jesus return, I will sit in glory, all my angels with me. So he's very definitively declaring himself to be king and judge of the whole world. I think it's silly sometimes when you hear people say, well, you know, Jesus was a good teacher, but he never really claimed to be God. Oh, yeah, he did.
Just read it. He aggressively claims that he's going to return with all of his angels, that he's going to sit on a throne, that he's going to judge the world. He says he will sit on a glorious throne and before him will be gathered all the nations. That's you. You're there. The word nations there means it's not our word nation like nation states.
It's not USA and Canada. We're not going to be sitting there chanting USA. It's not that's not going to happen. Or Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy, whatever you might chant. It's not that it means all people groups, all tribes, all tongues, all languages. Everyone is there.
And then he says he he makes a distinction one from another. Meaning that this is a personal distinction. You will be there as an individual and you as an individual will go one direction or another. He will separate us one from another. And it says as a shepherd might separate sheep and goats. I am not a shepherd.
I don't think you are either. But we can tell the difference between sheep and goats. The distinction on that day for Christ will be very clear. He will be able to see clearly which is which. And so he separates as he Judges all peoples. Verse 33.
And he will place the sheep on his right but the goats on the left. And we'll find out later that you want to be on the right. You want to be among the sheep. And that's a metaphor that Jesus uses on a regular basis. Is that those who belong to him are sheep. That he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.
That his sheep know him. They know his voice and they follow him. That he has a pasture. He has a fold that belong to him. And so his sheep are his church. Those who belong to Christ.
Those for whom he has died. And he separates them. And he puts the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. And again that's just a picture. These are people. Verse 34.
Then the king will say to those on his right. Come you who are blessed by my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you. From the foundation of the world. Oh what a beautiful day to be on the right hand of Christ. That he will come with all of his angels.
In all of his glory. That he will seat himself on a throne. As king and eternal ruler. That he will have all peoples gathered in front of him. Who have ever lived. We're all going to be there.
And then through his power. Or through the work of his angels or something. He's going to begin to separate us. And there's no at that point being like. I think I'm on the wrong side. I want to be.
Like you do what you're told. And we're going to be separated. And we're going to be before this glorious throne. And then he's going to turn and look. To those on his right. And he's going to say.
Come. You blessed by my father. Inherit the kingdom. Prepared for you. From the foundation of the world. What a beautiful day.
Can you see that? Can you feel what that would be like. For just a moment. To be in front of King Jesus. In all of his glory. And him to welcome you.
And to call you blessed. And to say that there's a kingdom. That's been prepared for you. Since the foundation of the world. That's what Ephesians tells us. That he chose us in him.
Before the foundation of the world. That he's preparing this place for us. That his original design. Was that we would live with him in Eden. That we would belong to him. That we would be his people.
And that got broken. And that got lost. Through sin. But that Christ has come to redeem a people. That might belong to him again. That might get to live in his kingdom.
That he's been preparing. His ultimate desire this entire time. That awaits those who know him. And love him. And have been redeemed by him. Verse 35.
He says. For I was hungry. And you gave me food. I was thirsty. And you gave me drink. I was a stranger.
And you welcomed me. I was naked. And you clothed me. I was sick. And you visited me. I was in prison.
And you came to me. Then the righteous. This is the first time we're told this. But those on his right. Are righteous. They are holy.
They are good. Then the righteous will answer him. Saying. Lord. When did we see you hungry. And feed you.
Or thirsty. And give you drink. And when did we see you a stranger. And welcome you. Or naked. And clothe you.
And when do we see you sick. Or in prison. And visit you. Now Jesus is prophesying. I don't know. It seems really bold.
To say that. Like if I'm on his right. In that day. And he says. You're blessed. You've done all these things.
I'm not going to go. I don't think I did. I don't want to call you out. But I should be on the other side. Just be blessed guys. Like just.
But there. There's this response. That they have. It's like. I don't know. When did.
When did this happen? When did we see you. And respond. This way. And the king. Will answer them.
Truly I say to you. As you did it. To one of the least of these. My brothers. You did it. To me.
Now that phrase. My brothers. Is. Very important. To understanding this passage. This is often taught.
That the least of these. Just means. Everybody who is. Hungry or hurting. Or. Poor or destitute.
But. That phrase. My brothers. And some translations. Will say. That you did.
To my brothers. Or sisters. Even the least of them. Even the smallest of them. You did to me. That phrase.
My brothers. That's only used. In the gospel of Matthew. For two types. Of brothers and sisters. Physical bloodline.
Brothers and sisters. Or. Disciples. Those who belong. To Christ. So.
There's even a place. Matthew 12. It says. That they. Come to him. And they say.
Your mother. And brothers. And sisters. Are here. And he says. Who is my brother.
My mother. And who are my brothers. And stretching out his hands. Toward his disciples. He said. Here.
Are my mother. And my brothers. For whoever does the will. Of my father in heaven. Is my brother. And sister.
And mother. In Matthew 28. After his resurrection. He says. Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers.
To go to Galilee. And they will see me. This picture of the church. Being brothers and sisters. Being a family in Christ. Is the predominant picture.
Given to us. In the New Testament. And it seems as if. Jesus is. Clarifying. That this was done.
Not specifically to. Not in general. To anyone who was destitute. But specifically to those. Who belong to him. And he's reiterating an idea.
That we see in Matthew 10. Where Jesus is sending out his disciples. And he says. Whoever receives you. Receives me. And whoever receives me.
Receives him who sent me. So he's telling his disciples. If they will receive you. If they'll accept you. They receive me. And as he keeps going.
In verse 42. He says. And whoever gives one of these little ones. Even a cup of cold water. Because he is a disciple. Truly I say to you.
He will by no means. Lose his reward. So it seems as if. Jesus is pulling that same idea. To here. And saying.
That these are the people. Who loved and received. Those who belong to Christ. That they loved and received. The church. That this is not.
Just being nice to everyone. In general. There's a couple of things. To say about that. One. You are supposed to be nice.
To everyone in general. Jesus tells us. Specifically. Pointedly. There are three groups of people. We're supposed to love.
We're supposed to love. The brothers. We're supposed to love. Those who belong to Christ. And specifically. To do things for them.
Because they belong to Christ. We're supposed to love. Our neighbors. And his story. The good Samaritan says. Everyone's your neighbor.
And we're supposed to love. Our enemies. Those who belong to Jesus. Those who you come in contact with. Those who are your enemies. That's who we're called to love.
You don't know anyone. Who's not in one of those categories. So this. Highlighting. And specifying. That he is talking to those.
About those who belong to Christ. Is not. To say. That we don't have to. Oh good. We don't have to help other people.
But it is to help us understand. What he's saying. In this. Passage. That's what he says. In John 13 34.
He says. A new commandment. I give to you. That you love. One another. Just as I have loved you.
You are also to love. One another. By this. This love for one another. All people will know. That you are my disciples.
If you have love. For one. Another. That there is a distinct. And special. Love.
In the church. For those who belong to Christ. I was a. When I was in college. I was an intern. At a church.
In Lawrence. South Carolina. The pastor was. Out one Sunday. There was a guest. Pastor coming to preach.
And I was his handler. I was to show up early. And help him get his microphone. And show him where things were. Be his friend. So I did that.
He was an older gentleman. Big old guy. Real country. And after everything got started. And you know. I just went and sat down.
I was in the front. First or second row. Sitting next to my wife. And she takes notes. She has real pretty handwriting. And she.
When someone is preaching. She will write down the date. She will write down who it is. If she knows her name. She will put. If they have a sermon title.
She will put that in quotations. At the top. Or she will start writing. Real kind of pretty writing. The kind of the passage. That they are coming from that day.
And that morning. He. He was going to preach from this. John 13 34. And he says. He says.
Now God. Says. That we are supposed to love. One another. And we are supposed to love our enemies. And we are supposed to love our neighbors.
But I am here today. To tell you. Who we supposed. To love. Special. I was paying attention.
And then I glanced over at her notes. And she had written in parenthesis. Who we supposed to love special. Y'all. I lost it. I'm on the second row.
It's just. I was like. That's an excellent title for a sermon. Who we supposed to love special. And I'm going. It's bad.
You can't let me and my wife hang out with each other. We cause trouble. But. It wasn't a good look. It's not my best day. But I did sit and laugh.
For a full like seven minutes. Because I couldn't get it together. If I could have just laughed a little bit out loud. It would have been fine. But I had to.
But Jesus here. I think is saying the same thing. That there is a. Who we supposed to love special. That we are supposed to have a specific. Reception.
And love. And grace. Towards those who belong to Christ. And there is something in that idea. Of who those who receive you. Receive me.
And those who receive me. Receive him who sent me. That same idea. That if we. Love and receive the church. And those who will love.
And receive those who belong to Christ. Will ultimately love and receive Christ. And will ultimately get the father. That's why he. We want to be good missionaries. And that's why we talk about.
We've been sent out as the church. Because if people will receive us. They'll eventually receive Christ. And if they'll get Christ. They get the father. So he says.
That to those. On his right. Verse 41. Then he will say. To those on his left. Depart from me.
You cursed. Into the eternal fire. Prepared for the devil. And his angels. Depart. From me.
You cursed. Into the eternal fire. Prepared for the devil. And his angels. The kingdom. You will be here.
On that day. We will be in front of a glorious. And fearful king. And he will look at some. And say. Welcome.
You blessed. Come inherit the kingdom. And he will look at others. And say. Depart from me. You cursed.
Into the eternal fire. You are. Prepared for the devil. And his angels. The kingdom. Is prepared for those.
Who will receive it. Those who end up. In hell. Have joined. The enemy. Hell was not prepared.
For you. Hell was prepared. For the devil. And his angels. And it is a place. Of eternal punishment.
For him. I don't know. What you have seen. On cartoons. Or TV shows. Or movies.
Satan does not hang out. In hell. And he does not enjoy it. When he eventually goes there. He is not the ruler. Of hell.
Christ. Is the ruler of hell. And he has prepared it. For the devil. And his angels. But those who do not.
Submit to Christ. Do not love Christ. Do not follow Christ. Have not been redeemed. By Christ. Will join.
The enemy. In his punishment. And it is a place. Of eternal fire. There is a glorious kingdom. Prepared.
From the beginning. Of the world. And there is a place. Of eternal punishment. And everyone. On that day.
Will be sent. One way or the other. And if you. Have not considered this. I plead with you. To consider this.
If you have not. Wrapped your mind around. There will be a day. When you see. Jesus. And that will be.
A beautiful. Glorious day. Or that will be. A terrible. Frightening. Awful day.
I ask you to see this. And he'll say. For I was hungry. And you gave me no food. I was thirsty. And you gave me no drink.
I was a stranger. And you did not. Welcome me. Naked. And you did not clothe me. Sick.
And in prison. And you did not visit me. Then they also. Will answer. Saying. Lord.
When did we see you hungry. Or thirsty. Or a stranger. Or naked. Or sick. Or in prison.
And did not. Minister to you. Then he will answer them. Saying. Truly. I say to you.
As you did. Not do it. To one of the least of these. You did not. Do it. To me.
And these will go away. Into eternal punishment. But the righteous. Into eternal life. Your soul. Was meant.
To live for eternity. And your soul. Will. Live. Beyond your body. All of our bodies.
Are failing. All of them. And they fail more. And more. Over time. And the older you get.
The more you have discussions. With people your age. About how your body. Is failing you. It's just how it is. Little kids.
Heal up. Like magic. Overnight. They heal right up. High school. You heal up pretty quick.
College. You heal up pretty quick. Then you start getting injuries. And you're like. I rolled my ankle. Fifteen years ago.
And it is somehow. Still rolled. It has not unrolled itself. And the older you get. The more you will sit around. And discuss with people.
All the things that are wrong with you. Your body is failing you. This is God's grace. A simple. A simple. A simple.
Gracious reminder. That you will one day meet him. That your body will not last forever. But your soul will. And I want you to see. That these two locations are eternal.
Eternal punishment. Or eternal life. That you will be sent. Somewhere that is. Terrible. Or somewhere that is.
Glorious. And I think it's. A very valid question. For us to try to understand. What is this passage saying. And how might I end up.
On the right. Oh. If this is true. I want to be among the sheep. First thing I want us to see. We ought to take away from this passage.
Is that Jesus will return. To judge the world. There is a day. When everything will be called to account. When you will stand before him. Final judgment will be passed.
And it will be done. Based off of. King Jesus's desires. Not ours. Not our method for fairness. Not what we think ought to happen.
There will be no. Appeal court. I know we're Americans. And we don't like. Monarchies. But Jesus is a king.
And there is no overruling him. He will return. To judge the world. And you need to see that clearly. Secondly. The thing we have to understand.
From this passage. Because this passage. Taken on its own. Removed from it. The context of the rest. Of scripture.
Can lead us. In an odd direction. So the second thing. We're going to spend our time on. This morning. Is that we do not earn.
Righteousness. But we do display it. If you are in Christ. We do not earn righteousness. But we do display it.
The righteous. Will dwell. With Christ. For eternity. So another way of saying that.
Is we do not earn. Our salvation. But we do. Display it. If you took. Just this passage.
On its own. You better run outside. And feed some hungry people. Because all he's going to do. Is keep up with. Whether or not you've done that.
But that would be. To negate the rest of scripture. That says that you do not. Earn salvation. I want to show my work. Romans.
Chapter 3. Paul says. What then? Are we Jews. Any better off? No.
Not at all. He's reading. He's talking about Jews. They've been given the law. They've been told. How they ought to act.
But he says. For we have already charged. That all. Both Jews and Greeks. Are under sin. As it is written.
None is righteous. Okay. So now we have a contradiction. Because he says. You righteous. Welcome to the kingdom.
But the scriptures also say. None is righteous. So it's as if. Jesus is saying. On that day. I will separate the sheep.
From the goats. Oh. No sheep. It says. None is righteous. No.
Not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good.
Not even one. Sound like you and your family? Sounds like mine. For by works of the law. No human being will be justified. That means made right.
In his sight. So those who are justified. Are righteous. But he says. No one will be. Not by works of the law.
Since through the law. Comes knowledge of sin. So that if you learn all the rules. All it does. Is show you your wickedness. But then Jesus says.
In the very next sentence. The very next thing. That he comes out of his mouth. In chapter 26. If we look at that in Matthew. It says.
When Jesus had finished. When Jesus had finished. All these sayings. He said to his disciples. You know that after two days. The Passover is coming.
And the son of man. Will be delivered up. To be crucified. So Jesus says. In Matthew chapter 25. Something that seems as if.
He's declaring to us. That we ought to go out. And earn our salvation. And then the next words. Out of his mouth. Are I'm going to the cross.
And then. As we see this carried out. Into the rest of the New Testament. We begin to understand. What's going on. Galatians 2 21.
Also Paul. He says. I do not nullify. The grace of God. Meaning unearned favor. That's what grace is.
For if righteousness. Were through the law. It's good behavior. Good actions. Then Christ died.
For no purpose. So whatever. Anybody says. What God wants from us. Is to be a good person. That's what Jesus came.
To teach us how to be moral. The question I always ask them. Is then why did he die? What is the purpose of the cross? Because if he just wants. You to be a good person.
And that's all it takes. What was the purpose of the cross? Paul says. No purpose at all. If the point is for you. To be moral.
We would nullify grace. And Christ would die. For no purpose. Titus 3 5. He saved us. Not because of works.
Done by us. In righteousness. But according to his own mercy. By the washing of regeneration. And the renewal of the Holy Spirit. Or Philippians 3.
I have suffered the loss of all things. And count them as rubbish. In order that I may gain Christ. And be found in him. Not having a righteousness of my own. That comes from the law.
But that which comes through faith in Christ. The righteousness of God. That depends on faith. So if we're to read this. With the rest of the New Testament in mind. We would look and say.
Those who are on his right. Those who are his sheep. Are those who have the righteousness of Christ. Applied to their account. Through faith. By grace.
Through the work of Jesus. But they have not earned this on their own. But Jesus says. He'll look at them and say. Welcome. You've done good things.
You see. Jesus in this passage. These things are not in contradiction with one another. Jesus in this passage. If you understand the rest of the New Testament. Is talking about the fruit of salvation.
Not the root of salvation. He's talking about what the root of salvation. Eventually leads to. Which is fruit. That those who have been made righteous by Christ. Display righteousness.
So we do not earn our righteousness. But we do display it. This is what he says in Matthew 7. Beware of false prophets. Who come to you in sheep's clothing. But inwardly are ravenous wolves.
You will recognize them. By their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes. Or figs from thistles. So every healthy tree bears good fruit.
But the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit. Nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit. Is cut down. And thrown into the fire.
Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. So Jesus can look at those on his right. Call them righteous. And declare. And refer to their good works. Because they are the outworking.
Of his righteous work in them. 1 John 3.10 By this it is evident. Who are the children of God. Okay. So there is evidence.
Someone says I belong to Jesus. There ought to be evidence. You ought to be able to watch their life. And go yeah. Seems like it. This is one of the reasons.
Why we do membership through community groups. Some of the reasons we do membership through community groups. Is that we want to care for you. And if you are not in a group. We don't really have a way to do that. But some of the reasons we do membership through community groups.
When we do membership class. We just tell you things. And then we send you off to your group. And your group has to co-sign whether or not you are a member. Because in membership class. In our membership commitment.
You are saying I believe these things. And if you go back to your group. And say I want to be a member. And your group can go. You don't believe those things. We love you.
No. We want you to believe those things. But we know you well enough to know. That this isn't showing up in your life. We want to walk this out with you. We want to help hold you to this.
It says by this it is evident. Who are the children of God. And who are the children of the devil. Okay. So those who belong to Christ.
And those who belong to the enemy. Whoever does not practice righteousness. Is not of God. Nor is the one who does not love his brother. If it doesn't show up. You don't belong to him.
Verse 14. As he continues. He says we know that we have passed out of death. Into life. Because we love the brothers. Do you love the church?
He says we know that we belong to Jesus. Because we love the brothers. Do you? Whoever does not love. Abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother.
Is a murderer. And you know that no murderer. Has eternal life abiding in him. Meaning that if you do not care. For the church. You do not love those who belong to Jesus.
That you hate them. They bother you. They frustrate you. And you don't overcome that with forgiveness and grace. But you just turn from them.
He says that you've got death abiding in you. By this we know love. That he laid down his life for us. Oh he gives us a picture of love. Full sacrifice. That he laid down his life for us.
Some of you say I would love the church. But it's really hard. And they're very aggravating. Yes. It's going to feel a lot like dying. To love the church.
That's how we know love. That he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods. And sees his brother in need. Yet closes his heart against him.
How does God's love abide in him? Well that's a sentence. Just pulled directly from what Jesus just said. That he's going to look at. Those who belong to him and say. I know you belong to me.
Because of look at what you did. Look at how you responded to those in need. And that's why. John can say. If you have the world's goods. And you see a brother in need.
And you don't respond. How do you have love in you? If you can see them. And just turn. And don't care. How do you have love in you?
How is it there? If you don't care. And those who abide in Christ. Abide in love. So James 2.
What good is it my brothers. If someone says he has faith. But does not have works. Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed. And lacking in daily food.
And one of you says to them. Go in peace. Be warmed and filled. Without giving them the things needed for the body. What good is that? So also.
Faith by itself. If it does not have works. Is dead. One of the things we talk about in this church. Is that we want to be gospel centered. We want to be gospel fluent.
We want to know how the gospel applies to life. And we want to point each other back to Christ. In all things. And I think there's a danger for us sometimes. To someone struggling in our group. Someone's in need in our group.
And we just encourage them. Just know that the Lord cares for you. He loves you. He'll provide for you. We know that. Because Jesus came.
And he died. And he provided everything for us. And you leave. And you're like. I blessed them. Because I gave them the gospel.
And James says. Yeah. Did you help him pay the bill? Did you help him pay the bill? Or did you just tell him Jesus was good? Because if he's not good in you.
To help you be the church. So they might receive you. So they might receive him. So they might know the father. If he's not in you. What faith is that?
Oh it's dead. Oh it's dead. And so if you are saying. I belong to Christ. I've been made righteous by Christ. My tree is renewed.
I have the root of salvation. Then Christ can look at you and say. Yes. Show me the fruit of salvation. Do you love? Do you care?
Do you sacrifice? Do you welcome? Do you welcome? Do you pay attention? Do you listen? Do you pray?
Do you give? Has the root of salvation. If you're saying it's the root. It means it's the absolute core of you. And if it's the absolute core of you. If he's gone to work on the inside of you.
To make you righteous. Now it'll be a mess sometimes. And there are seasons. That's why I love that it's fruit. There are seasons where it takes a while. There are seasons where it doesn't show up.
The way you want it to. But long enough. It's going to show up. And so if you say. This is the core of me. That I belong to Jesus.
One of the questions is. Okay. Is that reflected in the outer part of you? Is it reflected in your wallet? Is it reflected in your time? Is it reflected in how you love and care for the church?
Do you have time for those who are in need? Do you? Do you? Do you? Do you? Do you?
Do you? Do you? If not. John says. The love of God does not abide in you. James says.
Your faith is dead. And Christ says. Depart from me you cursed. I think too often. We have pitched Christianity. We have understood Christianity.
We have understood being a Christian. And being a faithful Christian. As all the things we do not do. Depending on your age group. What church you grew up in. Christians don't dance.
They don't watch movies. Christians don't dress a certain way. Christians don't talk a certain way. The joke I always had growing up. Was they don't drink smoke or chew. Or date girls that do.
Christians don't sleep around. Well. Okay. I have heard a pastor say. That he. Had a friend.
Who had a dog. That was. 15 years old. And that dog. Laid on the floor. In his friend's house.
And he said. Often it seemed like. The way we describe Christianity. My friend's dog. Was a. A beautiful.
Wonderful picture. Of a good Christian. Because he didn't do. Do anything. And if all Christians. Are.
People who don't do things. Then that dog. Was excellent. But Christ says. He's going to look at the church. And say.
You did. Do. Things. I think. Too often. We've thought of Christianity.
As not only the things. That I don't do. But a bunch of little. Personal activities. That we do. Read my Bible.
I pray. Those are excellent. They're good. The reason you need to read your Bible. Is so you'll read stuff like this. And if you just read it.
And go. Hmm. Good point. Thanks Jesus. And close your Bible. Or turn your little phone app off.
And move on. Without. Doing the things. James says. It's like someone who looks in a mirror. Sees that their hair is messed up.
Sees they have mustard on their face. And then walks away. And doesn't do anything. With what they saw. The reason we pray. The reason we read the Bible.
Is so that we might be the people. That have been sent out in the world. To display Christ. To have righteousness. Dwell in us. And exude from us.
And all the things that Christ lists us here. Are relational. Do you love? Do you care? Oh. Do you care?
Oh. And it's a beautiful picture. He says. I was hungry. And you gave me food. I was thirsty.
And you gave me drink. Christians provide physical needs. Pay for groceries. Buy meals. And when we do that. We're displaying the gospel at work.
In our heart. Because Jesus says. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. That he'll satisfy. And so that we know. We've been satisfied.
Of our deepest longest. Deepest longing of our hearts. Our hunger and our thirst. To be made right. And so therefore. We respond.
In caring for others. Physical short term needs. He says. I was a stranger. And you welcomed me. That we're supposed to be hospitable.
That we're supposed to open our houses. For people to stay with us. And to eat with us. I was thinking yesterday. I know sometimes people are like. Yeah but what if.
Like what if I pick up a hitchhiker. Or what if I have someone to come in the house. And they hurt me. This is much easier for me to think through. Personally. Than for my family.
So I'm just going to think through it personally. But I was thinking. If I was by myself. And I picked up a hitchhiker. And he killed me. That's kind of a good way to meet the Lord y'all.
That's what I thought yesterday. There's a real good chance. I'm going to be doing something stupid. When I die. This one felt pretty good. Be like.
Yeah Lord. I was just doing that hospitality stuff. You talked about. But that we would. Welcome people. This is.
People who come down. And do summer internships with us. This is missionaries. This is refugees. This is orphans. That we would have strangers.
Who belong to Jesus. And we would welcome them. Just because they belong to Jesus. And we'd say. Hey. We're all going to share a big table.
In eternity. Come share my table with me right now. He says. I was naked. And you clothed me. They were exposed.
They lacked. Everything. Everything. That they needed. He said. You clothed me.
Do we care when we hear about. Tragedies in other countries. Do we care when we hear about it in other states. Do we care that there are people in our city. Who are wearing the same thing over and over again. That we.
That they need. Clothing. We were exposed. We were naked. We were uncovered in our shame. And Christ came.
And he was stripped naked. And exposed. So that he might take our shame. So that we might be clothed in his righteousness. You absolutely better believe that Christ. That Christians respond.
To soul level clothing. By simple. Earthly. Caring about the needs of others. There's a beautiful picture of the gospel. It says.
I was sick. And you visited me. I've been so blessed in this church. When I've seen some of our older members. There's two ladies in our church. Who at different times.
Would gather up gift bags. And gift baskets. And they would go travel around. And they would visit every single person. That's homebound or shut in. Just to care for them.
I mean there have been days. Where I heard that story. And I went and just sat in my office. And I thanked Jesus. That he was good. That he works in people.
That their hearts so love him. That they so love each other. There have been pictures of people. Who have been hurt. And gotten to go live. With another church family member.
There have been pictures of people. Who have run out of money. And church families come together. To pay for hospital bills. Medical bills. Buy vehicles.
And it's this beautiful picture. Of these people actually believe. They actually belong to Christ. That's why he says. The world will know. That you're my disciples.
By the way you love. One another. He says. I was in prison. And you came to me. There are a lot of inmates.
Who have placed their faith in Christ. This is also. It's weird. I don't really want people in my house. Yeah. But we had Christ go to a cross for us.
He died so that we might be redeemed. So that we might live out a picture of that. So yeah. Christians do a bunch of stuff they don't want to do. And yes. There's also a bunch of stuff we'd like to do.
That we don't do. But that's not our primary marker. They were meant to be people who love. And who so. Are so in love with Christ. And so see what he's done for us.
That we respond. You see. We do not earn our righteousness. But we do display it. And that means there's a very important distinction here. As you consider this.
And I would call on you to consider this. I'm calling you to consider this today. I'm calling you to consider it this week. I'm calling you to read this passage. And look over it. Because the reality is.
You want to be among the sheep. But if you look at your life. If you look in the mirror. And you see that there is no fruit of righteousness. The response is not. I better do better.
Oh I better start serving. I better get it together. If there is no fruit of righteousness. Then your faith is dead. There is no love in your heart. And you need Christ.
And you need his righteousness. To go to work on the root. So that then the fruit might be displayed. Now some of you are going. I see where the Lord is at work here. And I see where the Lord is at work here.
And I really do grow in hospitality. I really do need to add some of this to my life. And I need to be repentant. And asking the Lord to help me see this. But if you're looking at this.
And you walk out of here. And your only response is. I'm going to do better. I'm going to try harder. And then I will earn my salvation. And my righteousness.
That is not how it works. You are a sinner. In need of a savior. Who redeems you. And then righteousness. Blooms out.
Like fruit. Fruit. But if you have a tree. That doesn't grow fruit. You don't go to the spots. Where fruit should be.
And try to fix it there. The root's got to be okay. It's got to have water. It's got to have all these. Actual nutrients. Before it can.
Grow up and do what it's supposed to. The band is going to come back up. My hope is that we would hear well. The words of Christ. In his last major teaching. That you would know that a judgment is coming.
That an eternity is coming. That it is real. That it is coming for all of us. Sooner than we think. That's one of the primary things. That he goes after in this.
When will it come? Sooner than you think. And oh may we respond. In repentance. Receiving the grace that is offered. And then by Christ's righteousness.
A work in us. May we look like these people. And grow in our love for each other. And for our neighbors. And for our enemies. But I pray the Lord would help us.
To love each other special. Let's pray. God we thank you for your grace. Lord we will all see you on that day. And we eagerly await. For you to arrive as our glorious king.
But Lord may we be ready. For those here this morning. That have no love. Who would say they have faith. But by their life it is displayed as dead.
We pray that they would come to you. To be made new. That they would plead with you. To redeem them. To be righteous. In their place.
That you would forgive them of their sins. And make them whole. We pray that we would all grow. In displaying the fruit of righteousness. Which is a genuine love. For those around us.
May we see you. And your love. And may it empower us. To sacrifice. To give. To care.
To be put out. For the sake of others. As you were put out. Cast out. And destroyed. For our sake.
In Jesus name. Amen.
Ready or Not (Matthew 24:36-25:30)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Transcription by CastingWords Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. I'm glad to be with you all this morning. If you'll grab your Bibles, go to Matthew chapter 24. We are working through the Gospel of Matthew.
We went all the way through chapter 24 last week. I don't know if your brain hurt at the end of that, but mine did. And we went through, it's a dense passage where Jesus is answering the question about future events. He was answering the question about the destruction of the temple, which was future to them, past to us, and his return and the end of the age. And so he answers through and gives some signs and some things to look for. And it's easy for us to want to spend a lot of time trying to really understand exactly what each of those signs means and exactly what he's pointing towards.
But Jesus, in his answer, gets to the end and he starts saying, you don't know when I will return, so be ready. And that's his primary point. And so I think it is worth studying and trying to figure out what exactly he means and exactly what sign lines up with what and what historical event. But Jesus' conclusion is wrong. You guessed wrong. You're not going to know exactly.
His conclusion isn't wrong, just to be clear in my sentence there. He tells us that we ultimately aren't going to narrow it down and make it perfect and know exactly when he's returning and exactly what lines up with what. He says we can know the season, we can look for the signs, but ultimately we need to be ready. And then he tells three parables back to back to the effect that we would be ready. And that's what we're going to look at today. So this is where he goes in verse 36 of chapter 4.
He says, But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father only. And then verse 44 as he keeps talking about it, he says, Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. And so then he tells three parables to help press that into our mind. So the parable is a story that has one primary point to help us understand exactly what he's talking about, to help us picture it. And we're going to run through those parables this morning. We'll spend less time on the first one because we read it last week, but we're going to keep working through those.
And we ought to be ready. We ought to be ready to meet the Lord. He says he will return at a time we do not expect, meaning that we ought to be ready for his return. We believe in a literal, physical death of Jesus, a literal, physical resurrection of Christ, that he ascended into heaven, and we believe in a literal, physical return of Christ, at which point time ends, and all of our choices in how we respond to Jesus is set. It is final, and we ought to be ready. But if you do not make it to the return of Christ, you will make it to your death.
And I was looking at the statistics, and the most recent stats show that 100% of people die, and that was before COVID, so I'm sure it's worse now. That ultimately all of us will meet the Lord, and we ought to be ready. And so the question for us today is, what does readiness look like? When he says you need to be ready, what does he have in mind? Is there a certain sort of clothes we're supposed to wear? Should we sell all of our stuff?
Wear white? Sit on a mountain? Stare at the clouds? What does he want us to do? What does readiness look like? And so as we look through these, we're going to see what readiness ought to look like.
We're going to see some temptations towards being unprepared. And finally, as we finish up today, we'll talk through the consequences of either. The results of being ready, or the results of being found unprepared. And so let's pray for our time this morning, and then we'll move into the main portion of the text we're going to look at. God, we ask for your grace. Pray that you would help us as we study your word, that no one in this room, that no one who is watching online, would be found unprepared.
That we would make it to the end. That we would stand before you ready, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, joyfully awaiting the day of your return. And not in that moment begin to beg for more time, or for a second chance. We ask by your grace that we would hear this. In Jesus' name, amen. This is Jesus' final discourse in Matthew.
He talks some more, but this is the final section where he's really teaching, and it's aggressive. It's heavy. Because what is at stake, that Jesus felt so important that he would come and die for it, is our literal, eternal state. And so Jesus wants us to be ready for his return. Verse 45. Chapter 24, verse 45.
He says, Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant, whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. So the first picture Jesus gives is, as a master leaves, he puts one of his servants in charge of the other servants, to care for them, to give them their food at the proper time. And he says, That servant will be blessed. It will be good and glorious and joyful, if when the master returns, that servant is doing what he's supposed to.
And so the first picture of readiness, is that you want to be found doing what he called you to do, when he returns. You want to be found following through with what he's called you to. To be found faithfully at work. But then verse 48, he says, But if that wicked servant says to himself, My master is delayed, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
So he says, He'll be blessed if he's found working, but he says, But if he thinks, I got time, he's not coming yet, and begins to abuse the position he's put in. And the two kind of abuses he shows, is one is abuse of his fellow servants, that he's beating them. He was there, his authority given to this servant, was for the good of his fellow servants. He was to feed them at the proper time, he was to care for them, to make sure that they were well taken care of. And what happens is, in this position of authority, he begins to use it, he begins to Lord it over them, he begins to oppress them, and then he eats and drinks with gluttons and drunkards.
He begins to party. And those are two temptations, that would lead us from being ready, from the return of Christ. One is, a desire for power, a desire to have other people serve us, for things to work out well for us, at the expense of others. Have y'all ever noticed, how quickly, a small amount of power, can go to somebody's head? Like, petty amounts of power, can go to people's heads. You can put a child in the front of a line, and it's arbitrary, but they're the front of the line, and all of a sudden, it's like, I'm captain of the world.
And that, we don't grow out of that. We do this in, homeowners associations, and PTAs. We can do it in, in Bible studies, where somebody has a little bit of authority, and they Lord it over other people. They're no longer there to serve, they're no longer there to, to help others do better, to, to give up of themselves, for the sake of others, but they're there for others, to make things better for them, and that's a real danger, that we would at some point, lose the fact, that we have a master, who will return, and we can actually begin to live, in such a way that, we just want the power, to benefit us.
Inside of, the US, there are some different power imbalances. Inside your household, there may be some different power imbalances. Globally, there's some different power imbalances. Just being a citizen of the United States, puts us in a relative position of power, with relative wealth, security. And do we allow, every situation, where we have some, some authority, to just benefit us, or do we see and look, and go, okay, where can I use this, to the benefit of others? And blessed will we be, if we're following through, with what the master's called us to do, and if we're giving up, and serving others, when he comes.
The second one is this, that he begins to drink, and party, celebrate. That he thinks that, part of the, the good life for him, is that the master's not going to come, so I can just do what I want. He, he Acts as if it all belongs to him, and that his point is, the point of life, and goodness is indulgence. And that's a real temptation. To just spend life, trying to enjoy, the good things that are around us, the good food that is around us, the good drink that is around us. I, I don't mean to brag, but I, I manage a firework store, twice a year.
So, yeah, I'm a bit of a businessman. And, there was a guy, who was working for me, and he, he was 19, somewhere around in there, and he was going into, I think his sophomore year, at USC. And I was just talking to him, he was working, he lived in Aiken, and he was home for the summer, and then he was coming up, to go here. And I said, hey, when you, when you get up to school, come, come by and hang out with us, and I'd love for you to, you know, join our church, and be around at least, you know, check it out. And he said, he's like, yeah, man, I, I mean, my family's Christians and stuff, and I know, like I know that Jesus is God, and I need to follow him, and I know he died for us, but I just, right now, just want to have some fun.
I just don't, he said, I'm young, I got time, and when I get a little bit older, I'll, I'll get it together, you know, I'll follow him, and I'll do all that stuff, but right now, I just don't want to, I just, I'm going to try to join a fraternity, and that's really what I want to do. He's confused about a few things. One, if he thinks a fraternity is better than Jesus, he's very confused, both about fraternities and Jesus. He's also confused about how much time he has, because that is not certain. And this is a real temptation for us to feel like, now's my best opportunity to have, quote unquote, fun, and I'll, I'll follow Jesus later.
But the point of this parable is that, later comes upon us very quickly. It can catch up with us when we don't expect it. Jesus actually says, that's what it will happen. So that's the first parable. That we might be found working when he comes, that we might use what authority we have, to follow through with what he has called us to do, which is to serve others, and that we might not be led astray, into self-indulgence, and sin, tricking ourselves into thinking, we have plenty of time. Chapter 25, verse 1.
Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went to meet the bridegroom. There's a, there's a country song, by Kenny Chesney. One of the lines is, that one of the things that's good in life, is the way that she looks, with rice in her hair. And when you hear that song, it takes a second, you go, oh, okay, what does wife look like, when they got married? The way that she looked, with rice in her hair. Got it.
They threw rice, that's in her hair. Got it. That's the way this statement works, for not us. If you didn't know, that people threw rice, at the end of weddings, the way that she looks, with rice in her hair, is a really weird sentence. One of the good things in life, is how your wife looks, with rice in her hair. Okay, buddy.
Sounds good. That's what this sentence works like. Then the kingdom of heaven, will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went to meet the bridegroom. Okay, what is going on? Well, virgins here, means unmarried, women. This is, all the single ladies.
And they're going to meet the bridegroom, they're not the bride. The bride, the bridegroom has left, to go get the bride. They would have had, a small ceremony there, and he's coming back, and when he comes back, the party starts. There's a ceremony, people join him, to walk, and to march, and people yell in the streets, and there's a big ceremony, and depending on how well off, this groom is, it'll be a party, that lasts for a day. It could be a party, that lasts for a week. And so they're awaiting, the party, and they love the groom.
They know the groom, they're part of his hometown, his family, so he goes to marry the bride, but they're awaiting the groom, they're excited to celebrate with him. And, I just want to point out, it's a beautiful marriage illustration. Happy Valentine's Day. We did it. You thought we were just working through Matthew, but we intentionally put, no, okay, anyway, sorry. So they're waiting, for the bridegroom to come, and then it says, five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
So that's the distinction here, we're about to find out, what makes one foolish, and what makes one wise. It says, for when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil, with their lamps. Okay. Their lamps, had a little hole in the top, you put oil in, it had a wick, that would go down this little tube. If you picture like, Aladdin lamp, kind of what it looked like, and then they would light this section, of the wick, that would soak up the oil. The foolish ones, grabbed their lamp, hit the door.
The wise ones, grabbed their lamp, and extra oil, and hit the door. The wise ones assuming, this may take longer, than I think. The foolish, thinking the groom will return, at a time, that is convenient for me. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy, and slept. So they're waiting for the party to start, he's taking forever, and so they just, are sitting and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and eventually they fall asleep.
All of them, both wise and foolish, fall asleep. So sleeping here, isn't foolish. It's normal. They're just tired. Verse 6. But at midnight, there was a cry, here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him.
So the party's starting, at midnight. Some of y'all, you're like, yeah, that's a good party. Others of you are like, I would not be attending, that party. Good party start at 6, end at 8.30. Alright. So the party's starting, at midnight.
Come out to meet him. Then all those virgins, rose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying, since there will not be enough for us, and for you, go rather to the dealers, and buy for yourself. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready, went in with him, to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward, the other virgins came, also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you.
Watch therefore, for you know neither the day, nor the hour. Verse 13 tells us the main point of that parable. To watch, to be ready, to be wise in our preparation, because we know neither the day, nor the hour. But there are a few things that are helpful to learn, from this parable, as he's beginning to push on us still, that what you want to do, is be ready when he returns, and you will not know, so you have to stay ready. You need to be ready today, and you need to be ready tomorrow, and you have to stay ready, because you do not know. And being unprepared, when he returns, is terrible.
And so there are a few things that I think are worth noting from this passage. One, in this parable, all of them had lamps. All of them were waiting the groom. All of them were together. But when he showed up, only some of them, had oil.
I think this is a helpful thing for us to picture. I don't think it's the main point of this, but I think it's helpful for us to see this. Just because you have the appearance, of faithfulness, does not mean you have, true faith. Just because they looked good on the outside, they were not actually, true on the inside. They had the appearance of godliness, but denied its power. They had the form, but no substance.
They were around a local church, but they did not belong to the church. They were in a community group, but they weren't in Christ. And being near faithful people, will not count. The point of this, when they ask to share oil, is not that you should be selfish. The point of this, is that that's not how it works. That when Jesus returns, you cannot lean into the faithfulness, of those around you, to make you okay.
You will seek in vain, for faith, for repentance, in that day, and it will not be found. And so just because you're around believers, just because your parents were believers, just because you grew up in a church, just because you're in a community group, just because you're best friend, just because just being near somebody, who belongs to Jesus, does not make you belong to Jesus. And the question is, do you truly have him at work in you? Secondly, a thing that I think is helpful, to learn from this parable, is this is a call to endurance. Christians endure. We trust that the Lord, by his grace, will bring us to the finish line.
But that means that Christians, take the steps necessary to endure. Leaning into the fact, that we believe that Jesus, will get us to the finish line, so that we do none of the things, to get us to the finish line, is a good indication, that we don't belong to Jesus. But some of us right now, are saying we belong to Jesus, and have taken none of the simple steps, it takes to help us, make it to the end. Like daily reading our Bibles. Some of you, are just busting out into the world. Walking in the flesh, trusting your own wisdom, to get you to the end.
I don't have enough sense for that. I don't trust myself enough for that. And for us to lean into our flesh, and to think we don't need the scriptures, and we don't need the daily empowerment of the spirit, and we don't need to walk in prayer, but we'll just make it to the end, we'll just endure, is like grabbing a lamp, and thinking, this will be enough to get me there. To not be in community, with people who know you, that you share sin struggles, and weaknesses with, that know the things that you're running from, and running to, to help guard rail around you. I'm not saying fake community, where you have some friends, who know the amount of stuff, that you're willing to tell them, but people who actually know you, that you confess sin, that you walk in life with, that are going to help you get to the end.
I was reminded of the importance, of being prepared to endure this week, as I was reading reports about Robbie Zacharias. Robbie Zacharias was a powerful speaker, evangelist, apologist, very well known, had a large organization. When he died in 2020, people spoke about how he was a good example, of faithfulness and endurance. And then, lady after lady came forward, with abuse, and allegations, and it turns out he'd been lying, and using his position of power, for his own personal gain, for some time. And if I'm to think, that I'm somehow better than Robbie Zacharias, that I'm on a trajectory, that will get me to 74, and utter faithfulness, without ever investigating, the little things, that I'm starting to let grow now, without ever repenting, without putting the things around me, that will help me make to the end, I'm grabbing a lamp, and walking outside, and hoping for the best.
And I'm hoping that he returns, in a timeline that suits me, and it's foolish. And some of you right now, are in a little spurt, of good faithfulness, and if he shows up, in a good timeline, then it might work out for you. But Christianity is endurance, and walking in faithfulness, daily, not little spurts of energy, and we need to put the things in place, that help us to endure. Because we do not know, when he will come. Third parable. Verse 14.
For it will be like a man, going on a journey. Hold on one second. Some of you right now, have things in place, that if they continue to grow, you will not love Jesus, 10 years from now. 20 years from now. Some of you right now, have things that are small, that you are allowing to grow, and if they continue to grow, you will not be here, you will not belong to the Lord, and you will not be prepared. And it is important, and weighty, that we make decisions now, that help us make it long term.
And that is repenting of certain things, getting rid of certain things, changing some of our lifestyle, so that we do not think, that I'm okay right now, but I'm on the edge, and that we would let something, continue to grow, that would lead us astray. Verse 14. For it will be like a man, going on a journey, who called his servants, and entrusted to them, his property. So he calls his servants, and he hands over to them, his stuff. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability, then he went away. Okay, so talents, is not the English word talent.
Like if someone plays the violin, you're like, wow, they're really talented. It's a weight. It'd be like saying, he gave one five pounds, another 15 pounds, whatever. Like it's just a weight. But, this passage, is where we get the English word, talent. Because it was a gift, given to them, based off of their ability.
And so we use the English word, talent, because of this. It informed our definition, of this word. To not just be a weight, but to be understood, as things that God gives you. Like Shaquille O'Neal, is talented. Because he can dunk the ball, without jumping. He can.
He can stand under it, and dunk. And I probably could have done okay, in the NBA, if I could do that. But I have to jump, and not very high. He's talented. He was gifted something, that he then used. And so that's where we get that word.
But in this picture, just at the beginning, don't use that. Just understand that he had servants. One was good. One was okay. One not so much. And he gave them, weights of gold.
Bags of weighted gold. We find out it's gold later. It's an insane amount of money, that he gives them. And he says, hey, I'm going on a journey. Tend to my stuff well. And he disperses it among them, and he leaves.
He who had received, the five talents, went at once, and traded with them. And he made, five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents, made two talents more. But he who had received, the one talent, went and dug in the ground, and hid his master's money. Okay. So the first two guys, the one who was solid, one pretty solid, one not so much.
First two guys, immediately go, and go, I've got to get to work. I've got to put this money to work. I've got to make some trades. I've got to make some business deals. I've got to do some stuff. They get to work with it, and they both double the investment, the master gave them.
The third guy goes, I've got to dig a hole. And probably draw a map. That's my plan. So the third guy does. Goes, digs a hole, buries it. I'm guessing, draws a treasure map.
That was his plan. Okay. Verse 19. Now, after a long time, do y'all see this? Do y'all pick up on this? There's a long time here.
The groom was delayed last time. He's telling us, be ready. You don't know, but be ready for a long time. Be ready to endure. Now, after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, Master, you delivered to me five talents.
Here, I have made five talents more. His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And he also, who had two talents, came forward, saying, Master, you delivered to me two talents.
Here, I have made two talents more. And his master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. enter into the joy of your master. He also who had received the one talent came forward saying, Master, I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground.
Here, have what is yours. Okay. First guy comes back and he's got this gold measured out. So he brings in five talents worth of gold and then five talents more and he says, here's the five talents, here's five talents more. It's a significant amount of gold that he lays out in front of him. The second guy comes in with two talents and two talents more.
The third guy walks in with a really dirty bag. Have y'all ever dug something up that's been buried for a long time? It's gross. He just plops it down. He says, here, have what's yours. I don't think very highly of you.
That's really what he says. You're a hard man. You reap where you don't sow. I just buried your stuff. There, get off my back. He says, but his master answered in verse 26, you wicked and slothful servant.
Slothful means lazy. You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scatter no seed. Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers. And at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest. I like to imagine this guy going, a bank. Oh, a bank would have made way more sense.
Wouldn't have even had to dig. Verse 28, So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus will return and we will be as those who have to give an account for things that did not belong to us.
I don't know if you understand this, but you live and move and breathe at his discretion. You have the intelligence you have, you have the wealth you have as a steward. You have the energy you have, the physical ability you have, the mental ability you have as a steward. A steward means this does not belong to you. It belongs to the master. And he returns, he'll have questions about how you handled it and what you did with it.
Your mama ever give you some money and send you to the store? Did you return with a Nintendo or the milk she asked you to buy? You understood that money didn't belong to you. You were a steward. And the reality is that's how our money, our intelligence, our physical ability, everything that we have is on loan to us from the Lord and when he returns we will give an account. Did we love him?
Did we work as if we were laboring for his kingdom and his name and his glory? You see, these are servants. If they lose the money, they're on the hook for it. If they gain money, they don't get to keep it. They just hand it over to the master and the first two servants are faithful and they get invited into the joy of the master and it reads as if he enjoys them and they enjoy him and they longed for his return. They wanted to please him.
The third servant does not seem to like the master very much. Doesn't think very highly of him. Wants to do exactly what he needs to do to get the master to leave him alone. And he's confused about how that works. Look, I'll do my thing, you do your thing. Leave me alone.
And the master says, that's not how it works. And when Jesus returns, if we have sat and thought that we can just do what we want and that he, when he returns, will leave us alone, he will ultimately do that. But to be cast out of his presence into outer darkness is not a place of joy and hope and delight. It's a place of utter destruction. C.S. Lewis is a theologian who always said that people get what they want.
If you want Jesus, you'll get him. And if you don't want him, if you want to stand on your own, if you want to be held accountable for your own stuff, if you want to be king over your own little world, you'll get that. But that is hell. And I think it's fair to see that this steward, this servant, misunderstood what was going to happen when he gave an account. Jesus, Jesus, the gracious, loving Jesus, the son of God who came to die in place for sinners to redeem them, wants you to be ready. Hear that.
They say, when are you going to return? And he says, be ready. When matters less, be ready. I want you to see the pictures of what happens when he returns and they're ready. The first one, he says this, verse 45, chapter 24, it's on screen. He says, who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is the servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Oh, it will be joyous and good. Can you imagine that? The servant's at work, the master shows up, see him and do exactly what he's supposed to do. The smile that cracks over his face, the joy that the servant feels that, yes, I was doing what I was supposed to do and also, yes, the master's back. Life is better now.
He's blessed. Or in verse 10, it says, those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was shut. Can you imagine that day? When the groom comes and the party starts and we get to go into the feast, picture it's midnight, it's pitch black. The door opens, smells, music, light, warmth, all pour out into the dark night. And they walk in, smiles on every face, dancing, singing, delight, pleasure, and the door shuts.
And oh, we should long for the day when the door is shut behind us. Oh, praise Jesus that one day the door will be shut behind us. One day we'll be so secure and so kept and so warm and in such delight and there will be no ability for us to mess it up. Oh, praise Jesus that he shuts the door. And for those who are ready and longing for his return that we walk into a feast. or in the third parable, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little.
I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. Greater responsibility, greater weight, and greater joy. Come to light with the master. The results of being ready at the return of Christ are glorious just as the consequences are grave for those who are unready when he returns. 51, chapter 24, it says, we'll cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites.
In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Or in chapter, verse 10, chapter 24, those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was shut. Afterward, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you. When the door shuts, all the joy, all the light, all the music is shut out and it's just darkness. And there will be those on the other side of the door who are banging on the door and saying, let us in.
And he shifts. He does this a lot in his parables where he's telling the story and then he shifts into a bigger picture and they're saying, Lord, Lord. And he says, depart from me, I do not know you. You see, it matters that Christ knows us, that he indwells us, that we are in him. Not just that we know him or know about him but that he knows us. And the question is, do you belong to Christ or do you just know about him?
Have you surrendered to Christ or do you just know about him? Have you just heard about him or the people around you know Christ? Do you know Christ? And more importantly, does he know you? Verse 30 of chapter 25, it says, And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
We do not like to hear about hell. We do not like to talk about hell. We've been told, if you've grown up in the church, that we ought to talk about nice things. We ought to talk about loving things. We ought to talk about gracious things. We ought to tell people how much Jesus loves them, not how horrible hell is.
But the reality is, Jesus loves us enough to tell us how horrible hell is. This is the sixth time in the Gospel of Matthew that he says there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And I want you to picture that. You ever watch a courtroom scene? When they walk back in to give the verdict and everybody holds their breath. And they say, will you find the defendant guilty?
And people scream. And people flop on the ground. People yell, no! And that there's sorrow. And there's mourning with broken weeping. Or there's gnashing of teeth in pain and hurt and anger and fury.
And Jesus says over and over again, six times, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And I think there's some of us who still haven't pictured that. The utter despair and brokenness of an eternity without Christ. That we might on that day be found unprepared. and we might at that moment begin begging, Lord, more time and time's up. That there will be people around us who do not know Christ, that on that day the door will shut in their face and those who should have been telling them about Christ will wish that we had had more time or that we had handled our time better. The door will be closed in their face. That some of you in here, the door will be closed in your face and you will be cast into outer darkness in a place where there is eternal torment, weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And that is the result of all those who have a Christless eternity. And here's what you need to know. Jesus loves you so much that he does not want that for you, that he came to save you from that. And he came to die for you that you might have hope. 2 Peter says this. He says, in the future they will say, where is the promise of his coming?
For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. Peter says people are going to start saying, Jesus isn't coming back. Everything's the same. And Peter says in verse 8, do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. All right, that math doesn't work.
At least on our side, it's like we can't be both, Peter. It's not a, that's not a, you can't carry that out. But what Peter's saying is, time doesn't work the same for him. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you. Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Oh, he's not slow.
He's kind. He's not slow. He's patient. He wants you to reach repentance. He wants you to see your sin and hate it. He wants you to see him as a risen savior.
He wants you to be redeemed by his blood. He came that he might die, that we might have life. He wants you. He gets no joy from the people that he has to cast out. He wants to say welcome, come into the joy of the master. He wants as many to fill his house and to close the door and to celebrate.
And he wants you to reach repentance. Praise God he's patient. I saw a stat that said, in the last 150 years, more people have placed faith in Christ than in the first 1800 after Christ. Praise God he's patient. Oh, he's filling up his banquet hall. Oh, he's gathering more that will belong to him that will celebrate his glory.
So are you ready? That's the only question. When is he coming back? Are you ready? John 6, 28 says, they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? And Jesus answered them, this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he sent.
Do you belong to Christ? Have you repented? Have you surrendered? Because if you haven't, if we do not await his coming with eager joy, consistent faithfulness, filled by his spirit and carried to that last day, we will not be ready. And God have mercy. Wait a little longer. that we might be ready.
The band's going to come back up. And you need to ask this question. Are you ready? Are you ready to stand before him? Have you been living in such a way that you might endure? Do you have the form of faithfulness but no substance?
Are you just around those who believe but are not prepared for his coming? It matters. The consequences are great. He has done all that he needs to do that you might be redeemed. He has paid for your sin with his own blood. He is not calling you to be good.
He is calling you to repent. He's calling you to surrender. He's calling you to life. This is not a call to come and make yourself perfect and beautiful. He does that through his own grace and his own work on your behalf. That's why the work that is given to us is that we might believe in him and therefore we might love him.
That's why we long for his return because he is so good. And he brings joy and delight and forgiveness and love and life with him. May we be ready on that day. Do not leave this place if you have that and need doubt in your mind as to whether or not you're ready. It's utter foolishness that you would leave something as weighty as eternity up to chance. He's gracious to bring you here.
He's gracious to have waited this long. He desires your repentance. Please turn from your sin and trust in Jesus. Let's pray. Lord, may we be wise. Lord, may we see your love poured out for us on the cross and may we be ready.
Lord, would you lead us by your grace to repentance that we might have hope and life in you and we might hate our sin and love your sacrifice. And Lord, for the Christians in this room, for those who say they belong to you, but that are on a trajectory that will lead them far from you. May we take the simple steps now to be ready then. We ask this in your name, by your grace, and through your spirit. Amen.
The End of the Age (Matthew 24)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Excited to gather with y'all this morning and open the Bible together. If you'll grab your Bibles, I'm going to Matthew chapter 24. If you use one of the blue Bibles on the row, that's page 484.
If you use one of the black Bibles on the row, I don't know what page that's on, but your print is bigger, so that's what you get. You can find it on your own. It's easier to find. We are going to work through the entire chapter of Matthew chapter 24 today, and it is dense, and we have our work cut out for us, and that's one of the reasons why we decided it was time to go ahead and put the Bibles back on the rows because we're going to need to be able to look at this together pretty well until we wanted you to have a Bible in your hands. We are going to read. We're going to jump right in here in a second, and we're going to see that the disciples ask Jesus a question, and that's going to kind of drive this entire chapter.
So we're just going to start in. We're going to see the question that they ask, and then at that point, we'll kind of talk through where we're headed. But right now, let's jump right in. So Matthew chapter 24, verse 1. Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, you see all these, do you not?
Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. Okay, that's a bold statement. That's crazy for the disciples to hear. So Jesus has just been in the temple. We were seeing in Matthew chapter 23, chapter 22, that he was teaching in the temple, and this is the first time we've seen him teach in the temple. And now he's leaving the temple, and he's leaving the temple for good.
He has visited the temple. The Lord has visited the temple, and it has not gone well. He is leaving in judgment over the temple. That his last, his sermon that he just preached there was, woe to the scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. That we see in the Old Testament there's times where it's God's spirit would come over the temple, or God's spirit would leave the temple. And now God himself has entered the temple, spoken woe against the temple, and is leaving.
And when he's leaving, his disciples, who are all Galileans, so they're from kind of a rural area of Jerusalem, they would have been to the temple before, most likely. I know they went with Jesus some, and they probably went growing up on a fairly regular basis. But they never got over it, because the temple was magnificent. It was huge and beautiful. Josephus, who was a Jewish Roman historian, he said, if you never saw the temple, you've never seen a pretty building. That was your one shot at it.
The temple's the most glorious building, and if you hadn't seen it, you hadn't seen anything. And so they're walking, looking at it, and just being in awe of it. It feels a little bit like the way I feel every time I'm in downtown Columbia, because I grew up in Edgefield. And I'm just like, whoa. And people are like, you know this isn't a real city. And I'm like, yeah it is.
Look at how tall that building is. Almost six stories. Look at that. And so that's what they're doing. They're walking around and going, oh, can you believe this? And Jesus says this whole place is getting destroyed.
And that, as the center of their faith, the place where God meets the earth, where all of Judaism, this is not even just where God meets, at the center of the world is the temple. And for Jesus to say this is going to be destroyed, that's cataclysmic language. And so that prompts what happens next. It says, verse 3, as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came. He came to him privately saying, tell us when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?
I think it's important to note that the Mount of Olives is mentioned in Zechariah as the place where God will, where Christ will return and set up his kingdom. Where when he ultimately comes, he will judge Jerusalem and he will set up his kingdom. And so Jesus, from that spot where it says that he will return in Zechariah, is sharing this with them. And so they ask him three questions. Tell us when will these things be? When is the destruction of the temple going to happen?
And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? What will be the sign of your coming and the sign of the end of the age? And his coming and the end of the age are closely linked. And in their mind, the destruction of the temple would have to be closely linked with that. There's no way the temple is destroyed. And that's not the end of the world.
So if you're saying you're going to destroy this, when is all that going to happen? And it's as they ask these three questions and they understand that this would all go together. They want to know when the destruction of the temple will happen. When is the sign of the coming and of the end of the age? Jesus gives an answer throughout the rest of Matthew chapter 24. And it's not perfectly clear to us what part he's answering when.
Because we stand in a different time of history. The temple was destroyed in A.D. 70. Jesus has not come. The age has not ended. We're in the age, you guys.
So the end of the age hasn't happened. And so we stand between these two points of their questions. And Jesus gives an answer that we now, as we read this, are trying to sort out what's what. And he didn't number it for us. And he didn't say, well, ask you your first question. I will give 15 verses.
And then picking up in verse 16, we'll move on to questions 2 and 3. He doesn't do that. He just answers. And so we've got to try to understand what applies to what. And so as we approach this, we have to approach it with some level of humility. Because a lot of this does deal with the end of the age.
It deals with a lot of questions about future events that we only get prophetic speaking towards. But we don't know exactly what's going to happen. And the more I got into this, the more confused I got. And the more intense I got. And I started calling people in our church who studied some of this and talking with them about it. And I was really close to showing up looking like this today, just ready to go.
I was going to make a chart. I was going to get serious. I resisted the temptation. I didn't make a chart. And we're going to walk through this as best we can. But something that we need to understand.
We need to approach this with some level of humility, knowing that there are some of these questions we don't know exactly. We can have some good guesses at. We can have some good thoughts on. We can try to connect other passages in Scripture. But we don't know exactly.
Because it hasn't all been fulfilled yet. And so we want to approach it with some humility, understanding that there are people who love Jesus, who see some of this differently. We also, there's a lot of really interesting things in here that we don't need to miss the main things that Jesus says very, very clearly. Sometimes I think people come to Matthew chapter 24 and they get so focused in on words and certain things and little aspects and they start trying to build this out so perfectly that they miss that he said some things very aggressively, clearly that are the main points of this. It would be like if I came home and my wife had a pizza box and some cupcakes and I said, what was going on?
She said, we're celebrating. I just found out I'm pregnant. And I said, oh my goodness, this is amazing. Does it have pepperoni? You'd be like, bro, you missed what? No.
That's like a boat. That's what? And that's kind of what's happening here. Sometimes I think we get so zoomed in that there's some things that Jesus said very clearly that we should take home that we can miss. So real quick, a couple of things that we need to know as we get into this that add into our humility.
One, some of the things Jesus says may only speak to one of the answers, but sometimes it's unclear as to which one. Some people will look at this and say that some of them have dual fulfillment, meaning that there's like a lowercase f fulfillment that it was kind of fulfilled in AD 70, but that's a picture or a type of what he's going to do more big, more real, more aggressively later. We do see some of this in the Old Testament. There's some ground for that. Isaiah 7 says that a virgin will give birth and they will call his name Emmanuel. And then he goes on to say that that's going to be a sign to a king that was currently living, meaning there's going to be a young girl.
She's eventually going to get married. She's going to get pregnant. She's going to have a baby. And by the time that baby can, I think he's weaned, this will happen. So he gives like a seven-year timeline or a five-year timeline, just kind of says this is going to happen.
Then the New Testament authors pick up. They say, wait, wait, no, no. A virgin gives birth. And he's not just named Emmanuel. He is Emmanuel. He's God with us.
And this is ultimately fulfilled in Christ. And so it had a lowercase f fulfillment and an uppercase f fulfillment. There's other prophecies like that, but that's one of the cleanest examples. And so some people will say that's kind of what's happening here. Jesus is giving some stuff that will be fulfilled then and then really fulfilled then. That's a thing.
The other thing that is in here is the idea of telescoping, which is that prophets often would speak about something that was really close to them and something that was really far off altogether without telling us they were doing that. We see that throughout the Old Testament. It's as if God gave them some binoculars and showed them a mountain range and they just described this mountain and then this mountain and then this mountain and then this mountain. But if you were to travel through the mountains, you would see that it was actually two mountain ranges, one here and one way back over here.
But from their perspective, they're just seeing all of it together and saying about all of it together. And it's possible Jesus is doing some of that. That he's just speaking about things from their point in time, around AD 30, AD 33, and he's looking past AD 70 and he's looking to the end of time and he's just talking about them as he wishes. I don't know if y'all can tell, I'm not going to perfectly answer all these questions for you. I'm giving you some options. I will try to point them out as we go through.
I will give you some of my opinions on, I think this has a little more weight, but some of this stuff we have to hold with an open hand. And then we'll end with, don't miss the main things. Yes, it has pepperoni, possibly. Could be meatlovers. We haven't opened the box yet. You missed the main thing.
So we're going to get there. Okay, let's pray, ask for help, for you and for me, and this is going to be fun. God, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you that you do answer this question, even though some of it is unclear to us at this time. We pray that we would walk in wisdom as we study your word together, and that we would hear clearly the main things. Help us to be gracious to one another where there's some disagreement.
Help us to all be driven to study more, to read more, to know more of you, because to know more of you is to delight more in you, because you are good. And towards that end, we ask for your grace and your help through your spirit. Amen. All right. And Jesus answered them. Verse 4.
See that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. So for them, he's saying, don't be led astray by other false Christs, by people saying that, Christ that I've returned after he's gone, he's saying, make sure you aren't led astray. And this is one of the main things that he comes back to. That's one of his main points.
Do not follow any other Christ. And for us, that would hold true as well. There are a lot that have come in the name of Christ, in the name of a Savior. Certainly some people say that their Jesus returned. Most people dismiss that. But there are a lot of other prophets and people who've come and said, I'm the one who's going to lead you to the good life.
I'm going to lead you to heaven. That Jehovah's Witnesses, that Mormons, that Islam, are all following Christ's. That are leading them. And he says, don't be led astray. See to it that you are not led astray. And then he says, they will lead many astray.
Verse 6, and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place. But the end is not yet. I appreciate that verse. Every once in a while, you get to talking to someone, and they'll say, hey, did you hear what's going on? I think we're getting close to the end.
We're starting to hear of wars and rumors of wars. And it's like, hmm, did you read the back half of that verse? It says, see that you are not alarmed. The end is not yet. I'm glad you told me, reminded me to not be alarmed. But that happens.
Like, since their time, there were wars and rumors of wars. And since our time, there's been wars and rumors of wars. We walked into the 1900s, and globally announced, we've arrived. We're good people now. We've had the enlightenment. We're out of the Middle Ages, where they were all dark and dirty and mean to each other, which isn't all that true if you go back and read it.
A lot of them were Christians, and they didn't have technology, but they were doing okay. We hit the 1900s, and we're like, we've arrived. We're great. We're going to usher in peace. And we had 100 years of the most killing that's ever taken place on the face of the earth. Our nation has been in war, at war, since 2001.
And we sometimes forget that. We have a lot of rumors of wars. We might go to war with Syria, or Russia, or China, or each other. Heard any of those recently? If you're in the military, you might have five or six more people we might go to war with that you're not supposed to tell us about. But seeing how things have run since 2001, we'd be fine with it.
They'd sign us up for it, and we'd just be like, cool, as long as it doesn't get over here. But there's wars and rumors of wars, and this is globally happening. And so he says, be not alarmed. And he keeps going, for nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
So, some will read that as only speaking towards what happened before AD 70. Some would say that's ongoing. Some would say that's future. And we'll get into an area where we try to walk through those three more fully. But these are the beginning of birth pains.
So I know, my wife was first pregnant. She got about nine months. We were getting close. She did anything. I was like, ooh. I was like, is it go time?
Can we get the bags? Let's go. She called me on the phone. Is it go time? It was never go time. We had to schedule a C-section.
I was just stressed out for a week and a half for no reason. They put it on the clock. It wasn't go time until 9.10 one day because that was the time they assigned it. But that's what he's saying. Some of this stuff is the beginning of birth pains. It's global, eschatological, which means end time stuff, Braxton Hicks, which is fake labor pains.
Okay. Verse 9. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death. And you will be hated by all nations for my namesake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. Again, prior to A.D.
70, They were in the Roman Empire, which covered a lot of nations, meaning ethnicities, peoples, and none of them liked Christians. Christians were actually called atheists because they were some of the only ones who wouldn't go along with every God is a God. So a lot of them were like, oh, you got gods? We got gods. It's cool. And Christians were like, it's not cool.
There's one God. He's better than yours. People didn't like that. You had to, in guilds, to certain work and certain jobs, you had to come in and sacrifice to that guild God. And Christians were like, no, I'm not doing it. They're like, well, you can't be in the guild.
And it's like, that's fine. But you all need to repent. Like, they didn't get along. And prior to A.D. 70, we had Nero who hated Christians, murdered Christians, used them as street lamps. Wicked, wicked stuff.
But also, as it's gone through history and as we stand right now, there are a lot of nations. We live in the West. We've been relatively untouched by persecution. We've had a long period for us, short globally, but long for us, that we've had some peace where we can gather and worship. We're not arrested. We don't have to hide.
That's not the case around the globe. We support a ministry that's 1040 Hope, where they're trying to reach people in the 1040 window. They send missionaries to places. We're not allowed to say their names. We're not allowed to know where they are. They have a hard time getting money to them.
If they've found out that they're Christians, they can get in some serious trouble. There's a lot of unreached people groups on earth, and the reason they're unreached is they're hard to get to. Or when you get to them, they don't want to hear it. And so there is persecution globally, and he says that'll happen, and that as that happens, people will turn on one another, will betray one another. Verse 11, And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. Again, pushing on that idea that only follow him.
He's the only Christ, but many will lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. Lawlessness is willful sin. So there's sin that's missing the Mark. There's sin where you were trying to do something, and you didn't do it well. You didn't handle it well.
Lawlessness is, I don't care. I want to do what I want to do. I see that it says that, but I disagree. That happens all over the place, and it seems like it's happening increasingly. And one of the ways that we've seen it begin to infect the U.S. and even our churches is where Christians have started saying, that section of the Bible is outdated. It doesn't really mean what it says it means.
Or if it means that, I will not be following Jesus. I think we've probably seen people in your own life who have certain sections of the Bible who just say, I'm above that. I'm not going to follow that. I'm not going to surrender to that. I'm not going to submit to that. And they're choosing lawlessness, and then we're seeing their love grow cold, specifically for the Lord.
But there's also an increasing amount of difficulty and frustration that happens in the world, and there's a love that grows cold where people, the more things are bad, the less we care. Have you noticed that? And I think one of the weird things that happens is the more we see globally things are bad, and this issue is huge, and it's going on, and this is going on, and this is huge, we become desensitized to it. We care less, and we also care less for the things that are right in front of us that we actually have control over. To love our neighbors, to care for our neighbors, to tend to the things, the people that we know.
Sometimes it's almost like there's this big global thing going on that I'm supposed to have some good ideas on, some good thoughts on, and as long as I can tweet about it or put something on Facebook about it, fine, but the reality is it actually hasn't touched my heart. I actually don't love, I just want to be seen as okay, and because that's going on, I've lost the fact that I'm in a neighborhood around real people with actual people in front of me, and I have actual friendships and actual colleagues and actual coworkers, actual people I go to class with that I care nothing about. So be warned that the more lawlessness increases, the less likely you are to love. He says, because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Now you buy a vehicle and they say 10 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. Okay. That's if you die or Jesus returns, whichever comes first. The one who endures to the end will be saved. Your end or everybody's end all at once, endure. The gospel and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come.
So some will look at that and say that it means the whole world as they understood it, the Roman Empire, that this was proclaimed prior to AD 70, which there's some good arguments for, that that's what they were talking about. The whole world is that. Some will say, no, the whole world is the whole world so all these unreached people groups, Jesus didn't come back until we can reach them. And some people say, yeah, little F, fulfillment, big F, fulfillment. So he meant the end before the temple and this is the big end.
And because Jesus doesn't make it super clear, there is some room for debate there. But we do have a call placed on us to reach the unreached. So don't lose that. Verse 15. So, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand. A little bit of encouragement in there.
Figure this out. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. So the abomination of desolation or the abomination that causes desolation is spoken of in the prophet Daniel in chapters 11 and 12. Most, if you just read Daniel, most would say, some say it's all future stuff but they probably wouldn't say it if they were just reading Daniel. Most would say that's Antiochus the first time the temple is sacked, taken over during the intertestamental period which is last book in the Old Testament before the Gospels pick up there was some time past, there were the Maccabees, there was a Maccabean revolt.
During that time period Antiochus takes over the temple, ceases the daily sacrifice, something that Daniel talks about and he sacrifices a pig on the altar which was an unclean animal and they say that's the abomination that causes desolation. And that's nice and that works fine until Jesus said verse 15. So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place let the reader understand he's saying that Antiochus was either a picture of something that is to come or Antiochus was not the fulfillment of this because that has already happened and he's speaking about a future event. So some will say yes, multiple fulfillments.
Others say not Antiochus, it's some future thing. And so when he says this many people would read this as the, oh sorry, Luke specifically ties this to Jerusalem being surrounded by armies. So that when the Romans came in AD 70 there was a rebellion of the Jewish people from the Romans. They hated them. That's why all these questions about taxes and stuff are so loaded that we were just reading about in chapter 22. They hated the Romans.
They hated being occupied. They rebelled. In AD 66, AD 70 the Romans have broken the will of Jerusalem. They storm in. They burn everything down. They destroy the temple.
Many would say that that's them surrounding this and that they were the Christians were told to flee and many did because of this. That when they saw armies surrounding Jerusalem as Luke said and they understood this as the abomination that causes desolation they left. One of the interesting things that I learned as I was reading through this was that the Roman ensign which was an idol was not used in Jerusalem because it would cause too much trouble. So they didn't have their idol with them on all their banners and all their stuff because they were trying to not cause as much trouble with the people who were really upset by idolatry in the city of Jerusalem.
But when they showed back up after Jerusalem had rebelled they burned the temple down. They stuck one in the temple. They put ensigns all around Jerusalem. And so many people would say that's when the abomination of desolation came back and was set up in Jerusalem. But Luke specifically ties it to the army showing up which makes sense because that would give time for the people to actually escape because this is what he says verse 16 Then let those who are in Judea so it's specific to that area to Jerusalem flee to the mountains.
Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in the house meaning as soon as you see it it's time to go and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. If you see the Romans marching in if you see those ensigns and you're in your field head to the mountains don't head to your house you could get stuck. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath for then there will be great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world till now no and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short no human being would be saved but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
I want to read a little bit from Josephus who wrote this about seven years after the fall of the temple talking about the fall of the temple. At that time 1.1 million Jews were killed. The Romans surrounded Jerusalem starved them out many died from famine. The fighting at the beginning had been pretty hard until they were all too weak and had not eaten and many had already died from famine and then the Romans broke in. It says so the Romans being now become masters of the wars this is quoting Josephus they placed their ensigns upon the towers and made joyful acclamations for the victory they had gained.
And then they went in Numbers into the lanes of the cities with their swords drawn they slew those whom they overtook without mercy and set fire to the houses where the Jews fled and burnt every soul in them and laid waste a great many of the rest. And when they were come to the houses to plunder them they found in them entire families of dead men in the upper rooms full of dead corpses that had died by famine. They stood in horror at the sight and went out without touching anything. And although they had shown some respect to those dead bodies they had not the same for those who were still alive.
They ran everyone through meaning they stabbed them with a sword whom they met and obstructed the very lanes with dead bodies and made the whole city run down with blood to such a degree indeed that the fire of many of the houses was quenched with these men's blood. And then the whole city burned for quite a while. It was a horrific time. That's why Jesus says escape. And if the Lord hadn't stopped it no human being would have made it. they end up taking about 97,000 into slavery. That's for them.
Some would still see that as a future thing as that would be a potential thing that has happened there a partial fulfillment and a future fulfillment and again as we read through here I'm going to try to walk through that pretty quickly show you kind of our options on that but it was certainly a terrible time at the destruction of the temple. Verse 23 Then if anyone says to you look here is the Christ or there he is do not believe it for false Christ and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray if possible even the elect those who belong to Jesus. See I have told you beforehand. So he's saying when everything gets bad even though people are going to show up and they're going to have great signs and great power do not follow them.
So if this happens if there's a future fulfillment of this that we're participating in understand that some people are going to come up and they're going to say that they have that they are the Christ that they are the Savior and they have some ability and some power and he says see I told you beforehand that's a sign to us not to follow them when they have great power and great authority do not follow. And he was telling them do not follow and do you see that he's repeated this three times? Do not follow any other Christ. So if they say to you look he is in the wilderness do not go out if they say look he is in the inner rooms do not believe it for as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west so will be the coming of the Son of Man where the corpse is there the vultures will gather.
We'll take a second and talk through that. So he says you know how you can see lightning from really far off? That's what it's going to be like when I return. I sat in my backyard one time and I was watching some heat lightning and every once in a while when there's lightning going on I'll pull out the lightning map which is on the internet that shows you where lightning is striking. I want to see how far away that was. I was sitting in my backyard and I would watch lightning strike and I would look at the map and it was off the coast of Charleston.
That's what it's going to be like when I return. I sat in my backyard one time and I was watching some heat lightning and every once in a while when there's lightning going on I'll pull out the lightning map which is on the internet that shows you where lightning is striking. I want to see how far away that was. I was sitting in my backyard and I would watch lightning strike and I would look at the map and it was off the coast of Charleston. I was like no. So I pulled up Google Maps and I turned it to where I was pointing I pulled up a compass figured out which way
I was looking then I pulled up Google Maps and I turned it to it was pointing the same way and it was Charleston and I was like hmm and then I went back to the lightning map and I watched it and it would strike and I would look and it would show up on the map. So I'm so confident that's actually what was happening that I was willing to share that with you all today. You can see lightning really far away. And so what Jesus is saying is if anyone says to you he's come back say no he hadn't
Because you had to whisper it to me and when he comes back we're all going to go oh there he is it's going to be obvious he's not returning in secret he came one time quietly he came one time meekly he came one time wrapped in swaddling bands and we celebrate that but the next time he comes he rolls the sky up he splits the earth it's like lightning striking and he will return so he says then he says wherever the corpse is there the vultures will gather there's some debate about what he actually means there I think he means the same thing
As lightning meaning that it'll be obvious if you're hunting and you shoot a deer and you shoot it poorly and then you track poorly and you can't find it and you spend a long time looking for it and you go home sad you can go back the next day or a day after that and see if you see any vultures and then wherever they are is where that deer is I think that's all he's saying vultures only circle around things that are dead it's very obvious that something's dead out there if you see a bunch of vultures or if you see them all on the ground
Around something so I think that's all he's saying there's some debate there but I think he's making the same point in a colorful way verse 29 immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken then there will appear in heaven the sign of the son of man and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn
And they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other verse 32 from the fig tree learn its lesson as soon as its branches become tender and it puts out its leaves you know that summer is near so also when you see
All these things you know that he is near at the very gates truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until all these things take place heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away okay now we have to walk through some of our options because they run into each other in that section there starts being some conflict in trying to interpret this passage and understand
Where is he answering what question so let's look at the past view if you think all of everything prior to verse 36 and this is where they would say it everything prior to verse 36 where Jesus starts talking about his return more fully they would say all of that happened in AD 70 that's called the preterist view if you say everything's going to happen in the future that's called the futurist view the preterist
Based their term off of the latin word for past so it's the pastist view but pastist sounds stupid and if you were going to base futurist off of the latin word for future you'd come up with futurist because we already stole that word from latin so it works preterist view let's talk through it real quick I got some notes I'm going to try to move through this quickly
If anybody gets really geeked out about this and wants to talk more about it there are more things that I learned that did not make it to this moment all right preterist they say everything prior to verse 36 happens in AD 70 and then in verse 36 it moves on to the return of Jesus where he says no one knows that day or hour they say obviously this is referring
To the destruction of the temple and they have some weight there because Luke ties the abomination of desolation to when Jerusalem is surrounded by armies they say those days that are found in verses 19, 22 twice and in verse 29 where it says immediately after the tribulation of those days they say those days refers to
The fall of Jerusalem that great tribulation when 1.1 million Jews died and that when it says that no human being would have stayed alive it means no human being in Jerusalem they say that immediately in verse 29 means immediately those days immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened the moon the moon will not give its light
And the stars will fall from heaven and they say that this generation from verse 34 truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until all these things take place means this generation which is the way Jesus has used it throughout the gospel the only time we start trying to redefine what this generation means is here when it confuses us but we've read it a bunch in Matthew 11
Three times in Matthew 12 and just last week in Matthew 23 where he says truly I say to you all these things will come upon this generation and every time we read it we thought he meant that group of people on earth they say that's what he means that group of people on earth and that's why they tie everything back in AD 70 there's some merit to that the biggest problem
Is when it says verse 29 immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened the moon will not give its light the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of heaven will be shaken that's first problem is that they then just say that's imagery they have some weight for that because Isaiah uses it as imagery Ezekiel uses it
As imagery and Joel uses it as imagery in talking about the destruction of different nations throughout the Old Testament but Joel also uses it as the end time and Isaiah also uses it as the end time when God sets up his kingdom but they say it's just imagery it means I'm going to turn your whole world upside down so if you were you know in an argument with somebody and you said
I'm about to come at you like a thunderstorm that's kind of what it means I'm going to mess everything up everything you're used to everything that you base your life on the sun's not even going to shine when I'm done with you and that's what they're saying that's what that means the other thing that they have to try to explain is then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man then all the tribes of earth will mourn
And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds from the end of heaven to the other they say that happened Jesus ascended into heaven he's at the right hand of the throne of God
That's how we see him now in power in great glory and him sending out his angels is his messengers that he's sending out to share the gospel with the world that all seems a little weak to me it's an argument and you can make some of those arguments but it seems like he means this as a very big aggressive picture also
2 Peter 3 reads the sun not giving its light as literal and Paul seems to in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 1 to read the gathering of the elect and the blowing of a trumpet as literal when he actually calls us to it so the preterists have some arguments for why that's AD 70 but I think there are some
Things that are weak the futurists just saying nuh-uh it's all in the future maybe a few little ways that it was kind of fulfilled there it's like a sneak peek appetizer but it's all really up here and so they would say the abomination of desolation is the same as the 2nd Thessalonian man of lawlessness the beast from the book
Of Revelation and the antichrist that John mentions in his letters and that's all to come they would say that he's actually going to come to the temple which is going to have to get rebuilt now because they destroyed it in AD 70 so they're going to rebuild the temple so that he can do this that great tribulation where it says
No human being will be saved doesn't mean human beings in Jerusalem but means all the human beings everywhere they have a very literal reading of 29 verses 33 verses 30 which is immediately after tribulation of those days meaning the great tribulation in the future Jesus returns and then they say it's literal
Sun won't give its light which they have some weight from Joel and Isaiah and from Peter to say that means it's literally going to happen that Jesus will be the son that we will enter into his eternal kingdom and that so preterists would say when it says all the tribes of earth will mourn that means
Repent as in see that things are bad and be sad futurists say no it means weeping and gnashing of teeth mourning the king has returned and I was not ready they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory he'll blow his trumpet he'll call his people home
They say that all happens in the future it's aggressive it's obvious like a lightning strike that's all that and they read this generation as the generation who sees all the end time tribulation stuff so they change the way we would have understood this generation as always being there they just say well he means it differently
Here which is a weakness to their argument because it you're changing the way you've understood it the whole time or they say this generation means all humans or all sinners or they also if you're a futurist some of the weaknesses with that argument
Is that Jesus basically does not answer their first question when will the destruction of the temple happen he only talks about future things that are past us in the future which seems odd given the context he specifically told them about the destruction of the temple
They ask about the destruction of the temple Luke seems to tie some of this to the destruction of the temple and futurists are just like no it's in the future it feels like a very us reading of it non-Jewish western don't care
Much about the temple are well removed from this and looking into the head of the future and it is a more recent interpretation of this to just say it's all future also many of the people who say this is all future then begin
When it says concerning that day and hour no one knows we haven't read this yet verse 36 not even the angels of heaven nor the son but the father only when they talk about his actual return they'll get
Really caught up in looking for all the signs to be fulfilled so that we can know when he's coming back and Jesus ends this by saying be ready because you don't know a lot of the people who push everything into the future say well this hadn't happened yet
This hadn't happened yet this hadn't happened yet and they basically go against Jesus' main argument and they kind of tell you you don't have to be ready yet that's a weakness because it contradicts his main thing
Or they get super excited about it and they start telling you they know exactly when he's coming back they write a book they get everybody together 88 reasons he's coming back in 1988 89 reasons why we were wrong last year but it's for real this time
They start doing that kind of stuff that's something that goes along with this futurist stuff double fulfillment people go well I'm with you fellas they listen to the preterists and they go seems good they listen to the futurists and go that's a good point too probably both I'm gonna go get a snack that's a little mean to the
Double fulfillment people but that is kind of how they read some of that which is just a yes it happened then yes it's gonna happen we can't fully know exactly how clean that's gonna be but let's take the main gist of what he's saying which is let's be ready and there's kind of this ongoing which means that the tribulation the end of the age
Was inaugurated when Christ rose and ascended into the heavens and he tells the Pharisees the Sanhedrin in Matthew chapter 26 he says from now on you will see the son of man seated at the right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven so that it is a from now on he did ascend he has inaugurated his reign and he
Will return and that is how we will see him that the tribulation began at the destruction of the temple so they had to prepare for these signs but it began and now we're in it this is why John well after this writes your brother in the tribulation your brother and partner in the tribulation when he writes his letter meaning that the tribulation is now happening this is
Why the New Testament writers will refer to this as the last days or the end of the ages they refer to that is the last days and the end of the ages in last days Acts to Hebrews 1 first Timothy 3 second Peter 3 into the ages as first Corinthians 10 and Hebrews 9 that we are in the end and so therefore they would read that those days
Continues and that when we see these things we know that he's near at the very gates not that he's here that he's near and that he can return at any moment that when this stuff has taken place he can now turn the latch and come through at any moment which makes sense with the rest of 36 where Jesus says you'll know that the time has come but we don't know exact moment that it'll happen I lean that way one of you might
Could corner me after this and talk me out of it because I've been reading a bunch of this but that that seems to make a lot of sense that Jesus it breaks at the moment he rises and ascends into heaven and then it's ongoing we are in the tribulation we're a brother in the tribulation with John we're in the last days we are at the end of the ages what has needed to happen to fulfill and prepare us to know that the summer is coming has happened and he is
Near the very gates but he's patient and gracious and he will return as soon as the father gives him the nod verse 36 but concerning that day and hour no one knows not even the angels of heaven nor the son but the father only that is a great mystery that the son does not know but the father does but the Jesus in humility submits himself to the father's timing for as were the days of Noah so will be the coming of the son of man for as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying
And giving in marriage until the flood came and swept them all away so will be the coming of the son of man then two men will be in the field one will be taken and one left two women will be grinding at the mill one will be taken and one left therefore stay awake for you do not know what day your Lord is coming I have a very hard time standing here telling you all this stuff would take place in the future and that we're waiting on a bunch of future signs and then read that and tell you to stay awake because you don't know when he's
Coming we await his coming with eager expectancy and he says a lot of things will seem really normal there will be some people who have just thrown what you can't throw rice anymore confetti at a wedding and he'll come there will be some people who have just punched the clock and gotten to work and he'll come there was some people that are working together chatting over their work and he'll come and one of them will be called one of them will hear the trumpet one of them will ascend to meet him in the air the other will not that he could come at any moment so stay awake but know this that if the
Master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into therefore you must also you also must be ready for the son of man is coming in an hour you do not expect I watched a documentary recently about a young boy who got left home by himself and he found out some people were going to break into his house he knew the hour they were coming and he got ready that's he's making a very simple point if you knew when someone was going to break in your house if I knew when someone was going to break in my house it would be an uncomfortable meeting when they showed up for them not for me he wants us to wait with eager expectancy every once in a while
Hear a noise at night and I'll get up and walk around my house and check everything and check out my windows and then I don't walk and lay back in bed and just fall asleep I lay back in bed and I hear every noise that happens in my house because I'm thinking maybe something is going on maybe I miss something and I lay and I know that it's my job to protect us because Ellis Archer and Anna aren't going to do the best I'm the best one we got my wife all the times like just go to sleep I'm like you want me awake this is my Job but if you knew you'd be ready and he says you don't know so stay ready stay awake he's coming when you do not expect verse 45 who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time meaning master's left he
Put his servants in charge they have a Job to do blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes truly I say to you he will set him over all his possessions but if that wicked servant says to himself my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards meaning that he doesn't care about the other servants around him he doesn't care about the other people he's supposed to care for he doesn't care and he wants to pursue personal pleasure to great temptations for us and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth we do not get all the answers we want but Jesus drives a few things home
Very clearly there is only one Christ his name is Jesus he will return and when he does it will be over will you be ready will you be found working and diligent and faithful and believing and loving when he comes back because he will show up like a thief in the night he will come at an hour you do not expect and at that moment those who are faithful will be welcomed into the most glorious home coming that has ever happened and those who are unfaithful and those who have run after sin and those who have ceased to love the Lord and cease to follow him will be cut into pieces and cast into darkness with hypocrites where there is weeping gnashing of teeth they asked him when will the destruction of the temple be and he says there's a few things you need to know about that but don't follow another Christ know that I'm coming back and be ready when I do and we're going to spend next week looking at a few pictures where he pushes on that even further
That's his main point in this whole answer he gives a few things that we love to get bogged down in but his main point is be ready when I come and if you have not placed your faith in Christ and you are not trusting in him to redeem your soul to save you from your sin you are not ready and if you say that you've done that but you've ceased to love and you've ceased to care and you're chasing after temporal pleasures and you don't care about the people around you and you don't care about the mission of God you are not ready who's the faithful servant who'll be ready when he comes blessed is he that is and we pray that he will return and he will return soon in power and glory and we pray that we'll be ready when he does let's pray God we thank you for your grace we thank you for the hope that we have in the gospel that you forgive sinners and we pray that we would keep our eyes on you and you alone that we would not trust in
Anything else to save us or to redeem us or to fulfill us that we would not walk into lawlessness choosing this world over you we pray Lord that we would be found diligent and serving and at work until the end comes whether that's the end of our lives the end of our days or the end of days Lord we pray that we'd be diligent in this day as we await that day we ask for your grace and your help and Lord we praise you that you will return that you will judge sin that you will save your church that it will be obvious and glorious and that we will see you coming on the clouds of heaven in power and glory and we await for the sound of the trumpet and may we stay ready in Jesus name amen you you you you you you you
You you
Woe to the Pharisees (Matthew 23)
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Due to a recording issue the audio for the first 9 minutes of the sermon is distorted. We apologize for this error.
Jesus -v- The Religious Leaders (Matthew 22:15-46)
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The Cornerstone (Matthew 21:33-22:14)
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Transcript
Well good morning my name is chet i am one of the pastors here i'm excited to be here with y'all this morning if you have a Bible grab it and go to Matthew chapter 21. we're working our way through the Gospel of Matthew we're picking up this week where we left off last week if you don't have a Bible that's okay we used to hand them out to people before covet at some point we will hand them back out but right.
Now we'll have all the Scriptures on the screen to help you follow along um recently i think it was a a year or two ago there was somebody who posted on twitter um if you're not familiar with twitter it's kind of like facebook posting something on twitter similar to posting something on facebook if you're not familiar with facebook you're blessed person but posting something on facebook is like shouting something in public but more people can hear you so they posted this on twitter and they said some some offensive kind of foul language.
And then they said i got accepted for a nasa internship so it's just a very aggressive intro to i got accepted for a nasa internship well on twitter people can respond to you and some gentlemen responded this young lady and just said language just correcting her you probably shouldn't you know shout expletives just to tell us you got an internship and she responded to him more aggressively more obscenely in a very crass manner uh to translate it from the pulpit you would just say you can't tell me anything i'm working at nasa that's what she responded.
So i don't have to listen to you i'm working at nasa to which he responded and i am on the national space council that oversees nasa not too long later she tweeted i lost my internship they followed up with this guy he didn't go out of his way to try to make her lose the internship but people thought this was very funny and shared it a lot and then nasa decided she didn't need the internship she had entered into a situation she did not understand what was at stake she did not know who she was talking to she did not understand the ramifications of her decision she had entered into a situation that she mistook.
For something else and it cost her i'm willing to bet she nailed the actual nasa interviews the reason i'm willing to bet that is that she originally had gotten a nasa internship if she had understood who she was speaking to i think she would have responded a little bit differently as we look at the parables that Jesus is going to teach this morning my task today is to help us heed the warning that he's going to give to understand the situation that every single one of us finds ourself in responding to.
God in a way that has eternal consequences every single one of us is going to respond to the lord and it has eternal significance and my hope for us this morning is that as we study this together we would consider the eternal nature and the eternal weightiness of what we stand here today even today having to make decisions on so that we would not approach this lightly or without the appropriate earnestness that it deserves so in a second i'm going to pray i'm going to invite you to pray that the.
Lord through his spirit would help you to hear his voice this morning to help you evaluate your own heart this morning and that by his grace he would help you to respond well this morning as we read a passage where he gives not only warning to the pharisees who reject it but also warning to the Church and as we gather as his Church this morning we ought to listen well so if you will take a moment to pray for your soul.
For those here this morning and then i'll lead us in prayer lord we ask you to help us we ask you to help us to hear and to see and to know the reality of the eternity that is to come that we might respond to you appropriately and by your grace to enjoy your salvation it's in Jesus name and for his sake we pray amen Matthew chapter 21 verse 33 Jesus is in the middle of an altercation with the pharisees he just finished last week telling them that the tax collectors and prostitutes would make it into the kingdom before them.
So they're already probably not responding super well but he just keeps going and he says here another parable this is verse 33. here another parable there was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country that is very reminiscent of isaiah 5 isaiah says that that God planted a vineyard that he put a fence around it that he dug a wine press that he put a tower.
And then he harvested sour grapes so he knocked down the wall and it's his picture of Israel that he had planned for Israel to be something that it ended up not being and therefore he allowed the other nations to come in that's what isaiah 5 is and so Jesus sets this up in a very similar way but he says the master hands it off to tenants that's how he sets this up so they would have probably had in mind he's talking to the chief priest they would have had in mind isaiah 5.
And so they're already drawing on this a little bit and he's saying but he hands it off to attendance and goes into another country verse 34 when the season for fruit drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit so he's renting the land they're supposed to tend the land grow the fruit he's and then they're going to share the crop he's going to get some of the fruit they're going to get some of the fruit it's a good deal.
For everybody so he sends some of his servants to go to the tenants who do not own the land to give some of the fruit to him and the tenants took his servants and beat one killed another and stoned another that's threw rocks at him until they killed him again he sent other servants wouldn't you like to be the round two servants the guy who got beaten comes hobbling back in and he's like all right i need some more volunteers again he sent other servants more than the.
First and they did the same to them finally he sent his son to them saying they will respect my son now the the chief priests at this moment may not see what's going on but as believers we see what's going on that God is the one who planted this vineyard and that he handed it over to the religious leaders to the jewish people to respond to him appropriately to tend to this well to care for his people well and he begins to send his prophets and they don't want to hear it they beat them and kill them and hate them.
God in his grace sends more prophets even though after the first one you would think the master the owner of the land doesn't have to do that but he sends more and they respond in the same way and finally he says i'm going to send my son they will respect my son but when the tenants saw the sun they said to themselves this is the heir come let us kill him and have his inheritance these tenants have lost their minds they think that.
If they can kill the son then they'll be in charge the owner won't be able to do anything about it eventually he'll die and this will be ours if we can just kill the air it'll all belong to us but Jesus is pointing out that this is what the religious leaders have been doing that they've forgotten that they're tenants that they're not responding to God appropriately and that they've decided this is about them and how they want things to work and about their position of power.
Verse 39 and they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him when therefore the owner of the vineyard comes what will he do to those tenants verse 41 we're going to hear the chief priests answers they said to him he will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons so they answer aggressively but correctly oh when the master comes it's going to go really poorly.
For the tenants Jesus said to them have you never read the in the Scriptures the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone this was the lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes therefore i tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits so he says the stone that the builders rejected from psalm 118 he says this parable that i just told you and y'all's correct response to it haven't you read the Scriptures this is exactly what's going to happen the stone that's going to be rejected the sun that's going to be rejected is ultimately going to be the cornerstone this.
Stone that the builders didn't want is ultimately going to be the one that the whole building is built off of that's what a cornerstone is you set it first it's your best stone and every other stone has to line up with it or that stone doesn't get to be a part of the building cornerstones are very important so he says the stone that the builders rejected is going to be the cornerstone meaning that Christ who was rejected by those who should have accepted him is ultimately going to be the one that everything is built off of.
And then he says it very clearly therefore i tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to people producing its fruits that judaism ultimately is not going to be the way to salvation that Christ is that christianity which is christianity which is us based off and surrounded uh surrendering to Christ is going to be the way to salvation and it is not to the exclusion of the jewish people because jewish people who place their faith in Christ will be saved.
But it is to the exclusion of the old system of the the law and the sacrifices that Jesus is going to fulfill them and bring them to an end and he's ultimately going to set judaism aside and these chief priests are going to lose their place and he's going to bring salvation through his work and the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces and when it falls on anyone it will crush him there's a play called the man of la mancha and in that play there's a character named sancho ponza and one of his songs he sings it doesn't matter whether the stone hits the pitcher or the pitcher hits the.
Stone it's going to be bad for the pitcher talking about like a clay pot so if a clay pot and a stone fight stone wins doesn't matter who throws the first punch what Jesus says is it doesn't matter if you try to assault Jesus or he decides to assault you he wins that all those who would rise up against Jesus to destroy Jesus to get rid of Jesus to crush Jesus will be crushed and when he decides that it is judgment time and brings judgment to them he will crush them this is very good news.
If you belong to Jesus and very bad news if you do not we believe that Jesus is better than everything else that he is the cornerstone we sing to Jesus we worship Jesus we surrender to Jesus we place our faith in Jesus the first question when it comes to your response to God is have you placed your faith in Jesus he is the cornerstone and if we have a faith that is not built off of Christ in surrender to Christ we ultimately will be crushed that.
If your faith is in your good works or your good behavior or your track record or the fact that your uncle was a deacon that you grew up in the Church that you're a good person if your faith is that well we all ultimately just believe the same things and we're going to be okay but it is not in Christ in the work of Christ it ultimately leads to destruction verse 45 when the chief priests and the pharisees heard this he heard his parables they perceived that he was speaking about them yeah they said i figured this out you know those times.
When he would turn at the end and say you he met us 46 and although they were seeking to arrest him they feared to the crowns because they held him to be a prophet y'all they figured it out he's correcting us and then they don't take the correction they say he's talking about us let's kill him we're the tenants who killed the sun there's the sun let's kill him we know our role now what what's terrifying about this is that it is.
So clear to see when we're looking at it and so often when we're playing the role of pharisees we can't see it that he's correcting us he's bringing his spirit to bear on us and we work to defend ourselves to hold up ourselves to we don't want to have to go the route that he's calling us to go because that way it leads to humility leads to to sacrifice leads to surrender and so we talk ourselves out of it and you may say.
Well it's not as blatant as this but it's the functionally the same thing we don't want to hear it are we basing our lives off of Christ if we surrendered to him have we placed our faith in him and are we or are we like the pharisees seeking to reject where he works on us to lead us towards grace because the reality is if they had turned if they had repented he would have accepted it if there was a pharisee right.
Then who said lord help me he'd help them but they don't respond that way they huddle up and they go i figured it out he's talking about us yeah i figured it out too let's kill him let's arrest him let's wait till an opportune time chapter 22 it says and again Jesus spoke to them in parables saying he gives us these pictures and it helps us understand how things are going to work he says the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast.
For his son and he sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast but they would not come so we have a king he's holding a wedding feast for his son so this is going to be a big affair this is a lavish ordeal the king is celebrating his son and those who love the king and those who love the son would come and celebrate and there would be a feast and it would be a glorious occasion and it would matter.
So the king goes and invites those who were invited he goes to those who are invited and says come now who gets invited to the king's son's wedding not us fancy people and if you just found out you weren't fancy i'm sorry powerful people other kings people have political power or social power people who are looked up to i mean we could guess the they have we've seen royal weddings they're they're a big deal a big gaudy ordeal and if you're just.
Now finding out you weren't invited to those either but it i mean if you if you were going to write down who gets invited we can start figuring it out i mean like there's some people that you would know these people are invited that's who they go to they say these are the people who are supposed to come and they go around to invite them and it says but they would not come and again he sent other servants saying tell those who are invited.
See i have prepared my dinner my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered and everything is ready come to the wedding feast he gives them a sales pitch this time go tell them it's gonna be good go tell them how fat the calves were these are some poorly forty calves go tell them we've already got it cooked we've already got the feast go tell them they must not have heard right the first time go tell them these are the people who are supposed to come these are the people who are supposed to celebrate these are the people who are supposed to respond correctly go tell them it's a feast come celebrate come.
But they paid no attention and went off went to his farm another to his business while the rest seized his servants treated them shamefully and killed them how much disdain for the king and for his son would you have to have to do that how much hatred and disrespect and dishonor would you want to give to the king in order to do that how much of a declaration of war would that be verse 7 Jesus says the king was angry and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
Then verse eight goes back to the wedding feast but he just clearly says those who tried to dishonor the kingdom that way that hurt his he he killed him and burned their city then he said to his servants the wedding feast is ready but those invited were not worthy so this is back to back with the other one we just read so have we picked up on what this story is it's the nation of Israel this is God's plan of salvation through them that the leaders in Israel began to elevate themselves this is why.
Jesus has interacted with the pharisees over and over again argued with the pharisees over and over again because they had made it about them and their work and not about him if they had loved him they would have responded to him when they saw him but they didn't know him and they hated him now some he says went to his farm or do his business there were some that just i don't care i just would i care more about this care more about my farm i care more about my business i care more about what's coming up i just i just don't care about the king and his son and there were some who were.
Actively in opposition to the king and they will face judgment for it verse 9 go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find and those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found both bad and good so the wedding hall was filled with guests we just got invited to the wedding feast both bad and good that's us that's as many as they could find they went out into the roads they gathered all whom they found i love that he just says.
Look we're gonna have a party and the people who were supposed to come aren't coming but go find people we're gonna celebrate my son go go start announcing it go get everybody y'all can get we're gonna have a feast i've already got it ready we're gonna celebrate and they go out and they just start calling everybody they go into the market and say y'all quit buying and selling pack it up for the day we're going to the feast the king's inviting you to his wedding everybody in this town is invited they invite both the bad and the good they're out in the highways and they're like hey bandits about to rob that guy yes you.
With the eye patch come come to the feast even you sir who almost got stabbed today come on all of you come to the feast it says so the wedding hall was filled with guests and this is Christ and his call of salvation to the nations when the people of Israel rejected him Jesus died and in his death he displays grace and mercy and love beyond compare but he also displays judgment on those who would rise up against him and kill him that the son's death displays judgment to those who would want to get rid of him who would want to elevate themselves.
And then salvation is proclaimed and if you follow through the book of acts it's proclaimed to the jews first those who would believe in Christ those who would repent it's proclaimed right here in Jerusalem where Jesus's death is going to take place then it's proclaimed in samaria then it's proclaimed to the gentiles and then we see Paul traveling around and all the nations are welcomed if they will submit to Christ the cornerstone if they will place faith in him and God will have a wedding feast where there is a celebration of his son.
If Jesus's parable ended here we would just talk about the grace that has offered us through Christ we just spend this more in talking about how the the nation of Israel rejected him and then God decided to still offer salvation and through their rejection to open up so that there might be salvation for us and that he's also still got a plan for them that he's going to bring salvation that there's hope for all who will place faith in Christ.
Jesus doesn't stop his parable there he keeps going verse 11. but when the king came when the king came in to look at the guests he saw there a man who had no wedding garment and he said to him friend how did you get in here without a wedding garment and he was speechless he had no response had no way to defend himself then the king said to the attendants bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For many are called but few were chosen if we followed the story correctly the people who were originally supposed to be invited were practicing jewish leaders those in judaism and then God calls all who will accept the call so that the wedding hall is filled then the king comes in the wedding hall and looks at someone and says what are you doing here and the story jumps from just being a story because the king casts this person out into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth this is not just a parable anymore the.
Jesus has jumped to the eschatological end which is the end of history God's big fulfillment plan he's jumped all the way to the end and said this is what happens to those who would come into the feast but don't belong for those of us who have gathered this morning who have shown up on the second round of invitation that we're here because we've responded to the call that went out into the highways and the streets to the to the good and bad people out there who might would respond and place faith in Christ the idea that we could be gathered with those who belong in the wedding feast.
But we don't belong should cause us to pause and to consider so what is a wedding garment and what does it represent i think it's a very important question when looking at this text the reality is Jesus does not explain this to us and i think we can't put too much weight specifically on wedding garment represents this or that there are some people who would say that there's some evidence historically that the king provides the wedding garment so you would show up the king would send you to go change put on a wedding garment.
And then you would be wearing it so for this person to not have a wedding garment on would be to have rejected the king's offer to dress appropriately there's some evidence for that there's not a lot of evidence for that there's more historical evidence that a wedding garment is a nice outfit often white it's what you wear at a wedding which not our weddings if you wear white to a wedding now it's frowned upon but their wedding and so to say that this person showed up.
But had not put on a wedding garment had not dressed appropriately and had correctly responded to this invitation and so the people who want to push one way or the other some of them have said it's provided by the king and therefore it represents Christ's righteousness this person had not put on the righteousness of Christ provided by the king and the others who would say no no it's something you put on yourself and it represents the works that follow with genuine belief that this person does not actually respond the way they're supposed to the reality is whether or not it was something this person should have put on on their own or something the king.
Had offered they are not appropriately they have not appropriately responded to the king's invitation and the wedding garment the lack of a wedding garment indicates that they do not belong because they have not appropriately responded to the king's invitation meaning this person thought he was in thought he had responded thought he had done what it took to be there was excited about the feast and the king says you don't belong here what we need to see from this is not everyone who thinks they are in is actually in not everyone who would say they belong and they've answered this call has actually answered this call he says many are called many have been told you're.
Welcome you can come but not everyone is chosen not everyone belongs to the elect that's what that word is chosen not everyone is elect not everyone's actually in this is not something new for Jesus he's been saying this he says this in Matthew chapter 7 he says not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven on that day many will say to me.
Lord lord did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name and then i then will i declare to them i never knew you depart from me you workers of lawlessness they say lord lord Jesus says they're talking specifically to him he says not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven and they say did we not do this in your name so this is people who call.
Jesus lord and he says he'll look at him and say i never knew you this is the king showing up to the feast and saying what are you doing here that they would stand before Jesus that we might stand before Jesus and him say i don't know you and i say but lord Jesus and it must be bound hand and foot and cast in outer darkness you see Jesus says here that but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven you.
See i think that the wedding garment accurately represents both of those ideas that we would be covered by the righteousness of Christ because those who have placed faith in Jesus genuinely have been covered by the righteousness of Christ and if you have placed faith in Jesus and his Holy Spirit is at work in you you do respond with good works you do respond in obedience now we live in the south we have no shortage of people who call Jesus lord but knowing his name is different from knowing him and calling him.
Lord is different from submitting to him as lord knowing his name is different from knowing him and calling him lord is different from submitting to him as lord they're going to be pastors who stood and opened the Scriptures and taught them to people who are going to be cast into darkness they're going to say didn't didn't we prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name they're going to be professors from seminaries they're going to be people who led community groups and taught awanas and taught sunday school they're going to be people who had a high attendance sunday school badge they're going to be people who've been members of Church.
For 50 years and they were a member of a local Church but they didn't belong to Jesus that's terrifying so i want us to consider this morning i want you to consider this morning i want you to investigate your heart this morning do you love Jesus or do you just want what he offers do you know Jesus or do you just know about him have you surrendered to him is he at work in your life are you changing are you growing that's what Peter says that we would work out our calling and our election he said you would be sure of your calling in election and he says that you would take faith genuine belief.
Trust in Jesus and you would supplement it with virtue you'd begin to grow that you take virtue and you'd supplement it with knowledge do you have a desire to know Christ that you would take knowledge and supplement it with self-control that you would take self-control and supplement it with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love do you love the things that Christ loves do you care if we looked at how we spent our money.
If how we spent our time if how we approached our Church family in our community group how we approach this are we just checking off boxes so that you can be religious good person so that you can be well behaved the pharisees had that and they were better at it than we are are you just here because your family believed in Jesus or you really it kind of helps you out in the south to believe in Jesus or of course i mean everybody believes in.
Jesus and why wouldn't we but is he at work in your soul are you beginning to hate sin are you beginning to grow in love and compassion for others do we care about the poor do we care that people don't believe in Christ are we more worried about politics in our next big purchase the reality is right now the Holy Spirit may be at work and pressing in on you do not do what the pharisees did now the purpose of this the purpose of this warning that.
Jesus gives is not that we would end up in despair but that we might respond in repentance this is not to cause you to have anxiety for the rest of your days trying to sweat out and wring your hands as to whether or not you might be saved salvation is through Christ and Christ alone but the reality is if you aren't in Christ you are not saved and if you are in Christ he is in you and you will begin to change and you will love him and you will love the things that he loves and it will take some time and it'll be a hot mess.
But you'll see it the response this morning is not to leave here disheartened the response this morning is to leave here with a new heart and i don't care i don't care if you grew up in the Church i don't care if if this if you became a believer now and got baptized to be the fourth time you got baptized i don't care if you're sitting here right now going but i've been a part of this Church for 55 years and it'll be embarrassing it'll be shame on me.
If i announced everybody i've never really believed no that'll be a great joyous occasion the shame will come the day that we hold this in and we stand before the king and he says i don't know you lord help us that does not happen that we might take with dead earnest seriousness the reality of an eternity to come and that the rest of our lives would look like we believe this that Jesus would be at work in our souls to lead us to change that we would be clothed in his righteousness.
Because we've placed faith in him your salvation is not worked out on your own but salvation is worked out in you matt's going to come up here and he's going to play some music on the piano and i want you to take a moment to ask the lord to help you see your heart i want you to take a moment to ask for mercy would you take a moment to ask that you might be clothed in his righteousness that he might begin to work in you i want you to ask him where he hasn't shown up where where he's where you've been fighting off his advances where he's been trying to claim portions of your.
Soul and you've been rejecting him i want you to take a moment and ask do i belong to you and then respond in repentance respond in faith respond in hope in Christ in Christ alone let's pray God we ask that by the power of your Holy Spirit you would change us we would not leave here disheartened we would not leave here discouraged but we would leave here with new hearts and lord i pray for those who have genuinely placed their faith in you that they would be able to.
See were here at work that they would surrender in those places they would continue to grow that they would feel the joy of those who did not deserve to be invited in who had not merited an invitation but were brought in by the generosity of the king lord may we praise your name that you would send your son to sacrifice for us to save us and lord may we be saved clothe us in your righteousness work out your salvation in us that we might grow in virtue and repentance and grace and love help us to love the things you love and to not be caught up and chasing after riches to not be caught up.
In chasing after sensuality and temporal pleasures do not be caught up in sin that would ensnare us and drag us to the grave may the day we see you face to face be a glorious day where we are not bound handed foot and cast into darkness but maybe a day that we celebrate the sun that we glorify the king that we feast with you because you have paid for our sin and redeemed us and set us free and lord for anybody who's fighting you right.
Now may they surrender and for those who are worried about what it'll look like or what it'll be like or what you'll do may they know that you're good and may they surrender lord so that one day we are all built into you and not crushed by you we praise the glorious name of Jesus and we ask you to do this lord that as you have called we pray that you would choose that you would claim that you would capture that you would own our souls to the glory of your good name amen.
The Two Sons (Matthew 21:23-32)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Which apparently was on all morning and then i just turned it off before i walked up here so if y'all thought matt sound especially good today because i was singing with him we are picking back up in Matthew and we have been um it's been uh over a month since we were studying the book of Matthew together we've been working our way through the Gospel of Matthew and we're gonna spend the good the better part of spring into easter in the Gospel of Matthew and we're gonna kind of finish out the book.
If you'll remember where we left off Jesus has been performing ministry and miracles and teaching mostly in the the areas away from Jerusalem so he's been in galilee he's been in judea he's come to Jerusalem a couple of times but he's always kind of gone back well now he is in Jerusalem he's headed to kind of the epicenter of religious thought judaism of the day and he's had some run-ins with pharisees they didn't get along well now he's gone to their uh home turf he's taken it kind of to their camp and he's we're gonna.
See over the next several weeks him uh butting heads with them them not getting along and you'll see as it goes on it's kind of aggressive and you start seeing go okay i see why they wanted to kill him this is this has been harsh and so we're going to see him interacting with them and we're picking up there so he's just written in Jerusalem now the way the Gospel of Matthew works is it starts off tells us a little bit about his birth we uh it spends a decent amount of time looking at kind of three years of ministry.
Now we're in the last week of Jesus's life and we're going to spend a lot of time here where it spends the majority of its focus here so um verse 23 of chapter 21 and when he entered the temple the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and said by what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority so Jesus is in the temple it's a huge area but he's in the temple and at some place he's teaching and people have gathered around him.
Jesus at this point had some notoriety had some fame so we don't know how large the crowd was but it's fair to assume it was fairly large he's teaching in the temple and the chief priests and the elders of the people come to him so it's not just pharisees it's not just people who disagree with him but these are actually the leaders the chief priest and the elders of the people come to Jesus in the middle of him teaching and interrupt him and say by whose authority are you doing these things.
And when they say these things they they mean he rode into Jerusalem and people laid out their coats and sang to him and said hosanna son of David coming in the name of the king hosanna in the highest and then Jesus went to the temple and he cleansed the temple which is a nice Bible way of saying started some mess he went in there and flipped over tables spread their money around and then stood and preached it wasn't like he washed it he he came in and was aggressive in his attack on what they were doing in the temple.
And then he left the next day he shows back up and he's teaching and so they're like hey who told you you could do this what makes you think you you're allowed to whose banner are you flying so if you'll picture this he's teaching the chief priests the elders get together and they're like we're gonna go confront him they walk up in the middle of all of it and they say hey but whose authority are you doing this and so now there's an audience there's.
Jesus the the chief priests and the people he's been teaching to and so Jesus answered them this is verse 24. i also will ask you one question and if you tell me the answer then i also will tell you by what authority i do these things now this is a fairly normal response you ask me a question i'm going to ask you a question they didn't do the uh i asked you first stuff it was the this is a normal in judaism and a rabbinical tradition is.
If you want to if you want to come ask me a question then you're saying we can ask each other's questions i'll answer a question if you'll answer mine first otherwise i don't feel like i have to answer your question if you can't answer mine so that's what he does and he says so if you tell me the answer then i also will tell you by what authority i do these things the baptism of john that's john the baptist from where did it come from heaven or from man.
So he asked him answer that question and then i'll tell you about what authority i do these things and john had come he's the precursor to Jesus he prepared the way for Jesus he had baptized Jesus so there's some connection between john's ministry and Jesus's ministry so Jesus asked them this question says and they discussed it among themselves saying if we say from heaven he will say to us why then did you not believe him but if we say from man we are afraid of the crowd.
For they hold that john was a prophet okay so this is kind of funny to me Jesus is teaching the chief priests come and interrupt him you're like we have a question for you declare whose authority you did this by and he goes i got a question for you he flips it around on them and then they huddle up they're like good question they get over here okay they start whispering now what they're whispering about is not what do we actually think that didn't even come up all they came up with what should we say and how will people respond to that learn from this.
Because it's easy for us to get into that mode and then someone asks a question and you go what do they want to hear what do other people think how should i rather than saying what do i think is true how can i be honest and have some integrity nope just let's talk tactics but i have to imagine it was fun for the people watching because the chief priests and them strutted in interrupted the class Jesus asked them a question they huddle up and they're going they're looking you know and talking to people like oh i actually want to hear how this turns out i want to.
See so they say if we say from heaven he's going to immediately say why didn't you believe him because they didn't oh you thought he came from heaven and you rejected heaven what a terrible decision but if we say man well the crowd believed him so can't say that verse 27 so they answered Jesus we don't know they huddled up they came back and definitively declared we're not sure and he said to them neither will i tell you by what authority i do these things he looked at him and said oh.
Well then y'all aren't a judge of this type of thing y'all have if y'all don't know that then why does it matter if i tell you this like y'all aren't capable of judging these sort of things but Jesus being Jesus doesn't leave it there he follows up i don't know if you've found this to be the case but if you've ever come to Jesus with a question i found that often he changes the subject on me or he has follow-up questions of his own sometimes i come to him really praying about something i'm studying the word and he keeps being like i want to talk about this thing and i'm like that's not why i.
Called this meeting but he does what he does and he says verse 28 he's going to turn it around on him and he's going to kind of follow up and begin to press this and this is where we'll spend the most of our time this morning we're going to see that Jesus is going to press in on their response to john the baptist and he's going to begin to show us that there are two basic responses to john's message and to his message that there's a way.
For us to reject this message and so we're going to spend a little time looking at this and trying to respond as we ought to to the message of john and the message of Jesus so let's pray and then we'll start breeding back in 28 or we ask for wisdom as we study your word we ask for help we ask for the work of the spirit we pray that we would see you clearly see our sin clearly that we would respond.
Well to your message we love you and we praise you in Jesus name amen so verse 28 he says what do you think a man had two sons and he went to the first and said son go and work in the vineyard today and he answered i will not so that that's not great but afterward he changed his mind and went and he went to the other son and said the same and he answered i go sir but did not go which of the two did the will of his.
Father and they said the first i have two sons i agree with them if i tell both of my kids go clean your room one of them yells no runs off and cleans his room and one of them yes yes sir and then goes and does something else so he says which one did the will of the father which one actually did what was asked and they say the first it's a simple parable two sons one says no but then follows through and actually does what the.
Father asks one says yes but does nothing Jesus said to them truly i say to you the tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you what okay he's talking to the chief priests not the regular priests the chief priests and the elders of the people he says i want you to help me with a little story here which son does the will of the father they answer the question they answer it correctly and he goes exactly tax collectors and prostitutes are going into heaven and you are the conclusion i just imagined them just staring at him like what on earth are you talking about everybody not just the chief priests.
But the crowds also going what what on earth tax collectors and prostitutes were the most looked down on people in their culture they were a byword they were they were scum tax collectors had joined the romans to take advantage of their own people to help the romans occupy Israel and to get rich doing it to use the romans as their backing and to take more taxes so that they could be wealthy and to help keep the romans who had occupied their land in their land in the promised land.
If you were going to pick someone who had rejected God in the things of God and the will of God you'd pick tax collectors or you'd pick prostitutes same thing have rejected God's design had rejected the will of God we're not willing to listen to God and were doing what they wanted and he says they are making it into the kingdom before you but he's going to tell why verse 32 for john came to you in the way of righteousness so he tells him the answer to his question earlier his message was from heaven his baptism was from heaven he came in righteousness john came to you in the way of righteousness and you did.
Not believe him but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him and even when you saw it you did not afterward change your minds and believe him so he says the tax collectors and the prostitutes make it into the kingdom they're going into the kingdom they've displaced you because they believed john what he was saying was true he came in righteousness and they believed him and you didn't and even when you saw them believing and repenting and going to john and you still didn't change your mind.
So in the story the first son started poorly but changes his mind and then does the will of the father the second son sounds great but then does not do the will of the father and he says the will of the father has been presented to you in john the baptist preaching he came to you in righteousness they believed you didn't and even after you saw them believing you didn't change your mind and belief now what was john's message and why did they reject what was john's message and why did they reject it and why did tax collectors and prostitutes accept it.
And if you're talking about starting a religion if you're talking about starting a group of people that are going to be together and display what God is like you don't start with tax collectors and prostitutes i don't maybe you don't Jesus does john the baptist did and let's see why let's see what this message was and so we're going to see the distinct difference between the message of come be righteous come be good versus come be forgiven so this is john the baptist this is in uh chapter three of Matthew verse one um this is actually the very.
First week we started in uh the Gospel of Matthew we started here and uh last week spencer said we're gonna be starting back up in Matthew this week and somebody texted me from my group and said wait we're starting Matthew over it's like no no we're starting back we've made it to chapter 21. we're not starting it all the way over but that would be fun we didn't like how we taught it so we're going to start back over so just.
For him we're starting back up in Matthew this is where we started so in those days john the baptist came preaching in the wilderness of judea repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and that's uh Jesus's original message as well repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand so the message was a message of repentance now repentance carries with it a few things it carries with it that there is judgment coming this the kingdom of heaven is at hand there's judgment coming next step that's not going to go.
Well for you there's judgment coming and you're a sinner and i think sometimes that's all we think we hear when we hear repentance you're a sinner oh but a message of repentance is a message of hope there's judgment coming you're a sinner and there's forgiveness offered you can come right now and repent you can come right now and be forgiven you can come right now and be washed clean come on in boys the water's fine to quote delmer from oh brother that's what john the baptist was saying is that you can come right.
Now all right so i have a little i want to talk to y'all this morning about student loan forgiveness people have student loan debt and there's a possibility the government will offer student loan forgiveness now some people just thought you've got to be kidding me this is ridiculous how much is that going to cost well i don't know if you've paid much attention to our debt or our spending but we're in imaginary numbers at this point are you kidding me we're going to forgive student loan debt and some of you thought preach that's the best thing you've said this morning tell me more about this student loan forgiveness.
If i'd have known you were going to talk about it i brought my tambourine i was going to do a praise lap the people who want who would be most inclined towards student loan forgiveness who would be most excited about it are the people who have student loans they're the people who even the people who are going i really don't think the government should do this but i mean as long as they're going to do it what website am i supposed to fill out.
For this i mean i'm not going to say no i got principles but i'm not an idiot the people who want student loan forgiveness who would accept student loan forgiveness people have student loan debt if they came out and announced right now we're just going to pay everybody's mortgage who's excited about that people with mortgages do you know who's really annoyed about that the person who just paid off their mortgage the person who's most excited is the person who just bought a house that was way outside of their means the person who's house poor they got a nice house they can't hardly pay.
For it the person who's who did not do good math and didn't realize taxes were coming or whatever the person who's they're like yes i just bought a huge house this is amazing and the person who's worked really hard to do exactly what they were supposed to and pay extra payments and while their friends were going out and having fun they weren't having fun but they were thinking you'll pay one day when i've got my house paid off and they finally paid it off and they were dancing their way to the bank.
And then all of a sudden they're paying off mortgages for free you've got to be kidding me tax collectors and prostitutes heard there's repentance and forgiveness are you serious and those who were well behaved and had done all the things they thought they were supposed to do to get God to owe them heard there was forgiveness and they said are you serious you've got to be kidding me you see those who want forgiveness those who line up for forgiveness are those who think they need forgiveness those who know they have sin.
So when there's a message of repentance that's good news to sinners when there's a message of religion and i'm using religion in a with a negative connotation i don't mean religion as in the worship of a God i mean religion is in the behaviors you do to earn God's favor the work you put in to make God owe you the message of a religion which is do these things and God will love you the message of repentance doesn't make any sense sounds crazy sounds backwards.
So these are the two approaches to God let's assume for a second that this right here indicates the line in which you interact with God and so we're all over here on our way to a confrontation with God well a message of repentance and a message of religion of behaviorism of good works both say that God's a judge they agree and the message of repentance says when you meet him he will judge you and the message of religion says he will judge you.
But religion behaviorism this moral ethics this come be good says that what you're supposed to do in route to meeting him is find out what he wants and do the things pray give fast celebrate the right holidays don't celebrate the wrong ones do these things don't do those things that you would come to God and you would say God i my whole life i've worshipped you i've given to the poor i gave 10 to the Church i gave 2 to oliver Gospel mission i was in race or gas i was in awanas or cubbies i read my Bible i went through confirmation i was baptized.
When all my friends were going out and doing bad things i wasn't i looked down on them i did the things i'm supposed to do and that you would come and present these things to God and he would evaluate he would judge whether or not you had lived up whether or not the things that you had done were presentable and he would judge you worthy or unworthy a message of repentance says you go to him and all you bring to him is your mess that's why it says that they were baptized by john confessing their sins that they went to all they had was mess and they asked.
For mercy they knew they were supposed to meet the lord but they knew they had nothing to offer they knew they came they said all i've got is mess and i know that i don't deserve anything from you but i just need mercy i've sinned i've fallen short i'm broken that's the message of repentance and then on this side in the message of repentance john the baptist tells them go and bear fruit in keeping with repentance look like you've repented look like you've met a merciful.
God who forgives sinners on this side of forgiveness and on this side of religion the behaviors often look very similar reading your Bible reading your Bible memorizing verses giving money to the poor giving money to the Church being kind being gracious trying to to follow after the things but the heart is so fundamentally different on this side of mercy and grace and forgiveness from the lord and on this side working your way towards him in a way that would present to him what you have to accomplish to hand him your resume honestly both of them think they're handing the.
Lord their resume but one's writing down all the terrible things they want washed off and one of them's writing down all the good things they want remembered it's like walking in to hand your new boss your resume and go here's all the ways i got fired here's all the times i should have gotten fired but nobody caught me because you know you're just here to get forgiveness you're here to get it clean if they said if you wrote down everything you can write on this paper that's bad will get forgotten every crime you've ever committed will be expunged you just got to put it on the paper i'm i'm learning how to write small i'm.
Going front and back on this thing see motive matters in these two approaches one of the best stories i've ever heard that illustrates this is there's a there's a king and he's a good king he has a good land and on his land there's a farmer grows root vegetables small farmer just has one acre of land and he grows a carrot and boy what a carrot he pulls it out it's the biggest most beautiful carrot he's ever grown he's staring at this thing it's magnificent as far as carrots go and he decides i'm going to take it and give it to the king.
So he goes he gets an audience with the king he goes to present it to the king he gives the king he says king i grow vegetables i i live in your kingdom i love living in your kingdom i have a small one-acre plot and this is the best carrot i think i've ever grown and i just wanted to give it to you the king looks at him sees his heart and he says i actually know where your land is and i own the land behind it and i'm going to double your property i'm giving you another acre one of the king's advisors is sitting there and he's like an acre.
For a carrot this is a screaming deal so the next day he shows up he gets an audience with the king and he brings in a magnificent horse strong young sleek healthy and he says king i breed horses and i think this is the best one i've ever bred and i love you king and i wanted to give this horse to you in honor of you and in my appreciation to you the king looks at him he knows his heart and he says thank you they'll put the horse with my other horses that guy stands there dumbfounded he's just struck he doesn't know really how to react and the king says oh are you thinking.
About the farmer he was giving me the carrot you're giving yourself the horse and there's a way in which we follow and we submit and we obey in response to who God is there's a way in which we bear fruit in keeping with repentance meaning we've been changed and now we bear the fruit of that change which is grace and humility and love and generosity because we know what he's like and we've been forgiven and we know that what the debt that we had that he took away and there's a way in which we do really good things.
But ultimately we're just giving ourselves the horse we're doing all these things because eventually he'll owe us and that's where we come to the fact that in a situation where you have come be good versus come be forgiven there's a distinct difference in who gets the glory because if i do all the good things i'm supposed to do and i meet God he evaluates me and he says well done and i transfer to this side well now i get to move the tassel from one side of the cap to the other you guys i'm one of the good ones i've earned it i'm worthy.
But if you come to the lord in repentance and your understanding is that what you get from him is mercy you guys he's so good that he would forgive a sinner like me self-righteousness or gift righteousness see when there was a message of repentance to those who did not see their sin and those who had been behaving really well they didn't want to hear it but to those who knew they were in their sin it was sweet beautiful news and this makes sense.
If you've been in the Church for a long time if you've been around for a while and you your understanding is that primarily what God wants from you is behavior i'm going to show you how this really breaks down when you get to thinking about how glory works how praise works i want to talk to you about the theology i've recently learned from a sitcom called the good place it's terrible theology but i want to talk to you about it in the show the good place i don't want to ruin it.
For you but in the first two seconds you find out the main character's dead and she's gone to the good place the point of the show is that she actually shouldn't be there but they explained to her how the good place works and the good place works like this everything you did on earth no matter how small or big was recorded and evaluated and you got good points or bad points and the really really good not the 51 good the really really good get to come to the good place.
So this person who's not supposed to be there she goes around she meets a lot of people and they're all really really good they talk about their generosity they talk about the the way they've served the hungry and the homeless they talk about hunger strikes and how they fought for this injustice and that and how they gave away money they're all really really good so i'm watching this show and the reality is the good place declares the glory of the people in it it proclaims the glory of their worth and their good work it sings praises to their value there's even a scene where.
Because she's there she's messing the whole place up so a lot of people are sad in the good place even though they're not supposed to be and there's a scene where he's talking to one of the guy who's over it's talking to one of the ladies in it and he says you have nothing to prove you've already proven you're a good person you've already proven you're worthy by being here see the reality is if we're supposed to do the right things.
And then God gives us a check mark when we reach heaven heaven sings our praises it declares the glory of our work of our effort and our name if we're gonna sing names in heaven we could all stand and sing our own or we could sing the names of everybody else there that's not how heaven works there is a name that is praised in heaven there is one who receives glory in heaven and by his grace he shares it with us.
But we praise the name of Jesus because he's righteous and we aren't he's good and we aren't he forgives and we needed mercy that's why sinners respond to a message of repentance and why the religious didn't and the real danger for them and for us is that they didn't see their sin and the danger for us is that we might not see ours the danger for you this morning is that you might be sitting here knowing you're not a pharisee even looking down on them that's one of the things that Christians are really good at is being super judgmental to super judgmental pharisees.
But not realizing that we are in the category of terrorists and prostitutes that if you're going to come to the lord that you understand that all you've brought to the table is your wickedness your sin that needed a savior there's a temptation for us to begin to as we practice faithfulness to begin to think that our job is to be good and to do good and to be right and to do right and to be upset when messy people come in here and mess up our good people club as.
If somehow by messy sinful broken people being a part of this they've somehow sullied our good name but the reality is they have proclaimed the good name of our lord that in our brokenness and in our sin we declare his glory because he's the one who forgives sinners and if we're here to be righteous and good on our own merit and to declare our glory let's shut this place down but if we're here to declare our sinfulness and our need for our savior and his glory.
Then praise Jesus and so the question for you is are you living as if you are here to present your good work to God for his evaluation that you're supposed to develop some form of self-righteousness that he can sign off on that your good works are somehow adding into his good response to you or are you understanding that even in your good works done with a sinful prideful heart need to be repented of that's what Jesus looks at them he says as you saw the sinners repenting you didn't change your mind and belief.
And so i'm asking you this morning to change your mind and believe if you know you have debt and you feel like sin clings to you threatening to suffocate you threatening to drown you through it it sticks to you and stench rises from you i've got good news for you you can come be forgiven right now and if you're sitting here and you're thinking i'm good change your mind and believe your goodness will not amount to anything before a God who can.
See clearly to your heart to the core of our wickedness that needs a savior that if Jesus Christ came so that you might learn how to be good he would have never gone to a cross but he came to pay for sinners and prostitutes and tax collectors and addicts and abusers and adulterers and those who practice homosexuality and swindlers and idolaters will stand in the kingdom praising the name of our lord Jesus because they've repented and they've seen that he forgives and may we stand shoulder to shoulder in a place that would have been.
So overrun with wickedness were it not for the blood of Christ may we stand and praise his name and his glory and not think for one second that our name will be lifted up because of our good work but may we respond in good work to a good savior who redeems sinners if you're in your sin you don't have to be you can be forgiven right now if you place your faith in Jesus and if you're sitting here in your own righteousness i would warn you that it will not be sufficient change your mind and believe in the only one who can pay.
For your sins and your pride and your self-righteousness with his blood on the cross let's pray oh lord we thank you that you save sinners and may we see our debt so that we rejoice may we see our debt so that we line up to be forgiven and may we live in the confidence and the humility and the joy that the forgiveness of sinners provides may we walk out in obedience in grateful joy elevating your name the whole way and for those who have lived their lives behaving.
So that you will owe them lord may they see their sin and as you see their heart will you help them to see their heart so they might change their mind and belief we ask this in Jesus mighty name amen.
Hindsight 2020
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning Happy New Year yeah my name is Spencer and I'm one of the pastors here uh a year ago right around this time we got to come together as one Church family to worship for the first time so that's something to celebrate it's been a year and uh and last year we launched a sermon called 2020 Vision cuz we were really excited uh we were excited about uh about being a a a family together as a Church family on Mission here in Casey we talked about being missional in this neighborhood and the City of Casey getting to know businesses like we we were excited about all the things that were in front of us.
We were excited about some of the renovations we're going to be able to do to the building and at one point last last year we thought I think we could wrap this thing up by Fall get Renovations done by Fall launch into this school year and uh it's going to be great so I don't know if you're familiar with the with the word 2020 but uh it's not what it used to be that is a concept has changed completely we had our.
First Global pandemic in a hundred years and that was fun uh we uh getting to know neighbors and and knocking on doors and introducing ourselves at one point last year would have been considered violence and uh and then we learned last year that not talking to people was violence that silence is violence the whole the whole year was just confusing in a lot of ways so uh if we could go back a year ago we'd do a little bit differently so the title of this sermon uh before we launch into Matthew next week is hindsight 2020.
If we could go back a year ago and preach a sermon it would be this sermon so here's what we're going to tackle this morning we want as a Church family to take a big step forward in 20121 in maturing on our faith in growing in godliness now I know then I say that that we want to grow in godliness this year that that doesn't seem all that exciting to some that maybe that that uh the some of the New Year's resolutions that you made this year uh weren't some kind of version of of that just this is not a popular thing that you want to grow in godliness to start out the new year.
So I I'm assuming some of us have different things we want to grow in some of it might be related to our faith but growing in godliness is not a concept that's really out in front of us we have goals like wanting to to to maybe lose weight lose some of the covid weight that we got get healthier maybe get more on track with our finances and not have to hope that the next stimulus bill is what rides us through there are lots of good things that we might strive.
For but the reality is is a lot of those things that we might strive for in a new year are temporary they are not Eternal and what I want us to do is to take a step back this morning and see an investment in our eternity is worth it let me ask you how many of us feel stagnant in our faith how many of us feel like we're just kind of going through the motions a little bit feel like we're in a little bit of a low that it's just kind of Cloudy right.
Now and it's just hard for us even imagine taking a big step forward in our faith my hope for us this morning is that we able to take a step back look at all of this and see that growing in godliness is worth our Pursuit that that maturing in Christ is worth it so we're going to look at 1 Timothy 4: 6-10 today and God willing as we walk through this passage it will encourage us to take a step forward in following.
Jesus and becoming more like him so as we walk through this we're we're going to see what godliness is we're going to see why we should want it and how we get there so let me pray for us this morning and then we'll jump in uh father we thank you that we get to start new this year God I pray that you would help us see that godliness is worth our Pursuit that you are worth our Pursuit and that out of this we would respond we ask this in.
Jesus name amen all right so we are jumping into a new testament letter so just me let me give some some quick background so first Timothy was a letter that Paul the Apostle Paul the missionary Paul wrote to Timothy a younger Pastor that he has invested in for many years at this point he has relationship with him he cares about him and the letter is packed with at the very beginning there's some some very strong warnings against false teachings that was prevalent throughout the New Testament Church it's also prevalent.
Today uh there he he reminds them of the Gospel that he was called into he gives them some some uh some uh instructions on how to order the Church how to structure the Church with overseers elders and with with deacons he's walked through all of this and then he shifts gears a little bit in chapter 4 beginning in verse 6 he says if you put these things before the brothers meaning the things he's just talked about already in this letter if you put these things before the brothers you will be a good servant of Christ.
Jesus being trained in the words of the faith and of good doctrine that you have followed have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths rather train yourself for godliness for while bodily training is of some value godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance for to this end we Toil and strive because we have our hope set on the Living.
God who is the savior of all people especially of those who believe all right so we're going to walk through this in three parts uh what why and how so the what big reveal is godliness that's what we're going to be talking about this morning that's what Paul is getting out here is godliness verse 7 he says have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths rather train yourself for godliness now be honest how many of us when we heard the sermon was going to be on godliness and it's a new year has some kind of version in your in your mind that said this is a this is going to be something on how to.
Be a better Christian how how to be a better person how to improve ourselves listen that is partly because we misunderstand what godliness is in the first place we don't have a full concept for what actually godliness is if you go back at chapter the end of chapter three Paul starts to speak about godliness he says in verse 16 great indeed we confess is the mystery of godliness all right so and there's a coal in there so he's getting ready to unpack what godliness is he's about to poetically explain here's the mystery of godliness he says he was manifested in the flesh Vindicated by the spirit seen by Angels proclaimed among the Nations believed on.
In the world taken up in glory and if you think man that's what godliness is that's that's not super clear that's partly because we we misunderstand what godliness is because our mind quickly goes to okay godliness is being a better person being a better Christian the ways I need to improve instead of the person we are supposed to behold godliness is beholding Christ that whole mystery of godliness is all about Christ says he was manifested in the flesh that's his life and his death he was Vindicated by the spirit that's the Spirit who raised him to in the resurrection he was seen by Angels that's his exaltation before the Angels he's proclaimed among the Nations.
That's go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations heralded amongst all peoples believed on in the world the gift of faith that Jesus is to the world taken up in glory the eternal glory of Christ it's all about Christ godliness is a matter of focus and fixation focus and fixation on Christ I put it very plainly godliness is christlikeness it is not the Improvement of self by looking within it is a matter of focus and fixation you Behold Him in order that you might become like him that is what he is getting at here you.
See the opposite of of waywardness which is straying from Jesus the opposite of waywardness is godward it's a godward focus I love what ji Packer says in his book knowing God ji Packer was a theologian he was a gift of the Church for for decades he passed away last year but I love what he says in defining godliness in his book knowing God he says godliness is responding to God's Revelation in trust and obedience faith and worship prayer and praise submission and service life must be seen and lived in light of God's word and what happens.
When we hear that is that our mind quickly jumps to okay it's it's it's about trust and obedience it's about faith and worship it's about prayer and praise these are the things that I need to grow in but we miss we miss it because that's not how he starts it he says it's responding to God's Revelation it's first responding to who God is focusing on him fixating on Christ and then out of that the Overflow is Faith obedience trust uh prayer and praise these things that display the fruit of godliness our approach is off it's a little bit like uh a little bit like falling in love.
So maybe maybe you're single and you you want to meet the right guy or the right girl in this year and you say I want to fall in love and let's say you later this year you're at the kitchen table and you're riding uh these well-crafted love letters and they're just they're real poetic and you're thinking about all the intentional language and you've mapped out here here all the date nights that I'm going to do all the romantic gestures you got it all laid out you've got it all planned out.
And then all of a sudden your roommate walks in and says what you doing over there it's like I've fallen in love I mean I've got look at this I've got look at these letters look at everything I got planned out and your roommate says that's awesome who's the girl that's not important I I've listen on the letters I've saved a little space for a name I'll write that in roomate would like weird it's not it's not how that works because none of that makes sense.
If you haven't actually met the girl yet have you even had your heart stolen by the guy if you can't sleep at not because you're thinking about that significant others love letters romantic gestures all the works doesn't make sense all of that flows out of a relationship with the one you love godliness flows out of relationship with God of beholding who he is and out of that the Overflow is some of the fruitfulness that comes with godliness so that's what godliness is we have to we have to have that.
So firmly in our head in order to understand what comes next and we're going to look at uh why and tackling why we should pursue godliness the why is he says value in every way there is value in every way he says have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths rather train yourself for godliness for while bily training is of some value godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
Okay so there's two different ways that he shows value the present life and also the life to come so I'm I'm going to tackle those in reverse order let's look at the value in the life to come all right so uh and Jr Packer's knowing God he he walks through this he says that uh that that godliness is a little bit like a dress for rehearsal for eternity he says it's a dress rehearsal for the eternal life to come and the point that he starts to explain that he's getting at is that love and joy and peace and patience and goodness and kindness some of the fruitfulness that comes as a result of godliness he.
Says those are Eternal things those are Eternal characteristics they that reflect the Eternal character of God when you deal in those you're dealing in Eternal things and that's preparing you for an eternity where these things will be perfectly on display before you the the the rest of it fades away right the the rest of the things in life that your riches the the weird Vendetta you have against your neighbor or or your coworker the relational weirdness you have with an old friend that all fades has no place in the Eternal kingdom of.
God but but love and joy and peace and patience some of this fruit that comes out of godliness that's Eternal so his point is pursue that go at get after that those qualities last they're Eternal and they prepare you for in a mysterious way a future Glory where all of this is is is perfectly displayed in Christ and through you in the new Resurrection it's mysterious it's hard to wrap our minds around but this prepares us for the life that is to come it also It prepares us here.
Now and the present life which is a little more uh a little easier for us to to grasp it has value in the present life and this is get this gets confusing because a lot of times when we when we think about the value in the present life our mind jumps to the effort it jumps to that being the end the end goal is doing these things and doing these things better but that's not the end goal in verse 10 he says.
For to this end we Toil and strive because we have our hopes set on the Living God who is the savior all people especially of those who believe the the end goal is Christ and a lot of times when we try to uh grow in this we're going to hold the the the toil and the striving and the result of godliness out in front of us and it's hard because when that's presented as growing these things it doesn't quite capture us like it does.
If God is presented and held out in front of us my wife and I we got to watch uh a Christmas classic this uh this past month and I'm not talking about Christmas Vacation which is the Christmas classic I'm talking about the the easily forgotten uh film with Nick cjun at the family man and you all remember that show hands who who remembers seeing the family man all right so a few of you all right so a lot of times I've been told that I I spoil movies.
So I'm gonna do it again so In The Family Man Nick Cage uh he's this this multi-millionaire Mega businessman uh making deals on Wall Street he's he's got it all and on Christmas Eve he encounters uh he encounters a man he encounters a man Don cheel who plays the guy and uh don cheel asks him he says would you is there anything missing in your life he's like no I'm good he's got the penthouse he's got the money he drives a Ferrari he has it all and the next morning he wakes up in New Jersey in the in a Suburban household with a Suburban family driving a minivan in a different reality where uh he's.
With the the woman he left 10 years ago to pursue all the riches and the dream the dream of of money and everything else so he he freaks out and he drives back to New York City and he finds Don Cheeto who's who's an angel type figure and he says this that you're living right now is a glimpse this isn't the the real reality it's a glimpse it's a little bit like It's a Wonderful Life Christmas Story type thing so you can kind of write in the rest of the movie he goes back home and try to figure out what he needs to do in this Glimpse and uh and he immediately he hates his.
Life he misses the Ferrari he misses the nice things he misses the money and then slowly he realizes that his his family is is so good that his life trying to pay bills is is is really sweet that he's missed out on a whole bunch because he's pursued uh this this this American dream of wealth and and and and financial prosperity then he finally the Glimpse ends he wakes up in his Penthouse and what does he do he he he he tries to find the girl that he left 10 years ago.
So he can re he can capture what he had been missing out on now if you fast if you go back to the beginning of the movie and he encounters Don Cheeto Don Cheeto says here are the things that you're missing no you need to listen you need to give up your life right now you need to go and and find this girl you need to have the middle class life I'm telling you it's great Nick Cage would have said no he just completely passed on it.
Because he had not first experienced what that life is like he had not experienced the goodness that he was missing out on and therefore he would have never chosen that in the first place what the problem is for the value in this present life is when godliness in and of itself the results of it are held out in front of you we don't it's it it's we don't want that it's hard and but the the reality is is that we have to.
First Look to Christ to see the benefit for right now that we have to Behold Him and and focus and fixate on him so that we will see the value in this present life we have to experience Christ first in order that we might make the changes that are necessary that will follow that's why we say all the time that's why we said it this morning we say it every single week Jesus is better than everything else Behold Him he is better.
Because when you believe that then you start to see the fruitfulness of godliness and the value that it has in this present life the reality is if you if you want to be a better wife or a better husband be a better spouse this year if you want to grow in that you first need to focus on Christ when you real when you fixate your eyes and your Gaze on Jesus and you see how good of a husband he is to this bride the Church.
When you see the the the sacrifice and the love and the faithfulness that Christ has towards this Church when you look at that and then you look back at your marriage you go man these are the ways that I fallen short here's the ways I need to repent here are all the things I need to do I want my love to reflect Christ for his Church but it takes focusing on him first and fixating on him if you want to be be better with money this year.
If you want to be better in growing in generosity you first have to look to the author of generosity you have to look at our God who's generous towards us that's what we talk about all the time if you try to muscle change in your finances and your money on your own it's not going to work but if you look at how good our God is towards us how generous he is towards us that he gave up his son for us on a cross.
For us that he calls us into life with him that he pours out blessings upon blessings on us he provides for our needs when you look at how generous our God is towards us then you look back at your money you go take it what do you want to do Lord how do you want me where do you want me to grow in generosity how do you want me to structure this you have to First Look To The God Who is generous you can do this with anything you want to be a better mother or a better.
Father and grow in that this year you first need to look to our God who is a perfectly heavenly father to our his children who provides love and discipline and Grace and when you behold how good our God is toward us toward us you can be a better father you can grow in godliness as a mother as a guardian if you want to be a better employee a better friend a better cooworker if you want to grow in anything this year you.
First behold Christ and you look at him and everything else follows but you got to keep that that as the why in front of you in order to understand and get practical with the how that's the last thing we're going to look how how do we grow in godliness and he says it very explicitly train yourself train yourself he says if you put these things before the brothers you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus being trained in the words of Faith.
Then he goes on to say have nothing to do with the reverent Sly myths rather train yourself for godliness for our barley training is of some value three times emphasizes train and it's I know a lot of times we try to get behind the text and see what what you know what the Greek word would have said it's the same thing that we would understand today it's athletic training it's physical training effort that's the concept that he's using it is an intentionally disciplined effort with a goal in mind here's the deal as Christians.
For those of us who have trusted in Christ the picture of the Gospel is that you are once dead in sin and you're alive in Christ now you were once old and now you are new the reality is is you've been given legs to walk in this race in following Jesus so you can't earn Christ on your own believe in Jesus the gift of faith you come to life but once you are in Christ as a new creation and you got legs to walk there is an a an aggressive call to training yourself.
For godliness you got to get some some strength in them legs because it's a long race we need to grow in godliness do have nothing to do with the reverent silly myths don't have anything to do with with for them that was weird diets for us that's the Prosperity Gospel and everything else in between have nothing to do with that mess rather train yourself for godliness for our Bly training is of some value godliness is of value in every way he says that bodily training has some value it does.
But our culture really really puts a lot of emphasis on the body especially this time of the year right whether you're on you know the pretty extreme end of the spectrum you love CrossFit or Orange Theory Fitness or some of those cultures and you get after it or if you like doing interpretive dance movements on the elliptical machine at Planet Fitness in between pizza party bites the things that happened there there's a lot of emphas a lot of lot of money and time and energy and focus placed on bodily training and that's fine Paul says it has some value it doesn't have eternal value you know how we know this you're going to die your.
Your body spoiler alert is going to fall apart and you're going to die and all the burpees and the chinups and everything in 150 years dust just it has some value because we treat our bodies as a temple it has no Eternal value so Christian train yourself for godliness deal in Eternal things train yourself for godliness that's the that's that's the focus that we want to grow in is to make an investment in our faith to see the value of that to evaluate ourselves and to grow in godliness every year around this time I I know I've said this in the past I love new years's it's great I love it every year around this.
Time uh I do something called life mapping something I learned from one of my former pastors it's a it's a day a structured time of of getting away of of Prayer of focusing and fixating on Christ and then out of that just asking God how about my life where do you want me to grow what are the things you want me to do in the past few years Matt Freeman and I we both love deer hunting we go away for a day we hunt we spend some time in the Bible and and in word and prayer and I I start to to to.
Look at the different areas I want to grow in I ask God where do you want me to grow what are the things you want me to do and I have this in my journal and I can go back a few years and look at the the areas wanted to grow in in my life mapping and I have about a 30 to 50% success rate which may seem a little depressing but the reality is is that every year I'm making some small adjustments and the next year some that stick I'm I'm I'm adding on to that and I'm making a few more and I'm asking.
God where do you want me to grow what do you want me to do and I'm and I'm adding small bit by bit bit by bit and it snowballs in immaturity it grows and it grows and it grows by starting small and adding a little more this is a marathon faith is a marathon it is not a Sprint that's why Hebrews 12 says run the race with endurance it's a marathon it's not a Sprint now I've never trained for marathon and I have 0% interest in ever training.
For Marathon but when you talk to people who run marathons they're going to say it takes a long time to train you don't do it in a day try to run 26 miles in the first day it does not go well it takes a little bit of running and then a few days later a little bit more and a little bit more a little bit more a little bit more when you add and add and add until you get to the end goal.
So start small if you don't regularly read the Bible if that's not something that's a regular part of your life maybe starting with a 365 I'm going to read all of the Bible in a year maybe that's not the best launching point I'm I'm serious it might not be because you might get into it and Leviticus might take you out we just it it it might not be the best starting point but here's the deal maybe you commit all this year to read one chapter a day to read the Bible every single day read a chapter and the next year maybe you add a little more and the next year you add a little bit.
More and maybe a few years you're reading the Bible every year and you're growing and beholding who our God is and his work have that vision for yourself and be intentional who could you be in a year if you took some small steps towards pursuing and beholding God and and seeing godliness flourish and grow in your life where would you be in five years as a Christian if you made some small steps this year and the next year you took a few more steps and the next year you took a few more steps what would the Overflow be like in the rest of your life right what would it be like.
For your kids if you said you know what I just don't want to grow in godliness I want to impart this on to my children and this year you just started and say you know now one night a week I'm going to sit down with my kids after dinner and we're going to read the Bible we're going to read the Jesus story B Bible we're going to talk about God we're going to try some Gospel fluencing applying the Gospel to my children and you and you started there and the next year you added a little more.
And then you're growing what would your family look like in 10 years if you grew together in godliness what would your marriage look like in 15 years if you took small steps of growing in godliness and the Overflow of that and pursuing your spouse what would the Kingdom look like in 20 years if we said I want to take small steps right now in being hospitable I want to learn my neighbors names for the first time I'm going to get to know my co-workers and actively.
Listen to them and then the next year and the next year what would it look like if we T took small steps in growing in God godliness what would the results look like the hope is as we be the kind of men and women who would own this and invest in our spiritual health and pursue godliness so we want to we want to hold that out this year in front of us as a Church and we're going to try some things.
Listen the main things are always going to be the main things for us and that is probably never going to change we we we we come together right now on Sundays for Gatherings where we worship and then we depart from here as groups and we journey together as groups Gatherings and groups is is probably always going to be the main thing but the reality is is we as we've talked with y'all as we've looked at this for those who want more we want to be able to offer more.
For those who want to to to grow a little more in godliness we want to be able to put that out in front of you so this year we're going to try some things things out we want to grow in prayerfulness as a Church we're going to try some some corporate prayer this year as a Church y'all remember a couple years ago a few of us went to Egypt and we got together and we prayed together we had a whole just one hour of just praying that was great we're going to try some more of that this year coming together.
For corporate prayer we're going to try a couple times this year some conference type weekends we're going to specifically have a Friday and a Saturday where with some intentional structur teaching so for those who want to be trained for those who want to who want to want to grow there's going to be some opportunities to grow in some conference type weekends this fall I'm hoping to launch our our our our recovery Ministry it's something that we've been wanting to do we just we're.
Finally getting ready to do if you're familiar with Celebrate Recovery recovery at other churches it's going to be very similar if if you struggle with anything from from depression to pornography this is going to be 8 to 10 weeks where you can come be a part of recovery and grow together in godliness we're going to do things like the Hope business in a few weeks we're going to launch a virtual bookstore this is going to be a recommended reading list for you know books that we want to uphold say you want to grow read these books and I know that some of you don't like reading.
But I want to tell you something do you know what disciple means means learner which involves reading it just does so figure out if you're an audio learner and you need to listen to books or you just need to train yourself and being Visual and reading books I don't what that looks for you looks like for you but we're going to uphold these are some things if you want to grow in godliness here's some here's some some means in doing this we want to continue to uphold things like we've done in the past we we have 36 Bible verses that we've chosen that our kids walk through that we uphold every month it shows up.
On on the slides most of the time when I'm on the ball and they're they're loaded in proes Center uh but also we put them on our group content so if you want to grow in Scripture Memory there's an Avenue y'all listen we have an Avenue every single Sunday morning at 9:30 it's called Sunday school and it happens two buildings over in the fellowship hall and yes here's the deal I love Sunday school and most of the people who take most part are older members every week we get to teach about.
Jesus in some different uh facet every week we're we're we're we're we're teaching the Bible and what I love about Sunday school is that when I'm there even when I'm teaching it we have older wiser Saints older believers who are it's collaborative it's not like this where I'm preaching and you're listening it's collaborative we're talking and I get to hear the collective wisdom in the room of Decades of following Jesus so we're going to uphold that if you want to grow and you're not in a in a volunteer capacity that takes you up at 9:30 show up we want to grow together in godliness Matt's going to come up and I and I want us.
To take this seriously hindsights 2020 if I could go back a year I preach this sermon the reality is is we don't know what 2021 we we don't know what awaits us listen I saw all of your memes and they were cute 2020 was the worst got it I there's no guarantee that 2020 wants to be better we could have twin pandemics it could be a depression we we have no idea but listen here's the deal the circumstances of this year don't have to dictate how you respond to this year you can pursue.
Behold Christ and out of that you can grow in godliness so I want to hold that out in front of us let's do that no matter what awaits us this year let's be men and women of God who pursue godliness and if none of that makes sense at all and you're like I I don't even know where to start it might be that you need to start by placing faith in Christ to Behold our God you have to realize what he's done.
For us that he went to the cross that he died for our sins and our Rebellion that he conquer death of the Resurrection so that you could have a new life so that you could pursue him and see the benefits of godliness so that you could deal in Eternal things so if you don't know where to start come talk to us we'd love to invite you into following Christ so that you can reap the benefits of pursuing Our God delighting in him we pray.
Father I pray that you would convict us this morning you would help us as Christians respond by beholding you by focusing on you and out of that may we train ourselves for godliness the work is hard but you've given us the Holy Spirit who is in us who wants us to grow deeper in you Lord may you help us grow may you call us to repentance may we pursue you in Jesus name amen one of the things that Spencer said is that we grow.
The Blood Water Offering
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
So good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors here we are in week two of our gift series we're going to be in 2nd Samuel chapter 23 verses 13 through 17 today a brief story in the old testament you can turn there we'll thought you could fall on the screen behind us we'll be there in a moment when i was in high school i was very excited about uh the xbox 360 which is a gaming system that was going to come out and and i was like i want this.
But it was in the holiday season when it came out and they just said if you want this you're probably going to have to enter into the holiday craze in order to get it and i hate shopping it's just it's not my thing especially around the holidays i just in christmas time i i don't like it but i was like i want this so i'm going to go for it i had really three options at hand to be able to get an xbox 360 the.
First was in the the day that it came out the night before to go out and camp uh which i was never going to do because i don't camp a whole lot anyways i'm certainly not going to do it for a gaming system so that one didn't make sense the second one was to show up the morning that it came out and and get in line very early and hope that you could you know be one of the people that got in line and got one uh the.
Third option uh was to rob somebody to to show up early to find an easy week mark go get a biscuit from mcdonald's come back and then take it from them but i talked it over my mom she said that was not a good idea i might miss christmas in jail so we went with option two so i showed up at five o'clock at target in irmo and i got in line and i was one of the last four people in line to get one of the vouchers that would get you an xbox 360.
So i was excited and then as a few minutes went by more people got in line and there were parents behind me that were excited about getting one for their child who were very disappointed to get a different voucher that voucher was if we get a shipment before christmas you've got one so they still had to stay in line very upset that they were going to get one for their kids and there were a group of younger guys at the very front they had been there since the night before and they were they were talking about their intentions uh what they were going to do with their xbox 360.
Loudly about selling it on ebay for double the price so as these parents who are behind me that you know possibly not going to get one of these for their kid for christmas are hearing these young guys up front talking about selling these online for double the price you can imagine about how that went they were very upset they were starting to argue they were starting to verbally attack the guys i thought we were going to have an arnold schwarzenegger situation from jingle all the way or terminator or predator it was going to get violent.
But that listen we tell stories like that every time around this series because that highlights the insanity of this season every year we talk about pausing for gifts series because we've lost the thread on what christmas is supposed to be and we get all caught up in the holiday craziness the christmas craziness of getting presents and materialism and everything else so we we hit that every year that's why we pause for this series however in having kids now i can at least.
See that when parents go crazy over getting toys for their kids that it's actually a good desire that's just gotten corrupted right i mean the good desire is that you would get your child a gift and on christmas morning they'd be really excited and you'd see their face light up that's that's a good desire that their desire becomes our delight and we get to be excited about it it just goes a little crazy right and people get violent and all the youtube videos that we've seen of how people go a little crazy.
But at its core it's a good desire that's become corrupted and today we get to sit in a story where these uh we're going to look at three soldiers uh these are David's uh soldiers who uh want to get something for David they want to cheer him up and we're going to sit in this for a moment and glean from it and hopefully as we step back from it at the end we're going to see that this actually helps us grow in generosity and growing a normal of.
Jesus so let me pray for us and then we will jump into the story father i thank you that we get to pause every time this year and remember the Gospel and remember that it calls us to walk in generosity God i pray that you would bless this time grow us and shape us and mold us into your image we ask this in Jesus name amen all right so some context because we're jumping into a very obscure passage from the old testament all right.
So first and second Samuel really highlight the rise of David all right the one of the greatest kings in the history of Israel so we're at the end of second Samuel uh and and what this story is doing is in a series of stories that are highlighting some flashbacks and they're flashing back to uh David's 30 mightiest warriors all right so this is a series of stories that are talking about the the baddest of the bad they're called the chief men the 30 mighty men these are the baddest of the baddest warriors that fought.
For David think the expendables but less botox all right so for those of you that have never seen the expendables there you go that these are the baddest soldiers that he's got i'll just give let me give you three different highlights from three different guys that show this one uh soldier his name is jay shabiam which for those of you that are having boys it's a strong name all right jay show all right jay shabiam killed 300 men at one time with one spear all right went toe-to-toe with 300 men with one spear killed them all the.
Second uh uh banaya banaya was one of David one of David's bodyguards so banaya uh went toe-to-toe with a with a lion and a snowy pit all right and he killed the lion one-on-one he also killed an egyptian giant a seven foot five soldier so he killed shaq and he killed a lion all right and that's just to be David's bodyguard all right uh we'll give you one more eleazar eleazar was uh there's a story where he um with the Israelites or they have a barley field they're defending.
But they flee from the barley field when the philistines come eleazar posts up in the middle of the field and defeats all of them by himself all right these are the baddest of the battle these are David's mighty men and specifically in this brief story that we're going to be in today this is three unnamed men we don't know which ones they were i like to think that joe was in this bunch but we don't know all right three of his men and we're gonna pick up in.
Verse 13 and what they did 13 and three of the 30 chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the cave of adulum when a band of philistines was encamped in the valley of refugee David was then in the stronghold and the garrison of the philistines was then at bethlehem all right so this gives some context for the situation so David uh and his men they are encamped their stronghold is at the cave of abdullah that is about as a few miles southwest of Jerusalem the philistines are encamped throughout uh they are spread out through the valley of refugee and their stronghold is in the town of bethlehem and that is.
Very sad news for David because that is David's hometown that is where he's from and the philistines are his greatest enemy the philistines i mean he has a history with him right remember David and Goliath Goliath was a philistine that's how he made his entrance into being a great military warrior he defeats Goliath there's another story where he goes he wants to marry king Saul's daughter and king Saul really wants to get rid of David because he's a threat so he says go and kill me 100 philistines and and David goes and kills 200 philistines and brings back some some goodie bags which.
For small ears we're not going to go into but you can go back and read the story the philistines hate him all right it is and that is his greatest enemy and they have taken his hometown his land where his home is and and he is deeply dismayed at this it's in caves like the cave of abdullah that we get psalms like psalm 57 there are a few psalms that were written uh in the cave and it's you can connect the dots and think this is probably one of those psalms was written during a time like this in psalm 57 1 he says be merciful to me o.
God be merciful to me for in you my soul takes refuge in the shadow of your wings i will take refuge till the storms of destruction pass by he's lamenting he's he's in the midst of storms of destruction uh there's another psalm psalm 142 same thing written in the cave when he says when in 142 3 says when the my spirit faints within me you know my way his spirit is weak he's dismayed you could even say he's probably depressed this is the state of David all right that's the context.
For verse 15 when we hear what David says in 15 and David said longingly oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of bethlehem that is by the gate so some context for this all right the the structure of this sentence i looked at this alongside some commentators this this is not a command okay he's not saying somebody go out and get me some water he is simply expressing a deep longing probably talking to himself oh if someone would get me water from the.
Well specifically the one by the gate in bethlehem all right this could be nostalgia for missing home right i got like if you're traveling abroad and you're like oh i miss my wife's cooking oh i missed my mama's cooking i longed for this all right it could be that the water is better there i remember when my wife and i we moved back from we lived in louisville kentucky when i was in seminary for five years when we moved back we realized something that the water in louisville is actually really really good people rank city waters.
Because they have time on their hands and it makes the top 10 across the country every year i don't know how because the ohio river is gross but they've got some type of filtration system and the water tastes very good and when we moved back here you know the lexington and now we live in lakes west columbia area every summer i don't know if you know this if you live on this side of the river but every summer uh the water tastes they say earthy that ain't earthy it's it's gross it's dirty it's.
Because there's an algae bloom in the lake which by the way that's where we get our water from on this side of the river and every it just it tastes not that great and when i taste the water sometimes i'm like man i really miss the water that i had in louisville that didn't taste like dirty algae i it listen it could be for nostalgia reasons it could be the water in bethlehem takes better than the cave for whatever reason he longs.
For the water that he used to drink at home and his longing does not go unheard verse 16 then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the philistines and drew water out of the well of bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David all right so three of his mighty men they hear this and they spring into action they are going to get this water if it is the last thing they literally do they're going to risk their lives.
For this it says they break into the camp now i want to make sure i understood this correctly that they weren't just kind of sneaking in at night what so i looked at the hebrew for the word break and it's a violent breaking which means they fought their way into the camp all right risking their blood probably shedding some of their own blood and shedding the blood of others they got to the well drew the water out presumably defending themselves and they had to get out of the camp which means they probably fought their way out of the camp and ran all the way back to the cave of adul think about that what kind.
Of devotion is that what what kind of what what compels people uh men to do this to risk their lives for a drink of water it's because they loved David they loved him they loved him fiercely they're in the midst of David's depression and his sadness he expresses a a whim a desire oh that i'd have a drink of water and and his very win all right his very longing that he expresses becomes their complete and total devotion that they're willing to risk their lives that's love that is love.
For David that you would risk they'd risk their comfort their safety all for a drink of water you might be thinking well i mean these are his men right don't i mean they have to be obedient that's that's part of it right well here's the deal first off it's not a command as we just said but also obedience is not enough to compel this type of action it's just not in high school i uh i played two sports play baseball and football and my two coaches.
For baseball and football could not be any different my baseball coach was very successful in building a program won lots of state titles partially because he recruited players to come in and then my junior year i guess he stopped recruiting because we weren't very good uh and and he just gave up on us for two years he just he just gave up on us and he he didn't love us we were in we're a means to an end in winning titles and and we just we kind of went through the motions of the baseball season i.
Remember going into my senior year we had not taken the field for actual practice and we had a game five days later we still hadn't taken he was running us to death every day and conditioning i remember specifically one day he had an excuse that they'd been raining a lot but it was very it was dry enough for us to go and practice and and he said all right put your tennis shoes on which meant we were going to run some more and i just i just stared him down i was furious and our team was just we were.
So upset he was was was furious with us he pointed to the state championship banners and said you're never going to win any of these walked on us walked out on us and then we went out and practiced without them all right it was just completely different though the relationship we have with him than with our football coach our football coach loved us and we loved him we would run through a brick wall for him my my sophomore junior season we were not good at all we didn't win a lot of games and we loved him we fought to the finish in every game two very different relationships we do anything.
For our football coach because it was based on love and our baseball coach he was half hearted obedience and that's the difference love versus obedience love produces true devotion obedience just produces the mere semblance of devotion it's not the same love is an all-out response while obedience is just walking through the motions love is the foundation for devote for this type of devotion for these men they love David and it shows up in how they respond to him so they bring this water back to him.
Verse 16 but he would not drink of it he poured it out to the lord and sometimes we read the bob you're like wait what a second if you're just reading through second Samuel you're like wait what he pours out the water seriously oh i mean they went to all these lengths to do this and he pours out the water uh chet and jordan jordan's one of our members chet's one of our pastors they uh they sometimes talk about this restaurant that they met in in lynchburg virginia at liberty and they talk about this restaurant called osaka it's supposed to be like tokyo grill.
But way better and they swear by they they say it is the best and finally jordan he brought me one a plate that was like a day and a half old i heated it up and it lives up the hype it is it is it is great now imagine i walk into the office one day and i see jordan and chet and they're just sad and they're downcast and they just oh if we could just have some osaka we'd feel better and i hear that and i spring into action and i get in my car and i drive five hours up to lynchburg and i get it and i fight traffic and i come all.
The way back and i bring it to them like guys and i put it in place with some covers to make it here it is boom and they take it they smell it and they just dump it on the ground all of it they take the white sauce and just pour it out it's shocking when all that effort for what they got all the effort they fight they risk their lives they shed their blood for what pours out the water say.
But he would not drink of it he poured it out to the lord and said far be it from me o lord that i should do this shall i drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives therefore he would not drink it these things the three mighty men did David realizes that he isn't worthy of this type of devotion he's not worthy of this type of sacrifice these men gave up blood to secure this offering and he's not worthy of it he realizes that the only one who is worthy of this type of offering offering is the.
Lord he takes their devotion he pours it out to the lord this is this is a drink offering all right in the old testament they had they had drink offerings numbers 15 says you shall offer a a third of the hen of one the picture is it's a pleasing aroma to the lord that a drink offering is poured out that's what he takes he takes the devotion and he pours it out this is hear this this is the most honorable thing he could have done in this moment is to take that devotion and turn it up to the.
Lord far be it from me to drink the blood of my men this belongs to the lord this type of love and devotion belongs to God and that's the story real small obscure story from the old testament and it's it's an incredible story to look at how they honored their king like this is incredible so you might be wondering that's neat why are we talking about this in our gift series what does this have to do with christmas here's the deal we won't understand this series we will understand generosity and we won't understand christmas until we understand that we serve a much better king than David we serve a much better king these men got.
To serve David who was a great king and we see the kind of sacrifice and the kind of devotion that kind of love they poured out to him how much more so should we serve the king of all creation how much more should we be devoted to how much more should we love the king who left heaven to come for us to wage war against the enemy who stepped into darkness David in the midst of his despair doesn't have it in him to go out and get this offering he doesn't have it in him his soldiers go out.
For him our savior our king came he's the one that broke through enemy lines for us when he left heaven and he came to earth we sing this season joy to the world the lord has come let earth receive her king and we look at that song we think that's it's cute it's nice because 30 different pop stars have covered it in terrible fashion it's not cute it is a declaration of war joy to why is there joy because the king came.
For us because he stepped into the darkness he stepped into this domain to wage war against the enemy and we've been in the Gospel of Matthew for over a year now and we've gotten to see how good our king is that he came for us they didn't leave us in our darkness they didn't leave us in our sin that he came we got to see as he steps on the scene in in Matthew 4 right when he's being tempted in the wilderness and he goes toe-to-toe with Satan after 40 days and 40 nights of fasting and drinking no food or water and he's a showdown with Satan and he does what adam and eve couldn't.
Do he remains sinless and we got to see how good our king is and that he teaches us the sermon on the mount is beautiful it is the embodiment of wisdom we get to see over and over again over the last year as our king as he healed the paralytic and said rise take up your mat and walk away as he put his hands on the eyes of the blind and gave sight to them we get to see over and over how good our king is and he does all of this on our behalf and it doesn't cost our blood to obtain this gift we're not being sent out to earn this on our own.
As soldiers no now the king lays down his life sheds his own blood and his blood is poured out like a drink offering how much better is our king than David he's so much better and once we understand that once we understand how good it is the king who came for us how sweet how amazing he is then we can begin to understand how we should respond in worship then we can look at the example of these three mighty men and say i i want to respond like that.
And then some because our king is much much better with the hope that one day we'll stand before our king and he'll say well done my good and faithful servant well done my good and faithful soldier that is how our approach changes to opportunities that we have right in front of us you know oftentimes we get every year we do this and we we have these these opportunities to give to something like this and i feel this there's a part of us that looks at this and says all right.
Well what what do i have to give what is it i mean all right my regular generosity okay it's a 10 is that what i have to give all right do i need a budget for forgive project is that is that what i have to give listen i feel that i do but understand this that respond misses it misses on it misses out on total devotion in love it's a different response than us uh instead of just showing a mere semblance of obedience by going through the motions with how we do generosity instead of doing that how about let's chase after the heart of.
God let's let his his desire become our delight and let's run after that i mean what if like what if we caught a mere whisper of the Holy Spirit like these men did they just caught David talking to himself what if we caught the voice of the Holy Spirit saying to go big to to go maybe he starts pointing out stuff right maybe it's the christmas bonus that you get every year maybe it's it's christmas money that you get every year i don't know what that is.
For you but what if the Holy Spirit just started touching on something a mere whisper and that caught our full attention and we said all right what do you want lord what do you want i'm all in i want to be i want to be completely devoted is it this is it more that's a different response when we go after the heart of God that's the type of devotion that God calls us to my hope is is that we catch a we catch wind of that and we'd respond.
Listen when we sent the rockies out i honestly i thought it was a little hasty i did i talked through i sat with chris and was like are you sure right now you don't have all your support raised are you sure like we're right in the middle of the pandemic i wouldn't hurt to wait a few more months and he said no no we've prayed the lord has spoken and we're going chris and danielle like good soldiers heard the Holy Spirit and they said we're all in we're going we're selling everything we're packing up we're moving our kids and we're going and isn't the.
Lord wiser than we the fact that chris a builder shows up right before hurricane decimates the very village that every town that they were going to reach they were obedient because they are devoted and they love God and they're gonna follow his heart anywhere and the desire that we have right in front of us is this project it is fully funding them at a thousand bucks a month it is building some houses down there my hope is that we can join them with the love and devotion that sent them down there that we might.
See Jesus use them to build some houses to make some disciples to raise up some Church plants and to bring light into darkness as our king came and did for us the band's gonna come up and i just want us to sit in that for a moment before we respond and worship i want us not to feel like we have to but to listen to the Holy Spirit and to chase after the heart of God that his desire would become our complete delight and we respond with however.
God calls us to i don't know what that looks like for you my hope is you'd listen my hope is we listen as a Church and that we respond with the type of love and devotion that these three soldiers did for David and then some let me pray father i pray that you would first help us see what you did in your coming what you did on the cross what you did in the empty tomb and that we be so overwhelmed by you that in worship we'd respond and we'd pray and we'd.
Listen and we trust you i don't know what that looks like for us but God i pray that you would speak to us that we take a step of faith in growing in generosity that flows out of a heart that is totally devoted to you we ask in Jesus name amen.
Giving and Sending
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
So well good morning my name is chet i'm one of the pastors here if you will if you have a Bible grab it go to acts chapter 11. we have every year around this time we do a three week give series and so i'm excited that we get to to start our give series today and announce our give project when i first when we first moved here we moved from lynchburg virginia to here to plant a Church felt called to plant a Church in this area i got a job with sears i had been working at sears in lynchburg i got a job with sears here.
Because i want to be a part of a company that was on the rise and really get in get in on the ground floor and i apparently wasn't that good of a salesman because the store i worked at here shut down but um i i got to work in the hardware department and uh right around leading up into into thanksgiving we would put up uh artificial christmas trees and so our whole like half of the hardware department was filled with an artificial christmas tree lot.
And so i got to be a christmas tree salesman and the people who purchased christmas trees from sears some of them were pleasant some of them you know had peace and joy and holly jolliness most of them however did not i did not know that christmas tree shopping was this stressful or frustrating but i learned people would walk in they'd be looking around i'd walk over and say hey my name's chad it's nice to and they'd say hey this is a six foot tree.
But i need it in eight feet it's like oh well okay let me let me see what i have they they'd say things like um uh these are all balsams i need a fur well all of ours are plastic so um okay i'll see what i can do i had a lady one time she said yes do you have any trees that twinkle and i said um how about how about that tree she said no that that tree is flashing.
Then i was like oh well then well then no we don't have any trees that twinkle um maybe squint take your glasses off i don't know i don't have to tell you one time a lady said you have this tree and i said yes i'll go check in the back and see if we have it and she said you better so i just never came back that's that's not true but people who are buying christmas trees are scary and and it makes sense after i thought about it.
Because you know how you're sitting at your house and you think i'm in a terrible mood and i'm very frustrated i want to go buy a christmas tree that's not that's not what happens the the reason they were there was to celebrate something worth celebrating and i actually think it's a really good picture of what happens to us culturally around this time of year we have something worth celebrating we have something glorious and delightful and joy-filled and hope-filled and then we american it we consumer it and we make it this stressful frustrating has to be about perfection and living up to some ideal and earning something christmas is about our lack of perfection our inability.
To live up to the ideal our complete hopelessness it's one of the reasons why we celebrate with lights because we were in darkness and a light has shown joy has dawned we have something worth celebrating and feasting for but we end up turning it into some sort of a consumer nightmare a beautiful picture of that is is black friday we have a day devoted to thankfulness followed by a day devoted to consuming and getting more and having more and earning more and it's.
And so we end up taking something worth celebrating we make it stressful and so one of the things that we do as a Church family is we have our gift series where we intentionally fight that in our souls that we intentionally as the Scriptures say that where your treasure is they were your heartbeat also that we intentionally take our treasure and send it out the door we intentionally take our treasure and put it towards things that God cares about so that in this season we remind ourselves actively and aggressively and intentionally where our hope lies and what the purpose of this season is.
See the reality for us as we enter into this gift series and as we as Christians enter into this holiday season is not the question for us is not do we like christmas because i think we do i think we enjoy it i think there are times where we where we calm ourselves and we delight in the things that are to be delighted in but i think the question for us is do we believe it when you see a nativity scene is it just cute is it just quaint or is it jaw dropping shocking and glorious that the.
God of the universe would become a baby that he would put on flesh that he would suffer and die so that we might have hope does that captivate our hearts you see because if this christmas is true if it's real if Jesus Christ really came to redeem sinners as he really came to rescue us out of darkness if he really came because there is eternity at stake and we are incapable of saving ourselves then yes we have a lot to celebrate we have a lot to be joyous over.
But we're also called to give up our lives for something that matters that's eternally urgent if we really do believe that he's our only hope and that all those who call in his name will be saved which means that all of those who don't won't and so as we enter into this season we don't want to just enjoy christmas we want to believe it we want to have the reality of God redeeming sinners saving wicked people like you hopeless people like us captivate our hearts.
So that we might follow him faithfully genuinely and as if we really believe this so let's pray and then we're going to read in the book of acts some people who are doing that and then we're going to get to join with them as we introduce our gift project for the year so let's pray God we thank you that because of the incarnation because you became a man so that you might save humanity we thank you that we have hope we thank you that we have something worth celebrating that we have joy that cannot be taken from us that cannot be bought by us.
But that was bought by you and say lord i pray that we would be a people who genuinely believes that and celebrates like we believe it help us to respond in generosity and obedience and faithfulness and lord as we study your word today help um may your Holy Spirit uh captivate our hearts and call us into something more in Jesus name amen so we're in the book of acts today and we're going to be looking at the early Church and so this is believers who have been captivated by this idea who have placed their faith in.
Jesus that he died that he rose again that it was God who had come to join us and to rescue us and to redeem us this idea was not uh normal to them they did not grow up with it it was not something that they were used to it was not something that they had celebrated their whole life this idea came to them as news as new information that they might place their faith in it and their hope in it and follow him.
And so that's what they're doing and sometimes i think they have the benefit of that that for those of us who maybe grew up in the u.s or grew up in the south and this becomes normal when it is not normal that God would become a human that he would die that he would rise from the grave that's not mundane that's not ordinary but i think sometimes we we get so used to it we fail to see it with the eyes they.
See it with and so i hope that we would as we read this today so we're reading about the Church in antioch and we're going to start in verse 25. so uh the the Gospel is uh proclaimed people believe and then there's persecution and then they scatter and as they scatter they go telling this message so they're run out of town literally but as they go they start telling this message to anyone who would hear it's not true to to jewish people who would hear.
And then they they eventually start telling gentile people which is good news for for i think pretty much everybody in this room and they also started right now in antioch they told hellenistic jews which were jewish people by blood but that had adopted a whole lot of greek culture and these hellenistic jews believe and the jewish jews are a little surprised so they send barnabas to go check it out they're like go go see and check and he shows up and he's encouraged he's excited they really believe they've placed faith in.
Jesus and so he celebrates with him and then it says we pick up in verse 25 it says so barnabas went to tarsus to look for Saul now if you're familiar with Paul it's the same guy they're calling him Saul here went to tarsus to look for Saul and when he had found him he brought him to antioch for a whole year they met with the Church and taught a great many people and in antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
So barnabas and Saul are teaching the Church in antioch and they're teaching much of what we would probably see in Paul's letters later which is explain to them what it means to follow Jesus that if this is true what does that mean for your life if he has come to redeem if he has come to save if you are rescued by grace alone by faith in Jesus what does that look like how does that affect you what do you do what do you not do and it's all coming out of a response to the Gospel.
So the message of christianity is not here are the things you need to do and then you can have the Gospel these baptisms were not i finally got my life together now i'm a good person you can see me get dunked in water that's not what this was that's not the hope we have if if the video had said that i just wanted to show everyone i'm great we would have all jumped up and said time out no no no no you don't get to be baptized and even.
If your head goes completely underwater don't even count you're just wet because that's not what this is that's not the hope we have the hope we have is that Jesus redeems sinners that we're broken we can't save ourselves and so he's proclaiming this message and he's telling them this is what it looks like for this to lay claim to your life verse 27 now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to antioch and one of them named agabus stood up and foretold by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world this took place in the days of claudius.
So prophets come in the Church to prophesy uh the word of God and to foretell that there's going to be a famine how the baptist feeling right now you okay with that Bible stressing you out a little bit so there are prophets in the new testament Church that are empowered by the spirit to proclaim to tell what's going to happen in the future and they do and God empowers this and they they tell them that there's a famine coming and so it says that they told that this would take place.
And then i love that it says it took place in the days of claudius luke's writing the book of acts and he's just showing his work he's like they told there was going to be a famine and it was this specific famine that took place like if you want to look it up look under claudius you'll find him that's what he's doing so the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in judea and they did.
So sending it to the elders by the hand of barnabas and Saul so let's follow this timeline Gospel is proclaimed there's hope in Christ you can be redeemed you can be saved they believe Paul and barnabas come and teach and help explain what that means and what that looks like then they find out through prophecy that there's going to be a famine there's going to be a natural disaster there's going to be something that comes over the land that makes food scarce and prices high.
And so they just decide as a Church hey we're going to send money to Jerusalem where that's going to be hard hit and they give they send relief according to their ability and this is something the Church has done forever that as uh the Gospel changes our hearts it changes our wallets because as Jesus says our wallets are tied to our hearts so one of the best ways to tell what you love is to see what you spend money on one of the best ways to tell what you care about what you're motivated by what you desire what you want to defend is to.
See what happens with your wallet and so one of the best ways for us to push our heart into places is for us to actively choose to send our money there example if you were going to watch a soccer game you would be uh not interested and that offends a handful of you but for most of you you would be not interested for like seven hours there's no time on the soccer game by the way it just goes and goes they don't tell you.
But if you put five dollars on it or if you do what i do and you bet egg roll station on it because that's the only bet i make egg roll station you'll suddenly care you'll have moved your heart just a little bit just a piece of your heart if it's egg roll station a large piece of your heart but that's that's reality and so that's one of the things that we know is that when we send our money it goes towards things we care about as our money goes.
So do we care like uh my wife and i we had ugly carpet we were annoyed with our ugly carpet but we didn't love our ugly carpet and when our children spilled things on our ugly carpet we didn't care we've replaced some of that carpet and i didn't realize that that was going to make me love carpet and care about it and dislike my children we're talking about painting some of our walls and i had to re-explain this to my wife i said.
Okay we can paint them and i think we should because they look bad but as soon as we do we're gonna suddenly care that our children are holding markers and running down the hall like this why would they do that but we're going to care because that's what happens and so because Jesus has changed our hearts it's not just that we send our money so that we'll care but it's because he's changed our hearts suddenly we're free suddenly we respond in a way differently than we used to this is what he tells the Church in corinthians is he's talking about this exact idea of giving up money he says this in.
Second corinthians 8 9. for you know the grace of our lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich that's the Gospel was infinitely rich rich doesn't cover it it's a placeholder word that hides a whole lot of things but he was infinitely rich infinitely glorious infinitely welcomed infinitely worshipped and he became poor it's a song we just sang that he created the world by speaking.
Now he's mute he's going to have to re-learn language he's going to have to be static and he's going to have to learn how to grow and he's become so small and then he's ultimately gonna be crushed he's gonna die he's gonna give up his life and he's gonna do that so that by his poverty we might become rich so then Paul keeps going because he's trying to to raise some money for some issues that are going on that they need to raise some money to to give it's a very similar situation we.
See in acts 11 he says for i do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need so that their abundance may supply your need that there may be fairness so he's calling them to give money and he's specifically saying the same thing we just read in acts 11 which is they gave according to their ability so he's saying to them i'm not saying that you shouldn't pay rent.
So they can pay rent i'm not saying you shouldn't eat so they can eat but i am saying you've been blessed so let's give you're rich right now so let's give because he who was rich became poor so that through him we who are poor might become rich now i love this i think this is a helpful rule this is one of the reasons why we don't in Christian giving we don't do amounts we don't do you have to give x amount of dollars or whatever we we talk more about percentages we talk more about what are you capable of giving that we would give what we're able to give.
But that we would respond with generosity with sacrificial giving that it would affect how we live you see one of the things that we do as americans is we artificially inflate our need we'll say things like yeah i'm just barely paying my bills and my bills are a very large house three different video subscriptions the internet two vehicles a cell phone some magazines two things i forgot i had signed up for but i'm getting billed for right now we've artificially inflated our need and the reality is that we live like kings and queens and there is a call.
For us to intentionally live under our income so that we might be generous we might be ready to share and so he's saying that those of you who have need to to give and that's what they said according to their ability so the disciples determined those who are following Jesus every one according to his ability to send relief to those who are in need this is something the Church has done forever and we're going to get a chance to do today uh chapter 13.
Verse 13 let's keep going in the book of acts so this is we've jumped ahead a little bit a few chapters but that's because uh we're following the story of antioch and so we've read the story of antioch name in the book of acts in chapter 12 it talks about some other things and then it comes back to antioch and it says now Paul no hold on yeah but i lied about what chapter is give me a second this is going to bother me yo fine i won't find it in the Bible oh one through four i just have it typed up wrong here we got it.
Now that we're in the Church at antioch we'll edit that so later when you listen to it online or watch it it'll seem that was like it was great we won't now that we're in the Church at antioch prophets and teachers barnabas simeon who was called niger lucius of cyrene minion a lifelong friend of herod of the tetrarch and Saul while they were worshiping the lord and fasting the Holy Spirit said set apart for me barnabas and Saul for the work to which i have called them.
Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off and so we get to see the generosity of the Church in antioch in two ways one is financially and two is by sending people some of their best people the people who had actually come and taught them for a year straight the people who had helped found this Church and lead it they sent them away and they sent them away because they were obedient to the to the voice of the spirit they listened to the.
Lord and sin and that's one of the things that the Church does that we send financially to help support those in need we we help with the poor we help with believers in other areas and then we send people there are some people called to go and there's some people called to send and i love the way this is written it's not Paul and barnabas saying hey we were supposed to go do this it's the Holy Spirit saying set apart for me barnabas and Saul.
For the work to which i have called them he told the Church set them apart he told the Church these people are supposed to go and the Church is supposed to set them apart the Church is supposed to send them out and we see that as the Church sends them out they care for them financially as they go so before i get to announce our gift project for the year i want to ask these questions i want us to see something in this text really quickly i want you to.
See that God sees and calls specific people for specific tasks that they're praying they're listening and God says these two names not sin two not hey we need some he says sin barnabas and Saul for the work i have uh called them to set them aside for it now are we praying and listening enough to know what he set us aside for some of you are in here and you're like i don't know what he wants me to do when's the last time he fasted prayed and asked him when's the last time you laid it all on the table and you said.
Lord my wallet my time my life my career my relationships the yours what do you want from me can i tell you something i think he'll answer i think it'll be good i think it'll be terrifying i think as soon as he answers you might be like oh no okay i don't i'm gonna go eat a meal and quit praying about this i'm gonna quit fasting and praying it may feel overwhelming at first but these are the kinds of prayers he answers i think sometimes we're just really comfortable with things looking normal.
For us but i think we need to begin to ask lord what do you want from me my job's yours what do you want it to look like my time is yours what do you want it to look like my life is yours what do you want to look like see that's us believing what we say we believe at christmas that Jesus came to rescue us that he owes us nothing because he gave us everything by grace we haven't earned anything.
So that he would owe us anything and so now we are his we've been bought with a price and we owe him everything and so we come to him we ask what do you want what would you have for us so he sets aside specific people for a specific task and the Church is told this and the Church gets to help send and it's a dangerous thing when we listen and obey this begins the missionary journey of the Church that Paul would be sent to plant churches and that the Church would spread through the work of Paul and through the suffering of Paul that.
God had an intentional design for Paul and barnabas that he would see his work done and the reality is he's placed you where he's placed you and he's given you what he's given you and he's equipped you with what he's equipped you and we need to start asking lord what do you want from me and what do you want from our Church okay so it's our gift project and we're gonna spend the next three weeks trying to raise some money for two things one primarily the.
Second one's like a bonus thing you're welcome we have the opportunity to get behind chris and danielle rocky as we prayed about what our giving our gift project would look like this year we began to ask the lord what would he want us to do we felt called to to help them finish out their support so we had the distinct pleasure of God specifically telling members of our Church family to move to to pack up and go and just so you all know that was a labored thing.
For them that chris and daniel came they have two daughters parker and maggie who are six and nine but they came and chris said he was feeling called to Church planning wasn't really sure he wanted to pray and investigate this and he wanted us to pray and investigate it with him and with his family and they came here to try to see what that would look like the more he prayed the more he started saying i don't think it's domestic Church planning i don't think it's in the u.s i think we're supposed to go overseas the more he said that the more his wife was like i'm gonna i'm gonna keep praying.
Because danielle wasn't super excited about that but God knows what he's doing so if you got to know their family danielle is a spanish teacher chris ran a a home renovation and home building company called house healers he mostly showed up to places that were messed up and helped fix things and God specifically began to work in them and told them to go to honduras and to el progresso and to join with this specific team in el progreso hope through him to join them and what they're doing and they felt confirmed in that and terrified and sad and excited and we felt confirmed and sad and excited just as i'm sure this Church felt confirmed.
In the book of acts that antioch they were sad and excited they were like we don't know what the lord's doing but we know he's doing this we don't know what his plan is but we trust him and we're going to miss y'all but they set him aside for the work so i want to show a video one of the uh i'll talk kind of as this video plays here in a second but we'll start it all right this is coming into june 22 another community we working.
So they're in el progresso um it's kind of base of operations forum and in el progreso they do uh kind of a food ministry and some different ministry with with homeless people and then they have a couple of places that they go to and they also minister and this is june 22 that's the name of the town it's named june 22 after the the date when they kind of organized themselves as a town and it's kind of up in the mountains it's a little bit further away from them.
But they go there and they do some vacation Bible school stuff with children and they do um a feeding ministry they take food up there and it's it's a pretty impoverished town but about 40 homes are there they have a president of the town and they they do some ministry there with them we're going to get to see kind of an area where they do some ministry there's a couple other places campo yano they do some work there and um just felt called to this area felt called to join um hope through him and to to help start churches to help serve people and specifically just felt like the.
Lord was calling him to be there and chris wanted to train some people to lead house churches what christianity is there there are some faithful Christians and believers there but there is a good bit of religious legalism some you have to be good enough to earn this and so chris felt burdened to just proclaim grace that God redeems those who cannot redeem themselves and that he's good to us in our sin that he's hoped for us in our darkness and so this is this is june 22.
And so that was kind of their plan going and you could already see the lord at work that uh in his grace he was sending them somewhere that spoke spanish so that uh danielle could speak the language and he was sending one person who taught spanish and three people who don't know spanish and so maybe she could also help teach them and so i asked how that was going and he said it was going okay but the wearing masks makes learning spanish harder.
But this is the area they went to but that the plans got changed a little bit on them uh because of the fact that right after they got there two hurricanes came through so hurricane edda came through and hurricane iota came through and kind of adjusted what they were planning on doing but in just a second you're going to get to see they're coming kind of the end of this and there's going to be a section where they're doing some what they normally do in this area which is getting to spend some time with the children hey mel city um here we are at june 22.
You'll see this is a lot different than campoyano because we don't have our own building to be in we just kind of sit here on this little overhang right next to the kitchen so they're cooking rice and beans over there and they're going to do birthday gifts for all the children and so she says that they were learning that some of the children had moved and they were also trying to catch up on all the birthdays they had missed from covid and that's kind of their plan their plan originally was that.
But then as i said the floods came through and i want to show you this this is uh june 22 as well hey guys so we were finally able to get out to june 22 one of the communities that we work in the road was pretty terrible but we were able to to get through with some uh four wheeling a lot of spots washed out and kind of going back and forth on different sides of the road but we made it through flip the camera around here.
So we've we've muted the rest of it but this is uh that's that neighborhood we just saw him pull down that's the whole area the main road is right over there that and he'll be on it in a second we'll see the kind of the route that they took getting in this is after the first hurricane the second one was worse than and that we don't have any footage from when they went back out but the water was up over completely over that house that you.
See right there they said they were evacuating and putting some of their stuff on this berm up here and that people came and stole some of it but that whole area has just been under water and as they were trying to to get back going they got hit by another hurricane and so our give project this year is to do exactly what we just read in in the book of acts first to send and to send well we want chris and danielle to be able to stay in country to be completely provided.
For they're about a thousand dollars a month short of their financial goals so the first thing we want to do is try to raise that extra thousand dollars in monthly support so that they are uh set for the year and don't have to raise any more support we actually looked and i told chris i said you know you see the lord at work here that he sent them there and chris was thinking he was going to do Church planting work and maybe he will eventually.
But God sent a house healer when there's a lot of houses to heal you could i told him i said if the lord doesn't know what he's doing he really lucked out on this one which is a joke because he knows what he's doing but that we want to help chris be there we want to help danielle be there we want to help make sure that's the where they're living now so they've all across the top of this they just went up and started putting tents um and waiting.
For the water to go back down and waiting to go back and see kind of how they're going to be able to rebuild so the first thing we want to do is for us to intentionally put into our budget to help chris and danielle stay in country we have the opportunity as we mentioned earlier with the lottie moon christmas offering that's for international missions through the southern baptist and that's so that the they don't have to raise support but chris and danielle felt called and they felt called to go and to go quickly and i think we.
See now why and so we want to help make sure that they don't have to keep raising support and so as a Church as the lord has called them to be missionaries from among us we want to help make sure they can stay and the way to do that will be to go to hope through him.org spencer's going to walk us through this in a minute and to put in a gift and to put that you want it to recur monthly and to figure out what that means.
For you some of you that's five dollars and that'll be uh what you can handle some of you it's 50 some of you it can be 250. some of you may look at this next year and you go you know what i'm going to do i'm going to drive a worse vehicle and every time i get frustrated with my vehicle i'm going to pray for some missionaries that are working in another country to proclaim the Gospel that i say i believe in and i'm going to do that.
So that instead of having this payment i can send money some of you are going to have slower internet some of you realize that the person you're dating is expensive and you're going to be single for a year so you don't have to pay for extra meals and gifts for the sake of mission i don't know what it is i don't know what the lord's calling you to do but i do know that we need to pray we need to ask we need to.
Listen the first thing we want to do is we want to raise what will end up being twelve thousand dollars but it'll be monthly we want to raise a thousand dollars a month for them so that they're fully met their needs are met financially so they can just be there and working so they can be full-time doing the work that's going to be full-time work on top of that this is the bonus one if you were like 1000 a month is nothing to me i have tons of money.
Well we're glad you're here and we've got good news for you they also need money to help rebuild june 22. and so for anyone who wants to give to that we would ask that you would prayerfully look at supporting them monthly so that we can keep them there and working but then on top of that we can give to to the work they're doing at june 22 they said that they think they can rebuild a house for about thirty five hundred dollars.
Now thirty 3 500 is not a lot for a house most of us you can't renovate your kitchen for that but these people are living on a berm under a tarp and they think they can go back in and rebuild the houses they want they might say they said it might cost a little more if they're able to figure out how to build them on stilts so that next time it comes through like this it won't be as bad but they're looking to to rebuild about 40 homes that's what they think they're going to end up having to do and they're committed to trying to get that work done.
And so if we have the money to help support that we want to help that as well but first we want to keep the rockies in country and we want to do this not because we have to that's not the good news of the Gospel just pay a certain amount of money per month and the lord will save you the good news of the Gospel is first really bad news you can't save yourself you cannot be good enough you are not good enough you have fallen desperately short.
But unto us a son is given unto us a child is born and all people in darkness has shown a great light and we get to celebrate like other people celebrate when there's joy at a harvest we get to celebrate because we've been redeemed we've been brought out of darkness and we've been set free and that nothing can claim us or take us now we've been purchased with the precious blood of Christ and we are free and we have eternal hope and we get to joining joining him in his eternal mission towards things that matter let's pray.
God we thank you for your grace we thank you for your goodness towards us we pray that we would listen that we wouldn't just think through what we could do but we would ask you what you want from us we would ask you what you have for us that we might join you in things that ultimately matter and that our hearts might look like we truly believe the good news of the Gospel we thank you that we have something to celebrate at christmas and we pray that you would bless this gift project as we try to support your Church on the other side of the globe in.
Jesus name amen
Triumphant Entrance and the Judgement to Come (Matthew 21:1-22)
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Anniversary Sunday
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Transcript
Get the mask off and maybe you won't have such a funny sound coming through it's good to be with you here this morning it's great to be able to look out and to see this congregation see all the people that were here when i first came to first baptist of casey and to see all the people that are here now since we united our two churches together it is just a joy for me to be able to come back this morning it's a joy to get to.
See the people that i had known for a good while and some of you have known for a shorter while it's good to be back with you it's a joy for me to see what's taking place with the remodeling of the building and the growth in the congregation and it just it reminds me that it's a privilege to be here today it's a privilege for me to be here today because this is a place where God is working and that is just.
So evident we serve a faithful God don't we our God was faithful to first baptist Church of casey starting back in 1912. he was faithful to that Church down through the years he was faithful to Mill City Church starting in 2013. think about that 101 years apart and yet God has been faithful to bring us together and to make us one and to give us the opportunity to serve him here in this place and that is just just so exciting and it's.
So so so much of a blessing to me to be a part of this i mentioned a couple of times just now that God is faithful has been faithful is faithful will be faithful but we need to be reminded of that and so i want to read a passage of Scripture with you this morning that helps point us to God's faithfulness it's first corinthians chapter one we're going to be looking at verses one through nine Paul called by the will of.
God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and our brother sotienese to the Church of God that is in corinth to those sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our lord Jesus Christ both their lord and ours grace to you in peace from God our father and the lord Jesus Christ i give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ.
Jesus that in every way you were enriched in him and all speech and all knowledge even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our lord Jesus Christ who will sustain you to the end guiltless in the day of our lord Jesus Christ God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our lord God is faithful he called a people unto himself he called a Church unto himself there in.
Verse 2 it says to the Church of God that is in corinth now you run across a similar phrase several places in the new testament the Church of God that's in rome the Church of God that's in ephesus and there's still churches that belong to God that are God's churches the Church of God in colombia the Church of God in kc God puts churches in different places he does that to accomplish his purposes among us you know he put a Church in corinth.
If you know anything about corinth it was a big city it was a prosperous city it was a city that was involved in a lot of trade there were people from all over the world you know but it in a civilization the roman empire that wasn't known very much for its high morals corinth was known as just about the worst it was a terribly play terrible place morally and yet God put a Church there he called people out of that community many of those who had been engaged in all of those immoral practices and had trouble not falling back into them to be his Church there he did it.
For a purpose so that he might have a people there a people of his very own and a people who would reach out and bring others to know the lord Jesus and that's why he put a Church in rome and in emphasis in colombia and in casey so that we might be his people his treasured possession so that we might be involved in his great work of bringing people to know the lord Jesus so that they can have salvation and have eternal life.
So he called the Church the Church in corinth to those sanctified in Christ Jesus now to be sanctified means to be set aside and to be sanctified in Christ Jesus means you're set aside for him you live for him you want to serve him you want to become like him that's what he means to be sanctified and they said call to be saints now doesn't that seem a little strange here is Paul riding a Church where the people came out of terrible immorality and called them saints and we have the idea that saint is some kind of a super Christian.
But that's not the way it is recorded in the Bible saints are believers in Christ strange though you know God does some strange things doesn't he if you look back at verse 1 it says Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle who would have thought that the man that was once named Saul who was a persecutor of the Church who drugged men and women often threw them into prison just because they were following Jesus who consented to the death of others.
Because they were following Jesus why in the world would God call on a man like that to be an apostle but he did and he became Paul and started churches and wrote type the new testament it's amazing why God does isn't it it's amazing what God has been doing here in this place it's amazing what God has done with me grew up as a prideful little kid and a dysfunctional family and he called me to be a pastor he's called you to be a saint.
Now let me ask you a question be honest how many of this of you this week have not sinned with an action or a word or a thought let me see your hand mind's down too we're all sinners and yet God has called us and put the label on us saint how in the world could that happen it's because God took the righteousness of Jesus and gave it to us ii corinthians chapter 5 verse 21 Paul wrote this and he said.
For our sake he God made him that is Christ to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God took the righteousness of Jesus the one who is every way tempted as we are yet was without sin and when he died on the cross all of our sin was put on him and all of the righteousness that he has as the perfect son of God was given to us God has been faithful to make us saints.
And then notice something else he called us to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of the lord Jesus Christ imagine that we're part of the great Church of God the great kingdom of God the great body of Christ and when we go anywhere and meet another believer then we're part of the same family when i was at first baptist newberry we did mission trips and we did you know uh all over the united states and it always kind of surprised me that we could go anywhere and get with a bunch of believers and we felt at home with one another and it was just it was just.
Neat you know to see that people from different colors different backgrounds different areas of the country we had something in common that overcame all of that and we were able to share with one another and and be together we've been made saints we've been sanctified we've been brought together why look at the last part of that verse because of our lord Jesus Christ Jesus is lord he's master he's ruler over all he's boss Jesus is Jesus Jesus means God saves he is the savior he's the one who gives us salvation.
Jesus is Christ he is the messiah he is the deliverer who delivers us from sin and from death and from hell and Paul couldn't seem to get over that could he did you notice that in verse 1 he talks about Christ Jesus at birth to Christ Jesus and the lord Jesus Christ in verse 3 the lord Jesus Christ at verse 4 Christ Jesus in verse 6 Christ in verse 7 the lord Jesus Christ and verse 8 the lord Jesus Christ in.
Verse 9 Jesus Christ our lord boy Paul had a hang up didn't he wouldn't you like to have a hang up like that your hang ups Jesus did you hear that the uh little boy and that came home from sunday school one sunday morning and he said mom i think that my sunday school teacher is Jesus grandmother and she said why do you think that she said all she talks about is him we ought to be talking about Jesus Paul did.
Because he makes all these things possible for us God is faithful and has made us one God is faithful because he has given us all that we need spiritually Paul said in verse 3 grace to grace to you aren't you glad that grace has come your way the free gift of God the giving you what you don't deserve just because God is a giver and wanted to give it giving us even his son and letting them die on the cross for us God's grace his free gift that's given to us unexpected undeserved.
But given grace to you he said at peace peace oh the world searches for peace individual searches for peace it's hard to find peace but when we receive that grace and put our faith in Jesus we have peace the Scripture says therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through the lord Jesus Christ and when we have peace with God then we can be more at peace within because he grants us his peace and we can be at peace with one another.
Because we're serving the same lord and we can be at peace because we know that then we are not condemned any longer and we can be at peace because we have the assurance that God is with us each and every day all right i grew up with two brothers and the the middle brother uh was really afraid of dogs he was just really afraid of a dog so when he was about five or six years old uh he came to his mom and he said our mom and said i wish my daddy was home.
Because there's a great big dog in the yard and so we went out to look at the window to see what kind of great big dog was in the yard and it was a rat terrier about this high but what's always stuck in my mind about that was i wish my daddy was home because if daddy was home then he could feel safe because his daddy would protect him we have God as our father Jesus calls him abba daddy our daddy's home with us.
Because of that we can have peace we can have peace then he's given us something else in verse five he says that you were enriched in every way he enriches us spiritually now Paul said that they were enriched in speech and in knowledge the corinthians were pretty proud of the knowledge that they had of the of the Scripture and proud of the knowledge they had of some things that probably weren't too close to Scripture and they were also proud of some of the special ways that they were able to talk we called it.
Today speaking in tongues but they thought that that was kind of the pinnacle but Paul was kind of reminding them hey this isn't something you produced this is something that God gave you he gave you the truth in his word he gave you the ability to glorify him in a special way so it's not something that just you have it's something that God has given you the blessing and giving it to you as a free gift and then in verse seven he says.
So that you are not lacking in any gift not lacking any gift you know the Church was complete and we here in this Church are complete God has given us all that we need to be able to function as he wants us to function in this community now we may want more people we might want more material resources as a congregation we might want more buildings and then you're getting some of those you know getting some more of those areas but right.
Now God is able to take who you are and use you to accomplish his purposes to use you to help one another grow in the faith to use you to reach out to others and bring them into the faith to use you and help those you bring in to grow in the faith like you are growing in the faith he's given you all that you need he's enriched you in him and all that you need and now notice what he said there.
So that you're not lacking in any gift and then as you wait for the revealing of the lord Jesus God is faithful to give us what we need now to function as he wants us to function as a Church in this community and he is faithful to keep us that way and bless us as we wait his return are you waiting for Jesus to come back do you think about that much probably most of us don't a whole bunch you know there was there was a preacher that looked out the window of the Church one sunday morning.
While sunday school was going on and there were three little boys sitting on the curb outside the Church and he thought i need to go to talk to those boys so he went out and he came up to them and he asked the first one do you want to go to heaven a little boy said yes and he asked the same one do you want to go to heaven and a little boy said hey yes and he asked the third one do you want to go to heaven a little boy said no and the preacher said you don't want to go to heaven.
When you die and a little boy said oh yeah i want to go to heaven when i die i thought you were getting up a load to go now most of us stay busy so busy with our activities now we're not thinking too much about heaven and about what it's going to be but think about it you know sometimes we think about it maybe heaven's a boring place you know that kind of popular idea we're kind of an angel sitting on a cloud playing a harp that would grow pretty old pretty quick i think.
Look at the new testament terms to describe heaven a city think about a city a bustling busy city with all sorts of things going on or a wedding we like wedding we like the ceremony we we like the reception and all that that's taking place with that talks about heaven as a banquet you know and we like to go to banquets and to celebrate something and enjoy all of the good food heavens is an exciting place it's a place where everything is new don't you like new things you know it's it's neat to have new things you get excited about the new part of the building that's going to be provided.
For you for too much longer new is exciting heaven is new God is making all things new we ought to be eagerly waiting for it anticipating for it looking forward to it a little boy in a department store and he was standing staring down at the handrail of the escalator and one of the sales clerks noticed him and went over to him and said son are you lost and he said nope just waiting for my gum to come back some of you know about little boys don't you anticipation are you anticipating heaven are you anticipating.
Jesus come back and you're anticipating how astounding that's going to be several years ago my wife and i joy and i got to go to california with a couple of our friends and different ones of us wanted to see different things and so we drove at the pacific coast highway and we saw the redwoods and we saw the golden gate bridge and we went to yosemite and you know we were just having a great time seeing all of those things but one of the things that stands out to me is we went up to sequoia park you know where the big trees are.
Well we'd seen some big trees because we'd seen the redwoods but i can remember driving up that mountain road and you know there was a regular forest on both sides and then all of a sudden here was this tree that you think how could a tree be that big it was like looking at a crowd of people and then all of a sudden you see one person in the middle of that crowd who's 12 feet tall and weighs a thousand pounds you know it was astounding have you thought about how astounding heaven is going to be to.
See angels to see the new city where the streets are going the walls are jewels where God lives and Jesus lives and there is light and you don't need any other light if you thought about how astounding it's going to be to see the river that flows from the throne of God clears crystal and on every side of it are the trees that are for the healing of the nations and everything's going to be perfect and then you're going to see.
Jesus Jesus in his glory and even in heaven you're going to see the nail prints and remember that he died for you that's what it cost costed dying on the cross we're seeing in the hymn crown hidden with many crowns those wounds yet visible above in beauty glorified and we'll glorify Jesus because he was willing to be wounded for us in the midst of our sin in the midst of our rebellion because he loves us that much and he's going to spread out those hands and he's going to welcome us with the open arms oh it's just just beyond being and imagine the wonder of it you're looking forward you're anticipating you're looking.
For the revealing of the lord Jesus Christ are you waiting for it you know it's sometimes people wait for it but when when they're very sick or they know they're about to die but it should be us waiting for it all the time it's kind of like we we've won a gold medal in the olympics and we're just waiting for the award ceremony for them to place that ribbon with the metal on it around our neck that kind of anticipation because it's going to be.
So glorious and because of Jesus we have won the victory he gives us the victory through our lord Jesus Christ again God is faithful in giving us Jesus and he says something else here in verse 8 he will sustain us to the end sustain us to the end sometimes we get worn out don't we life gets to be such a struggle we want to stop we want to give up we're going to want to say i'm burned out can't do any more.
But again and again we're reminded that God gives us strength in psalm 28 verse 8 he says the lord is the strength of his people he is the saving refuge of his anointed in psalm 46 he says God is our refuge and strength a very present help and trouble in isaiah chapter 40. he says to this he gives us he gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he increases strength and not a neat promise that God keeps giving us the strength that we need day by day to cope with the things that life gives us and to continue to serve him he goes on to say in in this chapter.
Of isaiah even young people shall feign and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted but they who wait for the lord shall renew their strength they shall man up with wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint God gives us the strength to endure he gives us endurance and sometimes with that we can soar we're soaring high like an eagle and boy when it's on engel's wings we're flying through life and sometimes he gives us strength.
So we can run and we can run and can run and not be weary and he gives us a strength for that but sometimes he gives us just enough strength to put one foot in front of the other and keep going he is a faithful God he's going to get us through he's going to sustain us to the end and he goes on to say and we'll be guiltless in the day of our lord Jesus Christ you've been on trial thankfully i haven't.
But i've you know watched a lot of the crime dramas on tv where there's trials you know are you guilty is the defendant guilt or is the defendant not guilty you go through a process to find but if you're tried and if you're found not guilty you can't be retried under our system of justice and for the same crime we've been guilty of sin we've been guilty of breaking God's laws we've been guilty of taking the good things he's given us and using them in the wrong way and yet.
Jesus has taken away our guilt and we've been pronounced not guilty we can go to God and as the Scripture said if we confess our sin he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness forgiven cleansed not guilty so we won't have it again in first thessalonians chapter 5. Scripture says this now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless that is not guilty at the coming of our.
Lord Jesus Christ he who called you is faithful and he will do it God who called us to be followers of Jesus is faithful and all the way to the end we will be guiltless you may not know what your health is going to be like you may not know whether you'll keep your wealth or not but you can know what's going to happen with your soul because if you turned it over to Jesus you know he's going to keep it and it will be in his safe keeping forever.
And when Jesus comes back or when we die and we have to stand before God in judgment he's going to look and see that we've asked Jesus to be our savior and we've been washed by the blood of the lamb we've been our sins cleansed because Jesus said shed his blood on the cross and he's going to say not guilty welcome home welcome to heaven it's given us a place in heaven God is faithful God is faithful says verse 9 by whom you were called into the fellowship with his son aren't you glad you can have fellowship with.
Jesus the son of God something else that's marvelous isn't Jesus the one who was the son of God and he can be our friend he's our companion he's the one who walks with us he gives us his presence he's our good shepherd and we can have fellowship with him fellowship with God's son himself why because God is faithful he's faithful not a lot of faithfulness around today spouses aren't faithful with each other as they should be sometimes parents aren't faithful to provide.
For their children as they should adult children are not always faithful to take care of their aging parents businesses not always faithful to the employees and employees not the businesses always a lot of faithfulness around but God is always faithful again and again he reminds us of that in his word back over the old testament in deuteronomy know therefore that the lord your God is God the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his two commandments down to the thousandth generation or psalm 145 reminds us again of God's faithfulness and in it we read your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your dominion endures through all generations.
The lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works or in lamentations chapter 3 great promise but this i call to mind and therefore i have hope the steadfast love of the lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning great is your faithfulness and then even in the new testament we were reminded of that again and again such as in hebrews chapter 10 let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.
For he who promised is faithful God is the God you can depend upon God is the God who has called you as individuals to be saints and sanctified who has called you as a Church to be his Church here in casey south carolina in cooperation with one another cooperation with others as we seek to make the Gospel known in this building outside this building and around the world God has faithfully called us given us his grace given us his peace given us his supply given us his strength giving us the assurance that he's going to be with us.
Today tomorrow next month next year and forever we serve a faithful God the faithful God who has called you into fellowship with his son Jesus Christ our lord now aren't you glad that you serve such a faithful God amen amen thank you for letting me be with you today it's been a great privilege.
Healing of a Blind Man (Matthew 20:29-34)
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Transcript
Good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors uh here we're gonna be in Matthew chapter 20 verses 29 through 34 so you can go ahead and flip there it'll be on the screen as well uh years ago my wife and i when we got married wanted a honeymoon in italy uh but we did not have the money and then after paying our way through seminary we still did not have the money but my parents were going to italy.
For a mediterranean cruise they're gonna go there for a few days and then cruise afterwards and they said we'll take you i said great and they said one exchange give us grandchildren we'll take you i said deal do you plan on having kids anyways so we got a vacation out that we wanted we also got our oldest daughter it was a win-win but when we were in rome uh we were in rome the first night we showed up my parents their friends they were they were sitting down to eat we went to this restaurant and i just we sat down they they said all right they told the waitress they said you just bring out.
Whatever dishes you want whatever you think is good we want an authentic and amazing italian meal and i was like sweet i've never been a part of one of these things before this is going to be great and the first dish came out it was abundantly clear between the carbs and the cheeses and the spices this was not olive garden this was it took one bite that first dish was like the rest of this meal is going to be amazing and it was it's one of the best meals that we ever had that is what the miracles of.
Jesus uh and his healing stories and everything we've seen the Gospel of Matthew that's what they get to be they are an appetizer they're a foretaste of of greater realities of greater truths that are about to be opened up as he goes to the cross in between commissions out the Church there are four tastes of things to come that's why we talked about this back in Matthew 9 when Jesus heals the paralytic he says but that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins he.
Then said the paralytic rise pick up your bed and go home it wasn't just the power of healing a paralytic that pointed to something bigger that the forgiveness of sins the hope of the Gospel that's what these miracle stories do they're a foretaste for greater truths for greater realities they're going to be explored by his disciples but the problem is for us is that there are a lot of miracle stories i mean we've been through Matthew at this point for over a year.
Now we've seen a ton of them and it's just you read them if you read through the gospels it's like oh he healed another person he healed another person another miracle and after a while they start to to lose their luster a little bit we get used to them and we forget the power that is actually bound up in them it's just kind of like oh another another healing story nice let's move on to something else uh the reality is is that miracles are incredible you ever experience a miracle it's incredible they disrupt the natural order of how things are supposed to go i was reading a novel earlier this year by leif enger his.
First novel piece like a river and this is what he says the book has a big theme on miracles and he says this and i love it he says let me say something about that word miracle for too long it's been used to characterize things or events that though pleasant are entirely normal peeping chicks at easter time spring generally a clear sunrise after an overcast week a miracle people say as if they've been educated from greeting cards i'm sorry but nope such things are worth or are noticed every day of the week.
But to call them miracles evaporates the strength of the world of the word real miracles bother people let me say that a miracle is no cute thing but more like the swing of a sword i love that but we just get so used to to saying you'll see a sunrise or a sunset over the mountains of the ocean we say that's that's miraculous the gamecocks beat a ranked opponent it's a miracle we we cheapen the word we we have this sanitized uh uh greeting card version of the word of miracle and the concept of the miraculous.
When the reality it's disruptive it's disruptive like a sword if you experienced a miracle you don't have the categories to be able to to explain what you just saw it disrupts the natural order and that's exactly what God does God when he supernaturally intervenes he disrupts the natural order of things he disrupts a fallen and broken world and then this final miraculous healing story in the Gospel of Matthew that we get to see we will see all of that on full display and we will take a step back from it and as we take a step back we'll.
See that it's not just an incredible healing story though it is that it actually points to a much greater truth about the Gospel so let me pray and we'll jump into the story father i pray that you would help us be present this morning many of us came in in different places different things different burdens got to pray that you'd help us just listen this morning you'd speak to us and i pray that we respond in Jesus name amen all right.
Verse 29 and as they went out of Jericho all right so let me pause and give some context before we are in the ministry of Jesus sometimes when you read the gospels uh it can be frustrating because the stories sometimes seem out of order like you'll read about one story that shows up the beginning of one Gospel and then you read the next Gospel it shows up at the end because a lot of these events aren't in chronological order there's a general beginning with the life and ministry of.
Jesus and there's a general end after the resurrection but the middle gets fuzzy for us and it's because we are our modern postmodern thinkers we we're 21st century people we like our history in chronological order this event than this event than this event and that's not how first century middle easterners wrote history they they told it thematically they placed this story with this story because it taught this greater truth and they put this story beside this teaching because it illustrated this greater truth they just do it differently think christopher nolan.
So an interstellar i heard uh the new tenant movie is like this dunkirk was just shifting all the events around in the end your minds are blown think that and we appreciate more michael bay just straightforward just it's nice sometimes but that they just tell it differently but every now and then every now and then we can actually place one of these stories chronologically and this is one of those stories this story the healing of of the of these two men that we're about to.
See uh and in other gospels they focus on just one of the men bartimaeus it shows up right before Jesus goes into Jerusalem every single Gospel so why is that important verse 29 and as they went out of Jericho a great crowd followed him it's important because at this point we know we are at the end of Jesus ministry three years of teachings and healings and crowds amassing there's more hype and more buildup as he's traveling towards Jerusalem we've been in galilee.
Now the story is descending towards Jerusalem Jericho is one of the the largest big cities before you get to it's only a few miles away from Jerusalem there's this hype and there's this buildup and these crowds are getting excited we're going to see that in a couple of weeks we walk through the triumphant entry when he walks into the city there's a ton of buildup as he passes into Jericho and when he gets to Jericho it felt a little bit like the beatles coming to america steve spurrier coming to columbia circa 2005 like it would have been this this big build up.
And then he would do what he normally does when he shows up to cities he teaches and he performs miracles and crowds just they're getting closer and closer elbow elbow getting next to each other so they can get as close as they can to experience Jesus there's all kinds of buzz wherever Jesus goes he does this thing in the city of Jericho we don't get to read it and then we pick up as they're leaving Jericho verse 30. and behold there were two men two blind men sitting by the roadside.
And when they heard that Jesus was passing by they cried out lord have mercy on us son of David so all kinds of things are happening in the city of Jericho they start to leave Jericho and there's two blind men that are sitting out by the roadside outside the city and they have not gotten to experience Jesus and the city maybe it's because they didn't think that they could navigate their way into the city they certainly didn't have anybody to help them get into the city we saw with the healing of the paralytic they had that man had friends that brought him in to.
See Jesus but no one's actually taking them in to see Jesus and what's happening in the city they are on the outside of all the amazing things that were happening in the city but that honesty with just a glimpse of their life seems to be pretty obvious if they're standing on the roadside and what we know from the other gospels is they were called beggars they're poor they don't they don't have a whole lot of hope they're outside the city asking.
For money asking for food asking for anybody that'll actually help them years ago i was in marrakech morocco and i was in the marketplace one night and there was a blind uh homeless man and he was he would take a few steps he'd hold his hand out and he'd shout something out in arabic which i'm sure was asking for alms since that's one of the five pillars of islam and then he would you know someone would give him money i saw at least one person give him money he'd take it he tried a few more steps and he'd shout out again holding his hands out asking i'm sure.
For money or food and that was his life going out into the markets asking for help because the reality is in cultures like that and the culture that we have in the Bible there was no social security there was no safety net there wasn't a help for for disabilities at all if you didn't have family to take care of you your only hope was the streets to ask and to beg that someone might have pity someone have mercy it would help you.
So they're used to this they're used to being on the outside they're used to missing out on all of the good experiences they're used to being out there asking for things but then Jesus starts to travel outside the city right by them and there's a glimmer of hope and they don't just cry Jesus i want to point out what they say they say son of David son of David that title is packed with significance we talked about this when we walked through the genealogy in Matthew 1 that the Matthew is holds up.
Jesus and his line going back to David because what that shows is that Jesus is the savior king he is the messiah he is the one who is to come there's a lot i mean son of David is very similar for the jewish ear to say Christ when they say that they are calling him out as the savior king son of David have mercy on us verse 31 the crowd rebuked them telling them to be silent no just be silent again probably used to this being out on the outside being rejected the reality is in this culture.
If you were disabled it was assumed that you probably did something to deserve this that your parents did something for you to deserve this that you're cursed so be be silent you don't you don't need to get near Jesus you probably deserve what you have there's this stigma that comes along with the disability and this rejection but i love it they're not going to be deterred they're not going to stop it continues but they cried out all the more lord have mercy on us son of David all the more that's over and over and over and over again son of David son of David have mercy on a son of David they're not going to.
Stop they know that hope is passing by that you are our only hope Jesus son of David don't pass us by i'm tired of being an outsider i'm tired of being poor i'm tired of being looked at as as i deserve this i'm tired of all the stigma i'm tired of being on the outside Jesus lord son of David don't don't pass this by they call out over and over and over again they want to see what they've been missing for all these years.
Finally Jesus stops verse 32 and stopping Jesus called them and said what do you want me to do for you so they're calling out over and over again crowds are telling be quiet they're not going to stop and then Jesus stops and they can hear his voice directed at them probably since his presence coming a little bit closer what do you want me to do for you they have the intention of the most important man they are ever going to meet.
Verse 33 they said to him lord let our eyes be opened they've heard the rumors they've heard about Jesus they've heard all of the rumors of of healing people all the miraculous things he's done lord let our eyes be open we know you we know you're able will you open our eyes verse 34 and Jesus in pity touched their eyes and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him can't see they can hear his voice as he gets closer he approaches these two blind beggars that always get shunned they get rejected that are seen as outcast as sinful as dirty.
Jesus and compassion comes closely and i want you notice what he does he doesn't just snap his fingers and say you recovered your sight it didn't just say you're healed he puts his hands on their eyes just the intimate care that Jesus gives towards people puts his hands on their eyes and they recover their sight i got interested in this interested in this this week there are uh nowadays because of science because of medicine and the advances that we have there are uh ways to cure certain types of blindness and i watched a bunch of videos of people being able to.
See for the first time and i just wanted to show one in particular this is a video of a man who a young man who is uh has been colorblind his entire life and his friends they uh they all pitch in there's there's some new glasses that you can buy that cure certain types of color blindness so they all pitched in the money together and they gave it to them there's no guarantee it was going to work but they give it to him i just want you to catch a picture of what it looks like to.
See something for the first time i remember there was this one yellow leaf on a tree like straight ahead of me and as soon as i put them on like it just popped out like like striking like it wasn't like a light brownish gray color like it was it was yellow oh you're bored today just go on youtube and watch some of these videos people hear him for the first time people sing for the first time it's incredible and he got to.
See color for the first time imagine seeing darkness your entire life and then all of a sudden boom you can see in 20 20 vision i want you to picture what happens here Jesus puts his hands on their eyes and when he moves them the first thing they see with their new set of eyes is the face of God they get to see the face of God and once they see him they look up and they see the blue in the sky they.
See the colors all around them they see their hands for the first time by seeing Jesus and by his power they see everything else it's an incredible story and what do they do after they can see for the first time they get in line and they follow them because the reality is when you experience the power of God the only reasonable step next step is to follow them and off they go with Jesus towards Jerusalem now that story is just a few verses long.
But it's incredible when you just slow down and you picture what's happening here when you look at the details the amount of joy that is in this i also love this story because all of us can connect to it on a much deeper level listen the main mission of Jesus was not come not to come and heal people it was not to come and and heal the blind and raise paralytics that wasn't the main mission that was an appetizer that was a foretaste of a much bigger much more important much more eternal reality he came to give sight to the spiritually blind that is what this story is ultimately pointing to he came to give.
Sight to those who are spiritually blind those who are walking in darkness Jesus is the light that lights up the darkness he came to give us a new set of eyes we see this in in john 9 and john 9 he heals a younger man and and towards the end of it this is what happens in verse 39 Jesus said for judgment i came into this world that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind some of the pharisees near him heard these things and said to him are we also blind.
Jesus said to them if you were blind you would have no guilt but now that you say we see your guilt remains Jesus heals this man and then he shows the bigger point here that he came for those who were spiritually blind he came for those who know that who are humble enough to see and recognize their own sin that they might believe and then in that story the pharisee the pharisees recognize they're being called out and i said oh you're saying we can't.
See he says absolutely your guilt remains the whole point is is that if you think that you are good if you think that you see things clearly if you think that your righteousness stands before you before God then your guilt remains you don't get the Gospel he came for those who were spiritually blind Jesus came into the world to heal to give sight to the blind and then ultimately we might follow him but that only happens when you understand the most important aspect of his work was not what happens here in Jericho it is the healing that happens in Jerusalem it is.
When we have our eyes open when we look at what Jesus did for us on the cross when we look at that with the same kind of hope and vigor and longing and desperation that these two blind men did outside of Jericho this deep longing to be redeemed that's the bigger point of what's happening here so my question is firstly have you come to Christ with that type of desperation with that type of just hope and longing have you come to.
Jesus like these two blind beggars did have you come to him saying Jesus i've been an outsider my entire life and i i won't end i want you that i'm tired of being alone that i'm tired of being on the outside that i'm tired of being i'm tired of my sin i'm tired of being separated from you that i won't fellowship with you that i want life with you that i want to follow you have you come with that type of desperation to say.
Lord give me eyes to see and believe the Gospel son of David don't pass me by i want in have you come to him with that type of desperate hope because that is the type of desperate plea that stops the savior and his tracks that is what faith actually looks like it is that kind of plea that opens your eyes that you might behold the face of God be changed by him and never be the same that's the kind of faith that is being pointed out here and the reality is.
If you do not think you're blind if you think that you're doing fine on your own that you've got it all together that you don't need faith that you don't need Jesus you are blind to your own blindness if you think your good works will stand for you that the ultimate way to get to God is just do and do and do and be that you were blind to your own blindness or as uh the song that we're going to close with.
Today says the blind won't gain their sight by opening their eyes you won't gain your sight by trying to do this yourself you won't gain your sight by trying to open your own eyes you need a desperate plea and a hope and a longing for the only one that gives sight for the only one that gives his faith to belief and that's my hope is that if you have never trusted in Jesus that you would be humble enough to recognize your hopelessness outside of him this morning and that you would believe my hope is that we would not.
Look at the miraculous work of Jesus as a small thing as a cute thing but we would see it as a sword that disrupts the natural order of this world and that we would come to him with a desperate hope and the only logical next step is i'm in and i'll follow you wherever that is i'm in for some of you that uh have trusted in Jesus that have a new set of eyes that have been following him i want you to recognize something that though we have a new set of eyes and we can.
See it doesn't mean that we're not prone to some blind spots this idea carries throughout the rest of the new testament we just read some passages that flesh this out first john 2 11 says but whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because darkness the darkness has blinded his eyes you following Jesus and you can have a new set of eyes but then you can start you can get a fight with another Christian you can get bitter the reality is is that unless you have reconciled you have a blind spot.
First john says you are darkened and you cannot see straight Revelation 3 17 for you say i am rich i have prospered and i need nothing not realizing that you are wretched pitiable poor blind and naked that's Jesus in a letter to one of the churches in the new testament saying that if you've trusted in riches you're blinded by them in fact you're poor pitiable blind and naked the reality is the riches of this world as we've seen throughout the Gospel of Matthew can blind you from actually seeing and savoring and following.
Jesus in the way that we're supposed to maybe you got some blind spots with riches i'll give you one more second Peter 1 says for this reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self-control and self-control with steadfastness and step fastest with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection brotherly affection with love for if these qualities are yours and increasing they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful on the knowledge of our lord.
Jesus Christ hear this for whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins the reality is if you're not pursuing a lot of what is here as the fruit of the spirit if you're not pursuing virtue if you're not pursuing Jesus and asking for these things then you're nearsighted you can't see what's right in front of you you need to actually pursue him ask for help and repentance pursue the things he calls us to there there's a lot of ways that we have blind spots and in community groups this week we're going to walk through them my hope is this morning that you.
Would ask God what are my blind spots where am i not seeing the Gospel clearly or am i not believing the Gospel and my hope is do you show up to community group this week with some humility and allow some of the people who love you most in your life to maybe point out some of those blind spots for you matt's going to come up and we are going to close with a song that is right out of this passage and ah you may not be familiar with it i just want you to to.
Listen to the words and i want you to be open and honest for a moment this is a big room i have no doubt there's probably someone who's not actually absolutely trusted in Jesus with this type of desperate plea with this type of desperate faith and my hope this morning is that you would the son of David is here his arms open saying i want you and my hope is that you would you would give in to that type of love that he went to the cross.
For you that you might not be blind anymore that he's offering you sight to believe my hope is that you would trust in him this morning stop running the life away from him stop trying to prove your life with good works my hope is that you would have the humility to recognize your sin and with this type of desperate plea that you would call out son of David give me sight give me eyes to believe and trust in you that i want you that's my hope is that you have the humility that.
God would pierce your heart right now that you would not run from it you would sit in this and respond in faith for some of you that believe in Jesus you got sin we all have got mess and it's serious my hope is that we respond this morning with some humility to recognize that that as this song is sung over to you that you might ask God where am i blind where am i not seeing and believing the way i'm supposed to and may we humbly in repentance ask him to change us that we might have vision that is needed may we respond in faith this morning.
Let me pray God no doubt there's a lot of burdens and struggles and brokenness and mess that we bring to the table this morning God i pray that for those of us that have trusted in Christ that you would start to shed light into some of the darkness in our life there may be folks here that have been holding on to sin they've never confessed they've been presenting themselves as better than they are break them down this morning may they see you and hope in you and trusting you and walking in the light as better than walking in darkness.
God i pray if there is anyone here that does not trust in you may they come to you with this same desperation these two men and may you give them eyes to see and believe and may they follow you forever we ask in Jesus name amen.
Service, Slavery, and Death (Matthew 20:17-28)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.
Transcript
Well good morning my name's chet i'm one of the pastors here grab your bibles let's go to Matthew chapter 20. we're working through the Gospel of Matthew when it wasn't coronavirus time we had bibles out for everybody to use we have it up on the screen if you didn't bring one with you today but if you can we encourage you to bring one and we encourage you to have a Bible know your Bible love your Bible but we will have the words up on the screen this morning as we go through Matthew 20 we uh i want to talk i think most people have have played the game i'm about to talk about at some.
Point in your life um depending on your ranking among your friends in the social hierarchy or your age among your siblings depends on how much you enjoyed this game how much you remember it with fondness or without but i think at some point growing up you played a game where someone was king or queen or where you got to be king or queen and everybody else was your servants you you played this game someone talked hey we're gonna play this game and i'm gonna be king and and y'all are gonna do what i say.
Now if you're the oldest sibling you're like oh yeah i love that game if you're second third fourth in line you're like oh yeah i remember that game some of you maybe just played this with um stuffed animals and hopefully if it was just you and stuffed animals then you were the royalty and they served you otherwise you may have self-esteem issues but i remember playing this and i remember you know the idea of having someone who served me was was wonderful i usually started off as a servant i had an older brother and i found that by the time it was my turn you know i knew i didn't mind being a servant at.
First because i knew one day i would rise to power because it would be my turn at some point and i remember when it was my turn usually we had played the game long enough and it was time to move on it was getting kind of boring for my older brother he was like yeah okay well we probably we should do something different so i didn't get to be king often but the idea that wouldn't it be nice if i was great wouldn't it be nice.
If i was at the top wouldn't it be nice if everyone else around me served me never really goes away that desire that undercurrent we pretended at it there but you kind of want that you go through life and you think wouldn't it be nice if i could get this raised wouldn't it be nice if i could be the one with that office wouldn't it be nice if i could just have a situation where everybody around me did what i wanted and we're gonna.
See that that doesn't really go away in our hearts and we're gonna see a situation where Jesus is addressing this in his disciples so let's pray and let's read this together this morning God we thank you for your word we pray that you would bless us as we study it together that we would see Christ clearly and fall more in love with him in Jesus name amen so Matthew chapter 20 verse 17 it said and Jesus and as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem he took the twelve disciples aside and on the way he said to them.
So he's got more people following than just the twelve but at some point he pulls the twelve aside he said then he talked to y'all he said see we are going up to Jerusalem and the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified and he will be raised on the third day now he refers to himself as the son of man we saw last week in the section we were talking about he referred to himself as the son of man.
But he made it really clear he was talking about himself so they understood at this point should understand that when he's saying the son of man he was talking about himself and so he says hey we're going to Jerusalem and i'm going to be handed over to be crucified i'm going to be taken by the scribes and the pharisees and i'm going to be giving over to the gentiles that's the romans the non-jewish people i'm going to be giving over to the gentiles and i'm going to be mocked and flogged which is beaten.
And then crucified and then on the third day i'll be raised and so he's telling his disciples this is where we're going and this is the third time he's told his disciples this and it's helpful for us to understand that with as much as Jesus taught he did not primarily come to earth to tell us what he wanted from us i think sometimes we go okay God what do you want from me okay what do i need to do to be.
Okay what do i need to do to be on your good side and the reality is Jesus comes and says no i've come to do something for you that's why the Gospel is good news it's about an event that happened and so he came for us to accomplish something for us to die on the cross for us not so that we might do something for him but first and foremost he comes to do something for us and that is beautiful news.
And so he's telling his disciples and he's bringing them back to it over and over again he's saying look i know i've been teaching you but it's not about your behavior and it's not about what you're going to do it's about what i'm going to do now they wouldn't have understood fully at this point they might have understood he was going to die but they didn't maybe wrap their heads around that he had to die in order to forgive our sins that he had to rise in order to give us hope in him.
But that's what he came to accomplish was not to just teach some things not to just hand off some wisdom if that were the case he could have gone to a cave with his 12 disciples and taught stuff and never run around getting everybody mad at him and never headed into Jerusalem where he knew he was going to be crucified so Jesus came to accomplish something for us this is his purpose i don't want you if you're new to christianity i want you to hear that i want you to understand that.
If you're just visiting today all other religions are going to tell you what you need to do to be okay with God how you get to God christianity is how God got to us other religions are going to tell you what you need to do for God and christianity is about what God has done for us and then we respond after God came to claim us and after he accomplished this for us we respond to it we don't earn or work our way towards it and that's good news we could close the Bible we could pray that could be the end.
Today that's good news it's not though we're going to keep going so he's gonna be raised on the third day then the mother of the sons of zebedee came up to him so the sons of zebedee are james and john uh three of the principal disciples so he had 12 disciples and then he had the three had Peter james and john james and john are brothers at one point they are referred to as the sons of thunder he gave him a nickname maybe thunder was their mom i don't know we're about to.
See then the mother of the sons of zebedee came up to him with her sons and kneeling before him that's Jesus she asked him for something and he said to her what do you want now at first that can seem a little cold but this is she came and said i want to ask you a favor i want to ask you something and one of the ways they would put this a lot of times you see in the Scriptures is like i wanna i wanna i would like.
For you to grant my request so it's similar to if someone comes to you and says hey will you do me a favor you say what is it you don't necessarily just say yes sure any favor you say well what is it what do you want and that's what he says what what do you want what's the request she said to him say that these two sons of mine are to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your kingdom.
So Jesus earlier in this chapter had said that or in chapter 19 and then carried over into chapter 20. but he said that the disciples would sit on thrones when he was in his glorious kingdom and sat on his glorious throne they would sit on thrones around him and so this went right to their heart this idea they would get to sit on thrones and so they said hey as long as there's going to be thrones we'd like to talk about the location of ours.
And so the mother of the sons of zebedee comes and says and in the other gospels it just says the sons of zebedee came so they're moms involved but it was easy it's just as true to say it was just them because they were the ones driving this but they got their mom in on it i guess maybe they thought maybe he'll say yes to our mom he doesn't always say yes to us but he's nice to women i don't know i don't know what their plan was.
But they get their mom to come and they ask can we be at your right hand or left meaning can we be the chief among the other disciples can we be right hand left hand can we be supreme that's the request Jesus answered you do not know what you are asking are you able to drink the cup that i am to drink so he looks at him and says y'all don't realize what you just asked you think what you ask is a position of power you think what you ask is a position of strength you think what you ask is a position of authority what you've just asked.
For the closest to me is the closest to suffering can you drink the cup of suffering i'm gonna drink this is when he in the garden the night before the crucifixion he says if if it be your will lord let this cup pass from me this crucifixion this wrath this suffering and so he says to disciples can you handle what i'm going to take there is in some sense Jesus in his glory Jesus raised up is on a cross and his right hand and his left hand are two crosses.
But there will be a time when he's on a throne and his right hand and his left hand will be people sitting on thrones that's what they're asking for but they don't realize that the road to that is suffering the road to that is pain he says you don't know what you're asking for can you drink the cup i'm to drink they said to him it's still verse 22 we are able she says are you able to drink the cup and they say we are able he said to them you will drink my cup.
But to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my father so he says okay you'll drink my cup you'll take on suffering and they do you will join me in suffering for the sake of the kingdom for the sake of the Gospel for the sake of the name of Christ but i can't give that's not mine to grant who sits at my right my left.
And when the ten heard it they were indignant at the two brothers yeah the other ten hear this and they're like seriously that's what the office little conversation was about y'all y'all went and asked for a promotion you want to be the ones that sit closest to Jesus it doesn't say this i think this is most uh more a shot at Peter than anybody else because he was at least in the top three they thought we got a good run at this as long as we can get Peter out i don't know how much bartholomew thought no i'm in the running i don't know we don't hear much about him.
But the other 10 are just frustrated they're like really your goal is to be chief among us your goal is to be the greatest and the reality is Jesus has been addressing this with his disciples this will be the third time now the beginning of 18 they were having an argument about who the greatest was in 19 Peter says hey what are we gonna get Jesus keeps trying to tell them that's not how this works be like a child be humble like a child the.
First will be last he keeps trying to push on them this isn't how this works and we they hadn't learned it's like they weren't even listening to him when he talked they were like they were dreaming about how they could get their mom to come help now i hope so the disciples were very frustrated i hope after Jesus dies after he's raised after they see how this is going to play out i hope that the disciples genuinely forgave them but i also hope that they forever from a posture of pure forgiveness gave them a really hard time about this i hope that they just brought it up.
So this is just a hope i have i hope that there were times where james said to Peter hey do you know what that last parable was about and Peter was like i don't know if only our mom was here we could ask him i just hope they brought it up some that's just for me it doesn't say that they did but they're frustrated and Jesus is going to step into this situation he's going to help them see y'all are thinking about this wrong.
Now the reality is their request isn't crazy it's not out of the ordinary for us or for them it doesn't seem odd that you would go to your manager or your boss and say hey i know there's room for promotion and i just want to put my name in the hat i think i deserve that hey i know you go to someone who's about to be promoted to from assistant manager to manager and you say hey i just want you to know i'm glad you're getting the manager position.
And when you move up might i be at your right hand can i be assistant manager i just want to put my name in i know you'll be looking to replace that position so don't sit here all bibles smug and be like tischus can't believe they would do that the reality is this is normal for them this is normal for us and it's it's a bit of a plague in our souls that we want to self-promote we want others to see us and value us we want to be exalted we want to be great we want to be.
First we want to be lifted up and so Jesus is going to respond to this verse 25 but Jesus called them to him and said you know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them so he says you you know what this looks like you know you look out in the world and you see people and the rulers of gentiles be non-believing peoples he says you look out you know what this looks like yes we know what this looks like they had seen what great ones did how they were weighted on how they were treated how they were elevated uh it reminds me as i.
Was reading through this the story of uh john adams got to be the first ambassador to england to britain after we had won our freedom from them so it's kind of an awkward position to be in to be representing the new country that just won their freedom from you but he was he was the first one there and as in his writings he got to go meet the king he was gonna have to go meet the king and basically the rule was.
When you met the king you had to walk in when you opened the door you had to bow there's a certain special way you walked halfway bowed again when you got all the way up there you bowed again and then you gave a short speech and you tried to be as flattering as possible in his writings he said i asked the other ambassadors if they were messing with me this is true this is the way this works he was like so i was just making sure they weren't just trying to get one over on make america come do something ridiculous he said no this is what it does.
And then on the way out you bowed and you didn't show your back to the king so you walked backwards when you reached halfway you bowed again he walked all the way back to the door about again and left that there's this idea that wouldn't it be great if there's royalty he says you know what this looks like what royalty looks like what people who are chief and we know what this looks like the ceo doesn't go go on coffee runs the person at your job who makes the schedule often has a really good schedule we know what it looks like.
When somebody's in charge we know what it looks like when someone gets a little bit of power we've seen that play out so that's what he says you know what this looks like you know how they lowered it over them you know how they take it to their advantage you know how they use it for their own purposes and then he says it shall not be so among you so you know that model the the pursuit of greatness striving for greatness wanting to be elevated using it.
For your own purposes uh lording it over other people enjoying the perks and the benefits of your position that's not how it's going to work among you it's not how it's going to work among my people i am i grew up on hand-me-downs so i would get the clothes my older brother had worn sometimes it was nice you'd get something nice and you'd think yeah he hit a growth spurt and you'd start plotting on some of his clothes you'd be like nice i'll get to wear that soon we also did i didn't just get hand-me-downs from older brother we also got hand-me-downs from our cousins.
So we would get together for thanksgiving or christmas and then all the ants would bring big trash bags and dump out clothes and that's how we would shop for clothes you would just we'd have to spend every time we got together family an hour or so trying on clothes seeing what fit taking things and so i had one i had this shirt that was my favorite shirt it was a hand-me-down shirt i had gotten i loved this shirt it was kind of my go-to i'm having fun.
Today shirt this is it's going to be a good day kind of shirt and so i often wore it when i was hanging out with friends and i had this one friend who's my next-door neighbor his name is aaron aaron uh that's how they said it his name was aaron and he said uh one time we were hanging out he said man i need to ask you so what he said why do you always wear that girl shirt i was in like.
Second third grade and i was like do what now he said that shirt that you wear all the time is a girl's shirt i was like are you sure he said yeah my sister has one and i remember going home i could still see it in my mind standing at the dresser looking at the mirror looking at myself in that shirt and i thought no i should have been able to tell no this is a girl's shirt now that you pointed out it's it's pretty girly i even later i never wore the shirt again i later i went to even had to have a conversation with mom i was like hey you know you only.
Have three sons tell your aunts not to put girl clothes in the bags like tell your sisters don't do that to us be great because some people can't tell the difference and then they get embarrassed later i remember being at my uh cousin's house and seeing a picture of her on the wall in that shirt and she looked great in it it's not my style anymore i don't wear that kind of stuff anymore when we approach greatness the same way as the world we're taking hand-me-downs from culture that don't actually fit us that were not actually intended.
For us and we can pretend like they look good but on Jesus people they certainly do not they're not meant for us to treat greatness and power and authority the same way we're meant to look different and that's what he's saying this this should not be so among you that's out of place among my people and then he tells them why he tells him why very clearly he says whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be.
First among you must be your slave so their questions completely backwards hey can we rise to the top he says if you want to be great be a servant if you want to be first be a slave even as the son of man that's Christ came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many he says the reason this doesn't fit among my people is because it's not how what i came to do as the chief example the one to follow the one to model your life after i did not come to be served.
But to serve that Christ the exalted king of the universe the eternal king humbled himself in the form of a servant and came to serve and to give his life to rescue people and that's why if we follow him but we live as if others are meant to serve us it doesn't work in some ways when we have that attitude what we're saying is that certainly Jesus should have served others but i deserve to be served and none of us would actually say that.
But we might functionally live that way so the reality is you can walk through life before we get there i want i want to point something out that i think's beautiful this is God's plan for power this is his design for strength this is his design for leadership this is his design for greatness that it would be used on behalf of those under you if that makes sense that Christ is exalted above us but he uses his greatness he uses his power he uses his authority to not rise to the top.
But to go to the bottom and to serve everyone this is his picture for power this is his picture for strength this is his picture for your life and your energy should be used in service to others and the reality is we love this every time we see it we respond beautifully to this because we know this is how it was meant to be it's recently a story of a six-year-old boy he's welcome his name was bridger walker he was walking with his sister i think she was three or four he's six and a dog comes out runs and starts attacking them and the six-year-old boy just jumps in front of the dog and i.
Mean the dog messes him up if you look him up it cut his face real bad but his sister doesn't have a scratch on him he's eventually able to get away from the dog he gets his sister to safety he's bleeding his aunt said she was tending to him and he looked at his aunt six-year-old boy and he said i just thought if someone had to die it should be me yes that's exactly what strength is supposed to be meant for he was faster he could outrun his sister like that he could have pushed her in front of him he could have gotten out of the situation he could have gotten to safety he could.
Have left without getting hurt he could have acted as if his sister was there in order to make him safer but the reality was he said no i'm the strongest one i'm the toughest one i'm the oldest one if someone's got to go it's got to be me and that's God's design for leadership it's God's design for strength and it's beautiful and we ought not to reject it but the reality is every day we have so many opportunities to either embrace it or to reject it you can walk through life with the assumption that i'm here to serve or you can walk through life with the assumption that others are here to serve me.
So let's talk through that for a minute if you have roommates do you approach that situation as if you're there to surf as if you're there to make the house better as if you're a servant to all when it comes time to pay bills when it comes time to clean if you're married and you see a pile of dishes in the dish in the sink do you think i'm here to serve i'm so glad my spouse knew that they lived with a servant.
When there's yard work to be done when the child is screaming do you think let's wait and see if my spouse will answer if i stay real quiet because reality is when your child yells they're screaming for a servant they need an attendant i have a a well how old is he two i have a two-year-old he wakes up at five o'clock in the morning demanding service looking for his servants his slaves that live in his house that will tend to him.
Now i have a role as a parent to correct him but the truth is he needs help if he's getting up at five just to go to the bathroom he needs help he's not gonna do that well on his own you guys and i can either serve him right then or i can serve later by cleaning up but when you're at your house and you're facing who's going to do laundry who's going to cook who's going to take out the trash you can live as.
If the other people in your home are there to serve you or as if you're there to serve them is it just at homeless is it work do you enter your job as if you were a servant there to make the place better there to serve your co-workers i don't know your job but i know this about work there is a distinct way in every job for you to go above and beyond for your co-workers and your and your managers and there's a distinct way.
For you to figure out how not to do that and it just depends on the job i used to work sales we did we were 100 commission but then we had to reset the sales floor we had to set things up we had to restock shelves and every time you were doing that you were making zero dollars the only way to make money was to talk to customers so if you're resetting the sales floor and your salesman co-workers running and talking to customers they're making money and you're not my wife's a bank teller it has to do with.
When you close your drawer down because if you're going to leave at five if you start closing your drawer down at five you've helped till five and you won't leave till 5 15. but if you're gonna leave at five and you start closing your drawer down at 4 40 or 4 45 you can walk out the door at five and so i don't know your work but i know there's an opportunity for you to serve i know there's a way for you to to cover shifts and to care.
For your your co-workers i know there's a way for you to show up early or stay late i know there's a way for you to make life working with you better as the posture of a servant and i also know there's a way for you to be extremely frustrated by your coworkers because they're imposing on your time or your paycheck i know there's a way for you to live with your possessions as if they exist to serve others and i know there's a way.
For you to live as if they exist to serve you i know there's a way for us to live with our finances as if they exist to serve others or if they exist to serve me i know there's a way for us to walk through all of life looking to other people looking to our friends looking to our family as if they're imposing on us and as if they have forgotten that they were meant to make our life better some of you have friends that only call you.
When they need something some of you have friends that genuinely want to be around you but they suck the life out of you when they do they're down they distill some of your happiness and when you get the phone call you get to answer the question do i exist to serve am i a servant am i a slave i think one of the immediate responses to this is okay but won't people take advantage of me if i if i walk through my house you don't understand.
If i walk through my house as if i was a servant to my spouse do you not know how much advantage of me they would take do you not know what they would be like if i was at work and i just was there to serve do you know how much people would take advantage of me do y'all know what the word slave means that's a heavy word that greatness in the kingdom is slavery a true slave only lives to the advantage of their owner and it's horrible.
When it's imposed in a pagan world and it's beautiful when it's assumed by a Christian that Jesus came to suffer as a servant as a slave to everyone and he calls his people to do the same of their own will in their own graciousness as he empowers it let's talk about the Church because we can do this in the Church we don't just do it other places one of the best ways to see whether or not we're approaching the Church this way is.
If you say the phrase why don't they versus how can i why don't they fix that why don't they do this kind of song why don't they do this kind of leadership stuff why don't they do this with our group why doesn't my group keep up with people who aren't around why doesn't my group try to share the Gospel with people why don't they make sure that we have enough food every week why don't they know how to shut their mouth.
So that we can leave on time versus walking around with the question of how can i why don't they figure out how to get kids out of the auditorium versus how can i serve in kid city it's a very different question how can i make that better the truth is some of the stuff that we do as a Church family that's genuinely frustrating is genuinely frustrating we do it because we're sinners or we're bad at things some of the things you're most frustrated about are actually things that you're gifted in that.
God has empowered you with some strength some energy some intelligence and you ought to be using it to serve rather than using it as a position to sit and be upset with your servants some of you have moved from Church to Church relationship to relationship job to job and all you have declared with your attitude and your life is that i am displeased with the quality of servants that i have had in my past churches in my past relationships in my past job they did not understand that i was royalty they did not treat me appropriately they failed to live up to my expectations.
If you would like to be miserable walk around as if everybody around you is meant to serve you it's one of the quickest ways to be absolutely miserable if you want to hate your community group show up thinking that they exist for you because they're terrible at it if you want to be frustrated show up on sundays and sit and think why haven't they come talk to me do not acknowledge the fact that you did not go talk to them that might make you end up in a conversation just sit and wonder why they didn't talk to you don't acknowledge that you could give some energy and you could serve just acknowledge that they haven't.
Lived up to your expectations it's a wonderful way to be miserable but it's a terrible way to follow Jesus Jesus's invitation here is an invitation into joy it's an invitation into freedom it's an invitation to be first and to be great and the truth is every time we've ever just been free enough from ourselves to do this we have had great joy i grew up in a Church we would send out mission teams on sunday nights at times they would get to give a mission report some of you have been on mission trips some of you have been at mission report night some of you are just.
Now learning about these things keep listening every single time it did not matter 60 year old man forearms as big as a honey baked ham 13 year old girl wearing my favorite shirt doesn't matter they were all going to say the same thing we went to bless them we were blessed i went to serve them this is what he sounded like honey baked ham guy i was served every single time because for a week for a weekend they were able to get their mind around i'm just going here to make things better i'm not here to get anything out of this i'm just going here to do what the.
Lord wants i'm just going here to serve and it didn't matter what came up it didn't matter what broke down and it didn't matter what went wrong they had already gotten their mind wrapped around i'm here to be a servant and it's really hard to inconvenience a servant looking for an opportunity to serve and so they had tapped into some joy that was meant to operate in the world as we walk as people who believe the Gospel some of you know exactly what i'm talking about you've been on those trips and you thought yeah it was just such a blessing.
And then you came back i came back i went on those trips i came back i walked into hanging out with my group and i thought why are you all the worst because i had similar attitude to me that they were there to get something out versus to put something in that's why Jesus says it's more blessed to give than to receive that we're actually blessed in the giving up we're blessed in the sacrifice that it actually works for us if you don't feel connected here there's a good chance that you aren't serving that you aren't doing something to make things better this is why some of us and this is how this plays out.
When you begin to serve when you begin to live on behalf of others you grow in love for them you grow in freedom you grow in humility you grow enjoy this is why some of you and some of you right now are parents with small children and you need to listen to me but this is why some of you lived this out you had small children and you fell absolutely in love with those children because in your relationship to them you approached it as a servant i'm here to make things better and you did not expect anything out of them and at the exact same time you grew in increasing frustration with your spouse.
Because you expected them to step up on their serving and step up on making things better and they were not living up to your expectations and the truth is if we want some joy and we want some life and we want some love begin to serve now begin to walk around as if you're here to serve you're here to make things better it's an invitation into joy it's an invitation into freedom and you are in the way the reality is we want this to be the case.
If you're clear-headed enough you actually want to live life this way because it's so much more freedom here than waiting for other people to make things better so much more joy here to just operate as a servant you actually want this to be what our Church looks like you want this to be what Jesus people look like you want this to be what ultimately even people if they could just do this outside you want this to be what politics look like the people in power and people with money they use it.
For the sake of others it's what we want and we can't do it you can't do this not on your own see some of us right now are going okay i'm going to i'm going to do it i'm going to i'm going to serve but the only way we know how to do that on our own is to swell ourselves up to make ourselves bigger i'm going to be better by being a servant and the truth is we need to have ourselves conquered we need to be out of the way.
Jesus did not teach this and then not go to the cross he taught this and said follow me as he went to the cross it says the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many a ransom is the debt that is paid to set slaves free Jesus came and said i'm going to pay the debt so that the slaves can go free i'm going to pay this so that you're no longer a slave to sin.
So you're no longer a slave to self and if you have trusted in Jesus and if he has redeemed you and if he has filled you with the Holy Spirit then yes we can actually do this but only as we lean into him and he does it for us only as we follow after him the one who actually was a servant to all and a slave to all so that we might be free and then in our freedom we get to join him you're not going to be able to do this on your own you're not going to do this in your own strength you're not going to be able to do this in your.
Own power you're not going to be able to do this as you look at your own glory and look at how wonderful a servant i am some of you right now serve you do you work hard at your job but you grow in increasing frustration every time you serve with your spouse you grow an increasing frustration with your coworkers because you're not free you're serving but you're not your heart hasn't changed and we need him to change our hearts we need him to go to the cross we need him to die we need him to pay our ransom we need to be set free.
So as the band begins to come back up i want us to do this i want you to take a moment i want you to to focus in not on yourself not on your need to serve not on your need to be better i want you to focus in on Christ i want you to see him in his glory he says he'll be seated on a glorious throne i want you to know that he has a glorious throne where he rules and reigns as the king of all eternity and i want you to know that he gave that up.
So that he could die so that he could serve so that he could sacrifice i want us to be so enamored so captivated by so blown away by his humility and his service for us that we can actually have the freedom to get out of the way to love and to serve others to walk as if we exist for their benefit some of you have not placed your faith in Jesus you have not accepted the freedom that he offers the the payment that he makes.
For your sin for your slavery for your debt you need to trust him and some of you right now don't need to be sitting there giving yourself a pep talk about how you're going to do better you need to go to the lord and say i need you to help me i need me i need you to help me see the cross i need you to help me to see the blood that you shed for me i need you to help me.
See the path of a servant the joy that is in slavery for the sake of others i need you to empower me to be able to do that this is an invitation into freedom it's an invitation into life my encouragement is that we would take now we thank you that you served that you did not come to be served but you came to serve to give your life as a ransom that you set slaves free and we thank you that you invite us into the joy of humility and sacrifice the.
Lord we pray that we would see your glory you know your humility and we will follow after you as you empower us to do so in Jesus name.
Upside Down: The First are Last (Matthew 19:27-20:16)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.
Transcript
Well good morning uh my name is chet i'm one of the pastors here grab your bibles go to Matthew chapter 19. we're working our way through the Gospel of Matthew and we're going to pick up right where we left off last week a couple of weeks ago i was uh putting my son to bed he's five and i don't know how we got on the topic but we were talking about heaven and he said daddy can you do you die in heaven i was like no you you have everlasting life which means that we live forever he looked at me and he went even.
If somebody stabs you and i was like no you won't get stabbed in heaven it's a nice place like there are no stabbings in heaven we live forever and he goes okay what if someone cut your head off and i was like what kind of heaven what the so i apparently need to uh be teaching a little better theology at my house but we discussed it that night there are no stabbings or beheadings in heaven it's a nice place there's joy there there's delight there there's reward there and we're actually going to pick up in this passage.
Today where Jesus is answering a question that Peter has about heaven and so let's pray and then we're gonna we're gonna step into kind of trying to understand this uh together this morning God we thank you for your word uh we thank you for the beautiful promises that are in it we thank you for uh your grace towards us and we pray that as we study this today that you would uh wake us up to your goodness to your generosity um and that you would help us move forward in obedience we love you and we praise you in.
Jesus name amen so we're going to be in 1927 and we're picking up what just happened was that a rich young ruler had come to Jesus and he had asked teacher what do i have to do to inherit eternal life so what do i need to do to be saved what do i need to do to be one of the good ones who gets to enter into life and Jesus answers him and they discuss this and Jesus basically helps point out that he's not one of the good ones that it's not something that you earn.
But Jesus at the end of this he says if you would be perfect go sell all that you have give it to the poor and come follow me so that following Jesus with a real life change is what he invited him into and and you think about this it's only a handful of people that Jesus actually looked at and said come follow me and this young ruler walks away sad and they have this discussion the disciples are surprised when Jesus tells them that it's very difficult.
For a rich person to enter into the kingdom of heaven and it seems like most of the disciples have been kind of stuck on this idea that a rich person wouldn't be able to enter the kingdom of heaven but it doesn't seem like Peter got stuck on that idea Peter heard something else Peter heard when Jesus said sell what you have give it to the poor come follow me and you will have treasure in heaven Peter's ears perked up he went treasure in heaven and that's where we pick up.
Today where Peter's like a quick question 19 verse 27 then Peter said in reply see we have left everything and followed you what then will we have don't you love Peter you ever you were sitting in class and somebody raised their hand and asked the question you wanted to ask but you just had talked yourself out of it you were like we probably shouldn't ask that i i'll figure it out later but somebody asked the question and you were like yes answer that question please or you hadn't even thought of the question.
But you were like that's a good one answer that i feel like Jesus just goes hey couldn't help but notice Peter Peter says Jesus couldn't help but notice that you told him he would have treasure in heaven if he gave his stuff away we left everything tell us more about this heaven treasure and you would think that Jesus would correct him but he doesn't Jesus said to them truly i say to you in the new world when the son of man will sit on his glorious throne you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
So he says what will we have and he says in the new world when i sit on my glorious throne you will also sit on twelve thrones now that word that that new world it's uh is one word and it means the renewal when everything's made new so he says in the renewal in the new world in the new creation when everything's made new you will when i sit on my glorious throne and that's what he says he says when the son of man sits on his glorious throne you who have followed me will also sit on glorious thrones.
So he's very clear he's the son of man he gets the glorious throne they get thrones but less glorious apparently so he sits on his glorious throne and they get thrones and so he says in the new world this will happen now you know Peter was like what i thought you were going to say stuff a throne all 12 of us like that's there's going to be some amount in the new world of some authority some power some elevation for them that they're going to be on thrones there's going to be some amount of just.
God fixing what's broken in the world because at this point there aren't 12 tribes but he says in the in the new creation the 12 tribes are back somehow and i don't know exactly how literal we're supposed to take that but he says that you'll sit on thrones when i sit on my glorious throne there are people who will accuse Christians uh if maybe you've ever heard the phrase that someone's so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good that Christians because we believe that things are going to get better later we don't work to make things better.
Now the truth is because we believe things are going to get better later we're called to work diligently to make things better now because he's going to renew everything he's going to make it new and we're called to sacrifice and to make things good good for others now we're called to put up with difficulty now we're called to put up with poverty now we're called to step into difficulty now because we know that our good things are coming that's why Paul says.
If there is no resurrection we we should be pitied more than anybody else because our way of life ought to look really dumb it's not about having things here it's about trusting that there's going to be good things there and that's what Jesus is telling them Jesus is going to be on a glorious throne he will be ruling over this new world in verse 29 he says this and everyone so it's not just the disciples now but it's are the twelve.
But it's all those who will follow him and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my name's sake will receive a hundred-fold and will inherit eternal life but many who are first will be last and the last first so let's look at that again he says anyone everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my name's sake we'll receive a hundredfold and we'll inherit eternal life.
So all of those everyone who's willing to sacrifice and he specifically says for my name's sake so they're sacrificing for the name of Jesus because there is a way for you to sacrifice for your name's sake and Jesus actually addresses that he says when you give generously don't you know ring a bell in front of you and announce it do it secretly if you want people to know that you're generous announce it and that's your reward you did it for your name's sake.
But there's a way to do it that's for Jesus's namesake which just means that because i'm a believer i'm doing these things and that means that it opens up a lot of avenues for reward if you want to write your name on a big cardboard check and present it next week to the kid city money we're raising it'll be frowned upon but we'll probably let you do it but the reality is because you made a big show of it you gave it to something that we think is good and worth giving to.
But you did it for your name saying but the truth is there is a way to give to kid city to give to our Church family to give to missionaries to give to the person who knocks on your window in five points to give to the oliver Gospel mission to give to your neighbor who you know is having a hard time paying a bill that is for his name's sake the only reason i'm letting this run out of my hands the only reason i'm giving this away is.
For the name of Jesus and there are he lists in this list here houses and lands and he also lists a bunch of relationships and these are things that we're called to give up stuff and relationships let's talk about stuff first some of this is actually having it and then giving it up so selling something we see this in the new testament a lot someone owns property they sell it they give some of the money away they give it to the poor that's what he called on the rich young ruler to do some of us proactively give things up meaning that.
When the money comes in we just hand it off and over the course of our life we gave up a nicer house and some land and a playstation 5. whatever it is we would have spent it on me countless meals at cracker barrel because that's where my money goes it's me eating something usually a biscuit or an egg roll but you give it up you let it come through and you just hand it off and you're saying i'm this money's not going to stick to me i'm handing it off.
For the sake of his kingdom for the sake of his name so that someone might know him so that someone might be blessed or just because i belong to him and i'm called to generosity but it's not just that it's also relationships so that there are times and more so in other cultures but increasingly so in hours where people are going to say if you really believe that if you're really going to follow that if you're going to be that close-minded.
If you're going to be that type of bigot these are things that Christians are called now we can't be friends anymore you're no longer my sister i'm not going to have a child that thinks like that and you choose in that moment to give up a relationship for the sake of the kingdom for the sake of Jesus it doesn't say boyfriend and girlfriend in here but i think it's included that no because i follow Jesus i'm giving this up so that i might have something better and it's both things that we walk away from and things that we just say no to preemptively like children this does not mean oh wait hold on a.
Second i got four children i can just give them away and say it was for Jesus name that become a thread at your house i'm about to bless somebody in Jesus name son go pack your bags no i think this is more older parents who have children who say if you're going to be like that i can't we can't have a relationship anymore you have to co-sign my lifestyle you have to be okay and the parents just said i can't i also think this is people who choose to not be married or to not have children.
For the sake of the kingdom he just talked about this a couple weeks ago that those who are celibate for the sake of the kingdom my grandmother felt called to mission work in africa and she wanted to get married and she wanted to have children but she felt like that if she was going to be a missionary she couldn't and so that was one of the big wrestling points between her and the lord and eventually she just said lord i surrender i'll go i'll never have children that's fine.
If that's what you want me to do i don't want to spoil the story for you that ended up not happening because she is my grandmother she did have children but she thought that's what was going to have to happen and the reality is there are that's a reality for some people lord if you want me to do this i may not be able to have a relationship i may not be able to have the family i want man but i have the house i want we give it up.
For the sake of the kingdom so he says everybody who does that will receive a hundred fold and will inherit eternal life let's look at the 100 fold first he says that whatever you give up it will eventually be worth it now he's talking about in the future in the in the new world whatever you give up here you'll receive a hundred fold there and i know some of you are like whoa so i give up having one acre i could have a hundred acres in heaven and some of you were like i better have children.
Because i don't want to have 200 children in heaven i'm trying to relax when i get there i'll be raising all these kids that's not what he's saying it's not a direct thing he's saying that you'll be paid back handsomely there is reward for sacrifice here beautiful extravagant reward if you had anything that paid you back 100 fold that's a good deal that if that was a sure thing for you i got a message a couple weeks ago from raz bradley and he said.
If you ever get a time machine go back to yesterday and invest in this company and he sent me a little picture of some stocks just blowing up and the reality is we do daydream about that sort of thing what if i was able to invest in coca-cola at this time what if you were able to invest in microsoft at this time and there's such thing as insider trading but let's assume for a second that it's not illegal let's say you had a friend and they told you that you needed to invest all your money right.
Now in amazon because it was about to double it was about to triple what they told you is about to be a hundred times more over the next few years if you invest right now the only thing that would affect you again if insider trading wasn't illegal was the trustworthiness of the source if they worked at the amazon fulfillment center and they were like hey i got a tip let me tell you what's about to happen to the stocks i know some stuff they'd be like.
Well you you pack boxes it's a good job but i don't think they tell you stock tips but if your friend was jeff bezos and he was like we figured it out you need to invest right now because it's about to blow up that's a much more trustworthy source the reality is that our willingness to sacrifice for reward has a lot to do with how trustworthy we think Jesus is our willingness to sacrifice here has a lot to do with how much faith we have you.
See uh i think we've somehow tricked ourselves with an idea that that sounds nice but isn't really biblical that the only way you're supposed to give something up is just from the goodness of your own heart that that's the way it counts that if it's just pure altruism that you have to do it not expecting any reward but Jesus consistently says no hope for expect some reward the reality is it's not just done from the goodness of our heart it's done.
Because we trust him that's what hebrews 11 says now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen that we're convinced that we're assured we're what we're hoping for in verse 6 it says this without faith it is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him the reason you can give up some money the reason you can give up some lands the reason you can walk away from a relationship is that you have faith that what.
Jesus said is true you have faith that he saves sinners you have faith that one day he will renew the world that he rose from the dead and one day we will all rise from the dead and we will have eternal life so us giving things away us being generous is not just we're really good people no yes we believe he's going to reward but we have to trust him in order to believe that otherwise we would just take what was good here.
But hebrews 11 says that he's prepared something better for us and so believers walk out life the way we do because we believe that we trust him that's what we're supposed to do we move forward in faith and he says not just pay back a hundredfold but we'll inherit eternal life that those who follow Jesus will receive life that everyone who's willing to say no to everything else in order to say yes to Jesus will inherit eternal life now the work of that does not save you.
But that is a sign that you have genuinely trusted Jesus that you're willing to say no to everything else to say yes to him that you really do believe he is who he says he is that he really has worked in your heart to redeem you the sign of the true followers of Jesus is that they followed him they gave up everything and followed him and so that is those who do that will be saved those who are surrendering will be saved this is the uh he will not put to shame any who believe in him.
Then he says but and he's going to give a picture he's going to caveat this a little bit because he's he's going to help Peter so he's going to he answers Peter's question you'll sit on the throne everyone will be rewarded beautifully but and he's going to help us understand something that i think changes our attitude a little bit i was hanging out with a pastor friend and we were going to get in a vehicle and he said hey you can you can ride shotgun i said oh thank you i got in the front and we got in the car and he closed the door and he goes i want to ride shotgun in heaven.
I was like he tricked me i'm riding in the back in heaven for all eternity now at least anytime i go anywhere with this guy that's not really how it works it's not this i did that i earned this perfect analogy it's not how that plays out and that's why Peter says but many who are first will be last and the last first and then he's going to tell a story to help us picture this he's going to help drive that point home.
So chapter 20 verse 1 for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard after agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day he sent them into his vineyard okay so far very normal story so far our very uh thing they were very used to would have understood a denarius was a day's wage basically so it's a fair wage he wouldn't worked out with them hey basically.
For us it'd be like if you wouldn't pick somebody and said hey i need some help doing this i'll pay ten dollars an hour plus a little caesar's pizza boom ferris day's wage that's really what that is he goes to the market there's people who would be standing there to do day laborer work they didn't own land they didn't have a set amount of work but they were there for anybody who owned land who needed work done for them to come pick it up he comes he would have walked up known exactly what kind of work he had to do how much money he had how many people he needed.
And when he was said hey i need five and he would have picked they've been a big group hey i need ten you you you you and the people who get picked first in general younger healthier stronger normal verse three and going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market okay so the first time it was probably around six am that's the first hour that's where they start six am the third hour would be nine am and their work day would run from 6 a.m to 6 p.m.
So if you complain about having a 40-hour week job working 9-5 6 a.m to 6 p.m and they got just saturdays off so at least take some encouragement from this story that your job's pretty nice anyway 6 am he goes back out at 9 00 a.m standing idle in the marketplace and to them he said you go into the vineyard too and whatever is right i will give you they make no money agreement they they do not haggle at all he just says earlier he worked out a deal with those people he just says hey go work on my venue i'll pay you what's right.
So they went going out about the sixth hour that's noon 12 p.m and the ninth hour that's 3 p.m he did the same so he saw more people and just said hey go work in my vineyard i'll pay you something fair go work in my vineyard i'll pay you something right people just they win and about the 11th hour he went out and found others standing and he said to them why do you stand here idle all day they said to him.
Because no one has hired us and he said to them you go into the vineyard too okay so this story got weirder and weirder and weirder and weirder first of all the master of the house keeps leaving the house to just go back to the market and just recruit more workers every three hours and he goes from six a.m nine a.m noon three p.m and then he picks up workers at five that's the 11th hour the work day is going to be over at 6.
So he goes and picks up workers an hour before work is to be done and he finds people who've been standing in the in the marketplace for 11 hours and he says why haven't y'all gone to work and they say nobody would let us like nobody picked us up we were trying we've been here for 11 hours trying to work now if you walked in to a middle school gym class and they were on the last round of picks for dodgeball what do you expect to find left to be picked i'm assuming people who don't dodge.
So well and who don't throw balls very well they have other qualities dodgeball's not their game when you walk into the marketplace the 11th hour these aren't your best workers most likely it doesn't say that but that's just fair to be assumed to be understood in this story older younger not as healthy but they've been standing here all day because they need work they need some money and they're happy to take this one-hour offer they've been there waiting for somebody to show up they're happy to take it and they just go yeah they head right into the vineyard to work.
Now this is odd because why would he keep getting more laborers he doesn't work out a deal with them he just keeps adding laborers when he went out the first time you would assume there was a bunch of people he could have picked as many as he won't the story's odd and it's about to get more odd which makes it a really good Jesus story because that's how he tells stories verse eight and when evening came so at 6 pm the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman call the laborers and pay them their wages beginning with the last up to the.
First so the people who just showed up get paid first and when those hired about the 11th hour came each of them received a denarius one full day's wage so they worked up they had been working for an hour it'd be like them counting off tens there you go and paid them a full day's wage verse 10. now when those hired first came they thought they would receive more but each of them also received a denarius yeah that makes sense first of all.
If you're going to pay people like this pay the people who worked first first i'll make them watch the other guys get paid but he does this on purpose i guess they get paid and they're standing in line and they see that the guys who just showed up scraggled out there and worked for about an hour which was mostly just learning what am i supposed to be doing how do i okay cool and then about the time they got into a little rhythm quitting time they got paid to denarius and the guys who've been there all day were like oh we bout to make some money he paid them a full day's wage this is.
About to go really well for us that's what they're assuming and that's not crazy to assume i think i'd have been doing the same thing like oh okay this guy's generous but they each received only also received to denarius verse 11. and on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house saying these last worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat but he replied to one of them friend i am doing you no wrong did you not agree with me.
For daenerys take what belongs to you and go i choose to give to the last worker as i give to you am i not allowed to do what i choose with what belongs to me or do you begrudge my generosity so the last will be first and the first last Peter says what do we have Jesus says it's going to be great but here's how you're going to need to approach it you're going to need to be very thankful to be invited and you're going to be need to be very thankful.
For the generosity of the master you need to be thankful to be invited and go do the work and you're going to be grateful for the generosity of the master rather than trying to look and see what other people are doing and how it's all working out and i think this is a direct warning to the disciples who are going to be called first and bear the heat of the day you're going to sit on a throne but guess what it's going to be great.
For everybody it's going to be glorious for everybody there's going to be rewards for everybody and i think this applies to both the section where he says you'll be paid back 100 fold and where he says you'll inherit eternal life i don't think this means for us to push it so aggressively that we that we try to say well this means this exactly and this means that exactly i think some people have done that some people have said that this is trying to give us an economic basis.
For how we ought to run an economy and it's just like i don't think that's what this is i think he's trying to help them understand that in the kingdom it'll be based off the generosity of the master the goodness of the master rather than the good negotiating skills and the effort of the workers so those who negotiated that what they negotiated the master was fair and those who just trusted him were faced with generosity and he's fair and he's generous and the reality is you don't want what's coming to you you want what he generously gifts that's some good news in this.
So i do think that there will be great rewards for those who weren't as great when we get to heaven Peter is going to be gloriously rewarded but if i trust Jesus and follow him in my life so am i i think the u.s is a nicer place to live than first century Israel i think there's a lot of things if i'm reading my Bible right that Peter went through that weren't so great there's a good chance that i'll be gloriously rewarded and Peter's supposed to just be excited at the work of the master and the generosity of the master i know i will be cause i'm one of the ones last called i showed.
Up at the 11th hour just barely learned how to do something and then was like woohoo pay time the same thing goes for those who place faith in Jesus that we will all be redeemed every once in a while i see uh memes and pictures passed around on facebook or twitter where i saw one that showed pearly gates and it said heaven where murderers and rapists enjoy a wonderful life with their victims for all of eternity because they trusted Jesus and i know they meant it as a shot that great injustice.
But i took it as the blessing of beautiful mercy that that's reality that scoundrels are in heaven wicked murderous thieving liars who deserve destruction are in heaven greatly rewarded not because of their goodness but because of the mercy and the generosity of the master who will save to the uttermost all those who come to him that Peter is greatly rewarded in heaven and so is the criminal who died on the cross and trusted in Jesus a few moments before his last breath and that's beautiful glorious news.
For a big ol pack of sinners like us that we have hope for everything we sacrifice we have hope for every time we fight our souls to let something go and to fight for what is better we have hope that he rewards those who seek him and trust him and that we have hope that he is greatly generous to those who just kind of barely get it together we don't want justice we want mercy the reality is that he is a just.
God and that all those who will stand under the weight of their own sin will face the wrath of God but that he has offered in his grace to pay for our sins so that we might be greatly rewarded based off of his generosity not of our not off of our merit when my birthday's coming up i can tell my wife things that i'd like and if i'm real specific i'd like to eat here i'd like for this to happen i'd like.
For us to get one of these whatever she'll do that and it's always nice but if i don't tell her anything she'll come up with something really good because she's very generous and gracious and thoughtful if i just trust in her generosity it works out better for me and the reality is we need to get to work and we need to just trust in his generosity we need to move forward in repentance and just trust in his grace for us who are sinners.
So some of you need to believe i got three ways we're going to respond to this some of you need to believe you need to trust that he does save sinners some of you feel like i am a terrible person i'm the worst i'm a failure i deserve to pay for my sin and if you feel like that praise Jesus you ought to feel like that but have we got good news for you he redeems and he forgives and he gives hope and he gives life.
If you'll just accept his invitation when he walked around to the people who'd been in the in the market for 11 hours and said head to the vineyard they didn't try to talk him out of it they just went some of them limping as they went except the invitation that he offers to redeem broken sinners trust in him he will forgive you he will not put the shame into you calling his name some of us need to get to work we need to serve we need to sacrifice we need to begin to do what he's called us to do some of you need to begin to try to get to know your neighbors and your.
Co-workers so they might hear the Gospel some of us need to begin serving here with our Church family in kid city some of us need to begin serving here with our Church family in kid city and there are others here that need to serve in kid city the reality is there are some of you who the lord's been pressing on you to do something to accept the call to become a leader in training in a group or to get to know one of your neighbors or to share the Gospel with a co-worker to accept the call to be a foreign missionary or to accept the call to say no to something.
So that you can say yes to what is better some of you is pressing on you to be a pastor or a Church planter some of you know you just need to begin to be focused on praying for your neighbors get to work accept the call and trust that he rewards everything you give up some of us need to give some things up we need to quit loving our stuff so much we need to set aside money to hand away to give away some of us need to say no to a promotion.
So that we can keep being good missionaries where we are some of us need to say yes to a promotion but the raise walks right out the door so you're going to work harder and you're going to get the same amount of pay you work because you believe that he rewards those who earnestly seek him and you're going to do it for his name's sake so that at the end of all of this we might gather those who've labored and labored and labored and those who barely got into it those who barely trusted the.
Lord those who were humble gracious obedient servants for life and those who were wicked sinners who barely realized it at the last breath that they needed Jesus to redeem them and we're going to gather around his glorious throne and we're going to sing praises to his magnificent generosity and it's going to be worth it let's pray God we thank you for your grace we thank you that you are glorious and that you are generous and we long for the day that we stand in your renewed world where you have made all things new we pray that you would help us to be faithful diligent and to trust in your generosity towards us in.
Jesus name amen the band's going to come back up if you're willing i'd like for you to ask the lord in prayer as we move into this time if there's something that he's been calling you to do that he would impress it on you if there's something he's been calling you to give up if there's something that he's been asking you to do if you've never placed your faith in him i'd ask you to do that now tell him you trust him that you believe that he exists and he rewards those who seek him that he died.
So that you might have life and you want life asking for forgiveness and grace but let's not sit think about heaven for a moment think about rewards for a moment think about eternity for a moment and then walk right back into all the normal stuff of everyday life and not let it affect us let's take a moment to just ask the lord if there's some changes we need to make so that we might look as if we believe that this is not all there is.
And then let's thing you gotta stand to your feet.
Self-Righteousness and Riches (Matthew 19:16-26)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.
Transcript
Good morning man it's good to see this room filled with people worshiping Jesus uh my name is spencer if you weren't here earlier when i introduced myself i'm one of the pastors here uh we're going to be in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 19 verses 16-26 so you can go ahead and flip there we do encourage you we don't we can't hand out bibles right now uh because of the pandemic we're in but if you do have a Bible we encourage you to bring it it's a good practice to have the word of.
God just to read alongside you start on sunday continue through the week it will be on the screen behind us as well so you can go ahead and you can follow along there let me tell you two things uh that will trip you up in following Jesus uh yourself and your money those are two big pitfalls that can derail you from following Jesus so i am a bi-vocational pastor uh it's a you know by meaning to vocation meaning job it's a fancy way of saying i'm i've got two jobs.
Because two job donald just sounds dumb uh but i have two jobs i'm a real estate agent and a pastor i'm part-time here and i also do real estate and i get a front-row seat in those jobs to see how yourself and your money can be your biggest enemy in following Jesus now as a pastor i regularly have conversations with people that's they go along the lines of saying you are not your savior you are not going to save yourself we regularly try to deconstruct the idea that is.
So ingrained in southern culture that christianity is equal to doing good works being a good person and or that you might gain the favor of God that you might get into heaven we regularly battle against that because you'll hear people sometimes they'll say you know what like i right now i'm just i'm not all put together i got to clean myself up and once i get my stuff together i'll be able to to come and be a part of Church again like i just.
But i got to figure my stuff out and it's like no no that's that's that may be a cultural thing that is that is present that's not the Gospel the Gospel says you don't bring your righteousness to the table your good works the table to gain the favor of God so we regularly have to deconstruct that idea that's so ingrained in us self-righteousness ends up being your own worst enemy i'm also a real estate agent and one of the things i get to.
See in real estate is that money can bring out the worst in people i just can't buying and selling a house is one of the biggest purchases that anyone makes and over and over again i'm reminded uh this when i'm representing clients uh i regularly tell my buyers who are buying houses the fun part is going out and seeing the houses getting on zillow and realtor and picking them out walking in seeing it imagine how you can chip and you want to gain it i mean just shiplap everywhere get excited the moment that you go to put a contract i just say.
Look from this point until you get the keys at the closing table this is not going to be fun and just set the bar low and you won't be disappointed because because money is involved and money complicates things right i've seen uh i've seen people all over the map that you wouldn't expect like people that are that are really nice but when when uh money gets involved and and and they don't get everything they were expecting or they're not going to get as much money at the closing table i'd have to pay.
For things i mean i've seen it it can make people very mean and bitter and vicious i've seen Christians get me and i've seen peaceable people get all out of sorts i've seen people just get nasty and i'm not immune to this i've seen in my own heart i've been stabbed in the back but i'm the real estate agent i know what happens in my heart i've missed out on deals that i've worked out on commissions that i've worked out i get this i feel this.
Jesus said back in the sermon on the mount he said where your treasure is your heart will be also and money often reveals this as we uh scatter our heart amongst a bunch of different treasures a bunch a bunch of different things what we are doing is we're emotionally physically and spiritually investing in material things that do not last in this world money and self-righteousness these are two things that will derail you from following Jesus and we get to see this very clearly.
Today in this story where a rich young man comes to Jesus asking about eternal life and both of these are going to show up so we're going to walk through this story together we'll stay out the gate i know we're talking about money that makes everyone a little bit nervous you might have some some bad experiences with churches of money i don't know where you're coming into this but my hope today is that we let our guards down let's just let the Holy Spirit go to work on us.
God willing we can respond uh in the repentance that he requires us to so let me pray and we'll jump into the story father you are good you are so good and these stories from the gospels have been so helpful God i pray that you would speak to us this morning that you would show us what it means to find our hope in Christ alone we ask us in Jesus name amen all right so verse 16 and behold a man came up to him saying teacher what good deed must i do to have eternal life all right.
So i just want to note he's respectful okay we're about to see some self-righteousness in a moment but he's respectful he says teacher all right this is not like the pharisees who come in a posture of arrogance demanding things he he's genuine he teacher show me what good deed must i do to eternal life so he is respectful but his self-righteousness is very similar to the pharisees because he says what good deed must i do what can i do in order to gain eternal life that is religion in a nutshell right most religions have some type of version like this buddhism has its eightfold path follow the path eventually you can lead to the state.
Of nirvana islam has its five pillars submit to allah follow the five pillars jehovah's witnesses have their zero holidays there are a lot of different religions that have different things you do and don't do do this you get in don't and you won't that that's the exchange in religion and that's what Jesus identifies very quickly in this man so Jesus responds verse 17 and he said to them why do you ask me about what is good there is only one who is good.
If you would enter eternal life keep the commandments and when he hears this this is music to his ears because as we're going to see in a minute he's a good dude he's an upright jew he he's honorable he's not adulterous by the world's standards he's a good guy he's the kind of guy that most people want their daughter to marry he's a decent guy not perfect because he wants to know about the finer points the law maybe he's missing out on something and he said.
Verse 18 which ones which commandments Jesus so there's 613 total laws in the old testament there's the 10 big ones the 10 commandments which ones are you talking about because it's possible he may have worn a sweater to passover that had two different types you know cotton and lennon that's a no-no in the old jewish law maybe he missed out the finer points but then Jesus actually sticks to the big ten in the final six commandments he starts listening out.
Jesus said you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness honor your father and mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself the young man said to him all these i have kept all right so those are six of the final ten commandments all right the first four are vertically focused this is how you worship God the six uh the backsticks are horizontally focused this is how you live with one another and i want to point something out he lists these out.
But when he gets to the tenth commandment all right which is you shall not cover you covet your neighbor's stuff he generalizes it he says i want you to love your neighbor as yourself that's going to be important in a moment but the young man hears this and he's relieved because like i said earlier he based the commandments but he wants to cover his bases he says what do i still lack and that's the posture of self-righteousness okay yes i heard that.
But tell me what else what else do i need to do tell me Jesus what am i what am i missing out on and that is where Jesus really gets to the heart of the matter in verse 21 it says Jesus said to him if you would be perfect which is what he's gunning for if you be perfect go sell what you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me when the young man heard this he went away sorrowful.
For he had great possessions so he takes that tenth commandment generalizing it loving your neighbor and he says you want to be perfect here's what you got to do go sell everything you've got sell the items that you covet give it to your neighbors and then he says follow me come follow me give up the material wealth that is so easy to covet in this world and what he does is he finds the idol beneath the surface he finds what this man actually worships.
Because he's not just a young man he's wealthy and he says leave that all behind come follow me and that's not a small thing that's a huge ask all right that's not just all of his wealth that's his respect that comes with it that's the comfort that that kind of wealth buys it's the status that comes along with that he says leave all of that behind and come and follow me i want you to think about the wealth that you have whether it's a lot or a little i want you to think about what makes you respectable what what brings comfort in your life think about the things that give you status.
And then Jesus comes and says give it all up come and follow me and what he's asking this very wealthy man to do is to follow him y'all he is a traveling ministry where they don't have places to sleep at night sometimes they're camping out there they're they're relying on the generosity of others they're relying on the generosity of different towns for their next meal not only that the establishment hates him the very important religious powerful people in their culture they despise him he's saying leave all of the status all of the wealth all of the things that come with it and follow me that's what he asked of this young man and that's the.
Same question that is applied to anyone that follows Jesus are you willing to give up what you hold most dear that you might gain Christ that you might follow him and for this man it's riches now Jesus is getting ready to teach on riches after this but what he calls this man to do is very specific to him there's no other place in the Bible where God calls someone to give up all of their wealth to follow him this is very specific everyone has to count the cost of following.
Jesus but oftentimes that cost is very unique to the individual and this man is going to cost all of his wealth he's going to have to crush the idol of riches completely crush it give up his wealth and follow him but he can't because he worships his wealth that's what Jesus is getting at the sermon on the mount when he said no one can serve two masters either he'll hate the one or love the other devoted to the one or two or be devoted and despise the other you cannot serve.
God and money that's what he's getting at you worship money and if you want to come and follow me you got to give this up so Jesus navigates right through this man's self-righteousness to help him see the the love of wealth that he's worshipped beneath the surface and a lot of times when Jesus encounters self-righteous people in and as we've seen in the Gospel of Matthew he's dealing with pharisees and sadducees and religious people they're not very relatable to us the pharisees were i mean they're the very embodiment of an uptight Church person just religious judgmental high and mighty that's not relatable to us we we.
See self-righteousness in the Gospel of Matthew it's like okay yeah the pharisees they're the worst but this story makes it way more relatable to us we can identify with this some of us know what it's like to check the boxes of morality am i doing this am i doing that have i checked this box while ignoring some of the underlining sin beneath the surface that we don't want to deal with the Holy Spirit might bring conviction there but we don't want to deal with it we'd rather just have outward righteousness right i mean i hear this from time to time you'll.
See someone that blows up their life and people will say man their marriage looks so good on facebook like they just talked about loving one another called him king she called him queen which see each throne they look they have they went on vacations what happened you'll see it people go i can't i can't belie i can't believe he blew up his business like that all my business dealings were he always seemed like a man of integrity what happened the longer that i follow.
Jesus the more i realize i'm not really shocked by anything the reality is is that no matter how outwardly good you look there everyone's got their junk everyone's got stuff beneath the surface areas we don't want to submit to Jesus we'd rather listen we'd rather cover it up with good works covered up with with outward righteousness we're doing fine i'm fine as opposed to actually dealing with what's beneath the surface that's what happened with this young man here he covered riches of her allegiance to.
Jesus and his self-righteousness failed could not overcome his love of riches and he leaves dismay now he exits leaves dismayed and then Jesus begins to teach on the danger of riches starting in verse 23 it says and Jesus said to his disciples truly i say to you only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven again i tell you it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of.
God when the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished saying who then can be saved but Jesus looked at them and said with man this is impossible but with God all things are possible y'all ever been in a situation where where you're telling a story like you and your friend or your spouse you witnessed the a situation together and your version of this is a story of just different like they just got a different take on it this happened sometimes in in my marriage we will have some friends over we'll be sharing stories and all of a sudden i'll launch into a story i start telling the story and it becomes very clear not just.
To me but to everyone at the table that my wife disagrees with how that went down she just just go what are you no that you know that look if you don't you will like it that look of just like i can't believe you understood that situation to be what it was that's the look i feel like that Jesus gives when american Christians have tackled this passage i mean man looking down from heaven like are you serious what are they doing like this i mean we have we have butchered this passage in.
So many different ways because as americans we love our riches we love our comfortable lifestyles and man we will find some creative ways to get around the force of this passage the big one is you'll hear some american churches that will say the eye of the needle well actually if you look at the context of the eye of the needle here's what's really happening what's really happening is there's this big gate in Jerusalem and at this big gate there's this small door called the eye of the needle and what what he's actually picturing is these camels would come and they'd have a real tough time getting underneath that door you know what they would have.
To get rid of some of their baggage but once they got rid of their bags they find their way through the door and they make it to the other side that's what's really happening in this passage i heard that the first time i heard that i was in high school my baseball coach he was reading the joel osteen book which never ends well and he was reading it and he's like man this is what i learned about the eye of the camel and i was like oh and i was a new Christian i was like that sounds great.
Listen some of you may know that some of you may have believed that i want to as politely as i can completely dismantle that from being ever away that you can read this passage i want to politely murder that as an interpretation because y'all that listen that enti that type of interpretation is exactly the thing that Jesus is correcting it's exactly what Jesus is correcting so i did some work this week and i wanted to get the bottom of where this eye of the needle gate in the door in the gate legend come from all right.
So somewhere some people think it came from 9th century other people may have think it came from 15th century some look at philosophers like aquinas or anselm but listen you can't source the origins of that theory and i want to tell you there is no evidence that there was ever a gate in Jerusalem with a small little door called the eye of the needle there's none there's no evidence so i went deeper i was like maybe i can look at the greek here.
Look at the word raphas which is needle maybe buried four or five definitions down it says also see gate in Jerusalem tiny door so i did i looked at the greek word got down all the definitions and y'all i'm here to tell you every time sewing needle big camel that one of the biggest animals they'd regularly come across and small the smallest opening you can think of the picture is absurd for a reason it's impossible it's an impossible picture which is highlighted by how he walks through verses 25 and 26 it says.
When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished saying who then can be saved they didn't say oh man Jesus you got to show me how that camel gets under that door they understood it's impossible who then can be saved but Jesus looked at them verse 26 and said with man this is impossible but with God all things are impo are possible he says it's impossible camels don't squeeze through the eyes of needles it's not possible it's going to take miraculous work yet there are.
So many american churches that have peddled messages like this we talk about this pretty regularly when it comes up in passages like this the american Church has so many prosperity churches all around our country that peddle messages like this they're trying to squeeze camels through the eyes of needles trying to help you see if you worship Jesus you get the exchange of riches and health and wealth and prosperity it's hot garbage it's not the Gospel and the bigger problem is we export this to africa and to south america into countries that are that are poor they put their hope in a.
Jesus that will give riches we sent the the rockies to honduras uh uh last month that the city that they're in that message is prevalent now it's easy to point out that and it's a big reality in american Church we can point out the kenneth copeland's and the creflo dollars and all the messages that come with that it's a whole lot harder to look at your own heart and examine your own heart when you look at this passage so we're raising money.
For kid city as i said earlier we're trying to it's not a hard sale guys it might be we'll see we're raising money for kid city and uh when we decided to do this i was like man that's great we got we got somebody who's gonna gonna match ten thousand dollars this is great and i was really excited about doing this so that you guys would give i was really excited about the possibility of y'all giving i'm just being honest like my heart was like man i can't wait to.
See the rest of our Church family give this it's been a weird year and the carrie household financially it's like ah i don't know about that and there was this hesitation was like i i don't know maybe i just get through the month and not have to really stare at this not to acknowledge that God calls us to radical generosity yo some of you all know that there's a giving opportunity you're like oh i've been saving for something else i really want those new floors like we do this and y'all i want you to recognize what happens there is that you have taken riches and said.
Now i want that over Jesus i want that over generosity it's a whole lot harder a whole lot easier to cast stones to some of the greatest offenders in our culture that do this it's a whole lot harder to look at your own heart and realize what's going on beneath the surface where does your primary allegiance lie if Jesus called you to give up riches or the pursuit of riches would you do it would you give it up would you give up the comfortable lifestyle that you have would you sell anything would you sell it all what what.
If Jesus called you to do this how about this would you even begin to pray some dangerous prayers that made you vulnerable to be able to do this where is your primary allegiance that's what comes out of this story riches self-righteousness it derailed this young man i'll be very clear it will absolutely derail you as well for much of of southern cultural christianity is very rich compared to the rest of the world we've got a lot more money than the rest of the world and there's also a whole lot of self-righteousness.
So with that being the case given our context i want to take a few moments i want to walk through some diagnostic questions that are not going to be very comfortable but i want us to be open to the Holy Spirit working so let's diagnose riches over Jesus first first question do you involve the lord in your financial goals some of your like financial goals i had a financial goal in my life listen you may not have the most formal financial goals you may have not met with a financial planner.
But you've got some some some loose goals that may be like i don't want to drive this car that's going to break down tomorrow and i'll find you know one i want to save up for one that'll last at least two years or i want to level up from mcdonald's to outback i don't know what that is for you okay but but we all have some financial goals in mind do you involve the lord in that are you prayerfully submitting your finances to the.
Lord asking him to to work through that to to correct you regularly are your first thoughts when you get a raise aimed at what you can get next right you get a few more dollars an hour you get a bump in your salary what's your first thought it's your first thought yes the truck i've always wanted the house i've wanted to move to is it the things that you can get or is it the the first initial response is all right.
Lord you have blessed me with a raise and this job what do you want to do next it's not bad to have a better vehicle sometimes what do you want to do next lord how do you want to use this are you giving generously third question are you giving generously sacrificially we don't use we don't use the language of tithe which i don't have time to go into right now we see more of a sacrificial giving in the new testament are you giving sacrificially and giving generously is a regular part of your budget being given to the.
Lord it's not just giving generously it's regular generosity regularly submitting your finances to the lord are you quick uh do you regularly shut down conviction from the Holy Spirit are you quick to shut down conviction from the Holy Spirit now let me picture that what that is a little bit what i did earlier it's like as soon as you have an opportunity to give a missionary needs uh needs money to go on the mission field and it's just like that i don't know about that i've been saving.
For something i don't really want to go there are you quick to shut down conviction from the Holy Spirit do you have a cynical outlook on churches missionaries ministries and requests for money you have a cynical outlook there some folks will go all right Church is asking for money again what are they how do they want to misuse my money next when let me say very clearly it's not your money to begin with james won every good gift and every perfect gift is from love coming down from the.
Father of lights God stewards us with riches and he calls us to steward in ways that would glorify him lastly no two more if Jesus himself sat down with you to look over your budget or your credit card statements how nervous would you be i say how nervous would you be because i feel like if Jesus actually came home he's sitting on the table you'd have lots of questions but once you've worked through the shock of it you'd be a little bit nervous.
But how nervous would you be if you seriously if he sat down and worth all right let's look at your budget let's look through your credit card statements how nervous would we be lastly and if he called you to make some radical changes would you be joyful or would you be dismayed like this rich young man so as you work through those questions ask yourself the tough question do you value riches over Jesus and his kingdom that's what he's fleshing out in this story and that's what these questions are meant to bring out let's diagnose self-righteousness over grace.
First question do you compare yourself to others in order to build yourself up do you regularly compare yourself to others in order to build yourself up right you can always find somebody else who's a train wreck right you can do the comparison game there's always someone who's doing worse are you regularly comparing yourself yourself to others to build yourself up second is your approach to God a checklist of obedience that when you think about what it means to follow Jesus it's i got to do this and i got to do that and i got to do this and i'm checking off all these boxes word prayer community group this all the way down the line.
So that you might present that to God and say God look at what i'm doing that's self-righteousness that's trusting in your righteousness and your good works over grace third when you're confessing sin in your community group are your confessions shallow so when it's time to confess sin and community group and bear one of those burdens are you the kind of person that goes you know what the week's been okay well you know honestly like i i haven't been reading my Bible enough and uh i really need you know what i you know i need to do i i've got i need to next week i'm gonna i'm gonna have three or four more quiet times.
I'm gonna sit down and read my Bible that's someone do next which listen we regularly say this all the time you need to read your bibles all right the word of God if you want to mature as a Christian you need to read your bibles it's an absolutely appropriate confession but if that listen if that is the only confession you've got come on it's like no no this listen i'm the chief of sinners i get this but i know everyone else has jacked up too you got stuff going on beneath the surface.
And if your confessions are shallow what you are saying is is that i'm doing this well i actually don't want to be vulnerable enough to work through the other stuff and a word of warning if you don't ever work through it it will come up and it will get ugly self-righteousness is a poor cover all right when you do make mistakes you need to try to keep them as private as possible so maybe you do make a mistake maybe you do sin.
But it's basically like moving along it's all right i know i messed up and you don't want to let anyone ever have a moment of correction a moment of coming alongside and asking some tough questions because you you want to keep the appearance of righteous i'm fine i'm fine we have to work through this when you do make mistakes do you feel like you need to make up for those mistakes with more good works he's like yeah no i okay yes i messed up here.
But God look i'm doing this i'm checking this box i'm doing all these other things and you're covering up trying to cover up mistakes since give you one more when you scroll through social media do you keep a running commentary of judgment on everyone else right that's a big one in our culture you can be the political warrior that's like all right yeah you posted that boom and that goes well because everyone's been convinced on facebook of your argument all right do you maybe it's it's it's judging other moms maybe it's uh captain correction you just i mean maybe it's just a posture of just consistently judging other people on facebook to make yourself feel.
A little bit better if any of these questions start to bring up some stuff it is very possible that you struggle with self-righteousness that you are trusting in your own good works and not what God has done for us on the cross and the empty tomb listen self-righteousness and the love of riches are very difficult hurdles to clear to get into the kingdom of God even more so Jesus goes on to say it is humanly hear this it is impossible for a rich person on their own merit to get into the kingdom of.
God you have no shot you do not have the will power to change to muscle change so that you might submit your riches to Christ no self-righteous person no rich person will ever by their own work get in the kingdom of God that is precisely why Jesus came Jesus came and lived a perfect life and went to the cross with that perfection and then conquer death at the empty tomb so that self-righteous people would not trust in their own good works.
But in the good works of Jesus so that people who worship money would say no i don't want that i believe Jesus is better i want him yo God he he loves self-righteous people he does you know how we know this Paul Paul was a self-righteous pharisee and then he meets him in the road he claims him he redeems him and then becomes one of the greatest missionaries that's ever lived and he loves rich people he does let me show you a different exchange a different encounter of how.
Jesus had with the rich man i'mma read from luke 19. i want y'all to listen to this exchange with uh zacchaeus who's a rich tax collector and i want you to notice the difference between the rich young man and his response to Jesus and zacchaeus verse one he entered Jericho and was passing through and behold there was a man named zacchaeus he was a chief tax collector and was rich he said this before Matthew was also a tax collector they were hated by their own people.
Because they were traitors to the jewish people they were jews who worked for the roman government and they were loaded they made their money off the backs of their own people they had lots of money verse 3 and he was seeking to see who Jesus was but on account of the crowd he could not because he was small in stature which some of you that may ring a bell if you were you grew up in the Church there's a children's song about that zacchaeus was a wee little man and a weird little man was he which by the way they don't make children songs like that anymore.
Because they're just straight dunking on his height this is kind of messed up i don't even remember the rest of the words the song y'all might i don't which is what shows that that's the problem making a children's song it's short yay like it's just this just a thought verse four so he ran on the head and he climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him but he was about to pass that way and when Jesus came to the place he looked up and said to him zacchaeus hurry and come down.
For i'ma stay at your house today i love it man i love Jesus comes through prophetic mode looks up in the tree and says zacchaeus the one that everyone hates in that crowd hey coming down i'm having dinner at your place tonight Jesus loves outcast if you feel like an outcast man does Jesus got good news for you look at zacchaeus tells him to come on down verse 6 so he hurried and came down received him joyfully he joyfully comes running to.
Jesus verse 7 and when they saw it they all grumbled he has gone in to be the guest of a man who's a sinner amen we're not even we've already dealt with that verse 8 and zacchaeus stood and said to the lord behold lord the half of my goods i give to the poor and if i've defrauded anyone of anything i restored fourfold you notice the difference he didn't come to Jesus and say all right let's talk what do i need to do here no the calling of.
Jesus was enough he calls him from the tree and he just just absolutely pierces his heart just destroys him wrecks him zacchaeus is never going to be going to be the same that's the calling of grace that Jesus looks at centers and say come on you are going to you are you are going to be a part of this now and what happens he comes joyfully he says all right i'm in i'm in half my riches where who who's the poor who are my neighbors give it away i know i've defrauded people in this crowd four-fold four-fold i got you he do you.
See the difference he joyfully is changed by Jesus and he joyfully submits his riches and Jesus says all right verse 9 and Jesus said to him today salvation has come to this house since he is also a son of Abraham for the son of man came to seek and save the lost y'all Jesus seeks and saves flagrant sinners and self-righteous people Jesus seeks and saves the rich and the poor but here's the thing you need to experience his grace and be changed by him that's the reality that gets lost here you have to be changed by his grace God's going to work on your heart.
Because we are far too comfortable with with this culture and materialism and consumerism and being wrapped up into riches we're far too comfortable trusting in our own good works and this story is meant to be a shock to the heart that would shake you to your core here's my fear did you receive a story like this and it's like you know you are you're right you're right i really should i you know what that kid city project i'm giving him that i'm doing that that that's what i'm gonna do you know what i i needed to bump we didn't have a conversation about regular giving let's bump that up a few percentage points that's what.
I need to do and again when you come at it like that as guilt does not change your heart it doesn't i try to cover it up with some all right that's what i need to do as opposed to getting on our faces and saying lord i'm greedy i love the riches of this world i am self-righteous and i need your overwhelming grace to absolutely change my heart so that i can walk in repentance it takes prayers like that takes prayers like that saying.
Lord take my life what do you want what do you want God you want me to move to honduras is that what you want follow the rockies and sell everything all our possessions and go you want me to radically change the way i spend what do you want lord you want me to give to missionaries to get to this ministry what do you want from me God how do you want to work in my life i've experienced the riches of your grace here it is take it what do you want to do that is a much different response and that's the kind of response that.
Jesus is looking for in this story and my hope is as we walk out here today we wouldn't think oh cool neat teaching but we would get on our faces we humbly submit to the lord and our sin and say take it all Jesus is better i believe this what do you want to do band's going to come up and i want us to sit for a moment before they start and i just want us to be reflective here that's a tough word i get it it's a tough story my hope is is that we'd sit in that don't don't squelch conviction from the Holy Spirit.
Now let him go to work how do we need to submit ourselves fully and trust in the righteousness of Christ you know it is a tiring pursuit to prove and to do and to try to please God listen you don't have to please God it's by grace that anyone is safe if you trust in the in what Jesus has already done you'll get to experience more of him don't use good works as a cover-up trust in his righteousness money is a difficult subject it's.
So tied and connected to our hearts may we have the humility to recognize that we most likely have trusted in riches and not Jesus and if there's anyone here that's listening to all this and it's like man i don't even know where to start all that sounds great i don't even know where i stand in all of this you're talking about submitting i don't even know what that looks like my hope this morning is that you would see that the God of the universe has you here in this room this morning to hear that he loved you.
So much that he gave up his son that you might have life with him and a life that's so much better than the riches and the pursuit of riches in this world so much better than trusting in your own good works may you fully place your faith in your hope in him let me pray you were so good you have indescribable riches that wait for us in eternity God i pray that you'd help us see that so clearly this morning i pray you'd help us joyfully like zacchaeus come running to you and say what do you want.
Lord i pray we as Christians pray some dangerous prayers and open ourselves up and be vulnerable to see you go to work i pray there's anyone here that consistently struggles with self-righteousness you'd help them see it'll never be enough on your own but it was paid for on the cross they don't have to keep going back to their own good works they can trust in you you've got to pray there's anyone here that does not know you that has not fully believed in you.
God i pray right now just as you called zacchaeus out of the tree you would call them into faith we ask us in Jesus name amen.
Divorce (Matthew 19:1-12)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.
Transcript
Well good morning uh my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors of mil City Church of Casey I'm glad you're here this morning if you have a Bible grab it and go to Matthew chapter 19 Matthew chapter 19 we're working our way through the Gospel of Matthew together now if I came to you and asked you who your favorite actor who has ever portrayed Batman is you would think about it but it's not that intense of a question and you would think there's really no wrong answer unless you said Val Kilmer.
But there's really no no way to get this wrong it's not that intense but if I came to you and said okay we're going to discuss your uh position on climate change that that question hits you a little bit differently if I walked up this morning and said all right today we're going to talk about guns immediately it's like okay this is this discussion is a little bit different and you realize that you're entering into a conversation that's been that's happening this isn't something that's just a conversation between us.
But there's a lot of words that have been said a lot of ink that has been spilled this conversation is ongoing and you already know some of the arguments on one side or the other and we're picking up in Matthew where the Pharisees are going to come ask Jesus a question that is just like that it's already a heated debate among the Jewish people so this question is asked and they they're asking him to enter in to weigh in on what your take on this situation that uh people already knew was a debate.
And so that's where we're going to jump in this morning and uh let's pray and then we'll start reading in uh Matthew chapter 19 verse1 God we ask that you would uh give us favor in this time that you would bless this time that we have together as your people to study your word and we pray that you would help us to uh trust you more love you more and to walk out in greater obedience what you have called us to we love you and we praise you in.
Jesus name amen Matthew Chapter 19 Verse one it says now when Jesus had finished these sayings so he just got done talking about Sin and forgiveness He Went Away From Galilee that's the upper part of uh the area he's been ministering in it says and he entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan so he's headed down towards Jerusalem and large crowds followed him and he healed them there so he's continuing his Healing Ministry it's been a while since we've talked about him healing people.
But he wherever he goes he heals he shows the power of God and then in this when he's doing this when he's ministering often the Pharisees and we'll see as we keep going the Sadducees these different groups are going to come ask him questions and it says and Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause Okay so this is a test in that they're asking him to weigh in on a current debate they're asking him to hop in and to say all right where do you stand on this and there sometimes they ask him tests to weigh in on theological debates or.
This one they're looking at a specific passage in the Old Testament they're wanting him to kind of give his answer on sometimes they're trying to trick him they're just trying to trap him but this one seems a little bit more like hey come weigh in on this question and I'm glad they ask it and I'm glad as we read through it we get the answer we get and the response from the disciples we get because it's very comforting to know that this situation was as confusing and as painful.
For them as it is for us this question is relevant today we want Jesus to answer this question the reality is we want Jesus to step in and help us out in all of these difficult areas of life as painful as it can be and for some of us this morning this may be painful it may bring up uh past memories it may bring up current difficulties but we want Jesus like a good surgeon to go to the most broken places and to help sort them out.
For us and so I'm glad they asked I'm glad we get to study it together but Jesus knew the debate they were asking him to weigh in on uh wasn't just this one question but there was an ongoing debate primarily between two Jewish rabbis shemai and H I know two of your favorite rabbis um we have a lot of writing from shemiah and H on this topic and they were zooming in on Deuteronomy chapter 24 and they were trying to weigh in.
For people and say this is how we ought to understand approaching divorce and so when they ask this question for any reason they're asking him to answer where he stands in the shamai halel debate that's really what they're doing so let's read Deuteronomy 24 they're going to reference it later let's go ahead and read it together it says when a man takes a wife and marries her if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house and she departs out of his house.
And if she goes and becomes another man's wife and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hands and sends her out of his house or if the latter man dies who took her to be his wife then the former husband who sent her away may not take her again to be his wife so this is the section in Deuteronomy where they're trying to build out an understanding of how to approach divorce and they're really focusing in on the beginning part.
But it says if when this happens and if this happens and if this happens and if this happens and if this happens then it gives one clear this can't don't do this but there wasn't a lot of teaching in Deuteronomy on divorce so they're zooming in at the beginning of this trying to answer the question how how should we go about divorce they're really asking this passage to answer something it's really not trying to answer but they were zoomed in on it and they were asking.
So this is what they did shemai focused in on where it says some indecency which in the original Hebrew translates a matter of nakedness I would not encourage you to Google that but that is what it says it says some indecency and he read that as sexual sin this is sexual immorality that's the only thing that this would allow you to to find for her to lose uh what is it for find no favor in your eyes if there's some sexual sin that you find that's what his answer was.
So he was really narrow said some indecency means that helle looked at she finds no favor in his eyes and he focused in on the word some there and said that some indecency means any and so helle had these long list of let me give you examples of what it means that you basically don't like her anymore that's what he so he wrote out um if you find someone more attractive that fits the category if uh you just find out find you kind of don't like her anymore that fits the category.
If she consistently burns your food that fits the category it sounds like that's a joke I made up that's in the list you guys this is the stuff he would write out and he would say these are all the things that count and so they come to Jesus that's why they say for any reason who do you stand with can we do this for any reason or is there a specific reason or how do you view it that's the question.
So Jesus answers they're basically saying whose team are you on shemi or H's and they're going to be surprised to find although we shouldn't he's on Jesus's team he doesn't usually join our teams he just says here's how it should be so he answers verse four he answered have you not read my absolute favorite intro to every time he interacts with the Pharisees they had read it and they prided themselves on being the people who had read it but he does this all the time.
When he talks to the crowds he'll he assumes knowledge when he talks to the crowds he'll go you've heard it said he like hey random crowd y'all know the Bible when he talks to the Pharisees he goes oh y'all hadn't read this y'all didn't oh this was the part y'all skimmed through oh I'll catch you up that's what he does so I love that he does that he answered have you not read that he who created them for from the beginning made them male and female and said.
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh so they are no longer two but one flesh what therefore God has joined together let not man separate they came in and said hey weigh in on this conversation you know exactly what we're asking about where do you stand on Deuteronomy 24 and he says oh y'all skip Genesis y'all oh yours starts in Deuteronomy no no no let let's go to the let's go to the beginning.
Let me show you y'all didn't read this part this is the part that answers your question and he takes them back to Genesis and he says here's what God intended for marriage and it's a very helpful positive picture of this is what marriage is supposed to be so we're going to run through this fairly quickly to just pull out what he is saying marriage ought to be because he goes to Genesis and says it's not in the law where we get this picture it's in Genesis where he says this is what it's supposed to.
Look like so he says have you not read that he who created them from the beginning so he he anchors it in creation it's he who created them from the beginning meaning that marriage is a creation ordinance bring that up at lunch sometime if you want to impress the people you're with it's a creation ordinance it means that God designed it for all people he instituted in creation before the fall and it's given to everybody meaning it's not just something that Christian Chans do or that only counts.
If you're Christians it's for everybody any marriage is a marriage God designed it for as a good gift for all of humanity so if you have non-believing friends and they're struggling in their marriage it's a marriage we treat it as a marriage we encourage them to follow through with what they're supposed to as a marriage because it's designed for all Humanity he keeps going he says that he created them Ma and made them male and female so he's saying God's original design design was one man one woman.
So it is uh Christian marriage God's design for marriage not just Christian marriage God's design for marriage is heterosexual and monogamous now culturally that's disliked but that's what he designed it to be heterosexual and monogamous that he made one male one female he brought them together and he joined them together for his own purposes and that's God's good design for marriage now I think some of the uh approach to homosexuality by the Church has been uh lacking Grace and so I would say to anybody in this room that struggles with homosexuality struggles with uh same gender attraction you are welcome here the same way that everybody else is welcome here as sinners in need of.
Grace in need of forgiveness in need of Jesus to help us and to change our hearts so we do believe it is a sin to practice homosexuality but we do not believe it is it is some super sin that cuts you out of being able to forgive be forgiven and to walk in openness and repentance the same way that all the other sinners in this room do so you are welcome here but this is God's good intent for marriage that it would be heterosexual and monogamous he says this.
If I can find it therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife it is a primary relationship that when you get married that is now your primary relationship that if you're a wife your primary relationship on earth now is to your husband not your mom not your dad not your children if you're a husband your primary relationship is to your wife not your mom not your dad not your children you are starting a new household together.
So this means and I find this is a bigger issue in younger couples don't bring your parents into your arguments first of all they are not helpful second of all even if they are they ought not to be there because you're supposed to be setting up the new primary relationship that you have this also means that your spouse is not to be compared to your mom or your father this ain't how my mama cooked it well you didn't marry your mama.
Well my daddy used to always could fix a truck well I ain't your daddy but I have a job and I know where Pet Boys is well blam that you get to set up a new primary relationship and there is joy in that and there's difficulty in that but this is now who you are primarily relating to and you are stepping out on your own that he set it up to be a monogamous primary relationship then he says this and the the two shall become one flesh.
So it is a one flesh Union and he follows that up says so they are no longer two but one flesh so this is one flesh Union and this means a couple of different things this is referring to sexual intimacy Paul uses it that way in First Corinthians it does intend to cover that it means that that that is where uh intimacy is supposed to be um hedged in is inside of a marriage covenant but that physical act is a representation a physical representation of an all of life Union an all of life surrender that everything I have belongs to you all of me.
So this is one house One bank account this is all of this comes together and is physically reenacted in this way but it's an all of life Union they have become one flesh and this is also carried out practically in children that's where two become one flesh they show up you have child that is now two become one and it's really cool to see with my children all the wonderful qualities they got from me and then the stuff they got from their mom.
And if y'all know us you know that is inaccurate but you do you see it come together in this way so it's a one flesh Union keeps going he says therefore whatever what therefore God has joined together together all marriages are sealed by God there's a spiritual reality to marriage to this physical intimacy that God seals and makes one and it doesn't matter if you if you just had a notary do it while you were at the bank or if you went to the courthouse.
God oversees marriage whether you stand in front of people and Proclaim that it's in front of God and acknowledge that or you don't it's sealed by God and this is some very encouraging news because for most of us we got married and I mean we were gidy and butterflyyoutube it's turned out to be extremely difficult it turned out to be extremely painful and because of the way our media works because of the movies you've watched because of the books you've read one of the questions that often begins to plague people as they realize that the person they married to is kind of terrible at a lot of things as they start asking is did I.
Make a mistake are they not really the one because you know we've seen enough television I've seen enough television to know that when you find the one everything works out perfectly so since this isn't perfect you must not be the one that's what begins to happen God has joined you together I have very good news for you if you are married you found the one there you're one he intends for you to stay married for it to be good for you to fight.
For it to be good for you to make it good together this is a blessing that God joins us together when we're married and that you have that to stand on there's encouragement in that you don't get to second guess that I make a mistake this is the one so make it good then he says this what therefore God has joined together let not man separate marriage is meant to be a lifelong Covenant it's meant to be a commitment to one another that we do not break and in Jesus's answer that's where he stops in his answer.
When we say what about what about what about his answer is no this is what it was meant to be this is how it ought to work this is what God designed it for and whatever situation we throw at it he say no this is what it was meant to be it was meant to be lifelong and I know there's a there's a uh people started writing their own vows for their wedding which is fine if they write good ones so I've seen some and they' they've read their own vows and I'm like that's beautiful and I've seen other ones and they're just like love notes here's how I feel about you right.
Now and I'm like no no no no no no no nope no nope nope that's a note you give to them the day of your marriage that's not what you stand up in front of everybody and say this is promise time this isn't how I feel right now time no no you're not going to feel like that later not all those feelings not all the time and you can't promise to feel something all the time but you can promise what you're going to do and what you're going to stick to that's this is richer or poorer in sickness and in health time that's why marriages are.
So beautiful when we have a wedding service and they promise this is what it's going to be and I'm stick it out even if it's bad and the reality is that's what we want marriage to be that's what you want that's what you want love to be a feeling that's followed up by a promise that someone sticks to that's what he says it's supposed to be that it's a lifelong Covenant that it's a picture of commitment and this is what it's supposed to.
Look like so that's his answer this is what marriage is meant to be so he says it's not this passage in Deuteronomy that you're talking about it's this section in Matthew verse 7 they said to him why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away okay we read Deuteronomy 24 earlier is that what Moses commanded is that what he said he said if if if if if if they shouldn't get remarried now that was the command was at the end the beginning part was not a command he was just saying as this situation unfolds.
If this situation unfolds this can't happen if we were reading Deuteronomy and it said when two people enter into a Business Partnership and if the partnership goes bad and if one of them stabs the other one then this and later you said now why did why did Moses command us to to stab our business partners when we were mad at them we would say that you read that wrong that's not what that says and you would say yes well the reason we know that's not what that says is that he's already told us we already know that stabbing is bad that's Jesus's response we already know what marriage was supposed to.
Look like you should know that this is not how this is supposed to play out we already have an answer of what this is supposed to be and therefore this is you're you're reading that wrong so this is what he says verse 8 he said to them because of your Hardness of Heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives but from the beginning it was not so he says no no no no no Moses was stepping into a messed up situation where there is Brokenness and sin that is not God's good design.
For marriage that's not what it's supposed to look like in the midst of Brokenness Moses gave some regulations he allowed it that's not God's intent so to answer their question of how should marriage work how should divorce work he answers it this is what marriage is supposed to look like and so when they try to push on it he says no that's not what that's meant and then he he takes it even further and I say to you whoever divorces his wife except.
For sexual immorality so it seems like he's lining up with Shmi there he's given the the if there's sexual sin and marries another he takes it further commits adultery so what he's saying is that this consistent divorce this getting together splitting up this first wife second wife he said all that ends up doing is making sin run rampant it's painful and difficult and harmful and Moses stepped in and tried to give some regulations around it but all it does is increase Brokenness and it shouldn't happen it's not the way.
God designed it and for many of us we find ourselves in that situation where we have had a divorce where there was sexual immorality or there wasn't sexual immorality some people in here today with your second spouse and this is a painful thing marriage was meant because it was meant to be so good it is so painful when it goes wrong because it was meant to be something beautiful and a good gift to humanity it is painful when it goes wrong and we're going to talk a little bit as we come to a close this morning on how we get to respond in the midst of some of this Brokenness.
But I want us to follow this story as it goes so verse 10 the disciples said to him if such is the case of a man with his wife it is better not to marry now many of his disciples were young this is a very cynical way to look at marriage oh wait what you got to be married to the same person the whole time I'm I'm not getting married that's their answer that that's that's the response they at least took it seriously they said.
Well it's okay if that's the case then it's better not to marry and he responds he said to them not everyone can receive this saying we'll see that he doesn't mean that this only applies to some people what he means is that some people are meant to get married and some people are are meant to be single that's what he means and we'll see he clears it up at the end not everyone can receive this saying but only those to whom it is given as a gift that's what that's what that's getting at.
For there are Unix who have been made so from birth and there are Unix who have been made Unix by men so he says marriage isn't for everybody and then he moves the the conversation to celibacy a unic is a male who's been castrated for a specific purpose um or some that that had happened prior uh happened at Birth but he's basically saying that there are people who choose to not have any sexual activity or that can't have any sexual activity.
So he looks at his disciples and says yes not everybody has to get married but on the other side you do know you're you're stepping into abstinence and celibacy but he holds it up as as a legitimate answer now I want to make one quick comment here I think sometimes the way Christians treat sexual intimacy people in our culture act like we devalue it that we act like it's bad or we' we've debased it somehow the reality is we value it.
So we place guardrails around it similar to if I found out you had $100,000 in a safe and I said you put it in a safe you're so ashamed of your money that would be silly you'd say no it's valuable and you're a and so that's kind of our answer in this situation is no this is valuable it means more than you think it has more power than you think it's more spiritually active than you think and that's why we guard it.
But he says for there are Unix who have been so from birth and there are Unix who have been made Unix by men and there are Unix who have made themselves Unix for the sake s of the kingdom of heaven so he adds a category they were unfamiliar with which is there are some who have chosen this route for the sake of the kingdom and that's a perfectly valid route let the one who is able to receive this receive it you can be single and a complete full person you can never have physical intimacy with another person and be a complete full person.
Jesus holds this up as a legitimate good way to walk through life Paul doubles down on it Paul doesn't just say it's legitimate and good he says it's actually preferable so we're going to read that real quick First Corinthians 7:2 this is Paul picking up some of this same discussion that Jesus is in but he says but because of the temptation to sexual immorality each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband he explains somehow to fight uh sexual immorality and Temptation even in marriage.
But then he goes in verse six he says now as a concession not a command I say this he's not commanding everybody to get married but he is saying most of you should if you can't control yourself no if you can't control yourself you should I didn't want to leave room for there someone who couldn't control himself that that was okay so all right now as a concession not a command I say this I wish that all were as myself but each has his own gift from.
God one of one kind and one of another so Paul says I wish everybody was like me and could control themselves but a lot of people are really tempted they should get married everybody has a different gift GI from God that's the same thing that Jesus says whoever can receive this receive it whoever receives this gift receive it Paul's saying some people have this gift some another verse 27 he keeps going are you bound to a wife do not seek to be free are you free from a wife do not seek a wife.
But if you do marry you have not sinned if a betroth woman marries she has not sinned yet those who marry will have worldly troubles oh you missed your chance to say Amen but that's cool we'll keep going and I would spare you that this is what I mean Brothers the appointed time has grown very short he's saying that if you get married you your focus changes but we know that there's a Gospel to be proclaimed there's an eternity that is coming he keeps uh explaining this in.
Verse 32 I want you to be free from anxieties the unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord how to please the Lord but the married man is anxious about worldly things how to please his wife and his interests are divided the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord how to be holy in body and spirit but the married woman is anxious about worldly things how to please her husband that's true and that's okay it's.
Okay if you're married you should be concerned about your husband or your wife you're bad at marriage if you're not I mean you learn this some when you first get married with simple things like you walk in the house eating a Snicker bar your wife says oh you got snicker bars and you're like Snicker bar there's no s why didn't you get me one I didn't think about you while I was buying it well y'all are going to fix that you start thinking about each other you work on it this is the way it's supposed to work Jordan satat who's in our Church family got a phone call from a friend from another state who.
Said said hey we're about to go on a foreign mission trip and somebody dropped out do you want to go they're leaving in like 3 or 4 days Jordan worked it out and went if someone had called me and asked that I would have laughed do I want to do what in three or four days I'm not even talking to my wife about that other than a funny anecdote at dinner listen to what this person who doesn't understand how my world Works called and ask it's not easy to do I got small children there are things that you have to consider we don't you ever been stuck in traffic and a motorcycle just goes riding.
Through many Vans don't do that many Vans get straight up stuck in traffic and not bobbing and weaving that's what he's saying is that if you get married you have things that you have to be concerned with you have things that slow you down you have worries and cares and things that you ought to work on and devote yourself too and he said I would save you that and I would let you be wholly devoted to the Lord single people if you are not married you are not freed up to be devoted to video games and Facebook and hobbies.
If you belong to Jesus he's saying no he's given you a gift and even if it's just for a season it's a gift to be devoted wholly to the Lord don't waste it bear appropriately the weight of responsibility of being single and believing that there is an eternity to come just as those who are married ought to Bear appropriately the weight of being married and Care well for their spouse and love Jesus help display that you believe to your spouse and to your children that there is an eternity to come and that.
Jesus matters more but put it on display in a way that shows them love and grace and care and it's a difficult line to walk and single people he says you just get to be freed up that's a thought process you don't even have to walk through you get to be devoted to the Lord so each has his own gift and we find ourselves in different spots this morning if you are currently married your marriage is a marriage I don't care what number we find you on I don't care.
If it's one two three that your marriage is a marriage all marriages are treated like marriages Jesus talks to the woman at the well he says you've had five husbands any minute then he clarifies well this last one's not your husband but every single one that she had had was an actual husband was an actual marriage and if you are married then it is supposed to look right now what it's supposed to look like which is lifelong care Covenant that you give all of yourself to them that you do not withhold that you join together and that you fight to make it good many of us have rented a house before.
And when you rent a house you don't knock down a wall and build an extra room you don't put a deck out back you talk about if I own this house here are the things I would work on if you buy the house maybe you build a deck the reality is some of us are in a marriage and we keep acting like there may be a time that we leave so we're not working hard enough this is your marriage this is the one fight and by the grace of.
God fight and it is a good gift of Grace that he's given you this marriage and he wants it to be good and fight and make it good labor and if you're going to be married for 60 years it's worth 10 that we're really really hard that you work some things out in because he means for you to have a lifelong marriage before him and he gives the grace of his good gift for it to be good single people who have married friends encourage them encourage them to love and to serve don't let them sit and talk bad poorly about their spouse parents do not let your children drag them drag you into their household.
Say no no no leave and cleave bye I don't want to hear it I don't want Christmas to be awkward because I know all the weird stuff that's going on I want to show up free and happy single people you get to display in a way to our world that Jesus is better that our world does not understand we think that you have to have romance that you have to have a significant other in order to be full and to be complete you have the opportunity to display that.
Jesus is better than all of that even if it's for a season some of you it's for a lifetime that you get to hold out I believe there's an eternity to come I believe that Jesus has a bride and it's the Church so I'm in it we have a covenant that I get to lean into I believe that he gives me hope and Grace to work through what I'm in and I can display in a way that the Gospel is good news and that.
Jesus fulfills me and fills me up in a way that you can't in marriage and a way that you can't in a relationship and so while that is your time do it and while you have the freedom and the time devote it to the Lord do not become level 700 on some online video game men you level up in a video game you level down in real life life they are okay as a hobby they are not to have your life devoted to that involves married men as.
Well you have things that are worth carrying the weight of existence for you have things that are to come don't sit and just prepare yourself for a spouse follow and serve the Lord if you are currently in the midst of a divorce if you have been divorced that term or that thought brings up excruciating amounts of pain if it is messy for you there is Grace for where you find yourself there's Grace in Christ that you are fulfilled and complete in him that you can trust him to work in this situation.
For those of you who have lost a spouse for those of you who have walked through a divorce that was of your doing or none of you are doing you are not marked forever you can be forgiven you can walk out in peace and you can have the grace if you allowed to if it fits for you to be married again you can have the grace for that to not turn out like the last one and for some of you if you're not meant to be married again.
If if the Lord does not allow it he will give you Grace to face the singleness that he has offered you and you need to devote it to the Lord he is sufficient and you will be okay and in the midst of pain he does really really good work I love that they bring up Moses and that Jesus says he only allowed that because of the hardness of your heart you know what Moses can't do you know what the law can't do you know what rules and regulations can't do they can't fix our hearts.
Jesus did not come to give us a bunch of new rules he came to fix our hearts he came to step in into the midst of Brokenness and not to outmaneuver them or out clever them he came to have them have the full force of the wrath of God land on him as he took our sin and our pain and our shame on the cross so that we might all be forgiven and we might all receive the grace that we need to move forward.
So wherever you find yourself look to Jesus he is better he is sufficient and he will give you Grace for this moment and the moments to come and if you feel marked by your sexual sin if you feel marked by your marriage history if you feel like it has claimed you and dirtied you and sullied you I want you to know that in Ephesians 5 it says that Jesus loves the Church that he gave himself up for her that he might present her without any spot or blemish or any such thing.
If you have a marriage that you feel like has spot spots and blemishes if you feel like you have spots and blemishes and you belong to Jesus you do not there is no such thing not for those who've been washed clean by by Christ not for those who he's paid the penalty there is no spot or wrinkle or any such thing we are free and we are forgiveness forgiven and there is Grace for what's ahead let's pray God we thank you we thank you that you step into the Brokenness of the world and you don't just give give good explanations you don't just teach us better.
But that you join us in the Brokenness and that you are broken for us that we might have forgiveness and that we might have life that all that we have done wrong and all that has been done wrong to us can be washed away and we can be clean we pray Lord that those who don't have not yet trusted in you for salvation have not yet asked you to clean them that they would repent now of their sin that they would ask you to wash away what they have done and what others have done to them and that they would be brought into your Church as a spotless dazzling bride without wrinkle or blemish we.
Pray for the marriages in this room that are struggling right now that you would give them Grace and energy that they would bear well the ra the weight of responsibility of marriage and that they would make it look the way it's meant to look by your grace we pray for the single people in this room who are lonely who are sad who are frustrated we pray for those who have decided that they are going to spend a life of singleness that you would give them energy and courage that you would help them to feel the grace they need.
For this moment we pray for those who have walked through a divorce or are in the middle of one that they would see you so clearly healing forgiving protecting love loving and coming to rescue because we cannot live up to your standards so you came to pay for our debt and to set us free in Jesus name amen.
Church Discipline: The Posture (Matthew 18:21-35)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.
Transcript
Well good morning my name is chet i am one of the pastors here uh grab your bibles and go to Matthew chapter 18. we have been working our way through the Gospel of Matthew and we've spent the past couple of weeks in Matthew 18 looking at uh Jesus's teaching on addressing sin uh in one another he's teaching on the gravity of sin and then how do we address sin with each other and now we're looking today we're kind of finishing this up we said we'd spend three weeks on this and we said we'd talk about Church discipline.
Because that's this concept that we would address sin uh in the Church among one another in one another we said the first week was the purpose why would we address sin why would we go out of our way to do this and we talked about that sin is weighty and dangerous the second week last week we talked about the process of Church discipline how we would um how we go about addressing sin with one another and today we're looking at the posture the attitude behind how we address sin in one another and this is a very important week.
For us i think this is a very helpful teaching and we're going to start with verse 21 where Peter comes up and asks a question because Peter like you just sat and listened to Jesus is teaching on sin and on addressing sin and one thing very clearly stood out to him and so he comes up and he says this is verse 21 then Peter came up and said to him lord how often will my brother sin against me and i forgive him as many as seven times.
Okay so i think sometimes we read this passage in Matthew and we think oh wow it gets really harsh at the end that you would actually break fellowship with somebody but Peter caught the gist of what Jesus was saying was that actually before that ever happens there's three opportunities for repentance to for forgiveness he actually says the goal of it is that you would go win your brother that you would address sin where they've sinned against you they would repent and you would win them back they all would uh reconcile.
And so Peter says okay question though for how long what's the what's the limit what's the appropriate amount of times that i'm supposed to forgive someone they sin against me i address it they repent i forgive them but the thing i've noticed about them is that they do it again Jesus i don't know if you've hung out with any people that's a thing they do and so i i have and i had a question how many times am i supposed to do that and Peter throws out a number he says seven and that's actually kind of a it's a very jewish way to ask this he's talking to his rabbi and he's asking what's the.
Rule how many because they would do that they would say you do this three times you do this this amount of times we do this up to this many times so he comes to Jesus and he asks this is a helpful question because we've just talked through the weightiness of sin the need to address sin and now we need to understand okay but if i address sin and they repent and i forgive them at what point can we stop that process and whether you know it or not you probably have some kind of an answer to this some of you maybe you're running with the baseball policy of three strikes you're out some of you.
Go a little bit under that you do fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me unless you're a fan of george w bush and he eloquently put it this way fool me once shame on you fool me for me can't fool me again maybe that's the system you run with but we have some kind of system of this is how much i'm willing to put up with this and so Jesus answers this question and his answer is wonderful it it's refreshing and life-giving and it's extremely difficult.
And so that's what we're gonna look at so let's pray for our hearts this morning as we look at this passage together God we ask you to soften us to your word to help us to see clearly the beauty of forgiveness both for ourselves and for others we pray that we would walk this out faithfully as you empower us by the spirit in Jesus name amen so Peter says seven and i think that's pretty gracious and Jesus said to him i do not say to you seven times.
But 77 times okay so seven sounded generous Jesus says no not seven seventy seven and some uh a way to translate this is seventy times seven or seventy seven times so it's either 77 or 490 but either way it accomplishes the same thing which Jesus is saying all the times he didn't mean for Peter to go okay 77 sounds hard i'll have to get a little book to write that down and i'm going to keep up someone does something i'm like i'm forgiving you and just.
So you know we're at 37 we're a little we're getting close to halfway that you tell somebody okay but this is 76. you got one more shot of this and we're done and some of you who have been married for a while you're like 77 that was like year five on this thing but he says 77 and reality is you have to be in real relationships for this to apply which is a beautiful thing that the Church is supposed to have that's why he's using the term brother it doesn't mean your actual blood brother he means your brothers and sisters in Christ that we would actually be around each other enough to get on each.
Other's nerves and to sin so much that it actually needs uh unlimited amount of forgiveness this is one of the things we talk to our group leaders about we talk about the concept of we celebrate the mess meaning that if we're going to be real Church family in real life we're going to have real conflict because all of you are real sinners that's actually that's a that's a Mill City Church of kc guaranty we don't guarantee a lot but we guarantee.
If if you're new and you're just hanging out and you're just joining a group i want to i want to make a promise to you if you stay long enough we will sin against you will hurt your feelings we'll do something we ought not to have done and guess what if you stay long enough you'll join us and participate you'll hurt our feelings you'll do things you ought not to have done that's the reality of walking in relationships and that's why we tell our group leaders we celebrate the mess which is that your group is going to have some mess.
If every time your group gets together and we say how are we doing everybody goes fine fine fine fine fine fine okay sometimes that's true you run that out for six months we've got a group full of liars who need to repent they're sinning address it but that's the reality is that we're going to have some mess and this is beautiful when you're the sinner that's exactly the answer we want 77 times uncountable don't keep a record this is actually what.
First corinthians 13 in the the chapter on where he talks about love and what love is and where married couples tried to steal it and they're like no you're not allowed to talk about it unless it's at a wedding because that only applies to us which is silly it was said to the Church it's how love is supposed to work in the Church it says that love keeps no record of wrong it's not resentful that it has no record and that's what he's saying that you would not keep a record of wrongs that.
When you forgive somebody they restart you reset it with them that's the point see Peter's saying okay but that's one that's a tally mark right so they've sinned and i'll forgive them but i'm putting a tally mark and Jesus says no there are no tally marks you forgive them we're reset we're at zero and the reality is when you're the sinner that's beautiful but when you're sinned against that's hard this is a good time for us to have a beautiful double standard where you forgive me unlimitedly and i get to keep count that's how most of us want this to work.
But that's so think about it somebody in your group lies about you they say you said something you didn't say causes some trouble you find out about it you finally trace it back to why are they acting like this and you finally they told me you said this i didn't say that you go to them and you say i didn't say that and they go yeah you're right you didn't i was stirring stuff up i've done this since high school and i'm sorry i'm trying to change please forgive me.
Because they actually repent that's that's how this works they don't just say no no these are people who actually repent like i'm sorry i shouldn't have done that you forgive them and then six months later they do it again so you walk through the process again you find out we did this you forgive them eight months later they do it again now most of us are saying we're not friends anymore this isn't how this like i'm not i can't i'm a fool to stay in this relationship.
Jesus would say no you're one of my people to stay in this relationship if they're genuinely repenting and for most of us we'd say well they're not really repenting because they keep doing it but is that how we treat it when we sin because i can tell you right now i've been married for 10 years and i'm on i'm past 77 on some things and my wife will say we've talked about this and i'll be like you're right and i am genuinely sorry again.
Because you're right that's a really good point i shouldn't do that and i might do it again but i'm genuinely sorry and i don't want to and i'm actively trying to repent but we do that again and when it happens to us when we're the sinner it's like no that makes sense that i'm genuinely sorry and then yes i keep i keep doing that but when somebody else does it would go they're not actually repenting and so for some of us we are holding on to unforgiveness this is too painful.
Look at the damage they've caused well i'll forgive them but i'm not going to forget i'll forgive them but they're not going to make a fool out of me i just don't think i can open myself back up to them i just don't think this can be the way it was i don't think you know i'll still i'll stay in the group but i'm just not going to talk anymore some of us have this with people in our community group some of us have it with some of our Church family members some of us have it with old Church family members from another Church another pastor somebody that we have this that we've held on.
To some of us this is people from high school this is people we grew up with some of us this is a spouse this is a parent this is our children we've got something we're holding on to and we have kept a record now Jesus if we actually did this this would be beautiful but we don't want to this is hard for us and so Jesus tells a story to help cement this idea and to help us understand why this is how this has to work not ought to work has to work this way.
For those who belong to him for those who are in the kingdom so this is what he says verse 23 therefore the kingdom of heaven so this is his kingdom as it advances and what it ought to look like and how this plays out therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants so he's going to pay some back he's going to get back what he's owed when he began to settle one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
Okay so that's lost on us a talent so a dinari was a one day's wage you worked you got a dinari that was a day labor wage so that'd be minimum wage to 15 an hour kind of like a your day's worth of work depending on the job you had is about a dinari a talent would have been 20 years of day labor so 10 000 talents so 20 years a day labor is 300 to 600 000 10 000 talents is 3 billion to 6 billion dollars it's a silly amount it's insane that this person would owe six billion dollars.
If i'm doing pre-marital counseling and i'm like all right now let's talk about debt how are y'all in credit card debt and the husband's like yeah you know as we're getting married i am bringing in some debt i got some credit card debt okay how much credit card debt do you have 1.2 million dollars in credit card debt i know y'all are in love i look at the girl and i'll be like i'd probably just walk out on this one that's kind of this this number is insane.
If you went back in time one million seconds you would go back all the way to september 22nd of this year if you go back in time one billion seconds you go back to october 4th 1989. that's the difference between a million and a billion this is a silly number when he says ten thousand talents they're like us i don't know what a billion dollars is can't even picture it even that going back to 1989 thing only kind of helped ten thousand talents it's a silly number it's ridiculous this guy owes ten thousand dollars.
Now listen some people get into business they take out a loan and some bad things happen and it doesn't turn out the way they want to this is like wicked gross negligence to be three billion dollars in debt this is insane how much debt this man has accrued and he he's over and abundantly rudely sinfully imposed upon this king he is in debt 25 and since he could not pay right makes sense i'm gonna write you a check don't cash her till monday no he couldn't do that since he could not pay his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made.
So he says that's it i'm collecting everything you own your house every piece of property all of it we're selling it and you're getting sold and your wife's getting sold and your children are getting sold and i'm going to get some of my money back i'm going to recoup some of it not all of it he would not have had that much money to recoup even after he sold everything but the point is i'm going to take it out of your skin it's coming out of you you owe me.
So the king orders that he be sold and that some amount of debt be repaid verse 26 so the servant fell on his knees imploring him have patience with me and i will pay you everything the concept of someone falling on their knees i don't think you've ever seen this have you maybe seen children do it it looks silly if you see it happen in real life if you were at the bank and somebody was on their knees in front of people at the bank holding on to their shirt saying please please don't don't do it you would realize that they had reached a point that they were just broken he falls on his knees.
And he says have mercy be patient i'll pay you back which is a lie he's not going to pay him back he can't pay him back he's saying he'll try out of pity for him verse 27 the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt he doesn't release him and put him on a payment plan he doesn't say okay well you're working for me for free from now on he doesn't he says you're forgiven he says to his guards can't go the guy his scribes go cancel that wipe it clean he's forgiven have you ever almost gotten a speeding ticket you knew you deserved it this is like that.
But six billion times better this moment of freedom of joy of delight that's not hanging over his head anymore he walks out he didn't have to pay back with what he had he has what he has and he owns it now he's not in debt anymore verse 28 but when that same servant went out he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii three months a couple thousand dollars a decent amount but not nearly compared to what he had he owed him 100 denarii.
And so you would think how would he respond first of all he's skipping down the road whistling he sees this guy and you think he'd be like tony because that's a palestinian first gen first century name they used tony you don't owe me anything because he would pass it on right he knows what it feels like seizing him he began to choke him saying pay what you owe what see he walks out some owes him three months worth of work and he sees him and he thinks.
Finally i caught this rat and he grabs him and starts choking him choking him saying pay what you owe the guy gasped out so his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him have patience with me and i will pay you that's exactly what he just said so now he's going to have that moment where he has a flashback his heart changes he refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt when his fellow servants saw what had taken place they were greatly distressed.
So the king forgives this one servant this one this other servant has peers they're on his level he went on level with the king but he's got peers and so he forgives he's forgiven by the king and then he attacks another servant and then the other servants see it and they go tell the king they wouldn't told him all that had taken place verse 32 then his master summoned him and said to him you wicked servant i forgave you all that debt.
Because you pleaded with me and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as i had mercy on you and in his anger his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt so the king says it's ridiculous you owe me and he takes it right back out of his skin he says no this this this isn't how this is going to work and he throws him in jail and this story this man's forgiven this and it reminds me of the um the movie it's a wonderful life it's a christmas movie it's on every christmas season there's this guy named george and he's just a solid guy he he.
Had had hopes and dreams but he kept just kind of dealing with duty every time duty came up he just handled things that needed to be taken care of and so he's very sacrificial throughout this whole story and he's serving others and he works really hard to serve others and he in the in the story though his uncle is really forgetful they run a bill a business and his uncle loses eight thousand dollars which at that time was a significant amount of money and it's gonna come out of george the main character and it's gonna seem like he embezzled that he stole it and everything's gonna fall apart he's gonna go to jail everything's gonna.
Get foreclosed on he decides that he's worth more dead than alive because he has a fifteen thousand dollar life insurance policy so he goes he's planning on committing suicide the whole story is him realizing that he shouldn't he decides not to he's running back to his home he's just going to face what's coming to him he's going to go to jail but he thinks that's better than suicide and while he was out everybody was worried about him his wife was worried about him his wife runs around town and just goes and tells everybody george is in trouble we need to get money together.
So he shows up last season in the movie he's at his house people just start pouring in and they just start piling money on the table they said we heard you were in trouble we don't know how you got in this debt but we're going to pay it back i mean it's beautiful he walks out on his porch he's just blown away and he sees the sky that we had seen earlier in the movie that he had helped out a couple of times and he says fred and he says fred everybody in the neighborhood came in and helped give money back to me and you owe me 20 you owe it to me they were.
Given out of the generosity of their own heart you owe it to me he jumps off the porch and he attacks him he just starts punching him in the face and it fades to black and hark the herald angels sing plays and it's beautiful and it ends exactly the way you want it to end and that's why it's a christmas classic that doesn't happen at all because you along with him you feel in your heart this beautiful moment while you're watching this of forgiveness and redemption this moment where everything's working back out.
For this guy when he didn't have to and that's what should have happened in this story but this man walked out forgiven and it was completely lost on him it was as if he deserved it i don't know it was as if that's how the king ought to have acted i don't know what's going on his heart but we know that as soon as he saw someone else who needed forgiveness from him he wouldn't give it and Jesus says this as he finishes the story.
Verse 35 so also my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart the reason we address sin is that we believe it's destructive and we long for forgiveness and reconciliation we we address sin so that we might forgive and so that we might restore we don't address sin to catch somebody or to harm somebody or to call to collect on their debt we address sin so that we might wipe debt clean this story.
Jesus says that's how it will work if you're forgiven by the father but then you fail to forgive he will call you to pay your debt colossians 3 puts the same idea this way it says colossians 3 13 will be on the screen bearing with one another which i just love that's a command to the Church you ever feel like that's all you do with these people good you're being biblical you're living out what it's like you're bearing with one another.
And if one has a complaint against another forgiving each other as the lord has forgiven you so you also must forgive if you're a believer if you're a Christian you've placed your faith in Jesus you have received lavish unlimited forgiveness far beyond anybody owes you and so we give lavish unlimited forgiveness we are a forgiving people because we are a forgiven people and when we fail to forgive and when we're unwilling to forgive what we are announcing is that we don't actually believe the Gospel that man must not have understood what had just happened that's that's the only way you can read that story and go he just didn't grasp how much his debt had.
Been paid and so when we are unwilling to forgive we actually are holding out that we don't believe in forgiveness we don't believe the Gospel we don't want it we don't understand it i love that it uses the concept of debt because that's actually how sin works it creates real debt if i borrowed five hundred dollars from you and then never brought it up again you would feel that when we were around each other and you would be like i know he remembers he's got to.
Remember right he feels that we're around each other too is he not if you brought it up and i was like oh yes i do think he kind of you know and then you would feel like the reality of sin is that it creates debt when the king says his debt is forgiven we might be confused and say well nobody paid the debt but that's not true who paid the debt the king in this story the king paid the debt when he says the debt's forgiven it came out of him he said instead of me taking it out of you instead of me making you pay what you owe i'm going to take it out.
Of me and that's why we use that language when someone sins against us we say i'm going to make them pay i'm going to take it back out of them and that's an option we only have a few options when somebody sins against us uh tim keller puts it this way he says it's like if i came to your house and i broke a lamp i break your lamp and you say don't worry about it well you have a couple options you can say don't worry about it you can say you owe me a lamp you can take it back out of me right you can say don't worry about it.
But if you say don't worry about it you are willing to go without the lamp that you had so you you pay in lack of light and in the money you spent that is now broken or you can go buy yourself a new lamp but either way you're incurring the cost of forgiving me that's why we don't want to forgive because we have to incur the cost that's why we say things like i don't know just i'm having such a hard time forgiving it hurts yeah it hurts to forgive our model.
For forgiveness is not God magically waving his hands our model forgiveness for forgiveness is the son of God brutally beaten and nailed to a cross forgiveness is costly that's the reality we see in colossians 2 13 it says you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh God made alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands just leave that slide up there we're going to be here.
For a minute do you realize that when you sin you accrue debt actual debt if you sin against somebody you are taking out of them you are harming them when we sin anywhere against anybody we sin against God and we accrue debt i've heard that they're gonna start having stores where you basically just walk around and you just put the items in your cart and while you put the items in your cart digital technological science adds it up and then you just walk out the door and it charges you.
Now i don't know how all that would work magic is a good guess but i've heard that this is what we're going to do that's a good picture of actually what we've done our whole lives every time we've taken something that wasn't ours every time we've lied about somebody every time we've almost kind of told the truth to manipulate a situation to make ourselves look better to control how about somebody responded to us every time we've been jealous and resentful every time we've sat around and pouted.
Because we didn't get our way every time we've been envious or lustful every time we've willfully participated in sexual sin and debauchery every time we've participated in gluttonous and drunkenness every time we've walked around in this world destroying God's good design and sowing unrighteousness we are accruing debt and the reality is if you're honest with yourself and you think back over the course of your life six billion dollars sounds about right it doesn't seem like a ludicrous number anymore it's like.
If you were charging me for every time i've willfully and sinfully harmed those i love you honestly if you think about the people you love the most and how much you've sinned against them that's the best you can do i desperately love you and i am inflicting severe harm on you that's the best version of us a cruise debt that'd be like if you were the best version of your business dealings would only be bankrupt by four million dollars we have debt by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands this he set aside nailing it to the cross what was nailed to the cross.
Jesus that's why first corinthians said he who knew no sin became sin second corinthians became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God and our sin debt was placed on Jesus and nailed to the cross and if you believe in Jesus you are forgiven it's wiped clean it's gone he's canceled the record of your debt you're free if you have not placed your faith in Jesus you have debt but he's willing to pay it you can repent of your sin you can come to him you can plead.
For mercy and he'll give it he won't tell you here's how to pay restitution here's how to earn it back he'll wipe it clean that's the beauty of the Gospel and that is why Christians must forgive because we're a people who have been forgiven if anyone was to understand what debt felt like and what forgiveness felt like it should have been the man in this story and if anybody is to understand what debt feels like and what forgiveness feels like it should be Christians you are not a Christian.
Because you are one of the good ones you are not a Christian because you have earned it you are not a Christian because the record of your life is in the positive we are Christians because we had a negative balance that had to be paid with the costly blood of Christ it had to come out of somebody's skin and we stood in line and said not ours please let it be Jesus by the grace of God let it come out of his skin and he was willing to do it that we might have forgiveness and how dare we how dare we say thank you.
Jesus for forgiveness and then look at someone else and say do you know how important i am i can't live with what you've done to me no we're forgiving people because we're a forgiven people and some of you right now need to forgive you have received lavish grace and you are holding debt against somebody and you need to cancel it and you need to take it to Jesus and say you who could forgive six billion dollars i need you to teach me how to how to forgive fifteen hundred i need you to teach me i need you to change my heart i need you to melt me.
So that i might not hold on to this any longer and act as if i don't know you and do you know how beautiful this is that Christians genuinely from their heart can leave this room pick up the phone call their father who they haven't talked to in years and say i forgive you the Christians can leave this room and and work it out in front of their bibles with someone you don't even know how to find or talk to and say.
Lord i forgive them i let it go you know how beautiful it is that we get to walk in family with people who don't keep a record of debt because that's the only type of people you can consistently walk in a relationship with that we would be people who forgive because we're people who have been forgiven don't miss out on that if you need forgiveness come get it and if you owe forgiveness go give it let's pray God we thank you that you forgive sinners that you took it out of your own skin that by your wounds we are healed that you have canceled the record of our debt and may we forgive.
Because we have to if we can't forgive we don't believe the Gospel so lord may we believe the Gospel and may we be a gracious kind forgiving people that put you on display in a way that the world cannot match that we address sin and forgive the world is only able to do one or the other of those they can address sin but not forgive or they can just say let's not worry about it but we get to do both in a way that beautifully displays the cross where you called us out.
For our sin and forgave us and may you work in our hearts today by the power of your spirit to receive forgiveness and to give forgiveness in Jesus name amen.
Church Discipline - The Process (Matthew 18:15-20)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors here we are in week two of three weeks of walking through uh the subject matter of Church discipline that we're seeing in Matthew 18 so if you have a Bible you can go ahead we're going to be Matthew 18 verses 15 through 20 and you can turn there also be along it'll be on the screen for us to follow along so in college i went to presbyterian college up in clinton south carolina and and i studied religion which was interesting.
Because in the religion department the Bible was neat it was a nice book uh wasn't very authoritative uh certainly wasn't seen to be true so my experiences in in that uh major was was quite interesting i remember one class in particular it's called Christian doctrine you might think oh Christian doctrine where you study the Bible and you look at some of the historical Christian doctrines and you come to class and you discuss kind of you know what lines up with the Scriptures.
If you thought that you would be incorrect again the Bible was just kind of an addendum to christianity uh in my studies up there and uh that class in particular uh basically you just kind of came ready to discuss whatever the subject was kind of shooting from the hip however you felt and uh at times i came ready to defend the Scriptures ready to to make a defense for why certain doctrines were true and etc but there were some days that i was just kind of tired and fighting battles like that sometimes is just tiring.
So there's sometimes i came and i was like you know what i think i'm just going to be a little bit more silent this period and i remember one class in particular the subject matter was was the judgment of God and i just i don't have it in me to really debate this today and i stayed silent and then about halfway through the class right kind of the time was most heated the professor looked at me and said spencer do you think we're called to judge anyone this is going to go.
Well so i said well yes and before i could add the caveats before i could really get into my kind of my argument someone there's there's three people in my class i remember they sat in the back row and they would probably consider themselves to be fairly open-minded but by open-minded they meant open to their own opinions and they hated yours and and they really got aggressive about a lot of things and immediately they just kind of they kind of tightened up and one of them just said uh-uh my.
God says we never judge anyone ever and i just said okay and i'll open up to first corinthians five and i just read start to read one passage verse 12 and 13 i said for what have i to do with judging outsiders is it not those inside the Church whom you are a judge God judges the outside purge the evil person from among you and what i tried to get to and some semblance of somewhat got there and they were very upset about is that there's this idea that yes.
God calls us to hold each other accountable there's this expectation in the new testament Church of of collective repentance of correcting one another of rebuking one another at times that that's a form of judgment sure we don't judge outsiders that's what Jesus is getting at in Matthew 7. that's self-righteous judgment but there is this this expectation of accountability for the Church but there is this visceral reaction from them in our class and honestly i think it is really picturesque of how our uh culture reacts to this type of accountability how it reacts to really this subject matter that we're walking through in these three weeks the subject of Church discipline there's this it's within us.
It just there is this reality that culture has affected us we don't like the idea of this but last week we introduced what Church discipline is and i'll define it again Church discipline is the practice through which the Church pursues holiness and joy by addressing and correcting sin and waywardness read that one more time it is the practice through which the Church pursues holiness and joy by addressing and correcting sin and waywardness and as we're walking through this there was three different weeks last week was uh the purpose of Church discipline this week is the process we're going to.
See how Jesus calls us to walk this out and the next week is the posture and as we walk through this to be honest there's a part of us culturally that's not going to like parts of what we're going to walk through today it's just we're just not but i want to press into that i want to help us see that maybe this isn't a subject matter that we just kind of submit to and obey because the Scriptures call us to that maybe actually.
Jesus is doing something here and that this process of Church discipline actually is a means of grace it is a means of grace that binds the Church and keeps us together so that we all might make it to the end and no one might be led astray and that's what Jesus is going for here so let me read the passage all in one clip and then i'm gonna pray and then we'll walk through this piece by piece so verse 15. if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you you have gained your brother but if he does not listen take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses if he refuses to listen to them tell it to the Church and if he refuses to listen even to the Church let him be to you as a gentile and a tax collector truly i say to you whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever 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 let me pray God we ask that you would speak to us right now and i know that there is probably a lot of different opinions i know there's probably a lot of different even experiences with this God i pray that you would just open up the Scriptures to our hearts and speak to us this morning in.
Jesus name amen all right so again Jesus is teaching he's kind of gone through a little bit of the purpose of what he's getting ready to say and then we launch into verse 15 and instead there's a this is a three-fold process we're about to walk through and here is the first step if your brother verse 15 sends against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone if he listens to you you have gained your brother he says go and tell him his fault we don't like that all right we are a mind your own business type of culture all right you do you and i do me we don't like.
The idea of getting the other people's business we we just don't and we certainly don't like anybody getting and calling out our faults right have you y'all remember uh uh mari that tv show and every now and then they get the kids on there that just were wild and needed discipline and and uh and those kids would just they would just they would say the most outrageous things they you know they try to talk to him they say i don't i go.
Listen to you i do what i want and they just would get really aggressive with lots of curse words about how no one was going to tell them what to do and the reality is is that that's what goes on our own heart we're super polished on the outside we would never act like that but that's truly what's going on when anybody comes to you and corrects you you're like all right tell me how to live my life i'm gonna do me you do you it's just we don't like this at all we're too individualistic to.
See that actually we belong to one another that in the Church we are together we belong to one another therefore we walk this out together in repentance together which means calling one another out and calling out faults within one another but we don't really like that i love what um there's a theologian named john calvin he and his institutes of Christian religion he walks through just kind of a defense of Church discipline it's a little bit of a longer quote but i want to walk through it.
Because i think it's super helpful he says but because some persons and their hatred of discipline recoil from its very name let them understand this if no society indeed no house which even has a has even a small family can be kept in proper condition without discipline it is much more necessary in the Church whose condition should be as ordered as possible what is getting out there is is you may not like the idea of of Church discipline i mean i like the idea of of correcting one of them.
But here's the deal he says no society can function without that society needs order he says no family even a small one can exist and function the way it's supposed to without order how much more so does the Church need this those of us that deal in eternal things he keeps going he says accordingly as the saving doctrine of Christ is the soul of the Church so does discipline serve as its sinews through which the members of the body hold together each in its own place.
Therefore all who desire to remove discipline or to hinder its restoration whether they do this deliberately or out of ignorance are surely contributing to the ultimate dissolution of the Church now as a mouthful but what he just said was is that just as uh the saving doctrine of Christ is the soul of the Church that we have been saved by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross and the empty tomb that as a Church we believe that.
Jesus is better than everything else that we are a Gospel-centered community on mission the things that we uphold that are central to who we are that's the soul that's the heartbeat of the Church but he pushes it further and says that Church discipline is the sin used it's the muscles fibers that bind us together that keeps us together otherwise we dissolve otherwise we don't exist that's a strong statement to say that if we though we believe in the Gospel don't actually walk this out and repentance together we won't exist.
But here's the deal we believe that as a Church we preach this all the time we agree with him we believe as as chet walked us through last week that sin is serious if you weren't here last week i would encourage you to go back and listen to this sermon but what he walked us through to help us see what Jesus was teaching is that sin is very serious we we think it's cute we treat it lightly but ultimately it can lead us to destruction.
Because we believe sin is serious we recognize that repentance is needed and that within us all of us are sinners all of us are jacked up we all need to walk this out in repentance that comes from the cross that ultimately comes from the saving doctrine of the Church and what Jesus has done for us we believe this we that's why we say good news before good advice is the things that we walk out all the all the time together in the Church we believe this and we believe it's actually not only necessary that it's good.
So because we believe this we we take this process seriously in the steps that he lays out so let me read 15 again he says if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone now he says if your brother sins against you and when you look at luke luke's version of this and his Gospel is even more condensed luke says in verse 17 3 he says pay attention to yourselves if your brother sins rebuke him.
And if he repents forgive him so what we see here is that this is all of sin whether it's against another Christian or it's sin in general the idea is is that if you see a brother or sister in sin that you would go you were to go and tell them their fault because sin affects the whole body of Christ now it's important to see how he says to do it he says go and tell them their fault in private all right this is uh going to them one-on-one this is not you just calling them out in front of other people that's not the process here he says no go and tell them their fault.
In private. we've had some folks in the past have come to us and they've said listen so and so and the Church did this or so and so said this to me and our kind of our initial response usually is okay well have you talked to them first and they'll say well i'm no i've i'm planning to and it's like well why don't you go and talk to them first if that doesn't go well we can we can go from there.
But you need to actually address them in private first a few months back um some of y'all know jeremy powell jeremy powell serves in kid city and if you know jeremy he's he's light-hearted he's goofball um and jimmy's a friend of mine and every now and then we talk he'll come into my office but a few months back he came in i could tell very pretty quickly that it was it was a little more serious he actually came to address me in some sin he came to call me out on an area of sin and me being the good Christian that i that i am i immediately said yes jeremy i receive your rebuke.
I repent and dust and ashes it was a two-minute conversation no um i'm as jacked up as the rest of us and i just kind of said actually jeremy i think i disagree with you and for the next 15-20 minutes we went back and forth and i was like i don't see the way that you're seeing it because there's this guy there's a part of us that just says i do what i want you you come to my office and tell me that i'm sent boy like this is part of us that just wants to bow up at that.
But the flesh started to subside and the spirit started to take over and i finally realized and i after about 15-20 minutes i just agreed i was like dude i think i think you're onto something i think you might be right i repented and offered forgiveness and it was good but here's the deal that was difficult for him it's difficult to address anybody in sin it's also i would say in some ways a little more difficult to address one of your pastors who is in sin.
But he believes the Gospel right jimmy believes that that that sin is serious he believes that it's it needs repentance he believes that forgiveness comes through Christ and he loved me enough to address me in my sin and some of you might be thinking wait a second we can call out pastors and their sin yes yes you can and nadeem babam will be here after service to take to schedule any appointments you have with chet phillips so that you can meet with him this week and address any grievances you have.
Now we're all this we are a Church together and we uh correct one another in sin it's what we do and i'm thankful for brothers like jeremy who uh who are able to to see something that i'm blind to and call it out i remember watching uh i read the story a while back a few years back this nurse was uh watching hgtv she was watching one of those flipping shows and uh and she saw one of the the main characters in the show she she saw his neck and she saw that there was a a tumor and she called this she called the producers she got in touch with the producers and said.
Listen he i know this episode maybe a few months old but i i saw this and he has a growth on his neck and he needs to get that checked out and he did and it was cancerous and y'all because tvs are super clear now that's happened multiple times on reality tv shows and news stations doctors and nurses are watching and they see a cancerous growth on somebody's neck and they reach out to them to see them get help now how messed up would have been.
If she saw that she was like yeah it looks deadly i hope he figures that out how messed up would have been if he if she said you know what i if i call he could get awkward they might they don't know me they i just i don't want to i don't want to just he'll figure it out on his own how messed up would that have been because that's serious like he i mean he could die if he doesn't get the help that he needs they don't catch that soon enough and that's the reality of sin that's what that's what chet was getting at last week he quoted uh james 1 14-15 that says.
But each person is tempted when he's lured enticed by his own desire the desire when is conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it's fully grown brings forth death the idea is that sin starts small but then it metastasizes and it grows and when it's fully grown it will destroy you how much do we have to not love someone how much do we not to care about somebody's eternity that just see them and send that they're blind to and say you know what they'll figure it out that's not my place all right that's that i need to he maybe someone else will address it maybe he'll figure that on his own how much do.
We have to dislike somebody even possibly hate somebody to not actually address sin and their own life when you see a brother in Christ who is flirting with someone who's not his wife when you see a sister who is gossiping about other Christians and the Church when you see someone who and your group just jokes about cheating on their taxes none of that's okay it starts small and it leads to adultery it leads to division it leads to fraud and degree that completely destroys somebody's life our silence and the face of sin means that we're.
Okay with it we are fine with somebody walking into destruction so that's not the path we take that's not the path that Jesus is calling us to he calls us he says to go and address them and and that y'all takes a lot of work because if we follow what he teaches throughout the whole of Matthew you actually have to do some soul work on yourself in Matthew 7 he says uh check the plank in your own eyes so that you may inspect the spect in your brother's eye right some people take that as oh you can't ever call someone out ever it's like no he literally said.
So that you can inspect the spec in your others and your brother's eye but that means that when you see someone who's in sin you've got to do the tough work of looking at your own soul and realizing oh i've got my own sin and then you got then you have to go through the emotional process of repenting then you got to go to your group and you got to repent and walk in the light and that's the whole process then you get yourself up and give yourself up to go and have that conversation.
And then Paul says in in galatians 6 1 he says brothers if any of you is caught in transgression you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness then now you have to do it with gentleness and tack and that takes a lot of effort you see how much effort it takes to call somebody out and sin i mean that takes a lot and then you have to address them and wait for the possibility that that isn't going to go super.
Well that might be awkward or uncomfortable but you got to love somebody enough to be able to to call them out and sin and it's because not only it's a good thing it's we're commanded to do this i want you to receive this the God of the universe commands us to do this it is difficult but here's the deal nine times out of ten this goes well nine times out of ten you are filled the Holy Spirit they are filled with the Holy Spirit you love them they know that you that they love you and it goes.
Well and repentance happens and you gain respect for a brother or sister who went out on a limb to be able to call you uh into uh repentance but for the times it does not go well there's a second step in this process picks up in verse 16. but if he does not listen take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses so this is step two and we honestly sometimes want to bail on this step maybe you go and have a conversation and it just doesn't go super.
Well and it's like ah well i did my part i said my peace i got to figure it out for themselves nope now there's there's a second step here he says go and take one or two others with you that uh that may be established in charge of two or three witnesses that is something you see throughout the Bible from old testament anew there's this expectation that there's some collective authority with two or three witnesses so if you're if you're in a car accident and you're trying to explain this to the police officer and it's your uh your take that's one thing.
But if you have someone behind you who saw the accident and you have somebody on the street who saw it well there's three of you saying the same thing there's some collective authority there that adds some legitimacy uh to what you actually saw and that happens throughout the Bible from old testament news that there's some collective authority and a few that are looking at somebody each filled with the Holy Spirit and saying no no this this is serious and we're all seeing the same thing that you need you need to change you need to repent you.
Remember the Gospel there's grace for this but you got to turn from this there's collective authority there and most of the time when this happens if you've got three believers who love you and love Jesus and they're looking at you and they're saying no listen i'm telling you this is serious you need to see this for what it is most the time they're going to be moved by their their hearts will be softened they'll be moved by the spirit and they'll say.
Okay i i understand and repentance happens but you got to do the tough work to address someone who is in sin even if it takes one or two or three together so for us in our Church we say grab your group leader grab another person in your group and go and sit down with them and address them say you shouldn't be living with your girlfriend you shouldn't talk about other Christians like this and walk them through it with a ton of tact and gentleness and grace and pointing them to the Gospel and the forgiveness that.
Jesus offers that's step two and every now and then when this happens that doesn't go well and that is why there's a step three starts in verse 17. if he refuses to listen to them tell it to the Church and if he refuses to listen even to the Church let him be to you as a gentile and a tax collector 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 so if the way we're Christian doesn't listen to two three other believers who love them it is brought before the Church now this is why this is really important for us to understand in the middle of all this that the Church here has collective authority together.
Now a few chapters ago Jesus is uh Peter proclaims that Jesus is the messiah and he tells Peter we walk through this that your name is Peter you are the rock in which i will build the Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against you the keys the kingdom are being given to you and the picture here is authority is given to Peter and then it goes on to say whatever you bound bind on heaven will be bound and uh with your bite on earth will be bound in heaven whatever loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven same phrasing right here and that is a statement of authority that what you do.
Here on this earth you have authority here it resounds into eternity which means the Church here has the authority together all right y'all that's why one of the reasons why we're baptist we believe this we don't have popes we don't have solo leaders the Church collectively has the authority together and one of the ways that we display this authority one way that we walk this authority out together is in this process and if someone is unwilling to repent and the whole Church is calling them to repentance.
If they're unwilling to do that he says treat them as a gentile and a tax collector and for jewish ears who heard this when Jesus was teaching it they knew exactly what that meant jews did not associate with gentiles and tax collectors they did not eat with them they did not invite them over they did not have fellowship with them what Jesus just said is that if someone if the whole Church is calling someone repentance and they will not repent there's the door the Church has historically called this excommunication they are removed from fellowship.
Now he teaches this very clearly here and the rest of the new testament is going to display this the clearest case study we have of seeing this is in first corinthians 5. it's the passage i read so many years ago in my doctrines class i'm just going to briefly highlight it because i don't have time to walk through that passage but what happens in that Church in the Church of corinth is that there is a man who has had an ongoing affair with his stepmother and the Church is not addressing it the Church in in some ways is by not addressing it is a little bit proud they're not addressing it and Paul really comes.
Hard in first corinthians 5. and i was going to read you two verses that capture what he calls them to do verse 4 and 5 says when you are assembled in the name of the lord Jesus and my spirit is present with the power of the lord Jesus you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the lord and as i read earlier later he says purge the evil person from among you that seems very aggressive and very harsh to deliver this man to Satan.
For the destruction of his flesh what is he getting at what he's capturing is really what the parable of the prodigal son captures in luke 15. you remember the story the man rejects his father he rejects fellowship and life with his father with his father he takes his inheritance and what does he do he goes and he spends his his inheritance on wild and reckless living and where does it leave him it leaves him broke starving in a pig pit working amongst pigs which.
For jews is just an absurd picture that a jewish person would work amongst pigs not only is he working amongst pigs he is longing to eat the food that they eat that's the picture of what sin gets you that's the logical end and that is the destruction of the flesh what Paul is commanding in first corinthians is deliver this man to Satan so that he would experience the end of his sin which is the destruction of the flesh so that he might be saved eternally.
So that he might come home as the prodigal son does he comes to his senses and realizes this isn't what i thought it was my pursuit this isn't worth it and then he repents and comes home that is the picture of what it means to be removed from the Church the hope is is they would experience their sin and that they might come home that's the hope let me tell you a story the family their oldest son turns 17 and he starts uh doing drugs start small pot maybe some pills.
But then it starts to progress and as it progresses he starts doing heroin and they realize that their son is heading towards a path of destruction and what do parents do in that situation they stage an intervention and they say son listen you are going to destroy your life we have we have some rehab set up for you we want you to go and get help we love you and then he half hardly goes he walks through the process two weeks in skips out says i'm not doing this goes back to using drugs in and out of the house they're in tears every night as they're watching their son they don't.
See the strung out lost teenager they see their five-year-old boy who's wasting his life he's about to wreck everything and they've got some tough decisions to make do they let him continue pursuing this or they make some tough choices and say you are no longer welcome in this house because all they're doing is shielding him from the consequences of his own actions and what's worse is that his youngest his younger brother a few years behind him has always looked up to him and he's seeing this and it's possible that his younger brother very soon is going to start going down the exact same path what do they do in difficult circumstances like that they stand.
In front of their son they say you are no longer welcome in this house we love you we want you to get help you are not ready to hit rock bottom you are not ready to change but we are here for when you for when you go if you want to come back if you want to come back and change we're here we are waiting for you but you are no longer welcome in this house y'all that is a story that plays out every day across this country that has been ravaged by drugs and it is a modern day parable.
For exactly what the Church faces the reality is is that people are consistently pursuing sin to their own destruction and we have tough decisions as a Church to make are we okay with that that's the question that i have for anyone that doesn't like this are you okay with someone pursuing sin into hell are we okay with someone possibly leading a weaker brother or sister into sin and we discount that we don't think that that that's big that's that big of a deal.
But it is we've seen what happens in our own Church when gossip and slander run rampant i have heard and read and seen in other churches when they didn't check sin when they didn't check someone who had false teaching they didn't check someone who was living in sin and all of a sudden some weaker believers felt prayer that and they left Jesus all together that is the reality that we face as the Church so we tell people you are no longer welcome here and we've had to do this and it's incredibly painful it's incredibly painful every time we do this it is soaked in tears it is a painful process.
But they got to hit rock bottom elsewhere so they can come back home the most unloving thing you can do to someone who is pursuing unrepentant sin who has fallen headlong into this world is to cosign their path to hell with our silence with our apathy or with our cowardice we don't get to sit on the sidelines while someone derails their eternity tough decisions and bold actions are required for us as the Church because the hope is is that they would come home the hope is that they would.
See this as a means of grace that we would stand between them in hell and we call them to come home being on the outside of fellowship it's not good and that's the point it's not supposed to be but if anybody understood that if anybody knew exactly what that felt like it's the very person who wrote this letter Matthew was a tax collector he knew exactly what it felt like to be on the outside he knew what it meant to be avoided you know what i meant to not be invited to dinner he knew what it meant to not be invited to the festivals to seder mills to rosh hashanah or yom kippur to miss.
Out on the fellowship of his own people he knew what it meant to choose a life that was crooked and be outside the fellowship of God and yet the picture of the Gospel is that Christ steps into his path in the midst of his path he calls them into faith and he calls them in repentance and Matthew is brought into fellowship and that is the hope there's so much unknown when someone is sent out of the Church but the hope is and our prayer and our longing is that Christ meets them in the destruction of their flesh he meets them and says come home the hope is that people would come to repentance and we.
Are here with open arms ready to receive them this is a difficult process it is hard for us to walk out but we are commanded to and it is ultimately for the good of our Church may we be a people that is not okay with anyone walking into hell may we stand the path and plead and say don't choose sin don't choose the world i love you i don't care about the things you're going to say to me i don't care about the hurtful things you're about to throw at me i will stand between you and the path to hell.
Because i love you if it takes one or two or three others if it takes the whole Church we will stand in the way because i am not okay with you walking away from Jesus that is the hope and the heartbeat that we want to embody as we live out this command as a Church and it is difficult i am not understanding how difficult it is but it is ultimately for the good for the hope that we would see sinners come home matt's going to come up and he's going to lead us in a song and honestly he's just going to sing over us.
For a lot of it and i want us to absorb this i know it's difficult i know these words are not easy to absorb i know this process is not easy to walk out it takes a ton of grace for a bunch of sinners like us redeemed by Jesus to walk this out and the first thing we have to do in receiving a difficult teaching like this is to check our own hearts because we got sin in our own hearts there might be things that you haven't brought to the light there might be things hidden beneath the surface maybe you don't think it's a big deal and i'm telling you it is whatever that is.
Right now whatever is the one thing you're trying to ignore in your head right now it is a big deal and my hope is is that you would walk in the light of the Christians and you would bring that go to your group this week and be honest and open about the brokenness and the sin that you're living in we need this together we've got to look at our own hearts and we got to repent from up sin but also maybe you are in a group and you've seen somebody else who's living in sin maybe you've seen someone who is pursuing sin and it leads i make an appeal to you it leads to destruction.
And if you see that and you are unwilling to address it then you are showing an incredible lack of love for your brother and sister and i am hoping this morning that you would love your brother or sister enough to stand in the way and say i love you but this is sin and it's going to be hard at times and it's going to be difficult and it's going to be awkward but 10 000 years from now when they've repented and they are singing in the presence of.
God is it are you even going to remember the moment that awkward conversation that took place it's worth it eternity is on the line and we've got obedience to walk out for the good of our Church may we respond to this and the way that Jesus calls us to let me pray God these words are heavy and they are hard to hear because we are hard of hearing but God i pray that you would help us receive this i pray for anyone here that's walking in sin right.
Now that they would walk in the light they wouldn't wait for someone else to address it that they would come in repentance God go to work on their heart right now God i pray for anyone right now that is feeling the weight of this that they need to have conversations God i pray that you would bless those conversations i pray that the person they need to talk to will receive it in repentance got to pray that everyone in our Church will continue to walk this out together making it to the end we ask us all in.
Jesus name amen.